MValent automates app server configurations

MValent Monday updated its flagship software so that it can now manage configurations and automate migrations and workflow processes on IBM's WebSphere and BEA's WebLogic application server platforms.

The mValent Infrastructure Automation Suite, now in Version 2.2, can help speed migration and automate configuration rollouts for IBM customers upgrading their systems. The software also supports BEA's WebLogic platforms.

"We set out to address and automate all the information that was held by IT departments. The knowledge held by DBAs, systems administrators and so forth is the glue that holds the application together," says Andrew Bird, mValent vice president of business development.

The application server platform support comes in software packages called enablers. The WebSphere and WebLogic enablers automate the creation and management of configurations for those platforms. Among the features are best practices templates, automatic verification and application server replication.

The templates include definitions and specifications designed for the application server platform. The enabler will match the definitions with what is in the customers’ environment and then customize the templates to their infrastructure. This will help them standardize their management processes on those platforms because all the configurations will be based on a common template, the company says.

The automatic verification feature is there to ensure that as additional application servers are provisioned and brought on line they are in sync with the current application infrastructure. The enablers will check the application server configuration against that in the templates and verify that it meets the chosen standard.

Application server replication automates the process of creating a new server.

Lastly, the new enablers will automatically save WebSphere- and WebLogic-specific information into mValent's configuration management database. The company says this simplifies the process of creating a consolidated source for all infrastructure configurations for customers.

"The software can reduce the time it takes to perform a server replication or large migration job from three men working three months down to one man for a week, for example," Bird says. "It's an automation platform for application infrastructure."

MValent software captures information about infrastructure requirements for different applications and models how applications use infrastructure components such as Web, application and database servers. The captured information and models inform different IT departments how to either write an application or configure infrastructure components for optimal performance.

MValent uses software installed on a dedicated server and client software on, say, an application developer's desktop. The client software collects information relevant to its user’s role in the application lifecycle. For example, a systems administrator, an application developer, a database administrator and a network manager could all use the client software.