Edit: I still love live demos that I can play with vs Youtube videos
Originally posted May 30, 2017 on AIXchange
Recently I was shown a link to the IBM Spectrum Protect Live Demo, and I thought I’d tell you about my experience with it.
The statement on the landing page sums it up well:
Anyone can be a data protection expert by using the Operations Center!
Even with thousands of systems, virtual machines, and applications over multiple sites, you can quickly verify that your data is protected and identify any trouble spots.
You can follow the task scenarios that are provided or explore the sample environment on your own.
Not all product capabilities are included. If you explore beyond the provided scenarios, some tasks might not complete or might be disabled.
Note that the login information (administrator name and password) are provided on the landing page. You should be able to access the site with a click.
On the right side of your screen, if you click on the icon next to the Guided Demo heading, you’ll learn about the demo itself:
This demonstration features a live IBM Spectrum Protect environment (formerly the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager product family). The demo includes sample data for three backup servers running in a virtual environment.
For best results, use one of the following web browsers on a Windows system to view the demo:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 or 11
Mozilla Firefox ESR 24 or later
Ensure that your screen resolution is set to a minimum of 1680 x 1050 pixels.
Tip: The layout of the Operations Center automatically adjusts to fit the available space. If the demo instructions and images don’t match what you’re seeing, zoom out as needed (Ctrl + – in most browsers).
You can choose from basic tasks that provide details about what you should expect from the demo. You’ll see how to use the dashboard, how to add a client, how to manage your workflow, and how to customize views.
Of course this information is helpful, but as someone who learns by doing, I like to jump in and click around so I can see how intuitive the interface is. I immediately noticed a listing of the number of clients, applications, virtual machines, systems, services alerts and activity along the left side of the screen. Information about servers, storage and data availability was on the right side.
There are multiple areas you can explore, and different scenarios to try. With the enhanced HMC, along with interfaces to the XIV and Storwize systems, IBM has made substantial efforts to help administrators manage their hardware more easily.
I like what I see, and I’d love to see other demo versions of software so we can get used to the look and feel of other products.