Nimsoft Architecture Overview
For Managed Service Providers, the Nimsoft service level management solution strikes a unique balance between ease of use, rapid client deployment, and monitoring sophistication. With Nimsoft, all service level management functions are inherent functions; they are written collectively as a single architecture and single code base. The result for Managed Service Providers is easy installation, deployment, configuration, administration, and usability.
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Nimsoft’ Robust Product Architecture
The Nimsoft product line was designed and written from the ground up with service level management in mind. Its lean, modular architecture offers the flexibility to accommodate a variety of network configurations, lending itself well to the Managed Service Provider business model. Nimsoft provides highly scalable, resilient, and reliable monitoring capabilities for Managed Service Providers that wish to proactively manage their clients’ IT infrastructures and critical business services.
Nimsoft’s robust, nimble architecture offers…
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High availability features that ensure client data is protected at all times, providing spooling capabilities that ensure network outages don’t compromise data availability, support for failover in multi-tier environments, and more.
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Segmentation capabilities that enable secure, efficient partitioning of data for multiple clients within a single unified database and infrastructure.
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Open APIs and out-of-the-box integration with a range of third party products, making it easy for Managed Service Providers to adapt Nimsoft solutions to any management tools and monitoring processes.
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Reliable, secure, and efficient communications across distributed sites—using SSL tunneling to securely connect remote client infrastructures to Managed Service Provider operations and offering a publish-and-subscribe messaging bus for efficient and reliable data transmission.
Flexible, Agent and Agentless Monitoring
The architecture of Nimsoft allows for extremely efficient monitoring and end-to-end service level measurement. By utilizing efficient software “robots” and “probes”, installed locally on managed servers, Nimsoft provides an extremely high level of management functionality while imposing little to no stress on the managed devices themselves. This "onboard" monitoring also allows the managed device to be monitored, even when network problems prohibit the device from connecting with the rest of the Nimsoft management system.
Nimsoft also has the ability to monitor devices and applications from an "off board" or “agentless” standpoint. For example, Nimsoft technology can function as a remote client in client-server environments. This is effective when attempting to manage transaction-based environments from an end-user’s perspective, for example, a customer login to a central database or similar network service. Nimsoft can even simulate complex end-user transactions and collect the true end-to-end response time of those transactions and applications. Nimsoft can also communicate with network devices via SNMP for performance reporting, and process SNMP traps from these devices.
Nimsoft Architectural Advantages
The Nimsoft architecture features several technological advances that enable effective, proactive IT management:
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Guaranteed message transfer using spooling mechanisms. Utilizing robot (agent) technology installed on the managed devices allow critical management data to continue to be collected and safely stored, regardless of network connectivity to a central management console. This spooling ability guarantees that data will continually be collected and delivered when connectivity is restored.
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Cost control on dialed-up lines (e.g. ISDN, modem). Traditional monitoring tools require LAN-level network bandwidth to utilize the management functions at an acceptable performance level. Nimsoft was designed to provide an efficient management interface with minimal bandwidth requirements.
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Message Suppression. Nimsoft message suppression technology verifies and notifies network management staff of problematic issues as they occur. Residual alarms or alarms that result due to a parent cause are suppressed to allow administrators to focus on the real issue.
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Multi-platform support. Nimsoft provides monitoring capabilities for most major operating systems, databases, networking services, and traditional network management protocols. Gateways to other management tools enable Nimsoft to interoperate with and leverage existing investments.
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TCP/IP based. With its TCP/IP-based messaging, Nimsoft offers a great deal of flexibility in managing remote devices and applications. Customizable socket transmission ensures Nimsoft operability in secured and firewall environments.
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Optional compression of data. Data compression capabilities provide the Nimsoft administrator with extra confidence in knowing that the cost of bandwidth is at a minimum while using the Nimsoft solution.
Nimsoft’ Sophisticated Communication Model
Applications within the Nimsoft domain communicate by exchanging messages. The use of a robust, high-volume messaging bus, implemented in software that serves as a network among all applications and platforms, makes Nimsoft unique in managing the IT infrastructure environment. The Nimsoft messaging bus provides the infrastructure for reliable TCP/IP-based communication across a Managed Service Provider’s multi-tenant deployment.
The Nimsoft architecture includes the use of a publish/subscribe model, also known as push technology. When an application within a Nimsoft domain has new data, it automatically publishes the data to the messaging bus and all associated applications (subscribers) receive it. A publisher submits messages with a specific subject and any listener can receive those messages by listening for messages with that subject. Traditional point-to-point client server systems require multiple copies of messages to be sent, one to each application, which is far more inefficient.
The Nimsoft architecture provides for configuration of all publications and subscriptions via a single native management console or a Web-enabled interface.
Nimsoft Components
Nimsoft is comprised of several major software components. Each of these components communicates with one another via the Nimsoft messaging bus. Following is an overview of the major Nimsoft components.
Domain
A Nimsoft domain is a logical collection of managed elements, for example, a Managed Service Provider’s full set of clients and their associated IT infrastructures. A domain will consist of several Nimsoft subcomponents that perform a specific monitoring function. Nimsoft administrators may wish to have multiple Nimsoft domains, for example, in networks that span large geographic areas.
Hub
A Nimsoft hub is the most important and major communication component involved within any Nimsoft deployment. A hub receives all messages posted by a publishing entity, a Nimsoft robot for example, and distributes these messages to a set of subscribers of the publishing subject. In a Managed Service Provider deployment a client hub receives messages from client-based robots and securely transmits those messages to the Managed Service Provider’s master hub. A Nimsoft domain can have multiple hubs, which may likely correspond to multiple Managed Service Provider client deployments. Hubs can be designed with failover in mind, so that a secondary parallel hub can serve as hot standby in the instance a disruption occurs in a primary hub.
Distribution Server
Nimsoft features an extremely powerful distribution engine that offers a fast and easy way to distribute software and monitoring functionality to managed devices. Utilizing a “drag-and-drop” interface, Nimsoft probes can be quickly distributed across an entire service provider deployment from a single management interface.
Nimsoft Manager
The Nimsoft Manager is used to administer a Nimsoft domain. This application is typically used as a management console for deploying, installing, and configuring Nimsoft probes on managed devices. Additionally, the Nimsoft manager is used to manage Nimsoft user profiles and it also provides access to other Nimsoft applications.
Robot
A Nimsoft robot provides other Nimsoft components with information about a managed device. A robot is installed on each managed server, desktop, or workstation and provides the basic communication functionality for a system to be monitored in a Nimsoft domain. A robot also contains several important subcomponents:
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Controller. The controller is the contact point of a robot as seen by other Nimsoft components, such as the hub and other Nimsoft clients. The controller maintains a set of probes that it starts and stops according to configuration settings.
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Spooler. The spooler receives messages published by the probes (clients) and delivers these messages to the hub, unless it’s configured to spool (hold) the message until a certain criteria is met. If network connectivity with a hub is lost, the spooler can retain messages and deliver them once connectivity is restored.
Probe
Nimsoft probes provide the intelligence to manage specific components on a device. For example, one common Nimsoft probe, the CDM probe, is responsible for monitoring CPU, disk, and memory utilization on target hosts. Over 100 probes are available to manage a range of devices, applications, and platforms. Typically, administrators use the Nimsoft manager to deploy probes running on the managed devices. Through the use of Nimsoft toolkits (SDKs), custom probes can be written to manage homegrown applications as well.
Nimsoft Alarm Server
The Nimsoft alarm server (NAS) has the main responsibility of receiving and managing incoming alarm messages. The NAS also supports message suppression and provides clients with services such as update events, message filtering, automating actions, and mirroring capabilities.
The graphic below provides an overview of how select Nimsoft components are installed in a Managed Service Provider environment.
Click image for a lager version.
Flexible Nimsoft Deployment Options
Nimsoft offers a lean, modular architecture that provides the flexibility to accommodate a variety of network configurations. Following are a few examples of some common Managed Service Provider deployment scenarios:
Deployment Option 1
In this scenario, the Managed Service Provider installs Nimsoft on the customer premises and hands over the management interfaces and service level reports to their client’s internal IT staff. In this case, the customer would own the Nimsoft software. A Nimsoft reseller would be more likely to take this approach than a Managed Service Provider.
Deployment Option 2
Depicted below is a traditional Managed Service Provider business deployment in which Nimsoft SSL (secure socket layer) tunneling capabilities are used. In this scenario, the Managed Service Provider owns the Nimsoft software and leases the managed service to its client. Nimsoft probes are installed at the customer’s site to perform local monitoring tasks, and collect performance data.
Nimsoft alarms and performance metrics are transported across the Internet. Nimsoft secures this data transfer by creating and maintaining an SSL tunnel, a secure point-to-point connection between two locations. Nimsoft SSL tunneling performs a task identical to a traditional VPN, but without the need to purchase and install a traditional VPN configuration.
Deployment Option 3
Depicted below is a traditional Managed Service Provider business deployment in which a traditional VPN is in place. In this scenario, the Managed Service Provider already has established a VPN connection with their client. Nimsoft probes are installed at the customer site to perform local monitoring tasks, and collect performance data. Nimsoft alarms and performance data is transported across the customer’s VPN to the Managed Service Provider for processing and problem resolution.
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