HP weaves Web into NetMetrix >BY CHRIS BUCHOLTZ, West Coast Bureau Chief

A collection of new World Wide Web-based tools will offer users of Hewlett-Packard's NetMetrix network monitoring solution the ability to check up on their networks from any browser.

The NetMetrix product additions-the latest in a series of vendor offerings that allow decentralized monitoring of centralized management systems-are intended to help improve service-level management.

"We're trying to make it easier for managers to get at exactly the information they need and to get it in the form they have easiest access to," said Steve Johnson, product manager for the NetMetrix operation. "By doing that, we can accelerate response time and, hopefully, help to keep the end users happy.

To make it easy for network managers to track network response information, HP has integrated its Internetwork Response Manager and NetMetrix Reporter, a software application that provides automated, Web-based reporting. This information can be viewed from any Web browser or on the HP OpenView network node manager console.

HP also has added the ability to measure global network performance via the Web by enabling managers to look at critical parameters across the entire network rather than one segment at a time. For example, managers can examine the busiest servers, clients or segments over a period of time and examine their effects on network performance.

"It doesn't really make much sense to focus on one metric when it may simply be a symptom of a problem elsewhere in the network," Johnson said. "If we can indicate a correlation between metrics, managers can come to conclusions about what solutions are needed and attack problems much more quickly.

The NetMetrix 4.7 includes internetwork response and node availability in an HP OpenView environment as well as a global network performance measurement. In addition, HP has added exception reporting capabilities to NetMetrix.

When managing a network with hundreds of segments, keeping track of metrics may require managers to keep a close eye on thousands of measurements. Exception reporting enables managers to focus their inquiries on specific network situations and presents relevant information when normal conditions for those situations are violated.

The use of the Web to provide managers with a view of their networks is one of the more important trends in network management today, analysts say.

It lets managers be more mobile and simplifies work for new personnel, said Eileen Healy, president of Pleasanton, Calif.-based consultancy Healy and Co.