Exploring Storage Management Efficiencies and Provisioning - Understanding IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center and IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center with Advanced Provisioning

116 Exploring Storage Management Efficiencies and Provisioning

And, self-protecting relates to security. Now that our IT systems are open to the

public, so to speak, security is ever more important. So, self-protecting is about

the ability of the system to secure information and resources, by anticipating,

detecting, identifying, and protecting from attacks of any kind.

This vision is not built upon replacing your environment with proprietary

solutions. There is little value in changing technologies every time a new one

appears. Automation, indeed the data center, must be “technology agnostic”, it

must not be bound to any one vendor. There are still many companies running

COBOL applications that were written 20 years ago, others have systems which

are quite diverse and rely on the knowledge of a few to keep it all together. The

IBM strategy is to encompass the technology and business process to provide

the business with the required solution.

5.3 Steps toward automation

IBM has developed an Infrastructure Management blueprint that specifies the

seven capabilities necessary to fully automate your IT environment. The IBM

Infrastructure Management Blueprint serves as a road map that can help you get

from where you are today to where you need to be to automate operations while

reaping benefits along the way.

These “steps” toward automation can be summarized in the following list and are

shown graphically in Figure 5-2:

1. Basic manual effort

2. Managed provisioning

3. Assisted provisioning

4. Automated provisioning

5. On demand capability

Important: A structured approach is key to achieving on demand automation

success.

Chapter 5. Automation with IBM storage products 117

Figure 5-2 Steps toward automation

Basic manual effort

This is sometimes the best way to begin, and is the way most organizations start.

You have to know what you are doing in order to know what fits where. But this is

also the worst way to continue. Much time and resources are often wasted by

continuing in the same way day in and day out. There is a need to move forward

on the automation path.

Assisted provisioning (assisted wizards)

Next came assisted wizards. They took some of the information that had already

been provided and allowed certain options to be selected (precluding those

which were not valid for the objective selected).

Automated provisioning (scripted wizards)

This is the level we are at with IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager. Basically,

workflows are just scripted wizards. Automation routines are initiated by an

administrator to perform multiple functions with little or no further input. Complex

functions can be completed in a fraction of the time and with greater accuracy

than before, thus freeing up administrators to perform more important tasks.

Manual processes

Ad hoc practices

Reactive and tactically

aligned

Resource intensive

On Demand

Management

IT Service

Management

Element

Management

IT Focus Business Focus

Automated processes

Local expertise

Proactive and Predictive

Automated provisioning

Integrated processes

Best practices

Automated, self managed

environment

Dynamic provisioning

On Demand

Adaptive

Predictive

Managed

Basic

1

2

3

4

5

Levels of On Demand Automation