Software Defined Talk

Before having a few beers at the local pub simulucrum, IBM's Phil Fritz tells us what's been happing with Tivoli Live, the IT Management as SaaS offering IBM put out earlier at the end of last year.Phil and I last spoke with him when Tivoli Live first came out - with an interview and demo - so it was nice to grab him for a quick update on features, customers, and the way people are using Tivoli Live. Of note, there's an interesting group of customers who're providing their own SaaSes that are looking towards IT Management tools that are SaaSes as well.Disclosure: IBM is a client, but this video is not a sponsored video.

Ever wonder how an IT Management system is architected and designed? Then this is the make all episode for you! I talk with one of my old friends, Chip Holden who's been an architect for such system for about the last 10 years, first at BMC Software where we both worked and now at Zenoss.Disclosure: while Zenoss is a client, this is not a sponsored episode.

A demo of Eucalyptus 2.0.

An overview of Eucalyptus 2.0 O with Mårten Mickos.

At the zEnterprise launch event, I talk with IBM Fellow Gururaj Rao about IBM's new mainframe "system of systems," the zEnterprise. We talk about the ways the zEnterprise is used and how IBM has optimized the zEnterprise for various of those work-loads. For example, there's optimizers for as analytics and crypto. We also cover the general features of the zEnterprise, such as running Power-based and x85 blades.If you don't want to watch the video above, you can download the video directly or download the audio only.Disclosure: IBM is a client and sponsored this video.

Rackspace announced the OpenStack project today, open sourcing much of the software it uses to run its own cloud. I spoke with Rackspace's Jonathan Bryce on the topic to get an in-depth overview, discuss Rackspace's intentions, and explore the operational future of OpenStack.This is a big announcement in the cloud world, further widening the technologies that are available to start crafting public and private clouds. The nature of Rackspace as not a software company is also interesting to watch here, as well as what partners do with the project.Disclosure: Rackspace is a client and sponsored this video.

Virtualization is magic of IT shops, but as with any technology it creates it's own unique set of management challenges. That's why it was fun to sit down with Convirture's Jaydeep Marfatia and Arsalan Farooq for this two part screencast and see how ConVirt tackles virtualization management issues. They also indulge me in some "the future of IT management" talk which you know I always enjoy - there's even some private cloud talk.In this second part, we get into actual management, seeing how ConVirt manages not only the basic parameters for each virtual machine, but also the pools of storage and private networks. When it comes to provisioning, ConVirt also offers the optional intelligent VM placement that automatically figures out the best host to put a new virtual server. We wrap up by going over the ConVirt community and commercial support options.Disclosure: Convirture is a client and sponsored this video.

Virtualization is magic of IT shops, but as with any technology it creates it's own unique set of management challenges. That's why it was fun to sit down with Convirture's Jaydeep Marfatia and Arsalan Farooq for this two part screencast and see how ConVirt tackles virtualization management issues. They also indulge me in some "the future of IT management" talk which you know I always enjoy - there's even some private cloud talk.In this first part, we start out with a quick history and overview of the ConVirt project and Convirture the company. Next, we look at the console for browsing physical and virtual machines, using it drill down into each to look at configuration and health metrics. Having browsed through existing servers, we start looking at how ConVirt helps you create a library of virtual images by creating templates. We see how you can use these templates - with all sorts of settings for the server, storage, network, and more - to create new virtual servers.Disclosure: Convirture is a client and sponsored this video.

While at OpenSourceWorld, I talked with Zenoss' Bill Karpovich, getting an update on what's been going on with Zenoss. We talk about recent versions, management packs (with over a 100 now), the community, and reaching the million downloads milestone.Disclosure: Zenoss is a client.

While at OpenSourceWorld, I pulled aside Reductive Lab's Luke Kanies to get an update on what's been going on in the Puppet world, esp. after the (very) recent funding Reductive Labs got. In the brief interview, we touch on the new staff and the product road-map.Disclosure: Reductive Labs is a client.

I managed to button-hole Tarus Balog of the OpenNMS Group. In this short shaky-cam interview, I ask him to give us a quick update on OpenNMS. He talks primarily about the new "provisioning" system that cleans up the way inventory and cataloging of discovered devices is put together in stored, a "CMDB in a file" as I joke. We also talk about Honduran cellphone monitoring.

(Be sure to click on the full-screen icon for a larger picture.)After discussing Spiceworks 4.0 with Tabrez , I have him walk through a demo of the product itself, mostly highlighting the new features.We start in the dashboard, seeing how the product gives you a general overview of your IT. It also highlights an example of a plugin, the Windows License monitor widget. He also points out an example of the "UI improvements" and rearranging mentioned during the interview. After seeing how these improvements have effected the inventory page, we jump into looking at the new features in the help desk.Next up, we look at the user portal provided in Spiceworks 4.0 which provides a customizable intranet-centric web site with widgets and help-desk integration. The idea here being to provider employees a landing page for interacting with IT.Tabrez then shows us the network map functionality shipping in Spiceworks 4.0. He walks through browsing the network topology, drilling down into individual nodes, and using the network map to trouble-shoot. In asking Tabrez how people are using (or are intending to use) the network map day-to-day, he also goes over future enhancements and functionality Spiceworks is thinking of adding to the network map.We then jump into look at the Spiceworks community and how it directly integrates with the product, and vice-versa. We see methods for sharing customized reports, reporting on Windows event IDs, all in addition to the usual forums and community features you'd expect.Covering the final item of note, Tabrez tells us how Spiceworks uses ads and other offers in the product. As the platform is free, this is the way users "pay" for the application. Disclosure: Spiceworks is a client.

Recently, I say down with Tabrez Syed of Spiceworks to go over their most recent version, Spiceworks 4.0. In introducing himself, Tabrez speaks to the mixed role he has at Spiceworks, a combination of traditional product management and the newer practices of community management. As we discuss Spiceworks more, it's interesting to see how these two roles play out. To that end, I ask Tabrez to give us an overview of Spiceworks itself. More than just the asset discovery, monitoring, help-desk, and reporting, Spiceworks also incorporates the thriving community (over 700,000 users) around the product.Focusing in on the community aspects, I ask Tabrez to characterize the folks in the community: what types of IT shops and organizations are they? Being in the small and medium business category, these folks are often balancing both the technical requirements and small pools of cash and time.We then go over the new features in Spiceworks 4.0. Starting with help desk improvements., Tabrez goes over the workflow changes to enable better colloboration and covers the email "command line" functionality they've added so that users can work with tickets on their phones. He also goes over the user-centric portal that Spiceworks 4.0 offers, giving the start of a knowledge base and a way to encourage self-service IT. Finally, we go over one of the most highly requested features, the network map which shows a visual network topology.Also, check out the demo.Disclosure: Spiceworks is a client.

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While our audio recording equipment was having a nap at CloudCampAustin, I whipped out the video camera to talk with Michael Wilde of Splunk. Being at CloudCampAustin, we end up discussing how Splunk fits into all this cloud computing stuff: here, the point Michael lays out is that you've still got basic IT infrastructure to worry about and shift through, namely logs.Having worked at Tivoli in the past, I ask Michael to compare the traditional, Big 4 way of doing IT Management with how folks like Splunk and other "Systems Management 2.0" (to use an old moniker) folks do it. It's sort of a best-of-breed vs. unified suite discussion. Him living in Dripping Springs, I ask him about a new vodka from there I've been seeing around Austin.Disclosure: Splunk is a client.