Re: Admin & Monitor from the Desktop

Jeff Gironda <mainline_at_cloud9.net> wrote:

>I need recommendatrions on windows based admin & monitoring software for
>Oracle7.
 

>Any help is appreciated.
 

>Jeff G

Generally, monitors fall into one of two categories: client or server based.

The software of client based monitors runs exclusively on the client. Generally, client based monitors are more flexible, less expensive and not as scaleable. Client based monitors include: Eventus' AdHoc, Broadmark's DB General and [warning: self promotion on] Menlo Software's DBAware [self promotion off]. Prices: $995+.

Server based monitors typically have "agent" software that runs on the server independently gathering statistics and "monitor" software that runs on the client which allows the user to check in with the server and view the latest data. Generally, server based monitors are less flexble, more expensive and more scaleable. Server based monitors include: BMC's Patrol, Platinum's DB-Vision and Compuware's Eco-Tools. Prices: $6000+.

Key features to look for:

Client software [often a hidden cost]:
  Do I need a dedicated client? [Probablly]   What OS must my client run?
  Is the software complete, or do I need to buy "modules"? [Often a     hidden cost]

Server software:
  If I upgrade servers, must I buy a new license?   Is the server license based on the server's processor and/or number     of licensed users? [Complicated. You may believe you are over     paying, as a user with Oracle and Sybase running on one machine     will pay as much as a user with two machines with the same     processor.]

Queries:
  Can I put in my own queries?
  Can I edit the existing queries?
  Does a query execute at its own rate, or must EVERY statistic be     gathered EVERY cycle?
  Can I group queries to ease the administrative burden?

Graphs:
  Will the graph automatically update when the underlying query     executes?
  Can I move/resize/change defaults of the graphs?

Alarms:
  Can I create alarms?
  What kind of alarms can I create?
  Exactly how do the alarms work. For example does a "paging" alarm     directly access a modem or does it call a batch file that the user     must set up?
  Can I customize the test that triggers an alarm?

Archiving Monitored Data:
  Can I archive data returned by the monitoring software?   Does it save it to a flat file that I must then parse or does it     save it to the data base where I can access it with SQL?   Does it save it to one data base or must I run all over to get my     monitor data?

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Paul

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