It is *much* more than SMS--even if you only consider the
products brought out by the original startup known as Tivoli
Systems, before the merger with IBM. Since the time of the
merger (February 1996), the core products have evolved in a
number of significant ways architecturally, and offer very
significant advantages over their strong initial versions. At
the same time, there has been an increasing number of products
that are now considered part of the "Tivoli" product line. In
many cases, these new products are part of the product line only
in a marketing and not a technical sense.
While I would definitely encourage everyone interested in
managing large numbers of systems to take a look at Tivoli's web
site, I believe that many may find the web site more confusing
than useful due to the sheer number of products. As a guide,
here is the way I personally track the products offered by
Tivoli:
**** Tivoli heritage products:
These are the products growing from the core vision of Tivoli
Systems. Initially aimed at simplifying life for Unix system
admins, these products have grown to cover Windows OS versions,
AS400, and IBM mainframes. Particular strengths in this group
include
* aggressively multi-OS (most Unix, Windows*, NT*,
A400, mainframe)
* seamless remote operations
* detailed multi-level security model with delegation
by job function and
machine role (very analogous to OUs in Active
Directory)
* Multi-platform GUI with a full command line
interface
* extremely advanced installation model, one
specifically for servers and
another for clients
* an internal structure that allows support to perform
more detailed
problem diagnosis and error recovery
Requirement:
* TCP/IP (except in a few limited circumstances)
These products include Software Distribution, Remote Control and
Inventory (making something much like but more comprehensive than
SMS), User Administration, Security Management (particularly
strong on Unix), Distributed Monitoring, and the central and
extensible error reporting console TEC. These products are all
built on the Tivoli Framework.
***** Tivoli Integration Products
Many products interfaced with Tivoli through TEC only in their
first versions, bringing alerts prior to application or system
failure. Since then, they have grown tasks (think wizards that
could be applied to 100s of systems) and more detailed monitors.
Examples are Tivoli Manager for Sybase, and Tivoli Manager for MQ
Series. There are also a large number of third party products in
this area.
***** Acquired Products
In the merger with IBM and in subsequent purchases of other
companies, Tivoli has acquired a number of products. These
products have generally not been reworked to take advantage of
the Framework technology, often limiting their integration to
sending information to TEC. Breaking these down:
From IBM itself: Netview, OPC, Storage Manager, Netview DM,
Global
Sign On, and Tivoli SecureWay
From Unison: Workload Scheduler
From Software Artistry: Service Desk
In general, these products often retain their old installation,
security, and configuration methods--and could be products from
any software company.
************
I worked for Tivoli in the Austin office for three years in
support and development, and I had a wonderful chance to learn
the details inside the wonderful architecture of the Tivoli
Framework. Since that time I've been in Europe teaching Tivoli
software and consulting in the systems management arena...
Alan
--
Alan Peery
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mobile: 0 11 44 (0)7880 717 889
Don Ely wrote:
> Not to be rude or anything, but have you considered
> www.tivoli.com and doing your own research. It is somewhat
> like SMS... I'll leave it at that.
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