A night's sleep for the IT staff

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Judging by the comments of information technology managers who attended the launch of a web-based server management system by Matrex last week, the way companies react to server failures depends on the industry they are in.

For example, the IT director of a university said he rarely encountered a server problem that couldn't wait until the next morning.

But his counterpart at a major bank said that in the finance industry, a server failure had to be fixed immediately - even if IT staff had to be hauled from their beds in the small hours of the morning.

Matrex product manager Larry Smith says his company's ServerEasy service will put an end to such rude awakenings, as it will predict server failures.

Once a small piece of client software has been installed on a server, Matrex's array of servers will keep watch on a customer's system and alert the user to danger signals.

Customers can choose to be alerted by e-mail or by text to a mobile phone when various conditions occur.

These include low disk or memory space, high CPU usage or failed log-in attempts.

Users may specify emergency recovery commands, for example a batch command to delete temporary files to gain disk space.

The service also allows system administrators to receive reports and issue system commands from a web browser at any location.

The system has been developed in New Zealand by the IT department of Matrex, a company that has been engaged in the forestry business since 1999.

ServerEasy client software is available for most platforms and will cost users $500 a month for each server. But Mr Smith said volume discounts could be negotiated.

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