VitalQIP Appliance Manager

Seamless, streamlined management and administration

Overview
Features and benefits

Nokia VitalQIP Appliance Manager provides seamless, comprehensive, streamlined management and administration of VitalQIP appliances.

In today’s complex networking world, it is critical to have reliable, secure, low-cost address allocation and management software that keeps your network running smoothly every day. Nokia VitalQIP Appliance Manager maintains an inventory of all the VitalQIP Appliances on the network, along with software and configuration information, providing a seamless, cost-effective way to deploy and maintain Nokia VitalQIP DDI software, simplify management, and allow you to leverage your IT investment for a competitive advantage.

Nokia VitalQIP Appliance Manager is included as part of the Nokia VitalQIP DDI solution, the industry’s proven, open and scalable DDI solution (domain name system (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and IP address management (IPAM)).

Effectiveness

Centralized IP address management and distributes network services, such as DNS and DHCP, using a single system

Customizable

The VitalQIP Appliance Manager is offered on redundant, high performance, standard hardware and software configurations to meet your specific requirements

Streamlined

Centralize the definition of IP addresses and distributes network services, such as DNS and DHCP, using a single system

Hardware and Software Options

The VitalQIP Appliance Manager is offered on redundant, high performance, standard hardware and software configurations to meet your specific requirements
The VitalQIP Appliance Manager QIP 6030 is designed for demanding environments and provides AC/DC power and NEBS compliance options
The VitalQIP Appliance Manager QIP 1230, QIP 1230-RAID and QIP 730 platforms are designed for typical enterprise applications
Nokia also offers additional flexibility with software and virtual appliances, allowing you to install the same software that runs on VitalQIP hardware appliances on the hardware you choose

Enterprise High-availability and Disaster Recovery

Appliance Manager Software (AMS) facilitates VitalQIP Enterprise replication services between a pair of ESM appliances
The appliance pair may be located in the same data center or across globe
Database updates are automatically replicated between appliances to prevent lost updates and mitigate disasters
In the event of an outage or disaster, failover can be quickly initiated from the active to warm standby machine, minimizing downtime.

Platforms

Integration with the market-leading VitalQIP AMS (appliance manager software)
Advanced hardware/software monitoring with AMS Dashboard “at a glance” display
Automated software upgrade capability with rollback options
Highly secure communication between AMS and appliances, with unique appliance key generation
Logical grouping of appliances to simplify upgrades
Software version history maintained per appliance in AMS
Remote start/stop/initialization of services
High-availability DNS using heartbeat and virtual address mechanism
Retrieval of log/config files
Connect, configure and go model for appliance activation
Syslog redirection enables centralized monitoring of appliances and services
Software appliance option enables use of existing corporate standard hardware or virtualization, providing the same benefits as the hardware appliance

Services

VitalQIP Enterprise Services with Sybase database, which provides appliance-based IP address management
Enterprise disaster recovery service
Industry’s highest performance DHCP server, enabling rapid IP address assignment for the delivery of robust IP services
VitalQIP DNS server (ISC BIND based), which enables rapid address resolution
DNS reliability enhanced with DNS high-availability and anycast features
DNS/DHCP probes that enable testing and monitoring of DNS/DHCP services
VitalQIP SNMP service for monitoring DNS, DHCP, and Appliances
TFTP service for file transfer services
NTP service for time synchronization among appliances and clients
VitalQIP Auto Discovery, which discovers network devices quickly and efficiently

Security

Security-hardened version of Red Hat Linux OS
Limited port access as well as lockdown of appliance console
Unique secret key that is exchanged between centralized software and each appliance for authentication
Authorized appliance access granted by a centralized AMS administrator

Benefits

Simplify and streamline management
Seamless, cost-effective way to deploy and maintain Nokia VitalQIP DDI software
Helps maximize profitability and productivity
Better utilization of your IT investment for competitive advantage
Centralized appliance management data store to oversee services and remote appliances
Manage and control appliances remotely from a single location
Automated deployment of critical IP name and address services
Simplified software upgrades and centralized deployment and monitoring of IPAM, DNS, DHCP, TFTP, NTP, SNMP and other services
Secure services with hardened OS (Red Hat Linux) preloaded onto the appliance
Streamlined management that cuts administrative costs
Flexible deployment models and virtual options

Enhanced Administrator Effectiveness

Centralize the definition of IP addresses and distributes network services, such as DNS and DHCP, using a single system
Provide effective management of network-wide IP information
Provide disaster recovery by replicating database between locations and securing critical data
Configure remote DNS and DHCP appliances using centralized data, which improves administrator productivity while reducing errors
Eliminate the need for administrators to individually access every remote machine
Perform appliance management via the central console
Deployment, upgrades and maintenance are simplified by configuring services and logically grouping appliances on the AMS GUI before deployment
Administrators can upgrade remote services, such as DNS and DHCP, to the latest software version, across many appliances with a few simple clicks
Upgrade records for each appliance are maintained in the AMS, providing easy rollback to the previous service version if necessary
Centralized access to and a view of the entire appliance network via AMS monitoring capabilities
Centralized control provides quick and easy access to all log and configuration files, enables remote start and stop of services and allows any appliance to be taken offline rapidly
Appliances can be rebooted from a central location, saving travel costs and time