The Opsware Network for Network Automation Systen

Your network ecosystem is undergoing constant change. In fact, there’s an explosion of complexity in the IT infrastructure of today, across every layer of the stack. Networks. Software. Servers and Storage. Managing this growth is challenging enough without the constant threat of security vulnerabilities and new compliance rules.


The Opsware Network provides a Community Portal and Subscription Service that allow you to get the most of your investment in Opsware. The community portal provides access to a collaborative community where you can access product content that extends the functionality of the Opsware product family and join with the Opsware user community to develop projects and leverage the knowledge and best practices of the Opsware customer base.

The Opsware Network Subscription Service provides access to vulnerability and compliance content enabling an automated approach to vulnerability management and regulatory compliance enforcement. Traditionally, vulnerability management has been a manual process beginning with email notifications from the individual vendors whose products are used in a data center. Deciphering such emails from multiple vendors and determining whether or not they apply to a unique IT environment, which in a large organization might include many thousands of servers and network devices, can take days or even weeks, all the while leaving the environment in a vulnerable state.

Furthermore, the remediation steps to fix these vulnerabilities are not always clear, and notifying the appropriate parties can be challenging. The Opsware Network keeps customers informed and up-to-date by delivering actionable vulnerability alerts and compliance policies for Opsware software, ensuring that security and policy violations impacting the IT environment can be immediately rectified.

The Opsware Network Community Portal

The Opsware Network Community is a portal to Opsware-delivered content and facilitates a cooperative environment across the Opsware user community. The community is made up of the following components: 

Essential content.

This provides the Server Automation System and Network Automation System with security best practices content that has been certified by the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and approved by the National Security Agency (NSA). This valuable content enables the administrator to immediately understand and report against the best practices measures recommended by the CIS and NSA. In addition, essential content delivers automation content across the Opsware product family.

Community projects. 

Community users can monitor, initiate, or submit projects to The Opsware Network community. This open forum of project development allows the Opsware Community to share automation content and leverage the combined intelligence of the Opsware user community. 

Community forums. 

Community users can monitor and contribute to user forums specific to The Opsware Network, Community projects, and other Opsware products.

Notification service. 

Community users can receive email announcements or really simple syndication (RSS) feeds by simply opting to receive announcements regarding their particular area of interest, allowing the user to stay current on activities within the Opsware user community.

The Opsware Network Subscription Service

The, optional, Subscription Service delivers vulnerability and compliance content to the Opsware Server Automation System and Network Automation System and will be expanded to deliver services to other Opsware products over time:

Vulnerability content.

This provides the Opsware Server Automation System and Network Automation System with an ongoing stream of vulnerability alerts in the form of actionable policies. Vulnerability alerts are downloaded to the Server Automation System or Network Automation System server, allowing the administrator to immediately pinpoint vulnerable servers or devices in the network without having to manually wade through vendor-specific-emails thus minimizing the vulnerability window and facilitating rapid remediation.   

Compliance content.

This provides the Opsware Server Automation System and Network Automation System with an ongoing stream of compliance policies enabling the organization to ensure compliance with regulatory policies such as PCI, HIPAA, SOX, and FISMA. The compliance policies enable the administrator to immediately perform audits to measure and enforce compliance with regulatory policies.