Xmingwin makes it practical to generate Windows programs from a Linux server. This column gives a recipe for setting up Xmingwin, outlines the most important reasons for doing so and shows you how to generate executables for multiple platforms -- including Windows DLLs -- from a single Linux source

xCAT (Extreme Cluster Administration Toolkit) is a tool kit that can be used for the deployment and administration of Linux clusters. Its features are based on user requirements, and many of its features take advantage of IBM xSeries hardware.

Control any computer on remote server location by IP/name. Features included for remote control are: Reboot, Shutdown, Logoff current user, Stop, start, disable and enable services, Show service dependencies, List, Kill, Execute processes, Show drive, Drive free space, Partition, Logical memory, CPU and OS info, List, create and delete shares, List printers.

Enhances Internet Information Server with: Anti-leech; Concurrent connections limit; Concurrent connections from same IP limit; Traffic per day limit; Open hours control; Max session time limit; Real-time connections tracing; Real-time connections handling; Easy IP deny/allow setting; Custom server software signature; Custom directory browsing page.

RSM - Remote Service Manager is a free tool for Windows NT (SP6), Windows 2000 and Windows XP which allows remote startup/shutdown of single services and a system reboot with a simple telnet session. RSM installs itself as a service, listening to the specified port (default is 40), waiting for connections from specified addresses with specified login:password. After login the user can issue, via command line, various commands in order to list, start, stop the services of the host running RSM or can force a restart of the remote host.

Admin Report Kit (ARK)™ is a powerful, general-purpose reporting tool for the Microsoft Enterprise Network. ARK presents information, about logical entities present in the Microsoft Enterprise Network, in the form of Trees, Tables and Views. All categories of information reported by ARK are available across the domains in the enterprise. This means that information may be viewed and reported for several systems in the enterprise simultaneously, from a single location.

ipMonitor is a network monitoring, alerting and recovery software that IT professionals and ISPs/ASPs depend on to ensure quality of service and network uptime, around-the-clock. ipMonitor uses 42 monitor types to test the availability and responsiveness of network resources at the protocol and transaction levels. In the event of a problem, ipMonitor will attempt to solve it by restarting failed services, rebooting machines, initiating recovery scripts, or executing 3rd party recovery applications. With a diverse array of notification methods, comprehensive reporting abilities, and licensing of unlimited resources, ipMonitor is ideal for mission-critical eCommerce and eBusiness installations.

IISTracer is a real-time monitoring tool for Microsoft IIS. IISTracer monitors scripts (.asp,.cgi,..), static files (.htm,.gif,..) and downloads (.mp3,.zip,..) and lets you show online current state, progress (in/out bytes) and other info (client IP, HTTP headers) of each running request in IIS.