This is the "Read_Me.txt" file distributed with MG-SOFT Net Inspector 2012 with MIB Compiler for Windows. Copyright (C) 1995-2012 MG-SOFT Corporation. All rights reserved. ============================================================================ Table of contents ----------------- 1. Contents of this Package 2. About Net Inspector 3. Different Editions of Net Inspector 4. Installing the Software 5. MG-SOFT Corporation on the Internet 6. Ordering the Software 7. Licensing Agreement 8. Contacting MG-SOFT Corporation ============================================================================ 1. Contents of this Package --------------------------- This distribution contains the installer for MG-SOFT Net Inspector software that can operate in LITE, WorkGroup or Enterprise mode, depending on your license. The package includes and installs also PostgreSQL Database Management System that is used for managing the Net Inspector database. For step-by-step instructions on installing the software, please refer to the Net Inspector Installation and Configuration Guide document included in the distribution. ============================================================================ 2. About Net Inspector ---------------------- Net Inspector version 2012 is a powerful fault and performance network management application designed for monitoring the status and performance of managed devices and for managing alarms (ITU X.733 compliant) associated with devices in the supervised IPv4 and IPv6 networks. In addition, the software provides built-in support for the IP SLA monitoring (including VoIP QoS) and NetFlow monitoring. Net Inspector implements advanced network discovery algorithms that let it discover all devices on the network supporting SNMP or ICMP Ping protocol, as well as the physical and logical topology of the network. Discovered devices are represented by icons that are automatically linked with connection lines and mapped into layered maps that reveal how devices are logically arranged into networks and subnets on the IP level. Due to its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Net Inspector lets you start monitoring your network almost instantly, without any special training. Net Inspector is a client/server application. The server module continually monitors important SNMP variables and services on your network devices and triggers alarms when there is a problem (e.g., if a device or service stops responding, if SNMP variable crosses the threshold value, etc.). The software has a built-in support for monitoring the status of a variety of network services (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, DNS, SMTP, IMAP, IMAPS, POP3, SSH, Telnet, NNTP, NNPTS, LDAP, LDAPS, IPP, LPD, MsSQL, MySQL and Oracle service). Besides, it receives SNMP Trap and Inform notifications, which are sent to it by managed devices when important events occur. Net Inspector Server translates received SNMP notifications into alarms, stores alarms in a database and dispatches information about alarms to connected clients. Net Inspector Client, on the other hand, is a pure Java (TM) application that connects to the server and provides a graphical user interface that lets you view and manage alarms on managed objects, monitor the status of managed objects, as well as configure the client and certain parameters of the server application. In addition to fault management, Net Inspector incorporates also full-featured performance management functionalities (provided by the integrated MG-SOFT Performance Manager application), effectively covering both crucial network management areas. The advantage of the integrated fault and performance management is that full history of alarms and performance data is available at the central point, which allows you to see a more realistic picture of the health of the network and let you bring educated decisions, based on trend reports, regarding its maintenance. Further advantage is that the integrated system enables you to monitor virtually any parameter available through SNMP (vendor-specific metrics, vendor-specific traps), and let you deploy distributed polling engines that enable load balancing and better performance of the management system. Distributed management also makes the system easily scalable without seriously degrading its performance, so the management system's capacity can seamlessly grow with your network. Besides, Net Inspector incorporates NetFlow monitoring, providing detailed IP traffic statistics, i.e., the applications that generate the most traffic, endpoints (IP addresses) that receive and generate the most traffic, protocols that are used most, etc. NetFlow statistics can now be monitored for arbitrary endpoints. NetFlow information is obtained by collecting, analyzing and aggregating NetFlow packets exported by the NetFlow-enabled devices. NetFlow monitoring effectively complements the standard SNMP monitoring and together they offer a valuable insight into the network infrastructure and bandwidth utilization and let you easily identify the cause of congestions, etc. Monitoring IP traffic flows facilitates more accurate capacity planning and ensures that resources are used appropriately in support of organizational goals. It helps IT determine where to apply Quality of Service (QoS), optimize resource usage, etc. Furthermore, Net Inspector also lets you monitor the IP SLA statistics, including HTTP, FTP, TCP, DNS and VoIP Quality-Of-Service metrics (e.g., MOS, jitter, latency, packet loss, etc.) on devices implementing the IP SLA functionality (e.g., Cisco routers). The software can perform various actions when network events occur. In addition to sending e-mails and executing arbitrary commands (e.g., to fix specific network problems in an automated fashion), Net Inspector can notify users of important alarms also by sending SMS (Short Message Service) text messages through the attached mobile phone. Net Inspector is available in several editions. The LITE edition is a fault management platform suitable for small networks, while the WorkGroup and the Enterprise editions let you efficiently monitor the status, health and performance of medium- and large-sized networks. Net Inspector Server is available for MS Windows operating systems (Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7), as well as for Linux (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6). Net Inspector Client, on the other hand, runs on all operating systems with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), version 6.x (a.k.a. 1.6.x). This product includes software JGoodies Forms, JGoodies Looks, and Apache Xerces XML Parser for C++. This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org/). This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com). This product includes software written by Tim Hudson (tjh@cryptsoft.com). For full licensing information refer to the "THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.TXT" file located in the \Doc subfolder. ============================================================================ 3. Different Editions of Net Inspector -------------------------------------- MG-SOFT Net Inspector 2012 (v8.x) for Windows is available in three editions. Editions differ regarding the number of network devices/objects that can be monitored, regarding the number of concurrent client/server connections, and regarding the support for performance management functionality, including the IP SLA and NetFlow monitoring capabilities. The following editions of MG-SOFT Net Inspector are available: * Net Inspector LITE Edition -------------------------- This edition supports monitoring up to 64 network devices and lets you establish at most 5 concurrent client/server connections. This edition does NOT incorporate performance management functionalities. * Net Inspector WorkGroup Edition ------------------------------- This edition supports monitoring up to 500 network devices and lets you use at most 5 concurrent client/server connections. Besides, this edition has integrated Performance Manager module that allows monitoring up to 2000 managed objects and supports monitoring the IP SLA (incl. VoIP QoS) metrics on Cisco routers. In addition, it enables NetFlow monitoring (max. 2 NetFlow sources). * Net Inspector Enterprise Edition -------------------------------- This edition supports monitoring up to 1000 network devices and lets you use up to 25 concurrent client/server connections. Besides, this edition has integrated Performance Manager engine that allows monitoring up to 4000 managed objects and supports monitoring the IP SLA (incl. VoIP QoS) metrics on Cisco routers. In addition, it enables NetFlow monitoring (max. 10 NetFlow sources). Furthermore, this edition supports distributed management (10 polling engines) and is scalable. It can be easily upgraded to allow monitoring additional N x 1000 devices/N x 4000 objects (+ 10 additional polling engines for each 1000 devices/4000 objects can be deployed). This way, Net Inspector's capacity can seamlessly grow with your network. NOTE: A managed object in the context of performance management is either a monitored network device, a monitored network interface or a monitored storage volume (disk partition). ============================================================================ 4. Installing the Software --------------------------- Make sure to install the latest version of the software as available from http://www.mg-soft.com/download.html System Requirements ------------------- * Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7. (1) * Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Windows, version 6.0 (a.k.a. 1.6) or later is required on all computers that will run Net Inspector Client. JRE can be downloaded from the following Web page: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp * MS Internet Information Services (IIS), with enabled WWW services, ISAPI Extensions and (Fast)CGI Extension. (2) (1) Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 is strongly recommended for using the WorkGroup and Enterprise Edition of Net Inspector (2) This is not required when installing the LITE Edition of Net Inspector (which does not include the Performance Manager functionalities) and also not required for other editions of Net Inspector if you do not want to install the Performance Manager polling engine to the same computer as Net Inspector. Additional requirements: * Aministrator privileges are required to install Net Inspector. * IP address(es) of the host(s) running Net Inspector and Performance Manager applications must not change after the software has been installed. * At least 250 GB free disk space is required for the Net Inspector NetFlow database if the Net Inspector NetFlow module (installs together with Performance Manager) is used for actively collecting and analyzing NetFlow streams. Installation Procedure ---------------------- To install the software, unzip the distribution zip file and run the "setup.exe". Follow the on-screen guidelines. For step-by-step instructions on installing the software, please refer to the Net Inspector Installation and Configuration Guide document included in the distribution. ============================================================================ 5. MG-SOFT Corporation on the Internet -------------------------------------- * MG-SOFT Web Site http://www.mg-soft.si/ * MG-SOFT Products http://www.mg-soft.si/products.html * MG-SOFT Sales Page http://www.mg-soft.si/sales.html * MG-SOFT Support Page http://www.mg-soft.si/support.html * MG-SOFT Corp. Profile http://www.mg-soft.si/profile.html * MIB Browser Professional http://www.mg-soft.si/mgMibBrowserPE.html * Trap Ringer Professional http://www.mg-soft.si/tringer.html * Net Inspector http://www.mg-soft.si/netinsp.html * NETCONF Browser Professional http://www.mg-soft.si/mgNetConfBrowser.html * Visual YANG Designer Pro. http://www.mg-soft.si/mgYangDesigner.html * Visual MIB Builder http://www.mg-soft.si/builder.html * MIB Explorer http://www.mg-soft.si/mgMibExplorer.html * SNMP Master Agent http://www.mg-soft.si/agent.html * SNMP Agent Simulator http://www.mg-soft.si/mgSnmpAgentSimulator.html * SNMP Proxy Agent http://www.mg-soft.si/mgSnmpProxyAgent.html Announcing New Releases ----------------------- Visit http://www.mg-soft.si/news_announce.html for the latest information about the scheduled software releases and updates. Evaluation Software ------------------- Evaluation software is available for downloading from MG-SOFT's web site at http://www.mg-soft.si/download.html To apply for a 30-day evaluation license key, fill in and submit the on-line order form at http://www.mg-soft.si/evalKeyReq.html For immediate software release notifications, subscribe to our mailing list at http://www.mg-soft.si/maillist.html ============================================================================ 6. Ordering the Software ------------------------ To obtain the latest ordering and licensing information, visit http://www.mg-soft.com/sales.html or contact . For details on licensing arrangements for licensing MG-SOFT's software products visit http://www.mg-soft.com/licenseTypes.html ============================================================================ 7. Licensing Agreement ---------------------- Check the "License_Agreement.txt" file that was installed with the software. Also, check the "License_Types.txt" file or visit http://www.mg-soft.com/licenseTypes.html for details on various licensing arrangements for licensing MG-SOFT's software products. Contact for additional information. ============================================================================ 8. Contacting MG-SOFT Corporation ---------------------------------- For the latest information about our products, check our WEB site at http://www.mg-soft.com/ or contact us directly. You can subscribe to our mailing lists on-line by submitting the application form at http://www.mg-soft.com/maillist.html If you don't have access to the Internet, let us know by e-mail that you wish to subscribe and we will add you to the list of recipients. For additional information about MG-SOFT Corporation, please contact the following address: MG-SOFT Corporation Phone: +386 2 2506565 Strma ulica 8 Fax: +386 2 2506566 2000 Maribor E-mail: info@mg-soft.com Slovenia Internet: http://www.mg-soft.com/ ============================================================================