1. An Introduction to IBM Systems Director
Jason Nikolai Dakota State University

2. Objectives After this presentation, students will… 1 2 3 4
Recognize the value of IBM Systems Director 1
Understand the architecture of IBM Systems Director 2
Be familiar with Advanced Managers 3
Be able to perform basic IBM Systems Director tasks 4

3. IBM Systems Director Overview
IBM Systems Director is a tool that…
provides administrators with a single-point-of-control to reduce IT management complexity and cost
supports cross platform management (for example: system discovery, inventory, health, maintenance updates, configuration, automation, and remote control)
enables monitoring and event management across heterogeneous IT environments from a single browser-based user interface
reduces operational complexity and provides a view of the relationships and health status of IT systems
unifies the management of servers, storage and network devices with a consistent look and feel for common management tasks
helps automate data center operations
uses industry standards to manage physical and virtual systems running multiple operating systems

4. IBM Systems Director Value
Data centers are able to monitor and manage different systems from a single console
Day to day operations can be automated and system events can trigger an action
For example, if a system is no longer available, IBM Systems Director can send to notify of the status change
Advanced data center functions are available using Advanced Manager plug-ins that can manage virtualization technology, manage power usage, update systems, etc.

5. IBM Systems Director Architecture
IBM Systems Director is composed of two primary components
IBM Director Server
Managed End Points
IBM Systems Director Server is installed on the system that is to become the management server
Managed end points are systems that are monitored and managed by IBM Systems Director server
The managed end points have different agents installed

6. IBM Systems Director Architecture
Managed End Points Agents
Agentless-managed system
Must at a minimum support either Secure Shell (SSH), Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Function supported:
Discover systems
Collect limited operating-system inventory data
Remotely deploy and install Platform Agent
Remotely deploy and install Common Agent
Perform limited remote access
Perform limited restart capabilities

7. IBM Systems Director Architecture
Managed End Points Agents
Platform Agent
Platform Agent is installed on managed systems where the smallest agent footprint is critical and management requirements are fairly simple
Function supported:
Discover systems
Collect limited platform inventory data
Monitor health and status
Manage alerts
Remotely deploy and install Common Agent
Perform limited remote access
Perform limited restart capabilities

8. IBM Systems Director Architecture
Managed End Points Agents
Common Agent
Common Agent is the full-function management agent designed to provide comprehensive systems management capabilities
After Common Agent is installed on an endpoint, additional agent-side plug-ins can be installed to add advanced management functionality to the endpoint
Common agent includes Platform agent

9. Component Depiction

10. Advanced Managers Active Energy Manager Network Control
an extension of IBM Director that manages the power and thermal needs of IBM servers and BladeCenter systems
Network Control
provides facilities to discover, inventory, and monitor network devices, launch vendor applications for configuration of network devices, and see groups of network devices
Service and Support Manager
automatically monitors and collects hardware problem information and sends this information to IBM support.

11. Advanced Managers VMControl
manages workloads across multiple hardware platforms and virtualization environments from one location
Transition Manager for HP Systems Insight Manager
discovers systems that are being managed by HP Systems Insight Manager and helps transition to managing the systems in IBM Systems Director
PowerVM Workload Partitions Manager for AIX
a platform management solution that provides a centralized point of control for managing workload partitions (WPARs) across a collection of managed systems running AIX.

12. Basic Functions Discover Systems Collect Inventory
Discovery is the process by which IBM® Systems Director Server identifies and establishes connections with network-level resources that IBM Systems Director can manage, such as computers, switches, or printers.
Collect Inventory
Inventory collection is the process by which IBM Systems Director Server establishes connections with network-level resources, such as computers, switches, or printers, that have already been discovered and collects data about the hardware and software that is currently installed on those resources.
Monitor System Status and Health
IBM Systems Director automatically retrieves and displays the status of systems that have been discovered.

13. Discover Systems

14. Collect Inventory

15. View Inventory

16. Monitor System Status and Health

17. Student Lab (option 1)
Login to Lab Manager, like you have done for other labs.
Click the New Configuration… button at the top.
Select Windows Server 2008 as the Source
Select Span_1 as the Network.
Select DHCP at the IP Address Mode.
Click Ok. A new virtual machine should be created.
Click on the Configuration New for the new VM and select Deploy…
Click OK.
After the VM is deployed, open a console and login with Administrator and Password1! as the password.
Open Internet Explorer.
Click Tools->Internet Options
Click Security Tab->Local intranet and the Sites button
Under Add this website to the zone, enter 172.*.*.* and click Add. Then Close and OK.
Connect to IBM Systems Director Server with your VM using browser:
If you get a message box, check the box to not show again and Click ok
Click Continue to this website (not recommend)
Login using your last name (lowercase) with the password Password1!
Discover system (Note: it may have already been discovered, but run discovery anyway). What operating system is running on that system?
Collect inventory on system using user id Administrator and password Password1! How much system memory does that system have?
Examine the health of discovered systems by looking at all operating systems. Are there any problems detected?
Click around and learn about IBM Systems Director. You have administrative rights, so please be careful not to do destructive activities.

18. Student Lab (option 2)
Go to URL:
Click the + in the left panel next to IBM Systems Director V6.2.x
Click the + in the left panel next to Learning and Tutorials
Choose two or more tutorials and watch them.
Which tutorials did you watch? What did you learn about IBM Systems Director?

19. Checkpoint List three functions supported by IBM Systems Director
Students should be able to…
List three functions supported by IBM Systems Director
Identify the types of agents that are possible with IBM Director (excluding agentless).
List two Advanced Managers and give a brief description of the function provided.
Be able to discover systems, collect inventory, and monitor system status and health using IBM Systems Director.

20. Thank You !
Presentation Template source:

21. Learn More About the Product
Download it here:
Wiki Page:
Facebook Page:
Youtube Videos

22. References
Feisthammel, D., Bain, L., Engel, P., Nadgowda, S., Sahagun, J., & Watts, D. (2009). Implementing IBM Systems Director 6.1: IBM.
IBM Systems Director. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2010, from
IBM Systems Director v (n.d.). Retrieved July 25, 2010, from