This information can be used to help understand and optimize system performance. In the heterogeneous environments common today, such tools can be vital. Without them, system administrators have to manually grant or revoke rights for each computer or network that an individual needs to access. Security management is an issue whether the administrator is managing network devices, individual computers or even software. In the computer and software arenas, several trends exist.
Some tools provide a single interface for granting user access to a variety of systems.
They contain elements of inventory, configuration and security management. Today, when an application needs upgrading or an operating system needs a patch, the task is more challenging. Software distribution applications help automate the process of managing a software base that may be distributed across thousands of desktops. Fault-management software provides friendly interfaces to help administrators do their jobs and get things running again. In those cases, they may send administrators notification of the perceived problem, the corrective action they took and the results.