Microsoft continues its assault on cloud market leader Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), with the introduction of a tool that allows you to manage resources in any type of cloud, including AWS.
Microsoft Operations Management Suite (OMS), along with many other products, was unveiled last Wednesday at the Chicago-based Ignite show.
Microsoft was clear about who it was targeting with the new management tool, just as it did with SQL Azure Data Warehouse, which it recently positioned as an alternative to Amazon Redshift.
The product’s Web page states that it gives you control over any hybrid cloud. Our cloud IT management software is cost-effective and all-in-one.
Jeremy Winter, a Microsoft executive, discussed the theme in a blog post last Wednesday.
[Click on the image to see a larger version.] Microsoft Operations Management Suite (source : Microsoft) “OMS extends you System Center investments and simplifies management of your datacenter assets where they live,” Winter stated. This means that any instance can be found in any cloud, including your Azure, AWS Windows Server, Linux and VMware. It also comes at a lower price than comparable solutions. OMS uses a cloud-first approach for managing your enterprise. This allows you to quickly and economically address new business challenges, accommodate new workloads, apps, and cloud environments.
Amazon provides the AWS Management console and a companion mobile application. There are many third-party options, including RightScale and SCALR. These and many other options are discussed in the Quora discussion, “What is Amazon’s best AWS management tool?”
Despite these options, Winter stated that Microsoft created the tool to address customer feedback. Customers are faced with increasing difficulty maintaining system stability in an era of agile development teams, scattered datacenter assets, and physical on-premises systems.
The new tool’s capabilities are focused on log analytics, automation and availability, as well as security.
Microsoft claimed that the tool is built on an analytics platform. OMS allows users to collect, store, and analyze data from any source. This data can be used to guide real-time operational Intelligence decisions.
Improved troubleshooting functionality allows users to quickly search through historical and real-time machine data to find and fix problems.
Automation allows users to offload repetitive and manual tasks to the machine. It also allows admins to “create, monitor and manage resources in your hybrid cloud ecosystem using runbooks, which are based on Windows PowerShell workflows,” according to the company. OMS provides backups and integrated recovery for all servers, applications, and devices, no matter where they may be.
Security measures can be used to identify malware status, collect information on security events, and perform forensics including audit and breach analysis. Microsoft announced that patch management will soon be available.
Winter stated that these initial capabilities will be enhanced.
“Are we done?” He asked. “Not even close. As we improve both our cloud-based and on-premises capabilities, we will continue to iterate with you. We have already started to innovate in areas such as cloud-based patching and inventory management, alerting, container management, and other areas.
Here are the pricing details, broken down into operational insights, backup and site recovery, as well as information about automation.
