introduction to application configuration … configuration management and change detection this...

Introduction to Application Configuration Management and Change Detection

Application Configuration Management and Change Detection

Terms of This PresentationThis presentation was based on current information and resource allocations as of October

2009 and is subject to change or withdrawal by CA at any time without notice.

Notwithstanding anything in this presentation to the contrary, this presentation shall not serve

to (i) affect the rights and/or obligations of CA or its licensees under any existing or future

written license agreement or services agreement relating to any CA software product; or (ii)

amend any product documentation or specifications for any CA software product. The

development, release and timing of any features or functionality described in this presentation

remain at CA‟s sole discretion. Notwithstanding anything in this presentation to the contrary,

upon the general availability of any future CA product release referenced in this presentation,

CA will make such release available (i) for sale to new licensees of such product; and (ii) to

existing licensees of such product on a when and if-available basis as part of CA maintenance

and support, and in the form of a regularly scheduled major product release. Such releases

may be made available to current licensees of such product who are current subscribers to CA

maintenance and support on a when and if-available basis. In the event of a conflict between

the terms of this paragraph and any other information contained in this presentation, the

terms of this paragraph shall govern.

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For Informational Purposes Only

Certain information in this presentation may outline CA‟s general product direction. All

information in this presentation is for your informational purposes only and may not be

incorporated into any contract. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness

of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document “as

is” without warranty of any kind, including without limitation, any implied warranties or

merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no event will CA be

liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including,

without limitation, lost profits, lost investment, business interruption, goodwill, or lost data,

even if CA is expressly advised of the possibility of such damages.

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October 12, 2009 Copyright © 2009 CA


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In this session you will learn how CA„s Application

Configuration Management and Change Detection

capabilities can help you

Automate and simplify application configuration discovery

and management

Use change management across distributed environments

to help you improve service quality, and reduce business

and IT risks.

See how integration with CA provides dependency

mapping, impact analysts, and root cause analysis.



There are three primary issues that organizations are facing

as they cope with building and deploying web

applications:

When web applications need to be modified, developers

are required to modify existing deployment scripts. These

scripts are typically poorly managed and not well

controlled.

Because changes in scripts can cause unexpected

downtime, more people are required to track errors.

Transcription errors within scripts lead to many

unanticipated errors.

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A typical managed application involves many tiers of interdependent

components, including web and applications servers, integration

software and middleware, portals, database servers, security, custom

components and more. These elements often require updates and

frequent adjustments due to versioning and patch requirements,

application upgrades, migrations and consolidation efforts.

Web

DB

App



Management activities around distributed applications tend to be labor-

intensive, often depending on a specific individual’s knowledge of

discrete application layers, and requiring experience with vendor

proprietary tools. Typically, organizations have little existing

documentation and rely on the knowledge or rudimentary notes of

particular staff members.



StageProduction

> Compounding these problems is the proliferation of

application instances that must be synchronized and

maintained.

Test



> System optimization, performance

and tuning efforts also can change

configuration settings at a very

granular level. All of these activities

can introduce errors and

incompatibilities.

<Connector port=“8090”

Moreover, not all configuration changes are made at the same time or by the same person; most are made one component at a time by the experts familiar with each piece of software.

Moreover, not all configuration changes are made at the same time or by the same

person; most are made one component at a time by the experts familiar with each piece of software.



Cycle of Configuration Management

Collect,Parse,Filter and

Snapshot

Software Discovery

Compare and Validate

Continuous, automated discovery and mapping of applications

and infrastructure elements help you reduce time, cut

expenses and dramatically increase the accuracy of your

configuration management processes.



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IT issues addressed by CA ACM Capabilities

> Simplifies configuration management of complex applications

involving many tiers of interdependent components

> Improves visibility and Time-to-Resolution for problems that

occur due to changes in configuration settings at very granular

levels

> Delivers consistency and helps eliminate compliance issues

resulting from the proliferation of application instances that

must be synchronized and maintained



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CA ACM discovers and manages more than 600 different packaged

applications and operating systems spanning Linux, Windows, Solaris,

HP-UX and AIX platforms.



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CA ACM dashboards alert you to newly discovered, or removed

servers or software components.

Operational system

administrations will

see a summary of

server or software

changes and can drill

down to see the

details of the change.



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Using the CA ACM Network Discovery Profiles, you can tailor the scheduling and frequency of the discovery per network segment and choose from a number of notification options, such as E-mail or SNMP



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CA ACM capabilities automatically discover and identify Cluster

and Virtualization technologies of your Servers identifying the

Virtualization or Cluster technology and the physical host



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Cluster and Virtualization options can be enabled or disabled from in the Network Discovery Profiles. Supported VM technologies are Microsoft VM, VMware, IBM

LPAR and Solaris Zones. Supported Clustering technologies are Redhat Linux, VERITAS and IBM HACMP



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The CA ACM capabilities inventory each server‟s hardware, networking

and storage configurations, as well as the software components that

are installed on them.



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With CA you have the option of performing deep configuration

management of applications or simply inventorying applications and

their versions. The application discovery profiles allow you to select

the scope of applications to be discovered



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> Relationships that are derived from the discovery process include:

Server and device membership in networks

Software installed on servers

Server membership in user-defined groups

> Relationships that are derived from component nesting include:

Software components used by another software component

The hierarchy of software components (where one software component

is a parent or child of another software component)

> Relationships that are derived from application service blueprints

include:

Server membership in application services that map to your business

processes

Software component membership in application services that map to

your business processes



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Using compliance rules you can audit servers, software or services



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> CA ACM capabilities are able to provide highly detailed and granular

comparisons of configuration states across servers, software components

and IT service.



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Patch level differences can easily be detected when

comparing snapshots or servers



CA ACM is able to provide highly detailed and granular comparisons of configuration states across servers, software components and IT service.

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Detect changes to

database schemas

and data and

Windows Registry

Settings

Detect file level

changes

Detect changes

to Configuration

Parameters



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ACM Reports



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CA Spectrum Automation Manager automates application and server

provisioning and ensures compliance using its key CA ACM‟s change

detection and Gold Standard snapshot features



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CA‟s ACM capabilities integrate with CA CMDB so you can view your federated assets and visualize dependencies and relationships and perform service impact analysis



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> Essential capabilities:

Configuration discovery and relationship mapping

Deep visibility of application configurations

Change Detection and Rule based Compliance Auditing

> Link to enterprise IT management:

Integration with CA Data Center Automation Manager

Integration with CA CMDB

Ease of use

> Business Benefits

Improved service quality and time to market

Optimized resource allocation and control

Cost Savings, ROI, and Efficiency through Automation

CA Application Configuration Management and Change Detection



Coming Soon…

Updated UI (CA Standards Based)

Grid Architecture

Central ACM Data Repository

Re-designed DB Schema

Use of EEM for Access Control

New agentless discovery options

New Reporting Engine (Business Objects)

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Updated UI (CA Standards Based)

Search Filters

Server

Management

Options



Enhanced Server Discovery

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> Inventories each

server’s hardware,

networking and

storage

configuration.

> Detects OS level,

Virtual status as

well as the software

components that

are installed on

them.Classify OS and Virtual

status

Discover Servers

Inventory without

Agents



Automate the discovery process

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> Automate Discovery and

management options

using customized

profiles

> Securely store access

credentials for collecting

server and application

details

> Choose from multiple

agentless network scan

options Define Discovery

Options through

custom profilesCredential Vault



Customizable discovery profiles provide flexibility and controls

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SchedulerScan options

Network Exclude Network Include



Enhanced dependency and relationship discovery

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Enhanced Dashboards

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Customize

charts based on

attributes and

counts

Selectable chart

styles


Questions

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