Distributed Systems Management
is Getting a Real Gemby Sherri Leopard
The poll -- conducted by Infonetics Research Inc., a San Jose, CA, consultancy -- also showed that these companies are at times reluctant to try to reduce their losses by migrating to a client/server environment. Yes, client/server appears to offer advantages, such as flexibility, ease of use, and responsiveness, all of which can enable users to increase their effectiveness.
However, despite appealingly low hardware prices, "soft" and once-hidden costs have come to light, laying obstacles to adoption of client/server computing. "Total hidden costs per desktop PC over five years add up to $20,062," estimates John Faig, senior research analyst, Meta Group, Westport, CT.
These obstacles can be overcome. But, according to Ann Caluori, president of the 1,800 member SHARE computer systems user group, Ft. Belvoir, VA, "a lack of enterprise systems management tools is the number one inhibitor to moving to a client/server environment."
David Thewlis, vice president and director for SHARE Strategies, Eureka, CA, concurs. "Enterprisewide management is a tall order," he says, "but we consider it to be the single largest item we need today. Users are increasingly deploying distributed systems -- yet they don't have any clue about managing them."
There is, to be sure, a wide variety of network-management tools available. But "without integrated network and systems management products, we are unable to seriously consider moving toward distributed processing," says Rob Scott. "In fact, it's one of the biggest issues that hinder our moving full force toward distributed computing." Scott is lead systems programmer for Van Waters and Rogers Inc., an industrial-chemical distribution company and subsidiary of UNIVAR, Seattle, WA.
That premise means vendors must provide management tools that require less staff, less expertise, and less training, while offering more integration, more function, and more reliability. Moreover, the tools must be open, based on industry-accepted standards, and flexible. The tools must be easy to use -- dramatically simplifying systems management across the mixed networks that are the norm for most user organizations.
"The bottom line: We need tools that can integrate monitoring and management of hardware and software on a wide variety of platforms," says Scott.
IBM has been listening to what users have been saying. John Byzek, director of systems management development at IBM's Raleigh, NC, networking systems laboratory, sums up the requirements of systems managers: "They're looking for integration that's real, for things that work together, ordered by task names rather than some obscure product's name. They want a solution that will increase productivity and efficiency. And if the solution's easy to use -- it will get used."
"SystemView Series starts with the systems management disciplines developed for the mission-critical, "24 by 7' world," says Bill Warner, vice president of systems management at IBM's Raleigh, NC, facility. "It adds the flexibility necessary to manage UNIX, Windows, OS/2, and Mac clients -- and a plethora of servers from mainframes to PCs and back again."
And what do users think about SystemView? Listen to John Spiewak, information services director at TVSM Inc., Horsham, PA, and a beta customer for SystemView for AIX, the first member in the IBM SystemView Series. "In the past, the only way we knew that users had a problem was when they showed up at the help desk. Today we can be more proactive about users' problems and solve them before they are even aware of them."
SystemView Series addresses this issue because it incorporates today's network- and systems-management products into an integrated solution (with selectable functions) that is oriented to the systems management tasks that users perform. SystemView Series is scalable, functional, and reliable -- and is easily tailored to users' needs.
"SystemView Series products and services provide the industry's leading solution to address one of our customers' most pressing problems ... how to manage their growing and complex information-technology assets, whether they're in a department, small business, or very large enterprise," says Kathy Butler, vice president of marketing for IBM Networking Software, Raleigh, NC.
Integration starts with an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop, object-oriented interface that simplifies the way applications are installed and launched. Over time, SystemView Series will support data-sharing among applications, making it even easier to automate tasks from problem determination through resolution. That integration will incorporate common agent technology; and to further simplify the way data and functions are handled across platforms, object-oriented technology will be used throughout.
IBM will offer a complete array of services from systems management consulting to product-specific services, all designed to help customers implement management processes. Also, packaging and pricing are simplified through common pricing and distribution on CD-ROM.
Another beta user, Umberto Vizkaino, president and CEO of Bridgeway Corp., a systems and network management and automation software firm in Seattle, WA, sums up his experience with SystemView for AIX this way: "SystemView for AIX puts a bridge across products. You don't really care about which product is doing what task, as long as the mission is accomplished."
"Having a single station from which you're doing systems and network management, and SystemView's single philosophy, does more than reduce training costs," says Jim Corrigan, president of KI Networks, Columbia, MD. "You don't have to maintain disparate management stations -- what we call 'swivel screen' or 'swivel chair' management. Now, we can do it all from one unified, consolidated framework."
SystemView's unique end-user interface allows a systems administrator -- through drag-and-drop actions -- to easily create users and groups, and to replicate information across multiple systems. Moreover, through this simple process, users automatically are assigned resources, security access, and privileges.
This approach dramatically simplifies the multistep, traditional process for creating new groups -- which requires machines to be located close together, or information to be distributed on tape or diskettes, or a technician to be located on site to set up client workstations.
CD Showcase technology features a simple, user-friendly interface that lets users try functional product demonstrations and select the features and functions they need. With a quick call to IBM, users then can receive release codes for installation; customers are charged a licensing fee for the functions chosen.
This simple process enables customers to quickly add new functions, and rearrange or delete existing functions easily. "While we looked at competitive products," says Spiewak, "one of the things we liked best about SystemView for AIX is the ability to select and install only those functions that we needed to do our job at a cost we could manage."
Also, with SystemView Series, customers may elect to mix-and-match IBM, vendor, and home- grown applications to achieve the functional solution that meets their unique needs.
If, for example, SystemView identifies a major network failure, the software alerts the problem-management system, which in turn logs the incident and notifies all appropriate personnel by pager or E-mail. Those same people are notified again, once the network is restored. All of this is accomplished automatically, as the system passes data and information, linking tasks that were formally separate and manual.
SystemView gets its true power from more than just tools and other products. Its true power comes from a combination of functions and integrated services -- from systems management consulting to performance of planning, installation, and operations activities, and from customized education to specific product training sessions. All the services for SystemView have been designed to be hands-on and relevant to user implementation.
"As we see it," says Corrigan, "SystemView for AIX is the way to launch applications in a way that enables you to quickly organize how they're set up. It's all about user control and comfort -- controlling the complexities of systems management."
According to Corrigan, KI Networks' installation "took an hour and, with some minor customization, we began launching our own applications from SystemView for AIX. SystemView for AIX is very easy to work with, and it works."
User control encompasses an array of functions -- including easy navigation, minimizing time and resources needed to manage distributed systems, maintaining data security and integrity, and ensuring data access and availability. In addition to user control, SystemView for AIX offers stability and reliability.
"SystemView for AIX is the first really comprehensive distributed systems management tool that I've seen from any vendor," says Scott. "It has the breadth of coverage -- or capability -- to manage distributed systems in general."
Indeed, SystemView for AIX provides users with the capability to manage distributed AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, and Sun OS environments from an AIX foundation, as well as support OS/2, Mac, Windows, and Windows NT clients. This comprehensive package allows customers to build on prior information technology (IT) investments made in licensed programs (which are SystemView features).
"Without something like SystemView," says Scott, "we wouldn't be able to move toward distributed processing in the UNIX environment, or even to mixed platforms."
And there's more good news for users: SystemView for AIX is just the beginning.
"Unlike competitive products supporting LANs, SystemView for OS/2 will embody SystemView Series' commitment to openness, allowing customers to manage their heterogeneous LANs and desktops," says Wally Casey, an IBM marketing director in Austin, TX.
And customers with mainframe installations will see SystemView for MVS by the end of the year, followed by an AS/400 solution in 1996.
IBM will continue to integrate application function and data handling through increased use of object technology. Common agent technology will also be delivered as SystemView Series incorporates the agent standard that the Desktop Management Task Force -- a group of vendors establishing rules for multivendor systems management -- is creating. Again, these steps will further simplify the system administrator's work.
IBM's SystemView Series represents the next generation in systems management, offering both integration at multiple levels and solutions for customers of all sizes.
Sherri Leopard is founder of Leopard Communications, a 25-person Boulder, Colo.- based marketing and communications firm specializing in computers and advanced technology. She has written extensively on technical and product issues for a variety of companies such as Xerox, US West, Ingersoll Rand, and Datasonix.
See also:
Let Me Count the Ways