mValent

Jan 2 2008   11:10PM GMT

Digging into the DCAB 6’s functional areas: Configuration and Change

Posted by: Ryan Shopp
DataCenter, Ecora, BladeLogic, Cassatt, Configuresoft, HP Software, IBM Tivoli, mValent, Scalent, Solidcore, BMC, CA, EMC

There seem to be two key components or approaches to this functional area. Some vendors are focused on auditing & monitoring the configuration/state of a device while others are focused on that and the provisioning/deployment of configuration/software to a device. Typically, the vendors going across data center technology categories are audit-centric.

Vendors doing both Deployment & Auditing (listed alphabetical)

• AlterPoint (for network devices)
• BladeLogic (for appilcations, servers)
• BMC (for applications, servers with Marimba acquisition and networks with Emprisa acquisition)
• CA (for systems)
• Cassatt (for systems, applications, networks
• Cisco (for network devices)
• ConfigureSoft (for applications, servers)
• Ecora (for servers, applications)
• EMC (for network with Voyence acquisition, for storage with ControlCenter)
• HP (former Opsware for applications, servers, networks, storage)
• IBM Tivoli (for applications, servers)
• mValent (for applications)
• Phurnace (for applications)
• Scalent Systems (for servers, applications)
• Symantec (for servers, applications with Jareva, Altiris and storage with CommandCenter)

Vendors focused on Auditing

• Solidcore (for servers, databases, networks)
• Tripwire (for servers, databases, networks)

Vendors that do both primarily for desktop’s which extends to provide some server configuration and change capabilities for the data center

• Avocent (from Landesk acquisition)
• Lumension (former Patchlink)
• Microsoft (former SMS product)

Just as with my previous post on Performance & Capacity I’m not done with this one. I started going through the laundry list of vendors in the “virtualization” space but simply ran out of my allocated time for today. So I’ll pick back up on it at a later time

Dec 14 2007   4:50PM GMT

Recent activities in Configuration Management, tis’ the season of webinars

Posted by: Ryan Shopp
DataCenter, Alterpoint, BladeLogic, mValent, Solidcore, Ecora, Configuresoft, BMC, CA, EMC, NCCM, Network configuration

December is a time when things typically “slow” down for the holidays.  Many data centers are under a freeze where no major changes can occur (or should occur), etc.  So I guess it’s a great time to do a little research for next year.  Bring on the webinars which many vendors seem to be offering up this time of year:

BladeLogic had a very successful webinar, over 400 people, where real customers talked about real benefits of configuration management automation for their data center.  The press releases on the survey results & the webinar sound like a infomercial (which it should be since it’s marketing).  I was hoping to take a watch but their archived link doesn’t allow me to register and watch.  I enter my registration information and it says the event is full.  Oh well, another time.

ConfigureSoft also had a webinar, more process centric (PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT: Closing the Loop on Change), but it’s archived and I was able to check that one out.

 Tripwire, not wanting to be outdone, had 4 differerent webinars recently.  The one I checked out was The Five A’s of a Healthy Data Center.  Where their focus was around the 5 step process of monitoring your configurations in the data center (Assessing, Assuring, Auditing, Achieving, Automating)

Ecora back on the 11th had a webinar around surviving audits through monitoring your configurations.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it archived anywhere to check it out.

Solidcore didn’t have a new webinar to offer but did put out a press release highlighting how they can help with the upcoming PCI deadline on December 31st with monitoring configurations.

mValent, who focuses on very the specific challenges of application/middleware configuration management, had a very interesting press release with some hard ROI numbers;

• The average application migration project takes 20+ man-weeks with an average labor cost of just over $72,000.
• Total IT direct-headcount costs associated with application migration initiatives range from $500K to $800K.

AlterPoint, focused on the network side of the data center, announced their analytics solution can now extend/compliment a customers previous investment in CiscoWorks (if they are a predominately Cisco networked Data Center) without requiring replacement.

I also looked to see if their was anything new from HP (Opsware), EMC (Voyence), BMC, IBM, CA but didn’t see anything specific.  And I recently talked about configuration vendors that are focused on virtualization so I didn’t rehash that.

I know I must have overlooked some vendor(s) out there, throw your information in the comments section (if your the vendor) or if your an enterprise using another product please tell us who your using and what you think.  I’ll take a look and update the post if appropriate.