HP OpenView Network Node Manager vs. SunNet Manager May 1, 1992 HP OpenView Network Node Manager provides for the centralized management of networks, systems, applications, and test and measurement instrumentation. This article will help you effectively compete against Sun Microsystems. HP's OpenView Network Node Manager and Sun's SunNet Manager are both software products for managing TCP/IP networks and use the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). While these products may at first appear to have similar functionality, a closer comparison illuminates many significant differences. There are two major areas of departure between HP OpenView Network Node Manager and Sun's SunNet Manager. Both areas significantly affect user efficiency and effectiveness. 1) The first important difference is that OpenView Node Manager is designed to enhance the productivity of administrators in the management of Interconnected Multivendor LANs and Systems. SunNet Manager was designed as a management station for only Workgroups of Sun Workstations (just look at the name). SunNet Manager does not scale well into groups of interconnected LANs. Because of this, SunNet Manager requires a network administrator to perform much more work on a daily basis to get his or her job done. Here are the salient reasons why: a) DISCOVERY - Sun's LAN discovery feature is very weak compared to OpenView Network Node Manager's. Network Node Manager automatically discovers all of the nodes on the entire network of interconnected LANs to which it is attached, and monitors and automatically updates all changes made to the network. It uses a patent-pending process which minimizes network intrusion. Network Node Manager discovers at about an Order of Magnitude Faster than SunNet Manager. SunNet Manager offers two different discovery methods to its user, and expects the user to configure it for one or the other. The first, "Watch Mode", listens on the attached Local Segment for IP packets to identify network nodes. Any nodes on other segments which do not generate packets to the local segment or whose packets are filtered from the local segment cannot be identified. Additionally, "Watch Mode" is CPU intensive and cannot be used continuously while running other processes. The second method of Sun's discovery feature requires multiple processes to discover nodes on more than one subnet, and must be Manually configured to discover each individual segment and then looks at Every IP address on each segment to identify nodes. This is a very intrusive and time-consuming process. The process is Static, that is, it does not automatically discover new or changed segments or nodes on the network after it has run, as does Network Node Manager. Both of these discovery methods require the administrator to know all the details of his or her network and spend his or her time administering the network changes to the SunNet Manager station. Network Node Manager does it automatically for them. SunNet Manager makes them waste their time doing it manually. b) NETWORK MAP - OpenView Network Node Manager's network map is fully automatic whereas SunNet Manager's is not. Network Node Manager identifies all network connectivity, i.e., between the subnets, segments, gateways, and nodes, and automatically and correctly displays that connectivity as a network map. It checks for illegal network conditions such as duplicate IP addresses, illegal addresses, and incorrect subnet masks, and alerts the administrator to these conditions if they exist. Network Node Manager continually monitors the network and automatically updates the network map display as changes in status and topology occur. This saves the network administrator a great deal of work on an ongoing basis. SunNet Manager only displays its discovered nodes alphabetically by name and categorized only by subnet. It does not automatically display any connectivity between those nodes or subnets and gateways. The administrator is left to figure out and draw-in all the connectivity him- or herself, and SunNet Manager allows the editing to be done incorrectly, that is, connectivity can be shown between two nodes which are not really connected. All non-Sun devices are displayed as generic devices. Any changes to the network topology, e.g., new nodes or segment changes, must be known by the administrator and drawn-in by him or her which, again, leaves open the possibility of mapping the network incorrectly. Network Node Manager increases the productivity of the network administrator by doing all of this for him or her and automatically updates it with all changes, freeing him or her to focus on their real job of providing services. This is not even mentioning the importance of having up-to-date, accurate information with which to manage their networks and systems. c) ARCHITECTURE - According to industry analysts, HP OpenView is an open architecture and SunNet Manager is proprietary. The Open Software Foundation (OSF) selected HP OpenView technologies to form key components of the Distributed Management Environment (DME), a standards-based framework and unified approach to network, system, and application management. Because of its architecture, HP OpenView Network Node Manager uses SNMP in a native fashion. Because of this, it easily incorporates any vendor-specific MIB. SunNet Manager is inferior for managing multivendor SNMP devices because of its Proxy Architecture that uses RPC for all network communications (a design for Sun workgroup management). SNMP communications become two-step processes for SunNet Manager, and the proxies must be created and then themselves managed. SunNet Manager can quickly become performance bound in networks of interconnected LANs because of this architecture. OpenView NETWORK NODE MANAGER is based on industry standards like SNMP and therefore does not need additional processes or proxy-agent support to manage multivendor network devices. d) EASE OF USE - OpenView Network Node Manager is designed for ease of use. Network Node Manager is typically deployed in less than an hour, has an open, on-line help facility and makes intuitive use of color to display network status. SunNet Manager requires excessive configuration using cryptic syntax, it typically takes days to deploy, it has no on-line documentation, and the user is responsible for setting up interface conventions. Changes to the network require configuration changes to the SunNet Manager software. Network Node Manager is designed to manage change for the user, not vice-versa as with SunNet Manager. 2) The second major area of differentiation is HP's world-wide support and overwhelming commitment to the business of standards- based network and system management. HP OpenView is a broad, multi-vendor platform offering, part of which was selected by OSF as the management framework of the Distributed Management Environment. OpenView Network Node Manager is available on HP- UX, Sun OS, and has been licensed by IBM for the RS 6000. SunNet Manager is only available on Sun OS. In gross comparison, OpenView Network Node manager was designed to increase the productivity of Network and Systems administrators for interconnected multivendor LANs -- SunNet Manager was designed as an element manager for workgroup networks of Sun workstations. When positioning Network Node Manager vs. SunNet Manager, point out the important architectural difference between the products, and also the size of networks they were designed to manage. Network Node Manager was designed to manage entire sites or campuses of up to 2,000 nodes; SunNet Manager can only manage as many nodes as you can keep track of manually (because of the lack of dynamic discovery and automapping), or additional proxy-agents processes that your management environment can support. HP OpenView also has an announced, analyst-acclaimed vision and plan for future product direction, consistent with industry standards and market demands such as OSF's DME, SNMP, and OSI. SunNet Manager's architecture limits the options for any product vision to meet future needs, which may account for the lack of any announced vision.