Given the complexity of today’s IT
environments, the challenge in obtaining good and reliable capacity management
data has never been more difficult.
Most organizations utilize a wide range of
technologies to deliver their services and each has its own range of metrics,
interface methods and technical nuances.
There are a wide range of tools available for the capture and collation
of data and all have their strengths and weaknesses.
There are also options for free trials with
some companies offering the ability to download the software or better still,
as a preconfigured virtual machine.
Rather than list them individually, it is probably more useful to list
the sort of functionality that a solid capacity management tool should be able
to provide:
· Capture across the
enterprise. Multiple point solutions are
inherently harder to manage and collate the data
·
The ability to bring in additional non-native data
sources. This could be via frameworks,
partner products or more traditional sources such as SNMP, application API’s
etc
· Provide the capability for modelling. Certainly basic techniques such as trending have
their place, but realistically, to truly understand the relationship between
the utilization, the response time and how this will change over time you will
need to use more advanced methods such as analytical or simulation modelling.
Good reporting provides the
foundation to any mature capacity process so any tool chosen should have the
ability to deliver reports in a variety of ways e.g. web, email etc and support
the correlation of data.
The important thing to remember is that all organizations are different and have specific requirements. To get the best results, utilize the experience of the Capacity Management SIG and spend plenty of time producing the Request for Proposal (RFP) document to ensure it covers all of your requirements.
I’ll be taking a look at Information and Governance on Monday but in the meantime don't forget to register and come along to my webinar ' Capacity Management Maturity - Assessing and Improving' http://www.metron-athene.com/services/webinars/index.html
Jamie Baker
Principal Consultant
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