Best Practices in Data Center and Server Consolidation Mike Chuba John Phelps
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This presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other authorized recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. © 2010 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
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Consolidation Is More Than Virtualization Rationalization
IT Consolidation
Server Storage Network Application Data
Physical (Data Center)
Logical (Management)
Physical (Data Center) Consolidation Types • Mergers/acquisitions • Moving server closets to central data center • Closing departmental server rooms • Utility model to save money
Key Benefits and Drivers • • • • • • • •
Economies of scale Better service Agility to handle changing environments Better security Departments relieved of IT burden Help remove IT from business politics Improved skill base for support Modernize data centers as consolidate
Major Considerations • • • •
Number of data centers Site selection Moving the data center Closing down old data center
Aging Data Centers How old is your newest Data Center?
How old is your oldest Data Center?
2009 2010
Polling Question #1 How many Data Centers do you currently have? (do not count server closets and remote communication servers) 1 – One 2 – Two 3 – Three 4 – Four 5 – Five or greater
How Many Data Centers Should I Have? Considerations • Network Latency
How many data centers do you have?
• Organizational Reach - Global - National - Local
•
High Availability - Scope of possible disaster - Two — close for peer-to-peer - Three — two close and one distant
•
Business Logistics Considerations
•
Requirements to Keep Certain Data in Country
Polling Question #2 Relative to the first question “How many Data Centers do you think you will have in three years?” (do not count server closets and remote communication servers) 1 – More 2 – The same number 3 – Less
Emerging Design Trends • Build small, build often • Build for density • Scale vertically, then horizontally • Build (and rebuild) pods • Build density zones • Consider multitiered designs • Use free air, and reuse heat • Design for the unknown
Moving a Data Center •
Develop comprehensive business case.
•
Create multifunctional project team.
DR site as intermediate site
•
Have a detailed employee/management communication plan.
Big bang move
•
Complete site and building selection process.
•
Develop a detailed equipment/applications inventory.
•
Determine equipment replacement versus relocation.
•
Complete a detailed engineering plan and space design for the new facility.
•
Build a detailed move plan: - Equipment move sequence - Backup operations during the move - Access to site for movers - Limiting factors and bottlenecks in building facilities - Local regulations impact - Installation and testing schedule
•
Conduct a post-move and project audit.
Determine Move Type
Application by application – New hardware – Rolling hardware
Closing an Old Data Center Organizations doing data center consolidation may need to close one or more data centers. Done properly, decommissioning a facility can yield substantial cost savings; done wrong, much of the savings may be deferred or lost. Areas of Concern •
Staff and Organization
•
Physical Site Disposition
•
Equipment Disposal
•
Hardware/Software Licenses
•
Suppliers
•
Outsourced Services
•
Actual close down of site: - Lock-up/security - Confidential waste - Hazardous waste
Server Consolidation Projects — Eight Big Myths • The bigger and fewer servers you can consolidate to, the better. • The more you consolidate, the better . • Consolidation implies rationalization to a single vendor. • All workloads now virtualize equally. • Server consolidation will yield large TCO savings. • Consolidated servers run just like before, only on fewer physical servers. • Once the server consolidation project is done, you're done. • If you haven't consolidated yet, don't worry — cloud will make it all go away.
The Five Fears of Server Consolidation Most are real concerns that need to be addressed early on 9 Fear of Loss of Control - Unique updates needed - Forced march on version upgrade
9 Fear of Higher Costs - Shared costs mean concern for fairness - Possible variable costs (volatility and harder planning)
9 Fear of Lower Service Levels - Impact of other workloads on their performance - Impact on stability
9 Fear of Loss of Server Access - Mainly emotional - Is access needed or wanted?
9 Fear of Loss of Power and Prestige - Mainly political
A clear understanding of benefits helps remove concerns.
Big Server Consolidation Projects — Do Your Homework — the Devil Is in the Details Hardware configurations - How many variations? - How many vendors? - Life cycle status?
Operating Systems - Single or multiple OSs? - Migration plans? - What versions/release levels?
Subsystems/applications - Similar products winners and losers - Contracts?
Lockdown windows Political biases Chargeback methodologies
Server Consolidation Projects — Spring Cleaning Don't consolidate what you don't need Does the business require the application? What are the implications for our - Hardware maintenance contracts - BC/DR agreements/plans - Software licenses
Polling Question #3 What is the biggest gating factor to doing any more server consolidation? 1 – Internal politics 2 – tools and Technology 3 – Diminishing returns 4 – Software licensing/pricing 5 – Up front costs of new hardware
Polling Question #4 How far along is your organization in achieving the optimal server consolidation level for your company? 1 – We have not started any server consolidation 2 – We are less than 20% consolidated 3 – We more than 20% but less than 50% consolidated 4 – More than halfway home 5 – We are finished and expect to do no more consolidation projects
Establish Practices and Procedures for Ongoing Consolidation Fixing the past does not necessarily fix the future. 9 Understand that virtualization will become the standard operating environment. 9 Ensure that the design of new applications will allow them to run in a consolidated environment from the beginning. 9 Use the ability to run in a consolidated environment as a decision factor for selection of new application packages 9 Install standard, controlled methods for implementation of virtual servers to protect from virtual server sprawl.
The Ripple Effect of Good Server Consolidation Easier System Enhanced Application Administration Availability and Performance Greater IT Flexibility
Enabling Storage Consolidation
Lower TCO Fewer Help Desk Calls
Enhanced Disaster Recovery
Better Network Management
Improved Database Administration
Recommendations 9 Start with logical and physical consolidation before attempting rationalization. 9 Clearly understand objectives for server consolidation, and design simple and clear metrics that match objectives to measure success. 9 Perform comprehensive preplanning and research. 9 Work on identifying and handling internal political problems before they start to affect your consolidation project. 9 Create project sponsors at all levels, including senior management. 9 Do not add to the consolidation project scope in the middle of the project as it will add to time and may lower ROI. 9 Do not rush the project, and put contingency time into the plan. 9 Establish good communication with all levels and use input from users. 9 Re-evaluate progress at each milestone and check assumptions. 9 Document lessons learned to aid future projects. 9 While virtualization is not the "cure all" for server consolidation, it should be a major part of a consolidation project.
Related Gartner Research Î Data Center Facility Location Selection Criteria John R. Phelps (G00170643) Î How to Close a Data Center Bill Malik and David Cappuccio (G00166795) Î A Checklist for Data Center Relocation David Cappuccio and John R. Phelps (G00170738) Î Major Fallacies of Server Consolidation Projects Exposed John R. Phelps and Mike Chuba (G00205515) Î Avoiding the 10 Pitfalls That Can Derail a Server Consolidation Project John R. Phelps and Mike Chuba (G00205230) For more information, stop by Gartner Solution Central or e-mail us at
[email protected].
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