Smart Tools to Support Shipboard Network Administrators

"COTS initiatives within the DOD over the past decade have resulted in a proliferation of systems comprised of increasingly more diverse and complex components. These systems have been comprised of a heterogeneous fabric of COTS products each of whichrequires not only day-to-day administration but also periodic maintenance. While skilled administrators within the commercial arena typically perform these activities, the Navy must staff this task with full-time war fighters who also double as part-timesystem managers. Smart administrative tools, which lessen the training required to manage these systems as well as shorten the time required to maintain them, can significantly benefit overall readiness. Progeny Systems Corp. proposes to create a SystemManagement, Administration, and Repair Tool (SMART) suite. The SMART suite will be centered on a web-based network and system administration framework. The framework will glue together pre-existing COTS and other administrative tools with otherspecific-need ¿plug-ins¿ not normally available within administrative tools. SMART¿s open and flexible design creates the opportunity for remote administration and intelligent diagnostic tools. The use of open and widely accepted standards will ensure thatthe tool obtains the maximum degree of platform independence. Given the emerging complexity of the network information processing environment as subsystems are interconnected on these classes of subm