We (client and I) are in the process of doing some deployment planning
for the coming year, and have some questions regarding the future
support of NV MLM.

As I understand things today, the MLM piece of NV 5.0 is now free, taken
from the Systems Monitor product from IBM, which dropped support for the
SLM and SIA which were part of that package.  I have also heard that
eventually the MLM will be replaced by a similar Tivoli module to
provide the distributed NV functionality.

1) Is the MLM set to drop support in the near (or distant) future?  If
so, any date set?
2) Is there any other direction on the horizon for distributed NV
management?  I have heard from a Tvioli rep that there will be some new
functionality in NV 5.2, but since 5.1 is not even out yet, I haven't
heard anything on NV 5.2.  If there will be a new direction for NV 5.2
that could/would replace the MLM functionalty, it would be VERY helpful
to know early on for our planning purposes. We would really like to see
distributed management consoles that can report back to a central NV
(data and status, similar to HP-OV/NNM MS/CS relationship).

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback, we would especially
appreciate an official Tivoli answer if possible/available.

Scott

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Scott Wilson                         Email: swilson AT rpm DOT com
Network Management Consultant        Pager: 800-506-7348
RPM Consulting, Inc.
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