NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MIKE KARP on
STORAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE
01/24/02
Today's focus: Software automation

Dear Wincenty Kaminski,

In this issue:

* When to opt for software automation
* Links related to storage
* Featured reader resource

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Today's focus: Software automation

By Mike Karp

All of us are familiar with the concept of automation:
automated factories, automated order fulfillment from online
enterprises, and automated tape libraries on the computer room
floor. But of the many facets of automation with which we have
daily contact, I suggest that - at least as far as IT is
concerned - the best automation is the automation that you
never see.

I am of course referring to software automation. What is
software automation? It's the built-in intelligence that some
vendors are able to put into their more sophisticated products.
For example, it may be the knowledge of experienced database
administrators (DBA) that, when made a part of a backup system,
enables junior DBAs to push a single button and execute complex
tasks. Such software might, for example, have a high level of
understanding of the applications being protected, high enough
in fact that they can take advantage of the backup or restore
capabilities that already exist within the application's own
software.

A nice example of this useful feature can be found in BMC's
SQL-Backtrack product (http://www.bmc.com ). Such application-
specific intelligence, when embedded within storage resource
management (SRM) software, often enables increased efficiency
of operation by putting application-specific knowledge in the
hands of newly-minted DBAs.

Alternatively, automation could be the software's capability
to replace repetitive tasks that require a good deal of human
interaction with monitoring and managing. A nice example of
this is certainly the ability of some business continuity
software to recover automatically from interrupted backups.
Storage Resource Manager from Tivoli (http://www.tivoli.com)
comes to mind here.

Reconfiguring network topologies, and then tuning your
management software to deal with the new environment, is always
both time- and labor-intensive. A growing trend however, finds
new software releases with a built-in capability to analyze and
understand the network topology whenever a change is made to
it. Thus, auto-discovery of network and storage assets in
Datacore's (http://www.datacore.com ) virtualization software
enables that company's product to dynamically manage volumes on
an as-needed basis.

These are three very good examples of the benefit that software
automation can deliver. Fortunately, an increasing number of
other companies are also delivering of this promise. Often,
such capabilities will prove to be a very useful differentiator
when it comes to choosing a product for use in your own shop.

When it comes to situations that are repetitive, or extremely
complex, or that may require faster-than-human interactions,
look for a high degree of automation in the tools you choose
for your IT staff. Automated management can go a long way to
improving your team's capability to react quickly and with
intelligence to some of their most challenging tasks.

The bottom line: the software's understanding of the installed
application and hardware base, plus its ability to exploit the
capabilities of the existing infrastructure, is the key.

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To contact Mike Karp:

Mike Karp is senior analyst with Enterprise Management
Associates (http://www.enterprisemanagement.com) in Boulder,
Colo., an analyst and market research firm focusing exclusively
on enterprise management. He works out of Portsmouth, N.H., and
Westboro, Mass., and can be reached via e-mail at
mailto:mkarp@enterprisemanagement.com
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RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Debate flares over IP storage security
Network World, 01/21/02
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0121stor.html

Archive of the Storage newsletter:
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/stor/index.html
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