ManageEngine has announced the launch of OpManager Plus, the latest edition of its network management platform. OpManager Plus sets a new standard for unified IT monitoring with the industry’s first EXE-level integration of five network management functions. With OpManager Plus, users get one application for NetFlow monitoring, configuration management, firewall log analysis and compliance, IP address management, and switch port management. The single OpManager Plus console provides in-depth visibility and control of all aspects of network management for faster troubleshooting.
Most vendors offer disparate tools for various aspects of network management such as bandwidth management, firewall log analysis, configuration management and more. Though these tools can integrate with one another, they do not provide a holistic view and, therefore, make admins juggle between multiple tabs. Maintenance of all these different tools is also hectic because they require separate backups, service packs and licenses.
“IT administrators hate using multiple products as they are expensive and difficult to maintain,” said Dev Anand, director of product management at ManageEngine. “The integration provided by OpManager Plus makes network management simpler and smarter and helps IT teams do everything from a single console. Integrated modules with a common database allow further data integration, helping admins find missing data and mitigate network issues in real time. As the new OpManager Plus is just one piece of software, maintenance tasks such as upgrades and backups are easier than ever.”
The All-in-One Advantage
OpManager Plus is the first network management solution to provide a single application — a single EXE — that integrates five different network management modules and the data those modules generate. In turn, the router performance snapshot page, for instance, now includes flow-based traffic and configuration management data, which helps admins decide whether the issue is because of the bandwidth or the recent configuration change, without switching tabs.
The data integration also extends to dashboards and business views. Dashboards now show real-time bandwidth utilisation, recent completed configuration changes, compliance violations and much more. Business views now also add flow-based traffic data combined with the health status of the devices and links.
The single product, single console design of OpManager Plus increases IT teams’ visibility and control over their network and enables real-time troubleshooting. OpManager Plus includes the following network management modules:
- NetFlow monitoring module – provides visibility into network traffic by analysing NetFlow, sFlow, jFlow, IP FIX and other flows. It identifies top bandwidth consumers by device, application and user.
- Firewall management module – collects, archives and analyses all firewall logs for auditing and compliance. It tracks user activities and bandwidth consumption and triggers alerts to admins if blocked sites are accessed.
- Configuration management module – backs up, restores, pushes and reverts configurations on network devices, with no device login required. It issues notifications via email and SMS for unauthorised configuration changes.
- IP address management module – manages IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for free space and availability. It tracks the entire history of an IP address, including the devices to which it was allocated.
In addition to its all-in-one design, OpManager Plus features end-user-centric bandwidth analysis. This feature is released as a beta version and lets admins track all personally-owned devices (BYOD) that end users connect to the office network. Admins can also monitor the app-related bandwidth consumed by those devices. This provides increased granular visibility into employee bandwidth consumption.
Another feature of OpManager Plus is simplified upgrades and maintenance. With all network modules integrated within a single application, OpManager Plus streamlines maintenance activities. Tasks such as backup, upgrade and licensing need to be performed one time, for one application, rather than several times, for several modules.
OpManager Plus introduces the latest generation of the Fluidic user interface. Along with its snapshot pages, dashboards and business views, the new UI further improves usability with common settings, search, inventory, alarms and reports across all OpManager Plus modules.
This article was originally posted “ManageEngine Launch Sets New Standard for Unified IT Monitoring” from Cloud Strategy Magazine.
