IBM issues blueprint for managing complex computing environments

By Alun Williams

Posted on 7 Apr 2003 at 13:13

IBM has outlined, with software to follow, a blueprint for building autonomic systems - environments that can better manage themselves, automatically.

IBM describes it as the industry's 'first blueprint for managing complex computing environments'. The four technologies address what IBM believes to be core capabilities required for Autonomic Computing.

'Autonomic computing capabilities will emerge from innovative hardware and software from a number of sources,' states Alan Ganek, VP of IBM Autonomic Computing. 'With this blueprint, IBM is suggesting a set of technical guidelines to help ensure that those piece-parts are designed from the start to work together effectively, regardless of their source. The best way to achieve this is through the use of specifications that are open and unencumbered.'

First, there is a 'Log & Trace' tool for Problem Determination (putting log data from different system components into a common format, to help sysadmins more easily identify root causes). Second, an ABLE (Agent Building and Learning Environment) rules engine (a set of reusable learning and reasoning components designed to capture organisational knowledge). Third, a Monitoring Engine to providing autonomic monitoring capabilities (designed to detect resource outages and potential problems before they impact on system performance). And finally, a Business Workload Management system (to help identify the causes of bottlenecks in a system through response-time measurements and dynamic learning of transaction workflows).

The latter is due to first appear in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Transaction Performance product.

More details about these technologies will be released at IBM's developerWorks Live! Conference, on 9 April in New Orleans.

The blueprint follows other recent announcements from IBM in this area.

Last week, there was grid computing for Linux-based enterprise systems - IBM announces Grid Computing for Linux. Specifically, Grid Computing will be available for enterprises running Linux on the IBM eServer zSeries mainframe.

'With this announcement, IBM is enabling a powerful Linux platform to participate in grids,' said Holger Dryoff, general manager of SuSE Linux. 'By enabling the world's most stable platform as the control unit for grid computing, there is the potential for a great leap in computing power.'

Earlier, in March, IBM unveiled details of software that can automatically manage spikes in processing end-user demand - IBM breathes life into autonomic computing.

Based on IBM's WebSphere application server software, the three technologies, in sequence, are 'Adaptive Forecasting', 'On-line Capacity Planning' and 'Rapid Reconfiguration'. First of all, mathematical models are used to forecast surges in demand. Then the system estimates the resources required to meet the now-expected levels of demand. Finally, Rapid Reconfiguration, manages a 'hot swap' of system resources. In theory, end-users should not notice any interruption.

More information on IBM's take on autonomic computing can be found on the IBM Web site.