Quest Software has consolidated several of its Oracle database
management tools into a unified product called Quest Central for
Oracle, a move that could make life easier for database
administrators.
The company is pitching the product as an integrated package that
includes all the tools an administrator needs for daily tasks such
as tuning and monitoring. The move also simplifies the company's
broad and potentially confusing product lineup, making it easier
for customers to pick the tools they need.
Combining the tools in a unified package and making them accessible
from a central console could save some time and effort for database
administrators (DBAs) because they will not need to flip back and
forth between separate tools, said Carl Olofson, a program director
with analysts IDC.
"As everybody knows, DBAs are getting harder and harder to find, so
the more you can simplify their work, the more productivity you can
get from a DBA," he said.
The product is composed of three "modules" for storage, performance
and availability management. Each module includes Quest tools
related to those areas, such as Spotlight, SQLab Vision and
StorageXpert, said Azeem Mohamed, Quest product marketing
manager.
One Quest customer who beta-tested the product said having access
to all the tools from a single console made life easier.
"The other thing I like a lot is that whatever object you've got
open, like a table or a database index, it gives you a list of all
the tools and commands you might want to use against it," said Tom
Cox, a principal consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Quest Central appears to include all the tools a DBA would need for
basic maintenance tasks, although some users will still want
additional tools for more advanced tasks, he said.
Pricing per server ranges from $11,000 (£7,806) to $110,000
(£78,056) for the performance module and $5,000 (£3,550) to
$105,000 (£74,550) for the storage pack. The availability pack will
not be shipped until late in the second quarter, when pricing will
be announced.
The broad price ranges reflect the tools included. For example, for
$11,000, the performance pack includes only SQLab Vision and
Spotlight. That represents a 25% discount on buying the tools
separately, according to Quest. Each module also includes an
administration console, and the performance module comes with an
advice tool that answers commonly posed queries.
Quest will continue to offer the stand-alone tools as long as there
is demand for them, according to Mohamed.
The company already offers a similar console product for the Unix
version of IBM DB2 database. It plans to start developing a Quest
Central for IBM's mainframe database in the second quarter, Azeem
said, although he declined to offer a shipping date.