Web Based Monitoring and Management: RE: WBMM> RE: Scope and

RE: WBMM> RE: Scope and Starting Point & some use cases

From: Wagner,William (WWagner@NetSilicon.com)
Date: Tue Mar 04 2003 - 14:42:44 EST

  • Next message: Harry Lewis: "WBMM> Minutes from March 4 conf call"

    Cathy,

    Many thanks. This provides something a bit more concrete to consider. And indeed, the modes of operation suggested require considerations extending well beyond the model and the degree of accessibility.

    Bill Wagner

    -----Original Message-----
    From: MARKLE,CATHY (HP-Boise,ex1) [mailto:cathy_markle@hp.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 1:42 PM
    To: Wagner,William; MARKLE,CATHY (HP-Boise,ex1)
    Cc: 'Wbmm (E-mail)
    Subject: RE: WBMM> RE: Scope and Starting Point & some use cases

    Bill,

    At the very last minute, I have managed to accumulate some use cases.
    Hopefully these will explain some of the viewpoints that have been mentioned
    to the group. I'm also hoping that people will have enough time to read
    them for them to be useful this afternoon.

    Thanks,
    Cathy

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Wagner,William [mailto:WWagner@NetSilicon.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 11:30 AM
    To: MARKLE,CATHY (HP-Boise,ex1)
    Cc: 'Wbmm (E-mail)
    Subject: RE: WBMM> RE: Scope and Starting Point

    Cathy,

    Thanks for the explanation. And I fully agree that WebJetAdmin could use
    its server capability to accept inputs from monitored devices/services,
    using whatever scheme WBMM comes up with.

    But there are still a few points that are unclear to me.

    At least in all of the instances I am aware of, the purpose and level of
    management from outside the firewall is quite different from
    intra-enterprise management. Indeed, it is likely the local managers will
    require that remote access be limited. That is, the functional purposes of
    remote management point to different operational capabilities than are
    required for local management. Since WJA must continue to support SNMP for
    the existing base, why put the additional requirements associated with local
    management upon WBMM when the main purpose of using an XML-coded
    communication are for remote access?

    Another point which is unclear is what you mean by "replacing the MIB with
    XML". To me the MIB is the organized data base. You can (and probably do)
    express the MIB contents not only using SNMP, but also in printer-generated
    web pages and control panel menus. You can express MIB contents using XML.
    Therefore I am unsure of for what purpose the replacement of the MIB is
    necessary. I know that Harry wants to restructure the information to address
    failings in the original effort. But as worthy as that objective may be in
    itself, I fail to see that it is a necessary requirement for
    extra-enterprise management.

    I will support the group consensus on this. But we need to define what we
    are doing and why we are doing it. If we are replacing the data base
    structure, then we need to be clear on why we are doing it and how it is
    related to the primary objective. If we are just allowing data base
    information to be expressed in XML, the reason for this is more apparent.

    I look forward to a good discussion this afternoon.

    Best regards,

    Bill Wagner

    -----Original Message-----
    From: MARKLE,CATHY (HP-Boise,ex1) [mailto:cathy_markle@hp.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 12:27 PM
    To: Wagner,William; McDonald, Ira; Harry Lewis
    Cc: TAYLOR,BOB (HP-Vancouver,ex1); 'Wbmm (E-mail)
    Subject: RE: WBMM> RE: Scope and Starting Point

    Bill,

    You are correct that WebJetadmin currently uses SNMP but there is nothing
    stopping the use of another protocol. Also, WebJetadmin does provide a HTTP
    server to provide information to a user, but if you think of WJA as a
    service, anybody can use the information collected in any manner required.
    A great internal scenario as well as external scenario would be to be able
    to use WebJetadmin to manage devices. WJA is a tool that can definitely be
    used to go through a firewall to manage and monitor devices on a remote
    network. This is where I can see one of the benefits of replacing the MIB
    with XML.

    Cathy

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Wagner,William [mailto:WWagner@NetSilicon.com]
    Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 8:08 AM
    To: McDonald, Ira; Harry Lewis
    Cc: TAYLOR,BOB (HP-Vancouver,ex1); 'Wbmm (E-mail)
    Subject: RE: WBMM> RE: Scope and Starting Point

    Ira wrote:

    "..I think that Bob Taylor articulated the "internal" scenario - plugging
    into the existing systems management platforms, like Web Jet Admin,
    OpenView, Tivoli, etc."

    I am afraid that, at least I, would need a bit more information than this on
    how the internal scenario would play out. From my undoubtedly inadequate
    understanding, Web Jet Admin is an application that uses SNMP ( and perhaps
    other methods) to poll printers, and in turn provides a HTTP server to allow
    users to access that data so obtained. OpenView is an SNMP-based management
    application.

    Could Bob (or someone else) indicate what they expect of the WBMM in terms
    of providing a "plug-in" for the popular management apps? And the
    replacement of SNMP is necessary? Would this "plug-in" be, in fact, an HTTP
    server to receive reports from registered printers? Or is it just a common
    semantic for communicating with the printer? Or...??

    Thanks.

    Bill Wagner



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