Red Hat puts systems management online

Red Hat, Inc. has launched an online version of Command Center, its integrated server and application monitoring service. It also brings new features and a free evaluation version.

Red Hat Command Center is a software as a service offering that monitors the availability and performance of IT infrastructures around the clock, said Red Hat. Because Command Center is delivered as a service, it's quick to deploy and you pay only for what you use, the company said. Command Center monitors Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss, as well as a range of IT infrastructure components including network devices, servers, business applications and websites, the company claimed.

Previous releases of Red Hat Command Center required a dedicated hardware appliance called a "scout" to monitor servers behind a firewall. Now the scout software can be deployed on any commodity server.

New features include:

• Improved access to monitoring data



• Increased licensing flexibility, by server or by probe



• Better administrative control over scout configurations



• Refreshed user interface and login capabilities

According to Red Hat, bulk monitoring data can now be downloaded in the open XML standard for reporting and archival purposes. Enhanced entitlement tools allow you to mix and match unlimited probes per server or purchase only the probes you need. The scout software has also added administration tools for improved diagnostics and security within a customer's monitoring environment, the company said.

Red Hat also claimed that Command Center's Web interface has been refreshed for greater usability so that one Red Hat user ID now gives you access to all the company's online services.

Command Center sits alongside Red Hat's other management services, including Red Hat Network Satellite and JBoss Operations Network