Press Release

                             June 27, 1990


Announcement of a Mnet monitoring tool called HistMnet
======================================================

At last! A tool that will help the Network Administrator
monitor the Mnet statistics chronologically; a new employee
looking at Mnet at all times!

      HistMnet, for Network Administrators, is the key for
obtaining statistics from Mnet over a specified period of
time.  Up until now, Network Administrators had to be
satisfied with a mere snap-shot of the information available
from Mnet.  Too often a dead server must be brought back
online but information is not sufficient to know why it died. 
It's like attempting to make an autopsy without the body. 
HistMnet provides these tools and the information necessary to
better understand what was happening to the server before
failing.

HistMnet will:

-     Capture Mnet statistics to ASCII file;
-     Monitor and warn users of abnormal behaviour on your
      server;
-     Improve your capability as an Administrator to better
      understand your network environment.

      HistMnet is a Mnet monitoring system divided into two
parts.  The first part, the heart of HistMnet, actually
controls Mnet.  This control allows HistMnet to retrieve
statistics from Mnet. These statistics are written to ASCII
files to be loaded and analyzed later by other programs such
as spreadsheets and databases.  Figures 2 and 3 are good
examples of the type of analysis possible with historical data
from Mnet.

      HistMnet also doubles as a new staff member since it can
monitor the behaviour of your network environment at all
times.  By continuously monitoring certain key statistics from
the Mnet screens,  HistMnet can detect potential trouble and
warns the Network Administrator as symptoms appear.

      For example, the Load Average indicates the percentage of
utilisation of the central processor unit of a server by each
users.  As demand might become excessive at peak times,
HistMnet will flag any high values.  It will then forward this
SEND command to the Administrator: "1 Minute Load Average is
1.15 For QUICK 1 at 16:13".  This message is sent because it
knows from its configuration database that the maximum allowed
for the 1 minute Load Average for server QUICK 1 is 0.7.
      HistMnet also creates a database listing of all the
servers on the network (Figure 1).  This database contains the
names of the Administrator who will receive the warnings.  It
also stores all the thresholds allowed for most of the
critical Mnet statistics.  

      As well HistMnet gives all the information required for
the Network Administrator to understand more clearly how to
fine tune servers for maximum throughput.  Plotting on a chart
the long term behaviour of each server provides a picture of
the network's slow and busy periods, thus providing the
information that will help balance the loads on each server. 
With HistMnet, the Administrator can compare and measure how
effective modifications on the server configuration were on
the overall performance of your network environment.

      An evaluation copy of HistMnet which allows the
Administrator to monitor only one server at a time is
available from Quicksilver Consultants.  You can also download
the evaluation software from Compuserve (Available July 5) as
well as most Banyan user groups bulletins board or get a copy
at their meeting.

About Quicksilver Consultants....

Quicksilver Consultants is a firm established in 1987. It
specialises in all aspects of office automation, with an
emphasis on supporting Banyan Vines Networks.

You can reach Quicksilver Consultants at:

80 Sandcastle Drive, Suite 814
Nepean, Ontario
Canada, K2H 9E7
Telephone: 613-721-9231
Facsimilie: 613-236-9241
Compuserve ID: 76635,2055