The go-go 90s are history, and now that the partys over, corporations the world over are nursing a king-sized post-bubble hangover. From the factory floor to the data center, businesses large and small are looking to reduce costs by wringing maximum efficiency out of scarce resources. In short, everyones looking to do more with less. This trend is especially true in IT. Todays computing infrastructure is absolutely critical to a modern organization. From email to file servers to ERP systems, the health of a business is dependent on the health of its IT infrastructure. In spite of ITs growing importance, budget constraints are forcing CIOs to manage increasingly complex hardware and software infrastructures without increasing the ranks of system administration personnel. In fact, many organizations are experiencing staffing reductions, making this task even more daunting for those left behind. Navigating todays tough business environment means effectively managing the existing mission critical infrastructure without increasing costs or administrative resources. One of the ways to accomplish this is by leveraging server management to increase the level of automation for routine but necessary tasks. Let's take a look at what server management entails, as well as the various types of server management tools available today and what they can do to make life easier for today's harried CIO or IT manager. Why Server Management? Make no mistake: Server management is absolutely necessary. Server OSes must be patched, applications must be upgraded, new applications must be installed, and server configurations must be frequently audited to ensure that corporate policies and guidelines are being followed. The difference lies in the level of automation: performing these vital tasks manually takes time and puts a strain on scarce resources. The key to doing more with less means using server management tools that automate many of the tasks currently performed manually. Corey Ferengul, vice president and principal analyst of Operations Strategies at the META Group, says there are numerous tools available for server management. These tools perform tasks such as server provisioning, configuration auditing, patch deployment, inventory, execution of administrative tasks, and monitoring of server log files, says Ferengul. Successful server management automates many of these tasks so they run behind the scenes. Have Tools, Will Automate As the recent flurry of damaging, selfreplicating worms demonstrated, OS patching to fix vulnerabilities is a critical server management task. But, manually managing the constant stream of security patches and updates quickly becomes a Sisyphean task: You need to promptly apply patches, yet you also must test them to ensure that they don't interfere with the computing environment. And just when the madness stops, another virus or worm attack begins the cycle anew. Enter server management: There are server management tools available that take some of the drudgery out of patch/update application by automating this process. These tools enable administrators to instantly apply a patch or update to multiple servers from a central location. Tools are in the works that maintain details on server configuration and automatically Software, test, and install OS and application patches when needed. Another task that server management can automate is preparing newly acquired servers for service. In a 2003 Yankee Group study, the Yankee Group's Jamie Gruener, senior analyst for Enterprise Computing and Networking, points out that 76% of system administrators install server OSes and applications in other words, perform server provisioning manually. According to the study, some of the tasks that must be performed when provisioning a server include OS installation, network identification configuration, application installation and configuration, storage capacity provisioning, configuration of user and application-centric policies, and testing and establishment of backup procedures. Server management tools that ease this burden by providing server-provisioning automation are compelling and can save both time and money. Inventory and asset management is another necessary task that's amenable to automation. Most organizations have policies that govern the proper configuration of hardware assets, including application and licensing requirements. Tools that maintain configuration information and automatically audit systems for compliance can add tremendous value. So Whats Out There Now? The aforementioned 2003 Yankee Group study defines four broad, feature-based categories for server provisioning tools: policy-based server management; provisioning, inventory, and asset management; change and configuration management; and image management. CIOs looking to purchase server management tools should assess their needs and apply this feature-based methodology when evaluating tools. Image management tools manage OS and application images used for rapid deployment of corporate-approved configurations across multiple servers. Change and configuration management tools focus on the deployment and administration of application and OS software updates and patches. Inventory and asset management tools are used for auditing server assets and ensuring that production configurations are in tune with standard, policy-based images. Finally, policy-based server management and provisioning tools combine elements of all the aforementioned tools into one. (For specifics on some of the tools available, see "Server Management Tools".) The Holy Grail The Holy Grail of server management is the automated, behind-the-scenes distribution of computing resources where needed. This is currently getting quite a bit of press in the marketplace and is known by various names, including utility computing and computing on demand. The underlying vision is that of a server management application that constantly monitors computing resources, such as processor power, memory, and bandwidth, and instantly optimizes the deployment of those resources based on demand. In the ideal world of utility computing, idle infrastructure capacity is minimal because resources are constantly being deployed where they are needed the most. In this vision, a server farm is transformed from a collection of discrete, isolated devices into a common, readily available pool of computing power. While this vision is not yet market reality, companies such as IBM, HP, and Sun are busy developing applications to implement it. IBM has been especially active in the promotion of "autonomic computing": IT infrastructure that is able to monitor, configure, heal, and regulate itself without manual intervention. As server management evolves, this is a trend that IT administrators and CIOs should keep in their sights. The Future As server management tools evolve, the level of automation they provide will continue to boost. Ferengul, for example, says server management tools will soon provide more integration between server monitoring and administration. In this scenario, Ferengul says, monitoring tools trigger automated actions from provisioning or configuration change tools. The Yankee Group's Gruener foresees server management tools that measure resource allocation and use so that computing power use can be charged for by IT departments.