RMS vs homebrew monitoring
jjames
Posts: 2,908
So I recently just loaded up one of my PCs at home with Windows Home Server, which is based off of Windows Server 2003. I added the RMS server package to it and am at a loss on how to implement it with existing jobs. Now, one of the jobs that I'm working on already has a homebrew monitoring system. It'll email me with the button press log every night at midnight and I can also force it to email me the current log with a button press. I'm tracking audio & video switching, button presses, certain lighting feedback, device control (particularly the plasmas & TVs), etc., etc.
My question is for those who use RMS (or anyone with an opinion) - what's the advantages of using an RMS server over custom monitoring like I'm doing? I'm a copy & paste type of guy so I usually use the same homebrew monitoring (call it a module if you want) code and have used it for the past 5 jobs. So far so good to be honest.
Anyway - pros / cons / opinions about RMS? Is it something worth looking into and implementing with current, future and/or previous jobs?
My question is for those who use RMS (or anyone with an opinion) - what's the advantages of using an RMS server over custom monitoring like I'm doing? I'm a copy & paste type of guy so I usually use the same homebrew monitoring (call it a module if you want) code and have used it for the past 5 jobs. So far so good to be honest.
Anyway - pros / cons / opinions about RMS? Is it something worth looking into and implementing with current, future and/or previous jobs?
0
Comments
Also they said that RMS is more secure than port forwarding and it shows up in your master's online tree as a device and let's you set up monitoring and notifications from on site devices without adding code and re-compiling.
And it's a potential revenue stream.
Basically one the client (AMX master) side of things it is split into two licences, asset management and scheduling. With asset management you are able to monitor any parameter, communication status etc and quite a large chunk of the coding is already written for you, especially if you are using device modules that conform to the AMX standards. Assets are then all grouped into rooms for logical management. Once devices are in the system you are able to use the RMS web interface to get a full overview in addition to be able to drill down for more comprehensive info. In addition to this you have the ability to set up thresholds for parameters that can trigger an event and fire off warnings via email pager or sms. There is also the ability to integrate RFID tagging for full device tracking (ie portable AV trolly's) and there is a fairly comprehensive reporting system for generating printable reports on source usage, device usage, uptime etc..
The scheduling side of things impliments a full scheduling engine that is accessable via a web interface (with full access control), TP interface (TP4 files supplied) or via integration with outlook, lotus notes, or novell netware. Haven't played with it yet though - aparently that's tomorrow.
I guess it really depends on what level of monitoring and or scheduling you need. As with everything you could roll your own solution, however to roll something comparable to RMS would most likely cost a lot more in time than a RMS licence.
I personally don't need anything other than device monitoring and already have code in place to monitor anything I want . . . I guess this is why I'm playing with it now to figure the pros / cons compared to what I already have in place.
And curiously - how much training is needed to deploy the RMS stuff? It certainly doesn't look like it's plug & play. :eek:
Oi GET BACK TO WORK PhreaK! We Didn't give you a free dinner for you to post on forums while we are trying to impart some knowledge!!!
:P
Device monitoring by default is basically online/offline. It can do projector lamp hours, and even transport control states (not much good for IR devices), and pretty much anything else you can glean from a device. It doesn't do any button push tracking (by default, though I'm not even sure how you'd force it to do that, either).
Getting a basic RMS implementation up and running from the Netlinx side of things isn't too bad, but is far from plug-n-play.
RMS is definitely a beast compared to sending an email that the lamp hours are over their limit. If you think you can get enough residential clients to support the cost of setting up the system it would provide an awesome pro-active service for clients. There is a learning curve, though...
I developed my own before RMS came out. So, I've been modifying mine all this time. The same was true for me with i!-Weather and i!_Email. I had already done it myself and then, lo and behold, AMX sends their's out. I have to work on my patience, I guess.
I think the comment about depending upon what you want to do. RMS is a well thoght out package. It does a lot and covers a lot of bases. If you only need a simple thing, then it's probably overkill. But the line of where it becomes practical is fairly low since coding a protocol over IP can quickly get time consuming. And your time is worth something. So, for example, if you bill yourself out at $100 bucks an hour, then it only takes about 10-20 hours of your time to make RMS a good choice.
I can assure you I've spent more than 20 hours on my system.
Free for a small number of rooms (5?), so you can test all you want. Ask your sales rep about pricing.
I would definitely recommend the 3-day training class to get started and get your head wrapped around the system. There's nothing terribly complicated about it, it's just poorly documented and hard to troubleshoot. Once it's working, though, it's a pretty powerful tool.
RMS turns out to be overkill for what I actually need to provide effective service on my campus. And, the scheduling / outlook integration created real problems, where there were previously only the perceived possibility of problems. In an organization as stressed as mine, the only piece of information that has any real value is projector shutdowns because of overheating or lamp failures. Anything else is just a distraction.
The total cost of hardware and license fees for my stupid little function that talks to a PHP widget are less than the RMS system; all the setup and maintenance labor for one vs. the other is roughly a wash (without the scheduling integration part, that took way too much time); and the PHP widget integrates better with the rest of our job tracking database system. As a bonus, one of the secretaries - who used to get yelled at after people forgot to tell her to schedule a room - baked me a huge batch of cookies after I pulled the plug on RMS and implemented a super-simple rote keycode for security instead. The sweetest reward came from a KISS. :-)