AAM - Automated Availability Manager

The Heterogeneous Clustering Solution

AAM 5.0 Features & Benefits

AAM 5.0 is the latest release of AAM and it maintains all the automated availability and resource management benefits AAM is known for while adding key enhancements.

The key enhancement is the introduction of a new Java management console for AAM, offering key benefits that include:

    Increased ease-of-use through an enhanced point-and-click user interface

    Faster learning for new users through a new context-sensitive help facility

    Enhanced resource group monitoring display

    Enhanced management - multiple availability domains are now managed from the same console without requiring users to re-attach to the new domain

The figure shows the new AAM Java console, which customers can use to manage availability across multiple AAM domains, handling virtually unlimited applications and resources.

AAM 5.0 is also the version of AAM integrating the best capabilities and technologies of AAM and Co-StandbyServer for Windows 2000, offered under the name Co-StandbyServer AAdvanced.

AAM 5.0 New Features

    Point-and-click GUI

    Easy to define, manage and assign properties to any AAM object

    More intuitive for new users

    More easily understood by administrators not used to enterprise-level availability tools

    Simplifies the process of creating and managing an availability environment

    Simplifies automated process and policy management creation and management


Context sensitive help

    Easier to get help on what you're doing, when you're doing it

    Easy navigation between help windows allows you to go as deep into help as you need while maintaining your position within the active AAM screen


Integrated two-node mirroring for Windows 2K

    Ensures synchronous protection of data, providing a secondary copy of production data available for immediate and transparent failover in the event the production disk fails or becomes unavailable

    Eliminates shared disk requirement in a Windows 2000 configuration

    Same patented, core mirroring technology provided as part of Co-StandbyServer 2000


Management of multiple availability domains from the same console

    Simplifies and reduces the cost of availability management in a large enterprise environment

    Enable the simultaneous troubleshooting, monitoring and management of multiple domains

    Enhances the capability AAM has to manage any availability domain whether local or remote


Parallel attachment of data sources in a resource group

    Increases the speed of failover or relocation of services, from server to server

    Eliminates unnecessary waiting during a failover thus guaranteeing the least amount of downtime


Enhanced resource group monitoring display in the console

    Colored object state icons displayed in the tree-view GUI, providing status at-a-glance without requiring the Administrator to "drill down" to see more detail

    Active object monitoring and color changing tree display makes it immediately clear what the state is of any resource at any time

    Supports fast and intuitive reaction by the Administrator if problem intervention is needed

    Enhanced to display modifications to objects, including creation and deletion, that are made using some other means than the Console (such as by using the CLI or programmatically through the API) - this enhances the effectiveness of custom solutions created by partners or customers


Addition of synchronization points within a Resource Group startup and/or shutdown sequence

    Allows an Administrator to configure automated handling of multiple data sources smoothly in parallel, to ensure that they are attached appropriately by AAM to the controlling server before the startup or shutdown sequence continues

    Used along with parallel attachments, enables many data sources to come online faster because AAM processes them in parallel rather than one at a time in sequence


Check Software command automated before data sources are enabled

    Helps to reduce configuration errors with data sources, by preventing an Administrator from configuring a data source for a system upon which the software required for the data source does not exist


Data source logging

    AAM now captures logging information for each data source, to assist Administrators in understanding how the data source is being used and in troubleshooting its operation when necessary


Process and Resource Group handling enhancements

    AAM can now redirect processes and utility processes for Windows as well as for UNIX, providing better response options

    AAM now responds separately to resources entering "No Response" states and "Failure" states, providing more fine-tuned response options