searching via google for "nbspool" returned three basic things:

   1) references to Quest's page/product
   2) resumes' of people w/nbspool as an "I know this" bullet point
   3) q&a from this list archived in google groups

hence I decided to add one more to that third item by posting here.  A little deeper search, however, turned up one obscure link that pointed me to a page of references, and lo-and-behold, there is an "NBspool for MPE" document with an HP part number! -- sure enough, a visit to 
     http://docs.hp.com/mpeix/all/index.html
had a pointer to
     http://docs.hp.com/mpeix/pdf/B3933-90002.pdf

(under "high availability", no less)  Since this is a third-party product, I really didn't expect to find it on HP's site, but I'm glad I did.

short answer to my particular problem: reconfigure the network IP addresses in NMMGR's "network directory" branch.  [which I'm told the SM is updating from wherever he happens to be on his "vacation"...]

Thanks all for your quick responses

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