Production environments and reference clients
The power of the CM software distribution system can be increased significantly by setting up a proper production environment for it. By using the BMC Client Management - Software Distribution you can quickly upgrade thousands of managed devices across the entire enterprise. But equally you can cause trouble for many users, if your upgrade contains bugs or is incompatible with the existing operating environment. This section explains what to consider and how to do it.
In relation to IT systems, a production environment is a well defined set of hardware and software where all working parameters and operating procedures are well known, that is, documented and tested. One of the cardinal rules applying to such a production system is that changes are introduced in a carefully controlled manner whereby all applicable documentation, reports and procedures are kept up-to-date. In most cases it also means that changes are introduced only after careful evaluation, testing and certification to ensure the change does not adversely affect other parts of the overall system.
When focusing on the managed devices of the enterprise it means that a subset of the total number of devices are considered as being production devices. Production devices are kept under strong control and their operating parameters are well known. A partial list of the operating parameters for each device include:
- Location
- Hardware profile
- Software profile
- Operating status
- History of changes
- Usage pattern
To test and certify changes before they are rolled out in production a small laboratory is needed. It is in this laboratory environment that the device support engineers can safely manipulate and test new software applications, upgrades and configuration changes. Equally important is the ability to customize standard software before releasing it to the users. In most medium to large networks standard software is invariably preconfigured or customized to work smoothly with the company network and servers or to comply with company templates and other basic rules.