NXTmonitor

Agile Infrastructure for Continuous Delivery

NXTmonitor is a DevOps tool for facilitating the migration of complex applications between development, test and production. NXTmonitor manages the configuration, deployment, and automated execution of distributed applications on the grid, in the cloud, or in-house systems.

Overview

NXTmonitor: Cloud and In-house Agile Infrastructure

NXTmonitor provides a GUI based tool that enables agile applications to be deployed by Operations by handling the configuration dependent changes between Development and Operations. NXTmonitor, a DevOps tool, enables the capture and export of portable configuration file for the deployment and automated execution of distributed applications on the Grid or in the Cloud. Whenever you deploy new versions of applications into your production environment, you need to make sure your applications operate and perform properly so users can use the new features. Most importantly, you need to able to monitor and manage these applications remotely. To effectively manage distributed applications, you need to have a real-time management console to monitor these applications on each platform. In addition, you need the ability to start and stop these applications automatically, provide a mechanism to replicate services and scale them up during peak load times. NXTmonitor provides this console interface and simplifies the process for operations staff with easy to recognize indicators for application status. A maintenance interface is also provided for maintenance activities and development of configurations.

NXTmonitor also interfaces with agile development environments like Rational and NXTware IME for a seamless Eclipse-based software engineering environment designed to make software easier to manage and more cost effective to maintain and integrate. For an image of the console click here

Management Challenges

Distributed applications, by definition, operate in different environments and can interface with disparate applications in many different languages and databases. Distributed applications are much more difficult to manage because they work in a complex multi-tiered environment with dependencies on different software services. Since services can be deployed to many different computers across an entire network, it is not possible for an operator to monitor the system processes on one server. It is possible to have multiple copies (and versions) of the same component located on different computers providing backup This deployment configuration complexity has forced IT organizations to develop an infrastructure that gets harder to manage as the network grows. For instance, the manual steps for creating a configuration for a distributed application's deploying services requires an experienced systems administrator. It is definitely more complex than it should be.

NXTmonitor provides configurations for each service for start and stop times, retries, dependencies on other systems, and supports multiple architectures.

Testimonials

"We are honored to have eCube Systems as a strategic partner and we look forward to demonstrating how VisiBroker shines within the NXTminder architecture. Companies are looking at commercial CORBA again for ISV and embedded applications. We are seeing that ISVs, like eCube systems, expect more from their middleware infrastructure. We are witnessing a reversal of a historic trend. Companies are now converting from Open Source CORBA to VisiBroker. This is because VisiBroker continues to provide a well-supported, high performance, stable, and consistent platform that allows companies to build innovative products."

— David Arndt, Borland Solutions Global Product Director at Micro Focus