NetPro is the leading provider of directory infrastructure management solutions. NetPro software monitors, troubleshoots and optimizes the directory to ensure the availability and performance of the business-critical applications that depend upon it. Proactive directory management enables administrators to reduce administrative costs, minimize network downtime and optimize resources. NetPro partners include Novell, Inc. and Microsoft* Corp., and its customer list features such Fortune 500 companies as Arthur Andersen, DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, and J.P. Morgan.

Pat Conners is a Senior Network Engineer with Scott & White Health Plan, a health maintenance organization (HMO) affiliated with Scott & White Clinic and Scott & White Memorial Hospital. From the company's Temple, Texas location, Conners manages 336 GroupWise mailboxes in a mixed NetWare 4.x and Windows NT* network, along with several remote NetWare 5 file servers.

In the daily management of the company's GroupWise system, Conners had begun to notice regular interruptions in the message flow. The local GroupWise network was connected to an external GroupWise system which used a firewall to access the Internet, and this configuration often made it difficult to pinpoint the location of e-mail problems. However, before she could notify administrators of the external system, Conners had to identify the location of the problem. "I only contact other administrators if the problem isn't localized on our system, because then it's their responsibility. If the problem is in my system, it's my responsibility," explained Conners. If the Temple location of Scott & White implemented a solution that enabled Conners to view the entire GroupWise system from a single console, she could quickly identify the location and source of e-mail problems and minimize both end-user complaints and system downtime.

To track down problems in the past, Conners followed the basic troubleshooting procedures for GroupWise. "Before we began using MailCentral, I did lots of manual searching of the queues looking for backups," she says. "Unloading and reloading agents was my first line of defense." After experiencing increased complaints from users and the administration, Conners finally reached a breaking point. This is when, she says, " I decided to give MailCentral a try." Conners had seen a print ad for NetPro's MailCentral several years prior and decided to call for an evaluation copy.

Conners was thrilled with MailCentral's 24X7 monitoring capability, and was particularly impressed that all of the critical GroupWise components, including message queues, server processes, system connectivity, etc., were constantly on watch. MailCentral instantly alerts on more than 100 critical issues via e-mail, pager, SNMP and Novell Send. For Conners, this meant that she could give up staring at consoles, waiting for error messages—and she no longer needed to play detective when a user called in with a problem. Even better, MailCentral's context-sensitive knowledge base provides step-by-step problem resolution, giving Conners insights she can use to solve day-to-day problems. MailCentral also fulfills Conners' most critical need: It gives her a global perspective on the company's entire GroupWise system from a single console so that she can pinpoint the source of problems quickly and easily.

With MailCentral, Conners' job description has evolved from reactive to proactive management of her GroupWise network. "MailCentral gives me peace of mind and makes my job easier. I don't have to constantly check all the queues to make sure everything is flowing. It's already paid for itself, and I recommend it to other GW administrators I come in contact with," she says.

In constant use since July 1999, MailCentral has completely automated Scott & White's GroupWise monitoring and troubleshooting process, in the process making system management almost entirely trouble-free. From the start, MailCentral has prevented unplanned downtime and saved Conners and her company both time and money. "The first time I ran MailCentral, it showed me a couple of problems and gave me suggestions on how to resolve them. One was the beginning of a major backup I wasn't even aware of yet." Fortunately for Conners and Scott & White Health Plan, MailCentral will continue to prevent major or minor GroupWise issues from occurring in the future.

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