Microsoft Eyes .Net Management

As it refines its vision for a unified .Net management platform,due with the next major upgrade of Windows, code-named Longhorn, in the 2004-05 time frame,Microsoft is updating its line of management server products.

Last week, the software giant released the beta version of Systems Management Server 2003, code-named Topaz, which is slated to offer support for the enhanced Active Directory in Windows.Net Server 2003, mobile support for desktops and, down the road, management of .Net-enabled mobile devices.

In the next two quarters, Microsoft also plans to release significant service packs for its Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) server and application monitoring platform and Application Center (AppCenter) 2000 Web application deployment and management server, according to the company.

MOM Service Pack 1, due out by year's end, is slated to offer enhancements for Active Directory in Windows.Net and Exchange. The latest AppCenter Service Pack, whose release is scheduled to coincide with the launch of Windows.Net server 2003, is expected to incorporate the .Net Framework Global Assembly Cache driver. The driver is designed to help enterprises better deploy, synchronize and monitor .Net apps developed with Visual Studio.Net on Windows.Net Server.

"We're putting more focus on .Net applications," said David Hamilton, director of Microsoft's Management Business Group. "AppCenter has started to support .Net assemblies rolling into the next service pack and around the Windows.Net Server [2003 time frame."

Microsoft also has embarked on a "server manager" project to provide end-to-end management of Web services and distributed applications that run within a .Net infrastructure and beyond the firewall, the company said. The fledgling project is designed to create client and server managers that leverage MOM and AppCenter technologies.

"The idea is to create a distributed asset database that you can build management services against, so that if you plug something into a corporate network, it's recognized," said one channel source briefed on the project. "Everything plugged into the network announces itself, goes into the database and becomes manageable. It keeps track of all things you have in the .Net architecture,every resource, including print server, disk drive, virtual storage environment or billing and scheduling service."

The planned Server Manager is slated to provide end-to-end management of servers, distributed services and applications within and outside a company's firewall, while the Client Manager technology is designed to offer increased levels of management to Windows clients across an enterprise, according to Microsoft.

The .Net management effort is complex, said Hamilton. "If you look at the .Net application, it runs across multiple servers inside and outside a firewall and shared across corporations. That becomes a management challenge," he said. "Our customers are thinking from the application out. Network management, in a pure sense, is less applicable. We need to understand the connectivity of a client and server, where the applications are residing in a complex network."

Hamilton declined to elaborate on the packaging plans for the next-generation .Net management platform but said it likely won't ship until Longhorn arrives in the 2004-05 period.

Mark Alexander, president of ISC, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that provides solutions for the Florida state government, said he hasn't used any Microsoft management tools to manage his client's Windows servers to date. However, he said he envisions the need for an end-to-end platform as he develops more complex Web services across extranets.

"I'm sure a lot of people will be interested in this because administering a data center is a big task, and we put in a complete Microsoft solution [for the Florida government," Alexander said. "The developers are currently managing the Web services we have deployed, but there will be a need for something more."

Industry analysts are upbeat about Microsoft's enterprise management plans, particularly in light of the company's July hiring of BMC Software CTO Kirill Tatarinov as corporate vice president of the Microsoft Management Business Unit.

Microsoft is well-positioned to dominate future Windows management because it controls the underlying .Net architecture, according to a recent report by research firm Gartner, which projects that the Windows management tools market will more than double, to $6.6 billion in 2005 from $2.7 billion today.

"The reason Microsoft is interested in management is they want to protect their Windows franchise," said Gartner analyst Cameron Haight. "It's become more difficult for Microsoft to let their success in the enterprise rely on third-party software vendors. It requires them to take ownership of the management of their [software stack."

In addition to the system management services, Microsoft is developing a host of robust security and storage services as serverware for .Net servers and clients, solution providers said.