As corporations move toward utility computing, where system resources grow and shrink according to business demands, server management tools are evolving to do more than simply monitor and manage isolated network nodes. Analysts say users can expect these management packages to become increasingly automated, better handle security and patch management, and become usable across a variety of different server platforms.

Analysts say they expect traditional server management packages to become integrated more tightly with storage provisioning tools and to develop more application savvy so users can configure servers to meet specific application demands.

"As the move toward automation goes up and the number of servers under management goes up, the management tools have to get more mature," says Jonathan Eunice, principal analyst at Illuminata. "Putting more elbow grease into managing servers just seems less and less productive and less acceptable."

In the past, server management tools, such as IBM Director, Compaq/HP's Insight Manager, Sun Management Center and Dell's OpenManage, have been the less-than-flashy workhorse tools of data center management. But in the past few years, these types of packages have taken on more sophisticated features such as partitioning capabilities in one management console.

"It used to be people treated server managers to twiddle bits on individual systems," Eunice says. "Now they're doing a lot more to treat the computer as a business asset."

That means users can expect some server management tools - base versions of which typically are shipped with the hardware - to take on features more in line with high-level network management packages such as HP's OpenView, IBM's Tivoli and Computer Associates' Unicenter. These packages can acknowledge network components, but are more concerned with overall network performance.

And those packages that don't take on more advanced features will make the nitty-gritty work they do - such as asset management or patch management - happen more smoothly as they feed into the higher-level tools that are used to manage heterogeneous servers, storage and other systems.

"We're getting to the point where a lot of these functions, whether it's remote control or asset management are getting pretty good, but there is still a lot of room to smooth things out," Eunice says. "Patch management is a good example . . . I've heard from two or three vendors about substantial improvements in the precision that you can get [from] those patches and in the security model for handling those patches."

Analysts don't tend to track revenue for low-level hardware management tools because they ship with servers. But the overall infrastructure performance management market, which includes server management, is pegged at about $5 billion, according to Giga Information Group. The firm says BMC Software leads the server management segment, followed by IBM Tivoli, CA and HP.

Click to see: Management nightmare

HP is moving ahead of competitors with its low-level server management tool, analysts say, as it preps an update to Insight Manager that will let users manage Unix, Linux and Windows servers from one console - something that today must be done by hopping from console to console. HP is expected to soon begin shipping the tool, code-named Nimbus - an amalgamation of Insight Manager - which manages its Intel-based ProLiant servers, and Servicecontrol Manager, which handles HP-UX, its version of Unix.

Another vendor focused on managing heterogeneous systems is Amphus, which was founded in 2000 as a blade server company, but now focuses on server management. It recently rolled out an update to its ManageSite server management software to support heterogeneous servers with Intelligent Platform Management Interface so users can provision, monitor and manage any IPMI server from one console. Dell, Intel, HP and NEC developed IPMI to define standard interfaces for monitoring and managing servers.