NetIQ Delving Into Service Level

NetIQ Corp. is picking up the service-level management mantra uttered by application performance management providers with an update of its AppManager suite.

Version 6.0 of AppManager, best known for its Windows applications management, adds several capabilities within its components that provide more service-oriented management of Windows and Unix applications.

For example, the Analysis Center component, which provides a data warehouse for reporting and analysis of application performance, adds new service-level reporting capabilities. It allows users to segment or partition who sees which reports and which administrators can see data or generate reports. That enables users to assess base-line performance to define service-level agreements, according to a NetIQ spokesman in San Jose, Calif.

The updated Control Center allows users to view all components of a service via a new Service Map Viewer, which provides a graphical presentation of IT infrastructure components such as servers, operating systems and applications that support a business process. Users can relate objects and components into a single service view.

Users working with an existing version of AppManager are looking to the upgrade to gain better controls for managing service levels, according to Michael Lubanski, manager of enterprise monitoring at Towers Perrin Forster & Crosby Inc., in Philadelphia.

"We want to measure, monitor and alert on not just when servers or applications go down but when the entire service to the business or client is impacted. And that service can entail multiple servers, multiple applications and pieces of the network that come together to provide the service we provide to our client," Lubanski said.

Meta Group Inc. analyst Corey Ferengul characterized the latest release as "evolutionary" for NetIQ but questioned how well it can compete against Microsoft Corp.s Microsoft Operations Manager, which is largely based on NetIQ technology. "I do hear very good things from customers on [NetIQs] Unix/Linux offerings," said Ferengul, in Chicago. AppManager 6.0 is due by midyear.