Edit: Some links no longer work.
Originally posted November 1, 2016 on AIXchange
Did you see this AIX EXTRA article about PowerSC?
“PowerSC 1.1.5 will bring us a new user interface that makes the security compliance aspect of the product significantly easier to manage. Many Power Systems clients need to adhere to different security compliance standards for their particular industry. Examples include COBIT, PCI, HIPAA, NERC, and DoD.
PowerSC, and previously aixpert, have always been great tools in managing compliance with these standards. They took the rules and requirements of the different standards and applied them to the AIX operating system, so you didn’t have to. But in order to manage these profiles, users had to log in and execute commands on each machine individually.”
The piece also mentions an IBM hosted trial period, which ended last week. I was among the users who took part in the trial, and while I can’t say a lot about it due to the confidentiality agreement I signed, I will tell you that I liked what I saw with PowerSC. I also like the direction IBM could be taking with this product.
The process to get access to the environment was very easy. We set up a mutually convenient time via email, and at that time we got on a shared screen session together. I was given control of the session, and I was asked about what I saw, what I liked and what I didn’t like. I performed tasks with the product so we could see how intuitive the process was.
After running the product through its paces, I provided my feedback. Again, I think you’ll like it once you get your hands on it. I imagine this new iteration with a GUI might make some of you more motivated to implement PowerSC in your environment.
I’d love to hear from anyone else who participated in the trial. I’m also curious if you knew about the trial before reading this. I previously tweeted about it (@robmcnelly), and so did @AIXmag. But I always wonder how you get your information, whether it’s from this blog, Twitter or the AIX EXTRA email newsletter.
And if you missed out on the trial, I hope you’ll take advantage of chances to test out other IBM products in the future. It’s a free opportunity to learn about tools that could really help you.