Austin, Texas-based Tivoli Systems Inc used the UniForum show in San Francisco last week to announce a new version of its systems management software. The Tivoli Management Environment Release 1.6 adds configuration and change management services to the software, and is claimed to simplify and automate the process of setting up, maintaining and changing large-scale client-server networks, a task that often takes up over half of a system manager’s time, according to the company. The new services have three components: a configuration definition database component, where templates of key configuration information can be stored; a change automation component for making changes to large numbers of networks automatically; and a scheduling services component to control the timing of the changes. The first application to use the services is Tivoli/FSM, which manages Unix client-server file sharing mechanisms from a central control point. Release 1.6 can also incorporate existing Tivoli applications covering software distribution and remote systems monitoring, and application extension and development tools are also available. The software will be available on Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems Inc workstations from the third quarter of the year, the company says, but it gave no indication of the price for it.
