Your Linux and UNIX systems can now take advantage of the advanced manageability and reporting capabilities that Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 already provides to Windows Server System technologies. Among the points covered in this chapter, we discuss the following topics:

• Design an agentless solution to monitor and manage Linux and UNIX systems

• Install the eXc Software WMI non-Windows Event Provider and base framework

• Install and configure eXc Software Virtual Agents

• Customize SNMP and CLI-based Virtual Agents

• Design an agent-based solution to monitor and manage Linux and UNIX systems

• Install the Jalasoft Xian 2005 Network Manager

• Install the Xian UNIX Agent for Linux and Solaris

• Configure rules and policy templates to manage your Linux and Solaris servers.

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 can be used to manage more than just Windows Server systems. Thanks to solutions from third-party vendors, it is possible to develop and deploy advanced management packs with rules to handle events and alerts. Depending on your management strategy, you can employ both agentless and agent-based technologies to interact with and gather data from your Linux and UNIX systems.

Agentless solutions are growing in popularity and have changed the management paradigm that organizations use to monitor and control their critical infrastructure resources. They have the benefit of:

• Rapid deployment

• Simple architecture

• Intelligent COM objects that integrate with WMI

• Support for both SNMP and CLI protocols

In comparison, agent-based solutions follow the traditional management model consisting of server components that communicate with lightweight agents deployed on each management node. These...