Komodo Launches Hosted Splunk Service for IBM i

IBM i shops that would like to start using Splunk to analyze their log data, but don’t want the hassle of setting Splunk up themselves, have a new option available to them. Last month Komodo Cloud announced that it’s now offering a cloud-based analytics service designed specifically using Splunk with IBM i-generated data.

Over the past decade, Splunk has developed a solid reputation for its capability to analyze big data generated by machines. Its NoSQL-based software does the hard work of capturing, indexing, and correlating vast amounts of semi-structured data generated by servers, applications, network devices, mobile devices, and practically anything else that can generate a data stream.

Splunk customers get insights into the state of their IT infrastructure and applications, as told by the data, via Web-based interfaces that are updated continuously, as well as through Splunk’s search processing language (SPL). This capability to analyze terabytes worth of log data in ways that traditional business intelligence software cannot has attracted more than 10,000 customers to Splunk.

But Splunk Enterprise deployments are not always simple to run. Organizations may have a need for Splunk in their IT departments, but don’t want the hassle of day-to-day management, may be interested in the Splunk management service offered by Komodo Cloud. The company, which is based near Los Angeles, California, does the hard work of managing the Splunk environment, leaving customers free to manage their other assets.

In mid-October Komodo Cloud announced that it formed a partnership with EView, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based company that develops software that allows IBM i and z/OS servers to be administered with enterprise operations management consoles from companies like Microsoft or Hewlett-Packard.

EView developed a product that streamlines the IBM i-to-Splunk connectivity. Called EView/400i Insight for Splunk, the product pushes a variety of IBM i data to Splunk, including messages from the operating system, the message queue, the system audit journal, history logs, system performance data, and custom data sets. EView develops a similar product for the mainframe.

As a result of the partnership, Komodo Cloud is now able to utilize the EView products to access log data from those servers. This will make it easier for IBM i and mainframe customers to utilize its hosted Splunk service, says Kathleen Short, partner development manager for Komodo Cloud. “While Splunk products, which Komodo Cloud provides as services, support numerous IT platforms natively, Splunk does not include inputs from IBM iSeries nor IBM zSeries,” Short says in an email to IT Jungle.

“With EView/400i Insight integrated into Splunk, enterprises have an end-to-end view of the IT infrastructure to include the IBM iSeries (AS/400) environment data,” the company writes. “This combination enables the ability to control all data through a single, easy-to-use interface, and integrate and automate processes for better security, compliance, and log analysis.”

According to EView, its data collection software was designed to ensure there is no burden placed on the IBM i server. If the network connection between the IBM i host and the Splunk analysis server is down, the EView agent software on the IBM i automatically buffers the log data to prevent data being lost.

“By taking the workload off the IBM systems for formatting and logging of data, EView Insight frees up valuable resources and ensures no data is ever lost,” the company says. “This information is then seamlessly handled by the Splunk Forwarder to the Splunk Indexer to where it can be displayed on the Splunk Enterprise console.”

The partnership between EView and Komodo Cloud represents an opportunity to help IBM i and mainframe customers, says EView President Trent Gregory. “Throughout our history, EView’s focus has been on solutions that integrate mission-critical IBM environments into the leading IT platforms,” he says. “For large enterprises, these systems represent some of the richest and most important log data available in hosting mission-critical applications.”

Pricing for the EView software is tier-based; a license for P20 costs $4,000, and annual support and maintenance is 20 percent. For more information on the Komodo Cloud and EView, see the company’s websites at www.komodocloud.com and www.eview-tech.com.

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