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Ryan Shopp

440 pts.

Data Center Automation Blueprint

Data Center, DCAB

This IT answer entry is an on-going wiki page that highlights capabilities and vendors for the 6 functional areas in the realm of Data Center Automation. There are two ways to contribute.

1) you can "create answer" where you write directly into the wiki page
2) you can "add to discussion" where you state your thoughts/opionions but it doesn't change the main wiki page.

Consider this page the next phase of development for this collaborative effort that started back in November 2007. Please keep your thoughts/feedback coming - Ryan

ASKED: Feb 14 2008 8:58 PM GMT

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Ryan Shopp

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Data Center Automation Blueprint

6 Functional Areas (each section discussed below)

Resource Reconciliation (aka CMDB)

Process Orchestration (aka RBA)

Analytics

Performance & Availability

Security & Protection

Configuration & Change

Resource Reconciliation
Description - Automation that captures a complete view of all IT resources, assets, services etc. and their relationships, layers 1 through 7. This comprehensive view of all IT resources is the "record of truth" and needs to always be 100% accurate. Once in place, this is the hub of information that keeps all other monitoring and management solutions on the same page so nothing is missed or overlooked.

Top 5 Capabilities
1) Comprehensive discovery engine that can automate the identification of and it's communications relationships for any IT resource (e.g., applications, databases, services, systems, storage, network etc)
2) Impressive visibility capabilities including multi-layer topological / dependency mapping illustrations while offering comprehensive reporting options (e.g., graphical summaries down to detailed lists)
3) Reconciliation automation where this solution serves as the "source of truth" for the current state of the IT resources in the data center. At a minimum this should offer the ability to report differences between this and other Data Center Automation solutions. The real deal would have embedded automation/integrations that keep all products synchronized, saving major amounts of time for the system administrators and avoiding an event from occurring when it unfortunately wasn't being monitored.
4) Accurate fingerprinting (e.g., discovery-to-data model mapping). Making sure the discovery process has the ability to keep up with newer software versions, new vendors etc for all the possible IT resources in the data center.
5) A fast search engine to quickly find an IT resource you are: troubleshooting, need to review prior to putting in a change order to understand potential impact or may be susceptible to a recently announced security threat, etc.
5b) A policy engine, built on the search engine, that enables users to define desired attributes for specific types of IT resources and be notified immediately when something doesn't match that desired state so it can be remediated.

The Vendors
BMC
CA (Cendura acquisition)
EMC (nLayers acquisition)
HP (Opsware acquisition)
IBM (Collation acquisition)
Symantec (Relicore acquisition)
Tideway

Process Orchestration
Description - Cross-silo automation for mundane manual or high occurrence tasks. The capabilities are focused around helping individual technology domains (e.g., network, windows, unix, database, etc) communicate and collaborate to automate tasks that before required numerous people and passing around a trouble ticket.

Top 5 Capabilities
1) Drag/Drop graphical interface for designing process workflows
2) Common, normalized Data Model of common/primary attributes
3) Library of pre-defined, re-usable actions/triggers/processes for usage out-of-the-box (bigger the better - even a community that shares is a plus)
4) Policy/Desired-state engine driving things
5). Sandbox, simulator to help test workflows without impacting actual resources/instances within the production enterprise.

The Vendors
BMC (formerly RealOps)
CA (formerly Optinuity)
Enigmatec
HP (formerly Opsware, formerly iConclude)
IBM (formerly Micromuse Impact)
iWave Software
LANDesk (Process Manager product)
NetIQ (Aegis product)
Opalis
Stratavia
UC4 Software

Analytics *note: this is a recent change to the DCAB and is still being defined**
Description - coming soon

Top 5 Capabilities - coming soon

The Vendors
AlterPoint (offers specific analytic module "Lifecycle" built upon their Network Configuration & Change Product)
ConfigureSoft (buit upon their ECM product)
Opnet
Netuitive
Integrien
BMC (acquried ProactiveNet)

Security & Protection
Proactive Identification (proactive searching for a potential exposure point that could become a situation) which includes:

IP Scanning - query remotely that simply requires IP address to gather information and determine if their is a potential condition of concern. Vendors include: eEye, nCircle, Nessus, Qualys, McAfee, Rapid7

Configuration/Settings Auditing - query remotely (using credentials) or having an agent on the system to take a more details look at the configuration files, etc. Vendors include: ConfigureSoft, Ecora, nCircle, Tripwire, Solidcore, Skybox Security

Penetration Testing - remote query attempts to actually expose or harm a data center resource. Vendor include: Core Security, HP (former Spi Dynamics), IBM (former Watchfire), Imperva, Mu Security, BreakingPoint Systems

Reactive Identification (reactive, collecting of events or watching data flows to identify a condition or re-occuring trend)

Security Event Consolidation (aka. SEM) - unified view of events from a variety of sources with the hope that you can quickly identify a problem and resolve it sooner after it occurred, or seeing something that tells you that problem may be about to happen. Vendors include: ArcSight, NetForensics, EMC/RSA

Information Archival & Reporting (aka. SIM) - archiving and then the analysis and mining of all that event data to identify a re-occurring situation that could be resolved. This archive is also a great resource for reporting certain compliance situation to auditors. Vendors include: ArcSight, NetForensics, LogLogic

Data Leakage - monitoring activities or traffic flows to identify if sensitive information is being . Vendors include: EMC/RSA (Tablus), Reconnex, Symantec (Vontu), Vericept

Configuration & Change
Description: Automation around making configuration or software changes in mass or in a more controlled, systematic way even if on individual level. Understanding what the potential impact or risks are associated with making that change and keeping tabs on what is changing and if it is authorized or in line with established standards.

Top Capabilities
1) Making changes easier through a simplified user interface - enables more junior administrators to make traditionally more complex changes that required senior individuals.
2) Abstraction layer that enables the same change to be applied to a numerous resources, which includes spanning multiple vendors.
3) Ability to recommend when a change is not recommended or even unauthorized...understanding the interdependencies and risks associated with a change.

Vendors doing both Deployment & Auditing (listed alphabetical)
AlterPoint (for network devices)
BMC (formerly BladeLogic) for servers/applictions and for networks (formerly Emprisa)
CA (for systems)
Cassatt (for systems, applications, networks)
Cisco (for network devices)
ConfigureSoft (for applications, servers)
EMC (for network with Voyence acquisition, for storage with ControlCenter)
Fastscale (deployment/provisioning centric)
GridApp (for databases)
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
Ecora (for servers, applications, networks)
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)

Performance & Availability
The Big 4 are entrenched here (e.g., BMC, CA, HP, IBM)...
BMC (Performance Manager)
CA - (eHealth - former Concord, Spectrum - former Aprisma, Unicenter)
IBM Tivoli (Netcool - former Micromuse Omnibus, Proviso - former Quallaby that Micromuse acquired)
HP (Operations Manager, Network Node Manager, Performance Manager, Performance Insight)

And the up-and-coming threats to replace one of these guys also (e.g., EMC, Microsoft, Quest Software)
Quest Software (Foglight, PerformaSure)
EMC (SMARTS, IP Performance Manager)
Microsoft (Systems Center Operations Manager)

But then, we have a slew of others...
InfoVista
NetQoS
Precise Software (recently spun-out from Symantec)
Netscout
Compuware (Vantage)
Alcatel-Lucent (VitalSuite)
Network Instruments
NetIQ (AppManager)
Entuity
Keynote
Gomez
Xangati
Apparent Networks
Packet Design
Nimsoft
CITTO

And don't forget the Open Source Software (OSS) vendors
Groundwork
Hyperic
Nagios
OpenNMS
ZenOSS
Zabbix

Another area I'm not sure if it belongs here, security or analytics is Log Management where you maintain historical event/message/alert logs and then have historical reporting and applying advanced indexing and searching technology to quickly find the "needle in the haystack" problems.
LogLogic
LogRhythm
Splunk

Last Answered: Mar 10 2009 0:59 AM GMT by Ryan Shopp

440 pts.

View History

Please subscribe to the [A href="http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/data-center-automation"]RSS feed for Adventures in Data Center Automation[/A]
[IMG src="http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/data-center-automation/files/2008/02/data-center-automation-reference-model4.jpg" alt="Data Center Automation Blueprint" /]

[B]6 Functional Areas (each section discussed below)[/B]
[ELEMENT]Resource Reconciliation (aka CMDB)[/ELEMENT]
[ELEMENT]Process Orchestration (aka RBA)[/ELEMENT]
[ELEMENT]Analytics[/ELEMENT]
[ELEMENT]Performance & Availability[/ELEMENT]
[ELEMENT]Security & Protection[/ELEMENT]
[ELEMENT]Configuration & Change[/ELEMENT]

[B]Resource Reconciliation[/B]
Description - Automation that captures a complete view of all IT resources, assets, services etc. and their relationships, layers 1 through 7.  This comprehensive view of all IT resources is the "record of truth" and needs to always be 100% accurate.  Once in place, this is the hub of information that keeps all other monitoring and management solutions on the same page so nothing is missed or overlooked.

Top 5 Capabilities
1) Comprehensive discovery engine that can automate the identification of and it's communications relationships for any IT resource (e.g., applications, databases, services, systems, storage, network etc)
2) Impressive visibility capabilities including multi-layer topological / dependency mapping illustrations while offering comprehensive reporting options (e.g., graphical summaries down to detailed lists)
3) Reconciliation automation where this solution serves as the "source of truth" for the current state of the IT resources in the data center. At a minimum this should offer the ability to report differences between this and other Data Center Automation solutions. The real deal would have embedded automation/integrations that keep all products synchronized, saving major amounts of time for the system administrators and avoiding an event from occurring when it unfortunately wasn't being monitored.
4) Accurate fingerprinting (e.g., discovery-to-data model mapping). Making sure the discovery process has the ability to keep up with newer software versions, new vendors etc for all the possible IT resources in the data center.
5) A fast search engine to quickly find an IT resource you are: troubleshooting, need to review prior to putting in a change order to understand potential impact or may be susceptible to a recently announced security threat, etc.
5b) A policy engine, built on the search engine, that enables users to define desired attributes for specific types of IT resources and be notified immediately when something doesn't match that desired state so it can be remediated.

The Vendors
[A href="http://www.bmc.com/BMC/Common/CDA/hou_Page_Generic/0,3465,81909862_92306905,00.html"]BMC [/A]
[A href="href="http://www.ca.com/us/Products/Product.aspx?ID=5955"]CA (Cendura acquisition)[/A]
[A href="http://www.emc.com/products/detail/software/application-discovery-manager.htm"]EMC (nLayers acquisition)[/A]
[A href="http://www.opsware.com/products/visual_application_manager.php"]HP (Opsware acquisition)[/A]
[A href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/taddm/"]IBM (Collation acquisition)[/A]
[A href="http://www.symantec.com/business/products/overview.jsp?pcid=2247&pvid=1461_1"]Symantec (Relicore acquisition)[/A]
[A href="http://tideway.com/"]Tideway[/A]

[B]Process Orchestration[/B]
Description - Cross-silo automation for mundane manual or high occurrence tasks.  The capabilities are focused around helping individual technology domains (e.g., network, windows, unix, database, etc) communicate and collaborate to automate tasks that before required numerous people and passing around a trouble ticket.

Top 5 Capabilities
1) Drag/Drop graphical interface for designing process workflows
2) Common, normalized Data Model of common/primary attributes
3) Library of pre-defined, re-usable actions/triggers/processes for usage out-of-the-box (bigger the better - even a community that shares is a plus)
4) Policy/Desired-state engine driving things
5). Sandbox, simulator to help test workflows without impacting actual resources/instances within the production enterprise.

The Vendors
[A href="http://www.bmc.com/products/proddocview/0,2832,19052_0_90902406_157022,00.html"]BMC (formerly RealOps)[/A]
[A href="http://www.optinuity.com"]CA (formerly Optinuity)[/A]
[A href="http://www.enigmatec.net"]Enigmatec[/A]
[A href="http://www.opsware.com/products/process_automation_system.php"]HP (formerly Opsware, formerly iConclude)[/A]
[A href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/netcool-impact/"]IBM (formerly Micromuse Impact)[/A]
[A href="http://iwavesoftware.com"]iWave Software[/A]
[A href="http://www.landesk.com/Products/ITProcess/Index.aspx"]LANDesk (Process Manager product)[/A]
[A href="http://www.netiq.com/products/aegis/default.asp"]NetIQ (Aegis product)[/A]
[A href="http://www.opalis.com"]Opalis[/A]
[A href="http://www.stratavia.com"]Stratavia[/A]
[A href="http://www.uc4.com"]UC4 Software[/A]

[B]Analytics[/B] *note:  this is a recent change to the DCAB and is still being defined**
Description - coming soon

Top 5 Capabilities - coming soon

The Vendors
[A href="http://www.alterpoint.com/index.php?id=143"]AlterPoint (offers specific analytic module "Lifecycle" built upon their Network Configuration & Change Product)[/A]
[A href="http://configuresoft.com/analytics_solutions.aspx"]ConfigureSoft (buit upon their ECM product)[/A]
[A href="http://opnet.com/solutions/"]Opnet[/A]
[A href="http://www.netuitive.com/"]Netuitive[/A]
[A href="http://www.integrien.com"]Integrien[/A]
[A href="http://www.bmc.com/products/proddocview/0,2832,19052_19429_93877323_157328,00.html"]BMC (acquried ProactiveNet)[/A]

[B]Security & Protection[/B]
Proactive Identification (proactive searching for a potential exposure point that could become a situation) which includes:
	[ELEMENT]IP Scanning - query remotely that simply requires IP address to gather information and determine if their is a potential condition of concern. Vendors include: eEye, nCircle, Nessus, Qualys, McAfee, Rapid7[/ELEMENT]
	[ELEMENT]Configuration/Settings Auditing - query remotely (using credentials) or having an agent on the system to take a more details look at the configuration files, etc. Vendors include: ConfigureSoft, Ecora, nCircle, Tripwire, Solidcore, Skybox Security[/ELEMENT]
	[ELEMENT]Penetration Testing - remote query attempts to actually expose or harm a data center resource. Vendor include: Core Security, HP (former Spi Dynamics), IBM (former Watchfire), Imperva, Mu Security, BreakingPoint Systems[/ELEMENT]

Reactive Identification (reactive, collecting of events or watching data flows to identify a condition or re-occuring trend)
	[ELEMENT]Security Event Consolidation (aka. SEM) - unified view of events from a variety of sources with the hope that you can quickly identify a problem and resolve it sooner after it occurred, or seeing something that tells you that problem may be about to happen. Vendors include: ArcSight, NetForensics, EMC/RSA[/ELEMENT]
	[ELEMENT]Information Archival & Reporting (aka. SIM) - archiving and then the analysis and mining of all that event data to identify a re-occurring situation that could be resolved. This archive is also a great resource for reporting certain compliance situation to auditors. Vendors include: ArcSight, NetForensics, LogLogic[/ELEMENT]
	[ELEMENT]Data Leakage - monitoring activities or traffic flows to identify if sensitive information is being . Vendors include: EMC/RSA (Tablus), Reconnex, Symantec (Vontu), Vericept[/ELEMENT]

[B]Configuration & Change[/B]
Description:  Automation around making configuration or software changes in mass or in a more controlled, systematic way even if on individual level.  Understanding what the potential impact or risks are associated with making that change and keeping tabs on what is changing and if it is authorized or in line with established standards.

Top Capabilities
1) Making changes easier through a simplified user interface - enables more junior administrators to make traditionally more complex changes that required senior individuals.
2) Abstraction layer that enables the same change to be applied to a numerous resources, which includes spanning multiple vendors.
3) Ability to recommend when a change is not recommended or even unauthorized...understanding the interdependencies and risks associated with a change.

Vendors doing both Deployment & Auditing (listed alphabetical)
[A href="http://alterpoint.com"]AlterPoint (for network devices)[/A]
[A href="http://www.bladelogic.com/products/index.html"]BMC (formerly BladeLogic) for servers/applictions[/A] and [A href="http://www.bmc.com/products/products_services_detail/0,,0_0_0_1301,00.htm"]for networks (formerly Emprisa)[/A]
[A href="http://ca.com/us/eitm/solution.aspx?id=7816"]CA (for systems)[/A]
[A href="http://www.cassatt.com/prod_data_center.htm"]Cassatt (for systems, applications, networks)[/A]
[A href="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/cscowork/ps2073/index.html"]Cisco (for network devices)[/A]
[A href="http://www.configuresoft.com/ecm.aspx"]ConfigureSoft (for applications, servers)[/A]
[A href="http://software.emc.com/products/product_family/controlcenter_family.htm"]EMC (for network with Voyence acquisition, for storage with ControlCenter)[/A]
[A href="http://www.fastscale.com/"]Fastscale (deployment/provisioning centric)[/A]
[A href="http://www.gridapp.com"]GridApp (for databases)[/A]
[A href="http://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpms/display/main/hpms_content.jsp?zn=bto&cp=1-11-271-273^1440_4000_100__"]HP (former Opsware for applications, servers, networks, storage)[/A]
[A href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/prov-mgr/"]IBM Tivoli (for applications, servers)[/A]
[A href="http://www.mvalent.com/Products/integrity_overview.htm"]mValent (for applications)[/A]
[A href="http://www.phurnace.com/products/index.php"]Phurnace (for applications)[/A]
[A href="http://www.scalent.com/html/learnmore/index.htm"]Scalent Systems (for servers, applications)[/A]
[A href="http://www.symantec.com/business/products/index.jsp"]Symantec (for servers, applications with Jareva, Altiris and storage with CommandCenter)[/A]

Vendors focused on Auditing
[A href="http://www.ecora.com"]Ecora (for servers, applications, networks)[/A]
[A href="http://www.solidcore.com"]Solidcore (for servers, databases, networks)[/A]
[A href="http://www.tripwire.com/"]Tripwire (for servers, databases, networks)[/A]

Vendors that do both primarily for desktop's which extends to provide some server configuration and change capabilities for the data center
[A href="http://www.landesk.com/Products/ServerManagement/Index.aspx"]Avocent (from Landesk acquisition)[/A]
[A href="http://www.lumension.com/vulnerability-management-console.jsp?rpLangCode=1&rpMenuId=118439"]Lumension (former Patchlink)[/A]
[A href="http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/configmgr/default.mspx"]Microsoft (former SMS product)[/A]

[B]Performance & Availability[/B]
The Big 4 are entrenched here (e.g., BMC, CA, HP, IBM)...
[A href="http://www.bmc.com/products/proddocview/0,2832,19052_19429_93877323_157328,00.html"]BMC (Performance Manager)[/A]
[A href="http://ca.com/us/products/category.aspx?ID=315"]CA - (eHealth - former Concord, Spectrum - former Aprisma, Unicenter)[/A]
[A href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/netcool-omnibus/"]IBM Tivoli (Netcool - former Micromuse Omnibus, Proviso - former Quallaby that Micromuse acquired)[/A]
[A href="https://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpms/display/main/hpms_content.jsp?zn=bto&cp=1-11-15_4000_100__"]HP (Operations Manager, Network Node Manager, Performance Manager, Performance Insight)[/A]

And the up-and-coming threats to replace one of these guys also (e.g., EMC, Microsoft, Quest Software)
[A href="http://www.quest.com/performance-management/"]Quest Software (Foglight, PerformaSure)[/A]
[A href="http://www.emc.com/products/software/smarts/smarts_family/index.jsp"]EMC (SMARTS[/A], [A href="http://www.emc.com/products/software/smarts/ip_performance_mgr"]IP Performance Manager[/A])
[A href="http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/opsmgr/default.mspx"]Microsoft (Systems Center Operations Manager)[/A]

But then, we have a slew of others...
[A href="http://infovista.com/solutions/enterprise/default.asp"]InfoVista[/A]
[A href="http://www.netqos.com/solutions/products_index.html"]NetQoS[/A]
[A href="http://www.symantec.com/business/products/category.jsp?pcid=2246"]Precise Software (recently spun-out from Symantec)[/A]
[A href="http://netscout.com/products/default.asp"]Netscout[/A]
[A href="http://www.compuware.com/products/vantage/6534_ENG_HTML.htm"]Compuware (Vantage)[/A]
[A href="http://www.lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4w3dnTRL8h2VAQADYR9IA!!?LMSG_CABINET=Solution_Product_Catalog&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=Products/Product_Detail_000157.xml"]Alcatel-Lucent (VitalSuite)[/A]
[A href="http://www.networkinstruments.com"]Network Instruments[/A]
[A href="http://www.netiq.com/products/am/default.asp"]NetIQ (AppManager)[/A]
[A href="http://www.entuity.com"]Entuity[/A]
[A href="http://www.keynote.com/"]Keynote[/A]
[A href="http://www.gomez.com"]Gomez[/A]
[A href="http://www.xangati.com/"]Xangati[/A]
[A href="http://www.apparentnetworks.com"]Apparent Networks[/A]
[A href="http://packetdesign.com"]Packet Design[/A]
[A href="http://nimsoft.com/"]Nimsoft[/A]
[A href="http://www.cittio.com/"]CITTO[/A]

And don't forget the Open Source Software (OSS) vendors
[A href="http://www.groundworkopensource.com"]Groundwork[/A]
[A href="http://www.hyperic.com"]Hyperic[/A]
[A href="http://www.nagios.org/"]Nagios[/A]
[A href="http://www.opennms.org/index.php/Main_Page"]OpenNMS[/A]
[A href="http://www.zenoss.com/"]ZenOSS[/A]
[A href="http://www.zabbix.com"]Zabbix[/A]

Another area I'm not sure if it belongs here, security or analytics is Log Management where you maintain historical event/message/alert logs and then have historical reporting and applying advanced indexing and searching technology to quickly find the "needle in the haystack" problems. 
[A href="http://www.loglogic.com"]LogLogic[/A]
[A href="http://logrhythm.com"]LogRhythm[/A]
[A href="http://www.splunk.com"]Splunk[/A]

RSS - Discussions Help

Discuss This Answer:

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Data Center Automation Blueprint status - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Feb 14 2008 9:01PM GMT

[...] always comments are welcome but it’s time to migrate to a wiki driven interface for the DCAB to allow others to contribute or add comments specific to this model that won’t get lost [...]

links for 2008-02-18 - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Feb 18 2008 6:45PM GMT

[...] I’ve taken my second pass at updating the wiki page for the Data Center Automation Blueprint, I have the six areas with some of the vendors listed. Next up is to round out each vendor list [...]

IT Resource Reconciliation (CMDB) - Top 5 Capabilities - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Feb 21 2008 11:18PM GMT

[...] The crew over a Tideway offered up and impressive in-depth product demo last week. It made me realize I haven’t circled back to throw down my top five features for this functional area of the Data Center Automation Blueprint we’ve been working on. [...]

Analytics; What are the top capabilities? - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Feb 28 2008 4:55PM GMT

[...] I made some adjustments to the Data Center Automation Blueprint where we combined 2 original areas and added a new one for Analytics. Steve Henning just posted a [...]

Month in Review - February 2008 - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Mar 3 2008 5:06PM GMT

[...] - made adjustments to blueprint introducing the category of analytics, also started the Wiki page Data Center Automation Blueprint where any vendor could either add themselves or anyone can make comments on key requirements [...]

Top Enterprise Management Tools vs. Data Center Automation Blueprint - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Mar 5 2008 8:00PM GMT

[...] Next up, I thought it would be fun to do a quick mapping to the Data Center Automation Blueprint. [...]

EMC adds Service Desk to Data Center Management portfolio - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Mar 11 2008 1:27PM GMT

[...] On the CCM front there are numerous virtual & physical system configuration vendors sprouting up these days, versus before the primary game in town was BladeLogic (or Opsware before HP acquired them). Meanwhile, on the Performance Management front they have a variety of options that could include grabbing a smaller application performance appliance vendor (e.g., Mazu, Xangati, Packet Design) or something bigger like maybe a NetQoS. Or even bigger and more interesting (but convoluted) could be buying out NetIQ who continues to innovate within Attachemate (e.g., Aegis product) or the artist formerly known as Precise Software (and now again known by the same name after Symantec spun them back out). Probably long shots but just thoughts to ponder as the EMC Resource Management Software portfolio could use portfolio expansion in either or both functional areas of the DCAB. [...]

DCAB 6: Performance, Availability, Capacity & Analytics revisted - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Mar 25 2008 12:42PM GMT

[...] deeper we dig the tougher it becomes to make dividing lines. Originally we had 2 DCAB areas Performance & Capacity as one and Availability as another. Then, based on some further [...]

Data Center Automation Blueprint - made a round of updates - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Apr 7 2008 7:08PM GMT

[...] been a few weeks since I’ve taken a pass at the Data Center Automation Blueprint, so it was time for some additions and clean-up.First up I added descriptions for some of the [...]

Mapping HP Software to the Data Center Automation Blueprint - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Apr 14 2008 9:46PM GMT

[...] I had the chance to recently chat with an executive at HP to breakdown what pieces and parts ended up where post Peregrine, Mercury and Opsware acquisitions. Here is my attempted and mapping them to the Data Center Automation Blueprint. [...]

Performance and Availability Management vs. Analytics - Part 1 of ? - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Apr 17 2008 9:58PM GMT

[...] had an opportunity to be briefed over the past couple months by a number of current Data Center Automation Blueprint’s Performance & Availability vendors (e.g., CITTIO, eG Innovations, InfoVista, Integrien, Nimsoft). With that and some further [...]

Performance and Availability vs. Analytics - Part 3 of ? - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Apr 24 2008 3:58PM GMT

[...] identification to absolute zero. Now, how do we take this information and apply it back to the Data Center Automation Blueprint we’ve been working [...]

Month in Review - April 2008 - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Apr 30 2008 3:43PM GMT

[...] Automation Blueprint; made a round of updates - added some descriptions and key features to the blueprint wiki page Comment RSS Feed Email a [...]

Mapping HP Software to the Data Center Automation Blueprint - take 2 - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Jun 2 2008 5:03AM GMT

[...] recently took a pass at mapping HP Software’s offerings to the Data Center Automation Blueprint after a call I had with a product executive from the Business Service Automation group (majority of [...]

Performance and Availability vs. Analytics - Part 5 of 5 - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Jun 17 2008 10:41PM GMT

[...] Finally, the last installment of this 5 part series (which was originally a ? part series). This last segment took a little more time then expected to get to. These days you can find BSM definitions and products all over the place. So the question I’ve been asking myself is BSM different then Analytics (as defined in our Data Center Automation Blueprint). [...]

IT Process Orchestration Revisited - Adventures in Data Center Automation 0 pts. | Mar 10 2009 1:25AM GMT

[...] or whatever name each vendor, customer or analysts choose to call it. Since my last update to the Data Center Automation Blueprint (DCAB) there have been some industry changes with some vendors going a different direction, other being [...]

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