HP Offers New Software to Manage Linux on Blades

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has introduced new software designed to simplify the management of Linux on blade servers.

The HP Control Tower, which is based on technology the company acquired with the purchase of RLX, provides deployment and monitoring capabilities for HP BladeSystem environments and features a scalable interface that the company touts as easy to use.

"With our acquisition of RLX last year, HP continues to expand its enterprise management offerings for customers," said Rick Becker, vice president and general manager, BladeSystem Division, HP.

The new system in combination with HP Systems Insight Manager uses familiar open source tools, the company noted, resulting in simplified lifecycle management of blade servers running Linux.

Linux-Friendly Tools

HP Control Tower features include the following, according to the company:

• Set-up -- Less than 30 minutes are required to install and configure the management server, including its operating system, database, monitoring services and management application;
• Management -- An integrated package delivers hardware monitoring and deployment functions in one console. HP Control Tower uses a secure management network to ensure fast discovery, reliable monitoring and simplified remote management for HP BladeSystem, whether managing a single server blade or a thousand;
• Linux tools -- Open source tools familiar to Linux users are bundled together to deliver greater ease of use and integration.

Unified Infrastructure Management

"HP Control Tower allows customers to deploy and manage blades in a Linux-centric environment quicker and with greater ease than any other solution in the marketplace," claimed Becker.

HP Control Tower is a part of HP's unified infrastructure management software portfolio. Available as a stand-alone product, it can co-exist with HP Systems Insight Manager, which ships standard with all HP server and storage systems.

HP Systems Insight Manager addresses mixed platform and operating system environments, while HP Control Tower is an HP BladeSystem-specific and Linux-optimized management and deployment solution.

Supported operating systems for blade deployment and management are Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Server 2000 and 2003, Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) Enterprise Linux and Suse Linux Enterprise Server.

HP Control Tower is expected to be available in May for US$199 per license.