d license control, and network monitoring. We did not test device- and wire-manag
ement programs for this review.
The reviewed products fall into two functional categories. Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) and Symantec's Norton Administrator for Networks support WANs in addition to LANs and are therefore suited to enterprise management. Intel's LANDesk Management Suite, McAfee Associates' BrightWorks, and Frye Computer Systems' Frye Utilities for Networks work only on LANs. We summarize the major features common to all five in "The Roles of Network Management Software".
The Manager's Choice
Intel's LANDesk Management Suite is the best in the LAN category, as well as the best overall. It has a comprehensive and well-integrated set of tools for NetWare LANs, an excellent tutorial, and a good reporting engine. Its modules for monitoring applications, traffic, and servers are especially good.
For WANs, Microsoft's SMS beats Norton Administrator for Networks by a wide margin. By using a SQL database for data collection, SMS pro
vides an excellent platform for building an enterprise-wide management infrastructure.
McAfee's BrightWorks
With its excellent on-line references, good report writer, and versatility, BrightWorks nips at the heels of LANDesk Management Suite for top honors. It's a good choice for administrators managing a NetWare environment.
Though the BrightWorks help system is a bit skimpy, its Adobe Acrobat viewer makes accessing the well-organized on-line manuals easy. Like Microsoft SMS, it comes with Crystal Reports. This software gives you lots of flexibility in designing and generating reports, as well as importing data from ODBC-compliant databases. Only LANDesk Management Suite's reporting tool is comparable.
BrightWorks' cluttered interface makes some operations awkward, such as creating software distribution packages and setting up software metering. But BrightWorks' real sore point is performance. In our test that measures the average size of frames transferred during an i
nventory scan (where larger frames mean more efficient use of network bandwidth), BrightWorks finished dead last, not far behind Frye Utilities for Networks but light years behind LANDesk Management Suite and Microsoft SMS. Still, BrightWorks' competitive feature set and pricing make it a viable choice for NetWare installations.
Frye Utilities for Networks
Consisting of 10 separate DOS-based modules accessible from a menu called the Frye Menu Integrator, Frye Utilities for Networks is the most poorly integrated product we tested. Only a few of its management modules share a common database, while each of the modules in the other four products write to and read from a single database.
This virtually nonexistent support for Windows and a proprietary database scheme hamper the usefulness of Frye Utilities. The company says it plans an upgrade that addresses these shortcomings and that will employ a single, ODBC-based database engine.
Individually, the Frye Utilities are by
far the easiest to install, set up, and use. But since they are all DOS applications, Windows users must pay special attention to conventional memory allocation. Some applications, such as the LAN Directory, can easily run out of memory after you've loaded network drivers, multimedia device drivers, and memory managers.
In addition, a lack of flexibility in data management and system administration, and a total lack of an on-line reference, earn Frye Utilities the lowest ranking in the LAN category.
This is not to say that Frye Utilities lacks good points. The package provides a wealth of statistics, is very versatile, and is jam-packed with features (see the comparison tables on pages 150 and 151).
Intel's LANDesk Management Suite
The sole four-star product in the group, LANDesk Management Suite stands out as the only one both to fully integrate all its management and administration components and to use a single database. Its competitors all rely on utility modules t
o complete their offerings.
LANDesk Management Suite provides a wealth of network administration utilities with a robust desktop management environment that includes an application monitor, an excellent traffic monitor, and an effective server monitor with very good alert handling. It does not take much time to set up and configure. All told, LANDesk Management Suite scores extremely well in all our major evaluation criteria (see the ratings box on page 147).
Very good database maintenance and system administration, coupled with an excellent help facility, tutorial, and reporting engine, make this product's lack of an on-line reference seem unimportant.
Symantec's Norton Administrator for Networks
Symantec approaches desktop management strictly from the end-node angle, so its product does not provide services such as network and server monitoring, threshold setting, and alert notification. Instead, the Norton Administrator for Networks integrates the three core desktop
services of inventory management, software distribution, and application metering.
This package's chief weakness is its lack of support for NetWare file servers. But it also suffers from a limited, inflexible reporting tool; below-average versatility; and poor performance that is only slightly better than that of second-worst Frye Utilities for Networks.
On the plus side, Norton's management console facilitates many tasks, such as managing sites, launching core applications, and interfacing with add-on administration utilities. Good print documentation and a context-sensitive on-line help facility make up for the lack of on-line references.
Norton Administrator for Networks' significant advantage over Microsoft SMS (which did, however, beat it in the overall rankings) is its openness. Operating at the applications level, Norton's functions are independent of underlying network transports and should perform equally well under any type of LAN and WAN connection method. Symantec's software is a
lso less complex than Microsoft's, which is based on a sophisticated SQL database manager.
Microsoft Systems Management Server
For companies with geographically dispersed LANs and mixed networks, Microsoft SMS is the best choice. It combines high quality, ease of use, efficient performance, and decent versatility. SMS lacks software metering, but it is excellent at software distribution and has very good inventory components. Extensive on-line help and tutorials guide you safely through complicated tasks.
To provide a SQL database engine for its management product, Microsoft designed SMS with slightly higher resource needs than its competitors. Besides a full-scale copy of Microsoft SQL Server running with Windows NT Server 3.51, SMS requires 28 MB of RAM. Additional management consoles also require Windows NT Server or NT Workstation 3.51. SMS has a complex setup procedure; but, once up and running, its drag-and-drop interface and good on-line documentation make it easy to u
se.
SMS also has the most complete security system, and its performance is comparable to that of Intel's LANDesk Management Suite. It is alone with the Intel product in supporting the Desktop Management Interface (DMI), an emerging standard for identifying and managing network components.
This report contains the partial results of a recent issue of
Software Digest
, a monthly publication of NSTL, Inc. To purchase a complete copy of the report, contact NSTL at 625 Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, PA 19428, (610) 941-9600; fax (610) 941-9950; on the Internet, editors@nstl.com. For a subscription, call (800) 257-9402.
BYTE Magazine
PRODUCT INFORMATION
BrightWorks 2.1.........................$600
(1-10 user licenses;
larger licenses available)
McAfee Associates
Santa Clara, CA
(408) 988-3832
fax: (408) 970-9727
http://www.mcafee.com
Circle 1129 on Inquiry Card.
Frye Utilities for Networks.............$1105
Frye Computers
Boston, MA
(800) 234-3793
fax: (617) 753-0484
mail@frye_BOS.MHS.compuserve.com
Circle 1130 on Inquiry Card.
LANDesk Management
Suite 2.01..............................$595
(five-node license; $50 per node over 100; $40 per node over 1000)
Intel
Hillsboro, OR
(800) 538-3373
fax: (503) 264-7579
http://www.intel.com
Circle 1131 on Inquiry Card.
Norton Administrator
for Networks 2.0........................$50 per node
(10-license pack; ......................$3
7 per node for 1000 licenses)
Symantec
Cupertino, CA
(408) 253-9600
fax: (408) 973-9340
http://www.symantec.com
Circle 1132 on Inquiry Card.
Systems Management Server 1.1...........$649
(server license; $54.95 client license; $34.95 for more than 100 clients)
Microsoft
Redmond, WA
(800) 552-9876
fax: (206) 936-7329
http://microsoft.com
Circle 1133 on Inquiry Card.
Tame the Network
