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| Datatrend Newsletter: Q4 2008 |
President's Perspective
Tailor Optimization To Your Reality
Most will probably agree that the organization considering a
consolidation and/or virtualization project must first feel comfortable
with the overall strategy and where priorities are organized prior to
executing an infrastructure optimization initiative.
[ read more ]
X Marks The Spot For Virtualization
If you have an x86 server environment, you've already read the reports:
Intel servers are largely underutilized in company after company, many
with utilization rates as low as 10%.
[ read more ]
Virtualizing Your UNIX® Environment
The UNIX® server platform has long been known for its workhorse performance and programming flexibility.
[ read more ]
Storage Virtualization
Equally critical to cost savings and efficiency gains in your data
center, is storage virtualization. Ask any data center manager if they
have enough storage space, and you'll likely hear there's never enough.
[ read more ]
Consolidation - getting more business value out of IT
Along with "virtualization," consolidation is another word that is getting plenty of buzz.
[ read more ]
The Cost of Infrastructure Inefficiency
Did you know that...
- By 2010, there will be 38 million physical servers - a 700% increase over
the past 15 years
- It costs 50 cents for power and cooling for every $1 spent on servers
- It costs $8 in maintenance for every $1 spent on new infrastructure
- The average cost for physical IT space is $1,000/square foot, $2,400 per server and $40,000 per rack
Source: IDC
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Tech Tip: VIOS 1.5 - Virtual Optical Devices
A restriction many AIX system administrators encounter with the IBM
virtualized partitions is the inability to share one physical optical
device, such as, the CD-ROM or DVD, among many virtual partitions,
simultaneously.
[ read more ]
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President's Perspective
Tailor Optimization To Your Reality
Most will probably agree that the organization considering a
consolidation and/or virtualization project must first feel comfortable
with the overall strategy and where priorities are organized prior to
executing an infrastructure optimization initiative. Challenges and
objectives are prioritized. At some point, a more comprehensive
assessment is conducted to both validate IT leadership theories, while
also obtaining the detailed information necessary to craft solutions
that hit the mark.
Once the time for the assessment nears, IT leadership needs to protect
effort and resource investments to ensure that the scope of the
assessment will deliver the desired information and project plan. One
high level series of questions that might be asked, prior to defining
assessment scope, can include the following:
- What is trying to be accomplished by virtue of performing the assessment and when will the output be executed to?
- Is the assessment output going to be used to execute some form of
project (actual workload consolidation and/or virtualization)? Or, is
the assessment merely being used as a concept validation to obtain
funding for a future implementation?
- What resources will be used to perform the actual implementation
work? If the objective of the assessment is to build a business case
around the benefits of consolidation and/or virtualization, and it is
anticipated that some significant time may elapse before the actual
project starts, then the assessment could be very high level, NOT a
deep dive and of relatively low cost.
Some IT organizations have discovered they have wasted money on
comprehensive assessments whereby the information output was accurate,
detailed and also included a practical project plan. The waste occurred
when they failed to implement the consolidation and/or virtualization
project for an extended period of time. In these instances, much of the
data initially discovered has evolved or changed dramatically and the
project implementation does not go smoothly suffering from ongoing
speed-bumps and plan revisions.
Assessments that look mostly to tool output can yield consolidation
architecture suggestions far different than the recommendations that
would be made as a result of looking closely at many additional
factors. Datatrend uses a best of breed world class set of tools to
assess resource utilization, determine credentialed inventory and much
more. This toolset is "agent-less" allowing it to pass security
reviews. Yet, these tools alone are not enough to develop a pristine
project implementation formula. If the objective in undertaking an
assessment is to develop a project plan that will be executed soon,
then the research elements (that supplement tool output) may need to
also include the following:
- Workloads review (solution stack details and application/stack "ownership")
- Corporate standards
- Corporate constraints and preferences
- Support personnel skills
If the given workload is owned by an Independent Software Vendor (ISV)
that has not certified the application layer for virtualization and
there are no funded plans to do so, that workload is likely to be set
aside for a later date. If the solution stack is only test validated to
an older chip set architecture, that workload may be set aside until
compliant with the target utility architecture.
Corporate standards may dictate that certain products not be used in
developing target solutions. IT support preferences may refrain from
combining test and production workloads. IT organization personnel
skills may need to be reviewed and education provided so that support
of the consolidated and/or virtualized solution can be effectively
provided.
Some IT leaders are focused on driving benefits that include reduced
power consumption, reduced data center footprint, lowered operating
costs, improved systems management, reduced maintenance/licensed costs
and more. However, everyone within the organization may not support
change. Some cultures may not appreciate leveraging outside
organizations in the attempt to make progress in optimizing their
infrastructure. Furthermore, some users may require education from IT
leadership on how IT assets will be priced and allocated in a
virtualized realm.
Datatrend is aware of these potential paradigms and will tailor
assessments and implementation projects to help propel progress, gain
the confidence of engineers/technicians as well as assist the various
groups in becoming self sufficient in consolidating, virtualizing and
supporting optimized solutions.
The more comprehensive the first phase of an assessment is, generally
the longer the time line and cost. Some IT organizations opt for less
comprehensive assessments and enter consolidation/virtualization
projects knowing that the implementation effort will prioritize certain
workloads to be addressed later on in the project. The key is to
consider the various types of assessments and to realize the impact to
implementation efforts.
Quality communication between IT leadership, the alliance partner
(vendor), and the internal organization's technicians/engineers is
essential to ensure common ground with respect to project approach
philosophy and expectations. The organizations that make positive and
appreciable progress with mid range consolidation and virtualization
initiatives are aware of these factors....and much progress has been
made in the industry in recent years.
Not all workloads or enterprise groupings of servers are ready for
consolidation but may benefit from virtualization. In other cases,
consolidations will not leverage virtualization solutions. Numerous
factors need to be considered to determine what makes sense, what is
reasonable, what can be funded, and where the low hanging fruit is.
In this era, most IT leaders are intolerant of continuing to throw
capacity at need in the form of under-utilized, distributed servers.
Yet, enterprise wide adoption of infrastructure optimization must first
start with top level corporate resolve, then continue with outstanding
communication and an honest assessment of where help is needed. In
other words, the suggestion is to tailor infrastructure optimization
with both technological and cultural reality.
With respect to infrastructure optimization goals, the need to avoid
boiling the ocean and paralysis by analysis is within the awareness of
most IT leaders. In many cases, desired progress is fleeting. One
approach that works most often is to focus on delivering an early stage
success that can help build momentum for later stages. It is most often
best to start with the more simplistic workloads and areas where IT
asset maintenance costs are the highest.
At Datatrend Technologies, we hope to be given the opportunity to
demonstrate our vast experience and pragmatic approach that drives
success. Our goal is to be a flexible partner that will work well
within your culture and align with your IT and business goals.
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X Marks The Spot For Virtualization
If you have an x86 server environment, you've already read the reports:
Intel servers are largely underutilized in company after company, many with utilization rates as low as 10%.
That's because, in headier times, it was easier to buy new servers and
dedicate one primary workload per server rather than try to squeeze
more efficiency and processing power out of what you already had. Plus,
there were technological obstacles, including the fact that multiple
applications often were in conflict, and software and x86 hardware were
tightly coupled. (See "The Cost of Infrastructure Inefficiency.")
It all added up to underutilized resources: hardware, software, infrastructure and people.
With today's tighter times, IT departments are now challenged with
increasing computing power and smaller budgets that don't allow for
additional hardware.
Thankfully, technology advances in the area of
virtualization are helping organizations like yours meet the challenge
of "more with less." Today a "virtualization renaissance" is spreading
across the x86 computing landscape, as well as to numerous other
platforms. In fact, many analysts contend that it's becoming the
industry standard for the x86 environment, extending beyond servers to
include storage devices, networks, operating systems, applications, and
desktops.
If you've made the decision to virtualize your x86
environment, the experts agree that you're on the right track. The
potential benefits are too good to ignore, including:
- Better hardware utilization
- Energy savings with power and cooling requirements
- Enhanced High Availability and Disaster Recovery
- Simplified management
While there is considerable buzz about the virtues of virtualization,
it's important to understand and take advantage of the best practices for x86 virtualization.
Understanding what you can virtualize, where to look for opportunities
and how you approach your workload planning are important first steps
in your road to successful virtualization.
On one side of the coin, there can be significant hard
cost savings, such as a 30-50% reduction in hardware costs, a 70-80%
decrease in datacenter space, as well as a significant reduction in
power and cooling expenses. There's also the opportunity for
significant gains in the neighborhood of 25% or more in operational
efficiency.
On the flip side, there is a decided level of
complexity in successfully planning and executing a truly virtualized
environment.
So how do you approach a virtualization project?
The most important steps are:
- Understand the desired long term benefits.
- Tie them to clear business objectives.
- Get executive buy in.
- Think longer term, even if starting small and quick.
- Look for "low hanging fruit" to start
- Seek experienced guidance.
For more information, click below to view Datatrend's x86 Virtualization Best Practices Webinar Series.
x86 Virtualization: Answers to your top questions
- What are you trying to accomplish with x86 Virtualization?
- What is the intended scope of your virtualization initiative?
- How will you prioritize what needs to be virtualized?
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Virtualizing Your UNIX® Environment
The UNIX® server platform has long been known for its workhorse performance and programming flexibility.
In fact, a Gartner study found that UNIX server administrators had the
highest server utilization goals for their platform of choice, with 44%
of study respondents targeting utilization rates of over 70%!
Yes, a lot is expected from UNIX servers: running multiple
business critical applications, keeping up with growing service levels
and meeting rising workload expectations. It is the perfect recipe for
complexity, and in turn, an ideal platform candidate for
virtualization.
One of the most successful UNIX virtualization strategies
leverages dynamic logical partitioning, micro-partitioning, and other
advanced functions of IBM's POWER architecture and AIX operating system
to create a formidable combination for UNIX server virtualization.
These technologies enable firms to improve server utilization, simplify
the infrastructure, and ease the burden of systems management.
If you are planning or considering virtualizing your UNIX
environment, you may want to consider a plan that includes one or more
of the following elements:
- Server Virtualization strategy
- Solution design and implementation
- AIX, including advanced functions and support/subscription services
- IBM System p platform supply and implementation
Such a solution does not have to include all of these elements - you
may only be in need of one or some. Whether you have a need for a point
solution or a more comprehensive solution, your goal should be to
leverage virtualizing tools in your UNIX environment to lower costs and
increase business flexibility.
Click here to learn more about IBM Power Systems and AIX offerings from Datatrend.
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Storage Virtualization
Equally critical to cost savings and efficiency gains in your data center, is storage virtualization.
Ask any data center manager if they have enough storage space, and you'll likely hear there's never enough.
Each day, organizations across the country and around the globe
are adding huge volumes of new data to their storage media. As one of
the most important assets of any business or organization, data must be
safeguarded, easily accessed by users and easy to manage if its full
business value is to be realized.
Storage virtualization allows you to add storage capacity,
which in turn, provides greater flexibility in managing your ongoing
storage needs. Add greater redundancy and the availability of real-time
backup that comes with virtualized solutions, and you have improved
storage performance.
Commonly used in storage area networks (SANs), storage
virtualization can simplify the management of storage devices which are
notoriously tedious and time-consuming. Backup, archiving, and recovery
are more easily and more quickly accomplished.
Through technologies and best practices such as tiered
storage, capacity pooling, centralized systems management, advanced
copy services and policy based automation, storage virtualization
solutions can help take the cost and complexity out of your IT
infrastructure.
While one of the important goals of storage virtualization is
making storage management easier, the actual implementation can be very
complex. That's why it is important to work with an experienced
provider who can help you formulate a strategy that best fits your
storage environment.
A sound storage virtualization solution can include one or more of the following elements:
- Storage Virtualization strategy
- Solution design and implementation
- Storage network (SAN/NAS) design/re-design and implementation
- Storage systems supply and implementation
A solution does not have to include all of these elements -
you may only be in need of one or some. So whether you have a need for
a point solution or a more comprehensive solution, you goal should
include working with a skilled expert that can help you leverage
storage virtualization in your storage environment to reduce
complexity, control costs, and assure business continuity.
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Consolidation - getting more business value out of IT
Along with "virtualization," consolidation is another word that is getting plenty of buzz.
We'll take a brief look at two of the most popular consolidation
targets in the computing world these days - data center consolidation
and server consolidation.
Data Center Consolidation
The goal of any consolidation plan is to reduce complexity and administration costs as well as provide for better manageability.
Since it is the hub of shared computing resources, the data
center is the most centralized, complex and strategic piece of the IT
environment. And for that reason, it is the ideal beginning for
reducing IT complexity and costs.
The main targets for data center consolidation include the
number of physical data center locations, servers, applications,
networks, shared services, staff and processes.
Data center consolidation requires careful planning. First, you must
have an accurate understanding of what you have, where it is and how it
is configured . Next, you must determine what you want your data center
to look like and then go about designing that vision. Finally, you must
have the systems in place to effectively manage the transformation and
communicate project status with IT and business stakeholders.
If done thoughtfully and thoroughly, data center consolidation
can pay significant dividends in terms of cost savings and business
value.
Server Consolidation
In a nutshell, server consolidation is
an approach to gaining greater efficiency from your server resources by
reducing the total number of servers and increasing the utilization
rates of the remaining servers.
Sever consolidation is one strategy in solving a common IT
challenge: server sprawl. Companies can no longer afford under-utilized
servers, hogging key resources such as space, power and cooling, and
staff time.
Server consolidation allows you to combine fewer server resources with
higher utilization rates, and better leverage your existing
investments. A smaller server footprint, centralized management, and
optimum configuration add up to versatility, increased capacity and
reduced costs.
The art of server consolidation is much more complex than
trimming server counts from your data center. Implementation often
brings complex configurations of servers, applications and data. After
server consolidation, many companies use server virtualization to
simplify management. Another consolidation strategy is the use of blade
servers to achieve reduced real estate requirements.
Datatrend provides a vendor agnostic and heterogeneous
approach to server virtualization and consolidation providing the
ability to migrate any platform or workload to any other platform. We
design a solution to fit your business...not a problem to fit a
pre-determined solution
For more information on data center consolidation and server consolidation, please contact us.
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Tech Tip: VIOS 1.5 - Virtual Optical Devices |
A restriction many AIX system administrators encounter with the IBM virtualized partitions is the inability to share one physical optical device, such as, the CD-ROM or DVD, among many virtual partitions, simultaneously.
A new feature of the Virtual I/O server (VIOS 1.5) is the virtual optical devices, or file backed I/O.
This feature allows you to create a virtual optical device for
any of your virtual partitions. This is done by creating an ISO image
of the CD-ROM / DVD CD mkcd media.
Once the ISO image has been created, you can serve the data without having to move the physical device from one partition to the next.
We tested this feature in our Datatrend Lab. We were able to create a mksysb data file (mkcd -S -L) and request it with the VIO server. We then re-installed the partition with this ISO mksysb image, just as if we had a physical CD-ROM / DVD attached to the virtual partition.
This capability creates added flexibility for system backups, restore
and NIM cloning functions. It can also decrease resource scheduling
conflicts associate with a power server's single optical device.
Details on how to use this new feature follow:
All commands require the use of the VIO command set. Do not use the native AIX utilities. The repository logical volume and file system (oem_setup_env) was not recognized when we attempted the set-up in the DTI Lab.
- Log in as padmin
- First step - create the repository - note that the volume_group argument is required even if you are going to put this into the rootvg.
mkrep -sp <volume_group> -size <XX>G
- Using the df command, review the file system /var/vio/VMLibrary this file holds the ISO images to be served.
You are now ready to populate the repository.
- Using the mkvopt command, "rip" the file from the CD or DVD
media and create the ISO file. ".iso". It is recommended that you use a
meaningful <filename>, making location of the file easy for
future use - note that the CD/DVD device must be assigned to the VIO server partition
mkvopt -name <filename>.iso -dev cd0 -ro
A variation of the mkvopt command will allow you to register a previously created ".iso"
File into the repository. This command will copy the
<sourcefile>, such as your mkcd images, into the repository
directory so you may want to remove the original after running the
command so as to not keep two copies around.
mkvopt -name <filename>.iso -file <sourcefile> -ro </sourcefile>
- After the ".iso" file is registered and is in the /var/vio/VMLibrary directory you need to create
mkvdev -fbo -vadapter vhost<X> - note the vhost<X> will be replaced with the vhost adapter you plan to use on your VIO server. This will create a vtopt<X> device which is assigned to the specified vhost adapter which, in turn, will serve it to the intended partition. You will need to note this vtopt device in order "load" the correct .iso file.
- Last Step - map the ".iso" file to the new virtual optical device, which simulates loading a CD into the CD-ROM.
loadopt -vtd vtopt<X> -disk <my.iso>
As noted above you will assign the file to a particular vtopt device. After the loadopt command is run you can run the "lamap" on the vadapter and see the status.
Sample Status
| SVSA | Physloc | Client Partition ID |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| vhost0 | U8203.E4A.06112E2-V1-C11 | 0x00000000 |
| |
| VTD | vtopt0 |
| Status | Available |
| LUN | 0x8100000000000000 |
| Backing device | /var/vio/VMLibrary/AIX6.1_dsk1.iso |
| Physloc |
- To eject the ".iso" image, run the unloadopt command as shown below.
unloadopt -vtd vtopt<X>
Following the unloadopt, you can proceed with an additional ISO image load.
This quick introduction to the virtual optical devices feature of VIOS
1.5 is intended to provide you with additional flexibility that may
help you in your administration duties and streamline some of your
operations.
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