If you have a Windows systems admin (the kind of person responsible for managing a computer network and/or server farm) on your holiday gift-giving list, check out these three commercial apps that they are sure to love:
Hyena ($199) - This Windows application is an Active Directory admin's sidekick. In addition to acting as a an AD Users/Computers snap-in on steroids, it also lets you easily change local account usernames and passwords on multiple computers, create helpful lists of group members, and manage services. Hyena also makes it easy to quickly view the currently logged in users of a machine and shutdown or reboot a group of computers.
SecureCRT ($99) - Most sysadmins need a terminal emulation program for connecting to network devices, ssh sessions, or communicating with serial devices. SecureCRT has a tabbed interface so the admin can have multiple sessions open, and the sessions can automatically be reconnected upon launching the program if so desired. It also can be minimized to the tray, has a customizable scrollback buffer, and supports keyboard mappings. SecureCRT is Windows only.
VNCScan ($59) - Admins who use VNC in their environments for computer support will benefit from a VNC management tool like VNCScan. It allows the admin to deploy VNC in specific configurations to Windows computers (including passwords, VNC flavor, etc.), maintain computer lists of VNC-capable computers, and do basic tasks like find the currently logged in user and access RDP sessions.
Forego the fruit cake and gift a sysadmin management tool!
Tags: commercial, hgg, hgg2008, Hyena, SecureCRT, sysadmin
