News

Latest News

Halcyon releases Network Server Suite 4.0

Date Posted: 25/01/07

Usability and productivity enhancements for market-leading product.

Systems management software provider, Halcyon Software, has announced its latest release of Network Server Suite (NSS) 4.0, a comprehensive package of monitoring and systems management automation tools designed to provide maximum availability of an organisation’s servers and network devices.

The software covers Windows®, Unix®, Linux®, AIX® and Netware® platforms.

NSS 4.0 allows businesses to continually monitor all aspects of server operating systems including disk space, CPU, memory as well as web and email services, and external SNMP devices such as hubs, routers, switches, printers etc.

The software is also capable of monitoring server event logs including directory services, DNS and file replication, disk and database thresholds and performance, and constantly checks the availability of the internet connection as well as company websites even down to the content on individual web pages.

Critical alerts are sent via SMS to mobile phones or to nominated email accounts; or can be displayed on a centralised console; administrators can opt to have any combination of these notification methods.

Key features of Network Server Suite 4.0 include:

Enhanced GUI for Centralised Management

NSS 4.0 fully integrates with the latest release of Halcyon Enterprise Console, a graphical user interface included in the package. This GUI is specifically designed for viewing and managing all alerts - including those from remote systems - through a single PC display.

Network management is made easier by allowing administrators to colour-code individual systems and also the various types of alert; this aids identification on screen and enables appropriate remedial action to be taken quickly and according to alert priority.

Enhanced helpdesk integration

As system alerts arrive at the Enterprise Console GUI, the operator is now able to automatically or manually forward the alert by email into any helpdesk system to generate a helpdesk ticket (including all market-leading third-party helpdesk applications such as Heat, Touchpaper, Magic etc.). With a simple mouse-click, the operator can now copy an alert, or send it via email / SMS to a third-party helpdesk system to create a helpdesk ticket immediately. The alert details include date / time, device, inquiry, product, source, text and type, and there is also the option to use XML format. In addition, comments can be added to the alerts to provide more information to other system users.

Improved Connectivity and Application Monitoring

NSS 4.0 includes connectivity monitoring for network devices such as routers, switches, servers, applications, printers and practically any other device. Network Server Suite will also monitor connectivity to TCP based services or any other application with a designated service port. Furthermore NSS can monitor the performance and availability of business critical applications and includes pre-configured thresholds and parameters. Integration with popular applications such as Exchange, SQL Server, ISA Server, ARCServe®, and McAfee is also possible.

Enhanced Performance Reporting

The Performance Reporting component of Network Server Suite allows you to graphically map the growth of disk space and also see CPU and memory details “at a glance” so that potential performance bottlenecks are identified before they become a problem.
           
Capacity Planning is now made simple as key server resources such as CPU, memory and disk are captured enabling you to predict when servers will need additional processing power or disk space and also foresee when you’re going to need to upgrade your business critical hardware.

The software is fully scalable; with options to display server performance daily, weekly, and monthly. Alternatively, you can customise the date range to suit the way you wish to run your operations and how you wish to report to management.

Clicking on the appropriate icon allows you to zoom in and out of graphical displays and print out exactly what is seen on screen; this information can also be incorporated into performance reports.

Network administrators and managers can conveniently see the performance of all servers, including remote systems, from one central location.

Extended device manager support

Servers can now be identified by group – such as customer, department or other type. This allows the operator to quickly associate each individual machine and take actions consistent with the group.

Automation

This new release has further extended the functionality of NSS to improve proactive monitoring and allows significant levels of automation.

For example, companies that normally spend a number of man hours a day on manual checks can configure the software so that daily check lists on systems, applications, services and devices are continuously executed 24/7.

Lorraine Cousins, Managing Director of Halcyon Software, comments, “The new enhancements in Network Server Suite 4.0 have been developed in direct response to requests made by our customers to further improve productivity. Ease of use is also a key requirement - this new release confirms Halcyon’s commitment to providing functionality that really contributes to the way companies wish to run their operations. We are finding that this software has broad appeal; our high-volume users are guiding our development strategy, but these latest enhancements have also benefited the smaller enterprises”.

Carl Seeger, IS/IT Manager of Volvo Construction and an advanced user of NSS, said “Volvo needed systems management software that could cope with a growth in the number of servers but also help the IT Support Team to take a proactive rather than reactive approach to systems management; being given advance warnings of potential problems and being able to flag or resolve them accordingly allows us to add a great deal of value to the business”.

Seeger continued “The Halcyon software tools tell us in simple terms what has failed and where it is, instantly reducing the time taken to resolve the problem from hours to minutes. The Enterprise Console GUI is particularly useful for overall management – we have it displayed so that all the helpdesk operators can also view it - so it’s a very visible tool in the IT department.”

Price and availability

Network Server Suite 4.0 (including the latest Enterprise Console GUI module) is available immediately and pricing starts from £2195 for a 5 Server Licence pack with price breaks for multiple servers.  Special discounted pricing is available for Enterprise Licence Packs for 25, 50 and 100 plus servers.

ENDS

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries.

AIX is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries.

NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

ARCserve is a registered trademark of Computer Associates International, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

McAfee is a registered trademark or trademark of McAfee, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the US and/or other countries.