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Migration's prize: more server surveillance

Servers which replaced the HP 3000s were always delivered with a double-edged sword. More flexible. More complex. Whatever you needed to know about the 3000 could be discovered using tools from Lund, Allegro and other vendors. The products had their fans and the companies always pointed out the differences in reporting and tracking capabilities.

Surveillance-consoleNow another 3000 vendor, MB Foster, is teaming up with Bradmark to serve the non-3000 environments: the Windows, Linux and Unix servers that replaced MPE systems. Bradmark's Surveillance software is being resold by MB Foster. Resale often means extra value to the customer, employing services and expertise. There's a webinar on the product next Wednesday, August 10 at 2PM EDT. IT management needs vary, but there are commonalities. Some of the surveillance capability of these migration platforms simply was not possible using MPE/iX tools. Not even HP's pricier ones.

CPU, disk IO, memory, swap space, file system and process resource utilization can be monitored for the migration target platforms using Surveillance. The software works using a central repository, so a homogenous blend of these servers is handled from a single software console.

The software's list of supported server platforms is broad. In order of 3000 migrator's popularity, Windows Server 2003 or later; Linux x64 - x86; HP-UX, both PA-RISC and Itanium; IBM's Linux POWER and AIX Unix; Solaris SPARC, Solaris x64. Even HP's Tru64 can be included among Surveillance agents. There's also a Surveillance for database administration.

A database administrator can "Execute customized rule sets and event handlers, tailored to specific requirements, for immediate alert notification, or to take remedial action. Use Surveillance’s Central Repository to store historical performance and utilization information for root-cause determination, capacity planning, or service-level reports." Even in an environment where all four of the above databases were deployed, Oracle, Sybase, DB2, and SQL Server can all report history to a single repository.

Database administration is more complex on migrated platforms, in part because the data services are more flexible and powerful. It's good to have more hefty tools to shepherd the data. The MB Foster webinar will explain that, with the opportunity to ask questions. Bradmark has an overview on its website done up in Flash, but it's a few minutes to see something a good datasheet would reveal.

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