Q & A
CiscoWorks Small Network Management
Solution v1.5 (CiscoWorks SNMS)
Q. What is CiscoWorks Small Network Management Solution?
A. CiscoWorks SNMS is a cost-effective, comprehensive web-based network management solution aimed at the small to medium business (SMB) segment, with networks of 40 or fewer Cisco devices.
CiscoWorks SNMS provides a powerful set of monitoring and configuration tools for SMB networks and workgroups containing Cisco internetworking products such as switches, routers, hubs and access servers. CiscoWorks SNMS can also monitor non-Cisco IT assets such as servers, applications, services and printers.
Q. What's new in CiscoWorks SNMS 1.5?
A. CiscoWorks SNMS 1.5 has a new user interface which is easy to understand. The all-new workflow provides a single window to access all the applications. Users can launch any application like Essentials, CiscoView and What's Up Gold from one another. SNMS 1.5 introduces two powerful concepts: "Device Dashboard" that gives the user a snapshot of the current state of the device, and "Configuration Base lining" that gives configuration mismatches via templates on Cisco Devices. You can use these two new innovative concepts to enhance device management capabilities.
This version has the following new components:
CiscoView 6.0—The all-new HTML based CiscoView provides the following powerful features:
What's Up Gold 8.0 from Ipswitch, Inc.— Provides network discovery, mapping, monitoring, and alarm tracking. WUG 8.0 has an enhanced discovery mechanism that allows you to save performance-related data from various devices. Additionally, the Short Messaging System enhances the alerting mechanism feature available with the application
Resource Manager Essentials 3.5— Resource Manager Essentials or Essentials (RME) is a powerful, intuitive, browser-based application that streamlines the tasks associated with network administration. These tasks include building and managing network inventory, deploying configuration and software image changes, archiving configurations, and providing an audit trail of network changes. RME 3.5 version also introduces "Configuration Base-lining" a new feature that suggests configurations based on best practices through templates.
Important: Only RME and CiscoView have a device limit of 40 or fewer Cisco devices. What's Up Gold does not have a similar restriction. This means in a network comprising of lets say 50 network Devices (Cisco and Non Cisco), 500 PCs and 5 servers, SNMS would be able to discover and monitor all of them but manage (use Cisco View and Essentials) 40 or fewer Cisco Devices.
Q. What are the benefits of CiscoWorks SNMS 1.5?
A. One of the important benefits of CiscoWorks SNMS is its cost-effectiveness and its ease of use. Small to medium (SMB) businesses can make the most of their hardware investment by maximizing network productivity, and substantially increasing the uptime. It is a simple tool that will help users do more with less.
Q. What is What's Up Gold?
A. What's Up Gold is a network discovery, mapping, monitoring, and notification tool from Ipswitch, Inc. What's Up Gold has features include:
- Graphical display of IT assets and monitoring of multiple network maps
- Auto discovery of network devices
- Remote notification by beeper, pager, e-mail, or prerecorded telephone messages
- Monitoring of a wide range of network elements, including hosts, servers, workstations, bridges, routers, hubs, and printers.
- Monitoring of user-defined services
- Basic Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) functions (receive and log traps, generate notifications, and view information); reporting on performance, events, and statistics
Q. Can CiscoWorks SNMS manage a multi vendor network?
A. Yes, it can. The What's up Gold application in CiscoWorks SNMS provides monitoring tools for SNMP enabled devices from multiple vendors. However, the RME and CiscoView functions work for Cisco devices.
Q. Can I upgrade to the CiscoWorks Lan Management Solution from CiscoWorks SNMS 1.5?
A. Yes, An upgrade from CiscoWorks SNMS to the CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution is provided.
Q. Are there dependencies on other CiscoWorks products?
A. No. CiscoWorks SNMS does not have any dependencies.
Q. Will CiscoWorks SNMS 1.5 integrate with HP OpenView or any other Enterprise Management application?
A. No. CiscoWorks SNMS comes with its own discovery process and network topology tools. Therefore, OpenView or any other integration tools are not provided.
Q. What are the system requirements for SNMS 1.5?
A. You would require the following:
Q. How is CiscoWorks SNMS different from the CiscoWorks2000 LAN Management Solution (LMS) and Routed WAN Management Solution (RWAN) bundles?
A. CiscoWorks SNMS is targeted at small to medium sized networks having around 40 devices, while the CiscoWorks2000 LAN Management Solution (LMS) and Routed WAN Management (RWAN) bundles are aimed at enterprises with large networks and trained network management staff.
Q. How is CiscoWorks SNMS different from CiscoWorks for Windows?
A. CiscoWorks SNMS provides a comprehensive suite of lifecycle management tools (config, inventory, syslog, software and change management) through the Resource Manager Essentials application. These management tools are not provided in CiscoWorks for Windows.