Introduction

In the world of systems management, it seems that there is always something that needs to be done. An important aspect of systems management is managing the system configurations. Managing the configuration includes managing the version and revision levels of system and application software, the types and versions of systems and adapters, the networks that the system is attached to, and the storage subsystems and their attachment mechanism, and all software, hardware, and firmware patches for all of the above. While this can seem to be a daunting task, particularly in large, fast-growing, complex environments, the configuration can be managed.

While working with my project, a complex testing environment for investigating integrated systems performance, manageability, and usability, it became clear that the management of the configurations was crucial. Because the project requires many different configurations which change rapidly and may need to be restored quickly, detailed documentation to facilitate rapidly recreating the many possible configurations was mandatory, so the project would not end up being a can of worms and impossible to use effectively.

Managing of a large number of complex systems can be a difficult process. There are so many different hardware and software configurations that are possible, and sometimes it seems that just when you think that you have it right, there are some new requirements that require the configurations to change. Because of all the configuration possibilities and the seemingly constant changes, it's important to manage the configurations carefully . In a data center that is not organized, constant changes could spell near disaster. If a system administrator decides to browse the web, run unauthorized software, and download and listen to music via your important database server, it impacts both the integrity, performance, and manageability of the system. It is important to use the methods and tools that are available to manage the configurations of the systems.