1) My company is very concerned about the distribution and intellectual property restrictions that can come with using some types of open source software. I understand there can be restrictions on us even if we use a product that embeds such open source code. Many of your competitors use restrictive open source licenses. Should I be concerned about this when using ILOG JViews?
This is an important question, especially for our independent software vendor (ISV) customers. We assure you that ILOG JViews has passed the strict licensing guidelines of the world's largest ISVs and can likely pass your requirements too.

If you still have concerns, please contact an ILOG sales representative to get ILOG's open source code usage policy, and to ask other related questions.

2) Is it possible to load data from an existing database?
JViews TGO supports various data sources, including Java database connectivity (JDBC) or XML. These standards give user interface developers several options for exchanging data with backend management applications. JViews TGO applications can be built in a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) environment, using JavaBeans to automate synchronization with custom databases.

3) Does JViews TGO contain an autodiscovery mechanism?
JViews TGO does not contain an automatic discovery mechanism. It is intended to be – used on top of discovery tools. The interface between the backend and the application can be created through XML, Web services, JDBC or an application programming interface (API). JViews TGO can be used to describe network assets, such as network elements, connections, equipment and services, and then automate the interactive display of this information.

4) How do I connect JViews TGO to my Management Information Base (MIB)?
You must use a package that can browse your MIB and gather the information you need for your application. JViews TGO offers an object model which is able to deal with this data, and the product supports the simple network management protocol (SNMP)state dictionary, based on RFC 1213 (Management Information Base for Network Management of TCP/IP-based internets— MIB-II). JViews TGO distribution contains an example of an SNMP console, based on a free SNMP Java package, which guides you through the steps involved with using this standard.

5) How is JViews TGO different from Visio?
Visio offers excellent interactive drawing and graphing functions, but unlike JViews TGO it was not created to build professional network and element management applications. TGO’s architecture is very different from Visio in that JViews TGO components enable Java developers to design applications under complex custom software architectures. In addition, JViews TGO offers features that Visio doesn’t have. For example, JViews TGO implements a standard visual language for network management, offers automatic layout for logical displays, maps for geographical needs, off-the-shelf synchronized visual components such as network, equipment, tree views tables and rich and thin client deployment. Finally, JViews TGO is designed for “living” displays with real-time updates, but Visio’s strength is static documentation.

6) How is JViews TGO different from JViews Diagrammer?
JViews TGO enhances JViews Diagrammer’s current features with the following

• Business objects and dedicated data sources for managing network-specific information, such as network elements, connections, equipment, antennas, services, alarms and states.
• A standard visual language to interactively display networks, pieces of equipment, alarms or states.
• The support of international and industry standards such as Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), Bellcore, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Synchroneous Optical Networking (SONET), Operations Support System through Java Initiative (OSS/J), TeleManagement Forum (TMF) and Storage Area Network (SAN) for telecom and network management.
• Synchronized representation through dedicated views such as topology, equipment, tree, table or overview.

7) Does JViews TGO integrate with OSS\J?
Yes, JViews TGO is qualified for the Quality of Service API of OSS/J. See the OSS/J Web site for details. JViews TGO contains an object model compatible with OSS/J, as well as end-to-end integration illustrating how to create a fault management front end for OSS/J- compliant systems.

8) How is JViews TGO different from a network management system (NMS) or front-end package such as Micromuse Netcool?
JViews TGO was created to help developers create and deploy user interfaces , while NMS packages work close to the network, managing inventories, events, business logic, services and more. JViews TGO and NMS are complementary, and many NMS vendors—including Micromuse Netcool–-have created their user interfaces with JViews TGO.

9) Can I display over the Web? What are my deployment options?
JViews TGO offers thin-client deployment so you can display over the Web. It contains visual components based on JavaServer Faces (JSF) and Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) to offer both a clean integration on the server and an excellent user experience on the client. Of course, JViews TGO supports all deployment options allowed by Java, including applets and Java Web Start.

10) Can I add custom equipment that JViews TGO does not have in its symbol set?
Yes. JViews TGO offers the ability to assemble various pieces of equipment such as racks, cards and slots for chassis and shelves, in order to describe custom equipment . For network elements, JViews TGO allows you to define new types of nodes and to specify their design and display, depending on their operational state or the types of alarms associated with them.

11) Can I display my network both with and without a map?
Yes. JViews TGO supports the display of different topologies. It includes geographical views ( nodes can be geo-referenced) and logical displays ( the layout is automatically computed according to the topology itself). In both cases, JViews TGO offers advanced layout techniques, such as collapsible sub-networks, link routing and label placement optimization.

12) Can I change the way JViews TGO icons look when they respond to alarms?
The default visual language in JViews TGO offers many options to customize the way information is displayed. For more advanced needs, JViews TGO offers the ability to enrich the default look and feel. It is very easy to define new icons for different types of nodes, alarms or states, or to define a specific representation for a given type of router. You can do this through Java code using the open application programming interface (API) , or through configuration files based on the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) syntax.