Users Eye Self-Healing Systems Management Software

Computerworld - To cope with applications that are greedy for IT resources and the rise in business being done online, some users are trying to make their server networks more flexible and self-healing. But analysts cautioned that system management tools designed to address the problem are still in their infancy.

For example, Cooper Industries Inc., a $4.5 billion maker of tools and electrical products, is looking to ease its network performance issues by installing software from San Mateo, Calif.-based MetiLinx Inc. that monitors server functions and automatically reroutes processing work to other systems if problems arise.

MetiLinx just added the rerouting capability last month, releasing a tool that's supposed to be able to optimize server performance across multiple tiers of a corporate network. Its software was previously limited to diagnosing server resource problems and recommending corrective actions to systems administrators.

Terry Klebe, chief IT officer at Houston-based Cooper Industries, said MetiLinx's iSystem Enterprise technology will replace a more piecemeal approach to systems monitoring and management that's based on a hodgepodge of tools.

Financial applets being used at branch offices are slowing Cooper's network due to a lack of available bandwidth, Klebe said, adding that the problem is being compounded by e-business applications and a new data warehouse. The company's other option for a cure was to build three times the needed processing capacity for every new application, he said.

"We ran several scenarios on that, and the [financial] numbers scared me," Klebe said. "Conservatively, we think we can cut new hardware costs 30% [using the new tools]."

Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst at IDC in Framingham, Mass., said most established systems management tools can't easily handle the applications-driven performance problems faced by IT managers.

Users typically need to write custom scripts to work around server snares on their networks, Kusnetzky said. Only a few small vendors, including MetiLinx and Billerica, Mass.-based SilverBack Technologies Inc., have developed tools aimed at automating network optimization, he added.

Ed Wood, network administrator at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Knoxville, said he's also trying to cope with the impact of bandwidth-hogging distributed applications. "The programmers are far less network-sympathetic than they used to be," he said. "They must think we've got unlimited resources."

Problematic applications create a ripple effect across the TVA's network, resulting in more potential points of failure that need to be closely monitored, Wood said.

Keep on Running Cooper Industries is looking to optimize its network server systems to prevent performance problems. The MetiLinx software that it’s installing includes these features: System-level objects that analyze the performance of each server and communicate that data to all the other linked nodes on the network. Real-time process redirection capabilities at each network node based on system-level object data and end-to-end availability of system resources. Network management and planning tools that can be used to set performance alarms on systems and to collect processing data for use in fine-tuning network infrastructures.

Read more about Networking in Computerworld's Networking Topic Center.