IBM Announces ‘Self-Managing’ Storage Software

IBM today announced a new portfolio of storage software tools that it says can immediately help customers improve storage utilization and dramatically reduce total cost of ownership.

Java-based, and loaded with autonomic computing capabilities, IBM said that the introduction of it’s Tivoli Storage Resource Manager—as well as additional storage software enhancements—further positions IBM with the broadest range of storage software, hardware and services in the industry.

“Tivoli Storage Resource Manager addresses the growing complexity of storage management,” said Laura Sanders, vice president, IBM Tivoli Storage Software. “It provides an enterprise view of storage environments and automates complex tasks to maximize return on investment for storage hardware. Additionally, it supports virtually any storage network, regardless of platform while it complements IBM’s broad storage portfolio.”

The new IBM Tivoli Storage Resource Manager is a simple solution that is easy to install and configure — reducing deployment and administration costs.

Key features include:

• Advanced reporting: More than 300 predefined reports allow information gathering and reporting on virtually any storage hardware device in the network – whether direct attached, network attached or SAN attached – regardless of vendor.
• Chargeback capabilities: IBM Tivoli Storage Resource Manager for Chargeback allows customers to track storage use by department or large storage volume users. It allows users to define actions in response to events with the ability to group reports by setting user-defined objects to comparatively monitor and report.
• Platform and database support: Supporting the broadest range of operating system platforms and hardware in the industry, database support includes DB2/UDB, SQL Server Oracle and Sybase.
• Enabling self-management of storage resources to better optimize customers’ hardware investment.

By combining the recently acquired TrelliSoft SRM product line with innovation from IBM Tivoli Labs, IBM Tivoli Storage Resource Manager provides a comprehensive Java-based storage management tool to proactively predict need and manage resources.

To help improve return on investment and allow IT staffs to do more with less, IBM Tivoli Storage Resource Manager has the ability to proactively deliver information, resolve problems, detect and prevent space allocation problems and prioritize application recovery. Policy-based management allows customers to set thresholds for key resources, generating alerts, and scripts to perform automated actions.

IBM will also introduce expanded autonomic capabilities for SRM and will tightly integrate IBM Tivoli Resource Manager with other autonomic Tivoli storage and Tivoli systems management software.

Some of these advanced autonomic functions will include:

• File system extension to help automatically grow the storage resources and access space as needed.
• File sweep to allow the system to automatically archive or delete data when a predetermined threshold is reached.
• File migration capabilities to enable automated migration of data out of the storage pool to other resources such as tape or another server based on specified criteria.

“Policy based management is the first step towards autonomic computing providing a more holistic approach to storage management,” said Michael Zisman, GM, IBM Storage Systems Group, Software Division. “IBM’s strategy is to produce a comprehensive set of storage software solutions that address the issues of storage management for all levels from block devices, files, and management of storage networks. The IBM Storage Systems Group in conjunction with Tivoli Software will provide total management solutions for its customers.”