Network Node Manager for Windows NT

HP OpenView's flagship sails in NT waters

Network Node Manager (NNM) is the flagship of the HP OpenView suite. NNM for Windows NT is a 32-bit port of the UNIX-based implementation that offers all the capabilities of its UNIX counterpart. NNM for NT is not the same as the NNM in HP OpenView for Windows Professional Suite, which HP targeted for workgroup-size networks.

NNM for NT is a powerful network management tool. When you first run NNM,it uses standard discovery utilities and protocols, such as ping, Simple NetworkManagement Protocol (SNMP), and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to discoverall the active nodes in your immediate network. With this information, NNMcreates a network map to illustrate your network's topology and contents. Screen 1 shows the map NNM discovered in my test environment.

NNM is not limited to your immediate network. You can point NNM at routersor give it specific network ranges, and NNM will discover information aboutadditional networks or network segments. You can then maintain the informationabout additional networks as part of your main network map, or you can createand save separate maps.

Besides laying out your network, NNM lets you look inside each node. NNMshows you which computers are Web servers, FTP servers, and more. Because NNMuses SNMP as the basis for its management, it can manage a broad array ofnetworking products: routers, bridges, network printers, intelligent hubs, orany device that supports SNMP. NNM can detect nodes that do not support SNMP,but NNM cannot manage them.

Your level of control over a node depends on the capabilities of the SNMPagent on that node and the operating system (if any) the node is running. Forexample, if you select an NT node, you can run a variety of standard NT tools(e.g., Event Viewer, Registry Editor, Windows NT Diagnostics) on that node togain more information. This level of information is not available for Windows 95or other desktop operating systems.

In the Lab with NNM
NNM installed easily on a 133MHz Pentium with 64MB of RAM. HP designed NNMto run as a network management console, so if you want to track or trap networkproblems, don't run other applications on the console.

NNM replaces the standard NT SNMP agent software with the HP SNMP agentsoftware, which reports more information to the NNM console than the standard NTSNMP agent software; so, also consider implementing HP's agent on your NTworkstations. NNM works with other vendors' SNMP agents, but you will get moreinformation if you use HP's agent.

Watching NNM go through the discovery process was scary. If you've everplayed with hacker tools, you know where hackers get some of their ideas. NNMdutifully probes your network, using discovery tools to locate each system onit. Because NNM uses standard open protocols, nothing is fishy about itsdiscovery methodology. Currently, NNM can detect both TCP/IP and IPX systems,but not NetBEUI-only systems.

After NNM discovers all the nodes in your network, it monitors them forchanges. For example, if someone turns off a computer, NNM sees that node dropout of the network and changes the color of that computer on the map from greento red, signaling a problem. NNM supports various alert capabilities, so it canalso notify you by email.

Most networks consist of multiple segments, and NNM lets you view yournetwork from different perspectives. A high-level view represents your mainnetwork segments, or you can look at specific nodes on specific segments. NNMpropagates any problem in a network segment up to the high-level view, and youcan easily navigate from the high-level view to the detailed view.

When your network has a problem, you simply navigate to the node and useNNM's diagnostic tools to analyze the problem. You can also use NNM as amonitoring tool to view statistics for nodes or network segments, and you canset up traps to alert you when certain conditions arise. For example, NNM cantell you when you exceed a threshold of network errors or reach a specific levelof network utilization.

The information you can monitor on a per-node basis depends on the SNMPagent you've installed and the Management Information Base (MIB) available tothe agent. The basic SNMP agent included with NT supports only a limited amountof information. As I mentioned, NNM's SNMP agent supports more information;however, to get detailed information out of a node, you must install one or moreMIBs on that node.

A MIB is a database that tells an SNMP agent what statistical informationand management options are available for a specific type of node or service. Forexample, MIBs are available for Internet Information Server (IIS) and SQL Serverfor detailed statistics about their performance. NNM includes several MIBs, andyou can get additional MIBs from other vendors, including Microsoft. MIBs arethe key to getting detailed, service-specific information via NNM.

Tried-and-True
NNM is reliable and easy to use, and you can integrate it into any size ofnetwork. You can easily combine NNM with other system and network managementproducts, including Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) and CA/Unicenter.If you need a rock-solid, SMNP-based network management product, look at NNM.