Blue Lance develops auditing tool for eDirectory

Houston’s Blue Lance software has been almost exclusively a third-party supplier to the NetWare aftermarket ever since it was founded in 1985. While the company has extended its reach into the Windows server market (and we all know how that market can use some good auditing capabilities), Blue Lance has remained loyal to its NetWare roots through good times and bad.

In an era when many vendors of NetWare utilities are either dropping support for Novell’s products or simply going under (or being acquired, which often amounts to the same thing), it’s refreshing that Umesh Verma and his merry band of Texans continue to update, upgrade and improve Blue Lance’s core product, LT Auditor (LTA).

NetWare 6.5 came with a single server version of Blue Lance’s LT Auditor+Assessment for NetWare (an enterprise version is available for purchase). In addition to handling all the traditional auditing functions, the Blue Lance tool also scans Novell’s eDirectory and the NetWare file system for specific security policy violations, identifies vulnerabilities and risks, automatically collects specified audit data, and prepares reports quickly in easy to read formats so that you can take quick, efficient corrective action.

That was a big hit, so at Novell’s recent BrainShare conference Blue Lance announced a new version called LT Auditor+ for Novell eDirectory. This allows you to spread the monitoring to Windows, Linux, Solaris, AIX, NetWare and HP-UX environments while consolidating audit data into one secure database for easy reporting of reliable security-related data. This is a real boon to today’s heterogeneous networks.

The press release for LT Auditor+ for Novell eDirectory quotes Novell Director of marketing and product management for eDirectory Ted Haeger as saying, “We are excited about Blue Lance’s move to develop LT Auditor+ for Novell eDirectory via LDAP.” And even though Haeger is easily excited (see https://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nt/2002/01383312.html), he is fairly passionate about eDirectory so this is indeed very high praise.

Secure auditing, secure identity management and the ability to prove it are no longer simply desirable traits, but are fast becoming government regulated requirements for our networks. If the alphabet soup of FDIC, OCC, GLBA, HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley has any meaning in your environment then tools like LT Auditor+ for Novell eDirectory are a necessity, not a luxury.

Blue Lance announced another product at BrainShare – LT Auditor+ for Syslogs. It’s the Linux (and Unix) version of LTA. Verma knows in which direction your network platform is heading, so pay attention.