tools and technology foroperational automation

Tools and Technologyfor Operational Automation

Tools and Technologyfor Operational Automation

2© 2003 META Group, Inc., Stamford, CT-USA, +1 (203) 973-6700, metagroup.com

The State of Operational Automation

� IT organizations possess several infrastructure and application management (IAM) tools, but they are used in pockets of the operation

� Tools have done little to effectively automate broad operational processes

�Dependence on “heroics” by highly skilled staff continues to inhibit operational maturity

� Technology is emerging to automate IT operations in profound ways


Operational Automation Critical Issues

� The current state of management technology and evolving trends

�Management technology unification for process refinement

� The growing use of automation software


�2003 management technology market study

� Enhanced technology relationship discovery

�Performance analytics

�Vendor landscape

Management Technology Trends


Push vendors to drive effective automation products and integration standards

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Event consolidation

Performance analytics

Business views

Web services

IP telephony

J2EE

Mobility.Net

Self-adaptive systems


Capacity planning is the top issue for large enterprises

High variance for network configuration but important everywhere

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5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

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2003 Management Study


Exploit relationships in all management disciplines for more automated insight

� What are the TOP critical issues your organization plans to address in infrastructure and application management in the NEXT 12 months?

A. Network configuration and monitoring

B. Capacity management/planning

C. Asset management

D. Infrastructure monitoring

E. Application monitoring

F. Application deployment automation

G. Desktop/endpoint management

H. Service-level management

I. Server admin./deployment automation

J. Patch management

K. Service desk

L. Response-time management

M. Self-service

N. Microsoft .Net management

O. Business perspective (console)

P. Chargeback

Q. J2EE management

A B C D E L M N O P QF G H I J K

Overall

Small

Mid-Size

Large


Technology Relationship Autodiscovery

�Relationships define the structure that binds components into services

�Some can be automated

�Network topology

� Full automation is fleeting

�Expect next steps in software relationships

– e.g., J2EE, middleware

�Business intelligence tools offer business relationships


Relationships Complete the Puzzle

Relationships form the context for more advanced analytics of IT information

Without Relationships

With Relationships


Performance Analytics

�Simple performance monitoring is commodity

� Extract performance anomalies from normal fluctuations

�Static thresholds are poor

�Apply statistics and other mathematical methods with roots in science and academia


Scientific Pursuits Are Helping IT Efficiency

Seek vendors with advanced performance analytics to augment or replace current tools


Vendor Landscape

� Large vendors are still struggling, but improving

� Tough market for small vendors, but they will remain as innovators

�M&A activity returning

�Market consolidation

�Expect new large players (challengers and other IT vendors)


Reduce vendors to consolidate and simplify operations, but do not sacrifice capability

Mercury

IBM Tivoli

NetIQ

CA BMC

Micromuse

HP OpenView

OPNET

Altiris

Concord Quest

TeamQuest

Compuware

Keynote

SMARTS

NovadigmMarimba

Opsware

Managed Objects

Wily

Configuresoft

Aprisma

Entuity

Gold Wire

Ipswitch

Voyence

RenditionNetQoS

NetScout

Silas

Magnum Tech

Relicore

Troux

Behemoths

Challengers

Small

Emerging Fidelia

InfoVistaGomez

Quantiva

Partial Vendor List

Ecora


Process-Driven Technology Consolidation

�Unify incumbent tools

�Many tools, little value

�Business views of management information

�Workflow products gaining ground as processes mature

� Integration continues to be an issue

Begin consolidation with existing tools

Technology Consolidation

Event Management METAspectrumSM

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

Presence

Per

form

ance

Entuity

SMARTS

IBM Tivoli

Hewlett Packard

Computer Associates

Micromuse

Concord

Aprisma

BMC

Magnum Technology

Leader

Challenger

Follower

June 15, 2003


Consolidating Incumbent Tools

� The existing glut of core tools must be merged and integrated

� Focus on processes, not tools

�Portfolio management

�Keep what fits, discard or replace what does not, buy new where necessary

� Identify opportunities to leverage common functions

Integration Adapters May Be Necessary

Consolidate tools and integrate them for optimum effectiveness and efficiency


Adapters

Tool DTool B

Tool C

Tool D

Tool A

Tool B

Tool C

Tool A


Tool Integration

�Data sharing between applications is crucial

� Frameworks failed on easy integration promise

�Expect a rebound of this concept, but be skeptical

�Standards like CIM hold promise, but vendor adoption is slow

�Little incentive to adopt

Event-Level Integration Is Often Sufficient

Integrate management technologies to offer business views for higher business value


Correlation Models

Configuration Database

Domain Managers

Agents/ Sensors

Monitored Domains

Event Consolidator

Escalate

Correlator

SNMP/ ICMP

Agent AgentAgent/ Monitor

Network

Server

Database

Application


Business Views

�Business leaders are demanding objective and measurable value from IT organizations

�They want to understand the impact of IT on their business, not the “techie” details

� Emerging tools offer value, but are immature

�Manual relationship mapping will improve soon

�Business intelligence can be gleaned from applications (e.g., SAP, PeopleSoft) and BI products (e.g., Cognos, Business Objects)

�BPMI is developing data exposure standards

�Business-process instrumentation 3-4 years away

Tap into business process workflow and IT workflow for relationship autodiscovery



Workflow Automation Products

� Process automation requires workflow linkage between traditional tasks

� Task sequences and data flow

�Handoffs to other processes

� Checks and balances

� i.e., more relationships

� Vendors are addressing this

�Adaptive organization

�M&A: BMC buys Remedy, Mercury buys Kintana

Incident Workflow

Implement workflow automation to bind other tools into cohesive IT automation


Service Desk

Users

Rapid Response Team Change

Manager

Policies

Config. DB

Infrastructure and

Applications

Incident Mgmt.

Config. Mgmt

Change Mgmt.

Escalate Incident

NotificationRequest

Fix

Approve Fix

Approved Fix


Operational Automation

�Business drivers for operational automation

�Configuration management

�Automation evolution

�Adaptive organization


State of Automation in the Management Process

View automation as a business imperative,not an option

MonitoringAnd RCA

ConfigurationManagement

ChangeManagement

Services

Relationships

Components

No

YesException? Notification

Policies

Data Flow OnlyProcess & Data Flow

Reporting

Normal Monitoring

Automated Now

But Can Be Better

Excessively Manual


Operational Automation Business Drivers

� IT operational expensesare too high

�Highest single cost of IT

� Efficiency increases have high return on finances

�Commodity functionsalways end up automated

�e.g., automotive, agriculture

�Automation is inevitable

�Resistance is futile


Closed-Loop Management

Join the drive to automate IT operations to remain viable in the industry

Configuration Management

Change Management

Exception?

Monitoring and RCA

Notification

Reporting

Normal

No

Yes

Feedback Path

Highly automated

Highly manual

Policies


Operational Automation Evolution


Operational Efficiency

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Automation Builds on

Preceding Efforts

Basic Tasks

Skilled Tasks

Process Oriented

Provisioning

Business Views

Service Provisioning

End-to-End Tasks

Data Analytics

Organic Systems


Intelligent Configuration Management

�Manual configuration is error-prone and costly

� Tools simplify the process

�Configuration with fewer, less-skilled staff

�Sanity checks minimize errors

�Eliminate one-by-one configurations

�Patch management is hot

�Security driven, but good for all software issues

�Products remain silo-centric

�e.g., client, server, network, storage

�Good provisioning systems are emerging


Automate tasks where possible, with an ultimate goal of adaptive organization


Adaptive Organization

� IT vendors are toutingbold automation visions

�IBM: Autonomic Computing

�HP: Adaptive Enterprise

�Sun: N1

� Epitome of automation is years away, but progress will be rapid through 2007

� Entire IT organization will be impacted


Self-Adaptive Systems Will Be a Slow Evolution

Investigate incremental advances in adaptive organization, but vendor visions are futuristic


Tools and Technology for Operational Automation

�Management trends

�Implement tools to automatically discover relationships whenever possible

�Seek performance tools using deeper analytics

�Consolidate management technologies

�Attain business value with business-oriented event managers, but expect manual work

�Automate processes with workflow tools

�Drive to maximize IT operational automation

�Explore intelligent configuration management tools with a vision toward adaptive organization

TRANSFORMATION STEPS

tools and technology foroperational automation

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