IT services, which are used in various combinations in a wide variety of business processes, rest on diverse applications. That is why it is a top priority for companies to keep these applications and system running smoothly. Service-oriented architectures, the ever-increasing complexity of IT environments, and cost pressure, however, present enormous challenges for IT managers. It used to be that individual systems were dedicated to a specific area of application. But today, they have been replaced by complex system groups and a variety of technologies that provide the platform for various business applications. In this context, user satisfaction and the resulting performance of end users is of prime importance and countless administrators from a variety of technology fields are dedicated to this matter on a daily basis.
But how can they guarantee around-the-clock availability in these system landscapes? Are peak loads and bottlenecks identified in time? Are mission-critical applications running safely and at maximum performance? Are events analyzed in order to improve system performance and availability? Are hardware resources fully utilized? In the light of these questions, efficient application management becomes a must.
Monitoring IT environments using system management software alone, however, is not enough. Efficient error recovery also requires a fast and detailed root cause analysis that is based on modern analysis systems. These not only have to be able to handle the different application stacks, but also have to combine the database and the operating system, whatever it may be, in a single analysis monitor. This is the only way to ensure satisfactory end user performance.
