Readers Review Hot Products - 30 Aug 2007

Simplify Systems Management
Brisworks Admin Arsenal
In a recent conversation about network monitoring software, a friend suggestedthat I give Admin Arsenal from Brisworks a try. After being impressed by thedemo, I purchased the product for $250 and downloaded it from the Brisworks Web site.

I initially used the software to monitor workstations and event logs, but I've sincebegun using it to oversee my servers. Beyond network and system monitoring, mybiggest use of the product has been for software distribution. Admin Arsenal createssoftware distributions easily, and it's very fast. When I needed to perform a quicksoftware distribution, it completed the task swiftly and without any problems.

Admin Arsenal is also useful for running overnight system tests and trackingdown system and network problems. Thanks to thespeed and efficiency of the software distribution andreporting features, I've saved almost an entire workday every week—it really is that fast and efficient.

I've worked with IBM Tivoli and Microsoft Systems Management Server, and bothare very powerful systems. They're also extremely expensive and unintuitive. For software distribution, I much prefer Admin Arsenal.

The one and only complaint I have about Admin Arsenal is that it doesn't lookat any devices that exist outside of Active Directory. We have some Linux boxes andMacintosh computers on our network, but Admin Arsenal doesn't support them.

Remote Network Security and Administration
Visual Click Software's DSRAZOR
There are almost twodozen schools in ourschool district, and we needed to allow an employeeat each school to change students' computer passwordswithout having to contact ourmain office. We have morethan 16,000 students in ourdistrict, and having to manageevery user account onsite wasbecoming a significant challenge.

I heard about Visual Click Software's DSRAZOR for Windowswhile searching for a utility that would help us with user management.DSRAZOR had received some great reviews, so I decided to give it a try.The software was easy to install, and we were pleased with how the support staff helped us learn how to use the application. DSRAZOR shipswith preloaded user account functions that let you become productiveimmediately.

The features that appeal to me the most are the bulk user creation function and the ability to delegate specific permissions to other users sothat they can create user accounts and change passwords. It's also easyto set up customized forms for delegation, and the product integrateswell with Active Directory (AD)—you don't need to change anything inAD for DSRAZOR to work.

This product has saved the district many hours of work. What usedto take us weeks to accomplish we are now able to do in a few days. Weare no longer burdened by doing simple tasks such as creating useraccounts or changing passwords. Although it would be nice if DSRAZORoffered more user-specific customization options, I would definitelyrecommend it to anyone who needs to simplify account management.

Proactively Protect Your Network from threats
ForeScout Technologies' CounterACT
When a consultantbrought a laptopinfected with the Code Red worm into our office a few years ago, the worm shut down the office for almost two days, and we learned the hard way that we needed a solution to prevent such attacks. We needed to control who could log on to our network and the capabilities those users had. We wanted a product that didn't rely onlyon signatures, and it had to be easy to manage.

After looking at several Network Access Control (NAC) solutions, we implemented ForeScout Technologies' CounterACT, a NAC and intrusion-prevention solution. CounterACT has a clientless approach, uses behavior detection, and is easy to manage. It also includes a pretty good vulnerability assessment tool, so one solution gives us three products: malware detection, NAC, and vulnerability assessment. CounterACT has come in handy on several occasions. For example, when a user opened a worm-infected email attachment, CounterACT immediately caught the problem and blocked the user from sending any messages. CounterACT also alerted us when an employee was using peer-to-peer applications against company policy so we could remove the programs.

We bought CounterACT a few years ago, and since then the market has changed considerably. In my view, however, the market is still playing catch-up to CounterACT