Cisco Cisco Tidal Enterprise Adapter for zLinux Data Sheet

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For example, consider that a automated workload requires a dedicated machine with a unique configuration of

CPU, memory, and applications only four times a year to produce quarterly tax reports. If this machine is

virtualized the necessary cores can remain powered off until the job schedule demands it. Knowing when to

power a VM on or off or when to take a snapshot for checkpoint backups is the job of a scheduler. Automating

this task within the context of the larger business workload environment is an important capability provided by

this solution.

Features and Benefits

Cisco Workload Automation Adapter for VMware provides easy-to-use graphical views that allow administrators

to bring the scheduling of VM operations into the Cisco Workload Automation framework through a

straightforward process. With the adapter, users have a unified view of an entire schedule, regardless of

environment.

VMware customers will find that this adapter is specifically designed to meet their service delivery needs.

Specific features that automate VMware operations include the following:

Ability to Schedule ESX Actions within Cisco Workload Automation - Users can automate the scheduling of

power on/off, snapshot, and configuration actions within the ESX hypervisor. This eliminates the need to

manually perform ESX actions as business conditions and workloads change. This automation significantly

reduces processing errors and “swivel-chair” management.

Trigger Actions Based upon Power and Performance Data from ESX - Both ESX processes and business

application jobs can be triggered by power state and performance data; operations such as keeping a rogue VM

offline; running an application workload when resources are available; or running an ERP job when a VM is

turned on. This allows resources such as servers, applications, operating systems (OS), databases, and VMs to

be managed for maximum efficiency.

Integration with vCenter for Workload Automation - Connection to vCenter enables Workload Automation to

manage key tasks such as VM cloning, and cold, hot, and storage migration. With vCenter/Workload

Automation integration, users can automate and orchestrate cross-ESX server tasks that make it possible to

better manage resources based on workload context and need. This capability increases workload efficiency,

because resource availability can be automated and directly applied to critical job schedules. Manual operations

and outages can be minimized by allowing the scheduler to control which VMs are at which resource state for a

particular job run.