Umbrella monitoring: periscope for business
The HPE Operations Bridge solution needs no introduction. Many companies use it as an effective tool for processing event information that comes from individual components of the IT infrastructure. However, this solution can be scaled for the infrastructure as a whole — like an umbrella that collects and analyzes data from all systems that are within its scope.
Why do we need an umbrella monitoring? If you are interested in the history of the development of information technologies, you can see that the disparate monitoring tools appeared as a response to the needs of administrators of various systems. With the advent of new types of IT solutions, it became necessary to monitor their state and performance. Administrators needed more and more effective means of control, therefore monitoring utilities were constantly improved. And then the company leaders began to clearly realize how important the role of information technology in the organization of their business. Accordingly, they also have a need for tools that allow them to see and evaluate not only the state of IT resources at the current time, but also how they can be used to implement new tasks - opening offices, developing products, withdrawing services etc.
First of all, business representatives need predictability: an understanding of what IT assets are at their disposal, the extent to which their employees have the necessary knowledge, how profitable companies are now from a practical point of view to invest in modern technologies and build competencies. When such questions appeared, it became clear that the separate monitoring tools, which we talked about above, would not help to give exhaustive answers. Additional scripts and top-level add-ons above technical administration utilities also did not allow to cope with this problem. Therefore, developers began to gradually increase the functionality of utilities, add opportunities for correlation, identify and enrich information, analyze statistical data - up to identify unknown problems and determine the degree of influence of IT metrics on business metrics. However, at the same time it was necessary to solve another global problem: to integrate and consolidate all disparate monitoring tools that have been used in companies for many years.
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As a result of the search for a way to solve this problem, the systems of “umbrella” monitoring of the IT infrastructure appeared, for example, the HPE Operations Bridge, which, in essence, is a set of components. If the customer is interested in a clear understanding of the situation and reducing the uncertainty factor for making management decisions, it means that he is already quite “mature” before the introduction of “umbrella” monitoring and the selection of an appropriate decision.
The HPE Operation Bridge solution includes several key components, or modules. Let us dwell on them in more detail. The most important thing to do to start the monitoring process is to collect information. Therefore, we first discuss the component whose task is to consolidate information from various sources - Operations Manager I (OMI). In the base case, it performs its main purpose - it consolidates event information, prioritizes, automatically distributes into groups and appoints responsible persons. There are many additions to OMI. One of them is responsible for providing correlation. Two types of correlation are supported: flow (expectation of certain events) and topological (event propagation throughout the infrastructure topology; works on the basis of CMDB). Topology is dynamic, so it changes automatically if, for example, physical equipment or a virtual environment is moved from one host to another. In addition, an enterprise can create its own correlation schemes for individual sections of the IT infrastructure, and if similar areas are found in the target service-resource model, this scheme will automatically be extended to them: a general correlation scheme will be built on the basis of their interconnections. This can be very useful if the company has an extensive geographically distributed network of branches, each of which provides the same services or products. If the pattern changes in one place, the correlations will be automatically rebuilt.
Adding new elements to the IT infrastructure under the “umbrella” should be done automatically, it will simplify the administration process. Therefore, the next HPE Operation Bridge module - Monitoring Automation - is responsible for automating monitoring and auditing settings. With its help, a new server or other equipment, as well as a virtual environment added to the IT infrastructure, can automatically connect to the monitoring perimeter of the service-resource model, after which the specified monitoring policies will be distributed to it. Thus, the volume of routine operations for setting up monitoring is reduced, and the company gets a complete picture of the entire monitoring scheme of IT resources. In the case of changing the server role in the service-resource model, unnecessary policies are discarded and new ones are connected. As a result, the number of false monitoring messages decreases.
An integral element of monitoring IT infrastructure is the formation of reporting. The Operations Bridge Reporter module is responsible for this. It provides an opportunity to receive end-to-end reporting for the entire service, starting from the state of the business process to each component of the IT infrastructure that ensures its operation. The customer can customize the form of these reports in accordance with their preferences. At the core of the Operations Bridge Reporter is Vertica DBMS, specifically designed for processing Big Data. Thus, the head of the company can independently determine the degree of congestion of the equipment and decide whether to replenish the fleet of devices in case of an increase in sales or expansion of services or sufficient existing resources. Such reporting can be obtained not only by equipment, but also by applications, network load, etc.
Data visualization is no less important than flexible reporting. It is also responsible for a special module - Business Value Dashboard. It allows you to create dashboards to which you can display financial, technical and other materials. All of them are visualized and served in the format that is most suitable for a particular user, be it a general director or an ordinary employee. The module was released only two years ago, but there are already interesting scenarios for its use. For example, the European wind energy company WindPark, uses the HP Operation Bridge to monitor the operation of wind energy generators. The company receives visualized data on the strength of the wind, as well as the amount of electricity generated by means of a Business Value Dashboard. The fact is that the HPE Operation Bridge can be used to monitor not only IT resources, but also production and engineering systems. Of course, it does not replace special solutions for the control of engineering systems, but successfully compares information about their work with data in business applications.
Sometimes enterprises encounter various incidents related to the work of the IT infrastructure, which require investigation and identification of their causes. In this case, another component of the HPE Operation Bridge - Operations Analytics, which is responsible for identifying abnormal situations, will come to the rescue. It can be called the “time machine”, because, using the information received by the system, it analyzes it from the point of view of interrelations and reveals hidden trends. For example, in case of malfunctions in the system, this module is able to analyze the log file, find data indicating the reasons for the failure, and provide visual information about the relationship between the events that caused the malfunction. This function is very useful in the analysis of incidents, because it allows you to determine what caused the root cause of the "fall" of the system. To do this, just roll back the "slider" on the information panel back to the beginning of the chain of faults. Operations Analytics uses Vertica DBMS, so it can work with Big Data.
As you know, system administrators are required to regularly check the performance of IT resources for which they are responsible. The Operations Orchestration module allows you to automate routine operations for checking information systems, it is able to completely replace manual checks or self-written scripts.
In addition to the basic modules listed, the HPE Operation Bridge includes several additional options that are responsible for power management, network monitoring, and data collection using agents or collectors. The latter is necessary in cases where the customer uses only Hewlett Packard Enterprise solutions to monitor all available IT resources. If third-party IT monitoring systems (Zabbix, IBM Tivoli and others) are working at the lower level, and the HPE Operation Bridge is used as an umbrella, installation of collectors is not necessary. The fact is that the HPE Operation Bridge receives at least topology, events, and performance metrics from external systems.
When the HPE Operation Bridge is implemented from scratch, the best option is to use a complete solution that provides both data collection and analytics. In the future, this will allow the company to save significantly, including on training, as well as reduce risks. As business develops, such a solution can be expanded. More difficult is the task of deploying a similar system in an organization where individual utilities for monitoring IT resources have already been implemented. Since employees have developed certain habits, they will have to face lobbying of interests, various kinds of fears or unwillingness to switch to other decisions. In such cases, success can be achieved not by an order “from above,” but by motivating each employee to switch to new technologies. In this regard, it is useful to compare the capabilities and convenience of old and new tools.
Previously, it was often said that the business executive needed a “traffic light”, that is, the simplest solution. This is not entirely true. A top manager needs to know a few things: where the problem arose, who is responsible for it, whether they are already working on its elimination and when the service or business process will be restored. All these tasks will help to solve the "umbrella" monitoring.
Why do we need an umbrella monitoring? If you are interested in the history of the development of information technologies, you can see that the disparate monitoring tools appeared as a response to the needs of administrators of various systems. With the advent of new types of IT solutions, it became necessary to monitor their state and performance. Administrators needed more and more effective means of control, therefore monitoring utilities were constantly improved. And then the company leaders began to clearly realize how important the role of information technology in the organization of their business. Accordingly, they also have a need for tools that allow them to see and evaluate not only the state of IT resources at the current time, but also how they can be used to implement new tasks - opening offices, developing products, withdrawing services etc.
First of all, business representatives need predictability: an understanding of what IT assets are at their disposal, the extent to which their employees have the necessary knowledge, how profitable companies are now from a practical point of view to invest in modern technologies and build competencies. When such questions appeared, it became clear that the separate monitoring tools, which we talked about above, would not help to give exhaustive answers. Additional scripts and top-level add-ons above technical administration utilities also did not allow to cope with this problem. Therefore, developers began to gradually increase the functionality of utilities, add opportunities for correlation, identify and enrich information, analyze statistical data - up to identify unknown problems and determine the degree of influence of IT metrics on business metrics. However, at the same time it was necessary to solve another global problem: to integrate and consolidate all disparate monitoring tools that have been used in companies for many years.
')
As a result of the search for a way to solve this problem, the systems of “umbrella” monitoring of the IT infrastructure appeared, for example, the HPE Operations Bridge, which, in essence, is a set of components. If the customer is interested in a clear understanding of the situation and reducing the uncertainty factor for making management decisions, it means that he is already quite “mature” before the introduction of “umbrella” monitoring and the selection of an appropriate decision.
The HPE Operation Bridge solution includes several key components, or modules. Let us dwell on them in more detail. The most important thing to do to start the monitoring process is to collect information. Therefore, we first discuss the component whose task is to consolidate information from various sources - Operations Manager I (OMI). In the base case, it performs its main purpose - it consolidates event information, prioritizes, automatically distributes into groups and appoints responsible persons. There are many additions to OMI. One of them is responsible for providing correlation. Two types of correlation are supported: flow (expectation of certain events) and topological (event propagation throughout the infrastructure topology; works on the basis of CMDB). Topology is dynamic, so it changes automatically if, for example, physical equipment or a virtual environment is moved from one host to another. In addition, an enterprise can create its own correlation schemes for individual sections of the IT infrastructure, and if similar areas are found in the target service-resource model, this scheme will automatically be extended to them: a general correlation scheme will be built on the basis of their interconnections. This can be very useful if the company has an extensive geographically distributed network of branches, each of which provides the same services or products. If the pattern changes in one place, the correlations will be automatically rebuilt.
Adding new elements to the IT infrastructure under the “umbrella” should be done automatically, it will simplify the administration process. Therefore, the next HPE Operation Bridge module - Monitoring Automation - is responsible for automating monitoring and auditing settings. With its help, a new server or other equipment, as well as a virtual environment added to the IT infrastructure, can automatically connect to the monitoring perimeter of the service-resource model, after which the specified monitoring policies will be distributed to it. Thus, the volume of routine operations for setting up monitoring is reduced, and the company gets a complete picture of the entire monitoring scheme of IT resources. In the case of changing the server role in the service-resource model, unnecessary policies are discarded and new ones are connected. As a result, the number of false monitoring messages decreases.
An integral element of monitoring IT infrastructure is the formation of reporting. The Operations Bridge Reporter module is responsible for this. It provides an opportunity to receive end-to-end reporting for the entire service, starting from the state of the business process to each component of the IT infrastructure that ensures its operation. The customer can customize the form of these reports in accordance with their preferences. At the core of the Operations Bridge Reporter is Vertica DBMS, specifically designed for processing Big Data. Thus, the head of the company can independently determine the degree of congestion of the equipment and decide whether to replenish the fleet of devices in case of an increase in sales or expansion of services or sufficient existing resources. Such reporting can be obtained not only by equipment, but also by applications, network load, etc.
Data visualization is no less important than flexible reporting. It is also responsible for a special module - Business Value Dashboard. It allows you to create dashboards to which you can display financial, technical and other materials. All of them are visualized and served in the format that is most suitable for a particular user, be it a general director or an ordinary employee. The module was released only two years ago, but there are already interesting scenarios for its use. For example, the European wind energy company WindPark, uses the HP Operation Bridge to monitor the operation of wind energy generators. The company receives visualized data on the strength of the wind, as well as the amount of electricity generated by means of a Business Value Dashboard. The fact is that the HPE Operation Bridge can be used to monitor not only IT resources, but also production and engineering systems. Of course, it does not replace special solutions for the control of engineering systems, but successfully compares information about their work with data in business applications.
Sometimes enterprises encounter various incidents related to the work of the IT infrastructure, which require investigation and identification of their causes. In this case, another component of the HPE Operation Bridge - Operations Analytics, which is responsible for identifying abnormal situations, will come to the rescue. It can be called the “time machine”, because, using the information received by the system, it analyzes it from the point of view of interrelations and reveals hidden trends. For example, in case of malfunctions in the system, this module is able to analyze the log file, find data indicating the reasons for the failure, and provide visual information about the relationship between the events that caused the malfunction. This function is very useful in the analysis of incidents, because it allows you to determine what caused the root cause of the "fall" of the system. To do this, just roll back the "slider" on the information panel back to the beginning of the chain of faults. Operations Analytics uses Vertica DBMS, so it can work with Big Data.
As you know, system administrators are required to regularly check the performance of IT resources for which they are responsible. The Operations Orchestration module allows you to automate routine operations for checking information systems, it is able to completely replace manual checks or self-written scripts.
In addition to the basic modules listed, the HPE Operation Bridge includes several additional options that are responsible for power management, network monitoring, and data collection using agents or collectors. The latter is necessary in cases where the customer uses only Hewlett Packard Enterprise solutions to monitor all available IT resources. If third-party IT monitoring systems (Zabbix, IBM Tivoli and others) are working at the lower level, and the HPE Operation Bridge is used as an umbrella, installation of collectors is not necessary. The fact is that the HPE Operation Bridge receives at least topology, events, and performance metrics from external systems.
When the HPE Operation Bridge is implemented from scratch, the best option is to use a complete solution that provides both data collection and analytics. In the future, this will allow the company to save significantly, including on training, as well as reduce risks. As business develops, such a solution can be expanded. More difficult is the task of deploying a similar system in an organization where individual utilities for monitoring IT resources have already been implemented. Since employees have developed certain habits, they will have to face lobbying of interests, various kinds of fears or unwillingness to switch to other decisions. In such cases, success can be achieved not by an order “from above,” but by motivating each employee to switch to new technologies. In this regard, it is useful to compare the capabilities and convenience of old and new tools.
Previously, it was often said that the business executive needed a “traffic light”, that is, the simplest solution. This is not entirely true. A top manager needs to know a few things: where the problem arose, who is responsible for it, whether they are already working on its elimination and when the service or business process will be restored. All these tasks will help to solve the "umbrella" monitoring.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/309442/
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