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Operations Management FAQ
Is change management sufficient? How do you begin your transition to application management? This FAQ answers those questions and more.
by Glenn Helton and Page Alloo
Posted March 15, 2004
Q: What is application management? Is this really a new term?
A: Although the phrase has been used in different ways in various places, there hasn't been a commonly defined, cohesive software product category called "application management." In this special report's context, application management refers to a set of software functions that, for the first time, aim at treating complex n-tier distributed components as a single application entity. Such products move past the element-by-element, component-by-component monitoring mode of the past.
Q: What are the factors that would make you rethink your approach to IT operations management?
A: The nature of distributed n-tier applications built on J2EE or .NET platforms. Unlike the older "point-to-point" applications that tended to have their own dedicated underlying resources, newer-style applications are more "decoupled." This increases datacenters' flexibility and agility, but makes applications inherently more difficult to troubleshoot and manage.
Q: My company thinks that monitoring network elements is sufficient. Are we a lost cause?
A: As companies gain more experience with distributed n-tier applications, IT thinking tends to shift—beginning with the development phase. New application design must include plans for making it manageable. Best practices include being careful with dependencies for data, memory, failover, and other factors. However, most development groups will fail to get the design perfect. It's hard to get it right, especially in the early applications. So IT operations will be at a significant disadvantage if it lacks sophisticated management applications to deal with the complex, interdependent, n-tier distributed applications.
Q: IT operations groups have survived on humans' intelligence for troubleshooting and problem resolution. Why won't this work in the future?
A: The traditional applications approach is to have a relatively few monolithic applications. In that scheme, experienced IT operations staffs could keep many relevant configuration management and change management details in their heads or in a set of spreadsheets. The n-tier distributed approach—with its componentized structures, many-to-many connections, and frequent changes—tends to produce more management details than people can carry in their heads.
Q: I have change management software. Isn't this sufficient? What does configuration management software really buy you?
A: The change management database is a favorite place to look for configuration information, especially when an escalating degradation exists. However, the change management database often reflects only the configurations that should be in place, instead of the ones that are in place. Configuration management software aims to provide a database constructed from information about actual configurations and their interdependencies in the product environment.
Q: How do I make the transition from element monitoring to application management? Where do I begin?
A: As in so many datacenter situations, you can take two basic approaches: integrated or best-of-breed. The major established console vendors and performance management vendors are all, to varying degrees, adding provisioning and configuration management modules to their products. The great majority are purchasing technology and integrating it. This is taking time, so expect the functionality to build slowly. Younger, more specialized vendors are bringing interesting application management functionality to market now. If an IT organization is willing to go the best-of-breed route, it can begin its transition without much delay.
Q: What is the best way to learn more about application management techniques?
A: Most of the established and emerging vendors have white papers describing the challenges and solutions associated with application management. (See the vendor profiles accompanying this special report for specific information about individual companies.) Most of the market analyst firms have issued reports, presentations, or bulletins about the topic.
Q: What is business services management (BSM) and why should I care about it?
A: First, a caveat about the terminology. "Business services management" is used in various ways by different vendors and analysts. The uses have this in common: Most future enterprise applications will be constructed from discrete IT components ("services") that must be managed as collections that form specific "business services." Some cutting-edge companies are already beginning to have a service orientation, but realistically some additional standards are required before this becomes widely practical.
About the Authors
Glenn Helton and Page Alloo are partners of Positioning Strategies, a management consulting firm that serves technology companies from its Silicon Valley base in Los Altos, Calif. Founded 10 years ago, Positioning Strategies consults with some of the world's largest electronics companies, as well as emerging startups, including many in the enterprise software space. The company has advised IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Hitachi, Advance Micro Devices, ATI, National Semiconductor, and others. It has recently worked with young enterprise software companies such as Mercado, Collation, and Interwise. Reach the authors at glenn@positioning.com and page@positioning.com.
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