NetIQ AppManager

AppManager is a component-level monitoring product that uses agents deployed on Windows and UNIX/Linux servers to collect data and perform various monitoring prcoesses.  Collected data and events are stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database (the repository).  A middle layer between the agents and the database is performed by the Management Server role.  AppManager allows multiple Management Server instances for redundancy and load-balancing.  Each repository and its Management Servers consititue a management site that is administered by a Windows-based console, the Operator Console.

Multiple management sites may be administered from a special console, Control Center, which allows AppManager to scale up to the largest data centers. Reporting is based on a simple ASP-based Web console, but an additional product, Analysis Center, allows the performance data and events from multiple management sites to be consolidated into a single portal built on Microsoft Analysis Services and Reporting Services.

Monitoring functionality is achieved by the active deployment of Knowledge Scripts to agents.  The administrator needs a competent understanding of the agent architecture and the intended functionality of each script to achieve the monitoring purposes efficiently.  Implicit in this process is that the administrator knows what she is monitoring and why--if she fails to identify her requirements clearly, an AppManager system will not figure this out automatically.

NetIQ was started over 15 years ago with a single product, AppManager.  After its initial success with AppManager it entered a phase of acquisitions that ended in 2006 when it was taken private by Attachmate.  As a diversified software products company, Attachmate allows its subsidiaries to pursue their individual niche markets quite independently.

AppManager is sold on a per-agent pricing model that includes an annual fee as a percentage of the purchase price.  Connectors to other management platforms are priced separately.  A license with a paid-up maintenance entitles the user to telephone support in addition to the online Knowledge Base and the Qmunity user forums.

Versatility:  AppManager's ability to monitor a wide range of technologies (e.g., VoIP, VMWare, UNIX/Linux, network devices) has always been andn continues to be a major advantage over other products that are strong in only one area such as networking, Windows or UNIX.  In particular, AppManager has deep capabilities for monitoring the end-user experience of Web and Windows-based applications through its Response Time modules.

Design:  AppManager's elegant design has also been a key differentiator.  It is manifested on the SQL back-end, the agent architecture, and the new Control Center console.  On the back-end, the SQL database has a clean and transparent schema, and many users have added tables and stored procedures to add custom functionality.  On the front-end, the agents execute scripts that are easily edited or extended with VBScript for Windows or Perl for UNIX/Linux.  A by-product of this design simplicity, which becomes especially important in a larger environment, is that all of the AppManager components lend themselves to a very straightforward troubleshooting process.

Reporting:  Just as the administrator must create the monitoring policies for each type of server or application, so too she must create the individual reports as needed.  This can consume a considerable amount of time for an IT department that has many audiences for performance and capacity trending reports in different cross-slices of the overall monitored assets.

Agent Overhead:  While the AppManager agent is relatively lightweight and easy to deploy and maintain, supporting a large number of agents imposes a friction that cannot be avoided.  Exceptions to this ceiling are the proxy-based agents such as the VoIP and VMWare modules.

Version 8 is scheduled to be released in 2010. 

A detailed list of features is described in this Competitive Comparison of AppManager with SCOM 2007.