My 2 cents.
We were on AIX NetView, and went to NetView on NT.
The biggest disadvantage: No X-windows.
Note: Any reference to Openview... is based on my own experience of
a few years ago. You'll have to check yourself as to whether
my opinions are still valid with the current NNM.
Advantages:
1) I like the "nvsniffer" implementation. It lets me instrument
just about anything, and lets me create managed interfaces
automatically for those "things" (services, applications, etc).
2) The desktops are cheap. I have a 500MHZ Pentium III desktop,
and I have manged over 1500 routers/switches/hubs with about
10% CPU utilization. 256 MB of memory.
3) One advantage over Openview -- (NT or AIX) -- you get the
developement kit for free.
4) Another advantage... (over Openview) you don't have to mess
with complicated licensing schemes. I remember when Openview
license depended on your IP-address. Couldn't change your
IP-address without getting a new license. Don't know if its
still like that though. It was a pain, though.
5) NetView NT performance data is (exported ??) to perf-mon, so
you can use NT perf-mon to get a lot of performance data,
and graphs on how NetView is doing.
6) NetView NT has its own paging utility. I know Openview
didn't used to (don't know it its still like that).
7) I like the GUI better on the NT version than the UNIX version.
(i.e. the use of "hints", and being able to mask-out nodes
with the status-filter toolbar).
Cost... I don't know. I believe NetView version goes for
$5000 for a version that is < 1000 nodes, and $15,000 for an
unlimited license. Contact your friendly sales-rep for actual numbers.
Rulesets tended to use a lot of CPU... so I use perl... so I don't
care about the ruleset editor (anymore). On a good note... I find
the ActivateState Perl to be very fast.
Doing without X-windows is a pain, but the V6 NetView web-browser
takes some of the pain away.
I believe that the NetView (NT) Engineering group would disagree that
the NetView NT system is not the "workhorse" that UNIX is. In our own
tests... we've managed over 10,000 nodes with a dual-processor
450MHZ Pentium II (512 MB of memory). Performance wasn't anything
to write home about, but it was still doing its job.
Since you come from a UNIX background... I'd suggest the MKS Unix
Utilities. I couldn't live without it.
There is also a mail utility out there called "blat". I'd suggest that
if you want to send mail from the command-line.
That's my 2 cents. Actually, that was about a dollar's worth.
Regards,
Gary Boyles
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Francis [mailto:steve.francis@COMMSERV.UCSB.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 10:16 AM
To: NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Difference between OpenView and Netview on NT?
OK, so it sounds like the NT version does not support many of the features
that
make the Unix version better then OpenView.
I would prefer to stick with Unix, but I'm moving to a small start-up, and I
cant
really justify (or get) the extra money for what will be a very small
(albeit
critical) network. (Less than 100 managed nodes.)
Does anyone have any insight comparing Openview NNM 6.1 on NT and Netview
5.2 on
NT? OpenView is cheaper, I think.
Any competitive analyses out there?
James Shanks wrote:
> NetView for NT is not the workhorse that NetView for UNIX is.
> It does not have APM, a Ruleset editor, nor the smconfig tool for MLMs.
Nor
> does it integrate with many 3rd party apps
> But it does have a GUI that most people say they like better, nvsniffer
with
> status checking, support for things like WEBM and Wake-on-LAN, and
"attended"
> MLM.
> My advice to most folks who are familiar with the UNIX version is to stay
with
> it, and do a trial install on an NT box -- the CDs come in the same box,
don't
> they?
>
> James Shanks
> Tivoli (NetView for UNIX) L3 Support
>
> Steve Francis <steve.francis@COMMSERV.UCSB.EDU> on 02/08/2000 07:47:07 PM
>
> Please respond to Discussion of IBM NetView and POLYCENTER Manager on
NetView
> <NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU>
>
> To: NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
> cc: (bcc: James Shanks/Tivoli Systems)
> Subject: Difference between Netview on NT and Unix?
>
> Hi.
>
> Being about to change jobs, one thing I need to do at the new job is set
> up network management.
>
> Can anyone detail the differences, if any, of Netview on Unix (which is
> all I've ever used) and Netview on NT?
>
> Does NT support the APM? Ruleset editor? etc?
>
> TIA
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