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HMUSA
Contributor
Contributor

IBM Director - Obsolete?

I used to use IBM Director (in the 5.0-5.2 days) to inventory workstations and servers, perform automatic shut downs and have remote console access for our small office.

Now that I've virtualized our server room down to two hosts (either one, stretched a little can run our entire operation), and thin clients, I'm wondering if I need Director anymore.  I use logmein for screen-sharing support and ESXi's hardware status + Veeam Monitor to keep my finger on the pulse of our hardware.

What added benefit is there in running IBM System Director now?  I see I could install it into the ESXi host, and put the agent inside the VM's, but not sure it's worth it like it used to be in the physical machine days.

Thanks for any thoughts.

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5 Replies
DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

You are the only one who can judge whether it still has benefit. Often times it takes more effort to manage a management tool. Assuming you will be using vCenter which does provide a good overview and management of your guests already.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kopper27
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Well I've used IBM Director and in my case for linux machines only gave me headaches... the agents consumed sometimes all memory or CPU it was a pain in the ass.

I recommend you something different and open source like nagios or zabbix that is for monitoring for remote access logmein works ok and the vmware remote console works ok too in case RDP is down or VNC...

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arturka
Expert
Expert

Hi

Do you have IBM Hardware in server room ?

Cheers

Artur

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HMUSA
Contributor
Contributor

Yes.  A pair of x3560 servers.  DS3524 storage.  I have a handful of Lenovo workstations, but have been phasing them out in favor of Wyse devices.  Some Macs who use the View client.

There's what I know Director can do, and most of that is replaced by vCenter or logmein access or Veeam monitor.  I'm more concerned about what I don't know, so that's why I posted.  Is there a killer app in Director that many use and recommend that I haven't mentioned here?

Thx All.

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arturka
Expert
Expert

Well,

if you have IBM HW few features which were not mentioned :

newest version of IBM director:

  • there is a special plugin VMControl 2.2 for vCenter server which is responsible for monitoring ESX(i) HW status server trough CIM modules (good to have installed IBM customize VMware image on IBM hardware)
  • if event occurs, Director plugin will put ESX(i) into maintenance mode (this can be done by vCenter itself as well)  and if it's properly configure, can open automatically Service Request in IBM HW support (will provide all info, DSA logs, etc)
  • and few more things, take have a look on link below
    http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r1x/index.jsp?topic=/director_6.1/fqm0_main.html

But, as far as I know it's quite expensive and mostly used by enterprise business with thousands of servers. In my opinion, for your SBS env you should try to leverage vCenter alarms (very powerful feature, can do a lot of things) with some third party monitoring tools

Cheers

Artur

Visit my blog

Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.
VCDX77 My blog - http://vmwaremine.com