What is New in This Release

This chapter provides a brief description of the new features in IPM Release 2.1 and describes IPM's new client/server architecture. It includes the following sections:

New Features

IPM Release 2.1 implements the following new features:

Support for additional SAA features defined in the Round Trip Time Monitoring (RTTMon) MIB including:
- Configuration of the Type of Service field for IP operations
- Configuration of the Loose Source Routing information for ICMP Echo operations to allow them to be sent over a specific path
- Configuration of the Request Data Packet size for ICMP Echo and ICMP Path Echo operations to allow for variable size operations
- Configuration of Enhanced UDP operations for Voice over IP jitter statistics
- Graphical display of Voice over IP statistics
- Real-time polling for Voice over IP statistics
- Support for measuring latency for the DHCP, DLSw, DNS, TCP, and UDP protocols
Support for running the IPM client on Windows 95 and Windows 98 in addition to Windows NT and Solaris.
Ability to export information from the IPM database to CSV or HTML format files. Comprehensive data export features allow you to export configuration information for sources, targets, collectors, operations, as well as hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly response time data.
Improved integration with CiscoWorks2000 allows you to perform the following tasks:
- Access the IPM web server directly from the CiscoWorks2000 desktop to view system status, seed files, and web-based summary reports of IPM data
- Export CiscoWorks2000 Resource Manager Essential's (RME) device inventory and convert the data into an IPM seed file
- Connect to the IPM CCO page from the CiscoWorks2000 desktop
Ability to use a web browser to view IPM data in summary views. Web access to daily, weekly, and monthly data for each collector, last day summary, collector detail, server status, and troubleshooting information.
Improved product performance based on redesigned data retriever and data collector.
Improved display of hop-by-hop network performance data.
Redesigned user interface for configuring collectors, operations, source routers, and targets.

Client/Server Architecture

IPM provides central services and database functions on an IPM server, which communicates through a messaging interface to multiple IPM workstation clients (Figure 1-1 ). The IPM software consists of server software and client software components that can be installed on the same workstation or on different workstations.

For this release of IPM, the IPM server software runs only on a Solaris workstation, but the IPM client software is available for Solaris, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT platforms.

The client/server architecture is cross-platform compatible, which allows you to run the client and server software in mixed operating system environments. So, for example, you can run the IPM server on a Solaris workstation and access it from an IPM client running on a Windows workstation.

Figure 1-1: IPM Client/Server Architecture

The IPM server software consists of a group of functional services that manage the data between the network, client workstations, and the centralized database. Some of the IPM server functions include an SNMP server, database server, message log server, display server, configuration server, data collection server, and a process manager. The IPM server manages the exchange of data between the IPM database and the network devices, such as the routers. The IPM process manager launches and manages all of the IPM servers.

The IPM client software communicates with the IPM server. The IPM client software is installed on the same workstation as the IPM server software, or on a different workstation on the same network as the IPM server.

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