When managing distributed applications or web products, IT administrators must inevitably deal with COM+ objects, or more specifically, the credentials that the COM object uses. The COM account information, referred to as the identity, is buried in poorly referenced interfaces - in some cases six levels deep. The interface to view the COM objects does not show much relevant information - such as the account information. This means that to determine which accounts are being used for a COM object, let alone manage the COM object, each object must be opened - one at a time.

COM+ Manager provides a centralized view for all the administrator's COM+ management needs. By generating a common view where all aspects of the COM objects can be displayed - including security information, UUIDs, and identity information - administrators can quickly see where security holes lay and which objects need to have their password information updated. Further, this information can be exported to a report and made available to auditors.

Most important is COM+ Manager's ability to change the COM+ identity information. It provides a flat table structure to view the relevant COM+ information. Therefore, finding all the COM objects that use a specific account is as easy as sorting a column. Then, to change the identity information, simply highlight the COM objects you wish to modify and select "Set Identity." COM+ Manager will connect to the identified systems and update the identity information accordingly.

COM+ Manager allows IT administrators to meet their compliance requirements by providing a simple way to mass manage all COM+ identity information. It will generate reports about the status and security settings of COM+ objects, allowing auditors to quickly evaluate the security status of the organization. Further, all actions within COM+ Manager are logged. If any changes are made with COM+ Manager, the changes will be tracked in the built-in log, in the application logs of the local machine, or in the application logs of the machines being managed.