BladeSymphony Management Suite provides centralized system management and control of all server, network, and storage resources, including the ability to setup and configure servers, monitor server resources, integrate with enterprise management software (SNMP), phone home, and manage server assets.
Deployment Manager
Deployment Manager allows the mass deployment of system images for fast, effective server deployment. Users can deploy system images and BIOS updates across multiple chassis in multiple locations. Updates are executed by batch distribution of service packs and Linux patches to server, saving a large number of hours for patching tasks.
N+1 or N+M Cold Standby Fail-over
BladeSymphony 1000 maintains high uptime levels through sophisticated failover mechanisms. The N+1 Cold Standby function enables multiple servers to share standby servers, increasing system availability while decreasing the need for multiple standby servers. It enables the system to detect a fault in a server blade and switch to the standby server — manually or automatically. The hardware switching is executed even in the absence of the administrator, enabling the system to return to normal operations within a short time.
With the N+M Cold Standby function there are “M” backup servers for every “N” active servers, so failover is cascading — in the event of hardware failure, the system automatically detects the fault and identifies the problem by indicating the faulty module, allowing immediate failure recovery. This approach can cut total downtime by enabling the application workload to be shared among the working servers.
Operations Management
•Reports —
•Fault and error detection and notification — when a problem occurs on a server, various notification methods including SNMP trap notification are used to quickly detect the problem. Notices can be filtered according to the seriousness of the problem and can be sent to the administrator via email or the management console to indicate only very serious problems.
•Customized fault notification rules — multiple monitoring conditions can be set, such as alarm conditions and irregular conditions. Problem notice conditions can be set according to time period and number of occurrences. And, executable actions can be set, such as send email, execute a command, or send an SNMP trap notice.
•SMNP Communication — an SNMP translator converts alert information managed by an agent service to MIB, and sends it by SNMP to and SNMP manager such as OpenView Network Node Manager. SNMP manager can be used to view information sent by SNMP.
•Windows Cluster Management — a cluster environment can be created by Microsoft Cluster Server for each server (node). However, Microsoft Cluster Server's cluster administrator can manage only clusters in the same domain, while the BladeSymphony 1000 enables centralized management of clusters from a remote location regardless of the domains. The following operations for cluster management are supported:
–Viewing information about cluster groups and resources from a remote location
–Reporting to the administrator as events the changes in the status of cluster groups and resources
46 BladeSymphony 1000 Architecture White Paper | www.hitachi.com |