Originally software agents were created to simplify IT, not make it more complex and unstable. Now what?

I was reading a poll recently that stated that 90% of systems and networks admins say that there were more responsibilities and demands on their time in recent years. Nine out of ten stated that there were more complexities involved with the systems they manage. Networks and server architectures are obviously getting more complex and the task of administering them much more time consuming.

As organizations continue on the path of automating more

and more of their processes, software vendors have responded with a growing variety of different enterprise solutions. You can see this in such areas as IT Asset Management, Software Asset Management, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Application Performance Management (APM) and enterprise scheduling to name a few. While these markets are all quite different in their focus, they all have one thing in common; and that is they need to gather data from a diverse array of remote systems. In many cases they also need to execute commands on those systems.

So how is this accomplished amongst proprietary software systems with a myriad of hardware components with their own software complexities? Most of the vendors utilize a software agent that requires the installation of a service on the remote platforms to perform these duties. Sounds simple, but there are issues that organizations face in deploying and managing agents. The first is that each of these agents is specific to one application. Let’s say you have 500 servers in your environment and conservatively a half a dozen different applications that require agents. This leaves you with 3000 installed agents to manage and maintain that are all specific to individual applications, not an easy task. The second issue is that the agents themselves are not a huge technology priority for most software vendors and their development is far down on the priority list. This has opened the door to poor development leading to issues with high resource utilization, lack of system stability and in some cases, server outages. The result is that agents have understandably gained a bad reputation in the market. While some vendors have responded by going “agentless,” agentless approaches lack the functionality and capabilities that a properly written agent can provide.  

     

So what is the solution? The solution is for software vendors to get out of the agent business, and no I am not suggesting that they all go agentless. Agents are still the best approach, but first you need a well written agent that is solid, multi-purpose, programmable, and fully supported. These requirements are some of what sparked the founding of Vallum Software. Vallum’s solution, the Halo Manager, has a unique decentralized architecture that is built around a multi-purpose agent called the Halo Agent. Our goal with the Halo Agent was to provide a stable, secure, and multi-purpose agent that can serve as an organization’s only agent and we believe we have accomplished that.

And so the “now what” is that the Halo Agent won’t cost you and arm and a leg. Actually it’s open source, free to to use and is included with the Halo Manager solution. The Halo Agent is designed to have its functionality augmented with the addition of specialized applications called Halo Apps. Halo Apps add functionality to the Halo Agent(s) and the Halo Manager solution in a modular manner, allowing an organization to tailor the solution to their specific needs. There is a growing selection of Halo Apps in the Halo App Store on Vallum's website. Can't find the functionality your looking for in a Halo App? We can build it for you in a few days or weeks depending on the complexity. Want to build your own Halo Apps? There is a fully documented software development kit (SDK) in the store that will allow you to build your own custom Halo Apps to your specific requirements. The capabilities of Halo Apps are nearly endless, providing a level of flexibility that will allow you to better manage your IT complexity, and improve the speed and  deliver of services to your organization.

Our ultimate goal is for network admins have one agent to maintain in their environment and applications. It is what should have been done in the first place, but the beginning of the enterprise software era, coupled with the dotcom boom (er, bust) created a sort of technology free-range mentality much like the open range prairie land race of the late 19^th century. The software race was on and the speed to market was more important than solid, foundational technology. We’re bringing the foundation back to technology with the Vallum Halo Manager and the Halo Agent. For those of you around in the late 90s and early 2000s, what do you think? We’d like to know your take on how disparate IT environments have become. Comments welcome.

Take Halo Manager solution and the Halo Agent for a spin. Your only cost is the time it takes to download and install, which is mere minutes. Full documentation comes with the download package and the software is very intuitive; you will be monitoring and managing your NOC very quickly.

I hope this information has been useful to you and as always, I welcome any comments. Please check out Vallum and our partner the GMI-Foundation.

About the Author:
Lance Edelman is a technology professional with 25+ years of experience in enterprise software, security, document management and network management. He is co-founder and CEO at Vallum Software and currently lives in Atlanta, GA.