4 IBM CSM to IBM Systems Director Transformation Guide
1.3.2 What we do not cover
The following topics are not covered in this publication.
Detailed installation steps
The installation and configuration of IBM Systems Director, VMControl Standard Edition, AIX
and the Network Installation Manager (NIM) are well documented in other publications.
Therefore, these topics are not covered in this book except for pertinent information
encountered during the cluster systems management transformation. For detailed information
on these products, refer to the InfoCenter pages as follows:
򐂰 IBM Systems Director and VMControl
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/topic/com.ibm.director.
main.helps.doc/fqm0_main.html
򐂰 AIX and NIM (V7.1)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v7r1/index.jsp
High performance computing
IBM Cluster Systems Management has been utilized in both the commercial and high
performance computing (HPC) customer environments. This book focuses on the commercial
customers and the transformation to IBM Systems Director. For the HPC customer, refer to
Configuring and Managing AIX Clusters Using xCAT 2, SG24-7766.
Non-Power Systems
Both IBM Cluster Systems Management and IBM Systems Director support multiple
hardware architectures and multiple operating systems. This book only covers Power
Systems running AIX.
Application integration
Customer utilization of both IBM Cluster Systems Management and IBM Systems Director
includes multiple interfaces: traditional command line; graphical and even advanced
programming interfaces (APIs). Detailed comparisons of the programming APIs are beyond
the scope of this book.
xCSM graphical user interface
While IBM Systems Director’s main interface is graphical, this is not the case with IBM Cluster
Systems Management. IBM provided, on an as-is basis, a web-based graphical front-end for
CSM via the xCSM package. This was not part of the official licensed product and was
supported ad hoc via the CSM forum only. A detailed comparison of the xCSM interface and
the IBM Systems Director web interface is not discussed in this book.
1.4 Why transform from CSM to IBM Systems Director
This section discusses the reasons and benefits of transitioning from Cluster Systems
Management (CSM) to IBM Systems Director.
Why transform
Cluster Systems Management (CSM) has been used with success in many IBM Power
System environments making it easy to manage and deploy multiple systems. However,
Chapter 1. Abstract 5
introduction of new technologies in POWER and AIX products created a necessity to develop
a management product that is aware of the latest features created by new technologies.
IBM Systems Director is a multiplatform management foundation for achieving a
single-point-of-control over the entire IT environment. It enables integration with Tivoli® and
third party management platforms. A complete redesign of Systems Director allows an
administrator to easily understand, manage, and deploy complex systems built on the newest
virtualization technologies. With Systems Director we can:
򐂰 Automate data center operations
򐂰 Unify the management of IBM servers, storage and network devices
򐂰 Simplify the management of physical and virtual platform resources
򐂰 Obtain a view of systems status, health, utilization and power usage
򐂰 Understand and map the complex virtualization topologies
Because of these reasons, Cluster Systems Management (CSM) is no longer shipped or
supported with the AIX 7.1 operating system, making Systems Director its successor.
Benefits of Systems Director
Transforming your systems management from Cluster Systems Management to Systems
Director provides many additional capabilities of managing your IBM Power Systems
environment. We consider the following abilities most important:
򐂰 Virtualization management - The ability to view, configure, and deploy complex virtual
environments
򐂰 Multivendor, crossplatform hardware support - The support for Power Systems, System
i®, System x®, BladeCenter® and many more, including network and storage devices
򐂰 Active energy management - The measuring, monitoring, and managing of the energy
components built into IBM systems
6 IBM CSM to IBM Systems Director Transformation Guide

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