HP OpenView is not a specific product, nor is it a way of life
(contrary to the opinion of many network managers). HP OpenView is a family of
products that Hewlett Packard produces and provides for network and systems
management. HP designed and deployed most of the OpenView components under UNIX;
however, HP has migrated some key components to the 16-bit Windows environment
and, more recently, has launched an aggressive campaign to move the entire
OpenView family to Windows NT.
Differentiating among the various OpenView products for NT can be tricky.
One major point of confusion is the HP OpenView Professional Suite. Although
this suite will run under NT, it is really a combination of 16-bit and 32-bit
modules geared for workgroup environments. Don't think that this design limits
the Professional Suite's value--the suite contains an impressive set of
components to service small networks, including a workgroup edition of HP's
network manager and a series of tools for managing HP manufactured devices
(e.g., hubs, switches, printers, UPSs, and PCs). The Professional Suite also
includes software from Symantec (pcANYWHERE, Expose, and Norton Network
Administrator), McAfee (Saber LAN Workstation), and Ex Machina (Notify!
Connect). Note that HP recently acquired Symantec's Networking Business Unit,
which now gives HP full control of Expose and Norton Network Administrator.
The Professional Suite is a capable product for both network and systems
management in a workgroup environment, but HP never intended for users to apply
it to enterprise-size environments. The enterprise environment has traditionally
been the turf of the UNIX-based OpenView components, and these components are
the same ones HP is porting to NT as native, 32-bit products. HP is porting all
the NT components directly from the UNIX environments--these pieces are not
puffed-up versions of the components in the Professional Suite. In fact, HP is
enhancing many of the OpenView components for NT to support features and
functions not available on UNIX (although HP will retrofit these features to
UNIX later).
Moving the entire suite of OpenView components from UNIX to NT will take
time. The good news is that the OpenView flagship product--Network Node Manager
(NNM)--is now available for NT. NNM is the product most people envision when
they think of OpenView. It provides comprehensive, standards-based network
management. With NNM, you can navigate your networks from a broad view and
penetrate to the node level. NNM can determine a variety of attributes for each
node in your network, and the product lets you run diagnostics on the nodes in
the event of a problem. Screen A shows a typical NNM display of a network
segment. NNM also integrates well with Microsoft's SMS--you can switch from SMS
to NNM or vice versa without effort.
In addition to NNM, HP has released several other OpenView components for
NT. OmniBack II provides centralized or distributed backup for numerous client
and server systems. PerfView and MeasureWare work together to let you monitor,
analyze, and forecast the systems and applications load of workstations and
servers in your network. PerfView and MeasureWare provides similar capabilities
to NT's Performance Monitor, but you can apply PerfView and MeasureWare to a
broader range of client operating systems. In addition to providing these
components, HP is continuing to release new NT agent modules to strengthen the
tie between NT and the UNIX-based OpenView components.
Windows NT Magazine has just begun the process of testing the
OpenView for NT components. Look for coverage of the NT implementation of NNM in
a future issue, and coverage of other OpenView components in the coming months.