EMC, Opsware tackle application maps

Products contine to help users understand how application components use IT resources.

Network and systems management vendors continue to round out their product lines with tools to help customers better understand how application components use IT resources.

EMC Smarts last week showcased a new product the company says can help customers more quickly and accurately get a map of applications, servers and the connections among them. Application Discovery Manager (ADM), based on technology licensed from nLayers, gives customers an inventory of their data centers' applications and hosts and shows them how the elements are interdependent.

The company says the software-loaded appliance - which is installed in a data center near a core switch to watch traffic traverse the network - at first passively discovers network elements to get an accurate inventory. If a problem occurs or performance degrades, customers switch the appliance into active mode to collect more in-depth data about packets traversing the network between application components.

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Network and systems management vendors continue to round out their product lines with tools to help customers better understand how application components use IT resources.

EMC Smarts last week showcased a new product the company says can help customers more quickly and accurately get a map of applications, servers and the connections among them. Application Discovery Manager (ADM), based on technology licensed from nLayers, gives customers an inventory of their data centers' applications and hosts and shows them how the elements are interdependent.

The company says the software-loaded appliance - which is installed in a data center near a core switch to watch traffic traverse the network - at first passively discovers network elements to get an accurate inventory. If a problem occurs or performance degrades, customers switch the appliance into active mode to collect more in-depth data about packets traversing the network between application components.

Although the product solves a problem in the near term - collecting accurate topology and configuration information about the application infrastructure - EMC Smarts can use this technology as a building block for other, higher-level management tasks, says Jasmine Noel, a principal analyst with Ptak, Noel & Associates.

"ADM provides another step forward on EMC Smarts' path to managing dynamic virtualized environments. [The company] is correctly positioning the application discovery technology as an enabler to other management functions," she says.

ADM is priced at $200,000 for the software and $15,000 per appliance.

Separately, Opsware last week introduced a software application that tracks applications across heterogeneous networks. Opsware Visual Application Manager (VAM) discovers application components, including network devices, servers, software and business applications, and creates maps of dependencies.

Installed on a server, the software uses distributed agents to collect data from managed nodes.

EMC Smarts' and Opsware's products compete with Appilog (acquired by Mercury), Cendura, Collation (acquired by IBM), nLayers, Relicore (acquired by Symantec) and Tideway Systems.

According to industry watchers, application-mapping technology has reached a point where it can no longer be deployed as a point product but must be integrated into larger configuration and other management systems. By moving away from its OEM deal with nLayers and developing software in-house, Opsware will help customers roll out application-discovery technology without committing to a major integration project.

"Opsware provides integration mechanisms and APIs which may become an important point in product selection," says Jean-Pierre Garbani, a vice president at Forrester Research.

The software integrates with other Opsware products, including Network Automation System 6.0 (announced at Interop) and Server Automation System, to help IT managers track changes actively and take automated action based on preset policies.

Scheduled to be available in July, VAM is priced $100,000 for 1,000 nodes.

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