NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NEAL WEINBERG on
PRODUCT REVIEWS
12/21/01
Today's focus: Gigabit Network design tools, Part 2

Dear Wincenty Kaminski,

In this issue:

* A closer look at the Visionael, Microsoft and Didyma net
design tools
* Links related to Network World product reviews
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Network design tools, Part 2

By Neal Weinberg

As we said last time, nobody's perfect, and neither were the
various network design tools we tested.

We tested Visionael's Visionael 6.4, Compuware's EcoPredictor
3.2, Microsoft's Visio Professional 2002 with Enterprise
Network Tools, NetRule 4.0 from Analytical Engines and Bert
Houtriet's shareware Didyma 1.72. In the last newsletter, we
looked at EcoPredictor and NetRule. This time, we turn our
attention to the rest, none of which met our criteria for a
full-featured network design tool.

Visionael is a superior tool for discovering, designing and
documenting a network, but it didn't let us simulate
application or network activity.

Didyma can discover, design and document a network, but it
can't simulate the effect of the changes you make.

Microsoft's Visio is an excellent network design diagramming
tool that, with the Enterprise Network Tools option, can
discover and document a network, but it can't simulate
application activity within the network.

Visionael was the most complex and comprehensive of the
products we tested. In the lab, its discovery feature used
SNMP-based software probes to gather network layout and device
identification data. Optional Microsoft System Management
Server and Hewlett-Packard's OpenView software probes can
collect data from those respective products.

Because Visionael is as much a network and system inventory
tool as a design tool, the discovery process collects far more
computer and network device detail, such as basic I/O system
versions and adapter slot usage, than a network planner needs.

During design sessions, the diagramming tool collects this same
level of detail about proposed network components. Even while
you're designing network changes in Visionael, it continues to
monitor the existing network to ensure its baseline data is
accurate. In our tests, Visionael stored network component data
relationally in an Oracle 8i database. Visionael also offers
versions of its product that work with Sybase Adaptive Server
or Microsoft SQL Server.

Visio's Enterprise Network Tools option collects the same
information regardless of whether a network node is a router or
a computer. Visio stores its diagramming specifications and
network device details in a proprietary binary format. In
addition to rendering the network drawing in hard copy or Web
page form, Visio can produce Web pages, Visio table shape or
XML-based asset reports containing asset types, asset owners,
names and manufacturers. Visio can also export data to
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access or a relational database via
Open Database Connectivity.

While it doesn't have a simulation feature for modeling the
behavior of a proposed network design, Didyma has a monitoring
function that can periodically ping existing network devices to
detect their health. Its discovery feature updates the current
design workspace with only the identities of the devices it
finds, which makes for even more data entry effort during the
design sessions that follow a discovery operation.

Furthermore, as it collects data during a design session,
Didyma doesn't distinguish among the various types of network
nodes. Whether a node is a computer, router or other device,
Didyma, like Visio, asks for the same information. This
consists of name, IP address, SNMP community string, interface
type (Ethernet, token ring or serial), media access control
address, DNS name, whether to monitor the node and whether to
include it in reports.

For the full report, go to:
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2001/1203bgtoc.html

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To contact Neal Weinberg:

Neal Weinberg is features editor at Network World, in charge
of product reviews, Buyer's Guides, technology primers,
how-tos, issue-oriented feature stories and the Technology
Insider series. You can reach him at mailto:nweinber@nww.com.
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RELATED LINKS

The Thinkmap Web design tool: Outstanding
Network World Web Applications Newsletter, 01/19/00
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/web/0117web2.html

Application development tools on tap from Microsoft
Network World, 05/28/01
http://www.nwfusion.com/archive/2001/121066_05-28-2001.html

The archive for Reviews is:
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/index.html
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