Tivoli Provisioning Manager
Encyclopedia
Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM) is a product in IBM
´s Tivoli Software
brand. Its purpose is to automate the provisioning of virtual servers and software. TPM is a "manager of managers", in that it does not manage any hardware itself, but issues commands to the hypervisor
s that do actually manage the hardware. TPM can orchestrate the various tasks, and provide a common interface for different platforms, notably Intel-based managed by VMware to host MS-Windows and Linux virtual servers; and IBM's own AIX servers running on pSeries.
While TIO appears to not have been a huge success, IBM spun off the deployment engine as a product of itself.
calls - because both the WorkFlow interpreter and Jython parse, interpret, and manipulate these strings, great care must be taken in writing them. Actions on server systems are done through scriptlets, which generate (shell) scripts that are executed on the target servers.
Integrated Development Environment
with a special TPM plugin. It needs to be configured to have access to the DCM database: all workflow code is stored by line in the database.
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
´s Tivoli Software
Tivoli Software
Tivoli Software is the service management brand of the IBM Software Group. IBM purchased Austin-based Tivoli Systems, Inc. on March 4, 1996 and allowed existing executive management to operate Tivoli as a wholly owned subsidiary in the IBM Software Group...
brand. Its purpose is to automate the provisioning of virtual servers and software. TPM is a "manager of managers", in that it does not manage any hardware itself, but issues commands to the hypervisor
Hypervisor
In computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
s that do actually manage the hardware. TPM can orchestrate the various tasks, and provide a common interface for different platforms, notably Intel-based managed by VMware to host MS-Windows and Linux virtual servers; and IBM's own AIX servers running on pSeries.
History
TPM originated with Think Dynamics which IBM acquired in 2003 . Their "Think Control" product was good in provisioning and managing (virtual) servers in data centers. IBM added their "OPAL" Integrated Service Management Library, and marketed their new product as "Tivoli Information Orchestrator" - hence the appearance of the letters "tio" in many product files of TPM.While TIO appears to not have been a huge success, IBM spun off the deployment engine as a product of itself.
- v4: combined with the aging "ITCM" desktop management suite, was marketed as "TPM for Software"
- v5: general provisioning resources
- there appears not to have been a v6
- v7.1: integrated with the new Tivoli Process Automation Engine (MaximoMaximo (MRO)IBM Maximo Asset Management software provides asset lifecycle and maintenance management for all asset types on a single platform. It is used to help maximize the value of critical business and IT assets over their lifecycles with workflows by enforcing best practices that yield benefits for all...
) GUI. TPM was also incorporated into Tivoli Service Automation ManagerTivoli Service Automation ManagerTivoli Service Automation Manager is the Cloud management package from IBM in the Tivoli Software brand. Unofficial abbreviations are TSAM and TivSAM.As the product sheet sells it:...
. - v7.2: has many improvements; most notably, the workflows are no longer extracted from the DCM database and executed line by line, but are converted to Java and run from bytecode, which is much faster.
Data Center Model
TPM works from an extensive Data Center Model that contains all server- and software-components, with their attributes and relations. As of v7.1, this is part of the Maximo database (maxdb71).WorkFlows
All TPM's actions are executed by WorkFlows. These are written in a propriatory interpreted procedural scripting language. Most information must be drawn through queries from the DCM. Most string manipulation must be done by JythonJython
Jython, successor of JPython, is an implementation of the Python programming language written in Java.-Overview:Jython programs can seamlessly import and use any Java class. Except for some standard modules, Jython programs use Java classes instead of Python modules...
calls - because both the WorkFlow interpreter and Jython parse, interpret, and manipulate these strings, great care must be taken in writing them. Actions on server systems are done through scriptlets, which generate (shell) scripts that are executed on the target servers.
Developing
For developing TPM workflows, one needs the so-called Automation Package Development Environment (APDE): this is the EclipseEclipse (software)
Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment comprising an integrated development environment and an extensible plug-in system...
Integrated Development Environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
with a special TPM plugin. It needs to be configured to have access to the DCM database: all workflow code is stored by line in the database.