I keep warning you about the dangers of upgrading to Windows 2000 Server too soon because of the complex changes in the way it is set up and the way it operates. Fortunately, toolmakers keep coming up with aids that can help to protect us from our own ignorance of how Windows 2000 operates.

Not that there should be any ignorance, but the sheer volume of the differences from Windows NT 4 (or NetWare, Unix or Vines -- if you've come from those environments) makes it easy for us to overlook some seemingly trivial item that could create a major headache.

One such tool is Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) 3.5, from Configuresoft. ECM provides pro-active security management and alerting to help prevent configuration-related security breaches on Windows NT/2000 systems. In other words, if you inadvertently misconfigure something (easy to do as you're adding applications, users or devices -- or moving them around) ECM will tell you about it.

Configuresoft also announced the ECM Windows 9x Migrator that automates the process of identifying and resolving configuration conflicts prior to migrating Windows 95/98 desktops and notebooks to Windows 2000 Professional.

ECM 3.5 now also provides a Web console for monitoring configuration settings from virtually anywhere, using a standard browser.

ECM 3.5 collects the details and provides views on security-related configuration data from all systems connected to the network. This should allow you to quickly perform security audits across an entire enterprise and pro-actively identify and correct security problems before systems can be compromised. For example, with the click of a mouse, ECM 3.5 provides a complete view of all security hotfix patches and version numbers installed on individual machines. By gaining easy and centralized access to this data, systems administrators can now verify in minutes, not hours, that hotfixes are up to date across an entire network, and confirm that patches have in fact been correctly installed.

There's a lot more to Enterprise Configuration Manager. Register at http://www.configuresoft.com/and you can download a full-featured demo so you can see for yourself.

» posted by ITworld staff

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