Every now and then you will see some statistic that tells you that all is not well in the configuration management processes of the typical corporate data center. It will suggest something like this:
Survey reports that 60% of downtime in the enterprise is caused by configuration errors.
In general such surveys are reasonably reliable. The simple truth is that configuration errors are common. So what causes the configuration errors?
A Repeating Theme – in 7 Steps
There seems to be a repeating theme in IT. It works like this:
- Some new compelling development software (languages, platforms, etc.) emerges.
- Corporate IT looks upon it and decides that it is good, and hence adopts it.
- Applications get built using it and they are deployed.
- Because there is no deployment framework for the new environment, deployment is manual with scripts. Errors are made.
- To compensate the operations staff write standardized scripts to deploy and implement upgrades for the new applications. They roll their own solution
- Eventually a script management problem emerges, because so many applications are being deployed and upgraded in this way, and the process is semi manual. The roll-your-own solution is often overwhelmed. The result is configuration errors leading to down time.
- Eventually some software vendor emerges who has built configuration/operational management software for the environment and their product starts to sell.
This is what has happened recently with the JavaEE applications that are built to run with the major web servers. The configuration of these Java apps and applets has started to spin out of control. Consequently, a new vendor, Phurnace Software, has appeared with automation software to address the problem.
Phurnace Deliver
Phurnace’s software, Phurnace Deliver, provides a consistent technical process for deploying JavaEE applications in a way that minimizes the possibility of error and provides for swift error correction when errors are made. The way it does this is sensible, logical and easy to understand. The diagram illustrates, in outline, the way that the software works.
First of all, Phurnace Deliver stores server profiles (including the profiels of virtual servers) and also stores a complete record of all configuration scripts used to deploy, and later, update web applications written in JavaEE and deployed on the various popular web servers. For each application, users start with a baseline configuration making incremental changes. Separate scripts will, most likely, be stored for testing and test environments as distinct from operational environments.
Phurnace Deliver keeps an audit trail of all changes made so that a configuration can be rolled forward with complete knowledge of what has been changed, then easily rolled back if that proves necessary.
The software give the user the capability to contextually examine an environment and report changes that adding a new payload will make in that environment. Users are able to see the full picture. They can contextually apply a payload through environmentally sensitive updates. It is possible to freeze elements of any script to prevent them from being changed. When errors are made, users can roll back changes made and, with the help of logged information and a complete audit trail of changes, determine the root cause of the error.
In sites where Phurnace Deliver is deployed, the rate of configuration errors in JavaEE web applications is considerably reduced, as are the associated costs. It’s what you’d expect from automation of this kind. Error rates are cut and productivity is improved.
Phurnace Deliver currently has no real competition in the space it is beginning to dominate, although doubtless competition will emerge
Then at some point another development environment will emerge and become dominant and doubtless the whole cycle will repeat again, with another configuration management product emerging to fill the need.
