New Products, February 2003

BACKUP AND RECOVERY

Maximize Backup and Recovery Capabilities

Database Appliances announced Backup Butler, a hardware appliance designed to back up and recover SQL Server databases. You can integrate Backup Butler with your current tape backup system, and the appliance can read internal database conditions, store them for safekeeping in its own recovery database, and change scheduled backup tasks. Backup Butler features a user-friendly interface that you can access through a LAN browser and includes a large network RAID disk farm available in 550GB and 2.4TB clusterable frames. Pricing is $15 per gigabyte of disk space. Backup Butler supports SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 databases. Contact Database Appliances at 925-818-0454 or http:// www.databaseappliances.com.

DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

NetIQ announced the addition of the SQL Management Suite 1.5 to the NetIQ Authorized Reseller Program, which provides revenue and market opportunities to qualified resellers. The SQL Management Suite consists of AppManager for SQL Server, DiagnosticManager for SQL Server, RecoveryManager for SQL Server, and ConfigurationManager for SQL Server, which together simplify SQL Server management. The suite supports integrated licensing so that channel partners can sell and implement the SQL Management Suite. The SQL Management Suite 1.5 costs $15,000 for a five-server starter pack. The standard edition, which doesn't include AppManager for SQL Server, costs $7500 for a five-server starter pack. Contact NetIQ at 888-323-6768 or http://www.netiq.com.

SECURITY

Limit Database Exposure to Attacks and Worms

PentaSafe Security Technologies, recently purchased by NetIQ, announced VigilEnt Security Agent for SQL Server, an automated database security and vulnerability management tool that can limit your database's exposure to attacks and worms that exploit null passwords, default accounts, and over-privileged users. The software provides vulnerability assessment, security administration, and database auditing for SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 databases. You can automate SQL queries and generate security-compliance reports. You can also delegate security-related tasks, including provisioning user accounts, changing account passwords, and granting system and object privileges. For pricing, contact NetIQ at 408-856-3000 or http://www.netiq.com.

Correct Security Vulnerabilities

Configuresoft announced Security Update Manager (SUM) 2.0, a module for Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) that lets you quickly correct security vulnerabilities on SQL Server and Windows servers and workstations. SUM identifies vulnerable machines and installs patches on target machines. You can also create custom templates to test a group of machines for vulnerabilities. You can create customized user roles for SQL Server, security, or Exchange administrators to selectively control access to the product's functionality and configuration data. Pricing for SUM 2.0 starts at $25 per server and $5 per workstation. Pricing for ECM starts at $995 per server and $30 per workstation. SUM 2.0 supports SQL Server 2000 and 7.0. Contact Configuresoft at 719-447-4600 or http://www.configuresoft.com.

TECHNICAL RESOURCE

Restore SQL Server Databases

Prentice Hall released SQL Server Backup and Recovery: Tools and Techniques, a book by Frank McBath that details how to protect and restore SQL Server databases. The step-by-step reference covers SQL Server 2000 and provides guidance for Windows XP and Windows 2000 environments. The book also contains scripts and sample code. The book explains how to plan for backup and recovery, including how to plan your time windows, and walks through recovery scenarios and backup strategies. The guide also teaches you how to recover the master database and how to properly use SQL Server's Database Consistency Checker (DBCC) commands. The 320-page book costs $49.99. Contact Prentice Hall at 800-282-0693 or http://www.phptr.com.

TRAINING

Cover MS-2072 and MS-2073 Topics in a Week

TechTrain announced a training program called PowerSQL, which provides 5 days of instructor-led training and 12 hours of structured eLearning training. Because students complete pretraining at their own pace, the training program can cover topics from MS-2072 (Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database) and MS-2073 (Programming a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database) in only 5 days of classroom time. The PowerSQL training program costs $2995 and includes both Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) training kits (MS-2072 and MS-2073). Contact TechTrain at 704-357-8010, 800-216-4566, [email protected], or http://www.techtrain.com.

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Generate Grids

dbNetLink announced DbNetGrid, an HTML grid component for Internet and intranet development. You can use the solution as a grid component integrated with your applications, as a Web reporting tool, or as a Web application. You can link grids together to create drilldown Web reports. DBAs can use the tool to distribute interactive database information to their users through a browser if they don't have the time or inclination to write Active Server Pages (ASP) and HTML code. You can license DbNetGrid on a per-processor rather than a per-client basis. A license must cover the total number of processors in the servers on which you install DbNetGrid. Pricing starts at $499 for a single-processor license. DbNetGrid supports SQL Server 2000, 7.0, and 6.5. Contact dbNetLink at [email protected] or http://www.dbnetgrid.com.

SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION

View Projects Throughout Their Life Cycle

Living Address announced Living Doc.NET, software that stores in-depth information about your projects throughout their life cycle so that you can track changes to your system and see the differences between development and production servers. Living Doc.NET features support for Microsoft .NET and can automatically document any SQL Server or Microsoft Access project and provide a blueprint that you can use to evaluate the quality of the system. You can view the generated documentation in three ways: interactively on the Web, in compiled Help files, or in Microsoft Word. The software can also troubleshoot existing Web projects. Living Doc.NET supports SQL Server 2000 and 7.0. Pricing for a three-user starter pack is $2000. Contact Living Address at [email protected] or http://www.livingaddress.com.