Centralized Management

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Discussion

Centralized Management concentrates management authority, management decisions, and management coordination within one logically unified management capability.

The managed subjects can reside across multiple:

Geographic locationsNetwork zonesDeployment TargetsSecurity DomainsInfrastructure EnvironmentsDistributed EnvironmentsCentralized Management provides a common point of management authority without requiring every managed subject to reside within one physical location or one computer.

The centralized management capability performs or coordinates management functions such as:

Identifying managed subjectsReceiving management requestsAuthorizing management operationsDirecting management operationsMonitoring operation statusCollecting management resultsRecording management activityPresenting management informationCentralized Management differs from a Centralized System:

Centralized Management describes the concentration of management authority and coordinationA Centralized System describes the concentration of primary system control, processing, authoritative state, or servicesA Distributed System or Distributed Environment can operate under Centralized Management without becoming a Centralized System.

Centralized Management does not require one physical user interface. Multiple Management Interfaces can access the same logically unified management authority.

Definition

management in which authority, decisions, and coordination are concentrated within one logically unified management capability

Source

DIDO Reference Architecture, Network Topology TaxonomyDido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.

Note

Centralized Management identifies the organization of management authority rather than the physical location of management components.

The components that implement Centralized Management can use redundancy, replication, failover, or distribution while presenting one logically unified management authority.

The governing architecture determines:

Managed subjectsManagement functionsManagement authorityAuthorized actorsManagement interfacesCommunication mechanismsRequired recordsFailure-handling behaviorThe term does not prescribe a web application, command-line interface, database, message broker, cloud service, network protocol, or deployment platform.

Example

Crucible provides Centralized Management of Infrastructure Environments deployed across multiple locations.

Administrators use a command-line interface and a web management application to access the same management authority. Crucible identifies the target environment, directs the requested operation, collects the result, and records the management activity.

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