In O'Donnell's view, standards may help, particularly ones based on techniques like configuration management databases (CMDB), which have up to now left out storage gear. (See Storage Left Out of CMDB Loop.) Projects like the CMDB Federation, founded in 2006 by BMC, CA, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, and Microsoft, might contribute. But work appears to be slow and indecisive.
What's more, multiple attempts to standardize a universally acceptable management protocol for intersystem communication in any IT area have largely failed. While it would be great to have standards, it's not likely they'll happen anytime soon.
"It's almost like there is a conflict of interest for a supplier of data when it comes to providing a way to manage that data," says BladeLogic's Vaishnavi. When a vendor is trying to push its own data-handling equipment and software over others', he says, it's not likely to be ready to manage its competitors' offerings with the same level of efficiency.
It's also tough to get the kind of storage management functions required for automation into a general-purpose database. "Storage provides some unique challenges to automation of provisioning," says Michael Passe. "The fact is that there are different array vendors, and some arrays and their element managers lend themselves better to automation than others. [Then there is] the SAN switch side, which is often another element manager from the array. [It all adds] up to more complexity than is present in the server and network switch space, which makes automation harder."
For now, customers intent on having a tighter link between storage and IT automation may have to look to smaller players. Onaro, for instance, is committed to increasing storage visibility through its BladeLogic partnership. Opsware is also aiming to incorporate storage more closely in its solutions.
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