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 Infrastructure and Public Clouds

Automating Server Management: Visibility and Control of All Server Management Tool Agents Copyright Intigua www.intigua.com Page 2

Automating Server Tool Management

How to Gain Visibi l ity and Control of Al l 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 Copyright Intigua www.intigua.com Page 3

Introduction

Increasingly,enterpriseITisexpectedtooperateatweb-speedandweb-scale.Toaccomplishthis,theserversusersneed–whetherinphysical,virtualorcloudenvironments–mustbereadilyavailableforworkloadswhenusersneedthem.Formostorganizations,however,thisisbecomingmuchmoredifficulttoensureacrosshybridinfrastructureandwithinSLAs.

Why?Becausetheplethoraofservermanagementsolutionsrequiredtokeepthoseresourcesrunningsecurely,performingoptimally,andoperatingincompliancewithcorporateandregulatorypolicies,areextremelycumbersometomanageandimpossibletoviewandcontrolatanenterprise-widelevel.

Withcomputingenvironmentsgrowingincomplexityandscale,itismoreimportantthaneverforITdepartmentstoovercomethechallengesinherentindeployingandmaintainingthelifecycleofservermanagementsolutions.ITorganizationsneedawaytooperateatthevelocity,accuracyandefficiencybusinessesrequire.

Inthiswhitepaper,we’llexamine:

• ProblemsManagingaComplexServerSoftware“Stack”:We’lloutlinetheagentandagentlessserversoftwaremanagement-relatedproblemsplaguingIT,includinglackofvisibility,unplanneddowntime,andcomplianceandtroubleshootingissues.

• SolutionsITDepartmentsAreCurrentlyUsing:Organizationshavetriedanumberofwaystohandlethecomplexity,withvaryingdegreesofeffectiveness.We’llexaminethemainstrategiesbeingused.

• TheFullySupportedServerManagementSolution:Despitethesignificantchallengesthatservermanagementsolutionspose,itispossibletogaincompletevisibilityandcontroloverthem.ThissectionwillhighlighthowIntiguaAgentManagercanhelpyouachievethis.

Scoping the Problem CIOsandITexecutivesneedtoensurethatbusinessapplicationsaredeployedeffectivelyandoperatereliably.Todothis,theirstaffsuseavarietyofservermanagementsolutions:Anti-virusandotherendpointprotectionsoftwaretoenhancesecurity;logandeventcollectionsoftwaretoauditserveraccessandsecuritychanges,andtoenablebig-dataanalytics;monitoringsoftwaretounderstandserverperformance,applicationbehaviorandusagepatterns;backupsoftwaretosafeguardcriticalapplicationdata;configurationmanagementsoftwaretoconfigureservers;andmore.Alltheseservermanagementsolutionsmustbedeployedincompliancewithregulatoryandcorporatepolicy,otherwisetheenterprisecanbeexposedtobusinessandlegalrisks.

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Lack of Vis ib i l i ty and Control Theproblem,however,isthatITteamsdon’thavevisibilityintoservermanagementtoolsacrosstheirphysical,virtualandcloudserverinfrastructures.Theydon’thaveaclearwayofknowingwhichservershavewhichmanagementtools,andwhetherthesetoolsareworkingcorrectly.Soforexample,whileamalfunctioningbackuptoolcanexposetheenterprisetotheriskofcriticaldataloss,it’softenimpossibleforIToperatorstoidentifysuchmalfunctioningtools.Informationaboutmissingorfaultytoolscansometimesbededucedfromcarefullyexaminingservertoolconsoles,butwhentherearethousandsofserversanddozensoftoolconsoles,suchexaminationishardlypractical.Thelackofcentralvisibilityintoservertoolsmeansthereisalsolackofcentralizedcontrol.Unabletoquicklyandefficientlydeployandupdateservertools,ITteamsstruggletomaintainahighlevelofservice.Old,obsoleteversionsofservertoolsalsoposesecurityrisk,asvulnerabilitiesdiscoveredovertimeremainunpatched.Withouttheabilitytoquicklymakechanges,organizationscanbecomelockedintotheirexistingservermanagementsolutions,andcan’teasilyswitchtonewer,best-of-breedoptionsfromothervendors.Infact,theentirelifecycleofconfiguring,deploying,registering,upgrading,troubleshooting,ensuringcompliance,anddecommissioningofservermanagementsolutionsisoverwhelming,cumbersomeandpainful.

Agents as Culprits Muchofthedifficultycanbetracedtothefactthatmanyservermanagementsolutionsrequireagentstobeinstalledoneveryserver.Thisrequirestime-consumingcoordinationwithserverownersforeachagentinstalled(ormodified),whichslowstheentireprocessconsiderably.Itmayalsonecessitateserverreboots,whicharelikelytoaffectapplicationperformanceandcauseinterruptionsordowntime.Theresultingexperienceforbusinessusersisfrustratingatbest.Forinstance,it’snotunusualforuserstowaitweekstogetanewapplicationorhaveanewservercommissioned.WhiletheITteamsresponsiblefordeployingsecurity,backup,monitoringandothersolutionscompletetheirtasks,usersareinlimbo,possiblywiththeirownbusinessprojectsonhold.Instantaneousserviceisthenewnormalinoureverydaylives.Onmobiledevicesandwithcloud-basedservices,usersarenotwillingtoacceptpoorserviceintheirworklives.IfITorganizationsareperceivedtooperatetoslowly,rightlyorwrongly,ITteamscanthenbeperceivedasbarrierstobusinessinnovation,ratherthanenablers.

Cloud Complexit ies AsorganizationsoptimizetheirITcoststructureandincreaseagilitybyadoptingahybridcloudstrategy,theproblemofservertoolmanagementbecomesevenmoreprominent.Forexample,someorganizationembarkon“lift-and-shift”initiatives,whereserverworkloadsareconstantlybeingpushedtoandbetweenpublicclouds,andsometimesevenbacktoon-premisedatacenters,accordingtocost-savingopportunitiesandconditions.Suchinitiativesrelyonbeingabletoquicklymigrateserversandentireapplicationsfromoneenvironmenttoanother.Butkeepingthoseserverswell-managedastheygothroughrepeatedmigrationsistricky:Moreoftenthennot,toolagentsandmanagementbackendsystemsneedtobereconfiguredtoworkcorrectlyinnewenvironments.Withoutahighlevelofautomationforretoolingorreconfigurationofmanagementtools,significant

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manualworkisneededoneachservermigration,reducingthefinancialbenefitwhichisthetargetofthewholeexercise.Anotherchallengingcloudusecaseisthedeploymentofadvancedconfigurationmanagement,monitoringandsecuritysoftwareinbrand-newenvironments.TheITengineeringteamsbuildingthesenext-geninfrastructuresneedtobesuretheyarealwaysingoodhealth.Equallyimportant,theyalsoneedtocontinuouslyreevaluatetheirchoiceoftools,introducenewtoolsandplaywithtoolconfiguration.Withoutcentralizedvisibilityandcontroloftheirentiretoollandscape,thistaskbecomesmuchmoredifficult.

Conventional Attempts at Solving the Problem ITorganizationsareusinganumberofprocessesandapproachestohandlethecomplexity,withvaryingdegreesofeffectiveness.Processesthatwerepreviouslyadequateinmorehomogeneouscomputingenvironmentsareprovingtobetooslow,toocomplexandtooexpensivetohandlethousandsofserversintoday’smixedphysical,virtualandhybridcloudenvironments.

Figure1.Today’sITOperationsModel:ComplexInteractionsLackUnifiedVisibilityandDiagnosticAccess

Manual Processes Manyorganizationstrytomaintainacentralizedviewoftheirservermanagementsolutionsthroughvariousmanualprocedures.ITadministratorscollectinformationbyloggingintomultiplemanagementtoolconsolesandendpoints,inanefforttokeeptrackofconstantly-changingstates.Thisisdoneonaperiodicbasis,e.g.,weekly,causingsignificantdelaysinidentifyingissues.Whenproblemsare

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uncovered,thesameITteamsneedtomanuallylogintoindividualserversandfixthem,oftenbyperformingsimple,mundaneoperationssuchasrestartingaservice.Notonlyisthisaveryslowprocess,itisalsooftenincomplete.Manualprocessescaneasilymissserversandindividualservermanagementagents,orfailtoidentifyproblemssuchasoutdatedsoftwareversionsanduseroperationsthatunintentionallyinterferewithperformanceofaparticularagent.Custom Scripts Someorganizationstrytoautomatetrackingthestateoftheirservermanagementsolutionsbydevelopingcustomscriptingforcollectingtoolstate.But,inorderforsuchscriptsystemstobeeffective,theyneedtobefeature-richandhigh-quality.Moreoftenthannot,thisisbeyondthedevelopmentskillsandcapacityoftheITteam,leavingthescriptsincompleteandtheteamfrustrated.Whetherdonein-houseoroutsourced,creatingcustomscriptstotieyoursevermanagementsolutionstogethercanbeextremelyexpensive,difficulttomaintainandultimatelymaynotresultintheseamlessexperiencethattheITteamsintended.Generic Configurat ion Management Tools Othersorganizationstrytoautomatetheservermanagementsolution“stack”throughgenericconfigurationmanagementtoolssuchasPuppet,CheforMicrosoftSCCM.Thesealternativesrequireextensivetrainingandexpertise,andsignificantprogrammingskills,tooperateproperly.Inthecontextofservertoolmanagement,projectsthattrytousethesetoolsoftenfail,mainlyduetothecontentissue:It’sveryhardtofindordeveloptheneededconfigurationmodulesforservertools,especiallyinWindowsenvironments.Andevenwhensuchmodulesareavailable,theteamswithintheITorganizationwhoareresponsibleforservertoolsoftendon’thaveaccesstouseconfigurationmanagementtoolsinrealproductionenvironments.Finally,genericconfigurationmanagementtoolsoftencannotbeusedforcriticaltasksinservertoolmanagement,suchastyingtogethertheconfigurationoftoolagentsandmanagementservers,andeffectivelylimitingtheuseofresourcesbytoolagentswhenthesameresourcesareneededbyapplications.Outsourcing Ratherthandealingwithtediousdailychoresandmanualprocesses,someITmanagersoffloadday-to-dayservertoolmanagementtoanoffshoreteam.Intermsofcostoptimization,thisisonlyapartialsolution,asitremovesjustaportionoftheoperatingcost.However,italsointroducesnewcostsintermsoftrainingandremotesynchronization.Butmoreimportantly,thisapproachtradesapoorlevelofserviceforanevenpoorerone.AtatimewhenbusinessusersexpectITtodemonstrateagilityandhigh-qualitydelivery,thisisastepbackwards.Avoidance Ratherthandealwiththecomplexitiesassociatedwithmanagingsomanyservermanagementsolutionsacrosssomanyenvironments,someITorganizationsuccumbtothetemptationofkeepingcomplexityartificiallylowbyblockinginnovationandagility.Forexample,theymaysettleformediocreservermanagementsolutionsthataren’tnecessarilyappropriatetotheirparticularapplicationneeds–suchasagentlesstoolsthatdon’trequireinstallation,butalsolackfunctionality–toeasethepain.Or,theymaypullbackfromharnessingthepubliccloud,becauseaddingmoreenvironmentswithdifferentcharacteristicsandrequirementsmakesmanagingthelifecycleofservermanagementsolutionsallthemoredifficult.

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Users Set Up Shadow IT Ofcourse,ITorganizationscan’tstopusersfromgoingdirectlytothecloudtogettheresourcestheyneed.That’swhy“shadowIT”capabilitiesaregrowinginsomanybusinesses.TominimizethechanceofbusinessusersbypassingITontheirwaytothecloud–andleavingtheITorganizationpowerlessyetstillliabletosecurityandcompliancerisks–ITmustfindamuchmoreefficient,easyandfastwaytohandlethelifecycleofeveryservermanagementsolution.

A New Approach Al leviates the Complexit ies and Improves Results Slow,costlymanualprocesses,inefficienttemplates,customscriptingandgenericconfigurationtoolsdon’thavetobeyourorganization’sonlyoptions.Imagineifyouhadacentralizedwayofvisualizingandcontrollingallyoursevermanagementsolutions,enterprise-wide.Ifyoucouldeasilyandautomaticallymanagetheentirelifecycleofeachservermanagementsolutiononeveryserver,frominitialdeploymentthroughconfigurationchanges,upgrades,troubleshooting,andremoval.Imagineifyoucouldprovideresourceswhenusersneedthem,andkeepthemrunningsecurelyandreliably.IntiguaAgentManagermakesthispossible.Throughacentralizedconsolethatbecomeshometo“everythingmanagement”inyourITserverenvironment,Intiguagivesyoucompletevisibilityinto,andcontrolover,yourentirestackofservermanagementsolutionsacrossallapplications,infrastructureenvironments,andoperatingsystems.

How Intigua Agent Manager Helps

Complete Vis ib i l i ty of Your Entire Management Stack IntiguaAgentManagerprovidesacompleteviewofthestackofservermanagementsolutionsviaasingleandintegratedconsole.Thisimproveshowvarioussolutionsworkwitheachother.Itmakesiteasytomonitorandmanagethehealthandstatusofeachservermanagementsolutionindividuallyandcollectively.Fromasingleviewyoucanseewhatservermanagementsolutionsaredeployedacrossallyourservers.Inthisway,youcanidentifycoveragegapsthatneedtobefilledorsystemsthatneedmoresupport.Additionally,youcanseehownewservermanagementsolutionswillfitintoyourinfrastructurebeforeimplementingthem.ItismucheasiertomakeinformeddecisionsthathaveapositiveimpactonIToperations.

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Figure2.IntiguaUnifiedManagementPlatformCentralizesVisibilityandDiagnosticAccess

Central ly Manage the L ifecycle of a l l IT Tools Properlydeployingyourservermanagementsolutionsisjustthebeginning.Throughouttheirlifecycle,theyneedtobeconfiguredtomeetchangingapplicationneeds,rewiredtoreporttonewbackendconsoles,andmonitoredforstabilityandhealth.Whenservermanagementsolutionsfail,thecauseneedstobediagnosedandremediatedassoonaspossibletolimittherepercussionsonsystemsandusers.Finally,asyourcomputinglandscapeevolves,toolsneedtobeupgradedorreplacedaltogether.

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Figure3.IntiguaCentrallyOrchestratestheLifecycleofallServerManagementSolutions

Intiguaprovidesacentralizedandautomatedwaytohandleallthese“day2”operations,aswellasinitialagentprovisioning.ITadminscandotheirjobsmuchmoreeasilyandeffectively,anduserscangettheresourcestheyneed,faster,morereliablyandwithmuchlesseffort.

Enterprise-Grade Access Control Intiguaprovidesrole-basedaccesscontrols,whichallowITstaffworkingindifferentteamstousethesame,centralizedconsolebutonlyadministerservermanagementsolutionsthatarewithintheirteam’sresponsibility,andonlyonauthorizedservers.

Policy-Driven Automation Intiguaemployspowerfulpolicy-basedcontrolsthatautomaticallyapplythecorrecttoolstoeachserveraccordingtoitslocationanduse,andensurethatmanagementtoolsremainincorrectconfigurationandgoodhealththroughouttheirlife.Forexample,serversinNorthAmericaandEU,orhostingdatabasesorwebapps,caneachbemanagedwithappropriateanddifferentpolicies.

Cloud-Ready WithIntigua,thecloudisjustanotherenvironmentforyourworkloads.Intiguacanbeusedtomanageon-premisesvirtualandphysicalservers,hostedandhybridpublic/privatecloudenvironments–allfromasingleconsoleandallsubjecttoacommonsetofmanagementpolicies.Thisenablesyoutoscaleourprocessesandsystemswithease,andtakeadvantageofthecloud’sspeedandflexibility.

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Simple Interface and Integrat ion Intiguaaccomplishesallofthisthroughafriendlyuserinterfacedesignedtomeettheexpectationsoftoday’sdemandingusers.Inaddition,aRESTAPIallowsthesecapabilitiestobepluggedintoyourexistingITproceduresandworkflows,andintegratedwithotherautomationandorchestrationsystems.

Summary Ithasneverbeeneasytoensurethatserverresourcesarequicklydeployedwiththerightservermanagementsolutionsandmanagedproperlythroughouttheir“day2”operationslifecycle.Butnow,withconstantlyincreasingnumberofservers(physicalandvirtual),itisgettingdramaticallymorechallenging.AndwithgrowingdemandsbyuserdepartmentsforfasterandmorereliableSLAscombinedwithinfrastructureexpansionintohybridandpubliccloudenvironments,thechallengesareevenfurtherexacerbated.Usingvariousmanualprocesses,templates,customscriptingandgenericconfigurationtools,whichmayhavesucceededataslowerpaceofbusinessandsmallerscale,arewoefullyinadequatetohandletoday’sincreasingcomplexities.Insteadofcobblingtogethersolutionsthatkeepyoutreadingwater,butdon’tenableyoutogetaheadofthegame,considerIntigua’sapproach.EmpoweryourITorganizationwithcompletevisibilityandeasycontrolovertheentirelifecycleofallyourservermanagementsolutions.Byunifyingandautomatingthemanagementofservermanagementsolutionsacrossallyourenvironments,Intiguahelpsyoutofinallyoperatewiththespeedandagilityyourusersdemandandyourbusinessrequires.

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AboutIntiguaAgentManagerIntiguaisaconfigurationmanagementsolutionforservertoolagents.ItsavesITandDevOpsprofessionalscountlesshoursoftediousworkbystreamlining,automatingandacceleratingagentdeployment,maintenanceandtroubleshooting.Tasksthattookweeksormonthsnowtakeminutes,serverpoliciesareeasilyenforcedatmassivescale,andstaffarefreetofocusonstrategicprojectsinsteadofbabysittingservers.DiscoveryofagentandserverinventoryIntiguatalkstocloud,virtualizationandtoolservers,buildingacomplete,centralviewofwhichagentsaredeployed,wheretheyarerunning,andunderwhatconfiguration.User-definedcentralagentmanagementpoliciesNewserversgettherightagentsautomatically.Serversmigratingbetweendatacenters,orgoingthroughadev-stage-runsequence,havetheirsetofagentsautomaticallyadjustedforeachsituation.Libraryofpre-integratedtoolagentsIntiguaincludesalargesetofpre-packaged,populartoolagentsplusaself-servicepackagingwizardforaddingnewagents. Agentauto-fixandreconfigureBrokenagentsoragentsinunhealthystateareautomaticallyidentifiedandrestarted,reconfiguredorreinstalled,asappropriate. Inthecloudandon-premiseIntiguaworkswithallenvironments,includingAWS,AzureandOpenStackclouds,andcanacceleratetheprocessofshiftingworkloadsfromoneenvironmenttoanother.DeepvisibilityanddiagnosticsUserscanexplorethestatusofanyagent,collectandreaditslogfiles,withouthavingtorequestprivilegedaccesstoremoteservers.Granularaccesscontrolsensuretoolownerscanremotelyaccessonlytheirowntools.OrchestrateagentsandtheirserversIntiguaautomaticallyregistersnewagentswithmanagementservers,removesregisteredagentswhennolongerinuse,andassignsconfigurationtoeachagent.SeehowIntiguacansimplify,accelerateandmodernizethemanagementofyourenterpriseITtoolsandservices.

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