Release 4.5.0 (28/09/2009)

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1 / New monitoring features available in home page

monitoring_synthse

Monitoring :

number of performance and workload measures by state (OK, W, C) with direct access to measurements by a single click on the widget;
Alarm :

number of performance or workload measures in CRITICAL state (or that left this state) during the last hour. Direct access to measurements by a single click on the widget.

Monitoring dashboard:

Better formatting of time (Duration)
Advanced search by measure/state/duration
Sorting feature by column
Export table

Alarms dashboard:

On (new) / Off (resolved)
Event date
Sorting feature by column
export table

2 / SMS notification

The notification has been adapted to SMS : controls the maximum number of SMS per hour (10) and copy of the notification by email. Availability of packs 1 500 SMS / year.

3 / Dashboards accessible by tabs

Dashboards' menu gives access to 4 types of dashboards accessible through tabs. That is generated dynamically over any predefined or customized period .

Scoring : measurement score over the period based on thresholds (OK, Warning, Critical)
Values(*) : Max/Min/Avg values over the period;
Custom graphs : graphs with multi measures analysis
Graphs(**) : measurement graph dashboard

Reminder: information provided in dashboards may vary depending on display mode (Technical / Executive)

(*) available in version 4.5.1

(**) replaces the "Graphs" button

Scoring dashboard

Scoring displayed in % or time (radio button selection)
Takes into account the maintenance periods

dashboard_4_tabs_complet

Values dashboard

Min, Max et Avg values for measurement parameters over the period;
Displayed measurement parameters displayed are default one;
The tool displays all measurement parameters over the period.

dahboard_values

Graph dashboard (Graphs)

New option for sorting graphs by :

graph title,
measurement name,
target,

and on technical display

Operation/Query.

Custom graphs

analysis graphs used to compare several measures;
graphs sorting by name;
tool to build graphs online (*)

(*) only available on "technical" display

dashboard_custom_graphs

4 / Graphs improvements

Multi-measures support (listed at the top of the window) ;
Settings for different measures (separated by dashes) ;
Support the lack of value : target unavalaible .... (graph with return to 0)
New legend (full measurement name)

new_graph

5 / Instrumentation : new interface to perform workload QUERY

The workload measure ensures the monitoring of critical IT ressources because that directly affects performance and/or costs.

Besides the well-known SNMP standard to monitor a large number of objects stored in MIBs (there are more than 10 000 existing MIBs), the standard WS-Management (Web Services for Management) based on HTTP - SOAP request earns popularity in certain environments. Now, Alaloop supports this standard, including WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) which is the Microsoft's implementation of this standard :

query_plugin2

Support for WS-Management interfaces based on HTTP/SOAP
Microsoft implementation (WMI : Windows Management Instrumentation & WinRM)
Several WMI providers integration
- Active Directory ;
- Exchange ;
- MS-SQL server ;
- ....

6 / Instrumentation : Cisco NAM support / WAAS reporting

NAM overview

The NAM (Network Analysis Module) is a versatile platform for network analysis. It is avalaible as a module for a large number of Cisco devices (routers or switches) and also as appliance.

The NAM supports many analysis functions for operators :

Application response time measurement (NAM ART);
visibility into WAAS (Wide-Area Application Services) operations to optimize WAN;
traffic analysis ;
troubleshooting features;
.....

NAM integration in Alaloop portal

ALALOOP portal expands the NAM capabilities:

Measurement operation	On the fly : measures available immediately	Selective collection of the measures : that requires set up
Measures data retention	Short and mid-term	Long term (1 year)
Data consolidation	No : requires a Web browser	Yes : multi-NAM / multi-measures graphs
Troubleshooting	Avanced and real time : On demand investigation tools	Mainly monitoring oriented : baseline monitoring
Reporting	Tailored for technical diagnostic: unit and instant reports	executive report (SLA,Capacity planning): reports template, automatic scheduling

Complementarity between NAM and ALALOOP

NAM support roadmap

Version 4.5 : RT (Response Time) data support
Version 4.5.1 : traffic data (Applications / Host / Conversation / ....) support and Waas Data Source with "ready to use" graph templates for multi-WAE.

Summary of Cisco instrumentation supported

Alaloop can collect on a single portal all Cisco instrumentation :

1 / Performance measurement : active with IPSLA agents and passive with NAM-ART collect;

2 / Workload measurement : with SNMP requests (MIBs CBQOS, NBAR, ...) or HTTP-SOAP (CCM-AXL, ....) requests;

3 / Traffics analysis : with flows collection (NETLOW) or packet Analysis with NAM requests.

In addition, specific information exported by the WAAS boxes to the NAM are included in both reports and specifics graphs, available in the ALALOOP portal.

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