So many machines and operating systems to support, and only so many IT administrators to support them. Raritan Computer's CommandCenter NOC (CC-NOC) appliance takes some of the load off, automatically monitoring the health of IT systems.
The CC-NOC comes in three versions: At the low end, the CC-NOC 100 monitors up to 100 workstations, 10 servers and 10 infrastructure devices; at the high end, a distributed architecture version scales to 1,000 monitored workstations, servers and infrastructure devices. I tested the CC-NOC 250, which scales to 250 monitored computers, 25 servers and 25 infrastructure devices, at our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®.
Setup Basics
Good
Integrates with Raritan's CommandCenter Secure Gateway
Provides in- and out-of-band notification for all events
Clean, intuitive user interface allows for quick installation
Bad
Supports only three levels of administrative user accounts
Lacks custom reporting tool
IDS engine only supports 20- Mbps transmissions
Commander NOC, starts at $5,995. ($11,995 as tested.) Raritan Computer, (800) 724-8090. www.raritan.com
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Initial setup of the 1U server appliance is done over a serial console cable, giving the CC-NOC its IP address, subnet mask and default gateway. After the Linux-based appliance rebooted, I finished the configuration using a Web browser (your choice of IE, Netscape or Mozilla on client platforms including Windows, Solaris and Red Hat Linux). Raritan quickly resolved the one small snag I faced--uploading a corrupted license file during setup. The wizard-like Web configuration site requires data on time zone, DNS servers, monitored IP ranges, SNMP community strings and e-mail server information; once entered, you'll be able to work using the polished Web interface.