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Networking equipment has become more fault-tolerant than ever. Still, the unexpected does happen. You want to be certain that you can access your routers and other key elements when your network is facing a partial outage.
CMSâ HealthAssure provides exactly that sort of certainty. This versatile software solution verifies that you can reach your network elements by both in-band and out-of-band means. Designed to cooperate with Nortelâ and other industry-leading products, CMSâ HealthAssure makes network access verification quick and certain.
ISDN Backup Verification
Seeking network resilience, you may have chosen to install ISDN backup lines for the WAN ports of your Nortelâ routers. Your foresight may be wasted if, when the network collapses, you discover that the ISDN backup lines were not working. Perhaps the ISDN service itself was down, or someone just accidentally knocked the cable loose. In any case, your network crisis caught you unprepared.
CMSâ HealthAssure polls all of your Nortelâ routers and checks the SPID status of their ISDN backup connections. If any of the backup lines fail, a concise report gets this critical information to you quickly.
Dial-Up Console Verification
If your primary route to a network element fails, you need an alternate method to reach that device, perhaps to help diagnose what has gone wrong. One common solution is to place a dial modem on the console port of the device, so that you can always dial around the network, accessing the critical element out-of-band.
What if that phone line has become disconnected? What if that dial modem is malfunctioning? What if, for some reason, the console port on the device has become flow-controlled off and will not respond even if you dial it? You certainly don't want to wait until your network fails before you discover these problems.
CMSâ HealthAssure provides multiple levels of confidence in your dial-up console access strategy. First, it dials each of the devices that you have provisioned with such out-of-band access, verifying that the remote modem answers. Then it goes a level deeper, checking the response from the console port against a prompt string that you specify. Any failures are reported to you quickly.
Telnet Console Verification
In spite of the advent of powerful network management systems, Telnet remains one of the most common methods to access network elements for configuration, monitoring and diagnostics. You or your engineers can swiftly reconfigure a port, change a route, or get crucial performance statistics - if the device's Telnet access has not failed.
In fact, if you discovered that a network device no longer responded to a Telnet connection, that would probably mean that the device was failing, perhaps soon to be completely out of service.
CMSâ HealthAssure offers you thorough confidence in your Telnet access strategy. It attempts to connect to each of your Telnet-capable devices, verifying the connection. Then it takes the next step, comparing the Telnet response from the device to a prompt string that you specify. You are notified quickly of any failures.
SNMP Access Verification
Most network elements today implement the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) for configuration, statistics and the reporting of failures. Network administrators rely heavily on the data that can be gathered using this interface.
If a device no longer replies to SNMP queries, it may mean that someone has reconfigured the device, changing its SNMP community name, either accidentally or maliciously. More ominously, failure to reply to SNMP may forebode degradation of service or a total outage. Pings are not enough; a device may reply to a ping, yet be failing.
CMSâ HealthAssure lets you know that your SNMP elements remain accessible. It queries each SNMP-capable device in your network and verifies that it responds. If any devices refuse to reply, this is reported to you quickly.
Reporting Your Network Health
The results of each test are recorded in a standard text file for easy viewing or incorporation into your own reports. Each report includes a simple summary specifying how many devices were tested and how many passed or failed. Subsequent tables describe the test results in greater detail on a per-device basis.
The ISDN Backup Verification report, for example, includes detailed tables that list each failure by device, line number, directory number and SPID. Failures are described with specific detail; the Dial-up Console Verification report distinguishes between a modem failure, a non-responsive console, and a console that has responded with an incorrect prompt message.
Tracking Your Network Elements
CMSâ HealthAssure allows you to maintain a database containing each network element for which you wish to verify access. The database tracks the name of each device, the IP address and/or telephone number, and details regarding the replies expected.
Available On Popular Platforms
CMSâ HealthAssure is available for Microsoftâ WindowsTM 95, WindowsTM 98 and WindowsTM NT 4.0. The Dial-Up Console Verification feature uses a standard internal modem.
Commitment To Quality
As a Milgo software solution, CMSâ HealthAssure is engineered to high standards. You can trust that, when we developed this software product, we relied on:
From Your Networking Partner
Headquartered in Sunrise, Fla., Milgo Solutions is a global provider of best-in-class, multibrand networking solutions with a 40-year tradition of excellence in data networking. The company’s capabilities cover the entire network life cycle from planning and design through deployment, operations and support. Milgo Solutions has extensive pre- and post-sales expertise in router, hub, switch and network management technologies.
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CMS HealthAssure runs on Windows 95/98/NT. Press the button and you can download a free demo version and a locked full version in one file. |
