The following is a complete transcript of the Question and Answer section of the July 17th 2007 webcast on Lithium.  Answers were provided by Lithium. 

Q. Does Lithium Web support mobile devices (provided they have a web browser onboard)?
A. Absolutely. The Lithium Web interface is 100% HTML... it does not need any additional plugins and/or javascript.


Q. I need to re-install Ltihium on a new server as the old one is faulty. Is there a way to carry over the historical data from the old server into a fresh installation?
A. Search the Lithium Forum (forum.lithiumcorp.com) for "backup" there's a thread that discusses the process. We're also releasing a new "Core Admin" tool with the next release of Lithium that will automate this process.


Q. What about hardware monitoring support for older Xserve G4 models, PowerMac G4/G5 systems and desktop Macs like the MacPro?
A. Monitoring of G4 Xserves is not supported, though you will get some degree of monitoring through Lithium. PowerMac G4/G5 systems, so long as they're running Mac OS X Server 10.4 they are supported and likewise for the MacPros. If the machines are running Mac OS X Client 10.4 you can still monitor them using OS X's built-in SNMP agent. Mac OS X 10.3 is not supported.


Q. I manage approx 50 websites across 8 different servers. 2 G4s running Webstar, 4 xserves, 1 macmini and 1 Win2K Server. I would like to monitor the individual sites to insure DNS and Web services are up and running. Is there a way to do this.
A. Yes, the new script-based service monitoring feature of Lithium will be very useful here. You can use the device monitoring features of Lithium to monitor the actual server hardware and then add monitored services under each of those servers to test the operation of individual DNS/Web/Mail/etc services.


Q. We use Entersys switches and a Watchguard Firewall. How do you handle non-Cisco devices.
A. Lithium is definitely not limited to just supporting Cisco devices... we do have a specific module for Cisco devices which provides enhanced monitoring for them but for other devices we also have very good generic SNMP monitoring support which will atleast provide monitoring of network interfaces and possibly more depending on what MIBs that device supports. As always, if you have a specific device you need in-depth monitoring of we're more than happy to work with you to achieve this.


Q. How does Lithium store the data it collects? Is it using a relational database? Is that database accessible to other apps?
A. Data is stored in two open formats and is completely accessible by third party apps. Operational data such as list of devices, incident, cases, etc are all stored in a PostgreSQL (open-source SQL database) database that is installed when you install Lithium Core.

Metric data (i.e the actual monitoring telemetry) is stored in RRDtool (round robin database tool -- open source) format files in a file-per-month and file-per-year manner within a very well organised directory structure. This makes it very easy for you to get access to the monitoring data if you wanted to extend Lithium's functionality and/or use the monitoring data for an external application/script.


Q. Way cool! I've wanted this for years!
A. Thanks! So have we!


Q. Will my existing license be updated for the new licensing model?
A. Yes, all existing license holders got a generous upgrade in their license level under the new license model. The transition was automatic when upgrading to Lithium Core 4.8.7b.


Q. Why is 50 devices more than twice as much as 25 devices?
A. The Lithium 25 product is heavily discounted to be our "entry level" product; hence it's price point is not in line with the linear gaps between the other license levels.


Q. For SNMP devices that vendor specific plugins are not avaliable what info can you collect and how do you view it.
A. Lithium has two "generic" SNMP modules -- Basic SNMP and Advanced SNMP. The Basic SNMP module provides MIB-2 network interface monitoring that will be supported by virtually any SNMP devices. The Advanced SNMP module provides monitoring support for MIB-2 Network Interface, CPU and Storage Resources which may or may not be supported by the device being monitored. Monitoring data for these devices is viewed through either Console or Web just like any other devices.


Q. Are there price points for more than 1000 devices? Is there educational pricing?
A. Sure, pricing for above 1,000 devices is quoted on a per-customer basis. Educational discounts between 15% and 40% are available depending on the license level required. For more information, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Q. Does communication with the Core require VPN or port forwarding.
A. No. The comm's between Core and Console is all HTTP and HTTPS can also be used.


Q. Do they have a formal training/partner program?
A. Yes we do! Our partner program is now open, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to express your interest in joining.

Q. On Pricing, what about major upgrades of the product? What does this license cover? Is it a period of time for upgrades, or is there a discount at the next major version, or is it fully updating forever?
A. All licenses include Standard Support for 12 months. This provides bug-fix and minor updates and email-only support. We now have addition al support levels which include SLAs, all software updates, on-call support, etc. More information on these can be found at http://www.lithiumcorp.com

Q. What about integration with other RRDTools?
A. The sky's the limit! All the RRDtool files are there for you to use however you want.


Q. What is the best deployment platform, Mac, Linux? and server hardware requirements, best practice for say 100 devices.
A. Our Lithium Core releases for Mac are usually a few weeks ahead of Linux and there's some additional functionality (such as Bonjour discovery/zero-conf) that's not implemented on Linux. However, the code base for the two are identical.

For monitoring 100 devices we'd recommend deployment on an Xserve G5, Intel Xserve or comparable MacPro or PoweMac. The biggest resource concern will be RAM and disk IO. You'll want to have over 2Gb of RAM and may need to look at using some external drives for Lithium's data directory.