Opsware Locks Down Server Changes with SolidCore

Published: July 18, 2007

by Alex Woodie

SolidCore, a developer of real-time configuration management software, has entered into a partnership with systems management software developer Opsware that will see Opsware reselling SolidCore's S3 Control change control software, which continually looks for changes in servers, databases, applications, and network devices, and even has the capacity to block unauthorized changes from occurring.

If your server goes down, do you have the capability to see what change likely precipitated the event? If you're running SolidCore's S3 Control collection of real-time change control software, you not only have a log that will pinpoint which change caused the crash, how the change was made, and who made it, but you can even instruct the system to prevent any unauthorized changes from occurring in the first place.

That is the gist of SolidCore's new partnership with Opsware, a rapidly expanding purveyor of tools for automating the monitoring, management, and remediation of data centers, including the servers and network devices. As part of the deal with SolidCore, Opsware customers will be offered the capability to lock down a server so that only changes originating from Opsware's Server Automation System can be allowed to occur.

Opsware excels at performing scans, audits, and remediating problems that have already occurred, says Bob Vieraitis, vice president of marketing for SolidCore. But administrators can't monitor everything with the software, and they can't lock down servers 100 percent. "Opsware is great when it can automate all change in their environment, but what they find is they still have ad hoc change going on," he says.

SolidCore's flagship product, called S3 Control, runs on Windows server platforms and can monitor changes occurring across a variety of systems, including Windows, Unix, and Linux, as well as databases and network devices. The software is often used as part of Sarbanes-Oxley and PCI remediation projects, and has been used as part of ITIL best-practices projects

S3 Control can enforce configuration policies in one of three ways, including allowing changes only during certain time windows, allowing changes only when accompanied by a change ticket (such as BMC's Remedy help desk software), or through Opsware's Server Automation System.

SolidCore was founded in 2003, is based in Palo Alto, California, and has about 100 customers, including WebEx, Restoration Hardware, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The partnership with Opsware was driven by the needs of about 15 to 20 joint customers requiring heightened control over their critical systems, Vieraitis says.

SolidCore has also been approached by customers interested in using S3 Control to lock down other systems, such as the AS/400 (now called iSeries, i5, or System i--take your pick) and VMS, he says. The company is considering supporting those platforms, which are still in widespread use.

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