There is broad acceptance that automating the version control, packaging and deployment of enterprise software configurations makes sense for roll-outs to hundreds or thousands of desktops. Software packaging tools have been vital to these situations as they manage a large volume of software installations, provide a central and automated software source, support updates and removals, simplify the installation process and increase end user productivity. In stark contrast, the value of utilizing software packaging tools for rolling out Enterprise Management Systems (EMS) is not widely recognized, and therefore, is much less common.
The set of interrelated software tools that comprise an EMS may be deployed on anywhere from just a few servers to over one hundred. However, even where the management solutions are distributed across less than ten servers, there may be a good case for leveraging effective software packaging solutions. A primary consideration is that the complexity of an EMS tends to be greater than desktop software, often due to its interconnectivity to the entire IT infrastructure and among all of its sub-components. The most prevalent example of this integration is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), which should communicate with all other EMS tools. Also, because the EMS provides the status of all IT services to the business, the potential impact to losing configuration control of the EMS may be significant. Considering these drivers, an organization may be compelled to manage their EMS configuration, customizations and deployment via software packaging tools.
Windward has performed several large management solution rollouts using software packaging tools and has encountered the good, the bad and ugly. On a recent engagement, Windward was charged with deploying a multi-vendor EMS solution to over 150 servers. In order to minimize deployment time, ensure software configuration control, and reduce the human error factor, Windward selected a software packaging solution. However, as almost all packaging solutions are targeted for the enterprise desktop market, Windward faced some complex challenges. To begin with, many EMS software solutions are not developed for ease of deployment, as their configurations often reside in various database and file locations. Secondly, deployments of EMS solutions often have interdependencies in installation or startup sequence that are not handled natively by packaging solutions. And, a third major complication encountered was the varying levels of maturity across Windows, Linux and Unix platforms provided by a single software packaging solution.
Through highly synchronized scripts that integrated with both the packaging solution and the EMS software, Windward was able to successfully deploy the EMS solution to all end points while creating the foundation for future upgrades and patches. In the end, Windward demonstrated that with the selection of the right packaging tool, appropriate scoping of configuration management capabilities and a well-planned deployment approach, the complex challenges of large EMS roll-outs can be tamed.