Continuity Software, a provider of service availability risk management solutions, has released AvailabilityGuard/Cloud, a private cloud automated health check solution that†detects cross-domain configuration errors across all layers of IT—from application server to the database, virtual machine (VM), physical infrastructure, storage area network, network-attached storage, and clustering—to eliminate data loss and business downtime risks.
AvailabilityGuard/Cloud was created in response to the rapid rate at which organizations are deploying mission-critical applications in virtualized private clouds, and consequently the sharp rise in private cloud downtime and data-loss events.†While the benefits of virtualization are well known, managing a private cloud infrastructure often involves manually intensive processes that are prone to failure, often with an adverse effect on business service availability.
With limited visibility across private cloud infrastructure layers, IT organizations have been unable to detect problems ahead of time and prevent them from disrupting the business.†Even the most sophisticated IT organizations are learning that ensuring continuous service availability and data protection across their private cloud environment is easier said than done.
AvailabilityGuard/Cloud extends Continuity Software’s downtime and data loss risk detection capabilities from the traditional data center environment to the private cloud.†The solution enables users to automatically discover and eliminate vulnerabilities before they affect the business, by leveraging the Risk Discovery Engine coupled with the continually updated Risk Signature Knowledgebase of known and emerging private cloud configuration issues. AvailabilityGuard/Cloud provides up-to-date management reports with high-level summaries followed by supportive drill-down reporting.
“Constructing a private cloud, and then ensuring the availability of applications and data that run on that cloud, is a very difficult task,” says Jean S. Bozman, research vice president, IDC. “On the cloud, not being able to access applications and data has a highly negative impact on the business, as operational costs continue to climb until outages are repaired and resolved by IT staff. Many sites are learning the hard way that availability must be ‘built in’ from the beginning.†The longer the downtime, the greater the cost. Continuity Software”s AvailabilityGuard/Cloud directly addresses these issues by ensuring best practices through automation, and by finding vulnerabilities long before business impact.”