Voyence Network Configuration Tool Matures

VoyenceControl 3.3 network change and configuration management software automatically checks and remediates configuration changes against policies.

Voyence Inc. on Monday will turn up the heat in the competitive multivendor network change and configuration management space with the launch of the latest release of its VoyenceControl Software.

Version 3.3 of the maturing network change and configuration management software continues to build its case as a corporate governance tool with a new Policy Manager that can automatically check and remediate configuration changes against policies. The new release also boosts the ability to audit network configurations with new reporting functions.

The new Policy Manager allows users to define a policy for device configurations, and prior to provisioning devices, users can do a "pre-validation check" to determine whether a certain change in configuration would be in violation of the policy, according to Michael Bunyard, vice president of marketing in Richardson, Texas.

"Once they make the change, we monitor in real time the device against that policy. The minute the device goes out of compliance with the customers standard, we notify the customer via e-mail or send an alert to a management console [such as Micromuses NetCool] and schedule a change to bring the device back into compliance," said Bunyard. Policy Manager can also be set up to automatically bring a device back into compliance if the customer does not want to review the change before it is made.

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VoyenceControl 3.3 adds greater levels of automation, owing to the increasing comfort level users have for the reliability of automated changes, Bunyard said. A new mass rollback feature allows the software to automatically roll configuration changes back to an accurate baseline for multiple devices. Users establish the configuration baseline and if a change is made that causes an error, the system can automatically roll back the changes to all devices affected.

Cisco Systems Inc. and Voyence teamed up to integrate VoyenceControl 3.3 with the CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials, allowing customers to continue using RME to manage Cisco devices, but create a central repository of all network device configuration data within VoyenceControl. Through the integration, a central VoyenceControl server treats RME as if it were a Voyence device server, gathering up Cisco device configuration data and controlling RME to execute changes to Cisco devices.

"People who are already trained on RME but want a central point of control for Cisco and non-Cisco devices can use this. We aggregate all data into a repository, and then the customer can make mass updates across Cisco and non-Cisco devices from VoyenceControl. We push and pull through CiscoWorks [RME] to make changes to Cisco devices," Bunyard said.

The new release, which also integrates instruction on how to administer the tool, is due on Monday.

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