AUTOMATING SERVER TOOL MANAGEMENT
How to Gain Visibility and Control
of All Server Management Tool
Agents Across Private Infrastructure
and Public Clouds
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
Copyright Intigua
www.intigua.com
Page 1
Automating Server Tool Management
How to Gain Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool
Agents across Private and Public Infrastructure
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
ScopingtheProblem....................................................................................................................................3
LackofVisibilityandControl................................................................................................................4
AgentsasCulprits.................................................................................................................................4
CloudComplexities...............................................................................................................................4
ConventionalAttemptsatSolvingtheProblem...........................................................................................5
ManualProcesses.................................................................................................................................5
CustomScripts......................................................................................................................................6
GenericConfigurationManagementTools..........................................................................................6
Outsourcing..........................................................................................................................................6
Avoidance.............................................................................................................................................6
UsersSet-UpShadowIT.......................................................................................................................7
ANewApproachAlleviatestheComplexitiesandImprovesResults...........................................................7
HowtheIntiguaUnifiedManagementPlatformHelps................................................................................7
CompleteVisibilityofYourEntireManagementStack........................................................................7
CentrallyManagetheLifecycleofallITTools......................................................................................8
Enterprise-GradeAccessControl.........................................................................................................9
PolicyDrivenAutomation....................................................................................................................9
Cloud-Ready.........................................................................................................................................9
SimpleInterfaceandIntegration.......................................................................................................10
Summary....................................................................................................................................................10
AboutIntigua.............................................................................................................................................11
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
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Introduction
Increasingly,enterpriseITisexpectedtooperateatweb-speedandweb-scale.Toaccomplishthis,the
serversusersneed–whetherinphysical,virtualorcloudenvironments–mustbereadilyavailablefor
workloadswhenusersneedthem.Formostorganizations,however,thisisbecomingmuchmore
difficulttoensureacrosshybridinfrastructureandwithinSLAs.
Why?Becausetheplethoraofservermanagementsolutionsrequiredtokeepthoseresourcesrunning
securely,performingoptimally,andoperatingincompliancewithcorporateandregulatorypolicies,are
extremelycumbersometomanageandimpossibletoviewandcontrolatanenterprise-widelevel.
Withcomputingenvironmentsgrowingincomplexityandscale,itismoreimportantthaneverforIT
departmentstoovercomethechallengesinherentindeployingandmaintainingthelifecycleofserver
managementsolutions.ITorganizationsneedawaytooperateatthevelocity,accuracyandefficiency
businessesrequire.
Inthiswhitepaper,we’llexamine:
•
•
•
ProblemsManagingaComplexServerSoftware“Stack”:We’lloutlinetheagentandagentless
serversoftwaremanagement-relatedproblemsplaguingIT,includinglackofvisibility,
unplanneddowntime,andcomplianceandtroubleshootingissues.
SolutionsITDepartmentsAreCurrentlyUsing:Organizationshavetriedanumberofwaysto
handlethecomplexity,withvaryingdegreesofeffectiveness.We’llexaminethemainstrategies
beingused.
TheFullySupportedServerManagementSolution:Despitethesignificantchallengesthatserver
managementsolutionspose,itispossibletogaincompletevisibilityandcontroloverthem.This
sectionwillhighlighthowIntiguaAgentManagercanhelpyouachievethis.
Scoping the Problem
CIOsandITexecutivesneedtoensurethatbusinessapplicationsaredeployedeffectivelyandoperate
reliably.Todothis,theirstaffsuseavarietyofservermanagementsolutions:Anti-virusandother
endpointprotectionsoftwaretoenhancesecurity;logandeventcollectionsoftwaretoauditserver
accessandsecuritychanges,andtoenablebig-dataanalytics;monitoringsoftwaretounderstandserver
performance,applicationbehaviorandusagepatterns;backupsoftwaretosafeguardcriticalapplication
data;configurationmanagementsoftwaretoconfigureservers;andmore.
Alltheseservermanagementsolutionsmustbedeployedincompliancewithregulatoryandcorporate
policy,otherwisetheenterprisecanbeexposedtobusinessandlegalrisks.
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Lack of Visibility and Control
Theproblem,however,isthatITteamsdon’thavevisibilityintoservermanagementtoolsacrosstheir
physical,virtualandcloudserverinfrastructures.Theydon’thaveaclearwayofknowingwhichservers
havewhichmanagementtools,andwhetherthesetoolsareworkingcorrectly.Soforexample,whilea
malfunctioningbackuptoolcanexposetheenterprisetotheriskofcriticaldataloss,it’soften
impossibleforIToperatorstoidentifysuchmalfunctioningtools.Informationaboutmissingorfaulty
toolscansometimesbededucedfromcarefullyexaminingservertoolconsoles,butwhenthereare
thousandsofserversanddozensoftoolconsoles,suchexaminationishardlypractical.
Thelackofcentralvisibilityintoservertoolsmeansthereisalsolackofcentralizedcontrol.Unableto
quicklyandefficientlydeployandupdateservertools,ITteamsstruggletomaintainahighlevelof
service.Old,obsoleteversionsofservertoolsalsoposesecurityrisk,asvulnerabilitiesdiscoveredover
timeremainunpatched.
Withouttheabilitytoquicklymakechanges,organizationscanbecomelockedintotheirexistingserver
managementsolutions,andcan’teasilyswitchtonewer,best-of-breedoptionsfromothervendors.In
fact,theentirelifecycleofconfiguring,deploying,registering,upgrading,troubleshooting,ensuring
compliance,anddecommissioningofservermanagementsolutionsisoverwhelming,cumbersomeand
painful.
Agents as Culprits
Muchofthedifficultycanbetracedtothefactthatmanyservermanagementsolutionsrequireagents
tobeinstalledoneveryserver.Thisrequirestime-consumingcoordinationwithserverownersforeach
agentinstalled(ormodified),whichslowstheentireprocessconsiderably.Itmayalsonecessitateserver
reboots,whicharelikelytoaffectapplicationperformanceandcauseinterruptionsordowntime.
Theresultingexperienceforbusinessusersisfrustratingatbest.Forinstance,it’snotunusualforusers
towaitweekstogetanewapplicationorhaveanewservercommissioned.WhiletheITteams
responsiblefordeployingsecurity,backup,monitoringandothersolutionscompletetheirtasks,users
areinlimbo,possiblywiththeirownbusinessprojectsonhold.
Instantaneousserviceisthenewnormalinoureverydaylives.Onmobiledevicesandwithcloud-based
services,usersarenotwillingtoacceptpoorserviceintheirworklives.IfITorganizationsareperceived
tooperatetoslowly,rightlyorwrongly,ITteamscanthenbeperceivedasbarrierstobusiness
innovation,ratherthanenablers.
Cloud Com plexities
AsorganizationsoptimizetheirITcoststructureandincreaseagilitybyadoptingahybridcloudstrategy,
theproblemofservertoolmanagementbecomesevenmoreprominent.
Forexample,someorganizationembarkon“lift-and-shift”initiatives,whereserverworkloadsare
constantlybeingpushedtoandbetweenpublicclouds,andsometimesevenbacktoon-premisedata
centers,accordingtocost-savingopportunitiesandconditions.Suchinitiativesrelyonbeingableto
quicklymigrateserversandentireapplicationsfromoneenvironmenttoanother.Butkeepingthose
serverswell-managedastheygothroughrepeatedmigrationsistricky:Moreoftenthennot,toolagents
andmanagementbackendsystemsneedtobereconfiguredtoworkcorrectlyinnewenvironments.
Withoutahighlevelofautomationforretoolingorreconfigurationofmanagementtools,significant
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manualworkisneededoneachservermigration,reducingthefinancialbenefitwhichisthetargetof
thewholeexercise.
Anotherchallengingcloudusecaseisthedeploymentofadvancedconfigurationmanagement,
monitoringandsecuritysoftwareinbrand-newenvironments.TheITengineeringteamsbuildingthese
next-geninfrastructuresneedtobesuretheyarealwaysingoodhealth.Equallyimportant,theyalso
needtocontinuouslyreevaluatetheirchoiceoftools,introducenewtoolsandplaywithtool
configuration.Withoutcentralizedvisibilityandcontroloftheirentiretoollandscape,thistaskbecomes
muchmoredifficult.
Conventional Attempts at Solving the Problem
ITorganizationsareusinganumberofprocessesandapproachestohandlethecomplexity,withvarying
degreesofeffectiveness.Processesthatwerepreviouslyadequateinmorehomogeneouscomputing
environmentsareprovingtobetooslow,toocomplexandtooexpensivetohandlethousandsofservers
intoday’smixedphysical,virtualandhybridcloudenvironments.
Figure1.Today’sITOperationsModel:ComplexInteractionsLackUnifiedVisibilityandDiagnosticAccess
M anual Processes
Manyorganizationstrytomaintainacentralizedviewoftheirservermanagementsolutionsthrough
variousmanualprocedures.ITadministratorscollectinformationbyloggingintomultiplemanagement
toolconsolesandendpoints,inanefforttokeeptrackofconstantly-changingstates.Thisisdoneona
periodicbasis,e.g.,weekly,causingsignificantdelaysinidentifyingissues.Whenproblemsare
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
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uncovered,thesameITteamsneedtomanuallylogintoindividualserversandfixthem,oftenby
performingsimple,mundaneoperationssuchasrestartingaservice.Notonlyisthisaveryslowprocess,
itisalsooftenincomplete.Manualprocessescaneasilymissserversandindividualservermanagement
agents,orfailtoidentifyproblemssuchasoutdatedsoftwareversionsanduseroperationsthat
unintentionallyinterferewithperformanceofaparticularagent.
Custom Scripts
Someorganizationstrytoautomatetrackingthestateoftheirservermanagementsolutionsby
developingcustomscriptingforcollectingtoolstate.But,inorderforsuchscriptsystemstobeeffective,
theyneedtobefeature-richandhigh-quality.Moreoftenthannot,thisisbeyondthedevelopment
skillsandcapacityoftheITteam,leavingthescriptsincompleteandtheteamfrustrated.Whetherdone
in-houseoroutsourced,creatingcustomscriptstotieyoursevermanagementsolutionstogethercanbe
extremelyexpensive,difficulttomaintainandultimatelymaynotresultintheseamlessexperiencethat
theITteamsintended.
Generic Configuration M anagem ent Tools
Othersorganizationstrytoautomatetheservermanagementsolution“stack”throughgeneric
configurationmanagementtoolssuchasPuppet,CheforMicrosoftSCCM.Thesealternativesrequire
extensivetrainingandexpertise,andsignificantprogrammingskills,tooperateproperly.
Inthecontextofservertoolmanagement,projectsthattrytousethesetoolsoftenfail,mainlydueto
thecontentissue:It’sveryhardtofindordeveloptheneededconfigurationmodulesforservertools,
especiallyinWindowsenvironments.Andevenwhensuchmodulesareavailable,theteamswithinthe
ITorganizationwhoareresponsibleforservertoolsoftendon’thaveaccesstouseconfiguration
managementtoolsinrealproductionenvironments.Finally,genericconfigurationmanagementtools
oftencannotbeusedforcriticaltasksinservertoolmanagement,suchastyingtogetherthe
configurationoftoolagentsandmanagementservers,andeffectivelylimitingtheuseofresourcesby
toolagentswhenthesameresourcesareneededbyapplications.
Outsourcing
Ratherthandealingwithtediousdailychoresandmanualprocesses,someITmanagersoffloadday-todayservertoolmanagementtoanoffshoreteam.Intermsofcostoptimization,thisisonlyapartial
solution,asitremovesjustaportionoftheoperatingcost.However,italsointroducesnewcostsin
termsoftrainingandremotesynchronization.Butmoreimportantly,thisapproachtradesapoorlevel
ofserviceforanevenpoorerone.AtatimewhenbusinessusersexpectITtodemonstrateagilityand
high-qualitydelivery,thisisastepbackwards.
Avoidance
Ratherthandealwiththecomplexitiesassociatedwithmanagingsomanyservermanagementsolutions
acrosssomanyenvironments,someITorganizationsuccumbtothetemptationofkeepingcomplexity
artificiallylowbyblockinginnovationandagility.Forexample,theymaysettleformediocreserver
managementsolutionsthataren’tnecessarilyappropriatetotheirparticularapplicationneeds–suchas
agentlesstoolsthatdon’trequireinstallation,butalsolackfunctionality–toeasethepain.Or,theymay
pullbackfromharnessingthepubliccloud,becauseaddingmoreenvironmentswithdifferent
characteristicsandrequirementsmakesmanagingthelifecycleofservermanagementsolutionsallthe
moredifficult.
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Users Set Up Shadow IT
Ofcourse,ITorganizationscan’tstopusersfromgoingdirectlytothecloudtogettheresourcesthey
need.That’swhy“shadowIT”capabilitiesaregrowinginsomanybusinesses.Tominimizethechanceof
businessusersbypassingITontheirwaytothecloud–andleavingtheITorganizationpowerlessyetstill
liabletosecurityandcompliancerisks–ITmustfindamuchmoreefficient,easyandfastwaytohandle
thelifecycleofeveryservermanagementsolution.
A New Approach Alleviates the Complexities and Improves Results
Slow,costlymanualprocesses,inefficienttemplates,customscriptingandgenericconfigurationtools
don’thavetobeyourorganization’sonlyoptions.
Imagineifyouhadacentralizedwayofvisualizingandcontrollingallyoursevermanagementsolutions,
enterprise-wide.Ifyoucouldeasilyandautomaticallymanagetheentirelifecycleofeachserver
managementsolutiononeveryserver,frominitialdeploymentthroughconfigurationchanges,
upgrades,troubleshooting,andremoval.Imagineifyoucouldprovideresourceswhenusersneedthem,
andkeepthemrunningsecurelyandreliably.
IntiguaAgentManagermakesthispossible.Throughacentralizedconsolethatbecomeshometo
“everythingmanagement”inyourITserverenvironment,Intiguagivesyoucompletevisibilityinto,and
controlover,yourentirestackofservermanagementsolutionsacrossallapplications,infrastructure
environments,andoperatingsystems.
How Intigua Agent Manager Helps
Com plete Visibility of Your Entire M anagement Stack
IntiguaAgentManagerprovidesacompleteviewofthestackofservermanagementsolutionsviaa
singleandintegratedconsole.Thisimproveshowvarioussolutionsworkwitheachother.Itmakesit
easytomonitorandmanagethehealthandstatusofeachservermanagementsolutionindividuallyand
collectively.Fromasingleviewyoucanseewhatservermanagementsolutionsaredeployedacrossall
yourservers.Inthisway,youcanidentifycoveragegapsthatneedtobefilledorsystemsthatneed
moresupport.Additionally,youcanseehownewservermanagementsolutionswillfitintoyour
infrastructurebeforeimplementingthem.Itismucheasiertomakeinformeddecisionsthathavea
positiveimpactonIToperations.
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
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Figure2.IntiguaUnifiedManagementPlatformCentralizesVisibilityandDiagnosticAccess
Centrally M anage the Lifecycle of all IT Tools
Properlydeployingyourservermanagementsolutionsisjustthebeginning.Throughouttheirlifecycle,
theyneedtobeconfiguredtomeetchangingapplicationneeds,rewiredtoreporttonewbackend
consoles,andmonitoredforstabilityandhealth.Whenservermanagementsolutionsfail,thecause
needstobediagnosedandremediatedassoonaspossibletolimittherepercussionsonsystemsand
users.Finally,asyourcomputinglandscapeevolves,toolsneedtobeupgradedorreplacedaltogether.
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
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Figure3.IntiguaCentrallyOrchestratestheLifecycleofallServerManagementSolutions
Intiguaprovidesacentralizedandautomatedwaytohandleallthese“day2”operations,aswellas
initialagentprovisioning.ITadminscandotheirjobsmuchmoreeasilyandeffectively,anduserscan
gettheresourcestheyneed,faster,morereliablyandwithmuchlesseffort.
Enterprise-Grade Access Control
Intiguaprovidesrole-basedaccesscontrols,whichallowITstaffworkingindifferentteamstousethe
same,centralizedconsolebutonlyadministerservermanagementsolutionsthatarewithintheirteam’s
responsibility,andonlyonauthorizedservers.
Policy-Driven Automation
Intiguaemployspowerfulpolicy-basedcontrolsthatautomaticallyapplythecorrecttoolstoeachserver
accordingtoitslocationanduse,andensurethatmanagementtoolsremainincorrectconfiguration
andgoodhealththroughouttheirlife.Forexample,serversinNorthAmericaandEU,orhosting
databasesorwebapps,caneachbemanagedwithappropriateanddifferentpolicies.
Cloud-Ready
WithIntigua,thecloudisjustanotherenvironmentforyourworkloads.Intiguacanbeusedtomanage
on-premisesvirtualandphysicalservers,hostedandhybridpublic/privatecloudenvironments–allfrom
asingleconsoleandallsubjecttoacommonsetofmanagementpolicies.Thisenablesyoutoscaleour
processesandsystemswithease,andtakeadvantageofthecloud’sspeedandflexibility.
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Sim ple Interface and Integration
Intiguaaccomplishesallofthisthroughafriendlyuserinterfacedesignedtomeettheexpectationsof
today’sdemandingusers.Inaddition,aRESTAPIallowsthesecapabilitiestobepluggedintoyour
existingITproceduresandworkflows,andintegratedwithotherautomationandorchestrationsystems.
Summary
Ithasneverbeeneasytoensurethatserverresourcesarequicklydeployedwiththerightserver
managementsolutionsandmanagedproperlythroughouttheir“day2”operationslifecycle.Butnow,
withconstantlyincreasingnumberofservers(physicalandvirtual),itisgettingdramaticallymore
challenging.AndwithgrowingdemandsbyuserdepartmentsforfasterandmorereliableSLAs
combinedwithinfrastructureexpansionintohybridandpubliccloudenvironments,thechallengesare
evenfurtherexacerbated.
Usingvariousmanualprocesses,templates,customscriptingandgenericconfigurationtools,whichmay
havesucceededataslowerpaceofbusinessandsmallerscale,arewoefullyinadequatetohandle
today’sincreasingcomplexities.
Insteadofcobblingtogethersolutionsthatkeepyoutreadingwater,butdon’tenableyoutogetahead
ofthegame,considerIntigua’sapproach.EmpoweryourITorganizationwithcompletevisibilityand
easycontrolovertheentirelifecycleofallyourservermanagementsolutions.Byunifyingand
automatingthemanagementofservermanagementsolutionsacrossallyourenvironments,Intigua
helpsyoutofinallyoperatewiththespeedandagilityyourusersdemandandyourbusinessrequires.
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
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AboutIntiguaAgentManager
Intiguaisaconfigurationmanagementsolutionforservertoolagents.ItsavesITandDevOps
professionalscountlesshoursoftediousworkbystreamlining,automatingandacceleratingagent
deployment,maintenanceandtroubleshooting.Tasksthattookweeksormonthsnowtakeminutes,
serverpoliciesareeasilyenforcedatmassivescale,andstaffarefreetofocusonstrategicprojects
insteadofbabysittingservers.
Discoveryofagentandserverinventory
Intiguatalkstocloud,virtualizationandtoolservers,buildingacomplete,centralviewofwhichagents
aredeployed,wheretheyarerunning,andunderwhatconfiguration.
User-definedcentralagentmanagementpolicies
Newserversgettherightagentsautomatically.Serversmigratingbetweendatacenters,orgoing
throughadev-stage-runsequence,havetheirsetofagentsautomaticallyadjustedforeachsituation.
Libraryofpre-integratedtoolagents
Intiguaincludesalargesetofpre-packaged,populartoolagentsplusaself-servicepackagingwizardfor
addingnewagents.
Agentauto-fixandreconfigure
Brokenagentsoragentsinunhealthystateareautomaticallyidentifiedandrestarted,reconfiguredor
reinstalled,asappropriate.
Inthecloudandon-premise
Intiguaworkswithallenvironments,includingAWS,AzureandOpenStackclouds,andcanaccelerate
theprocessofshiftingworkloadsfromoneenvironmenttoanother.
Deepvisibilityanddiagnostics
Userscanexplorethestatusofanyagent,collectandreaditslogfiles,withouthavingtorequest
privilegedaccesstoremoteservers.Granularaccesscontrolsensuretoolownerscanremotelyaccess
onlytheirowntools.
Orchestrateagentsandtheirservers
Intiguaautomaticallyregistersnewagentswithmanagementservers,removesregisteredagentswhen
nolongerinuse,andassignsconfigurationtoeachagent.
SeehowIntiguacansimplify,accelerateandmodernizethemanagementofyourenterpriseITtoolsand
services.
http://www.intigua.com
Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents
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