Veritas storage manager turns storage management into a proactive, policy-driven operation

Veritas Storage Manager, the next-generation storage area network (SAN) manager, distributed in South Africa by AST, allows corporate and workgroup IT managers to turn reactive, haphazard management of critical storage resources into a proactive, policy-driven operation that maximises the availability of essential business data.

The SAN modules for Veritas Storage Manager will add optimal control of Fibre Channel switches and hubs to deliver a SAN-enabled Storage Resource Management (SRM) solution that will provide information system managers with cost-effective, consolidated management of SAN environments.

"The benefits of storage-centric computing, once thought to be nothing more than a pipe-dream, is now a reality for AST`s customers," says Martyn Healy, Director of AST Enterprise Solutions. "The combination of Veritas Storage Manager with Storage Area Networks is now delivering the centralised, end-to-end storage management solution that IS managers have been waiting for.

"Veritas Storage Manager will provide the South African computer industry`s first management solution built specifically to address the continuous data availability and simplified management requirements of SAN environments," adds Healy. "Without the enhancements of Storage Manager, SANs would be far too complex to manage."

The new SAN features extend Veritas Storage Manager`s strength in defining and enforcing storage resource policies to include SANs, resulting in improved IT efficiency and minimising downtime from incorrect procedures or inexperience administrators.

The SAN visualisation component can provide consolidated, graphical visualisation to facilitate monitoring and configuration of SAN components. In addition, a Storage Manager module for a Vixel Fibre Channel managed hub notifies administrators when problems are detected, allowing users to perform in-context launching of Vixel`s management software for quick problem solving.

Making use of intelligent agent technology in a multi-tier architecture, Storage Manager will allow corrective actions to SAN resources even when network connections are temporarily unavailable, increasing the built-in availability features of Veritas software.

Storage Manager will provide more modules for additional hubs and switches in the future. Through such proactive monitoring and management, Veritas Storage Manager helps deliver consistent operations and proactive control of SANs, as well as traditional storage environments, through a single management interface.