IBM Upgrades Tivoli Software For Datacenter Automation

IBM on Friday introduced a new version of its data center automation software, adding several enhancements.

In general, Tivoli Provisioning Manager 5.1.1 automates the discovery, deployment, configuration, and management of operating systems, patches, middleware, and applications on physical and virtual servers. The software can manage virtualization technologies, SAN- and NAS-based storage resources, and network devices acting as routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers, IBM said.

TPM also enables companies to automate data center procedures and processes either by modifying out-of-the-box automation packages or creating new ones.

Specific enhancements include Web Replay, which enables a user to record the mouse clicks, data insertion, and other processes involved in any task. After the procedure is saved, the scenario can be replayed automatically to save time.

The new version also has cross-platform patch support that helps customers automate steps in compliance efforts. Customers, for example, can manage patches on Windows, Linux, Solaris, and AIX as part of the same effort.

Another new feature is the ability to create and maintain application infrastructure maps that can be used to improve compliance and remediation, speed up problem solving, and simplify daily resource management, IBM said. Finally, the installation process has been streamlined for faster deployment.

In November, IBM introduced software under the Tivoli brand called Netcool Customer Experience Management. The new product enables cellular phone, Internet, and other service providers manage accounts by customer, location, device, time, grouping, and service through a single dashboard. The software basically provides a clearer picture of network usage patterns and customer behavior.

The new software was expected to ship in the first half of the year with the next version of Tivoli Netcool Service Quality Manager, software for administering telecom service quality.