IT organizations using Cisco Systems Inc.’s UCS Express blade servers now have the ability to use so-called local network management tools from Uplogix Inc.
Uplogix has created a software-only Linux-based version of its automated remote management appliances to run on the blades, joining a number of other server and network equipment the platform is certified on.
“It allows us to capture a market segment that is really looking at optimizing the amount of equipment they have,” said Lisa Frankovitch, Uplogix’s vice-president of corporate and business development.
Organizations commonly use UCS Express in branches where typically there aren’t network managers, she said, and where Uplogix can be put to work on each blade.
Uplogix captures data from almost anything on a network and sends it to traditional centralized management tools from Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp. and others, to automate common maintenance tasks such as rolling-back systems if a software update goes bad.
It can authenticate to devices, log keystrokes perform configuration management and recovery, oversee firmware and software upgrades, and collect system logs.
Other tools can do that, but Uplogix doesn’t send data over the wide area or local area network. As a result it doesn’t put a drag on the network, Frankovitch said, and can monitor devices every 30 seconds.
It also means the application can speed repairs and recover.
Uplogic allows the software to connect remote offices out of band data centres via cellular or satellite systems so if there is a network outage a secure link is maintained.
Zeus Kerravala, vice-president of enterprise research at the Yankee Group, said a number of startups offer automation tools to help IT and network managers. As organizations increasingly use virtualization, they need such tools to help keep server and network policies in line as virtual machines get shifted around.
Uplogix is certified for routers from Cisco [Nasdaq: CSCO], Juniper Networks Inc. [NYSE: JNPR] and Nortel Networks; switches from Cisco, 3Com and Alcatel-Lucent [NYSE: ALU]; servers from HP, Dell Inc. [Nasdaq: DELL] and Oracle (formerly Sun Micrososytems) [Nasdaq: ORCL].
In all, Uplogix has drivers for 26 hardware and software devices.
Until now, Uplogix has been sold as the hardware-based model 3200 appliance, with up to 32 ports, or the model 430 with four ports.
The version for USC Express is the company’s first all-software remote management appliance and is certified for use with VMware.
It is priced at US$430 per managed device and available through a number of partners in Canada including Cisco solution providers.
