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Green DC TransformationThrough Optimisation– Best PracticesM. GowthamanDirector, Professional and Engineering Services

Green DC Transformation through OptimisationAgenda Green DC Transformation – Business Drivers Green DC Transformation – Technologies DC Consolidation / Virtualisation Methodologies Managing the Consolidated DC

Green DC Transformation: Business DriversMarket Trends– Reduced time to market– Demand for greater business flexibility– Rising cost of platforms– Drive for operational efficiencies– Core versus context (smart-sourcing is a key trend)– IT optimisation is now a business process enabler

Green DC Transformation: Business DriversCustomer Challenges– Complex infrastructure: too much infrastructure, poorlyutilised, varying standards– High value problems: legacy platforms, high costs,specialised resources– Business strategy: leveraging infrastructure forbusiness change– Innovation: willingness to do things differently to achievebusiness objectives– Move away from Victorian engineering principles:designing systems not to the maximum but on demand

Green DC Transformation: Business DriversConcerns that CIOs have about IT needsManaging theincreasingcost of energyMinimisingloss ofenergy andROIRunningout ofpowerRunningout ofspaceAchieving businesssustainabilityRunningout ofcoolingAdhering toenvironmentallaws andimproving thecompany image

Green DC Transformation: Business DriversWhy Need a Green Data Centre Data centres consume 1.5% of all electricity in 2006 and growingat 12% annually– Department of Energy– If IT were an industry, it would be approaching the top five energyconsumersData centres forecasted to surpass airlines in terms of CO2emissions by 2020 due to energy consumed – McKinsey & Co. 2008– Can you say “threat of regulation”?Data centre power demands have doubled in last five years and76% growth is predicted between 2005 and 2010 – IDCThree year cost of powering and cooling a typical server is now1.5x the purchase cost of the hardware – Uptime Institute 2007Energy costs are 15-20% of IT’s operating expenses – Dave Ohara,Microsoft 200750% of data centres will have insufficient power and coolingcapacity by 2008 – Gartner 200670% of Global 1000 will need to significantly change their datacentres in the next five years to meet current and future energyneeds – Gartner 2007

Green DC Transformation through OptimisationWhat can I do?Who can help?Unuseful redundancies?Silos?Billing?Utilisation rate?Usage resource monitoring?Virtualisation?Energy efficient hardware?Local cooling?IT equipmentHumidity?Heat removal?Power/performance oriented?FacilitiesPower Monitoring?How is energy used?Lighting?Which type of equipment?Capping?How is billing done?Thermal monitoring?Old, expensive?Consolidation?DCiE?Location?Data centre assessment: Ask effective questionsWhich tier am I?Air flow?Space?Power distribution?Water cooling?

Green DC Transformation through Optimisation– Solution DefinedSolutionDesign, Build and Manage Consolidated / VirtualisedGREEN DCDC FacilityInfrastructureDC ITInfrastructure

Green DC Transformation through OptimisationGreen Data Centre – DefinedA green data centre is defined as adata centre in which the mechanical,lighting, electrical and computersystems are designed for maximumenergy efficiency and minimumenvironmental impact.

Green DC Transformation through OptimisationJourney towards the Green data centreIT Infrastructure EnergyEfficiency StrategyConsolidate manycentres into fewerReduce infrastructurecomplexityImprove facilitiesmanagementReduce stuffingrequirementsImprove businessresilience (managefewer things better)Improve operationalcostsMigrate many applications into fewerimagesRemove physicalresourceboundariesSimplify IT environmentIncrease a hardwareutilisationConsolidate manyservers into fewer onphysical resourceboundariesReduce systemmanagementcomplexityReduce ionImprovedOperationsReduce operations resourcesImprove application specificmonitoring an tuningAllocate less thanphysical boundaryReduce lisationState-ofthe-ArtBestPracticesIntegrated powermanagementDirect liquid coolingCombined heat and powerHot and cold aislesImproved efficiency transformers, UPS, chillers,fans, and pumpsFree coolingFlywheel technologyConservation techniquesInfrastructure energy efficiencyImproved airflow managementFacility InfrastructureEnergy EfficiencyStrategy

Green DC Transformation through OptimisationVirtualisation in Perspective Virtualisation is the ability to create logical abstraction ofphysical assets. In the case of server virtualisation, it allowsfor multiple “virtual” servers to run on one physical server,thereby consolidating many physical servers onto one. Reducing the number of physical components that provide aservice Reducing cost and improving the quality of service Standardising the operating environment

Green DC Transformation through OptimisationBenefits of Virtualisation Maximise server utilisation Less physical servers– Lower maintenance– Accommodation and environmental savings (space, power,A/C, lighting) Improve deployment time quicker to market Reduce manpower overheads Simplify centralised management Future proof technology Seamless server upgrade path and transportable servertechnology (VMOTION) Help to benefit disaster recovery, backups and rapiddevelopment with snapshot and rollback features Increase server availability, no single point of failure,minimise downtime Reduce TCO

Green DC Transformation: Technologies Storage Virtualisation– Storage virtualisation applies an abstraction to the storage systems withinthe enterprise and is often a key component used with blade systems.Virtualising the storage allows storage virtual disks to be defined tocomponents running on the server and separates the physical managementand sometimes connection of those disks from the application software onthe server. I/O Virtualisation– I/O virtualisation is similar to network virtualisation. It abstracts the I/Ointerface away from the blade Network Virtualisation– Abstraction layer is applied to the networking components to provide betterservice, availability, and security to the physical servers and theirapplications– Implementation at switch level, NIC card or in software (e.g VLAN, loadbalancer where sender does not know actual address) I/O Virtualisation– I/O virtualisation is similar to network virtualisation. It abstracts the I/Ointerface away from the blade (e.g. Egenera pBlades and cBlades)

Green DC Transformation: TechnologiesVirtualisation Models for Servers Below Kernel– Happens below the OS, which may not even be aware thatvirtualisation is happening– Modus operandi of hypervisor-based virtualisation technologies– Common type of virtualisation– Pros: Transparency of strategic perspective, as applicationrunning in VMs get their own OS – hence look and like as itwas before virtualisation– Cons: Virtualisation layer overhead as it intercepts operationsintended for hardware components Overcome by a techniques “Par Virtualization” by makingthe OS aware that it has been virtualised – allowing toaccount for this in its operation and avoid unnecessaryoverhead

Green DC Transformation: TechnologiesVirtualisation Models for Servers (cont’d) Above Kernel– Isolation of applications from within the OS, segregating andcontaining them from one another executing within the sameOS kernel - Containers, Jails, Zones, Workload Partitions– Pros: Efficiency gained through economies of scale Allows the apps to communicate directly with devicedrivers, avoiding overhead– Cons: Single patch may affect many running applications Level of separation may not be sufficient for certainenvironment

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesDC Consolidation / Virtualisation MethodologyPhase IPhase IIPhase IIIPhase IV & ySecurityArchitectureSecurityTransfer ofKnowledgeInfrastructureInfrastructureData Centre Consolidation ProcessCompletion ofProject

Green DC Transformation: Methodologies Business Objectives– Establishing business justification for consolidation ofservers– Reduce TCO– Improve service levels– Provide increased application availability– Increase the manageability of the information technology(IT) environment Business benefits––––Reducing IT costsKeeping up with business challengesImproving service levels and availabilityMinimising the impact of external pressures

Green DC Transformation: Methodologies Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Failures–––––––Convince business units to surrender serversGain and maintain executive sponsorshipManage politicsApply best practices and adhere to standardsDevelop and adhere to well-defined processesRely on established consolidation methodologiesConsider prohibitive bandwidth costs of high data-trafficapplications– Select appropriate applications to consolidate together– Identify application or middleware coexistence problems– Consider legal requirements to keep data locally

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesStep 1 – Assessing the Technical Feasibility Feasibility– Conduct an interactive workshop with customer’s managementand IT admin teams– Gather information on business requirements and objectivesand the desired technical objectives– Define the business objectives for consolidation/virtualisationand expected results of the project– Estimate the expected reduction in TCO and the expected ROI– Feasibility report on consolidation for management’s decisionmaking

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesStep 1 – Assessing the Technical Feasibility (cont’d) Assessment––––––––Assess Application RequirementsInterviewing application owners and maintainersDescribing major software componentsCreating a flowchart of network inputs and outputsDescribing an operational scheduleIdentifying and describing important dependenciesCreating a road map for the future growth of the applicationDuring this assessment, we will document all of the variousaspects of the application.

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesStep 1 – Assessing the Technical Feasibility (cont’d) Assess Platform Requirements––––Deploying tools to assess the followingVerifying inventoriesAssessing technical configurationsGathering server utilisation statistics Assess Storage Requirements– Corporate standards, and storage architecture road map &Capacity Plan– Online storage of applications and data– Offline storage for backup Assess Networking Requirements– During assessment we will examine the following: Assess the topology and technologies utilised for thenetwork. Assess throughput, bandwidth, and latency (for eachserver involved in the consolidation)

Green DC Transformation: Methodologies

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesStep 1 – Assessing the Technical Feasibility (cont’d) Assess Security Requirements–––––Assessment will focus on the following four major areas:Security operationsSecurity policy and standardsSecurity proceduresSecurity implementation

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesStep 1 – Feasibility and Assessment Phase:Deliverables Management SummaryBusiness ObjectivesCriteria for SuccessTCO Assessment Details– Other assumptions– Assessing apps profiling, platforms, storage, network, security,infrastructure and ops, assessing risks– Scenarios (e.g 40% reduction in server/storage)– ROI analysis (Scenario 1 or 2) Conclusions

Green DC Transformation: MethodologiesStep 2 – Designing a Consolidated Architecture Technical Constraint Analysis– Server Analysis– Storage Analysis– Network Analysis Business Constraint Analysis– Business Constraints– Process Constraints– Security Constraints