EM7 G2 Technology Overview

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EM7 G2 solutions are deployed in an efficient and easily scalable extensible appliance architecture -where core functions are distributed to three "tiers" of dedicated EM7 Appliances:

  1. Data Collectors
  2. Centralized Database
  3. Application/Report Server

Distributing functions in tiers enables customers to maximize the performance of the appliances that make up the total EM7 G2 solution. Each dedicated EM7 Appliance has been tuned for optimal performance of specific EM7 functionality. For example, each Data Collector can manage hundreds of nodes and independently collect and correlate syslog and other forms of inbound messaging. Data Collectors can be positioned almost anywhere in your network, giving additional fail-over and fault tolerance for remotely managed systems and devices. In fact, the three tiers can be geographically dispersed depending on customer-specific network configuration, firewalls, etc. with only a limited number of ports required to be open between the tiers to preserve customer-specific security policies.

EM7 G2 vs Traditional Centralized Monitoring Systems

Traditional centralized management systems require administrators to open a vast number of ports to allow traffic to flow back for anything that needs to be monitored. In our decentralized system, traffic from each monitored device only needs to be able to reach the Data Collection Server instead of going all the way back to the central monitoring system which could be behind firewalls or have additional security restrictions.

This architecture not only reduces the number of open ports and firewall access for monitoring traffic, but it also reduces the amount of data that must be carried across the WAN to that required by just the retention and event rules. Log parsing, trap handling and polling can all occur at the Data Collection tier. In other words, heavy communication between boxes and Data Collection Server(s) can happen locally on the LAN where companies usually have plenty of bandwidth instead of across the WAN where bandwidth may be limited and/or expensive.

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts
EM7 Distributed Appliances work together to multiply the performance capacity of any single appliance. Cost-effective scalability is built into this architecture; additional devices can be added to EM7 monitoring simply by deploying additional Data Collectors. In this way, customers can continue to grow rapidly and easily. When it's necessary, the Centralized Database and Application/Report Servers can be upgraded to add capacity to the entire EM7 system, and the old appliances can even be recycled for use as additional Data Collectors.

Collection of Data from Devices and Integration with 3rd Party Solutions
EM7 G2 utilizes a combination of both passive and active methods for gathering data and event information from devices and existing third-party solutions - regardless of vendor or operating system.

Passive Monitoring: EM7 G2 can accept email, traps, syslogs, informs
Active Monitoring: EM7 G2 polls devices using:

  • SNMP v1, v2, v3
  • HTTP/S to retrieve XML-formatted data or to perform Web Content Verification
  • SQL queries through the Dynamic Application engine
  • SMTP for round-trip mail performance testing
  • ICMP checks
  • TCP Port checking

Web-Based Access and Notifications
Users access EM7 G2 via HTTP/S in a Web-based console that can be customized based upon access level, function, geography, etc to show the devices, events, tickets and other EM7 G2-collected information needed to help them perform their jobs. No client software is required. EM7 G2 sends customized notifications for events and tickets via email and RSS feeds to desktops or handheld devices.

Agentless and Agent-based Monitoring
Most of the functionality provided by EM7 G2, particularly that based upon SNMP monitoring, does not require agents to be installed. Some systems may have pre-installed agents, e.g., Dell OpenManage, IBM Director and HP/Compaq Insight Manager, that are used by EM7 G2 Dynamic Applications to provide very granular monitoring. Customers may require WMI agents for advanced monitoring of MS SQL, MS Exchange, MS IIS and automated server stops and restarts.