Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager is a software product that manages software configuration information and patches for server software.
In recent years there has been a growing trend for the ICT department of a company to use virtualization to consolidate corporate servers in data centers, in order to improve cost competitiveness. However, the workload on system administrators is increasing, as it is no longer possible to keep up with dynamic changes or increasing server resources (such as IP addresses, operating systems, and middleware).
Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager makes it possible to automatically collect and manage information about resources that have been dynamically deployed to the cloud. Moreover, information about the status of the application of patches to servers can be managed centrally, thereby making it possible to reduce the workload for system administrators.
It is also possible to limit the range of which software configuration information is visible and which operations can be performed according to the tenancy that the administrator belongs to and the privileges of that administrator, thereby making it possible to prevent operation mistakes and reduce security risks.
Point
When explaining this product it is assumed that the user roles can be classified as follows:
Infrastructure administrators set up and maintain Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager.
Infrastructure administrators define policies for managing Windows patches, release the patches obtained from Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and determine classification levels.
Infrastructure administrators obtain Linux patches and register them with Yellowdog Updater Modified (yum) repository servers.
Infrastructure administrators obtain patches for Fujitsu middleware and register them with Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager.
Infrastructure administrators can use the management console to look up patch application status and software configuration information for all the servers in the center.
Dual-role administrators act as both an infrastructure administrator and a tenant administrator.
Tenant administrators can use the management console to look up patch application status and software configuration information for the servers within the tenancy that they belong to.
Tenant administrators use the management console to apply patches to the servers within the tenancy that they belong to.
Tenant users use the management console to apply patches to the servers that they manage.
Tenant users can use the management console to look up patch application status and software configuration information for the servers that they manage.
Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager uses the following flow to manage patches and software configurations for servers:
Download patches
This step involves downloading patches for the operating system and Fujitsu middleware from the vendor's website and the UpdateSite respectively.
Patches for Windows operating systems are downloaded using Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
Patches for Linux operating systems are downloaded and registered with Yellowdog Updater Modified (yum) repository servers by the infrastructure administrator.
Patches for Fujitsu middleware are downloaded and registered with Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager by the infrastructure administrator.
Distribute and apply patches
This step involves distributing and applying patches to business servers based on an instruction from the tenant user.
Patches for Windows operating systems are distributed and applied by linking to Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) based on a Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager operation.
Patches for Linux operating systems are distributed and applied by linking to Yellowdog Updater Modified (yum) based on a Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager operation.
Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager can also be used to distribute patches for Fujitsu middleware and apply these patches by registering scripts.
Perform discovery
This step involves periodically and automatically collecting the patch application status and software configuration information for business servers from linkage servers, business servers and ServerView Resource Orchestrator, and then storing this information in the configuration management database (CMDB).
Monitor patch application and manage software configuration information
This step involves checking the patch application status information that is discovered from linkage servers and business servers.
Infrastructure administrators and dual-role administrators can check the patch application status and software configuration information for all the servers in the data center by logging in to the management console for Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager.
Tenant administrators can check information for all the servers within their tenancy, whereas tenant users can check information for the servers that they manage themselves.
Figure 1.1 Overview of Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager
Information
ServerView Resource Orchestrator is a software product that automatically deploys physical and virtual servers.
Systemwalker Software Configuration Manager manages physical and virtual servers that have been deployed by ServerView Resource Orchestrator.
