Version 3.5

Version 3.5

Monolith is pleased to announce the GA release of version 3.5 of its flagship software suite. The 3.5 release contains some significant enhancements that will be a benefit not only to existing Monolith customers, but also to the industry at large.

A highlight of the version 3.5 release is listed below. If you are an existing customer, then please feel free to log into the Monolith support site for a complete list of the 3.5 updates.

Multi-Layer Topology Mapping

Prior to version 3.5 Monolith provided only layer 2 or layer 3 dynamic topology mapping. Version 3.5 provides enhanced dynamic mapping capabilities. Of particular interest is the ability to auto generate topology maps with multiple layers (e.g. layers 2 & 3; layers 2, 3 & 4, layers 1 & 2). Mapping multiple layers as well as the ability to map more than just layers 2 or 3 presents very compelling new use cases. Consider the ability to auto map your layer 1 DWDM & SONET infrastructures. Or, the ability to auto map your virtual server or cloud environment. Monolith customers can now see end-to-end relationships and untangle complex technology-service dependencies.

Topology Configuration Agent

Monolith's Topology Configuration Agent (TCA) presents a highly unique capability that is sure to peak the interest of operations personnel. Monolith's TCA can not only collect, store and compare device configurations from routers, switches, servers, DACS, etc. The TCA can also utilize configuration information from the devices configuration file to automatically populate Monolith's Hierarchy Storage Engine (HSE). Why is that a big deal? You can now auto populate your topology & connectivity models within Monolith in order to provide dynamic topology views and to perform PRCA (probably root cause analysis) within your environment.

Dashboard Mashups

Monolith has always provided industry leading dashboarding capabilities. Our dashboards provide realtime status of event, metric, topology or SLM data. With version 3.5 we have now created the ability to create dashboard mashups. Users of Monolith can now create custom, heads up displays to present the key, critical operational information needed to effectively monitor their environment.

Enhanced Agent-based Monitoring

Monolith is committed to providing multiple methods for monitoring your servers (physical or virtual). Organizations are free to utilize the most appropriate method to meet their needs. Leverage SNMP (Net SNMP / SNMP Informant), 3rd party agents (SCOM, NetIQ, Hyperic, Zabbix, etc), or use Monolith's new Host Agent (available in 3.5). Why is the Monolith Host Agent cool? It is an onboard agent that provides a point of presence for metric, topology and configuration collection. Any command that you can run on the server or any script that you could run against the server to collect info can then be packaged, scheduled, and run from Monolith's administration interface. This enables any of this collected metric, topology or configuration data to be used within Monolith's Metric Manager or Topology Manager modules. Infinite configurability with a small maintenance requirement.

Adding Intelligence to Performance Management

Monolith has always delivered the ability to configure any types of metric thresholds and has eliminated a lot of noise via our sample rate thresholding capability. We have now added our Abnormal Behavior Threshold Engine (ABTE) to the Metric Manager list of capabilities. Monolith's ABTE is perfect for identifying behavior that is different than what is expected. It is used to identify odd behavior. Like all Monolith capabilities it is configurable to meet specific needs and use cases. Customers can define configurable confidence bands to identify key performance impacting issues.