Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 (HP Technologies)
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The success of previous versions of Exchange Server has generated a market for a large number of third-party system management and monitoring tools. You should select third-party management and monitoring tools with care. Many are developed by excellent software developers with considerable knowledge of Exchange, but some are not. When considering any third-party tool, you should analyze several areas, including the following:
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Is the functionality better than the standard Microsoft tools that come with Exchange?
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Will the software scale to the size of your enterprise? Will it easily support the number of users, the number of servers, and the number of messages?
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Does the software introduce security concerns?
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Is the software flexible enough to satisfy your management and monitoring needs?
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What is the cost of the software? What will support services cost? What is the potential return on investment?
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Does the vendor have the type of support options that you desire, such as online knowledge bases, 24 hours a day/7 days a week telephone support, and so on?
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Does the software work in your hardware environment? For example, does it work with your Storage Area Network, Windows cluster, and tape devices?
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Does the vendor have a history of providing new releases in a timely fashion after Microsoft upgrades?
If your answers to these questions are satisfactory, you should perform a hands-on analysis of the product. If your analysis proves favorable, the next step is to pilot the software in a limited production environment. On the basis of your experience during the pilot, you may want to refine or modify your planned deployment.
Table 3.2 includes a brief description of some of the third-party system management and monitoring tools that are available for Exchange.
| Product/Developer | Description |
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| Profile Maker AutoProf.com www.autoprof.com | Provides users with automatic profiles across your WAN for full Outlook client access from anywhere on your network. |
| bv-Control for Microsoft Exchange BindView www.bindview.com | Combines on demand reporting with real-time performance monitoring and management tools to help simplify, speed, and improve Exchange management. |
| BrightStor Enterprise Backup Agent for Microsoft Exchange Computer Associates www.ca.com | An Exchange-aware backup tool. |
| OpenView Operations for Windows Hewlett-Packard www.hp.com | OpenView is an enterprise-level management tool that provides service-driven management and monitoring for the full range of products (i.e., more than just Microsoft products) found in most corporations. |
| Microsoft Operations Manager Microsoft www.microsoft.com | Microsoft Operations Manager provides operations monitoring for Microsoft such as Exchange and SQL. |
| NetIQ AppManager for Microsoft Exchange NetIQ Corporation www.netiq.com | Allows you to centrally monitor the performance and availability of services on all Exchange servers. |
| FastLane ActiveRoles, FastLane Reporter, Spotlight Quest Software www.quest.com | ActiveRoles gives administrators simplified control of Active Directory. Reporter delivers reports that enable ongoing security audits on Windows networks. Spotlight lets an administrator drill down into a component to resolve problems. |
| Antigen for Microsoft Exchange Sybari Software www.sybari.com | Offers antivirus and antispam protection for Microsoft Exchange. |
| Veritas Backup Exec for Windows Servers Veritas Software Corporation www.veritas.com | This is an Exchange-aware backup tool. |
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