Implementation of a Performance Management Solution BMC Performance Manager Portal
Migration from an agent-based performance management solution (BMC Patrol 7) to an agentless architecture (Performance Manager Portal 2.5)
Migration from an agent-based performance management solution (BMC Patrol 7) to an agentless architecture (Performance Manager Portal 2.5)
Challenge
The Patrol Agent solution did not cover the entire IT infrastructure and was relatively difficult to maintain because of frequent changes and the addition of new servers to the IT system.
Furthermore, in terms of usage, the Patrol solution had not been adopted by all the teams (the administrators of Windows, Unix, Oracle and Front Office).
The existing solution was considered by the client to be incomplete and "heavy" to use.
Scope
The IT environment contained 260 servers (210 Windows servers, 50 Unix servers).
Managed applications:
- Active Directory
- Citrix
- Oracle
- MS SQL Server
- IBM Lotus Domino
- IBM WebSphere
Implementation
The project was rolled out in two consecutive stages.
- The first stage was carried out working closely with the client’s teams. Besides the technical aspects of selecting the objects to be managed and defining the measurement metrics, we took into account the rapid development of the IT systems and examined the change process. The solution was then put in place on a restricted area of the system.
- The second stage encompassed the deployment of the performance management system across the whole IT landscape.
Solution
To respond to the challenge of our client, we proposed a solution from the same software vendor, BMC Performance Manager Portal.
This agent-free solution was able to cover effectively the whole of the area managed by PATROL but placing a far lighter load on the system. In fact there was no longer any need to install an agent on each management server, which improved the efficiency of the system.
Furthermore, with the light web client which did not require installing on every machine, and thanks to its ergonomic nature, the solution seemed likely to win the support of the IT management and support teams.
Results
In spite of the lower level of functionality in some technical areas of an agentless solution, the whole of the IT system was managed satisfactorily at the end of the project.
Furthermore, the standardisation of performance management requirements made it possible to define a simple process to add a server for the front office teams; as a consequence, the administrative tasks of the middleware teams were lightened accordingly.
- Simplification of the performance management architecture
- Complete coverage of the IT system
- Increased adoption by the team.
- Simplification of administrative tasks
- Task delegation better accepted between teams
- Improvement in internal processes within the company.
