Brocade has released new software that lets IT administrators analyse and monitor changes to their storage-area networks.
At Storage Networking World in Orlando, Florida, the company unveiled SAN Health Change Analysis, an add-on module to its SAN Health software.
SAN Health is a software product developed by Brocade in collaboration with its customers that discovers, reports and maps the devices on the SAN. The freely downloadable SAN Health works with Brocade and McData Fibre Channel switches. It identifies the number of Fibre Channel SAN ports and what they connect to, as well as the host bus adapters installed in network servers. It reports on hardware and software configuration information.
SAN Health Change Analysis uses a new GUI called the SAN Health Professional, which graphically correlates gathered information. It differs from SAN Health in that the former product presents information via Visio and Microsoft Excel. The SAN Health Professional is freely downloadable from brocade.com
The Change Analysis module performs point-in-time comparisons of the SAN's state. A subscription will cost US$1800 per year and can be bought from shop.brocade.com
Support for SAN Health Change Analysis is via email or forum support on Brocade Connect. Additionally, Brocade announced professional services for SAN Health that include interactive analysis of a user's SAN problems. Called SAN Health Expert, the service is available for $2400 per year.