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IBM Application Framework for e-business
Systems Management
The Application Framework for e-business architecture provides a full
range of services for developing, deploying and managing e-business applications.
This paper focuses on the systems management aspects of the Framework.
Refer to the IBM
Application Framework for e-business - Architecture Overview white
paper for information on the other aspects of the architecture.
The Framework's systems management component defines the services and
tools to manage e-business applications and the underlying infrastructure
as a single entity. For intranet environments, Enterprise Systems Management
integrates the management aspects of e-business applications to provide
a consolidated view of an enterprise's business solutions, the applications
they use and the underlying IT resources. For the Internet environment,
the Framework introduces
Cross-Enterprise Systems Management supporting
a collaborative management approach that extends management functions to
environments that span company boundaries.
As shown in the figure, the application stack consists of four layers:
network, system, middleware and application. Managing e-business applications
requires effective management of each of these layers. To achieve this,
each layer supports a broad set of management functions that adhere to
enterprise defined policies and procedures. The management functions include
deployment, availability, operations and administration, and security.
The Framework's systems management architecture defines the structure
and services to integrate the management functions across the layers of
the application stack. The architecture is composed of the following key
elements:
In many environments, this first and last deployment steps discussed
above apply primarily to application deployment on one or more server machines.
The Framework supports a server-managed deployment model in which applications
and application components are installed and configured on a server and
dynamically downloaded on-demand to requesting client machines. As a result,
applications are not deployed on individual client machines thereby reducing
the costs of client management significantly.
To address these deployment requirements, the Framework promotes the
Tivoli-lead, industry supported Application Management Specification (AMS)
as the way to capture the details necessary to effectively deploy e-business
applications. Tools are provided to build AMS files that describe an e-business
application.
The Framework's management agents monitor the various resources used
by an application and send event messages to one or more management applications.
Agents adhere to enterprise defined policies and procedures which can,
for example, define performance thresholds as well as dictate which management
system should receive which messages. The Open Group standard Application
Response Measurement (ARM) APIs can be used by management agents to measure
e-business application response time.
To support these environments, the Framework defines the tools and services
that allow administrators to manage different security schemes in an integrated
fashion. Once a user is authenticated to use an e-business application
then all security needs of lower layers are automatically handled by the
system. This is sometimes referred to as single signon. In addition, the
Framework's system management services provide a flexible, role-based security
model to assign the appropriate rights to users of the various e-business
application components.
The Framework supports a rules-based event monitoring system that enables
administrators to invoke application management operations, such as backup
and restore, in response to specific events or at scheduled intervals.
The Framework supports a number of event formats including SNMP.
AMS provides a non-intrusive (i.e. no code required) method to define
management characteristics of an application using the Common Information
Model (CIM) defined by the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF). Software
development tools are provided to build CIM based files associated with
an application. Management events and ARM transactions used by monitor
agents may be referenced in AMS files. The systems management services
interpret these AMS files to provide secure, efficient deployment, policy
based monitoring and event driven problem resolution. AMS also includes
a number of additional management functions such as user administration
and security, inventory management, and performance management.
To support a centralized view of the enterprise, the Framework provides
a management console that is easy to extend. In addition, a systems management
framework based on distributed object technologies is provided that allows
for the addition of new management applications and managed resources.
This flexibility is critical for the fast-paced, global dynamics of today's
large scale enterprises as well as for the small to medium businesses that
are growing rapidly.
Businesses are rushing to take advantage of the benefits offered by
the Internet: extended reach to new customers, improved service for existing
customers, reduced cost of doing business, and continuous availability
7 days a week, 24 hours a day. However, doing business on the Internet
forces companies to rely on systems, networks, and people that they do
not control, and that do not necessarily function together.
To address this, the Framework has extended its systems management architecture
to embrace the collaborative management approach being pioneered
by Tivoli. At the core of this paradigm
shift in systems management is the collaboration between enterprises, establishing
and following policies and procedures to share management information and
coordinate problem resolution.
To address these collaborative deployment requirements, the Framework
utilizes Internet software distribution technology whereby end users receive
the appropriate applications and information by subscribing to channels.
Channels are simply an abstraction that represents the executable and data
files that comprise applications. The deployment server and deployment
client work together to automatically keep channels current and to reduce
the complexity of delivering and maintaining applications across devices,
platforms and networks. To integrate with existing enterprise deployment
schemes, channels may also be used to distribute AMS files.
The Framework's monitoring agents used in the enterprise systems management
environment are extended to adhere to cross-enterprise defined policies
and procedures which can, for example, define agreed to performance thresholds
as well as dictate which administrative domain and management system receives
which messages.
The Framework's systems management security services are extended to
provide an enforceable security policy that ensures the extended enterprise
remains inviolable. The Framework's extensions for collaboration enables
each partner to manage its own security and, optionally, collaborate with
key on-line business partners to manage access to their extranets. The
extensions include:
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International Business
Machines Corporation 1998
IBM is a registered
trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United
States and/or other countries.
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The
advent of e-business presents unique management problems for today's leading
edge companies. Management of existing Information Technology (IT) infrastructure
has never been more important, but at the same time controls must be placed
around the combination of internal and external systems that form the basis
of the e-business model. Intranet e-business applications provide broader
employee access to internal business information, potentially straining
the existing IT infrastructure with new traffic. Internet e-business applications,
such as e-commerce, provide business partners and customers access to business
information, creating more traffic for the IT infrastructure and introducing
more stringent security, reliability and availability requirements.
The
Framework's systems management services were developed within the context
of a systems management model that defines a set of management functions
to be applied at each layer of the application stack.
Management
agents that monitor and control the resources used by an e-business
application. These agents run on the same machine as the resource they
manage, respond to specific requests from management applications and collect
management information for the resources. Managed resources and their agents
exist at each layer of the application stack.
ensure
that mission-critical e-business applications are easy to deploy and manage.
The systems management services supported by the Framework:
Applications
management is the highest layer of the stack with the ultimate management
responsibility of keeping mission critical applications and data both available
and secure. Applications management primarily involves the installation,
configuration, administration and monitored operation of e-business applications.
For this layer, the Framework promotes the Tivoli-led, industry-supported,
Application Management Specification. AMS addresses the full lifecycle
of an e-business application by supporting software distribution, application
monitoring, event management and task automation.
Enterprise
systems management integrates the management functions across all the layers
of the application stack to provide a consolidated view of an enterprise's
business solutions, the applications they use and the underlying IT resources.
The integrated management of applications, middleware, systems and networks
using a single, comprehensive management system is important to maintain
service levels and to keep the enterprise running efficiently. Consider
a scenario where the failure of a network router causes apparent database
and application failures. Determining the root cause of the failure using
separate, non-integrated management tools results in additional effort
on the part of both the database and application administrators.
The
complex infrastructure of Internet e-business applications, such as e-commerce,
presents challenging management problems. Attempts to manage Internet e-business
applications are further complicated by the existence of multiple, independently
managed networks or administrative domains. For example, each participant
in an e-commerce transaction controls a separate administrative domain
- a collection of interconnecting hosts and routers, managed by a single
administrative authority. This often results in a loss of visibility that
clouds the issues of accountability and control as applications move across
the Internet. The failure of an application in one administrative domain
might be the result of a problem in another administrative domain, but
detecting and fixing the problem can be difficult when the cause lies outside
the area to which the administrator has visibility and control.
