Product Reviews

Strong competition in the network-monitoring software market means there are plenty of good-value choices out there for cash-strapped SMBs, but Ipswitch has pushed the boat out with WhatsUpGold 12. Value is still a high priority, but a raft of new features broaden its appeal to a wider audience.

Version 12 Premium Edition adds support for Windows Management Instrumentation, and provides both application and server monitoring. The former lets you add active monitors for the likes of SQL Server and Exchange, and carry out actions such as restarting failed services. The new Email Monitor uses POP3 and SMTP to check not only that a mail server is up and running, but also that it's receiving and sending email.

All versions offer automatic device discovery, network mapping, device monitoring, alerting and reporting. Ipswitch has moved from an MSDE2000 database to SQL Server 2005 Express, which is loaded during installation. The console components can now run on Windows Vista, XP and Server 2003, but Server 2008 isn't officially supported yet. Installation is fairly simple, though the new licensing feature failed to work for us, and required a support call to remedy.

A Discovery Wizard gets you off the starting blocks, and offers a number of methods for scanning your network. SmartScan queries each network device's SNMP MIB, or you can scan an IP address range, a Windows network or import a hosts file. After the scan is completed, the wizard helps set up actions and alerts for devices that are no longer responding to queries.

The main interface has a tree structure on the left showing the various groups of monitored devices. Selecting a group shows all associated devices in the main window. Dynamic groups can be used to gather devices together based on information

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such as status, type and installed operating system. In response to user demands, Ipswitch now supports 215 Cisco-specific MIBs.

A combination of monitors and actions carry out predefined tasks should a device fail to respond. Active monitors query devices at predefined intervals, and range from a simple Ping to checking NT services, DNS, Telnet, SNMP and, in the Premium version, Exchange, SQL Server and WMI queries. This is where the new Email Monitor comes in, and we tested this with Kerio's MailServer (web ID: 128930); we configured a new active monitor, which sent secure test emails to one account then attempted to delete them from the server to confirm service availability.

Three types of passive monitors watch out for SNMP traps and examine Syslog messages or Windows event logs. As with active monitors, WhatsUpGold maintains libraries of monitors containing common types, but it's easy enough to add your own.

Actions are associated with active and passive monitors, and carry out predefined tasks when a device's status changes, such as activating a warning sound, sending messages via email or SMS, and restarting selected services. Monitors and actions are assigned from the selected device's properties, along with how long the device or service has to be down before the action is activated.

The slick browser interface allows the console to be accessed remotely. Views can be customised to include multiple graphs and device status information. Reporting has been beefed up too, with a wide selection on offer from the web interface. Logs are provided for all monitors, and you can compare statistics for group members. Data can be exported to Excel or text files, although a PDF option would be useful.

The new Split Second Graphs feature adds real-time graphs, charts and gauges to the workspace, including the Windows Task Manager. More insight into a device's status can be gained by placing graphs for historical and real-time data alongside each other.

For general network monitoring WhatsUpGold has always excelled. This latest version adds plenty of useful new features to the melting pot and still offers top value for SMBs.