Free Warehouse
James Governor
06 May 02
Another key mechanism for achieving greater simplicity in end-to-end management terms is the Tivoli Enterprise Data Warehouse. This is a full-function DB2 database, now bundled with every Tivoli product. Every single one. As long as customers are populating the database with systems management events and using it for systems management functions, it is provided free of charge, even if these events are generated by non-IBM platforms. There is not even a limit to the number of concurrent users. DB2 is now part of the Tivoli infrastructure, part of the woodwork.
The Warehouse will include some canned reports. Tivoli will also use this open repository as the basis for value-added products such as the forthcoming Service Level Advisor product, which will be used to monitor exceptions to predefined service levels. Tivoli will charge for these value-added functions.
Free is a benefit, clearly, but free and innovative together, now that makes a much more attractive package! The DB2 repository approach will make it much easier for Tivoli to establish and flesh out its new focus on business-impact management. After all, what better way, to monitor, measure, and manage the impact systems performance has on a business than through a relational database, with a warehouse used for historical and trend analysis.
The approach supports the holy grail of systems management: close correlation of business, service delivery, and technical events using a single platform. For companies that use DB2 to run their businesses, new possibilities present themselves. Business and Web or infrastructure analytics will be stored and managed using the same platform.
In the past, proprietary approaches to event correlation meant that different models and approaches were required when attempting to consolidate business and technical information. This held back the likes of CA, BMC, and Tivoli when they attempted to drive a narrative—not to mention customer adoption—of their "business-systems management" software.
By using a single repository and giving customers access to it using standard enterprise database skills, new opportunities present themselves. In addition to letting DBAs and sys admins use the same toolsets, entirely new business propositions emerge. Business intelligence (BI) specialist Cognos, for example, can move into the systems management market because it runs on DB2. The same is true of other BI vendors such as IBM itself, Brio, and Business Objects.
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