Ipswitch Whatsup SB 2004

With Whatsup Small Business, developer Ipswitch is aiming to break the mould of expensive and complex network management solutions. Costing just £172 ex VAT, the Ipswitch software is affordable and tightly focused on the needs of the small network manager, providing a good mix of basic health check monitoring plus simple reporting and alerting facilities.

The software can be installed on any network PC running Windows 2000 or later. Installation takes about five minutes after which a wizard guides you through setup, including the detection of existing servers, workstations, switches, routers and other devices on the network. You can then choose 10 of these to be monitored, specifying how you want to be notified when their status changes.

Ten devices may not seem that much, but in practice you only need to monitor critical devices. Also, with a limit of 10 the interface is uncluttered and easy to understand, with the main console showing a map of the devices chosen for monitoring. This map can then be customised both in terms of how the icons are displayed and what's being monitored. Simple network pings, for example, are the default for checking on availability, but there's SNMP support if required and you can also opt for HTTP, DNS, SMTP, POP3 and other more specific service monitors.

It's very simple, as auto-discovery works out most things for itself with only minimal tweaking required. Health, availability and performance reports can also be run in this well-presented and easy-to-use network management package.

Contact: Unipalm 0870 443 2812
www.unipalm.com

Specifications:
Network-enabled PC running Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.

See also:

NetSupport DNA

A good first stab at a network management suite from a remote control specialist  02 Aug 2004

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