Corporate ICT departments are increasingly consolidating their servers in corporate data centers, with the aim of improving cost competitiveness.
Server consolidation reduces both the cost of procuring hardware and software and the costs associated with facilities and installation locations, but at the same time the administration costs for increasingly complicated ICT (information communication technology) systems are becoming more expensive.
For example, for many administrative tasks the procedures and administrative tools differ from system to system, and so administrators need to be always aware of which system they are operating on. Also, in real-life situations where ICT systems are managed, numerous visual checks and judgments are made on the ICT system, so operating costs cannot be reduced easily. Furthermore, there are also problems that cannot be simply measured in terms of cost, such as missed business opportunities due to human error and operating mistakes.
Resolving the problems with administration tasks in this kind of situation requires the following kinds of responses:
There is a need to unify the tasks and operations that vary from system to system, due to platform differences and differences in system configurations.
There is a need to be able to perform tasks appropriately even without detailed knowledge about technical subjects such as how to operate system management tools, or the parameter specifications for operating system commands.
There is a need to be able to systemize all work, not only for "operations for ICT" such as operating system management tools, but also for "tasks that need to be performed by humans" such as confirming task results and determining the execution of tasks.
Systemwalker Runbook Automation provides functions to achieve these responses.
Systemwalker Runbook Automation provides an environment for developing Automated Operation Processes that make it possible to define operation procedures that combine human tasks such as checking and decision making, as well as tasks that are performed on ICT devices, such as executing commands and operating management tools. Systemwalker Runbook Automation also provides an environment for performing actual operations by executing these Automated Operation Processes. This makes it possible to automate all administration work in a way that integrates the tasks performed by people and the tasks performed by ICT devices, including storage devices, the network and linked external systems.
Also, by using logical operation components for each work objective that absorb the differences between systems (such as platform differences), Automated Operation Processes allow the same operations to be performed on different operating systems, making it possible to perform high-level operation tasks in a way that does not depend on the skill of the operator.
Systemwalker Runbook Automation supports operation tasks for large-scale, diverse systems by automating most of the operation tasks that until now have been performed by people following operation procedure manuals.
The following benefits can be expected from installing Systemwalker Runbook Automation.
By automating the regular operations that are performed on a daily basis on systems made up of a large number of ICT devices consolidated in a place like a data center, it is possible to perform administration tasks with significantly less people and time. As well as automating operations on ICT systems that have been performed manually until now, it is also possible to automate the process of checking the results of these operations.
The following example shows how work time can be reduced significantly by automating most of the tasks involved in applying operating system patches to 10 servers. In this example, Systemwalker Runbook Automation can also be used to check the results of applying the patches and collect evidence.
Systemwalker Runbook Automation makes it possible to speed up service delivery, by reducing the administrative costs of people and time.
Automated Operation Processes can be executed from a Web browser through only a few operation steps. Also, detailed knowledge is no longer required because the operations can be performed without being aware of the target system. Automated Operation Processes that have already been created can be modified or corrected using a GUI in the development environment, allowing similar operations to be automated easily without any need for advanced programming skills.
By making it easier to automate work that has been done manually till now, human error can be eliminated and work quality can be improved.
Systemwalker Runbook Automation does not fully automate all work procedures into a kind of "black box". Instead, tasks can be automated in such a way as to allow for human confirmation and decisions at various critical points. This makes it possible to manage almost all operation tasks systematically, resulting in improvement in the quality of operation tasks.
Highly reliable work procedures can be achieved by developing, accumulating and reusing work know-how (such as knowledge about how to investigate problems using various tools and operating system commands, and what kind of primary action to take) as workflows.
Access logs and work logs for administration tasks can be stored automatically, and these logs can be used as evidence for administration tasks.
Also, the results and track record of operation tasks can be aggregated easily, which is useful for making improvements to the operation by reviewing tasks that fail often, and tasks that take a long time.
