Title: Configuration Management: The Core of IT Operations Session #: 495 Speaker: Donna Scott Company: Gartner

Transcription

1 Title: Configuration Management: The Core of IT Operations Session #: 495 Speaker: Donna Scott Company: Gartner

2 Predicts 2006 Increasing regulatory requirements will drive IT investment by as much as a 16 percent compound annual growth rate in configuration management (CM) automation for improved control and auditability for compliance initiatives through 2009.

3 From Regulatory Compliance to Competitive Advantage Spending to Stay Compliant More efficient processes Decreased storage, litigation and document costs Better enterprise security Reduced capital allocations P1 Insufficient internal controls Insufficient risk management Security threats P2 P3 Program Strategy Value to CXOs or business managers = Spending to achieve business value Value to regulators, auditors and accountants P Time (P = Project Completion)

4 Process Engineering: The Core of Your Operations Architecture and Compliance Efforts 4.) Apply Governance Relentlessly and Continuously Improve COBIT 3.) Identify appropriate measures Six σ 2.) Align roles with work 1.) Establish the work RACI IT IT Operational Processes ITIL ITIL App. Development Processes CMM, CMMI Project Mgmt. Processes PMI PMI

5 Compliance is a Major Driver for Configuration Management Compliance Increased Change Frequency Regulatory Audits Internal Audits IT Supporting the Business ITIL initiatives Complexity IT Service Management Configuration Management Security Speed in Responding to Change Cost Low Asset Utilization

6 Configuration Management: A Rose by Any Other Name Configuration Management in each Technology Domain Desktop Server Network Database IT Service Dependency Mapping Business Service "Container" CMDB Middleware Network Storage Web Application OS OS OS OS Mainframe Firewall Ser Server Server Database OS Credit Card Check Server Response Time Frame Relay Circuit

7 A Balancing Act for Configuration and Compliance Management Reduce manual efforts Requirements and Goals Reduce headcount Reduce time to deploy Increase system availability Manage license costs Recover from disasters Decrease security exposure Repurpose capacity (OLTP to Batch, Test to Prod) Reduce Costs Reduce Risk Increase QoS

8 The ITIL Dilemma: Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg: Problem, Change and Configuration Defined processes create a common nomenclature Document workflows and establish appropriate escalation road map Establish postmortem and reporting Management requires evergreen culture SLA ITIL Problem Incident Configuration LOB Change Control Change Execution Asset Customers VISA MasterCard American Express End Users

9 Change Management Change Management Track requests for changes Workflow of approvals Assigned prioritizations Impact analysis Scheduling and timing Approval Workflow Comply or Deny Prioritization (emergency/planned) Technology Impact Business Impact

10 Configuration Management Configuration Management Identifying relationships and dependencies Defining configuration items Define and Align Maintaining (modifying, altering, adding and deleting) Recording and reporting Provisioning Dependency Mapping Discovery Patching Packaging Usage

11 Management for Compliance Policy/Standards Security Configuration Mgmt System Configuration Monitor/Audit Security Config Mgmt System/Software Configuration Mgmt Drift Avoidance Maintain Provisioning Config Management Inventory/Discover/Baseline Security Configuration Mgmt System/Software Configuration Mgmt Prioritize Asset data Policy, Impact Mitigate Workflow Patch Mgmt Configuration Mgmt

12 Desktop Configuration Management Life Cycle Data and Personality Settings Inventory Packaging Software Delivery Image Patch Usage Recovery

13 Current Condition Companies Buy Life Cycle but Deploy Only Pieces PC PC Deploy Deploy Migration Migration Inventory Inventory SD SD Packaging Packaging Metering Metering Patch Patch Inventory SD Packaging Patch PC Deploy Migration Metering

14 Server Provisioning and Configuration Management : Manage the Diversity g Server imaging/automated provisioning g Server change/configuration g Server inventory and audit g Compliance reporting and remediation; integration with change management

15 Service Provider Need for Audit, Deployment and Agility Service Provider heterogeneous by nature: Unix, Linux, Windows; desire for cross platform tools Customer Audits: Who changed what, when? Reduces fingerpointing, improves QOS Customer Patches and Upgrades: reduced manual effort, central deployment across many data centers Available Resources Policy based Provisioning Customer 1 Customer 2

16 The Struggle for Standardization Achieving ROI With Server Configuration Management Standardize in Layers, Starting at the Bottom and Moving Up Management & Security Software Applications and Settings Applications and Content Web, Application Server and DBMS Server Builds Standard OS, Security Patch & Configuration Settings

17 The Automation Hurdle Standardize First Achieve Transformation through Standardization and Automation Example Benefit (Speed Metric) Roll out complex software releases or security patches in a "standard" environment in 1 4 hours vs. 2 3 days in a non standard environment Automate! Standardize Infrastructure and Architecture Define and Standardize Process Optimize! Example Benefit (Cost Metric): One administrator to 100+ servers in a "standard" environment vs. 1 to 5 10 servers in a non standard environment

18 IT Service Dependency Mapping Product Attributes Agent, Agentless or Real Time Scanning Blueprints/Models/ Templates Platforms Supported Applications Discovered Custom Apps. GUI and Visualization

19 Where is the intersection of Automated Configuration and Change Management IT End to End Service Configuration Management CMDB Federation, Visualization, Reconciliation Synchronization Change Management

20 What Is a Configuration Management Database? Change Workflow Control Root cause analysis and problem identification and resolution CMDB Desktops Network Server/ apps Financial Facilities BSM App Dev OTHER Discovery or integration of discovery of configuration data Federated data store that provides view of configuration items Hierarchical and peer to peer visualization of infrastructure components Life cycle view of an infrastructure component (includes financial and contractual associations) Impact/risk analysis

21 Your Configuration Journey Where to start: Assign or hire a Configuration Manager Build a Configuration Management Team Define Goals and Milestones Define the Configuration Process Define Metrics to Measure Progress End with a CMDB Business Plan: Define Configuration mgt and benefits to the company Know how to translate the vision to actionable tasks Define best practices, governance, functional roles and stakeholders Identify cultural hurdles to be addressed Identify a strategy to sell it to the business and the rest of IT!! Develop a means to baseline Config today and a way to determine which IT domains are more mature than others Develop a plan to design a centralized view of configuration management data: CMDB Coordinate with other process owners that integrate with configuration mgt