Central Management of Datacenters

Abstract

A centrally managed data center allows administration & management from a single location. In this chapter we discuss various functions related to administration and management of centrally managed data centers. Some of the major functions that we intend to discuss are summarized below. Monitoring of data traffic, thwarting attacks, monitoring activities of hardware and software that include resource utilization and alarming systems which helps in diagnosing and fixing any faults that arise during the operation of the data center.

Provisioning the servers and configuration of network devices not only include installation of operating systems, configuration of various services, patches management, software lifecycle management, but also includes the management of the inventory of hardware and software as well. Centrally logging various kinds of logs (activity logs, events logs, errors logs, and traffic logs, debug logs and alert logs) generated by applications and devices to help make system administration efficient.

Appendix

• i. Simple network management protocol

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP including routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks and more. It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor network-attached devices for conditions that warrant administrative attention.

• ii. Secure shell

• The Secure Shell (SSH) is network communication protocols for secure data communication; it is used for remote command-line login. Computer runs SSH server program called server and allow connection from clients running SSH client from remote location via IP networks to execute commands on server command shell. It is used Unix/Linux based Operating systems & network devices.

• iii. Windows management instrumentation

• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a set of extensions to the Microsoft Windows Driver Model that provides an operating system interface through which instrumented components provide information and notification. WMI prescribes enterprise management standards and related technologies for Windows that work with existing management standards such as Desktop Management Interface (DMI) and SNMP.

• iv. Java management extensions

• The Java Management Extension (JMX) technology provides the tools for building distributed, Web-based, modular and dynamic solutions for managing and monitoring devices, applications, and service-driven networks. By design, this standard is suitable for adapting legacy systems, implementing new management and monitoring solutions, and plugging into those of the future.

• v. Syslog

• Syslog is a standard for computer message logging. It allows separation between applications or services or software those generates messages from the system and stores them for the software which can generate reports after analyzing them.

• Syslog can be used for computer system management and security auditing as, it is supported by a wide variety of devices for example servers (physical or virtual) other devices run on the network such as; storage devices (SAN/NAS), network devices (routers, firewalls, and switches), printers, MFP devices and receivers across multiple platforms.

• There is multiple a levels of messages in syslog; which classify the criticality level of devices logs. Messages are also labeled with a facility codes from 0 to 7 & more.

• 0 Emergency: system is not usable

• 1 Alert: Immediately action required

• 2 Critical: critical conditions

• 3 Error: error conditions

• 4 Warning: warning conditions

• 5 Notice: normal but significant condition

• 6 Informational: informational messages

• 7 Debug: debug-level messages

• vi. Intelligent platform management interface

• The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a standardized computer system interface available in almost all type of server machines and enterprise network switches used by system administrators for out of band management of computer systems and monitoring of servers. It is a way to manage a computer that may be powered off or otherwise unresponsive by using a network connection to the hardware rather than to an operating system or login shell weather the computer is power off or on. By using this protocol a machine can be easily managed, it can also be powered-up using IP. Intelligent platform management interface IPMI protocol allows administrator to configure HDD RAID levels on servers, monitor components performance of servers i.e. fan, rpm, CPU temperature 0 °C. It can be used to provide SNMP strings to resource utilization monitoring & alerting/alarming servers (NMS) to plot server’s hardware in graphs or to generate alerts for informing system admins about hardware problems.

• NMS will be discussed in detail during Resource Utilization Monitoring Systems section. Using IPMI protocol can also do remote installation of Operating Systems.

• As a message-based, hardware-level interface specification, IPMI operates independently of the Operating system (OS) to allow administrators to manage & administrate a machine remotely.