Autonomic Systems

In theory, autonomic computing lets systems heal themselves by diagnosing problems and repairing those glitches without the need for human intervention. With the burgeoning demands on IT, in part due to the proliferation of servers and bandwidths demanded by the ubiquitous Web, managing computing systems has become increasingly difficult. The cost and service quality benefits of autonomic systems is apparent.  Even in early stages of deployment estimates for cost benefits alone mount to 25% to 30%.

Stages of Implementation

Basic Level 1 - Analysis

The As/400 and iSeries systems have and store an uncommon level of information about itself, as well as logging history of what it has been doing. This information is stored many different ways.

This requires developers to learn many methods to extract and organize this information. SuperVisor aids in reaching Autonomic Level 1 by providing analysis tools that can extract this information using high level commands or menu options. These commands work from a common interface that can be learned once and applied universally across all aspects of the operating environment. 

Managed Level 2 -Consolidation of Data

SuperVisor includes the tools you need to standardize the way iSeries information is accessed. SuperVisor provides a consistent approach which consolidates data into standard formats which can be used to aggregate and summarize the information. This makes iSeries system and application information useful and easy to understand.

Thus, SuperVisor allows developers to concentrate on what is important, analysis and understanding. Once power programmers find how quickly they can access the vast information available, and the ease in which it is accessed, they will soon abandon the API first approach. The shift between programming iSeries API’s to using SuperVisor is similar to the change from Assembly Level Programming to High Level Languages.

Predictive Level 3-Monitoring the System and Making Corrections

It is at this level that SuperVisor that distances itself from other toolsets available on the iSeries. SuperVisor does more than print reports or present screens. SuperVisor can store results from analysis in standardized data base files. Thus information about the system and system logs can be used to perform exception reporting or exception notifications.

SuperVisor is more than an analysis tool. SuperVisor also provides facilities to take corrective action through high level commands. SuperVisor commands can be widely or narrowly scoped. Thus, corrections can be made globally or refined to only those components meeting a specific criteria.

Adaptive Level 4-Automatic Corrections

Because information about any aspect of the OS/400 operating environment,

and because SuperVisor commands can be widely or narrowly scoped,

and because SuperVisor provides high level commands that can make changes,

SuperVisor can inform developers about changes than need to be made and give them the tools to make them.

The next step is to make these changes automatically. Here SuperVisor's standardized database along with its universal command processor make it possible to automatically make corrections.

Autonomic Level 5-Business Rules and Policies

SuperVisor provides the basic tools and facilities for adding autonomic capabilities to existing systems. There are four elements that are essential for developing home grown autonomic capabilities:

• The ability to create and maintain policies that are accessible to the tool set.
• The ability to extract information from every aspect of the operating system and any type of object.
• The ability to store, analyze, and work with extracted information programmatically.
• The ability to use the analyzed information to drive corrective processes or drive notifications.

Not Just for Hardware

Till recently the focus of Autonomic Computing has been in the support for hardware. This makes sense as our business systems are completely dependent on the physical hardware and connections to work.

However most IT resources are deployed in the software arena and it is there that IT will find most of its benefits. SuperVisor not only can be used in conjunction with operations management, but applications can also be analyzed, monitored and corrected. Aspects of applications, such as program usage, library lists, security, and many others can be analyzed, monitored, and when appropriate modified.