Hi,
After ten plus years as a system administrator, there are a few things
I look for right away when a package like this comes across my desk.
The first, and most important to me (and from vast experience, the
company I?m working for), is ?how do I get away from this thing if I
need too?? This may sound a bit odd, thinking about trashing an
expensive system before I?ve even evaluated it, but time and time
again it has proved to be the most effective way of analyzing new
software, because the true cost of software is never the purchase
price, it is the amount of hours and the level of ?mission critical?
status such software obtains. Getting stuck in a box you can?t get out
of, costs a great deal to carve holes in, and generally equals a huge
loss of data and time. Also, if a software package is not designed to
be compatible with other systems, it generally reflects in the
operation of that package as well.
The second qualification I look for, which is equal in importance and
just as telling in the stability of the package itself, is ?can I
access the data from another tool, outside this one, such as Perl??
This is greatly related to the first qualification, the exit door, but
also it relates to learning curves for existing personnel and support
teams, and tells me the level of in-house customization which might be
available. If I can?t access the data from outside of the program, or
write scripts to do simple customized functions the package doesn?t
include (or I have to hire the company to write simple scripts for me)
then my attitude towards the package starts to decline rapidly. (Ask
any sysadmin who has had to deal with a MAS90 installation regarding
this aspect, and you?ll hear a novel full of horror stories and
frustration).
The third qualification I look for is; existing documentation and
training availability. I want to know this not only for my team?s
learning curve, but also, to see how much the industry accepts the
package as something worth writing about.
And last, but certainly not any less important, is ?can this package
work on multiple OS?s or does it at least have versions which will run
on multiple OS?s??. Being stuck in a single OS for a critical system
is not good, even if right now, the company is absolutely sure they
will always be a Microsoft house. This is just another box, which is
hard to cut your way out of, when the tides turn, and Unix becomes a
needed answer, or vise-versa.
These are just from a sysadmin?s point of view, and don?t cover the
management aspects of purchasing a new package for the company, but
they have been very telling. Most of the time, the pretty lights on
the horizon are warning flares, meaning: I try to stay away from the
hype.
VitalQIP solution from Lucent.
VitalQIP can be installed on Unix, Linux or Microsoft servers, and
uses Sybase or Oracle as it?s database. Any BIND complaint DNS server
is acceptable to it, and it is highly scalable. These are all very
good points for this package. Lucent has been developing this package
for a good length of time, and there are plenty of training and other
documentation resources available for the package.
The open RDMS system is really a kicker for this package, as well as
the existing web interface. Being able to access the internal data in
this manner says that customization, in the form of reports and
automated changes, is definitely available. I?ve found several scripts
written by sysadmin?s who used Perl to check the status of the system,
but also found these sysadmin?s no longer used those scripts, once
they got use to the inner workings of the package itself. All very
good signs indeed.
Since the data itself is accessible, moving from this package, to
another is also accessible, in case this ever becomes an issue. In my
research I?ve yet to find a ?box? which holds the company working with
this solution, and no warning flags shot up on the horizon.
The system has several add-ons, and Lucent is looking to a future,
which has a need for a great deal of IP switching involved. One of the
documents I read, during this research was Lucent?s view on Voice of
IP, a traffic intensive feature if ever there was one, which will
require a IP management system which can change and route very fast if
ever it is to be effective in real world technology.
I also went through a white paper on the installation and integration
of this system on a Windows 2000 server. Document ID # WP07991-0902
(linked below with supporting links to referred to white papers). This
paper talks about (among other things) the integration with SNMP,
which is very nice for remote monitoring.
The system itself, with all this in mind looks like a complete
solution for DNS and QIP needs. DHCP is available, the tools are
accessible and all in all, it is well thought out and executed.
Suggested integration time is about 30 days, with at least 2-3
sysadmins working to maintain the software. The number of IP addresses
which can be over seen by this system appears to be 1,000,000+.
The only drawbacks I see with this solution are; the possibility of
over-kill, and the price tag on the software (which apparently doesn?t
include the database server it runs on: Really is a shame they don?t
have a MySQL port for this software).
A basic overview with some pricing information can be found here
http://productfinder.infoworld.com/infoworld/ActivityServlet?ksAction=optInReq&solId=58125&pos=50&referer=SEARCH_RESULTS&trkpg=search_results_viewdetail
There is also a demo at that link.
Below I?ve listed a few colleges, which appear to use this system.
Colleges are good resources when you are looking to talk to someone
about a package like this. Company sysadmins are generally closed
mouthed about what they use and how good it is, whether the report
would be good or bad. I strongly suggest taking the time to contact
these people and get a ?hands-on? view of the software, before
seriously considering the final purchase. Nothing beats a view from
someone actually using a software package over a period of time.
I found no know exploits or security holes for this package in my research.
Address Commander
Incognito, appears to be a good name for this company, because I found
very little on them. The software however shows some good signs. First
of all, it runs on MS, Red Hat, and Solaris systems, it uses Oracle
and PostgreSQL(for Linux servers : which by the way is free and a good
database). Interfaces include COBRA and the Java API development
toolkit, which means we can add utilities and customizations in house.
It even ships with the Java API for exactly this purpose (while I said
VitalQIP can be added to, they have written in their white papers this
is a no-no).
The package comes with several good utilities; Threshold alarms, Task
Schedulers, etc, and they are continuing to develop new features,
which is always a good sign.
I really wish there was more on this solution. There is an on-line
demo, but I have to wait for a sales person to call me on the phone
and give me the pitch before I can see it. I recommend going through
this with them, and having your IT guy sitting beside you while you do
it, to ask all the ?hard questions no one wants to answer?.
Over all though, with the customization access, the database used, and
the OS?s available, this would not be a bad choice. It is a new
package, which is always a bit scary, but at the same time, you aren?t
stuck in a box, with this new package. I haven?t found a great deal of
support in the admin community, but then, I really didn?t expect to
either.
With the lack of available information, I decided to give them a call
and get some feedback from them, using the 800 number on their
website. What I got was a request for my email address and told
someone would be in touch ? some day. Not really a turn on, but when
and if they give a call back, or write me, I?ll post to you what ever
information I get from that interview. One thing which does bug me a
great deal and sends up warning flares is the lack of hard facts, such
as, expected number of IP?s managed, system tolerance, setup time
expected, or even an estimated cost, in their literature. But perhaps
the phone call or email will come with this? when it comes.
Relevant Sits looked at
VitalQIP Sites
PDF file Lucent Technologies Vital Software managing Enterprise Voice Over IP
http://www.videcor.com/documents/wp.qip.voip.pdf.
Siemens overview
http://www.ad.siemens.com/sw-haus/html_76/vitalqip.htm
University of Alberta?s page suggesting they use VitalQIP
http://www.ualberta.ca/CNS/net-ops/dns-changes.html
NCSU?s link suggesting they use this system
http://hostreg.ncsu.edu/qipdocs/loggingintovitalqipthroughthewebclientinterface.htm
JHMI?s link suggesting they use this system
http://migration.jhmi.edu/qip_main.html
PDF File VitalQif Intergration with Windows 2000
http://68.15.21.151/uploads/researchers/qip_windows.pdf
White Papers referred to in that PDF (the real addresses )
http://www.ietf.org/ids.by.wg/dhc.html
Address Commander Sites (only impressive by the lack of links available).
http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/inc020703.cfm
PDF brocuer, which says very little in the way of hard facts
http://68.15.21.151/uploads/researchers/DS_Address_Commander.pdf
Other Sites
Overview of DNS
http://www.jasonc.com/docs/essays/dns-20.mason
Other DNS Management Software Packages
http://www.posadis.org/
http://mydns.bboy.net/
http://www.nlnetlabs.nl/nsd/index.html
http://www.ultradns.com/
http://www.powerdns.com/products/powerdns/index.php
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/nemnsw/nerr/prodlit/cnr30_ov.htm
http://www.jhsoft.com/
http://www.menandmice.com/2000/2200_quick_dns.html
If you have other questions regarding this, please don?t hesitate to
use the clarification button to post them here. Researchers are
notified via email when this is used.
Thanks,
Webadept-ga |
