The Challenges of SRM
By Tony Asaro on Dec 8, 2008 | In Storage, Storage Management | 4 feedbacks »
Link: http://storagebod.typepad.com/storagebods_blog/
I have been reading a storage blogger and IT professional called Storagebod and he recently has been calling for better Storage Resource Management tools. He makes good points in his post called Dear Santa, can I have a good Management Tool? Check out the comments too - there is a good conversation on this. Here is my take:
The problem with most (all) SRM tools - candidly - is they are a mesh (or mess) of different programs all glued together. In some (all?) cases - their foundations were poorly architected and developed - and then built on year after year after year increasing the mesh/mess.
It seems to me - the large storage vendors don't have a vision that focuses on SRM. And they have made such a huge investment it is hard for them to step back. But I think a multi-year project building new SRM tools is needed - taking everything they've learned over the years and get it right. Sometimes it easier to build a new house than trying to fix an old one with lots of problems. And just like building a new house - there are better tools, materials and methods than what we had 10 years ago.
Part of the problem is managing SRM agent software. What is needed is excellent performance, interoperability and easy management. I think a tool that provides efficient agent deployment and reporting would be extremely useful but rarely do the SRM folks think that far ahead. Smart agents provide a ton of value but if they are feeding a bloated SRM solution - what good does it do?
Additionally, more and more small and medium-sized customers are implementing relatively complex storage networks - they can't absorb a big bloated SRM solution. However, they still need intelligent tools to manage their environments. With their limited resources, arguably, they need even more useful tools to help them manage and optimize their environments.
I personally don't believe we will ever get to full heterogeneous SRM support with the level of depth and capabilities required. Having said that - yes there are some tools that provide specific capabilities for performance and capacity utilization. I think the goal should be to at least have the storage vendors provide a single management platform that supports all of their own storage systems in an elegant, smart and intuitive manner. For the emerging storage vendors - they need to start thinking "out of the box" more and focus on enhancing their management tools.
The storage vendor that is brave enough to re-invent its SRM platform could win the game - or at least - have an extremely powerful advantage over the competition. No - it is not a 12 month journey - but if someone doesn't get started now - the problem is going to be worse in three, four and five years from now anyway.
4 comments
So, I agree with you that there is a big opportunity to create the next SRM project (or company) but they will have to deal with the uncertain prospects of not controlling their own destiny. But nobody ever does that anyway.
I am skeptical that a 3rd party SRM vendor can ultimately succeed. I am recommeding that the storage vendors do this just for their storage products.
Thanks for your perspective on SRM. And by way of disclosure, I work for Tek-Tools Software, an SRM vendor.
I certainly agree that most of the SRM solutions offered by larger vendors are really nothing more than a complicated mishmash of different software products. And such hybrids cause more conflicts and headaches than they prevent.
I do think that the Tek-Tools solution is different though. We’ve built the entire Profiler suite ourselves. It was architected as a modular solution so that not only do customers implement only what they need (keeping things simple and clearcut), but also making future development relatively easy by adding new modules to the core of the product.
The result, I believe, is an easy-to-use solution that addresses the needs you’ve mapped out for SRM.
You’ve laid out plans for storage vendors developing their own tools. What are your thoughts for ISVs?
I think the challenge that third-party SRM tools have is that they can provide real value with certain aspects of managing storage but never completely or holistically.
There are two big challenges that come to mind - overlapping with storage vendor SRM tools that end users have already invested in - this requires IT professionals to invest twice in something. This is often the case and unfortunately the end user may go with an inferior solution first. The second challenge is that third party tools can never provide everything that the IT pros need - because the third party tools won't ever have the deep insight of proprietary storage systems that is needed to provide a complete solution.
Does that mean that third party tools don't add value? I am not saying - absolutely they do. But the Nirvana of SRM - in my view - will never be achieved in a complex heterogeneous proprietary storage universe.
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