Product Reviews
Central Management
Once installed, bvControl tames servers.
bvControl from BindView Corp. broadly allows you to do two things—monitor
and administer your Windows 2000 network and its components from a central
location and report on the configuration of your Win2K network in great
detail. In fact, I found the best use of this product was to go through
the various reports provided with it and, based upon the reports’ findings,
use the RMS console to correct any deficiencies. If the standard reports
that come with bvControl don’t provide all the information you need or
in the format you require, you can create your own custom reports.
In reviewing this product, I had to get it installed. To tell the truth,
this was the most painful part. I almost wanted to throw the myriad CDs
out the window, as I became frustrated by the process of getting this
thing going.
In order to install the product fully, you first need to install the
RMS Console, which requires an Information Server database and MSDE 1.0
(based on SQL Server 7.0). You can’t use an existing SQL Server 7 or SQL
Server 2000 server, nor can any copy of MSDE or SQL Server be on the machine
you want to designate as hosting the database—it must be MSDE 1.0. (Note
to BindView: Give admins the option of using an existing SQL Server database.)
The next step is to install the ActiveExtensions for the RMS console-from
a different CD. You then install the Enterprise Configuration Service
(ECS), which installs the bvConfig utility used to configure bvControl.
Following this, you designate and install Query Engines used in reporting
and the BindView Support Services on machines you need to manage (these
can be done remotely from the bvConfig utility). Finally, you install
the real power of bvControl—IntelliPACS, packaged scripts that can be
used for real-time server monitoring. IntelliPACS require SQL Server,
but you can specify a SQL Server of your own in which to create the database.
After doing all this, you need to type in a license key for every licensed
product. Finally, service packs needed to be installed for a couple of
the products, though which goes first wasn’t clear; but it all worked
in the end.
After you get through the install process, you have a product with stunning
capabilities. The ability to generate reports on almost everything about
your domains, servers, workstations, shares, software, security configuration
and more make it a powerful tool. Add to that the IntelliPACS functionality
to monitor computers and applications, as well as perform maintenance
tasks such as restart services, launch applications and more. These together
allow any administrator of a network with a large number or a distributed
set of Windows computers to monitor and administer their networks centrally.
 |
| BindView’s bvControl offers ultimate control in managing
a Windows network—including powerful reporting capabilities. (Click
image to view larger version.) |
The install process was grueling and really needs to be made easier to
ensure that mistakes aren’t made. Once you get the product installed and
working, the benefits it provides are phenomenal and will save you time
in managing your large network.
About the Author
Damir Bersinic, MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA, MCT, is an independent consultant, trainer and author.