The days of static networks are long gone. Client access devices, whether PC's or PDA's, are now highly mobile thanks to ever increasing developments in small form factor computing and ubiquitous wireless access. Every time that a client access device connects to a network, it needs to obtain an IP address and have access to primary network services such as DNS and LDAP.

We have created probes to monitor these vital services.

The DHCP probe monitors the response time of the DHCP servers and will alert based on user-defined thresholds.

The DNS probe can be set up to specifically enquire on the DNS servers for A records (normal hostnames), MX records (mail servers) and NS records (name servers). It also records and monitors the response times. It can create alerts based on missing record conditions or poor response times.

The LDAP probe checks for response times and the number of record entries in the LDAP directory. The number of records check can be used as a "sanity check" on the content of the directory. It is able to create alerts based on record number thresholds whether they are too high or too low as well as on response times.

All the data from the DHCP, DNS and LDAP probes can be passed to the Service Level Manager for inclusion in performance trending reports.

Fig. 1 The LDAP Response Probe, setup view.

Fig. 1: The LDAP Response Probe, setup view.

Fig. 2 The LDAP Response Probe, watcher view.

Fig. 2: The LDAP Response Probe, watcher view.

"Our primary IT goal and challenge is to provide high service quality at all times, including times when resource demands are adversely impacted."

"NimBUS provides us with quick and actionable data, from a single management dashboard, which allows us to make strategic decisions within minutes and not hours. Best of all, NimBUS automatically delivers service performance reports so that our IT analysts can focus on business-expanding tasks. This provides us with a higher return on our investment."

Bill Beal, Vice President Information Systems, Liberty Savings Bank