We evaluated each product's ability to manage, administer, update, monitor, report on, diagnose, troubleshoot, reset, reconfigure and secure network devices, server computers and client computers. Virtually all our testing took place across WAN links.

The ability to resolve a problem automatically was a plus. We tested the sending of SNMP alerts and the processing of incoming alerts. We produced reports to show device and computer status information, network usage trends, security breaches, availability and uptime information, network baseline information and graphical network maps. We also tested any special features a product offered.

The test-bed network consisted of six Fast Ethernet subnet domains routed by Perle and Cisco routers. Our lab's various computing platforms included Windows NT/98/2000/ME/XP, Solaris 8.0 and Macintosh System 8. The relational databases on the network were Oracle 8i, IBM DB2 Universal Database, Sybase Adaptive Server 12.5 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The transport protocols on the network were TCP/IP, IPX, AppleTalk and SNA. An Agilent Advisor protocol analyzer eavesdropped on the network traffic to reveal both overall utilization and the detailed content of messages.

A Compaq Proliant ML570 computer with four 900-MHz CPUs, 2G bytes of RAM and 135G-byte hard disks, running Windows 2000 Advanced Server, was our test platform for all the products except NetIntact's PacketLogic, which arrived installed on its own rack-mount appliance.