IBM CSM to IBM Systems Director Transformation Guide

26 IBM CSM to IBM Systems Director Transformation Guide

2.7.4 High availability management server

We can separate the high availability based on Systems Director’s main components:

򐂰 Systems Director Server with Agent Manager and features installed together on the same

operating system

At the time of writing this book there is no preconfigured, supported method to set up a

complete highly available server configuration. Some considerations are discussed in 2.3,

“Agent Manager considerations” on page 11 and 5.3, “High availability IBM Systems

Director management server” on page 137.

򐂰 Database server

In case of need for high availability it is preferable to set up a remote database server. The

database server can use high availability features available for the chosen product. Note

the database versions supported with IBM Systems Director referenced in 2.9, “Database”

on page 29 and read the appropriate documentation.

2.8 Features and functions not available in CSM

While there are many features and capabilities that are unique to IBM Systems Director, we

felt it useful to document, at a high level, some of the major functions of import to Power

Systems customers.

2.8.1 LPAR lifecycle management

Cluster Systems Management for AIX was designed to manage existing AIX or Linux

operating system images in both single-system (that is, one operating system per physical

server) and logically partitioned (multiple operating systems per physical server) modes with

Power hardware. However, it was not designed to manage the entire lifecycle of a logical

partition (LPAR, or virtual server). This lifecycle includes:

򐂰 Creation of new LPARs from available resources

򐂰 Modification of assigned resources to the LPAR (that is, dynamic LPAR operations)

򐂰 Relocation of LPARs between servers that are capable of Live Partition Mobility

򐂰 Removal (destruction) of LPARs

IBM Systems Director with the VMControl Express Edition plug-in provides all these

capabilities in an integrated fashion with both graphical and command-line interfaces. While

CSM’s remote command capability can execute tasks on the appropriate Hardware

Management Console (HMC) or Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM), it requires an

exacting syntax for the commands. Systems Director’s knowledge of the entire virtualized

environment allows for easier management of complex configurations from the single pane of

glass. Components that are inventoried and managed include:

򐂰 The platform manager (HMC or IVM) that provides the connection and the interface into

the remainder of the virtualized resources. This not only includes the physical Power

Systems servers and all the associated subcomponents, but also out-of-band hardware

problem detection and reporting through the Service Agent component running on the

HMC/IVM. For each Power System server the hardware configuration (drawers, processor,

memory, disk, and so on) is gathered along with the on demand resources that may not be

currently available to client LPARs. Through this information, Systems Director can display

the used and unused resources for a given host.