First Option Releases iSeries Watchdog

Published: April 15, 2008

by Alex Woodie

First Option, an outsourcer of System i (Power System, iSeries, AS/400) servers based in Massachusetts, last week debuted the iSeries Watchdog, a new system monitoring solution that First Option originally developed to assist with its outsourcing business.

iSeries Watchdog collects key health indicators of System i servers and displays them in a color-coded interface. The software, which was written in Java, alerts operators and administrators to system problems and halt messages, and keeps them abreast of the status of tape drives, as well as DASD and CPU usage.

According to Paul Fuller, president of First Option, iSeries Watchdog started as an internal project to reduce the need for manual systems checks and reports throughout the day. "We formed a team of our senior programmer-analysts and constructed an application" using various technologies, including Spring, JPA, LDAP, and Web Services. "Not only was it a great exercise to try out some different approaches on the persistence and security application levels, but we also created an iSeries monitoring product."

Fuller admits that there are more sophisticated System i monitoring products on the market, but says the iSeries Watchdog provides core monitoring functionality at a "price that makes business sense."

First Option is leasing iSeries Watchdog for a monthly fee, starting at $1500 per month.

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