For
For a sophisticated product, TeVISTA is surprisingly easy to implement, use and control and keeps network loading to a minimum.
Against
None.
Verdict
Total visibility management enables network uptime to be maximized cost effectively - important for companies who have mission-critical networks, particularly if their network is fast growing, distributed and complex.

If you need to have total network visibility, monitoring traffic on all network devices down to the wire, then TeVISTA is a product well worth checking out. While many network management systems create a burden on the very networks they are supposed to protect, TeVISTA does the job without overloading your bandwidth. Compatible with accepted standards like SNMP and Rmon, it also has HSRmon built-in: a unique protocol that delivers benefits without putting unnecessary overheads on the network.

In the past, real-time network management wasn't possible over lower speed WAN links because of the overheads created by the management system, but TeVISTA uses Chevin's high speed remote monitoring (HSRmon) protocol that has been designed specially for low-speed links. Unlike SNMP/Rmon, HSRmon delivers true, real-time visibility of network activity across geographically dispersed networks connected through thin-wire (<2Mbps) interconnecting pipes. It will even give real-time visibility of a LAN across an international 9.6kbps cell phone data connection!

Regarding the SNMP/Rmon v HSRmon debate (if there is one?) Chevin make an important statement on their web site, 'HSRmon is not designed to challenge the establishment. It is intended to open up new opportunities for network managers who need to develop 99.999 percent network availability, on a 24 x 7 basis. It would be ridiculous to expect users of SNMP/Rmon technology to abandon their investments when it really isn't necessary. Network management products from companies such as Hewlett-Packard, CA, Tivoli and Micromuse remain highly useful and will continue to be useful even when products specifically designed for managing today's distributed networks over low speed links are commonplace.'

The important thing to remember is that SNMP management systems, as unique entities, do not in fact constitute a total network management solution. An SNMP centrally managed system (with deployed agents) is all-pervading if it is monitoring a network with only SNMP devices attached, but is this true any more? TeVISTA is hardware independent and requires only one visibility agent per segment whereas SNMP management systems require agents in all SNMP devices.

TeVISTA enables network problems to be anticipated and avoided - even in large, distributed networks that are managed remotely. But it is also a very scaleable product and can be used with the smallest to the largest networks. Its real-time overviews and historical reports let network capacity be scaled to match demand and its intuitive graphical interfaces mean it is incredibly easy to use.

With visibility agents deployed to remote segments, TeVISTA records statistics on an ongoing basis. So, not only can current problems be traced but also historical bottlenecks, providing a retrospective timeline as it were. This can be useful if you want to compare network performance over time, and it can be done from the general to the particular, right down to packet level in fact. This is the kind of nuts and bolts information that many network managers would love to have access to: How busy was a node three months ago? How busy is it now?

Many traditional management systems view attached devices rather than the whole network, so there is no visibility of activity across the network, only information from SNMP-loaded devices. Inevitably valuable information is lost and this is how the problem of 'blind spots' occurs. TeVISTA provides a solution, employing a number of unique mechanisms that allow network managers to monitor all activity across all switches. No expensive hardware probes are required - just easily-installed Visibility Agents at the network segments. Without reading any further, you can probably already see how useful this is in relation to service level agreements.

TeVISTA monitors dataflow throughout the network and passively extracts management information, enabling a formidable array of easy-to-interpret statistical information to be collected. Running the completely customizable reports allows you to take monthly benchmarks to check for usage changes. This means the root causes of problems can be identified before they affect users' services - something that is vital when offering service level agreements (SLAs) or managing mission-critical networks.

Recording response times from nominated devices throughout the network can monitor SLA conformance. As well as collating response-time data for reports (typically using Microsoft Excel), TeVISTA will provide graphical displays showing performance information against pre-defined thresholds, for which alarms can be generated when breached. You can book a slot on the TeVISTA virtual showroom on Chevin's web site, where an engineer will guide you through the workings of the system and show you sample reports and associated graphical displays.

Because TeVISTA monitors the network as a whole it will warn of impending crises before they affect the individual devices. You can be alerted to critical situations at any time via pager or email, while a Java interface allows network information to be accessed from anywhere in the world across Internet, intranet and extranet connections. A problem may therefore be isolated and resolved before an SNMP alarm has even been generated.

A range of conditions such as under or over usage, bandwidth overload, intruder alarms and notification of new devices can be identified, key areas for ascertaining if you are meeting your SLA. Comprehensive health check and trend analysis options provide all the information necessary for capacity planning and change management in a self-writing report format. You can check this information offline and produce an eighteen-page network health check report. When compared with consultancy costs you would incur by employing consultants to do a health check of your network, this feature alone could justify an investment in TeVISTA. Software agents can even gather Rmon statistics from remote probes and switches, convert them to HSRmon, and transmit them across WAN connections with bandwidth saving, which is a great benefit in reporting and trouble-shooting applications.
 

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