DEVOPSdigest

SMA Technologies announced OpCon 19.1, the latest version of its workload automation platform.

As IT initiatives rapidly grow and mature, the need for increased flexibility, value and speed will drive the transition of workload mobility and DevOps efforts from large and monolithic applications into containerized microservices that run on hybrid cloud infrastructure, all to simplify complex IT environments.

OpCon 19.1, available now, incorporates several crucial enhancements to ease the transition into a primarily cloud-based environment for IT management, providing an unparalleled user experience rooted in simplicity, agility and efficiency.

"Automation is the backbone of almost every organization's major IT initiatives because it is the only option to reach efficiency at scale. The quest for flexibility, value, and speed is driving both workload mobility and DevOps efforts to transform large and monolithic applications into containerized microservices," explained Ben Demaree, Director of Product Management, SMA Technologies. "These services are running on hybrid cloud infrastructure that leverages Docker, Kubernetes, and Openshift technologies. SMA Technologies is helping simplify IT administration by containerizing OpCon, our workload automation platform."

New features include:

■ Increased speed and ease with Docker containers on Linux: OpCon 19.1 is now available on Linux and Windows servers using a Docker container, which provides clients with increased flexibility across environments, including Windows, Linux, Kubernetes and Openshift. Additionally, OpCon 19.1 allows clients to improve resource usage, increase security and consistently reproduce multiple images without degradation.

■ Refinements to Solution Manager: OpCon 19.1 introduces two new functionalities:
- Edit Daily screen, which enhances user control to monitor operations and modify jobs as needed from any device, while enhancing the interface to increase user-friendliness, minimize accidental updates and reduce clutter.
- A Schedule Build screen, improving the management of workflows while reducing the number of end users requiring access to the Enterprise Manager.

■ Updates to Change Management Model: The 19.1 release continues to improve on the change management module, Deploy, which debuted in version 18.3. OpCon Deploy features cross-release support, simplifying schedule deployment across all supported releases, which includes OpCon 18.3, 19.0 and 19.1.

■ Three enhancements were made in 19.1: an added summary screen that compiles all Transformation Rules applied to a deployment, proactive concealment of transformation rules not supported for that deployment and added validations aimed at improving accuracy across properties.

■ Support for Windows Server 2019: This upgrade to Windows Server 2019 support future-proofs OpCon for your enterprise.

■ SMA Innovation Lab: Along with an updated OpCon 19.1, SMA Technologies is introducing its Innovation Lab, a GitHub repository for connectors, utilities and scripts that will provide clients the opportunity to interact and share their solutions to encourage continued growth.