How to scale server management

by Deb Shinder | Aug 16, 2005 7:00:00 AM

Tags: Servers, server management, Deb Shinder, server, Build to Scale Newsletter

Takeaway: Managing your servers is a task that grows more complex and more time consuming as your organization grows. Luckily, there are a lot of options � from free and open source tools to expensive server management packages, as well as hardware solutions � to reduce the administrative overhead and angst involved.

When your business is small and you have only one or two servers on your network, managing them is relatively simple. Whether you have domain controllers, file and print servers, DNS/WINS servers, remote access/VPN servers, mail servers, Web servers or some or all of the above, your network users depend on your servers. Thus, you should follow basic server security practices from the beginning, regardless of your network's size. That means:

Placing the servers in a secure physical location (locked server room)
Restricting logon access to only those who need it (network administrators)
"Hardening" the server operating systems by disabling or removing unnecessary programs and services and tweaking security settings.

Expanding your management options

As the organization grows, so will the number of servers you have online. As organizations grow, they tend to scale out (horizontal scaling) to a distributed server model, by implementing server clusters or server "farms." This can be a more cost effective solution to performance and accessibility challenges than replacing existing small servers with more powerful machines, but it also increases management overhead. It's obviously more time consuming to manage a hundred small servers than one mainframe. However, it also offers advantages, such as the elimination of a single point of failure.

Another challenge is presented by the fact that you may have a variety of different server hardware. Standards such as SMASH (Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware), created by the Distributed Management Task Force, address this problem. SMASH makes it possible to manage different server types with the same script, using the Command Line Protocol (CLP).

Management of multiple servers is also made easier by tools such as Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS), HP's Openview, IBM�s Tivoli, CA�s Unicenter and Dell�s OpenManage. These software packages allow for centralized monitoring and management of servers across the network.

Remote management

As the number of servers on your network grows, they may also become more spread out geographically -- no longer are all of your server machines locked up together in a single room. You can no longer just go to the server room to perform management and maintenance tasks on all your servers. You need a way to manage them remotely.

Remote management software

There are a number of different options for remote management. Some of the administrative tools included with Windows server operating systems allow you to connect to and manage remote machines (for example, the Disk Management MMC, the Network Monitor and others). You can also install the administration tools for Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 on a workstation or member server on the network that will allow you to manage some of your servers� services. Some tools, such as the Remote Administration HTML tool, allow you to manage server services (in this case, IIS 6.0) remotely through a Web browser interface.

For full remote control over your servers, Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 computers have terminal services built in, with which administrators can connect to the server desktop and manage the server over the LAN or Internet. This is implemented as the remote administration mode of Windows Terminal Services in Windows 2000 Server and as Remote Desktop in Windows Server 2003.

Third-party remote administration software is also available. Radmin is a remote control program for Windows that is optimized to work over low bandwidth connections, such as with analog modems. TightVNC is a free open source package that�s available for both Windows and UNIX.

Hardware-based remote management

Another remote management option is KVM over IP. You're probably familiar with the humble Keyboard-Video-Mouse switch that installs in your server room and allows you to share the same input/output devices among several different servers by pressing a button on the front of the device. They save you money, since you don't have to buy a monitor and input peripheral for every server, and they save space in the often-cramped server room environment.

IP-enabled KVM switches give you even more flexibility. They're considerably more expensive, but they allow you to connect remotely to all of the servers to which they're connected, over any network that uses the TCP/IP protocols. The KVM switch has an IP address on the network and you use proprietary software or a Web browser to access it and control any of its attached servers.

Emergency remote management

Another Microsoft means of remotely managing your servers (under certain circumstances) is Emergency Management Services (EMS). It�s new to Windows Server 2003, and as the name implies, is designed not for routine management tasks but for emergency situations, especially when you can�t reach the server through the regular network connection because it�s gone down.

EMS uses out-of-band management (that is, it isn�t dependent on the Windows networking components, which don�t load until Windows starts). You do have to have hardware that supports out-of-band management, through a serial port, USB or IEEE 1394 (Firewire) connection, and the server�s BIOS has to support remote console redirection if you need to perform tasks prior to the booting of the operating system (such as running the recovery console or selecting the Last Known Good option).

The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a remote monitoring and management standard designed for situations in which normal remote management tools don�t work, such as when the operating system hangs or won�t boot. Through the command line or using scripts, you can recover from these types of situations without having to physically visit the server site.

Summary

Server management becomes more and more of a challenge as your organization grows, especially if you scale horizontally, adding more small servers, rather than scaling up. However, there are a number of tools that can help to make your life easier along the way. By utilizing them to full advantage, you can make the transition, all the way from single server office to full-blown data center, a lot smoother.

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