April 05, 1999, Issue: 1007
Section: Sneak Previews
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Castanet Makes App Distribution a Snap
Ahmad Abualsamid
Software management and distribution is one of the biggest problems facing both network administrators and software vendors. Most vendors use CDs to distribute their software, but this isn't very efficient: Administrators in large organizations must deploy the software on multiple servers and possibly hundreds of client computers, and that takes time.
Given the Internet boom, software vendors are shifting to Web distribution. However, once an application is downloaded, it still must be installed-a process that can't be automated without additional software. Marimba's Castanet, an Internet Services Management (ISM) solution, gives network administrators a hand by automatically distributing and staging applications.
This improved product is clearly ahead of its competition with its multiplatform support; flexible, multitier TCP/IP architecture; easy-to-use interface; and browser integration. I tested a beta version of Castanet 4.0, which is full of new components that streamline software deployment for large organizations, such as Inventory Manager and Subscription Manager.
On top of its vast functionality, Castanet 4.0 significantly reduces deployment and support costs. More uniform client computers on your network minimize potential errors by eliminating manual configurations. Starting at $10,000, Castanet is reasonably priced for handling enterprise deployment issues. It's available for Windows95/98, Windows NT 4.0, Hewlett-Packard Co. HP-UX, IBM Corp. AIX and Sun Microsystems Solaris systems.
Multilevel Management Castanet's architecture is comprised of client software (Tuner), server software (Transmitter) and a network transport (HTTP over TCP/IP). I began testing Castanet by downloading and installing Tuner on my Windows NT Server 4.0-based computer. Tuner let me download and install the rest of the Castanet application suite, including Inventory Manager and Subscription Manager. Once I selected a specific Channel (Marimba's term for applications and data), the Tuner simply downloaded and installed it. It doesn't get any easier than that.
Testing Castanet's new browser-integration module was a breeze. Although Tuner has an easy-to-use interface, the browser interface is more intuitive. When I visited the Marimba site prior to installing the software, I only saw small HTML files that had no useful content. After I installed the Castanet browser integration module, my browser recognized the same HTML files as Castanet Channels.
Another significant addition to Castanet 4.0 is its new Inventory Manager. This addition communicates with a back-end relational database via JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) to store and search inventory information, as well as generate reports. An inventory agent runs on the client machine, gathering information about installed software and hardware, the operating system and available network information. The information is then sent back to the inventory server according to a prescribed schedule. This gives the Inventory Manager a near real-time view of the current status of your clients. If, for example, an IT shop decides to roll out Word 2000 to PC users running Office97, Inventory Manager can generate a report of these users with ease. Inventory Manager requires Oracle8.
Subscription Manager let me specify groups of channels to which a particular user subscribes, and the software on his or her machine was updated automatically in the background. I installed the Subscription Service, a Castanet Channel with no user interface, on the clients. On the server side, I installed Subscription Manager and specified that I wanted to use Subscription Transmitter. In no time at all, I was able to control the updates taking place on my clients.
Although I manually entered the users' names into Subscription Manager, this component also lets you import users' information via an LDAP server, NT directory service or other common directory service. Microsoft Corp.'s SMS lets you perform similar tasks, but I found Subscription Manager's architecture more flexible; the Internet is the only connection between Transmitter, Subscription Manager and Subscription Service, so you can install Subscription Manager across geographically diverse areas.
Remote, unattended installations sound appealing, but can be a headache without proper security. Castanet provides both authentication and authorization, and uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption techniques for the downloaded channels. (You will need to purchase and install a certificate on your machine that runs Tuner.) For authorization, you can set up users and groups that have access to administration functions. Again, I chose to set up the users manually, but you can obtain the information from a directory server. Next, I assigned the proper authorization to administer the Transmitter.
Marimba should consider integrating DMI (Desktop Management Interface) and other DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force) initiatives. This would enable the software to collect data transparently from DMI-enabled computers.
Neil
Hope to get in IPO - Not much talk on it though |
