BMC AMI Console Management

Manage your mainframe anytime, anywhere in this “new normal”

Working remotely goes beyond the current crisis we’re living today. PTO time, inclement weather or just limiting office resources are all factors resulting in more mainframers working from home. But in doing so, several challenges come to mind.

First thing you may think of is security - how could you possibly allow consoles to be managed from an employee’s living room? Another concern might be the management of multiple consoles from a single laptop screen, or even a single monitor. Maybe you’re worried about a single point of failure and need multiple people to see the same consoles and share the workload.

How do you ensure your mainframe maintenance strategy reflects today’s anytime, anywhere lifestyle while still giving you the security and insight one is used to from the traditional office?

BMC AMI Console Management for zEnterprise^®

BMC AMI Console Management allows you to continue business as usual even while working from home. It provides remote access to your consoles so you can manage your systems—with full security wherever you connect.

• Superior Security - BMC AMI Console Management provides end-to-end security from the OSA card all the way to your browser.
• Increase Availability - Manage multiple LPARs through a consolidated viewer where groups of LPARs can be combined into a single display.
• Message Management - It is designed to work on small screens such as tablets, as well as large monitors, with features such as priority message area, search, find and scroll back, so messages can easily be managed. If needed, you can pop out a single console window to focus on a specific system.
• Knowledge Sharing - All these sessions can be shared across multiple users with all activity logged to address audit requirements. There is also a peer review capability to guard against critical commands being entered in error and allow for the empowerment of staff with critical knowledge sharing.

Drinking Our Own Champagne

BMC is just like any other organization who needs to ensure mainframe systems stay up and running at peak performance. So, when Hurricane Ike came through Houston in 2008 causing office closures and knocking our mainframe offline for days, we rebuilt to ensure we’d be ready for future issues. Fast forward to Hurricane Harvey in 2017, BMCs mainframe infrastructure carried on, business as usual, with operations staff working from home seamlessly managing BMC’s 80 LPARs remotely thanks to BMC AMI Console Management.