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BMC Targets DBAs With DBXray
Most monitoring and management tools target system administrators,meeting their needs by showing high-level information about what’s up andrunning. Database administrators have a different set of concerns to keep theirsystems healthy, and BMC Software Inc. takes DBA needs into account withDBXray.
According to Tim Mueting, marketing manager fordistributed data management at BMC, BMC looked at the regular routines of itsinternal DBAs and its customers when designing the feature set and interfacefor DBXray. The result is a dashboard-style interface that gives theadministrator a quick look at the information necessary to keep the databaseperforming well. “Its designed with how the DBA does his job in mind,” Muetingsays.
DBXray is a standalone product, licensed on a per-userbasis. Midrange shops interested in tuning databases may be attracted toDBXray, since it does not require an enterprise framework to operate. “Youdon’t need all the infrastructure Patrol can provide,” Mueting says.
In additon, DBXray is designed so the end user, theDBA, can install and configure DBA without the need for trained staff orconsultants. Users can download the software from the web and install it ontheir own.
Mueting notes DBXray can plug into BMC’s Patrolframework, making it part of the enterprise framework, if the environmentrequires it. Because Patrol does low-level monitoring of systems, DBAs may alsobe interested in the data it generates, and Patrol can send alerts to DBXray.
The DBXray interface consists of a Web page withindicators for critical system information. An agent sits on the databaseserver and users can decide whether to run the main software on the databaseserver itself or on a local console.