talk.bmc.com — Systems management isn't easy when things start to scale. Here's a great analogy for the complexity of scale. Sounds like systems management is about to get pretty interesting too, and that one of the traditional commercial players is about to jump head-first into some major technology disruption.
May 30, 2007 View in Crawl 4
asuraMay 30, 2007
Thanks for putting that in a way us laypeople understand!So is BMC going to provide you with a Veyron for your live presentations?
whurleyMay 30, 2007
You're welcome, and I'll have to check on the Bugatti...that wouldn't be a bad perk ;)
fn24950May 30, 2007
I too like the analogy.
folson19May 30, 2007
The Bugatti story "drives" your point home about the challenges of scale with system management. I look forward to more details around open source systems management and the Big Four.
Closed AccountMay 30, 2007
WTF does this have to do with Halo 3?This is digg, people.
m0b1u5May 30, 2007
This is not "a principle". The analogy is weak at best, and disingenuous at worst. You can't compare scaling of PCs against the scaling of velocity: the resistance encountered by velocity is far greater than scaling PC systems. You could double your PC numbers and create 2.2 times the amount of work required, whereas the Veyron requires hundreds and hundreds of percent extra to double its speed.It's also a really poor example because the Veyron is the world's Best Value Car. It has nothing to do with "The Market" - as VW lose 4.15 million pounds sterling each and every time they sell one. It is a technological showcase, and is designed to do nothing except show VWs engineering prowess, and snatch the "fastest" title for the foreseeable future (However, Gembala is hoping to top 253 in their version of the Carrera GT). As such, it's fairly nonsensical to talk about "scaling" as it applies to the car.I think you laboured your points too hard, and could have found a better way to explain the situation.
somacowgeoffMay 30, 2007
I am your test market. I have no idea about the complexities of systems management, and yet your article did a phenomenal job in imparting the difficulties inherent in high end development/scaling an operation. I intend to employ the reasoning for our podcast network. Sometimes the big leap isn't worth the expended energy, and sometimes having the megatype is simply not practical. Thanks! And maybe m zero b one u five can provide us with a better analogy. Tick. Tick. Tick.
alexturnerJun 12, 2007
I like the post. I would agree. I would go further though. The really hard thing is not making the software to manage huge systems. The hard bit is putting together the team, knowledge and corporate culture to do it. The big guys could give away they software (and in the reality of a lot of deal - do!) and still make a mint from installation, support or managed services.