BladeCenter systems management software

The management software for the IBM eServer™ BladeCenter® platform combines multiple management tools and technologies to create an integrated solution for managing, configuring, and deploying the chassis components and attached storage area networks. The IBM software also integrates BladeCenter platform management capabilities with other enterprise system management tools. This paper describes the architecture and capabilities of the IBM Director, Cluster Systems Manager, and Virtualization Engine™ tools, which enable customers to configure, manage, and provision the BladeCenter system. These tools configure and monitor the chassis using out-of-band communications with the BladeCenter management module. Management agents installed on each processor blade provide in-band operating system monitoring and integration into enterprise management applications, such as IBM Tivoli® software. This paper includes a description of the management technologies and design innovations that assist the system administrator with management tasks such as discovery, blade and switch module configuration, asset inventory, out-of-band control, alerting and event actions, storage configuration, operating system installation, application deployment, and provisioning.