Micromuse this week updated its flagship network monitoring software with Netcool/OMNIbus v7.

Netcool, which includes server and distributed agent software, can now reduce the number of irrelevant events IT managers must pore through to determine the source of network performance problems. Micromuse enabled the distributed agents to intelligently filter events based on severity and lessen the load on the core Netcool system.

Because network monitoring systems track all events, at times network managers can get bombarded with false alerts. The company says the new capability will present network managers with only the information they need.

"When a network operator is handling events, he or she doesn't want to be informed until, say, the same event happens five times over a given time period," says Vivek Bhalla, product manager for Netcool for Consolidated Operations Management. "Netcool can now retain the event data but suppress the event until a predefined threshold is passed."

Netcool features a "virtual operator," which Bhalla says is an advanced utility that lets users run automation scripts. The feature provides automation scripts out of the box for common or well-known problems, and network managers can also write their own. This feature scans Netcool servers for events that can be solved without human intervention.

Also in this release, Micromuse added a feature that allows IT managers to configure the system while it continues to monitor managed devices, helping IT managers reduce scheduled downtime. In the past, administrators would have to pause monitoring on a system or device while configuring it. Now, using a new Netcool administrator feature, IT managers can change configurations "on the fly" while still monitoring systems.

Micromuse also added the capability to authenticate Netcool users against an LDAP-enabled repository, which the company says adds to the security of the system by reducing user and password maintenance.

Netcool includes its core ObjectServer, which contains a database in which all collected data is stored. Distributed software agents collect the data from systems and devices across a network. Micromuse also provides third-party gateways that interface with databases and applications to collect data from CRM, trouble-ticket and other systems. Netcool probes and monitors are responsible for collecting and consolidating the data. Micromuse says its software contains information on and provides support for more than 1,000 different network devices and systems.