Opsware extends datacentre automation

New tools to make IT admin easier, keep down costs and aid regulatory compliance

Datacentre management specialist Opsware will today (12 June) upgrade its datacentre automation suite to bolster application management capabilities and improve support for regulatory compliance.

Opsware Automation System 6 includes updated versions of Opsware's network and server management suites featuring new audit, compliance and policy management functionality, and a new application management module and service to support firms’ security and compliance efforts.

Eric Vishria, vice-president of products, said the new Opsware Visual Application Manager module gives firms the ability to automatically manage applications, servers and the network, from a central point.

"This suite is completely integrated with our server, network and change management suites so IT administrators can automatically change the configuration of an application from the central dashboard," said Vishra. "With application management added to the suite we can now offer automated management of day-to-day tasks right across the datacentre."

Meanwhile, the new Opsware Network Service will give customers actionable policies based on security warnings so they can automatically patch vulnerabilities, the company said.

Automated management tools are essential to keep down IT admin costs as datacentres become more complex and regulations demand the auditing of changes to IT, argued Sharmila Shahani, executive vice-president of marketing at Opsware.

"Provisioning, updates, compliance checks and patching have all become more complicated. IT departments have solved the problem by throwing people at it but this increases costs," Shahani said. "We've found that by automating these tasks firms can move from one administrator per 18 servers to one per 200 servers."