In situations where there’s a particular management need, so-called 'point solutions' will provide the required specialised functionality. A point solution could be used to perform a system audit, automate the rollout of a new application or simply discover how much network printing is costing.
Price is a key selling point: indeed, many point solutions are available virtually free, such as the management tools that now bundled with most server hardware. Ease of use is another plus, as there's only one tool to learn -- although some care is required as over time it’s easy to end up with a clutch of incompatible management tools, possibly from different vendors, each with its own requirements and ways of working. To avoid such as outcome, it’s worth looking for products that can share information and integrate into larger suites if required.
There has been a lot of consolidation in this market recently, with many of the smaller vendors acquired by larger rivals. There’s also a lot of overlap in functionality, making it difficult to distinguish between some point solutions and modular suite offerings.
Network monitoring
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) network monitoring is a staple point solution, designed to map the network infrastructure and issue alerts when problems arise. HP is a market leader here, and its OpenView software is also used as a platform for larger integrated management suites ('Management frameworks'). For simpler SME-oriented products, consider vendors such as CastleRock, Ipswitch and SolarWinds. Open source products are also available, including OpenNMS.
HP's OpenView is a leader in the SNMP-based network monitoring market.
Inventory tools
Hardware/software inventory tools are another common point solution,. Microsoft is a leading vendor here with its popular Systems Management Server 2003 package, which can also use inventory information to manage software distribution. However, SMS is a Windows-only solution tool while other products, such as Centennial Discovery, provide multi-platform support.
Unlike Microsoft's Systems Management Server, Centennial Discovery 2005 is an
inventory tool with multi-platform support.
Suite vendors also provide inventory tools with some, like Altiris and Vector Networks selling modular solutions to which extra tools and functionality can be added as needed.
Software distribution
Microsoft’s SMS 2003 is also a popular software distribution tool, but there are many others to choose from. Indeed, software distribution is typically a key component of many management suites with Altiris, again, having a module to provide this functionality as do others including LANDesk and Novell.
More points
Other point solutions include Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), which is used to monitor and manage Windows servers and applications; remote control utilities from companies such as NetSupport; and specialised printer management tools like those from Print Audit. Storage management solutions from EMC and others are also available, providing specialist security management tools along with backup and recovery products.
Print Audit supplies specialist printer management tools.
