Electronic Payment Services, Inc. is a part of Concord EFS, Inc., a leader in the electronic payment services industry since 1970. Concord EFS is a full-service provider, offering hardware and software for complete electronic payment processing and settlement services, as well as communications, training, support and maintenance. Their NetWare and Windows NT* environment is supported by five personnel, including Mark McCall, EPS NT/NetWare Systems manager.

"Server Manager saves us about 50 percent of the time it used to take to administer our NetWare servers., " said McCall. "We have seven NetWare 4.11 servers that have been up and running for years. The only way to improve reliability and performance is through reducing the time it takes to administer them. One of the inconveniences I've encountered when administering NetWare servers was the need to run many programs. Server Manager includes all of the needed functions in a single interface, which eliminates the need to run many tools on the server as well as the workstation."

A unique server management solution that uses client/server architecture, Server Manager is designed to minimize bandwidth use and significantly lower network management and maintenance costs, especially in large network environments. "Server Manager has been in constant use for the last nine months, and I'm still discovering what it can do," continued McCall. "I can react to network problems quickly and very efficiently manage all network resources. Since Server Manager is designed for use in growing enterprise networks, it uses NLMs on the servers to perform bandwidth- intensive, time-consuming tasks locally on the server. Server Manager's client and server modules allow easy management of parameters, connections and open files from one place. This allows me to manage and monitor all our NetWare servers through modem connections without adding chatter to the network."

Server Manager's interface and integrated file manager provide the fastest way to manage volumes, directories and files, including changing rights and attributes, copying files, and loading NLMs. "Everything I need is right there in a single interface," said McCall. "After you've stared at a Windows screen all day, shifting to RConsole's pure text environment can be distracting. With Server Manager, I can look at system logs, performance statistics, and system information, change server configuration files and system performance parameters. With the Active view I can see who's logged on to each server and the connections they are using. I can not only tell who opened a file, but also from which workstation. Messages can be sent to users that opened that file or even close it. NLM view shows which versions are loaded and allows me to unload and reload. But the Disk view is the best. It lets me look at disk information from the volume level to the file level. This makes it easy to enhance QoS, such as changing disk allocation for users. I can increase it by percentage, size or give everyone 10% across the board."

With its focus on functionality and simplicity, Server Manager helps EPS reduce NetWare server administration overhead and free administrators from click drudgery to do more important work. AdRem Software's easy-to-use tool provides EPS and network professional Mark McCall with a powerful, directory-based solution for monitoring, managing and optimizing the company's investment in NetWare servers and NDS®.

*AdRem Software and Server Manager are registered trademarks of AdRem Software in the United States and other countries. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.