Looking to provide small to medium work environments and networks with increased management capabilities, Cisco has unveiled the CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 management package for networks using Cisco hardware.
Shipping this month, CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 detects and resolves management problems before they reach critical-mass levels, according to the company. If a device becomes inaccessible or shuts down, users can be notified by e-mail, pager, or desktop alarm with a status report of how long the device has been up or down.
Additionally, Cisco has incorporated Ipswitch's WhatsUp Gold to provide version 5.0 with graphical-view mapping, monitoring, and notification capabilities spanning a network, Cisco officials said.
By employing the real-time network status interface features of CiscoWorks 5.0, users can monitor network hardware such as workstations, servers, switchers, and printers from a single source application.
The addition of a new version of CiscoView in CiscoWorks 5.0 provides "simple but sophisticated" graphical and color-coded monitoring and configuration of Cisco devices, according to Sylvia Clark, a product manager for Cisco.
"Instead of needing a lot of training in specific Cisco command devices, you actually can graphically point and click and get that information on the screen."
Clark said WhatsUp Gold was chosen for integration with Version 5.0 because it enables users to take advantage of a single set of tools, which does not require a large investment or extensive training to use.
CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 also improves management functionality through its other components: Threshold Manager, for threshold-setting, and monitoring applications for remote-monitoring-enabled Cisco devices; StackMaker, which combines views of multiple devices into a single stack for visual management; and Show Commands, which displays router information without requiring Cisco IOS commands.
Clark said that CiscoWorks Windows users who have purchased older versions of the product could choose to keep the older OEM component and integrate the new Cisco applications on top of that.
CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 is available now and is priced at $US1995.