I’ve read or seen several items lately that are related to using pixel- or grid-based design for arts and crafts. It seems like pixel-based art is everywhere. Take a look at some drawings done in Excel, and if you like, buy the new book, 58 days worth of Excel drawings.
My personal favorite is this Mario quilt, posted on craftster.org. What a great project and accomplishment.
So what does pixel-based art have to do with service impact? I’ve been reading about and learning about BMC Service Impact Manager and trying to see how the dots connect to the CMBD and our BMC Topology Discovery product, which doesn’t require agents for discovery. Super Mario isn’t jumping out of any of the topology diagrams I’m seeing, but I completely understand why sometimes you need the larger diagram as well as an overview diagram so that you can troubleshoot a problem with a complex SAP installation.
The BMC Topology Discovery product has an Expert Extension for SAP. With it, you can automatically discover the applications deployed in each SAP ID, including the logical and physical infrastructure. Don’t build these models by hand, let an automatic discovery tool find the connections for you. Plus, changes are detected and updates made immediately.
I doubt that any art projects will come of topology maps, but if you see any interesting graphical patterns, please do share!