RealOps extends automation features

RealOps last week updated its automation software and introduced an add-on module the company says will help customers use software to tackle common daily operations tasks, such as checking a server for availability.

The company made Version 2.1 of its Automation Management Platform (AMP) software available with performance and ease-of-use enhancements. The software add-on, dubbed AutoPilot, provides users with "mini-LEGOs" to build processes specific to their environment, according to Dennis Drogseth, a vice president with Enterprise Management Associates, a market research firm.

RealOps says it based the AutoPilot module on processes similar to those laid out by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) and equipped it to let customers put their own processes into the automation software.

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RealOps last week updated its automation software and introduced an add-on module the company says will help customers use software to tackle common daily operations tasks, such as checking a server for availability.

The company made Version 2.1 of its Automation Management Platform (AMP) software available with performance and ease-of-use enhancements. The software add-on, dubbed AutoPilot, provides users with "mini-LEGOs" to build processes specific to their environment, according to Dennis Drogseth, a vice president with Enterprise Management Associates, a market research firm.

RealOps says it based the AutoPilot module on processes similar to those laid out by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) and equipped it to let customers put their own processes into the automation software.

"RealOps is focusing on the nuts-and-bolts specifics of process automation," Drogseth says. "The process module supports the equivalent of ITIL's incident and problem management, primarily."

AutoPilot works with AMP 2.1, which uses server and agent software to collect data and integrate it into a central location.

The software also uses connectors to collect data from third-party systems, such as other management tools or CRM systems. The data is aggregated, normalized and correlated against AMP's predefined activity library, which lets the software identify whether the collected data matches a predefined automated action in AMP's library and kick off the automation. If a server doesn't respond to predefined standards, the software will generate a trouble ticket.

The library, which users can customize, includes workflows and activities that could be taken in response to specific events or used to complete a process. The company says customers can design their own workflows based on conditional statements. For example, if one server generates five performance events, the workload could be shifted to another server.

With the process templates, Drogseth says RealOps is providing tools to help IT managers more quickly develop processes to enable service management. The company competes with start-ups OpTier and Optinuity, and could be considered complementary to large systems management products from BMC, Computer Associates, HP and IBM, and their respective visions of more automated data centers.

Available now, RealOps' AMP 2.1 costs from $150,000 to $200,000. The AutoPilot module costs about $30,000.

Read more about infrastructure management in Network World's Infrastructure Management section.