AWS Reaches Into Competitors' Clouds With Systems Manager

When I was testing infrastructure management services for PCMag, one of the things I noticed was that there was e'er something missing. This isn't a surprise since the range of things organizations put into their infrastructure tin can vary widely. But a common thread of missing features revolved effectually the power to manage both on-premises infrastructure and cloud infrastructure in a single dashboard. If a tool managed infrastructure running in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, for example, so it often wouldn't manage your physical switches at abode. Amazon has decided to assault that weakness directly with AWS Systems Manager.

At that place are limits, of class. For instance, like most other infrastructure management tools, AWS defines "infrastructure" mainly every bit compute instances and software-defined networking. This is not the management tool you're going to check to see if your printers need toner. However, if yous demand to manage a lot of virtual automobile (VM) instances, especially across not only multiple accounts merely as well across multiple public cloud environments, so AWS Systems Manager—which is provided equally a part of your AWS subscription—rises to the summit.

For some reason, Amazon is downplaying AWS Systems Manager. While we were able to get on the telephone with an Amazon spokesperson to discuss it, nosotros were asked not to use that person's proper name. When we wondered if this person could simply sum up Systems Manager, the Amazon spokesperson explained, "Customers desire to operate safely and securely at scale, map their resources to applications and environments, and they need a diverse set of tools for managing their hybrid cloud environments.

"They too are dealing with circuitous licensing issues," the spokesperson continued, "and [as a outcome] have found it difficult to manage [their] infrastructure. They want the power to build custom solutions to meet their specific business needs." Amazon is expressionless-on with that assessment, since it'due south the promise the public cloud has been making since its inception, and even so has ever managed to wrinkle with unexpected limits and difficulties.

Automation at Calibration

The spokesperson said in that location are some of import features that AWS Systems Manager provides, which imbue its users with a level of flexibility difficult to get elsewhere, especially when dealing with AWS virtual infrastructure. 1 such key feature is that you can utilize AWS Systems Manager to manage resources at calibration. This is something that's difficult to accomplish in a large environment that may have tens of thousands of instances and many different AWS accounts. Other tools oftentimes merits this power but have performance or data management difficulties when the scale rises beyond a certain betoken.

Equally important, AWS Systems Manager gives users a great bargain of real-time control and visibility into their cloud environment. In that location's a selection of dashboards, including support for creating custom dashboards too as a number that are preconfigured and set for utilise. This includes dashboards for hybrid systems and Amazon's CloudWatch dashboards.

AWS likewise pointed out some features that are certain to be critical for many cloud users, including support for compliance through the patch manager and a new focus on security. Farther, AWS Systems Manager supports AWS automation, hopefully making this adequacy easier to configure. The fact that information technology can practise all of this across a range of cloud services gives It administrators real freedom in designing hybrid clouds that directly address business needs instead of beingness limited due to arcane technical reasons.

Non Without Contest

All that said, this isn't an AWS commercial. For one, nosotros haven't had a chance to examination Systems Manager the same way we tested our other infrastructure management contenders. Secondly, AWS isn't alone in offering its customers a broad variety of integrated direction solutions. IBM, for example, has its ain hybrid cloud management system, which it claims can do many of the same things AWS says is baked into Systems Manager—plus it's integrated with IBM Watson so you tin can apply its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to aid automate your systems management.

Whether that's really a good or bad matter will have to wait until we can test it in PCMag Labs, but on the surface, it's possible Watson could be a cracking assistance, peculiarly when your infrastructure scales to a point that makes other systems asphyxiate. According to IBM, Watson can likewise assist with nontraditional automation, such equally helping enforce corporate policies and ensure compliance across a large-calibration, multi-deject environment, though AWS Systems Managing director claims it tin handle that job, too.

The third big player in this space is Microsoft, which supports hybrid cloud environments with a variety of tools that will manage Azure cloud servers and on-premises environments. Yet, unlike AWS Systems Managing director, Microsoft puts about of these capabilities in a separate product suite chosen Microsoft Systems Center—a powerful set of tools, but one that will price yous actress since it's a platform unto itself. While Azure has some basic management tools baked in, and likewise features add together-ons, such every bit the Azure Security Heart that can protect your entire Azure environment, information technology can't do much for infrastructure you have hosted in other clouds. On the other hand, if you invest in Microsoft Systems Center, then you won't have any problem managing your on-premises environment as that's a key focus for the suite.

Finally, while information technology's a big thespian in providing cloud infrastructure, Google isn't at the same level every bit AWS, IBM, or Microsoft when it comes to infrastructure management capabilities, but it's working on it. Google Cloud has teamed with Cisco to develop an open management capability for on-premises and hybrid clouds, though in that location's currently non even a rumor on when this might be released. Still, Google is focusing on container-based security and will make apply of Cisco HyperFlex for on-bounds management.

A Need for an Open Standard

What'due south happening hither is that there's a move afoot to consolidate cloud and on-premises servers equally well as cloud-based instances from other clouds in the case of AWS and IBM. This can certainly be a huge help to administrators who must monitor a large virtual environs as well as a physical environs that'due south in-house.

The fact that AWS and apparently IBM will also permit y'all install their agents in instances running in competitors' clouds isn't something that either advertises, but if you lot're having to manage such a diverse environment, then this could easily become a make-or-break capability.

However, information technology would certainly be more than helpful if the major players would simply create an open up standard and so cooperate. That way, you wouldn't have to recollect of ways to install an agent on a competitor'south deject.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/ipswitch-whatsup-gold/28531/aws-reaches-into-competitors-clouds-with-systems-manager

Posted by: mccleskeyutmacksmay.blogspot.com

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