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CA ADVANCED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT (CA ASM) CENTRALLY MANAGES YOUR DIVERSE VIRTUAL SERVER ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS VMWARE, IBM, SUN, MICROSOFT, HP AND VERITAS. THE SOLUTION ALSO PROVIDES UNIQUE INSIGHT BY PROVIDING THE PHYSICAL TO VIRTUAL MAPPING OF THE ENTIRE ENTERPRISE SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE. THIS EMPOWERS YOU TO IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, REDUCE RISKS AND BETTER MANAGE COSTS. Overview Enterprises running data centers that include diverse virtual technologies need a virtual server solution that simplifies the management of these complex entities. CA ASM centrally manages virtual server technologies of diverse platforms and optimizes their performance and utilization rates. CA ASM uses a patented feature called ‘Dynamic Resource Brokering’ (DRB) to proactively allocate and reallocate system resources in direct response to changing business demands through intelligent policy-driven automation. Benefits CA ASM allows your IT to maximize the value of virtual- ization in your environment. Real-time and historical performance metrics enable you to baseline and optimize performance and resource utilization rates. This enables better capacity planning which in turn results in better management of capital investments, improved operational efficiency and reduced risks. The CA Advantage CA ASM is a vendor neutral solution that provides broad management coverage for mixed virtual server environ- ments. With a single, centralized solution, you can optimize system resources for an array of multi-vendor technologies and platforms and enable a business-driven infrastructure. This ability to manage across diverse tech- nologies and platforms and integrate easily with other CA and third-party solutions contributes to the CA Enterprise IT Management vision to unify and simplify IT management across the enterprise. CA Advanced Systems Management r11.2 PRODUCT BRIEF: CA ADVANCED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

CA Advanced Systems Management Product Brief

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Page 1: CA Advanced Systems Management Product Brief

CA ADVANCED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT (CA ASM) CENTRALLY MANAGES YOUR DIVERSEVIRTUAL SERVER ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS VMWARE, IBM, SUN, MICROSOFT, HP AND VERITAS.THE SOLUTION ALSO PROVIDES UNIQUE INSIGHT BY PROVIDING THE PHYSICAL TO VIRTUALMAPPING OF THE ENTIRE ENTERPRISE SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE. THIS EMPOWERS YOU TOIMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, REDUCE RISKS AND BETTER MANAGE COSTS.

Overview

Enterprises running datacenters that include diversevirtual technologies need avirtual server solution thatsimplifies the managementof these complex entities.CA ASM centrally managesvirtual server technologiesof diverse platforms andoptimizes their performanceand utilization rates. CA ASMuses a patented feature called‘Dynamic Resource Brokering’(DRB) to proactively allocateand reallocate systemresources in direct responseto changing businessdemands through intelligentpolicy-driven automation.

Benefits

CA ASM allows your IT tomaximize the value of virtual -ization in your environment.Real-time and historicalperformance metrics enableyou to baseline and optimizeperformance and resourceutilization rates. This enablesbetter capacity planningwhich in turn results in bettermanagement of capitalinvestments, improvedoperational efficiency andreduced risks.

The CA Advantage

CA ASM is a vendor neutralsolution that provides broadmanagement coverage formixed virtual server environ -ments. With a single,centralized solution, you canoptimize system resourcesfor an array of multi-vendortechnologies and platformsand enable a business-driveninfrastructure. This ability tomanage across diverse tech -nologies and platforms andintegrate easily with otherCA and third-party solutionscontributes to the CAEnterprise IT Managementvision to unify and simplifyIT management across theenterprise.

CA Advanced SystemsManagement r11.2

PRODUCT BRIEF: CA ADVANCED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

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2 PRODUCT BRIEF: CA ADVANCED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Server Virtualization Goes MainstreamMultiple factors are buffeting your enterprise IT infrastructure and putting increasing pressureon those who manage them. Among these are the continuously evolving requirements foravailability and high performance of applications, compliance with regulations and the constantdrumbeat of demand for greater security of IT resources and intellectual property (IP). On theother hand, increasing use of the Internet and the Web, and technologies such as ServiceOriented Architectures (SOA) and Software as a Service (SaaS), make infrastructures moreflexible and dynamic but also more challenging for you to manage.

If this wasn’t enough, from a business perspective you are constantly faced with ever-increasing competition while balancing the need to control both capital and operational costsin your data centers. Virtualization technology is being adopted by many enterprises, suchas yours, to address server consolidation as part of your broader Data Center Automation andInfrastructure Management initiatives. Drawing on the agility, flexibility aspects and the myriadof benefits server virtual ization delivers; enterprises are very quickly moving from deployingvirtualization in a ‘test environment’ to ‘production type environment’.

A recent study sponsored by CA indicates that server virtualization is, in fact, the future. Morethan 64 percent of those interviewed are currently investing in virtualization technologies, andanother 36 percent plan to do so. Meanwhile, 68 percent consider the centralized managementof the virtual environment as critical or very important yet only 34 percent believe theircompanies are doing an effective job in this area.

Server Virtualization Introduces New Challenges Managing your virtual and clustered environments requires the same capabilities andtechnologies as your physical environment. However, they can be trickier to implement forseveral reasons, not the least of which is the very nature of virtual servers. There is no physicalentity to track, making it easy for virtual machines to disappear and run into security breachesand compliance issues.

The most alarming concern we hear from our customers is not having a good handle on theirsystems performance metrics — all of which have a critical impact on the overall performanceof virtual environments, the data center they support and the overall availability of the servicesthey deliver to the business. Deep performance monitoring of system resources, such asutilization rates for CPU, Memory, Disk and Network helps you establish baselines andunderstand when virtual servers are over or under-utilized. Combining real-time and historicaltrending reports also aids in capacity planning excercises by providing the information neededto make informed decisions.

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Further, like their physical counterparts, virtual servers are deployed on a variety of best-of-breed platforms, resulting in a complicated mixture of physical, virtual and clustered machines.Each virtual machine generates its own environment and systems to track, along with itsrelationships to the physical host servers. Unfortunately, many of the systems managementtools available to you do not discover or manage the virtual-to-physical server relationship orsupport the breadth of platforms available. This lack of centralized monitoring and manage -ment simply creates another level of operational complexity and makes it extremely difficult tomonitor your mixed environment.

Perhaps the most unanticipated problem growing out of the move to virtualization is virtualsprawl. Because it is easy to create and configure virtual machines, they are deployed almostat will, then either lost or not fully utilized. Unless you can manage and monitor virtual environ -ments — which requires centralized capabilities — and reign in virtual sprawl, the promise ofvirtualization is likely to go unrealized.

If the challenges seem overwhelming, there is help at hand. CA has a solution to preciselyaddress these aspects — CA Advanced Systems Management (CA ASM), a vendor-neutralsolution that centralizes the management capabilities irrespective of the virtual environment —whether it is VMware, Sun, IBM, Microsoft, HP and Veritas to name a few. The product is in itsfourth release enjoying being in the market for well over five years and continues to grow itsinstalled base given the rapid adoption.

CA ASM empowers you to simplify the management challenge created by mixed environmentsby centralizing and normalizing data through advanced discovery and visualization. Additionally,a patented feature called ‘Dynamic Resource Brokering’ (DRB) proactively enables you todynamically allocate and reallocate system resources in direct response to your changingbusiness conditions. A final component that ties the solution together is policy-drivenautomation of system resources — all of which enables you to meet your service levels whilemanaging risks and capital investments better and delivering overall operational efficiency.

VMware and CA: A Powerful Response to Challenges VMware and CA have helped enterprises like yours rise successfully to such challenges since2003. The companies have developed and delivered integrated solutions that deliver bothimmediate and sustained business benefits, ranging from lower operational costs and risks togreater business resiliency and agility. The companies also jointly test and validate our combinedsolutions and collaborate on marketing, sales, services and training. This enables representativesfrom both companies to "speak with one voice" when discussing how VMware and CAsolutions, together, can address your business challenges effectively.

Additionally, in January 2008, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted andpublished an All-Stars report where CA ASM won the lone All Star spot in the VirtualManagement space. To read the full report click CA Named "Best of the Best" in ThreeSystems Management Categories by Enterprise Management Associates

With strong innovation,heterogeneous support,highly capable, provensolutions, and a customersatisfaction rating of 4 outof 5, CA is stepping up to thevirtualization managementchallenge like no othervendor, taking a well-deserved solo spot on theVirtual System ManagementAll Star First Team.

The EMA All Stars in EnterpriseSystems Management in 2008

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CA ASM — Virtualization Management Architecture Through the discovery and performance monitoring of other platforms such as CA Data CenterAutomation Manager and CA Unicenter® Network and Systems Management, CA ASM standsto benefit. Current architecture allows the information from the CA ASM components to be useddirectly or through other means to be passed on to the Enterprise Managers. The level of inte -gration helps products to get platform specific information which is available through CA ASM.

CA ASM ARCHITECTURE

Key CapabilitiesADVANCED DISCOVERY AND VISUALIZATION — GET THE FULL PICTURE You cannot manage,prioritize, or understand a resource’s relationship to other resources and to the business serviceit delivers if you cannot track it.

With the Advanced Discovery functionality within CA ASM, you can locate every aspect ofthe virtual host and its sessions including the clustered environment. This provides you withvaluable knowledge about your assets and its relationship to the host.

Coupled with an additional functionality like visualization, you can see every virtual andphysical machine on a given system in a single, comprehensive view. Further, intuitive visualmaps show the relationship of each virtual element to its physical counterpart and to thebusiness processes it supports.

FIGURE A

Delivers centralized managementfor server virtualization across diversetechnologies and platforms.

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This key functionality allows you to reduce your Mean-Time-to-Repair (MTTR). At a glance,you are now in a position to quickly adapt to changing business conditions by prioritizingresources giving you that competitive edge.

Using the Advanced Discovery capabilities of CA ASM, administrators are not only able toview the individual virtual elements running in their environments but, more importantly, therelationships between the elements, and this helps to decrease MTTR.

ADVANCED DISCOVERY AND VISUALIZATION

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS — BASELINE AND OPTIMIZE Most physical server utilization fallsinto the 10 percent range, providing limited value for already stretched IT budgets. Manyenterprises first need to understand and baseline their current system performance metrics.

CA ASM enables an IT Administrator to choose which pieces of their IT infrastructure needsto be monitored whether it is CPU, Memory, Disk and Network. It then establishes a baselineusing real-time and historical performance metrics.

CA ASM uses a patented feature called Dynamic Resource Brokering (DRB) that proactivelyresponds to changing business conditions by allocating and reallocating system resources inreal time based on set business polices. For example: when DRB detects that the performanceof a virtual machine (VM) begins to degrade, CA ASM can dynamically allocate availablesystem resources, such as CPU and memory within the virtualized server to the VM as needed,without the risk of downtime that could result from delays in migrating a critical application to a new server. Conversely, when the demand decreases, DRB automatically re-allocatesresources back to the host machine, enabling the freed-up resources to be used for othervirtual resources or VMs that may require them. Additionally, if there are no more resourcesto allocate, DRB migrates the lowest priority VM to another host machine. The agility andflexibility with which you are able to make these decisions greatly improves your performanceand utilization rates.

FIGURE B

Greatly reduces MTTR and also reins inVM sprawl occurrences.

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Another key component to improve the availability of critical business processes is by applyingpolicy-driven automation based on granular and detailed performance and utilization data.Your infrastructure then responds dynamically to changing demands and moves resources towhere they are most needed to support business priorities.

With CA ASM you gain valuable insights into the overall performance of your data center(both physical and virtual) — of your entire virtual environment, of a given virtual container(ESX, P5, etc.), the relative performance of a given Virtual Machine (VM) compared to otherVMs, and the relative performance of group of VM. Other aspects include the linkage of agiven problem and its impact on performance. More importantly, you are now in a position totrack the resource utilization for capacity planning exercises — all of which has an impact onmanaging and gaining a better ROI on your IT infrastructure investments.

The performance data collected through CA ASM can be charted historically side by side withany metric that is collected. It can provide views which give users an overall picture of theirvirtualized environment. The chart here is displaying the CPU and Memory Usage of an ESXHost, specifically CPU Usage %, Memory Usage %, CPU Usage Per CPU.

PERFORMANCE METRICSFIGURE C

Real-time and historical performancedata enables to baseline and optimizesystem resources resulting in improvedsystem availability and overallperformance.

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CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT ACROSS VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGIES — NORMALIZE DATA CA ASMprovides a normalized view using a single user interface that offers a common look and feel,which enables centralized management of (operating system virtualization, server virtuali -zation and clustering) multi vendor virtual environments like VMware, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Sunand Veritas, to name a few. Using policy-driven automation, CA ASM is able to automateroutine tasks based on business policies and best practices freeing up your staff to focus onother strategic projects.

The benefits of normalization are shown here with a list of the information you can see for anyvirtual, physical or cluster server in your environment.

CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT

VIRTUAL SERVER MANAGEMENT With CA ASM you can manage every aspect of your multi-vendor virtual environment with virtualized server management. It provides historical andreal-time performance monitoring and representation of host servers and VM instances asthey exist in a real-world environment.

There are two features that play a key role in effectively managing a virtual server environment— positioning itself as a flexible, agile server resource pool ready to meet changing businessconditions. VM Cloning is the process that allows an IT Administrator to replicate an existingVM configuration and resources to create another VM as needed. VM Migration is the processwhere an IT Administrator migrates a VM to another location or a different ESX host. For eg:When a critical application requires additional resources not available on the current host,CA ASM will migrate the least important application (based on user policy) to a new hostand reallocate the freed-up resources to the critical application; thus reducing risk.

FIGURE D

Providing normalized view of keysystem metrics across mixedenvironments improving overalloperational efficiency.

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CLUSTERED SERVER MANAGEMENT With CA ASM you can monitor and manage diverseclustered resources across platforms with cluster management — a centralized, uniforminfrastructure that treats clusters as independent entities. You can monitor the status andhealth of specific technologies, nodes and package resource groups — and the individualresources within each group — in real time. Proactive alerts can be established by setting the“desired state” threshold for every server, and then every node.

CA ASM offers the broadest management coverage for multi-vendor virtual and clusteredenvironments including management of the latest platforms such as ESX 3.5 /3i. Centralizedmanagement of virtual and clustered environments enables you to gain operational efficienciessuch as reducing the need for skilled staffing; reduce the risk of downtime due to reducedMTTR, improved capacity planning that result in better management of your costs and moreimportantly helps ensure business service continuity.

You can integrate CA ASM with other CA and third-party products through the CA IntegrationPlatform and share information through a common Management Database (MDB). Because itis platform-neutral, CA ASM supports numerous environments and platforms.

SUPPORTED VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS AND PLATFORMS

SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS

CA ASM r11.2 runs on:• Windows 2000 Server SP4, Advanced and

Data Center SP4+ (32-bit) • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard,

Enterprise and Data Center Server (32-bit),with any later maintenance, including R2

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES (32-bit) • SuSE Enterprise Server (32-bit) • Sun Solaris 5.8, 5.9 • AIX 5.2, 5.3 • HP 11i

MANAGED VIRTUAL & CLUSTERING PLATFORMS

CA ASM r11.2 manages:• VMware VirtualCenter (2.x), VMware ESX

(2.5.x, 3.x) and VMware GSX (3.x)• Sun's Logical Domains (Sun based Servers) 1.0,

1.0.1• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual Server

2005 R2 (32-bit and 64-bit)• Microsoft Cluster for Windows 2000 Advanced

Server • Microsoft Cluster for Windows 2003 Enterprise

Edition (32-bit and 64-bit)• Red Hat Linux Advanced & Enterprise Server

Cluster • IBM pSeries P4 and P5 Server LPAR• SunFire Midrange and High-End servers capable

of dynamic reconfiguration• Veritas Cluster on Windows, Sun Solaris, AIX

and Linux (4.0, 4.1, 4.3, 5.0)• Sun Cluster 3.1• HP MC/ServiceGuard (11.16.00, A11.17.00)• IBM HACMP (5.2, 5.3, 5.4)

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What is New in r11.2 This release brings with it two key features that customers like you have requested —VMware’s VirtualCenter Integration and Management of Sun's LDOM Platform.

• Integration with VMware’s VirtualCenter 2.x CA ASM r11.2 has a comprehensiveintegration into VMware’s VirtualCenter 2.x to improve monitoring and management of ESXservers. Both solutions complement one another by leveraging the patented feature fromCA ASM called Dynamic Resource Broking (DRB) and VMware’s VirtualCenter featurecalled Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS); infrastructures are assured that both physicaland virtual machine utilization is maximized.

CA ASM and VMware’s VirtualCenter working together for optimization of the ESX Serverenvironment.

CA AND VMWARE PARTNERSHIPFIGURE E

Strategic Alliance positions the twotechnologies to work in concert.

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This combination of functionality is unique in the industry — allowing customers to gain abetter ROI in their ESX environment. Further, this integration also positions CA ASM to supportthe upcoming embedded version of ESX servers that will be bundled by major server vendorslike DELL, HP and IBM.

• Management of Sun's LDOM Platform CA is the only vendor to offer management for Sun’sLDOM platform. LDOM based virtualization technology is a significant option for Sun serverconsolidation initiatives.

Management of this platform enables discovery and administration of your virtual platformoffering performance and event management and dynamic reconfiguration of virtual resources.

Additional feature enhancements include:

• High Availability for Clustering Your IT departments can be assured that CA ASM willremain highly available in clustered environments providing for full failover capabilities. Thisimproves reliability and reduces the risks associated with down-time because it ensures thatthe Systems Command Center (SCC), as well as other management components andservices within CA ASM, are functional as soon as possible after a catastrophic error so enduser service monitoring is not disrupted.

• Enhanced Support for IBM’s P5 Server Series Several enhancements were made for IBM P5monitoring including VIO Server Monitoring. VIO Server is a special partition on IBM P5system that facilitates resource sharing across various LPARs.

• Support for IBM’s HACMP Concurrent Resource Groups With IBM's HACMP clustertechnology added, CA ASM now supports two different types of Resource Groups,concurrent and non-concurrent, which further expands the management capabilitiesCA ASM provides for these environments.

• Enhanced CPU/Memory Monitoring CA ASM now has the ability to perform selectivemonitoring of key system resources which allows you to disable the monitoring CPU andMemory and filter out random spikes in performance data, reducing unnecessary alertsand associated tickets generated.

• Integration with CA eHealth® Network Performance Manager (CA eHealth NPM) The ESXagent in CA ASM is now certified with CA eHealth NPM. This allows customers using CAeHealth NPM to gain the same insight about a VMWare ESX server infrastructure as theusers of CA ASM. CA eHealth NPM users can run reports on all the metrics available froman ESX server agent arming them with deep insights to make intelligent decision.

Optimize Performance, Deliver Operational Efficiency andManage CostsThrough its unique ability to manage diverse virtual environments, CA ASM deliversunparalleled benefits to your IT and to your business — creating that competitive differentiator.With CA ASM you optimize resources, improve availability and performance — meeting yourdesired service levels. This results in operational efficiencies, reducing your risks and eventuallymanaging your costs better.

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Improved Performance and AvailabilityWith CA ASM, your mixed virtual environment stands ready to meet your business priorities— on demand, in real time. Every physical server gives you better utilization rates. Based onbusiness priority, polices and best practices; CA ASM gives you the power to dynamicallyallocate and reallocate resources. When system resources are optimized, you realize the fullpotential of your IT investments — and it may not be necessary for you to buy that next set ofphysical servers. CA ASM aligns IT with business priorities helping ensure system availability,optimum performance that result in supporting your new data center model.

The CA AdvantageCA ASM is a vendor-neutral solution that centrally manages multi-vendor virtualenvironments. With CA ASM you can dynamically allocate and reallocate resources whenand where they are needed based on your business priorities.

CA ASM is an integral part of the CA Dynamic & Virtual Systems Management Solution, anda key contributor to CA’s efforts to transform IT management. CA Enterprise IT Managementunifies and simplifies IT management across the enterprise, which translates into betterbusiness results for your enterprise.

CA supports your efforts to achieve Enterprise IT Management in several ways. CA Servicesand its partners can help you assess your current IT situation, define your goals and implementsolutions to gain measurable results. To keep your CA solutions operating at peak performance,CA Support delivers unparalleled technical and customer support worldwide. We offer trainingand certification through CA Education.

Next StepsCA Advanced Systems Management provides powerful capabilities as you adopt Virtualizationin your environment using system performance analysis using dynamic resource brokering,centralized management of virtual server environments, advanced discovery and visualization— with a focus on delivering service levels that are based on business priorities. You achieveoptimized system resources, improve operational efficiency and gain a better handle onmanaging your costs. As you achieve mainstream levels, you carve a path to embark on yourData Center Automation and Infrastructure Management initiatives.

To learn more, and see how CA software solutions enable organizations to unify and simplifyIT management for better business results, visit ca.com/products.

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