Technology Overview

CiRBA Data Center Intelligence maps server consolidation, virtualization and migration opportunities in the data center through its powerful patent pending analytical capabilities. CiRBA performs agent-based or agent-less audits of heterogeneous data centers to an extremely deep level and uses the resulting configuration and workload information, along with defined business constraints to produce timely, accurate and actionable server consolidation, virtualization or migration reports.

CiRBA also supports common configuration or workload data sources that may already exist within an environment, provided they are of sufficient detail to support the desired analysis.

The devil is in the detail when analyzing the consolidation, transformation or virtualization of a data center. The CiRBA repository is unique in its ability to store and analyze highly detailed configuration and workload information. The analysis is made possible through highly tuned metadata categories combined with context and differential engines that work together to make sense of millions of data points.

Installation is fast and efficient. Upkeep is minimal once the software is deployed.

CiRBA’s reach is broad and deep and it collects and handles highly detailed configuration and workload information across:

Hardware

All major operating systems

Middleware

Applications

Databases

CiRBA can analyze and report on the following environments:

Solaris 2.5, 2.6, 7, 8, 9, 10

HP-UX 10.20, 11.0, 11i

IBM AIX 4.3x, 5.x

Linux (Red Hat 2.1, 3.0, 4.0; SuSE 8, 9, 10)

MS Windows XP, 2000, 2003 Server

IBM OS/400

WMI/SSH/SQL-compliant Systems

SNMP-compliant Systems & Devices

CiRBA provides the following data acquisition options:

Script-based audits – CiRBA script utilities for Windows, UNIX, and Linux systems collect configuration and workload data ready for import into the CiRBA repository. Simply run on systems locally or from remote location, using a variety of collection options.

Import existing configuration or workload data – supports XML, CSV, and Windows INI, SAR, CDAT SQL, Perfmon, MOM file formats

Agentless audits – Audit through agentless technologies or systems management instrumentation such as SSH, SNMP, WMI, SQL, JMX, or MQ Series, Dell OpenManage, HP Insight Manager, TMF, and others

Agent-based audits – CiRBA agents provide comprehensive configuration and workload tracking. Remote updated capabilities provide easy maintenance.

CiRBA Analysis Rules

At the core of CiRBA’s analysis capabilities are rules. Rules enable CiRBA to sort through thousands of data points and create visual representations of the possible server consolidations, virtualization or transformations within a heterogeneous data center. Combined with cross-correlation analysis, these rules allow for visualizations of the data center not possible in any other way. CiRBA delivers out of the box rule sets that support:

Architecture

CiRBA uses a multi-tier data collection architecture for enterprise scalability. Agent-based and agentless data acquisition strategies are supported at all tiers, and data can also be imported from external sources. Aggregation between servers is via SCP over SSH, and is initiated from the master server, making the solution very firewall friendly. Also, the use of optional remote collectors and WMI proxy servers eliminates the requirement for opening port ranges between network segments. The entire collection process is orchestrated from the master server, simplifying management of enterprise-wide deployments.