Intelligent Self-Management

FlexFrame is an intelligent system that has been designed to identify problems at an early stage and to take proactive corrective action. It is a practical realisation of autonomic computing, being self-configuring, self-optimising, self-healing and self-protecting.

Self-configuration

FlexFrame uses one centrally-stored operating system that is booted over the network. It is intelligently implemented so that it supports the entire PRIMERGY range - from the blade server up to the eight-processor high-end server - without requiring any manual configuration. The operating system is automatically configured for the appropriate server as it is booted.

Self-optimisation

One example of the self-optimising capacities of FlexFrame is the Write Anywhere File System (WAFL) which is used in the Network Appliance filers. The storage system uses WAFL to automatically distribute the data across the available hard disks, without requiring any tuning.

Self-healing

FlexFrame has a built-in a self-healing system. It can restart faulty SAP processes or fall back on backup servers. The system's built-in intelligence even realises its own limits, and in exceptional situations, is able to call for outside assistance from human users.

Self-protection

Because the SAP software, the operating system and the hardware are entirely separated from one another (ie virtualised), FlexFrame can start any module using any available server. This is a key requirement for built-in high accessibility.