The array of available network
and system monitoring tools
can be bewildering. Most are expensive and work for a limited
number of products and controls.
Others require monitored products
and controls to support a protocol
such as SNMP. Some are dedicated
solely to security event management
and others focus on both security
and broader operations.
Microsoft has its own monitoring
product called Microsoft Operations
Manager (MOM) 2005, which fits into
the latter category. MOM is designed
for large enterprises. It’s open and
extensible, meaning that it can be
used to monitor not just Microsoft
products but those from third parties,
and it reports security-related events
and other information.
MOM 2005 is too expensive for
smaller networks, so Microsoft
released MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition, which retails for $499 and is
designed for use in networks with as
many as 10 servers. MOM Workgroup
Edition is also a great tool for larger
environments that want to monitor
only a small number of servers or several groups of servers. (You can deploy
more than one copy of MOM Work-group Edition in an enterprise.) . . .
