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TNT Software October 2007 Newsletter
October 9, 2007 - Volume 2, Number 11

- In this Issue -

New Features of ELM Enterprise Manager 5.0 Webinar Invitation

ELM Log Manager 5.0 - Special Sale Price Now Through 12/31/07

"How it Works" - Best Practices With Your ELM Databases

Not Strictly Business



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What our customers
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"My experience with upgrading your application (ELM Enterprise Manager to Version 5.0) is the upgrade works the way you say it does. Which is great! That puts ELM in the 1% category... As 99% of the applications don't upgrade as advertised."

 


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Phone:360-546-0878
Toll Free:877-546-0878

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New Features of ELM Enterprise Manager 5.0 Webinar Scheduled for October 16

Everyday we see customers visiting TNT Software and downloading and upgrading to ELM Version 5.0 and we are excited to see all of the upgrade activity. Shortly after download the all too common question always follows: "So what's new with Version 5.0?" A comprehensive answer takes about an hour so that is what we are going to provide. As a service to our customers ( existing and prospective ) we are now offering a live, focused WebEx presentation of the features and functionality found in ELM Enterprise Manager Version 5.0 - Please join us:

What: ELM Enterprise Manager Version 5.0: NEW features and functionality
When: Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 8:00 am, Pacific Daylight Time
Where: Live WebEx Webinar Demonstration - Open Invite
Duration: 1 hour

Topics covered

  • ELM Editor - Custom Reporting
  • Windows Configuration Monitor
  • Multi-Agent Deployment Wizard
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Event File Collector - .EVT Files
  • SNMP Collector
  • Archive Connection to ELM Console 
  • Archive Automated Rollover 

How do I attend?
Request a formal meeting invitation by emailing: sales@tntsoftware.com
The subject line should read: ELM 5.0 WebEx Invite


ELM Log Manager – Special Sale Pricing Through December 31, 2007
Now through the end of December you can purchase ELM Log Manager 5.0 Server Agent licenses for 25% off list price!  TNT Software is extending this special offer to both our new and existing clients for all orders quoted and placed between October 1 and December 31, 2007.  Been waiting to add on?  Having trouble getting the budget approved?  Now is the time to make your move!

Promotion Details

  • 25% off Server Agent list price – quantity discounts still apply
  • ELM Log Manager Version 5.0 Server Agents only
  • Offer available to both new and existing customers
  • All orders quoted after October 1, 2007 and purchased by December 31, 2007

Contact our sales staff today!  http://www.tntsoftware.com/contactsales

"How it Works" - Best Practices with Your ELM Databases
Data Management Strategies
A single Windows server has the capacity to produce thousands of event log records each day.  Combine that with industry wide compliance and audit data retention requirements, and many companies struggle with the thought of keeping several years worth of server event log data.   Armed with this knowledge - all projects targeting enterprise wide server monitoring must include a solid plan for managing the collected data.  TNT Software has developed our ELM product line to meet the challenge. 

ELM provides a multi-faceted approach to helping your organization manage collected event log data:

  1. Event Collection: Determine what (if any) event logs you can avoid collecting - using ELM flexible Event Collectors you can specifically target collection of only meaningful data.
  2. Database Pruning:  In those instances where you may want/need to collect, view and trigger notifications on "high frequency and noisy" event logs you will also want to quickly adopt a database pruning strategy that deletes the collected data after a short amount of time if there is no strong retention requirement.
  3. Database Archiving:  For those events you are required to retain and those records you simply wish to keep around for historical reporting and trending you will at some point need to move the data from the ELM Primary database to one or more ELM Archive databases.  (Example 1 and Example 2 below show two different data retention schedules.)
  4. Automated Archive Database Roll-over:  ELM creates a new archive database on a customer defined, scheduled basis allowing you to create monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual archive databases. (Example: You can create monthly archives and retain 1 year of data divided into 12 individual 1 month static archive data sets.)
  5. Connection to an Archive Database from the ELM Console:  Any time after it's created by the ELM Server, you can establish a connection to an ELM Archive database directly from the console.  Archive connections allow you to use Event Views and ELM Editor reports to mine and run reports against any connected ELM Archive database. Need to look at three or four archives to find the data you need? No problem.  From the ELM Console you can have as many archive database connections as you need and all ELM Archive databases support a date and time stamp making navigation between data sets easy.
  6. ELM Console At-A-Glance Views of Your ELM Databases:  Quick and comprehensive views of your Primary and Archive Databases make it simple to watch Database Size and Unallocated Space. At-a-glance views also allow you to drill down into the Database Table Details to show you TNTEvents and TNTSecurity so you can quickly review the growth and status of your ELM Primary and Archive databases.
  7. ELM Primary Database Maintenance Job: An optional database maintenance job can be created for the ELM Primary Database. The job will perform integrity checks, backup the transaction log, rebuild indexes, and backup the database. More details about the SQL job can be found in the TNTDatabaseMaintenancePlan.sql script in the ELM install folder. Based on your requirements, it can be copied and modified to suit your needs.

Example 1: Fixed database retention settings - recommended when mining ELM Archive databases regularly.

  • Retain the last 4 weeks of Errors
  • Retain the last 4 weeks of Warnings
  • Retain the last 4 weeks of Informationals
  • Retain the last 4 weeks of Success Audit records
  • Retain the last 4 weeks of Failure Audit records

Example 2: Variable database retention settings by event type - good for keeping records around longer in the ELM Primary database but can make archive mining more complex.

  • Retain the last 2 weeks of Errors
  • Retain the last 2 weeks of Warnings
  • Retain the last 1 week of Informationals
  • Retain the last 2 weeks of Success Audit records
  • Retain the last 4 weeks of Failure Audit records

Please Note: at the end of any established retention period you can elect to have the records Archived or Pruned (deleted). The choice is yours based on your retention plans.

Not Strictly Business
All In Good Fun
At a recent IT Management seminar, the participants were given an unusual question to answer:

"If you had just boarded an airliner and discovered that the team of programmers who developed your ERP solution had been responsible for the flight control software, how many of you would disembark immediately?"

Among the ensuing forest of raised hands only one man sat motionless. When asked what he would do, he replied that he would be quite content to stay aboard. With his company’s ERP software, he said, the plane was unlikely to even taxi as far as the runway, let alone take off.

Tech Executives Make up Half of the Forbes Top Ten Richest Americans List
Technology executives took half of the top ten spots on the Forbes Richest Americans in 2007.

  1. Bill Gates - Microsoft
  2. Warren Buffet - Berkshire Hathaway
  3. Sheldon Adelson - Las Vegas Sands Corporation (former Comdex trade shows)
  4. Larry Ellison - Oracle
  5. Sergey Brin - Google
  6. Larry Page - Google
  7. Kirk Kerkorian - Tracinda Corporation
  8. Michael Dell -Dell Computer
  9. Charles Koch - Koch Industries
  10. David Koch - Koch Industries

Visit the Forbes.com website for the complete story -
http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/19/forbes-400-introduction-lists-richlist07-cx_mm_0920richintro.html

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