The Systems Management. Solution designed specifically. for ebusiness. SystemWalker

Transcription

1 The Systems Management Solution designed specifically for ebusiness SystemWalker

2 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...1 ebusiness RAISES THE BAR ON NETWORK MANAGEMENT...2 Growing Network Complexity...2 Increasing Strategic Business Role Of Networks...3 Pivotal Role Of The Web...3 THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SOLUTION...4 Business-Centric Management...4 Remote Operation...4 Monitoring and Management of Web Sites...4 Traffic Management...5 SLA Management by Individual Customer...5 FUJITSU SYSTEMWALKER A SOLUTION THAT MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS...6 Designed for the ebusiness Environment...6 Business-Centric Systems Management...6 Policy-based Management...7 Web Site Management...8 Remote Operation...9 Traffic Management...10 ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW...11 Web Browser Interface Support...12 CONCLUSIONS i -

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The ebusiness wave is rapidly engulfing the business landscape in both the business-toconsumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) arenas. Companies are highly motivated to make the transition to ebusiness because of the significant benefits it offers, including: Increased reach to customers as well as to suppliers, distribution partners, and other business partners. Increased speed and efficiency of business processes, reducing the cost of business operations. But managing operations across today s complex and rapidly growing ebusiness networks presents a formidable challenge. Companies have to manage increasingly complex networks to increasingly higher service levels despite the fact that the current complexity of these systems is already outstripping the ability of the information technology (IT) staff to manage them effectively. Service providers, such as Internet service providers (ISPs) and application service providers (ASPs), face an especially difficult management problem. They have to manage very largescale networks that involve thousands of geographically dispersed components and millions of users. They must ensure a high quality of service (QOS) due to the fiercely competitive nature of the business environment in which they operate. In addition, they must manage each customer s service level agreement (SLA) independently even though multiple customers may share many of the ISP/ASP s machines. This paper focuses on the impact of ebusiness on network management and the need for a new type of systems management solution. It describes the requirements a solution must meet to provide effective management of ebusiness networks. Finally, it presents Fujitsu s SystemWalker, a systems management solution designed specifically to meet the complex management requirements of today s ebusiness networks

4 ebusiness RAISES THE BAR ON NETWORK MANAGEMENT ebusiness has made the already difficult challenge of IT systems management even more daunting. Three major factors are contributing to the impact of ebusiness on systems management. ebusiness increases system complexity significantly; it elevates IT systems to a far more strategic role in the business of the company; and it elevates the importance of a company s web presence to the business-critical level. Growing Network Complexity To take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities offered by ebusiness, organizations must unify and extend their enterprise networks to include the Internet. This effort involves the complex task of integrating internal back-office systems with the Internet as well as connecting internal networks with external networks via the Internet. For example, companies are replacing their expensive and inflexible electronic data interchange (EDI) links to their business partners with far more flexible and less expensive Internet-based connections. In addition, as ebusiness continues to evolve, companies are outsourcing a rapidly increasing number of online services, which requires integration with the networks of a variety of service providers, including ASPs, content delivery providers such as Akamai, and online business service providers such as credit card verification and processing firms. While outsourcing allows companies to focus on their core business, it also means that companies must now manage networks that could involve thousands of outside service providers. The difficulty in managing SLAs in such an environment is almost overwhelming. Company Business Partner A Company Remote Site A INTERNET Business Partner B Company Remote Site B Service Providers Figure 1. Today s ebusiness networks are exceedingly complex

5 As a result, ebusiness is bringing an unprecedented level of complexity to business networks. As Figure 1 shows, the typical ebusiness network is widely scattered and includes many remote components. It encompasses the Internet and involves multiple companies. It includes firewalls, proxy servers, and a variety of other security mechanisms. It may even incorporate satellite networks and other network types. Increasing Strategic Business Role Of Networks Today, the strategic role of networks in business is rapidly expanding. This has a major impact on IT systems and network management. Companies now have to manage their IT systems from a business perspective as well as a technical perspective aligning their IT systems closely with the business strategies and goals of the company. Only in this way can they maintain a competitive edge and leverage their significant investment in IT resources. The increased strategic role means that companies are relying more heavily on their IT systems for business-critical functions. This dramatically increases demands for availability and performance from ebusiness networks, which now must be up and running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. In many businesses, even a brief interruption or slowdown in system operations could have serious financial impact on a company. Pivotal Role Of The Web ebusiness is elevating the Web to a strategic and pivotal role in a company s business operations. The Web now provides the primary means to connect the company to its employees, customers, and business partners. Many companies are creating customized portals for their employees, customers, supply partners, distribution partners, and business service partners. The growing dependence on the web as a connection medium means that web sites must maintain 24 x 7 availability and fast performance despite the rapid expansion of web-based applications and services, and the explosive increase in the number of users

6 THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SOLUTION Companies need a systems management solution that addresses the needs of ebusiness. The solution must provide the IT staff with a number of capabilities, including: Management of operations across multiple, widely separated networks connected over the Internet, with many network segments separated by firewalls. Management of web sites that may involve multiple, possibly thousands, of outside service providers from content providers to online business service providers. Management of operations across multiple network types, including private networks, and public networks such as the Internet and satellite networks. 24 x 7 availability and fast performance to thousands, even millions, of concurrent users. To provide these capabilities, the systems management solution must meet the requirements discussed in the remainder of this section. Business-Centric Management The IT staff should be able to manage the company s entire ebusiness network as a unified entity, and keep it closely aligned with the business strategies and goals of the company. This requires that the systems management solution allow the IT staff to manage the network based on business as well as technical considerations. For example, if a problem occurs in a database server that is used by both accounting and sales applications, the management solution should indicate not only that a problem has occurred in the server but also the business impact of that problem. This enables the operations staff to optimize its efforts to resolve problems based on business criticality. Remote Operation The management solution should be capable of detecting problems in remote company systems and notifying the appropriate people automatically regardless of location of the problem or the location of the people to be notified. The solution should be capable of notifying via pagers, , or web-based wireless devices all employees and business partners that may be affected by the problem. In addition, the solution should allow IT personnel to operate remote systems without leaving their desks, regardless of location of the systems or the people. The solution should be capable of performing remote monitoring, notification, and remote operation through multiple firewalls, without jeopardizing security. This capability allows the IT staff to troubleshoot and resolve problems remotely, speeding problem resolution and boosting staff productivity. Monitoring and Management of Web Sites Because of the critical role of the Web in ebusiness, it is imperative that the solution allow effective management of a company s web presence. The solution must enable the IT staff to: Track site availability and performance. Tracking capabilities permit the staff to maintain a high quality of service to customers and business partners

7 Manage service level agreements by individual service provider. The ability to monitor the service level contribution of each outside service provider and isolate any detected problems down to the individual provider is essential. For example, a sudden slowdown in a company s web site performance may be due to a problem in the system of the service provider who delivers the web site s image content. Analyze and optimize web server performance. The staff must be able to look at individual web servers to analyze and optimize their performance. Traffic Management Companies do not have unlimited bandwidth in their network connections, particularly in their Internet connections. As ebusiness evolves, companies will have to push more and more traffic through already tight pipes as usage increases and multimedia becomes more prevalent. Increasing available bandwidth involves upgrading the network infrastructure, an expensive and disruptive process. As a result, companies must allocate their available bandwidth most efficiently by maximizing the utilization of in-place network resources. To do so, they need effective traffic management that allows dynamic bandwidth allocation on a priority basis to ensure adequate bandwidth for business-critical operations. SLA Management by Individual Customer ISPs and ASPs have a particularly difficult problem in that they have to manage SLAs on a customer-by-customer basis. This presents a challenge because their networks are very large in scale and highly complex. Further complicating the issue is that they must share network resources among customers to ensure maximum resource utilization. Yet they have to manage SLAs by individual customer. As a result, service providers need the ability to group and manage network resources logically by customer

8 FUJITSU SYSTEMWALKER A SOLUTION THAT MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS SystemWalker, from Fujitsu, is an advanced, highly integrated, complete systems management software solution that meets the requirements presented earlier this paper. SystemWalker is the market-leading systems management solution in Japan. To date, there have been more than 1.1 million SystemWalker shipments, and SystemWalker is installed on more than 200,000 servers and 900,000 clients in Japan alone. Fujitsu is leveraging the extensive capabilities and open standards support of SystemWalker through partnerships with such industry leaders as Tivoli, Microsoft, Cisco, 3Com, and Oracle. Network managers can access SystemWalker either from the SystemWalker console or from a browser. The ability to access SystemWalker through a browser enables network managers to perform monitoring and management from anywhere at any time. This feature is of particular importance for companies that outsource management of their IT systems and to service providers that offer systems management services to their clients. Designed for the ebusiness Environment Most of today s systems management tools were designed for managing internal enterprise networks. They were not intended for use in the highly complex ebusiness network environment that includes intranets, extranets, and the Internet. As a result, the current generation of systems management tools simply isn t up to the task of handling the complexity of ebusiness networks. According to the Forrester Group, Today s system management tools will hit the wall when companies reinvent themselves for dynamic trade. 1 SystemWalker, on the other hand, has been designed specifically for the ebusiness environment. SystemWalker helps companies manage complex, geographically dispersed networks that include the Internet as well as other external networks. Its comprehensive and integrated set of systems management tools perform such functions as asset lifecycle management, job management, performance management, application management, storage management, and remote operation. These tools are designed to operate in ebusiness environments that include widely scattered networks with many segments separated by firewalls. In addition, SystemWalker provides an array of tools designed specifically for managing ebusiness system resources, including tools for web site monitoring and management, portal management, and access management. Business-Centric Systems Management Traditional systems management tools focus on managing physical system resources. SystemWalker relates physical resources to business operations. This allows the IT staff to manage business platforms instead of physical resources. (See Figure 2.) For example, SystemWalker displays the business interdependencies of operations in an easy-to-follow graphical display. With this capability, the IT staff can easily determine the impact of problems on the business of the company. With SystemWalker s 1 The Forrester Report, Beyond Management Tools, January

9 Business Platform for Business A SAN (Storage Area Network) Business Platform for Business B Application Application Network Management Staff Business Platform Management Physical Resources Management Figure 2. SystemWalker allows management by business platform. business-centric approach to systems management, companies can closely align their IT systems with their business strategies and goals. Because of its ability to present the business impact of system problems, for example, SystemWalker enables the operations staff to optimize its time to resolve problems based on business criticality. With business-centric management, the IT staff can help reduce not only the total cost of ownership of the IT system, but also the business operations costs of the enterprise. Policy-based Management SystemWalker implements business-centric management using policy-based systems management. Figure 3 illustrates the policy-based systems management process. The network management staff establishes corporate systems management policies that address the company s business strategies and goals. These policies encompass all functions of the enterprise system. Through the systems management policies, the staff defines the IT operational environment necessary to achieve the company s business objectives. The systems management policies address, on a network-wide level, a wide variety of systems management functions, including performance management, application management, job management,output management, security management, and asset management. The policies also set the priorities of various management issues and define operational criteria such as the availability and performance levels necessary to meet SLAs

10 Policy Setup (Definition and Distribution) Address Exception and Feedback to Policy Monitoring (Desired State Management) Figure 3. Policy-based systems management. Detect Exception (Between Desired State and Actual State) SystemWalker enables the IT staff to enforce systems management policies across the entire network. It automatically runs scheduled jobs, powering on servers and clients, controlling the order of job startup, and performing the operations defined for each job all according to policy. It monitors for conformance to policies across multiple systems, networks, servers, applications, and firewalls. It also monitors network traffic. When SystemWalker detects conditions that do not conform to systems management policies, it automatically initiates actions, such as recovering failed operations or generating notifications and alarms through pagers, , or web-based wireless alerts. The staff addresses reported problems using SystemWalker tools, such as remote operation tools. These tools operate through firewalls, enabling the staff to reach all servers in the network. Web Site Management SystemWalker allows companies to monitor and manage their web site service levels with a variety of new and innovative tools designed specifically for ebusiness networks. These include: Web site monitoring. SystemWalker monitors specified web pages across the network and measures the availability and performance of these pages. It presents the information in easy-to-read graphical displays as well as in reports. Information presented includes the availability and performance of all the servers that provide content, such as those of outside service providers. The information allows the staff to manage SLAs by individual outside service provider

11 Web site usage analysis. SystemWalker can analyze web log files to measure actual web site usage. It can also analyze proxy server log files to identify security attacks on a web site. In addition, SystemWalker can simulate web site operation to allow a company to determine the effect of usage increase on web site performance. This is quite useful in capacity planning. End-to-end transaction monitoring. SystemWalker can monitor complete transactions, including highly complex transactions that involve many steps. With this end-to-end transaction monitoring, the company can ensure that all transactions are being completed quickly and reliably, regardless of how many outside services they involve. Alerts and notifications. SystemWalker automatically generates an alert or notification when it detects an out-of-policy condition. It can forward notifications of these conditions by , pager, or web-based wireless device. SystemWalker supports notifications and alerts with in-depth data, providing the IT staff with the information needed to identify and resolve problems. Remote Operation Using the remote operation capability of SystemWalker, the IT staff can manipulate system components remotely. Technicians can perform such functions as powering remote computers on and off. They can restore a remote computer to operation after a failure, even remotely installing and configuring the operating and application software if necessary. The remote operation capability operates through firewalls, permitting the staff to operate remote systems regardless of the location of the systems or of the staff personnel. Notification PROBLEM Company Network INTERNET Business Partners Alert and Alert Remote Operation Web-Based Wireless Device Figure 4. Remote operation. Network Management Staff - 9 -

12 Traffic Management Increasing Internet bandwidth is expensive and could involve extending the network infrastructure, which is expensive and highly disruptive. As a result, companies need to ensure that they are getting the maximum throughput with their available bandwidth. This requires effective IP traffic management that provides dynamic bandwidth allocation and priority control. SystemWalker provides a comprehensive traffic management capability. It monitors bandwidth usage for conformance with systems management policies, and automatically notifies the network manager when it detects a policy violation. Notification can be based on two types of violations: threshold limit violations (service level monitoring), and violations exceeding some range of values (baseline standard monitoring). Automatic notification enables the network manager to take preemptive action before the violation results in performance degradation or system downtime. In addition, SystemWalker enables the staff to simulate various traffic patterns to determine their effect on performance. It also allows the staff to determine the effect of hardware upgrades on performance, which is useful in capacity planning

13 ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW SystemWalker consists of a comprehensive family of products that cover the entire spectrum of systems management: Lifecycle management. Enables the management of network resources throughout their entire lifecycle. Service management. Permits management of services provided by the network. Life Cycle Management SystemWalker/CentricMGR SystemWalker/Self-Healing SystemWalker/NetPrism SystemWalker/LiveHelp Job Management SystemWalker/OperationMGR Performance Management SystemWalker/PerfMGR SystemWalker/WebMGR Service Management Application Management Storage Management SystemWalker for Oracle SystemWalker for Systems Management Server SystemWalker for NOTES/DOMINO SystemWalker for TeamWARE SystemWalker/StorageMGR Asset Management SystemWalker Framework Figure 5. System architecture As illustrated in Figure 5, SystemWalker products are integrated into the SystemWalker Framework, a systems management infrastructure that includes a management information repository that is shared by all products. Fujitsu is continually evolving and enhancing the SystemWalker family, adding new products and extending the capabilities of existing ones. Currently, the company is migrating SystemWalker products from the Japanese market where Fujitsu is the market leader to the international market. These include products that support complete lifecycle management and most categories of service management. To date, Fujitsu has migrated twelve SystemWalker products for international use: Lifecycle management SystemWalker/CentricMGR. An integrated suite of applications that provide a complete IT resource lifecycle management solution. SystemWalker/SelfHealing. Facilitates the recovery of PC environments, backup and restoration of user data, and scheduling of recovery times

14 SystemWalker/NetPrism. Provides productivity-enhancing development environment for Web- and MIB-based management applications. SystemWalker/LiveHelp. Facilitates remote support and training. Job management SystemWalker/OperationMGR. A comprehensive job management suite for distributed systems that provide an effective service management solution. Performance management SystemWalker/PerfMGR. Provides capacity planning and near real-time performance monitoring for Windows and UNIX systems. SystemWalker/WebMGR. Provides web site monitoring, usage analysis and simulation, end-to-end transaction monitoring, and alerts and notifications. Application management SystemWalker for Oracle. Permits integrated, centralized management of Oracle databases distributed across the network. SystemWalker for Systems Management Server. Permits scheduled, automated software distribution through SMS. SystemWalker for NOTES/DOMINO. Provides a variety of capabilities including install and setup of Notes/Domino, monitoring of Notes events, executing remote commands for Notes, a backup and restore database for Notes, and reporting of Notes performance and problem status information. SystemWalker for TeamWARE. Provides an integrated package of operation management functions, such as consolidated monitoring of networks and systems, and TeamWARE resources backup and reorganization, to client/server systems built on Windows NT. Storage management SystemWalker/StorageMGR. Supports integrated backup of storage attached network (SAN) resources, centralized management of storage resources, disk space monitoring, magnetic tape library management, and backup status monitoring. Other products are on the way. Web Browser Interface Support Network managers can access SystemWalker functions either from the SystemWalker console or from a browser. The ability to access SystemWalker through a browser enables network managers to perform job monitoring and job management from anywhere at any time. This feature is of particular importance for companies that outsource management of their IT systems and for service providers that offer systems management services

15 CONCLUSIONS As companies move forward into the ebusiness environment, they face a difficult challenge. They need to manage increasingly complex networks that include widely scattered resources and encompass the networks of other companies such as those of business partners and service providers. What s more, today s networks have become critical to business, driving up availability and performance requirements. SystemWalker enables companies to meet the challenge of network management in the ebusiness environment. It is designed specifically for the highly complex ebusiness network environment that includes intranets, extranets, and the Internet. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for managing ebusiness system resources, including tools for web site monitoring and management, portal management, and access management. With these tools, companies can manage their networks from a business perspective, ensuring the close alignment of the IT infrastructure with business goals. With the help of SystemWalker, companies can move into the ebusiness environment with confidence and enjoy the benefits. These benefits include increased revenue that results from a greater reach to customers, and lower costs that result from the increased speed and efficiency of business processes