IBM to Debut Storage Provisioning Tool

Tivoli Storage Resource Manager allocates storage capacity as needed.

• By Stephen Swoyer
• 10/08/2002

For starters, Big Blue’s Tivoli software group is slated to roll out its Tivoli Storage Resource Manager, a software tool that automates the provisioning of enterprise storage resources. As a result of its provisioning capabilities, Tivoli’s Storage Resource Manager can automatically make available additional storage capacity as it’s needed within an enterprise.

According to Arun Taneja, a senior analyst with storage consultancy Enterprise Storage Group, many enterprise customers commonly purchase storage capacity in excess of what they need and manually deploy additional storage space as they it’s required.

“There is this whole trend in the market toward the allocation of storage resources on demand,” he observes. “It’s a new category that we’ve defined as automated resource management, which basically means that you can actively provision capacity when you need it.”

Not surprisingly, some vendors—such as EMC Corp.—already provide provisioning capabilities in their storage resource management (SRM) tools. Others, such as Computer Associates (which markets the BrightStor Storage Resource Manager), are expected to deliver automated provisioning capabilities in their products over the next year.

Sooner or later, predicts Taneja, almost all SRM vendors will address provisioning in their products. ”There’s no question in my mind that you’re going to find Hitachi and HP, all of these guys are going to do that,” he observes.

In addition to its provisioning capabilities, Tivoli Storage Resource Manager can also be configured to archive data when storage capacity thresholds are reached or exceeded. In such situations, Enterprise Storage Group’s Taneja points out, customers often manually archive older data to secondary storage resources, which are typically based on inexpensive, high-capacity disk storage, or on other storage media, such as tape.

Also at the Gartner expo this week, IBM is expected to unveil a new software deployment and configuration management tool, the Tivoli Configuration Manager. In addition to assisting with the deployment and management of enterprise software configurations, the Tivoli Configuration Manager can manage enterprise hardware resources, including servers, desktops, laptops and a variety of hand-held appliances.