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Home  > Software Solutions > IC > Modules > IC-PreCog

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Zero VM downtime

IC-PreCog stands for zero downtime of your virtual IT infrastructure and highest availability of your services and applications.

Always ahead of a disaster

IC-PreCog uses all information of the data center and monitors VMware ESX / Citrix XenServer hardware via standard hardware and application monitoring tool interfaces like IBM Tivoli Monitoring along with data center monitoring tools (air-conditioning system, UPS). After having received the detection and evaluation of critical events by systems management solutions, IC-PreCog shifts affected virtual machines prematurely and automatically onto other ESX / XenServers. Even the entire virtual server farm can be moved to the backup data center – all that during operation!

Highest availability of services and applications

Thanks to its high compatibility to systems management solutions such as Hewlett Packard Openview, IBM Tivoli, IBM Director, Computer Associates' Unicenter or open source Nagios, IC-PreCog can initiates pre-defined chain reactions if the external, SNMP-based applications trigger an alarm. This applies for both the system management software and the use of a UPS.
This means that problems within the VMware ESX / Citrix XenServer environment and possible ESX / XenServer failures are responded to directly, quickly and effecively in critical situations. Comprehensive reporting via e-mail keeps the administrator up to date on the latest developments.

Server decoupling for maximum system security

What’s more, IC-PreCog masters the unique technique of PFA (predictive failure analysis). That means:in case of a problem concerning the physics of an ESX / XenServer – e.g. failure of a processor fan – IC-PreCog decouples the system from the ESX / XenServer by using VMotion/XenMotion technology – even during operation. IC-PreCog then ensures that the virtual machines are evacuated so that the user can still access his running systems despite failure of the real physical server.

Summary: virtual systems are no longer affected by critical conditions of the physical host unit.

Evacuation functions proactively.

In addition, IC PreCog can also provide extra hardware resources within the VMware ESX / Citrix XenServer farm if necessary by shutting down dedicated virtual machines that are not currently used in production (e.g. test machines). This makes it possible to provide enough capacity on the remaining VMware ESX / Citrix XenServers in the event of a disaster. A backup data center can also be integrated into the product. The virtual machines can then be moved here if necessary.

IC-PreCog in use

High availability is one of the primary aims for productive and permanently available systems. IC-PreCog can play an important part in achieving this aim, for instance:

• UPS
  

  A VMware ESX Server / Citrix XenServer is supplied with power solely via the UPS and only has a limited operating time available. IC PreCog can evacuate the affected virtual machines on this host to ESX / XenServers that have not been impacted, thereby guaranteeing continuous availability (zero VM downtime) for the guest systems. What’s more, non-critical guest systems can be shut down in order to free up resources.

• Environmental influences
  

  System management solutions register problems occurring in the VMware ESX / XenServer environment. This can range from overheating due to defective fans to failures/malfunctions in the climate control settings for the whole room. Using this data, IC PreCog can transfer guest systems from impacted areas to systems which have not been affected in order to eliminate failures in advance.

• Backup data centers
  

  If a negative event impacts an entire data center (power supply, fire, etc.), IC PreCog can ensure that all of the systems are evacuated to an alternate data center. In effect, this decouples entire virtual landscapes from their physical locations in order to ensure maximum fault tolerance for the guest systems.