Config Combo Conundrum

Software vendors are slowly waking up to users' need to configure storage and network devices automatically -- preferably from a single GUI. But so far, they've delivered very little.

Over recent months, a number of vendors have started to jostle for position in this market. "This is a very hot area," says Jeffrey Nudler, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, adding that 60 percent of "catastrophic failures" in data centers are the result of manual configuration errors. "I think that it is becoming a great pain point for IT managers."

There is a sense among suppliers that customers who would like automated configuration for multiple storage devices would also like a common config GUI for their networking gear. Some are making moves toward this goal. Last month, for example, network and server configuration vendor Opsware bought its storage counterpart Creekpath in an attempt to address both network and storage device controls. (See Storage Shopping Spree and CreekPath Seeks New CEO.) The vendor is currently using Creekpath's technology to build a new software platform called Application Storage Automation System (ASAS), which is expected to debut in the first half of 2007.

Opsware is not the only vendor moving to combine storage and network controls. HP is integrating AppIQ technology with its server management application; EMC has picked up application discovery vendor nLayers and network management startup Smarts; and IBM is moving to integrate server, network, and storage management applications in its Tivoli platform. (See EMC Gets Smarts and EMC Nets nLayers, Scopes Security.)

Some users are clamoring for software that can handle all their network and storage changes in one fell swoop. "It would give us centralized configuration reports and would let us push changes out to hundreds of devices from a single point," admits Neil Perry, IT Manager at Indianapolis-based truck dealership Stoops Freightliner-Quality Trailer which uses ManageEngine software from AdventNet to configure around 100 network devices. (See AdventNet Upgrades ManageEngine and AdventNet Adds to ManageEngine.)At the moment, AdventNet's network and storage software are still very much standalone offerings, although Perry admits that ManageEngine has made his job much easier. "We can roll out a [QOS] change in five minutes, whereas before it would have taken days with one admin working on it," he says.

Other users are also keen to configure network and storage devices together. "We're looking at some of these options right now," reckons an IT manager from a major California entertainment company, who asked not to be named. "It would make my life easier because, ultimately, it would tie networks and storage together when building out the production environment."

But, at this point, it appears that there is a dearth of technology available to actually do this. "I wouldn't say that there is one particular suite out there that covers everything we want to cover," explains the IT manager.

"There are no products at the moment that comprehensively marry both sides," says EMA's Nudler, although he feels that software vendors Finisar and NetScout are both attempting to tackle this problem, albeit from a storage and a network angle, respectively.

There is also a degree of skepticism about how effectively firms can control the configuration of both network devices and storage from a single GUI. "It is possible to execute the GUI to get a high level of control but it certainly makes the GUI complicated, just by having to drill down through too many layers," says the California IT manager.The exec admits that he is not hopeful of vendors' ability to tackle this problem. "A lot of vendors are probably sacrificing functionality for simplicity," he says, noting that it could be two years before a truly effective software tool comes on the market.

Another potential problem could be users' corporate cultures. Bryan Semple, vice president of marketing at vendor Onaro, which analyzes, as opposed to configures, storage devices, has already noticed some resistance to a single GUI. "Within our customer base, we don't see a lot of traction with the single GUI interface [for configuration]," he explains, adding that large businesses typically need a more diverse approach.

"A lot of these larger firms have fairly complex environments where there may be multiple [IT] teams, so they tend to have a lot of automated scripts running," he says.

James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch