Successful server consolidation: it is all in the preparation

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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation

Table of contents

May 2003

HP Industry

Standard Servers

White Paper

TC030505WP

Abstract.................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2

IT consolidation defined............................................................................................. 2

The IT journey....................................................................................................................2

Collocation .........................................................................................................3

Hardware/data integration...................................................................................3

Application integration.........................................................................................3

IT utility...............................................................................................................3

Server consolidation as part of IT consolidation.......................................................... 3

Types of server consolidation .............................................................................................4

Customer perception..........................................................................................................5

Business drivers.................................................................................................................6

Financial ............................................................................................................6

Operational ........................................................................................................6

Strategic.............................................................................................................6

Business objectives ............................................................................................................7

Financial ............................................................................................................7

Operational ........................................................................................................7

Strategic.............................................................................................................8

Consolidation considerations ..................................................................................... 8

Performing an analysis for server consolidation candidacy .................................................8

Streamlining the infrastructure ...........................................................................................9

Centralization .....................................................................................................9

Remote management............................................................................................9

Reduction in operating systems............................................................................10

Partitioning software ..........................................................................................10

Virtual servers....................................................................................................11

Rapid deployment..............................................................................................11

Storage ............................................................................................................12

More efficient hardware .....................................................................................13

Maximizing resources......................................................................................................14

Consolidation economics ......................................................................................... 15

Cost savings ....................................................................................................................15

Power consumption............................................................................................15

Increased server to engineer ratio........................................................................15

Service level agreements and server licenses.........................................................15

Real estate ........................................................................................................15

Idle resources....................................................................................................15

Total cost of ownership ....................................................................................................15

Payback..........................................................................................................................15

Summary of content (21 pages)

PAGE 1
HP Industry Standard Servers May 2003 Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation White Paper TC030505WP Table of contents Abstract.................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2 IT consolidation defined..........................................................................................
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Return on investment .......................................................................................................16 Economics versus technology ..............................................................................16 Common customer scenarios ................................................................................... 17 Providing in-house IT services.......................................................................
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Abstract The purpose of this white paper is to help IT professionals prepare for a successful IT consolidation initiative, highlighting the needs for consolidating server environments. The paper addresses the key areas of impact and the factors that need to be considered before exploring consolidation options.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Collocation Collocating servers into one central location is an important part of a server consolidation. Benefits of hardware relocation include immediate cost savings on server management and operation. A collocated IT environment also benefits from better physical security, availability, and system usage.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation technology, and multi-path input/output (I/O). Windows Server 2003 also includes the .NET Framework within the product. Using the .NET Framework, developers can build and deploy XML Web services with the Windows platform. More importantly, Windows Server 2003 has been designed to coexist in the same environment as the Windows 2000 operating system.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation applications will work well together. The analysis and testing can be time consuming. However, the benefits of being able to run more than one application on a server will help IT departments better utilize available compute resources. Customer perception While IT consolidation is well defined, the way in which most IT professionals perceive what IT consolidation accomplishes varies widely.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Business drivers What is driving your request for server consolidation? The business drivers could be financial, operational, or strategic. Financial One of the most common business drivers for server consolidation is growth in the number of servers in the IT environment. Many IT departments are faced with server growth upwards of 25% annually.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation To help you determine whether your IT environment is a candidate for consolidation, InfoWorld2 has gathered the most common reasons for consolidation. InfoWorld top 10 reasons for consolidation: 1. Losing track of servers 2. Facing scalability restrictions 3. High ratio of administrators to servers 4. Running more than seven operating systems 5. Difficulty controlling software licenses 6.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Another consolidation objective might be to move towards one platform for all of your IT needs. This would reduce compatibility issues and also make for a much less complex infrastructure. Strategic If your servers all are running one application with utilization numbers hovering around 10%, the primary objective of a server consolidation initiative would be to help improve resource utilization.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation After the IT environment is analyzed, the team responsible for the analysis will present conclusions and recommendations based on all factors involved. The recommendations will detail how your improved IT environment will look after consolidation. The reduction of the number of various types of servers will be detailed. All of the elements of your target consolidated environment should be described in great detail.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Reduction in operating systems IT infrastructures commonly have a very complex mix of platforms supporting the IT environment. Finding multiple operating systems in an IT environment is not uncommon. Microsoft Windows NT, Unix, Linux, and other operating systems are all commonly found in IT environments with different operating systems supporting different applications.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Virtual servers Virtual machine technology can also simplify the server infrastructure of an IT environment. Virtual machines allow IT professionals to deploy new services efficiently, utilize server capacity fully, and manage compute resources strategically. HP has partnered with VMware, the global leader of virtual machine software.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Storage The type of storage used in your IT environment can help reduce the complexity of an infrastructure. Data growth and storage needs can be costly and unpredictable. Many server consolidation initiatives include a storage solution improving the SAN or NAS in an IT environment. Storage in your current IT environment would be accounted for during the analysis stage of any server consolidation initiative you choose to explore.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation More efficient hardware Introducing newer, more efficient server hardware into the IT environment gives IT professionals an easy way to streamline the infrastructure. Blade servers are designed for space constrained IT environments. Compared to average servers, blades take up 80% less space and consume 40% less power, without losing any processing power.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Figure 7. ProLiant BL40P, a 4-way blade server ideal for mission critical back-end applications Maximizing resources Figure 8. ProLiant DL560, a 2u 4-way enterprise server The benefits of streamlining an IT infrastructure, along with other various financial, operational, and strategic benefits, often assume the focus of a company’s server consolidation initiative. However, there are technological benefits that need to be considered.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Consolidation economics As stated in the introduction of this paper, IT departments are often unable to implement a server consolidation effort without showing economic justification first. While a server consolidation effort provides IT departments many operational and strategic avantages, often the most important aspect of a successful consolidation is the financial value.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Return on investment Another critical factor in justifying the expense of a server consolidation is the return on investment (ROI). While the cost of the server consolidation initiative will be relatively easy to figure out, calculating the true return on investment can be tricky because so many different aspects of the IT environment are impacted.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Common customer scenarios In order to be more relevant to your everyday business needs, it is essential to examine some common customer scenarios to see how the discussed topics play a role in IT consolidation. In this section, we will explore some of the consolidation needs and potential benefits for customers that initiated a server consolidation effort with the help of HP.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation run applications as a result of better compute resource utilization. Running a pilot before implementing a server consolidation initiative allows companies to determine what impact server consolidation will have on the entire IT environment, and determine if the economic benefits are justifiable.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Reducing Microsoft based IT costs and lowering capital expenditures Companies with a vast IT infrastructure consisting of thousands of servers have to look at innovative ways to keep costs down without compromising service levels. Return on investment is imperative, and IT infrastructures of this size must be sure that starting now is the most cost-effective route to take.
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Successful server consolidation: it's all in the preparation Feedback Please direct comments regarding this communication to the ISS Technology Communications Group at this Internet address: TechCom@HP.com © Copyright 2003 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.