Category — IBM Redbooks

One of the things that I like about working at IBM (specifically, ISST or Tivoli Lab Services) is their transparency. What I mean by that is much like the open source community that lives by their openness within code, development, documentation and support, IBM is very open in terms of its documentation and best practices.

When I’m surfing the net looking to learn about company X, Y or Z and their approaches towards technology, products and solutions such as Business Service Management, I always look for their user groups, documentation, best practices and other useful information that may show how they’re doing things. Do you know how successful I am? Not very! Why? I don’t know, but the general lack of transparency that other vendors has when compared to IBM does concern me.

Tivoli’s documentation, best practices and implementation guides (Redbooks), support, and user groups are pretty much wide open for the world to see. Also consider alphaWorks, developerWorks and OPAL!!

Transparent? Yes! Competitive differentiator? Yes! Like Open Source? Yes! Well, sort of.

The TBSM 4.1 Redpaper has been finalized and is available here.

–snip–

This IBM® Redpaper leads you through the new Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1 that is based on Netcool/Realtime Active Dashboard (RAD), instead of the previous Tivoli Business Systems Manager V3.1.

This book will describe Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1 components and architecture. We also discuss function comparison of functions for Tivoli Business Systems Manager V3.1 and Netcool/RAD to Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1. We documents the installation and migration of Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1 in our environment. Migration is currently only available for Netcool/RAD 3.0 users.

This book also contains integration with IBM Tivoli® Service Management framework that allows Tivoli Business Service Manager to integrates with Tivoli Change and Configuration Management database (CCMDB) using Discovery Library toolkit. This functions is also available for z/OS® configuration. Finally, Tivoli Business Service Manager operational consideration is discussed, includes backup and recovery process; maintenance schedule and some performance tips.

I’ve heard some pretty cool stuff can be done with this product. Haven’t had the chance to play with it yet, but it sounds like it’s the “swiss army knife” tool much like Netcool/Impact is.

Creating EIF events with Tivoli Directory Integrator for Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus and Tivoli Enterprise Console Redpaper draft available here.

—snip—

This Redpaper describes an integration solution developed for IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator’s with IBM’s event management offering products IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus and IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console.

This integration solution illustrates an integration scenario aimed towards improving Tivoli Directory Integrator’s integration capabilities and leveraging these capabilities with IBM’s event management offering products. Along with some examples we discuss the architecture behind this approach.

This document is divided into several sections. For those readers who are not familiar with the IBM products covered in this Redpaper, we provide a brief overview of Tivoli Directory Integrator, Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus, and Tivoli Enterprise Console. We then cover the integration with Netcool/OMNIbus and describe an architectural overview, and the implementation, installation and configuration for Tivoli Directory Integrator’s integration with Netcool/OMNIbus. Similarly, we discuss the integration with Tivoli Enterprise Console and describe an architectural overview, and the implementation, installation and configuration for Tivoli Directory Integrator’s integration with the Tivoli Enterprise Console. We discuss further details about the EIF EventSender component because it represents a key component developed as part of this Redpaper integration. Finally, the Miscellaneous section documents the files shipped along with this Redpaper and links to various official documentation.

Looks like the first Tivoli Business Service Manager (TBSM) 4.1 Redpaper draft is now public. This is a very high level Redpaper only focused on a few of the basics of installation and integration. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough budget to really develop an all inclusive Redbook which is desperately needed.

-snip-

This IBM® Redpaper leads you through the new Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1 that is based on Netcool/Realtime Active Dashboard (RAD), instead of the previous Tivoli Business Systems Manager V3.1.

This book will describe Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1 components and architecture. We also discuss function comparison of functions for Tivoli Business Systems Manager V3.1 and Netcool/RAD to Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1. We documents the installation and migration of Tivoli Business Service Manager V4.1 in our environment. Migration is currently only available for Netcool/RAD 3.0 users.

This book also contains integration with IBM Tivoli® Service Management framework that allows Tivoli Business Service Manager to integrates with Tivoli Change and Configuration Management database (CCMDB) using Discovery Library toolkit. This functions is also available for z/OS® configuration. Finally, Tivoli Business Service Manager operational consideration is discussed, includes backup and recovery process; maintenance schedule and some performance tips.

Final version now available here.

-snip-

The IBM acquisition of Micromuse Inc. in 2006 marked a major milestone for IBM Tivoli software because it significantly strengthened the end-to-end IBM Service Management software portfolio. As new technologies emerge, the ability to manage networks and provide very high network availability has become increasingly important for most organizations.

While the IBM Tivoli NetView product has a long history of industry-leading utility, the addition of Netcool/Precision extends our network management capabilities to include enhanced layer2 network discovery and best-of-breed topology-based root cause analysis. This provides our customers with the most comprehensive, real-time understanding of their network infrastructures and the fastest possible resolution of network problems.

While significant focus is being placed on enhancing the ease of installation and use of coming versions of Netcool/Precision, IBM will continue to protect our NetView customers’ investments and intends to provide a smooth upgrade path to a future converged network management product offering.

This IBM Redbook will help companies determine if they should migrate now or wait. For those migrating, it provides detailed instructions for planning and performing the migration from IBM Tivoli NetView to Tivoli Netcool/Precision IP V3.6.

We’re accepting applications for a TBSM 4.1 Redpaper residency to be held in Austin, TX in March. This redpaper will focus on the upcoming TBSM 4.1 product release and migration planning from TBSM 3.x and Netcool/RAD 2.0/3.0 to the new solution.

Details and application can be found here. Applications are being accepted through February 16th.

From the Redbook site available here. Props to Donald Hart, a peer of mine, for getting involved and contributing.

“This Redbook will help you determine if you want to migrate from IBM Tivoli® NetView® version 7 as well as IBM Tivoli Switch Analyzer to Netcool/Precision for IP Networks version 3.6. Comparisons and conclusions will change when future releases of NetView or Netcool/Precision are released.

The first part of the book is written to help the manager and technical leaders to understand the changes and benefits that Netcool/Precision for IP Networks can bring to their solution. The intent is to help you evaluate your own usage of the NetView features and see how they map to the Netcool/Precision features. You can also see the list of additional features that Netcool/Precision offers to help determine if a migration is right for your company at this time.

The second part of the book is written based on years of experience by the team with knowledge of both NetView and Netcool/Precision. The second part will help the technical person work through a systematic approach for migrating from NetView to Netcool/Precision. The second part is not intended to be used by technical people that are just beginning to use Netcool/Precision. It is written for the technical leaders and specialists that will be performing the migration and have the appropriate education or experience to deploy Netcool/Precision. Where there was multiple ways to complete a task, we chose a specific way and documented what we did. Scripts that are written to help with the tasks are documented in appendices as well as available to download from our website as additional material.”