For details, go to
http://www.hp.com/education/courses/uc341s.html
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
MIMIC® helps testing of Wi-Fi NMS
MIMIC® helps testing of Wi-Fi NMS
By Gabby Tal, Go Networks
Pankaj Shah, Gambit Communications®
Executive summary
The Wi-Fi management applications in today’s cellular network environments are critical to successful business operations, ranging from providing reliable customer support to ensuring that all devices function at peak efficiency. More than ever, organizations depend on network management solutions to make certain that their cellular network’s health, performance and availability meet the rigorous demands of the business.
GO Networks provides Carrier-Class Cellular Wi-Fi Solutions. GO MBW NMS manages Wi-Fi base stations and outdoor access points and connected end points. The company chose Gambit Communications’ MIMIC Simulator to ensure that the NMS software not only scales and manages hundreds of devices with real-time performance, but also correctly tracks faulty conditions of the devices proliferated all over the Metro area.
Background
Go Networks develops cellular Wi-Fi devices and management applications to enable next generation services for metro networking. GO’s Metro Broadband Wireless (MBW) system is an outdoor Wi-Fi solution that enables carriers to deploy metropolitan networks that deliver robust wireless connectivity to residential and urban areas, schools and corporate campuses, and public spaces.
Figure 1 Metro Broadband Wireless System
Go MBW Network Controller (NMS) is a multiplatform, carrier grade network management solution. It provides the operator with a rich comprehensive and intuitive solution to automatically discover, configure, and monitor the status and performance of the metro broadband wireless network. It scales up from small enterprise deployments up to large-scale Telco networks of 1,000 managed devices. It is based on Client/Server distributed architecture and uses standard SNMP to remotely manage the devices over wired and wireless backhaul links. GO NMS manages all MBW macro/pico cellular base stations and monitors associated WIFI clients and CPEs.
Figure 2 NMS managing a large metro broadband wireless network
The software provides high security management with custom user privileges groups’ support. Powerful performance management including real time and historical performance reports, remote bulk firmware upgrade with scheduling option, geographical map as well as two logical topology views, Inventory, fault management with active alarms and event views, customized alarm notifications (emails) and NBI interface via SNMP.
Problem statement
There are many concerns relating to the management of a cellular –mesh broadband Wi-Fi network. The monitored resources are not located at one place, but distributed all over the metro area with many different environments. Most of them are mounted on lampposts on the street. The real-time management of those devices is very difficult. The NMS has to manage the base stations along with keeping track of Wi-Fi Clients. Wi-Fi clients connect and disconnect at any time and have different traffic patterns and mesh topology changes. The management software needs to be able to gather data from multiple sources and help IT managers quickly isolate and resolve network disruptions, and plan for demand spikes likely to occur during peak workloads.
It is even harder for the testing group to generate all these possible conditions and make sure that the management application passes them without any issues. It is a difficult task to create real life situations like multiple data sources, various traffic patterns and network delays for each of the managed devices in the test lab. It costs a lot of time and money to setup and maintain such a lab but even after that the testing is never complete.
Here are some of the challenges that GO’s NMS testing group had to address. These concern testing of a high degree of dynamic behavior and complex scenarios:
• Mesh topology changes, e.g., Mesh node change to a different “father” as a result of radar detection on the mesh radio frequency at the 5.8 GHz band and as a result the path of its “children” devices route toward the backbone changes.
• WIFI clients associates, dissociates and being handed off by the access points (APs).
• WiFi clients violate service level agreement (SLA).
• The SNMP exchange is done over the air, which introduces delay, based on the number of hops the managed devices is distanced from the backbone.
• When a mesh node gets inaccessible all its sub tree child devices subsequently stop answering to SNMP queries.
• Device level behavior, such as when an access radio gets faulty the associated WIFI clients dissociate from it and associates to another radio having same SSID profile. Devices configuration is restored to its factory default and it loses its IP address.
• Simulation of air interference and consequent performance degradation.
Go Networks overcame these problems by turning to MIMIC Simulator, which made it easy to test their NMS.
Solution – MIMIC Simulator
Figure 3 MIMIC simulating the same large metro broadband wireless network as the real network
It was impossible to create the real world environment in a lab, so Go Networks chose MIMIC Simulator from Gambit Communications. They wanted to make sure that they had tested every possible condition, and that their product was robust before releasing it to customers.
The MIMIC Simulator network simulation software can simulate up to 20,000 devices in one workstation. Each device can have its own device type, IP address and run-time parameters. The devices can be configured independently or in a group. They can be simulated to be geographically local or remote. The configuration and run-time changes can be done interactively using the MIMIC GUI, or programmatically using scripts.
Go Networks simulated many types of micro/pico base station devices. They created many scripts to setup many different types of scenarios. They used the delay function to create delays caused by connections over varying wireless hops to the managed devices.
MIMIC is used 24/7 by the development and testing groups. The developers could create simulations of devices under development, which are not ready for testing. They could easily simulate their proprietary Wi-Fi MIB, which keeps all the statistics about the links and clients.
Testers could do large-scale simulation and test all the features in different network topologies. The engineers wrote many action scripts to create complex and dynamic topologies. Basically, their one device can support many end points like laptops, PDA or other Wi-Fi devices. So if one device goes down, many routes can fail. The MIMIC action and timer scripts simulate all these conditions by dynamically creating and removing the clients, creating a mesh topology, creating and changing the necessary routes, and generating thousands of events like linkUp and linkDown notifications.
Benefits
MIMIC saved both time and money, since the testers didn’t have to wait to test until deployment in the real world. This guaranteed high customer satisfaction with the released NMS software.
The flexibility of the MIMIC software allowed them to test all types of real and pathological conditions without the use of traffic generators, analyzers or any other tools. They could even create scenarios that are almost impossible to setup with the test lab.
Having multi-user access to the virtual lab meant they didn’t have to worry about sharing the devices like real test labs. Each engineer could configure their own lab at any time and in any way they wanted, without worrying about disrupting anybody else’s testing.
With a highly scalable scenario, they could generate the thousands of events, which can occur in normal working conditions and in disaster situations, like a power outage in a geographic region.
Go Networks’ sales representatives can now confidently tell the customers that their software is scalable and will work in a variety of bad conditions. Also, sales can use the same scenarios created by the testing group for customer demos and training.
The best part is that all the test conditions they created are stored so they can share it with different testers. They can also run those regression tests every time there is a new release, and incrementally keep adding more test scenarios.
Summary
The Wi-Fi environment is a very unpredictable one, compounded by the inaccessibility and remote location of the devices to be managed. To be effective, a network management application has to take into consideration the unique challenges of such dynamic and complex scenarios. GO Networks’ MBW NMS is specially suited for these requirements.
Gambit’s MIMIC allows Go Networks to exercise the NMS application thoroughly to make sure that all real-world environments and conditions are tested. MIMIC enhanced their ROI many folds by simulating a real world network in their lab, capable of duplicating the required conditions at a fraction of the cost and effort.
About Authors
Gabby Tal is a NMS Project Manager at Go Networks. For more information on Go Networks’ cellular Wi-Fi devices or management applications, please visit www.GoNetworks.com.
Pankaj Shah is the CEO and co-founder of Gambit Communications, Inc. In order to learn more about MIMIC Simulator and how to create a “virtual lab”, please visit www.gambitcomm.com.
Copyrights/Trademarks
© 2007 GO Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved
© 2007 Gambit Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
By Gabby Tal, Go Networks
Pankaj Shah, Gambit Communications®
Executive summary
The Wi-Fi management applications in today’s cellular network environments are critical to successful business operations, ranging from providing reliable customer support to ensuring that all devices function at peak efficiency. More than ever, organizations depend on network management solutions to make certain that their cellular network’s health, performance and availability meet the rigorous demands of the business.
GO Networks provides Carrier-Class Cellular Wi-Fi Solutions. GO MBW NMS manages Wi-Fi base stations and outdoor access points and connected end points. The company chose Gambit Communications’ MIMIC Simulator to ensure that the NMS software not only scales and manages hundreds of devices with real-time performance, but also correctly tracks faulty conditions of the devices proliferated all over the Metro area.
Background
Go Networks develops cellular Wi-Fi devices and management applications to enable next generation services for metro networking. GO’s Metro Broadband Wireless (MBW) system is an outdoor Wi-Fi solution that enables carriers to deploy metropolitan networks that deliver robust wireless connectivity to residential and urban areas, schools and corporate campuses, and public spaces.
Figure 1 Metro Broadband Wireless System
Go MBW Network Controller (NMS) is a multiplatform, carrier grade network management solution. It provides the operator with a rich comprehensive and intuitive solution to automatically discover, configure, and monitor the status and performance of the metro broadband wireless network. It scales up from small enterprise deployments up to large-scale Telco networks of 1,000 managed devices. It is based on Client/Server distributed architecture and uses standard SNMP to remotely manage the devices over wired and wireless backhaul links. GO NMS manages all MBW macro/pico cellular base stations and monitors associated WIFI clients and CPEs.
Figure 2 NMS managing a large metro broadband wireless network
The software provides high security management with custom user privileges groups’ support. Powerful performance management including real time and historical performance reports, remote bulk firmware upgrade with scheduling option, geographical map as well as two logical topology views, Inventory, fault management with active alarms and event views, customized alarm notifications (emails) and NBI interface via SNMP.
Problem statement
There are many concerns relating to the management of a cellular –mesh broadband Wi-Fi network. The monitored resources are not located at one place, but distributed all over the metro area with many different environments. Most of them are mounted on lampposts on the street. The real-time management of those devices is very difficult. The NMS has to manage the base stations along with keeping track of Wi-Fi Clients. Wi-Fi clients connect and disconnect at any time and have different traffic patterns and mesh topology changes. The management software needs to be able to gather data from multiple sources and help IT managers quickly isolate and resolve network disruptions, and plan for demand spikes likely to occur during peak workloads.
It is even harder for the testing group to generate all these possible conditions and make sure that the management application passes them without any issues. It is a difficult task to create real life situations like multiple data sources, various traffic patterns and network delays for each of the managed devices in the test lab. It costs a lot of time and money to setup and maintain such a lab but even after that the testing is never complete.
Here are some of the challenges that GO’s NMS testing group had to address. These concern testing of a high degree of dynamic behavior and complex scenarios:
• Mesh topology changes, e.g., Mesh node change to a different “father” as a result of radar detection on the mesh radio frequency at the 5.8 GHz band and as a result the path of its “children” devices route toward the backbone changes.
• WIFI clients associates, dissociates and being handed off by the access points (APs).
• WiFi clients violate service level agreement (SLA).
• The SNMP exchange is done over the air, which introduces delay, based on the number of hops the managed devices is distanced from the backbone.
• When a mesh node gets inaccessible all its sub tree child devices subsequently stop answering to SNMP queries.
• Device level behavior, such as when an access radio gets faulty the associated WIFI clients dissociate from it and associates to another radio having same SSID profile. Devices configuration is restored to its factory default and it loses its IP address.
• Simulation of air interference and consequent performance degradation.
Go Networks overcame these problems by turning to MIMIC Simulator, which made it easy to test their NMS.
Solution – MIMIC Simulator
Figure 3 MIMIC simulating the same large metro broadband wireless network as the real network
It was impossible to create the real world environment in a lab, so Go Networks chose MIMIC Simulator from Gambit Communications. They wanted to make sure that they had tested every possible condition, and that their product was robust before releasing it to customers.
The MIMIC Simulator network simulation software can simulate up to 20,000 devices in one workstation. Each device can have its own device type, IP address and run-time parameters. The devices can be configured independently or in a group. They can be simulated to be geographically local or remote. The configuration and run-time changes can be done interactively using the MIMIC GUI, or programmatically using scripts.
Go Networks simulated many types of micro/pico base station devices. They created many scripts to setup many different types of scenarios. They used the delay function to create delays caused by connections over varying wireless hops to the managed devices.
MIMIC is used 24/7 by the development and testing groups. The developers could create simulations of devices under development, which are not ready for testing. They could easily simulate their proprietary Wi-Fi MIB, which keeps all the statistics about the links and clients.
Testers could do large-scale simulation and test all the features in different network topologies. The engineers wrote many action scripts to create complex and dynamic topologies. Basically, their one device can support many end points like laptops, PDA or other Wi-Fi devices. So if one device goes down, many routes can fail. The MIMIC action and timer scripts simulate all these conditions by dynamically creating and removing the clients, creating a mesh topology, creating and changing the necessary routes, and generating thousands of events like linkUp and linkDown notifications.
Benefits
MIMIC saved both time and money, since the testers didn’t have to wait to test until deployment in the real world. This guaranteed high customer satisfaction with the released NMS software.
The flexibility of the MIMIC software allowed them to test all types of real and pathological conditions without the use of traffic generators, analyzers or any other tools. They could even create scenarios that are almost impossible to setup with the test lab.
Having multi-user access to the virtual lab meant they didn’t have to worry about sharing the devices like real test labs. Each engineer could configure their own lab at any time and in any way they wanted, without worrying about disrupting anybody else’s testing.
With a highly scalable scenario, they could generate the thousands of events, which can occur in normal working conditions and in disaster situations, like a power outage in a geographic region.
Go Networks’ sales representatives can now confidently tell the customers that their software is scalable and will work in a variety of bad conditions. Also, sales can use the same scenarios created by the testing group for customer demos and training.
The best part is that all the test conditions they created are stored so they can share it with different testers. They can also run those regression tests every time there is a new release, and incrementally keep adding more test scenarios.
Summary
The Wi-Fi environment is a very unpredictable one, compounded by the inaccessibility and remote location of the devices to be managed. To be effective, a network management application has to take into consideration the unique challenges of such dynamic and complex scenarios. GO Networks’ MBW NMS is specially suited for these requirements.
Gambit’s MIMIC allows Go Networks to exercise the NMS application thoroughly to make sure that all real-world environments and conditions are tested. MIMIC enhanced their ROI many folds by simulating a real world network in their lab, capable of duplicating the required conditions at a fraction of the cost and effort.
About Authors
Gabby Tal is a NMS Project Manager at Go Networks. For more information on Go Networks’ cellular Wi-Fi devices or management applications, please visit www.GoNetworks.com.
Pankaj Shah is the CEO and co-founder of Gambit Communications, Inc. In order to learn more about MIMIC Simulator and how to create a “virtual lab”, please visit www.gambitcomm.com.
Copyrights/Trademarks
© 2007 GO Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved
© 2007 Gambit Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Friday, July 6, 2007
HP Dev Resource Central - Gambit gives non-stop systems a real test
HP Dev Resource Central - Gambit gives non-stop systems a real test
Gambit’s MIMIC Simulator and MIMIC Virtual Lab Enterprise software tools provide
simulation software to enable companies to build their own "virtual labs" for testing
and/or developing software without purchasing hardware and maintaining labs.
Read how the Network Node Manager (NNM) Developer's Toolkit streamlined the
work of Gambit developers, enabling them to launch virtual labs from the HP NNM.
Gambit gives non-stop systems a real test
Test a new application for a non-stop environment, a network comprised of ten thousand
devices? It's essential, of course, but was not so easy until the Gambit Communications,
a Nashua, New Hampshire company, was formed in 1995 to research and develop simulation
software products. The MIMIC Simulator and MIMIC Virtual Lab Enterprise software tools
enable companies to build their own "virtual labs" for testing and/or developing software,
without purchasing hardware and maintaining labs. By simulating the SNMP agent in networking
devices the software simulates up to 10,000 devices in one workstation. MIMIC can be
launched from the HP OpenView management console to run the simulated and real network
side-by-side. More information about Gambit Communications, Inc. can be found on the
Web at
www.gambitcomm.com.
A combination that simulates a production network
Pankaj Shah was serious as he described how a customer's network went down after a newly
deployed network management application blew up. Then smiling, he added that with a few
mouse clicks they changed a few settings and re-ran the application. No problems here...
Shah's customer was delighted with this finding, based on software used in conjunction with
HP OpenView. Gambit has enabled the customer to create a working replica of the production
environment, promoting their ability to safely test new applications and equipment, train
staff on everyday procedures, even practice disaster scenarios and recovery procedures -
and do this with far fewer lab resources.
"Realistically, you simply cannot do this without simulation software", says Shah,
co-founder of Gambit Communications. "IT managers never have enough time. Worse, testing
large networks that are new or revamped and comprising several thousand elements means
you need all kinds of expensive equipment to accurately assess and test." Instead,
Gambit's MIMIC provides a copy of the live network seen at the management console. The
software makes it easy for network managers to disable parts of the network and routers
at key traffic points, simulate cable cuts, change traffic, and generate traffic storms
that will be seen by NOC staffers sitting at their HP OpenView console.
Gambit tools used by prominent corporations
Gambit's customers include prominent international giants Alcatel, Lucent Technologies,
Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, BankOne, MCI, BT, Boeing, VISA. and Hewlett-Packard -
where MIMIC is the linchpin of an educational course helping students gain real network
management proficiency with HP OpenView and NNM.
Linking MIMIC output to HP OpenView
"Sample code copied from the HP OpenView Network Node Manager (NNM) Developer's Toolkit
put our development of MIMIC steps ahead. For example," noted Shah, "we saw how HP NNM
expected to receive files and data, and made it easy to create new items for the MIMIC
GUI that worked from the first time without any trial-and-error involved."
The developers also leveraged the documentation (the HP OpenView Integration Guide for
Developers and the HP OpenView Network Node Manager - Creating and Using Registration
Files) to streamline their work. An especially significant chapter described methods
for creating and using registration files, and how the files are processed, which made
subsequent development of interface components easier.
The guides provided Gambit developers a thorough overview of various possible integration
scenarios. "We are easily able to consider scenarios for integration with HP OpenView
Operations and possibly using HP OV Interconnect to obtain data from HP NNM," said Shah,
"now that our integration of MIMIC with HP NNM is complete."
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
� Copyright 2003 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Gambit’s MIMIC Simulator and MIMIC Virtual Lab Enterprise software tools provide
simulation software to enable companies to build their own "virtual labs" for testing
and/or developing software without purchasing hardware and maintaining labs.
Read how the Network Node Manager (NNM) Developer's Toolkit streamlined the
work of Gambit developers, enabling them to launch virtual labs from the HP NNM.
Gambit gives non-stop systems a real test
Test a new application for a non-stop environment, a network comprised of ten thousand
devices? It's essential, of course, but was not so easy until the Gambit Communications,
a Nashua, New Hampshire company, was formed in 1995 to research and develop simulation
software products. The MIMIC Simulator and MIMIC Virtual Lab Enterprise software tools
enable companies to build their own "virtual labs" for testing and/or developing software,
without purchasing hardware and maintaining labs. By simulating the SNMP agent in networking
devices the software simulates up to 10,000 devices in one workstation. MIMIC can be
launched from the HP OpenView management console to run the simulated and real network
side-by-side. More information about Gambit Communications, Inc. can be found on the
Web at
www.gambitcomm.com.
A combination that simulates a production network
Pankaj Shah was serious as he described how a customer's network went down after a newly
deployed network management application blew up. Then smiling, he added that with a few
mouse clicks they changed a few settings and re-ran the application. No problems here...
Shah's customer was delighted with this finding, based on software used in conjunction with
HP OpenView. Gambit has enabled the customer to create a working replica of the production
environment, promoting their ability to safely test new applications and equipment, train
staff on everyday procedures, even practice disaster scenarios and recovery procedures -
and do this with far fewer lab resources.
"Realistically, you simply cannot do this without simulation software", says Shah,
co-founder of Gambit Communications. "IT managers never have enough time. Worse, testing
large networks that are new or revamped and comprising several thousand elements means
you need all kinds of expensive equipment to accurately assess and test." Instead,
Gambit's MIMIC provides a copy of the live network seen at the management console. The
software makes it easy for network managers to disable parts of the network and routers
at key traffic points, simulate cable cuts, change traffic, and generate traffic storms
that will be seen by NOC staffers sitting at their HP OpenView console.
Gambit tools used by prominent corporations
Gambit's customers include prominent international giants Alcatel, Lucent Technologies,
Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, BankOne, MCI, BT, Boeing, VISA. and Hewlett-Packard -
where MIMIC is the linchpin of an educational course helping students gain real network
management proficiency with HP OpenView and NNM.
Linking MIMIC output to HP OpenView
"Sample code copied from the HP OpenView Network Node Manager (NNM) Developer's Toolkit
put our development of MIMIC steps ahead. For example," noted Shah, "we saw how HP NNM
expected to receive files and data, and made it easy to create new items for the MIMIC
GUI that worked from the first time without any trial-and-error involved."
The developers also leveraged the documentation (the HP OpenView Integration Guide for
Developers and the HP OpenView Network Node Manager - Creating and Using Registration
Files) to streamline their work. An especially significant chapter described methods
for creating and using registration files, and how the files are processed, which made
subsequent development of interface components easier.
The guides provided Gambit developers a thorough overview of various possible integration
scenarios. "We are easily able to consider scenarios for integration with HP OpenView
Operations and possibly using HP OV Interconnect to obtain data from HP NNM," said Shah,
"now that our integration of MIMIC with HP NNM is complete."
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
� Copyright 2003 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
MIMIC Flash presentation
Check out
http://www.gambitcomm.com/presentation/mimic.html
for a Flash presentation about MIMIC Simulator and SNMP Simulation.
http://www.gambitcomm.com/presentation/mimic.html
for a Flash presentation about MIMIC Simulator and SNMP Simulation.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
MIMIC Application Brief: WiMAX Testing
Welcome to the latest MIMIC Application Brief. This month's "MIMIC
Brief" focuses on MIMIC's use as a tool for testing WiMAX devices.
Vendors of WiMAX management applications have to constantly test
their products for unplanned downtime due to equipment and power
failure, along with regular scalability and standard feature
testing. Gambit's MIMIC Simulator provides a virtual test
environment that reliably tests all these at one tenth of the cost!
Until now, the only way to test was to try applications against a
small non-production network or a test lab. Test labs are normally
much smaller than the actual production network, not to mention they
are very expensive to build and setup. Test labs need continuous
updating because of the evolving WiMAX standards along with devices
and technologies.
Network in a Box
-----------------
MIMIC Simulator enables network engineers and testers to create,
record and simulate large production environments. MIMIC can simulate
up to 10,000 local and remote WiMAX based network equipment, base
stations, repeaters, and other networking devices like routers and
switchers in one workstation. Each of these devices can be managed
independently or in a group. Pathological conditions can be easily
reproduced since MIMIC gives control over every single managed object
instance of every device. Instead of using traffic generators, call
generators, or any other physical world device, MIMIC supplies an
environment that can run in a hands-off manner.
Equipment failure like microwave transceivers going down, network
malfunction or bad traffic conditions can easily be created. In
addition to making the local/remote WiMAX network management more
reliable, MIMIC reduces equipment costs, removes lab-sharing
headaches and makes the lab even larger than the production network.
MIMIC can simulate remote WiMAX sites and problems related to those
like delays, packet drops and alerts. It can send a storm of alerts
at any frequency, for as long as needed. The engineer doesn't have
to wait for a specific situation to occur.
The good news is that the engineer can freely experiment with adds
and changes to the network to test features like inventory
management - without the worry of the impact to the production
network. Resetting the original simulated environment is easily
accomplished with MIMIC.
MIMIC makes regression testing a snap by helping to create and save
different network scenarios. These tests can be run as many times as
necessary with minimal setup. Every time a new feature or a bug needs
to be tested, a new scenario to the regression tests can be added.
All this can be done without running around the physical lab and
worrying if all the devices are configured properly. Imagine the time
this would save in the testing procedure! In addition, these test
scenarios can be shared between developers and testers, so that the
unit tests that developers perform can be transferred to regression
tests. Another benefit is that MIMIC can be used by the sales force
or training group in order to demonstrate and train on the
effectiveness of the management software under varying conditions.
MIMIC includes a library of scripts and pre-configured large-scale,
multi-vendor networks. MIMIC also includes a discovery wizard, which
can record and duplicate any local/remote production or test lab
network for WiMAX. Using the applications in their duplicated network
environment gives engineers a personalized, accurate appraisal of the
software. MIMIC also offers an assurance that the software will
perform to specifications. There's no more guessing whether an
application will scale to meet the customer's current and future
needs. Engineers know exactly what to expect from the application -
and what not to expect - which greatly improves customer satisfaction
after the purchase.
MIMIC brings remote site WiMAX environmental conditions and equipment
within the reach of network administrators, by simulating both current
and future production environments.
If you would like to share how you are benefiting from MIMIC or
if there is an aspect of MIMIC that you would like discussed, please
let us know.
Best regards,
Gambit Communications, Inc.
http://www.gambitcomm.com
Brief" focuses on MIMIC's use as a tool for testing WiMAX devices.
Vendors of WiMAX management applications have to constantly test
their products for unplanned downtime due to equipment and power
failure, along with regular scalability and standard feature
testing. Gambit's MIMIC Simulator provides a virtual test
environment that reliably tests all these at one tenth of the cost!
Until now, the only way to test was to try applications against a
small non-production network or a test lab. Test labs are normally
much smaller than the actual production network, not to mention they
are very expensive to build and setup. Test labs need continuous
updating because of the evolving WiMAX standards along with devices
and technologies.
Network in a Box
-----------------
MIMIC Simulator enables network engineers and testers to create,
record and simulate large production environments. MIMIC can simulate
up to 10,000 local and remote WiMAX based network equipment, base
stations, repeaters, and other networking devices like routers and
switchers in one workstation. Each of these devices can be managed
independently or in a group. Pathological conditions can be easily
reproduced since MIMIC gives control over every single managed object
instance of every device. Instead of using traffic generators, call
generators, or any other physical world device, MIMIC supplies an
environment that can run in a hands-off manner.
Equipment failure like microwave transceivers going down, network
malfunction or bad traffic conditions can easily be created. In
addition to making the local/remote WiMAX network management more
reliable, MIMIC reduces equipment costs, removes lab-sharing
headaches and makes the lab even larger than the production network.
MIMIC can simulate remote WiMAX sites and problems related to those
like delays, packet drops and alerts. It can send a storm of alerts
at any frequency, for as long as needed. The engineer doesn't have
to wait for a specific situation to occur.
The good news is that the engineer can freely experiment with adds
and changes to the network to test features like inventory
management - without the worry of the impact to the production
network. Resetting the original simulated environment is easily
accomplished with MIMIC.
MIMIC makes regression testing a snap by helping to create and save
different network scenarios. These tests can be run as many times as
necessary with minimal setup. Every time a new feature or a bug needs
to be tested, a new scenario to the regression tests can be added.
All this can be done without running around the physical lab and
worrying if all the devices are configured properly. Imagine the time
this would save in the testing procedure! In addition, these test
scenarios can be shared between developers and testers, so that the
unit tests that developers perform can be transferred to regression
tests. Another benefit is that MIMIC can be used by the sales force
or training group in order to demonstrate and train on the
effectiveness of the management software under varying conditions.
MIMIC includes a library of scripts and pre-configured large-scale,
multi-vendor networks. MIMIC also includes a discovery wizard, which
can record and duplicate any local/remote production or test lab
network for WiMAX. Using the applications in their duplicated network
environment gives engineers a personalized, accurate appraisal of the
software. MIMIC also offers an assurance that the software will
perform to specifications. There's no more guessing whether an
application will scale to meet the customer's current and future
needs. Engineers know exactly what to expect from the application -
and what not to expect - which greatly improves customer satisfaction
after the purchase.
MIMIC brings remote site WiMAX environmental conditions and equipment
within the reach of network administrators, by simulating both current
and future production environments.
If you would like to share how you are benefiting from MIMIC or
if there is an aspect of MIMIC that you would like discussed, please
let us know.
Best regards,
Gambit Communications, Inc.
http://www.gambitcomm.com
Application Brief: Sales Demonstrations
Application Brief: Sales Demonstrations
Avaya Cuts Demo Costs with MIMIC™ Simulation Tool
MIMIC allows sales force to present dynamic, live CajunView™ Suite demos from laptops
Let’s face it – sales demos of networking gear and network management software are tough to pull off. Networks are complicated, and most vendors cannot afford to set up a demo network in every sales office. A demo, however, is the only way to show the complexities of software and reassure customers that hardware is “real.” Too often, a sales rep’s only option is to fly their customers to the corporate demo facilities. While these facilities are very nice, the networks in them are extremely expensive to build and maintain, have to be shared among sales reps and others that need the facility, and force the customer to commit to spending exponentially more time than they wanted getting a demo. No one will ever know the number of sales that could have been made if demo networks were available locally.
Until now, having a local demo network was a fantasy for most sales reps, but with MIMIC’s SNMP agent simulation technology, virtual demo networks can be set up on a single workstation. With such a “light” demo solution, demos can even be shown to customers right in their offices.
In the past, software and hardware vendors that wanted to bring a network demo to a potential customer had to ship huge boxes of equipment at high cost to the demo site. After the trauma of shipping, there was no guarantee that the devices would work, so smart vendors also sent spares. Set up was required by a technician – taking them out of the field. The cost of all this was exorbitant, including shipping, devices and personnel time. Sometimes after all that, the customer was called away on an emergency.
Today, MIMIC can record a live network, then make the simulation of the network devices available during a demo. For device vendors, they need only show the client one real device, then use the simulation to demonstrate how that hardware scales and how its management application is used. For software vendors, the MIMIC simulated network allows potential customers to experience the capabilities of even the most sophisticated management applications, without the cost of purchasing and lugging around third-party networking gear.
In the past, many sales have been made at vendor showcases – special set-ups where customers were invited to view hardware and software solutions locally. Imagine the increased success of sales teams, each armed with its own personal demo system!
In addition to individual sales demos, MIMIC is perfect for trade shows. MIMIC’s ability to record network scenarios, then play them back at trade shows really supports sales reps in explaining the benefits of their products. With MIMIC, reps are no longer limited to demonstrating their products on the few pieces of equipment available at the show – they can easily demonstrate even the scalability of their products through MIMIC’s ‘network-in-a-box’ capability. A picture’s worth a thousand words… seeing is believing… and demos sell – especially when vendors can show the extreme uses of their products through MIMIC.
Avaya Cuts Demo Costs with MIMIC™ Simulation Tool
MIMIC allows sales force to present dynamic, live CajunView™ Suite demos from laptops
The options for demonstrating networking hardware and the sophisticated software necessary to manage it are limited. Should vendors rent a truck, load it up with equipment and cabling and take it to the customer site? Where would they set it up once they get it there? Should they try to demo the software on the customer’s network? Would the customer allow access to the network for that? What types of unforeseen obstacles – potentially ruining the demo – would be encountered when installing software on a network for the first time? Or should vendors incur the cost to rent a conference room near the customer and spend hours setting up a system, only to have the customer reschedule? Or should they fly entourages of potential clients to a corporate demo center, only to find that one additional person who is key to the decision cycle is not included in the party?
These options consume time and money – not to mention the peril to the potential sale – requiring extensive personnel effort and capital resources. Due to these factors, actual demos of sophisticated networking equipment and network management software are often limited to “serious” customers who warrant the expenditure.
To solve this sales conundrum, Avaya decided to provide laptop-based demos of the complex software and hardware to enable sales force efficiency. Avaya tapped MIMIC, an SNMP agent simulation tool by Gambit Communications, for use in their CajunView Suite laptop demo.
CajunView provides a suite of SNMP-based applications for managing complex enterprise networks more easily. With this product, enterprises using Avaya Cajun Campus products can configure, monitor and control these devices using a single, integrated suite of applications — everything from device configuration to advanced switch monitoring and VLAN management.
Avaya’s CajunView engineers were already using MIMIC to provide simulations of Cajun devices in the test and development cycle, and had seen how it could solve the sales demo situation. MIMIC provided the ability to demonstrate the CajunView’s unique switched management, without building costly demo facilities or traveling shows.
Today, the sales force – which is charged with selling both CajunView and the Cajun switch line – can demo CajunView’s switched monitoring features right from their laptops. This demo mobility increases the number of potential customers that can see CajunView during the decision process, and may eventually lead to shorter sales cycles.
“With MIMIC simulating the hardware, the sales force can show CajunView exactly as they would on a live network,” said Bob Shaw, Marketing Engineer of Avaya. “Customers can see how CajunView handles alarms, how easily devices are diagnosed and configured, and how the different switched network segments are monitored simultaneously. And MIMIC is totally transparent to the sales force, so there’s no additional training time involved.”
Based on the SMON standard, which extends the RMON management standard to switched networks, Avaya’s SMON Master portion of CajunView provides simultaneous management of all switched segments in a network. Many offerings in the marketplace only allow the monitoring of one segment at a time, which makes CajunView an indispensable real-time management tool. MIMIC’s switch simulations allow this multi-segment management capability to be accurately and effectively demonstrated to customers. With MIMIC’s simulations, there is no difference between running a demo with a real device or a simulated device.
MIMIC’s demo scenarios are often more useful than with real networks, because many scenarios are difficult or impossible to create with real networks. For example, on a real network it is hard to create broadcast storms that suddenly grow disproportionately large, or malfunctioning NICs generating large CRC errors, or an Uplink that is causing an overload/congestion situation. MIMIC easily simulates and reproduces these scenarios. Avaya’s sales force can take advantage of this capability to show how SMON Master detects and resolves all these typical problem scenarios.
For the Avaya sales team, MIMIC has eliminated the expense of maintaining additional demo hardware and live demo facilities, as well as the time-consuming coordination of either setting up demos at customer sites or coordinating customer visits to demo centers. Eliminating the shipping of hardware for demos alone represents significant savings.
In addition, the sales team never needs to worry about whether demo equipment and facilities will be available – the demo capability on their laptop exactly duplicates CajunView’s functionality in a live network. From facility costs to equipment capital budgets to shipping costs and personnel administration time, using MIMIC’s simulation capabilities to automate the CajunView demo will create savings throughout Avaya’s sales and marketing organizations.
--
Founded in 1995, Gambit Communications is a leader in network and SNMP simulation tools that enhance the productivity of network management developers and enterprise users while lowering their costs.
Avaya Cuts Demo Costs with MIMIC™ Simulation Tool
MIMIC allows sales force to present dynamic, live CajunView™ Suite demos from laptops
Let’s face it – sales demos of networking gear and network management software are tough to pull off. Networks are complicated, and most vendors cannot afford to set up a demo network in every sales office. A demo, however, is the only way to show the complexities of software and reassure customers that hardware is “real.” Too often, a sales rep’s only option is to fly their customers to the corporate demo facilities. While these facilities are very nice, the networks in them are extremely expensive to build and maintain, have to be shared among sales reps and others that need the facility, and force the customer to commit to spending exponentially more time than they wanted getting a demo. No one will ever know the number of sales that could have been made if demo networks were available locally.
Until now, having a local demo network was a fantasy for most sales reps, but with MIMIC’s SNMP agent simulation technology, virtual demo networks can be set up on a single workstation. With such a “light” demo solution, demos can even be shown to customers right in their offices.
In the past, software and hardware vendors that wanted to bring a network demo to a potential customer had to ship huge boxes of equipment at high cost to the demo site. After the trauma of shipping, there was no guarantee that the devices would work, so smart vendors also sent spares. Set up was required by a technician – taking them out of the field. The cost of all this was exorbitant, including shipping, devices and personnel time. Sometimes after all that, the customer was called away on an emergency.
Today, MIMIC can record a live network, then make the simulation of the network devices available during a demo. For device vendors, they need only show the client one real device, then use the simulation to demonstrate how that hardware scales and how its management application is used. For software vendors, the MIMIC simulated network allows potential customers to experience the capabilities of even the most sophisticated management applications, without the cost of purchasing and lugging around third-party networking gear.
In the past, many sales have been made at vendor showcases – special set-ups where customers were invited to view hardware and software solutions locally. Imagine the increased success of sales teams, each armed with its own personal demo system!
In addition to individual sales demos, MIMIC is perfect for trade shows. MIMIC’s ability to record network scenarios, then play them back at trade shows really supports sales reps in explaining the benefits of their products. With MIMIC, reps are no longer limited to demonstrating their products on the few pieces of equipment available at the show – they can easily demonstrate even the scalability of their products through MIMIC’s ‘network-in-a-box’ capability. A picture’s worth a thousand words… seeing is believing… and demos sell – especially when vendors can show the extreme uses of their products through MIMIC.
Avaya Cuts Demo Costs with MIMIC™ Simulation Tool
MIMIC allows sales force to present dynamic, live CajunView™ Suite demos from laptops
The options for demonstrating networking hardware and the sophisticated software necessary to manage it are limited. Should vendors rent a truck, load it up with equipment and cabling and take it to the customer site? Where would they set it up once they get it there? Should they try to demo the software on the customer’s network? Would the customer allow access to the network for that? What types of unforeseen obstacles – potentially ruining the demo – would be encountered when installing software on a network for the first time? Or should vendors incur the cost to rent a conference room near the customer and spend hours setting up a system, only to have the customer reschedule? Or should they fly entourages of potential clients to a corporate demo center, only to find that one additional person who is key to the decision cycle is not included in the party?
These options consume time and money – not to mention the peril to the potential sale – requiring extensive personnel effort and capital resources. Due to these factors, actual demos of sophisticated networking equipment and network management software are often limited to “serious” customers who warrant the expenditure.
To solve this sales conundrum, Avaya decided to provide laptop-based demos of the complex software and hardware to enable sales force efficiency. Avaya tapped MIMIC, an SNMP agent simulation tool by Gambit Communications, for use in their CajunView Suite laptop demo.
CajunView provides a suite of SNMP-based applications for managing complex enterprise networks more easily. With this product, enterprises using Avaya Cajun Campus products can configure, monitor and control these devices using a single, integrated suite of applications — everything from device configuration to advanced switch monitoring and VLAN management.
Avaya’s CajunView engineers were already using MIMIC to provide simulations of Cajun devices in the test and development cycle, and had seen how it could solve the sales demo situation. MIMIC provided the ability to demonstrate the CajunView’s unique switched management, without building costly demo facilities or traveling shows.
Today, the sales force – which is charged with selling both CajunView and the Cajun switch line – can demo CajunView’s switched monitoring features right from their laptops. This demo mobility increases the number of potential customers that can see CajunView during the decision process, and may eventually lead to shorter sales cycles.
“With MIMIC simulating the hardware, the sales force can show CajunView exactly as they would on a live network,” said Bob Shaw, Marketing Engineer of Avaya. “Customers can see how CajunView handles alarms, how easily devices are diagnosed and configured, and how the different switched network segments are monitored simultaneously. And MIMIC is totally transparent to the sales force, so there’s no additional training time involved.”
Based on the SMON standard, which extends the RMON management standard to switched networks, Avaya’s SMON Master portion of CajunView provides simultaneous management of all switched segments in a network. Many offerings in the marketplace only allow the monitoring of one segment at a time, which makes CajunView an indispensable real-time management tool. MIMIC’s switch simulations allow this multi-segment management capability to be accurately and effectively demonstrated to customers. With MIMIC’s simulations, there is no difference between running a demo with a real device or a simulated device.
MIMIC’s demo scenarios are often more useful than with real networks, because many scenarios are difficult or impossible to create with real networks. For example, on a real network it is hard to create broadcast storms that suddenly grow disproportionately large, or malfunctioning NICs generating large CRC errors, or an Uplink that is causing an overload/congestion situation. MIMIC easily simulates and reproduces these scenarios. Avaya’s sales force can take advantage of this capability to show how SMON Master detects and resolves all these typical problem scenarios.
For the Avaya sales team, MIMIC has eliminated the expense of maintaining additional demo hardware and live demo facilities, as well as the time-consuming coordination of either setting up demos at customer sites or coordinating customer visits to demo centers. Eliminating the shipping of hardware for demos alone represents significant savings.
In addition, the sales team never needs to worry about whether demo equipment and facilities will be available – the demo capability on their laptop exactly duplicates CajunView’s functionality in a live network. From facility costs to equipment capital budgets to shipping costs and personnel administration time, using MIMIC’s simulation capabilities to automate the CajunView demo will create savings throughout Avaya’s sales and marketing organizations.
--
Founded in 1995, Gambit Communications is a leader in network and SNMP simulation tools that enhance the productivity of network management developers and enterprise users while lowering their costs.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Application Brief: Management Service Providers
Application Brief: Management Service Providers
MIMIC Helps InteQ Manage
The basic tenant of network and systems management outsourcing is simple: turn over network and systems management to an organization that specializes in network management and focuses on nothing else. This provides personnel who are uniquely qualified to monitor and manage networks and have the know-how to meet the expectations of a service-level agreement. Customers that decide to outsource network and systems management want their environment to be monitored constantly and professionally. In addition, they do not want the hassle of daily operations and maintaining management personnel.
Theoretically, if an MSP or outsourcer adds clients to their roster, their economies of scale will allow a profit to be made in the venture. As clients are added, however, the complexity of the network and systems management knowledge necessary also increases along with the amount of customization necessary. Given this, how can MSPs and outsourcers effectively deal with the proliferation of networking devices? How can they keep employees’ training up-to-date? How can they provide the internal tools that help meet service level agreement clauses on network availability?
MIMIC™ SNMP Agent Simulator
MIMIC’s simulation capabilities for SNMP-based device recording and simulation provide one solution for dealing with theroliferation of network devices. Using MIMIC’s ability to capture information on real networked devices (including servers), users then have access to that information in a multi-functional virtual lab. Engineers can determine the impact of additional hardware by creating “what if” scenarios using the simulations. Programmers have access to the real hardware information needed for developing custom applications. Support personnel can also use the simulations for troubleshooting remote problems, by recording the remote network and working on the problem at their local lab. This results in a reduction of travel time and the associated expenses. In addition, simulations can be used to train network operators, administrators, and technicians in a “safe” environment that cannot be harmed by a learner’s mistakes or experimentation.
In addition, MIMIC allows MSPs and outsourcers to run disaster simulations without involving the actual, physical network. These disaster simulations provide an important way of assuring customers that their service-level agreements will be met, even in the event of a natural disaster, site outage or line cut. All these functions not only save time and money, but also make it possible to do many tasks that are not feasible within the physical lab environment.
Overall, by using MIMIC, MSPs can support their customers with a higher level of efficiency and quality and get a much greater ROI with the virtual lab.
Customer Profile: InteQ
“MIMIC was the only way to test this level of scalability for our services without bringing in dozens and dozens of servers and network devices.” Jay Martin, Director of Network Infrastructure Engineering, InteQ
MIMIC Helps InteQ Manage
InteQ’s InfraWatch™ is a management service that provides proactive monitoring, notification and Web-based reporting on the health of complex IT and Internet infrastructures. Charged with servicing enterprises whose infrastructures are comprised of all types of networking gear, servers, databases and applications from vendors around the world, how does InteQ assure customer satisfaction given this heterogeneous mix? By simulating its management services before implementing them.
When you’re the first Management Service Provider (MSP) on the market, you have to stay way ahead of the competition in terms of service offerings. In the MSP space, the more customers you take on, the more scalable and diverse your service has to be. You are expected to manage any brand of server or networking device, as well as the mission-critical applications that fuel daily business operations. So, how do you cope with the needs associated with managing large enterprise networks? One solution for InteQ is the MIMICTM Simulator and its SNMP agent simulation capabilities. By using the MIMIC Simulator before monitoring services are used in production, InteQ assures excellence in management and, therefore, customer satisfaction.
When InteQ decided to use a simulation tool, the engineers conducted an exhaustive search and test of all available alternatives. At the end of this rigorous exercise, they determined that the MIMIC Simulator was the best solution for many reasons, including:
MIMIC was the only simulation tool that had the scalability InteQ required for simulating tens of 1000s of nodes from multiple enterprise customer environments.
MIMIC’s extensive library supports virtually any SNMP-manageable object. The library is updated frequently, and there is a mechanism to easily add devices that are not in the library.
Only MIMIC has the capability to manipulate parameters and simulate different network conditions.
MIMIC runs on many platforms, including Linux and Solaris, which is very important to InteQ.
“In addition to these technical reasons,” said Jay Martin, Director of Network Infrastructure Engineering at InteQ, “the Gambit Communications personnel consistently exhibit a can do attitude given our unique business model. Everyone from the sales team to the technical staff was able to understand our requirements and package a solution that has really worked quite well for us. They really took the time to understand our needs and go the extra mile.”
InteQ is planning to implement use of MIMIC in both its R&D and operations areas. In R&D, MIMIC is used in the development of future enhancements to InteQ’s subscription-based services. These services include InfraWatch™, InfraStream™ for data correlation and analysis, as well as a reporting portal called InfraPortal™. MIMIC’s simulation capabilities are used to assure the scalability and reliability of enhancements to these services before they are put into production, managing customers’ IT environments.
“Our business model is based on a one-to-many model, which means that we must be able to provide 24x7 visibility to hundreds of customers and thousands of objects from a few Monitoring Points-Of-Presence™ (M-POPs™),” continued Martin. “MIMIC was the only way to test this level of scalability for our services without bringing in dozens and dozens of servers and network devices.” With MIMIC, InteQ can set up virtual customer labs that simulate real IT environments. By using virtual customer labs for test and development, InteQ will avoid the capital cost of setting up a massive physical lab, as well as the administration headaches associated with managing such labs. MIMIC allows InteQ’s engineers to get right to work on designing and testing new enhancements instead of designing and building physical test labs that are expensive, resource intensive and become obsolete quickly.
“With MIMIC, InteQ’s engineers are able to perform real-world simulations to test the performance, reliability, and look and feel of management services before they’re put into production,” said Stephen Elliot, E-Services Manager at InteQ. In addition, MIMIC easily allows InteQ’s engineers to develop custom management for their clients. When customers request the management of new devices, InteQ will be able to remove the guesswork from this process and meet the client’s needs right from the start. MIMIC allows InteQ to generate a list of events that the new device can generate, then review that list with the client to prioritize importance and set thresholds that meet the client’s individual needs. For many service providers, this process is fraught with guesswork after management begins, ending with frustration on the client side as the process draws out and useless events are generated.
In addition to R&D, InteQ’s operations personnel benefit from MIMIC’s simulation capabilities. InteQ has a 24x7 NOC that responds to infrastructure issues at clients’ sites. MIMIC can be used to train operations personnel when new applications and enhancements are made, before they’ are put into production. Training in a simulated environment allows operators the freedom to experiment with and learn new features, knowing that they cannot endanger the virtual customer network on which they are learning. In this way, operators can experience new alarms and events and be prepared for dealing with them when they appear while managing client networks.
With the help of MIMIC’s simulation capabilities, InteQ plans to continue to lead the MSP marketplace in introducing new and innovative management services. “Our company background in IT service management consulting and management services gives us the knowledge base to innovate and attract mid-sized and large enterprises to our service offerings,” summed up Elliot. “MIMIC allows us to quickly implement those innovations and meet the growing customer demand for IT management services.”
InfraWatch, InfraStream, Monitoring Points-of-Presence and M-POPs are trademarks of InteQ Corporation.
For more info, see www.gambitcomm.com.
MIMIC Helps InteQ Manage
The basic tenant of network and systems management outsourcing is simple: turn over network and systems management to an organization that specializes in network management and focuses on nothing else. This provides personnel who are uniquely qualified to monitor and manage networks and have the know-how to meet the expectations of a service-level agreement. Customers that decide to outsource network and systems management want their environment to be monitored constantly and professionally. In addition, they do not want the hassle of daily operations and maintaining management personnel.
Theoretically, if an MSP or outsourcer adds clients to their roster, their economies of scale will allow a profit to be made in the venture. As clients are added, however, the complexity of the network and systems management knowledge necessary also increases along with the amount of customization necessary. Given this, how can MSPs and outsourcers effectively deal with the proliferation of networking devices? How can they keep employees’ training up-to-date? How can they provide the internal tools that help meet service level agreement clauses on network availability?
MIMIC™ SNMP Agent Simulator
MIMIC’s simulation capabilities for SNMP-based device recording and simulation provide one solution for dealing with theroliferation of network devices. Using MIMIC’s ability to capture information on real networked devices (including servers), users then have access to that information in a multi-functional virtual lab. Engineers can determine the impact of additional hardware by creating “what if” scenarios using the simulations. Programmers have access to the real hardware information needed for developing custom applications. Support personnel can also use the simulations for troubleshooting remote problems, by recording the remote network and working on the problem at their local lab. This results in a reduction of travel time and the associated expenses. In addition, simulations can be used to train network operators, administrators, and technicians in a “safe” environment that cannot be harmed by a learner’s mistakes or experimentation.
In addition, MIMIC allows MSPs and outsourcers to run disaster simulations without involving the actual, physical network. These disaster simulations provide an important way of assuring customers that their service-level agreements will be met, even in the event of a natural disaster, site outage or line cut. All these functions not only save time and money, but also make it possible to do many tasks that are not feasible within the physical lab environment.
Overall, by using MIMIC, MSPs can support their customers with a higher level of efficiency and quality and get a much greater ROI with the virtual lab.
Customer Profile: InteQ
“MIMIC was the only way to test this level of scalability for our services without bringing in dozens and dozens of servers and network devices.” Jay Martin, Director of Network Infrastructure Engineering, InteQ
MIMIC Helps InteQ Manage
InteQ’s InfraWatch™ is a management service that provides proactive monitoring, notification and Web-based reporting on the health of complex IT and Internet infrastructures. Charged with servicing enterprises whose infrastructures are comprised of all types of networking gear, servers, databases and applications from vendors around the world, how does InteQ assure customer satisfaction given this heterogeneous mix? By simulating its management services before implementing them.
When you’re the first Management Service Provider (MSP) on the market, you have to stay way ahead of the competition in terms of service offerings. In the MSP space, the more customers you take on, the more scalable and diverse your service has to be. You are expected to manage any brand of server or networking device, as well as the mission-critical applications that fuel daily business operations. So, how do you cope with the needs associated with managing large enterprise networks? One solution for InteQ is the MIMICTM Simulator and its SNMP agent simulation capabilities. By using the MIMIC Simulator before monitoring services are used in production, InteQ assures excellence in management and, therefore, customer satisfaction.
When InteQ decided to use a simulation tool, the engineers conducted an exhaustive search and test of all available alternatives. At the end of this rigorous exercise, they determined that the MIMIC Simulator was the best solution for many reasons, including:
MIMIC was the only simulation tool that had the scalability InteQ required for simulating tens of 1000s of nodes from multiple enterprise customer environments.
MIMIC’s extensive library supports virtually any SNMP-manageable object. The library is updated frequently, and there is a mechanism to easily add devices that are not in the library.
Only MIMIC has the capability to manipulate parameters and simulate different network conditions.
MIMIC runs on many platforms, including Linux and Solaris, which is very important to InteQ.
“In addition to these technical reasons,” said Jay Martin, Director of Network Infrastructure Engineering at InteQ, “the Gambit Communications personnel consistently exhibit a can do attitude given our unique business model. Everyone from the sales team to the technical staff was able to understand our requirements and package a solution that has really worked quite well for us. They really took the time to understand our needs and go the extra mile.”
InteQ is planning to implement use of MIMIC in both its R&D and operations areas. In R&D, MIMIC is used in the development of future enhancements to InteQ’s subscription-based services. These services include InfraWatch™, InfraStream™ for data correlation and analysis, as well as a reporting portal called InfraPortal™. MIMIC’s simulation capabilities are used to assure the scalability and reliability of enhancements to these services before they are put into production, managing customers’ IT environments.
“Our business model is based on a one-to-many model, which means that we must be able to provide 24x7 visibility to hundreds of customers and thousands of objects from a few Monitoring Points-Of-Presence™ (M-POPs™),” continued Martin. “MIMIC was the only way to test this level of scalability for our services without bringing in dozens and dozens of servers and network devices.” With MIMIC, InteQ can set up virtual customer labs that simulate real IT environments. By using virtual customer labs for test and development, InteQ will avoid the capital cost of setting up a massive physical lab, as well as the administration headaches associated with managing such labs. MIMIC allows InteQ’s engineers to get right to work on designing and testing new enhancements instead of designing and building physical test labs that are expensive, resource intensive and become obsolete quickly.
“With MIMIC, InteQ’s engineers are able to perform real-world simulations to test the performance, reliability, and look and feel of management services before they’re put into production,” said Stephen Elliot, E-Services Manager at InteQ. In addition, MIMIC easily allows InteQ’s engineers to develop custom management for their clients. When customers request the management of new devices, InteQ will be able to remove the guesswork from this process and meet the client’s needs right from the start. MIMIC allows InteQ to generate a list of events that the new device can generate, then review that list with the client to prioritize importance and set thresholds that meet the client’s individual needs. For many service providers, this process is fraught with guesswork after management begins, ending with frustration on the client side as the process draws out and useless events are generated.
In addition to R&D, InteQ’s operations personnel benefit from MIMIC’s simulation capabilities. InteQ has a 24x7 NOC that responds to infrastructure issues at clients’ sites. MIMIC can be used to train operations personnel when new applications and enhancements are made, before they’ are put into production. Training in a simulated environment allows operators the freedom to experiment with and learn new features, knowing that they cannot endanger the virtual customer network on which they are learning. In this way, operators can experience new alarms and events and be prepared for dealing with them when they appear while managing client networks.
With the help of MIMIC’s simulation capabilities, InteQ plans to continue to lead the MSP marketplace in introducing new and innovative management services. “Our company background in IT service management consulting and management services gives us the knowledge base to innovate and attract mid-sized and large enterprises to our service offerings,” summed up Elliot. “MIMIC allows us to quickly implement those innovations and meet the growing customer demand for IT management services.”
InfraWatch, InfraStream, Monitoring Points-of-Presence and M-POPs are trademarks of InteQ Corporation.
For more info, see www.gambitcomm.com.
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