Opalis looks to automate repetitive tasks

Opalis last week released software that will help customers automate repetitive tasks associated with management, backup and virtualization technology.

The Opalis Connector Access Packs for OpalisRobot let users lay out automated workflows that include tasks associated with using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), Microsoft System Management Server (SMS), Remedy HelpDesk, VMWare and Veritas back-up software. Opalis competes with product-specific tools such as BackUpExec from Veritas Software and with internally developed Visual Basic scripts for automating routine tasks.

For example, a database administrator that has to shut down a server to apply patches using the software distribution features of SMS can build some of the basic manual steps to configure SMS and execute services into an automated process using the drag-and-drop interface of OpalisRobot. The Opalis software then will execute those SMS steps.

"This is allowing us to really do a lot of the day-to-day mundane stuff and avoid having problems where administrators are paged at three in the morning," says Damon Howell, network systems engineer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska. Howell uses the Opalis connector for MOM to flag servers that are offline for maintenance so that administrators don't have to go into MOM and do it themselves.

"We have so many people that have authority to shut down a server that it is impossible to train them all on MOM," Howell says. Instead, he set up a process in Opalis that monitors a mailbox. Administrators that take a server offline first send an e-mail to that mailbox with the server's name. Opalis picks up the message and runs a process that activates MOM, which in turn moves the server onto its list of servers that are in maintenance mode, which prevents any error messages.

Howell says the goal is to reduce the amount of repetitive management tasks that must now be done by the staff.

The other connectors Opalis offers provide access to similar automation such as registering a new virtual image or starting or stopping a virtual image in VMWare. The Veritas connector verifies that processes are started and stopped correctly, and the Remedy connector works with various steps in opening, managing and closing trouble tickets.

"We're not trying to paint a panacea that everything will be managed through software, we are realistic," says Keith Millar, vice president at Opalis. "But there are certain tasks that fall into this well-known predictable area that can be automated and relieve the burden on humans to some degree. It is capture and execute, capture the manual process and execute it and get it off the to-do list."

OpalisRobot runs on Windows Server 2000 and 2003 and costs $10,000. The GUI client tool to create workflows can be run from the server or a local workstation. Each Opalis connector costs $2,000; the entire pack of five costs $5,000.