Networker

Re: [Networker] 2005 EMC Technology Summit

2005-05-18 23:40:26
Subject: Re: [Networker] 2005 EMC Technology Summit
From: "Browning, David" <DBrown AT LSUHSC DOT EDU>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 22:35:27 -0500
Siobhan (and all) - 

You are correct on many items.  The manager on hand is Anselmo, and I have
been impressed with him so far.  The direct query capability is on the list
of times "under condsideration".  If I remember correctly, they have about 7
or 8 items on the list.  Another thing that Anselmo stressed was that he
felt if Legato was going to advertise that they are compatible for an OS,
then all GUI's should look the same across all OS's. Additionally, he stated
that LINUX would be supported as an OS for Networker Server, but did not
give a time frame.  

Once the presentations become available online, I will be able to give more
specifics, as I didn't write down a lot of stuff (he was moving quickly -
only 1 hour presentation). 

Stan - 

I printed up your email, and will bring it to the meeting tomorrow. 

- Dave 

-----Original Message-----
From: Legato NetWorker discussion
[mailto:NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU]On Behalf Of Siobhan Ellis
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:17 PM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] 2005 EMC Technology Summit


Stan,

I e the Product manager for NMC until late 2003, and was in EMC until late
2004. I was responsible for NMC 3.0 and 3.1(the current release). I can tell
you that the new GUI is based on NMC, which is Java based. It is a Java web
start application, rather than an applet. It is now being bundled free with
every new Network & Power Edition NetWorker server. It is availabel, today,
on Windows & Solaris, I believe the intention is to certify Linux as well.
As it is a Java 1.4.2 application, it should work with any implementation of
Java 1.4.2 that supports Webstart. I can tell you that before I left, I
tried it with OpenVMS and, with a little work, it worked on that OS. NMC is
based on the Windows GUI for functionality, but is missing a couple of
items, one of which is saveset restore. However, it also has some great
enhancements, I say modestly, such as the drive list is by Hardware Id, so
if you have 10 systems sharing 4 drives, you don't see 40 devices, as you do
with Windows and UNiX nwadmin GUI's, but you see 4 drives that have
information changed. Also, if you happen to use NetWorker with AlphaStor, it
show sthe physical path it is using as wll as the virtual device. There are
other enhancements, such as being able to copy a resource, and a better view
of the jukebox (especially when using multiple NW servers)

I can't comment on the basic/advanced reporting, but this was always the
plan for the product. Indeed, myself and other people (I wont name as they
are still in EMC) tried to get it made the default GUI for NetWorker, but
Legato decided to go in another direction and waste 18 months and about 30
man years of development time. One of the managers responsible for that
decision is no longer with EMC Legato, one still is. (yes, I'm bitter)

I think the PM will be Anselmo. You will find him to be very responsive, and
he really listens to his audience. I believe the product, and the user
community, is in good hands with him.

I believe that he is considering launch functionality for other tools, but i
would also suggest that you push for the ability to interrogate the database
directly, as it is a SQL compliant database that uses SQL Anywhere from
iAnywhere (Sybase). All engineering has to do is to provide database views -
again functionality I wanted to introduce.

Siobhan Ellis
Senior Enginer
ENSTOR
Australia
Siobhán Ellis
Senior Technology Consultant
Enstor
Level 10, 118 Alfred St
Milsons Point
NSW 2061
Australia

Mobile: +61 424 750 544
Phone: +61 2 9900 2100
Fax: +61 2 9900 2199
e-mail: siobhan.ellis AT enstor.com DOT au
>>> stan AT TEMPLE DOT EDU 05/19/05 12:40 PM >>>
On May 18, 2005, at 9:02 PM, David Browning wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm new to the list, as I just found out about it yesterday at the EMC
> Technology summit.  You don't know how frustrating it was to hear  
> about
> this, as I've been a Legato user since 1998 (version 4).  Many a  
> times I
> wish I could have talked to other Networker users.
>
> As for the conference, Legato did not bring a huge presence to the
> conference, but at least it's a start.
>
> I'm going to a birds of a feather meeting on Thursday morning, and  
> just
> wanted to know if anyone had questions.  We will be meeting with  
> one of
> the product managers of Legato - his main area of responsibility is
> product usability.   They announced that in fall/winter of 2005,  
> they will
> be releasing a basic version of NMC (networker management console)  
> to all
> users, with a more advanced version (with additional reporting  
> capability)
> at an additional cost.
>
> If you have any questions you would like me to direct to him,  
> please let
> me know.  ALso, if you have any comments/concerns about USING the  
> product
> (such as too many GUI's / GUI's not the same across OS), please let me
> know.

Welcome to the Networker list. I manage this list (with some help  
when I go away). A tech support engineer introduced me to this list.  
A few months after I first subscribed to the Networker list, I  
volunteered to run it when its founder had to divest himself of his  
involvement with this list.

Thanks for offering to relay questions for us. I do have some  
questions for you to raise at the EMC Technology Summit. Being a Unix  
and Mac OS X advocate, I avoid using Windows as much as possible.  
That being said, the NetWorker Administration GUI for Windows is far  
better then its nwadmin counterpart on Unix. What I would like to  
know is if the features of the Windows administrator GUI will be  
brought over to the Unix version or, even better, if a common  
platform independent Java based NetWorker management GUI is in the  
pipeline. One of the features I really like on the Windows NetWorker  
Administration tool is the ability to click on a group resource entry  
and see which clients are assigned to it. I also like the feature  
where the view options are retained each time the GUI is started.

In addition, I am also curious if the Mac OS X NetWorker version will  
be "GUIfied" and NetWorker server capability added to the Mac.  
Speaking of Mac OS X. Will Legato/EMC certify NetWorker to work with  
Apple's latest Mac OS X version, Tiger? I tried backing up and  
recoverying about 50GB worth of data to the Mac G5 I use in my office  
after I upgraded it to Tiger. It did work, although the recover  
utility hung after the list bit of data was received and it displayed  
a broken pipe error after about five minutes.

Thanks,

Stan

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