Transform More Than Your Data Center: Transform Your Value To The Business

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1 Transform More Than Your Data Center: Transform Your Value To The Business F ace it: It s time to do something about your data center. It is probably too complex, running too many applications, too difficult to manage, consuming too much power and overloaded with more equipment and cable than you want. And that s just for starters. More than 40% of IT managers said they are planning to make significant changes to their data centers in 2010, according to Symantec s recent 2010 State of the Data Center Survey. Only 9% said they are making no changes at all. The challenge, however, is not to merely change the data center: The real opportunity is to transform it. By turning to a virtual-ready infrastructure, IT has the opportunity to put in place a next-generation architecture that fundamentally changes the way data centers work for now and the future. In doing so, IT has the opportunity to transform its own value to the organization by making the infrastructure more flexible and ready to move at the speed of business. This next-generation infrastructure can also transform the way IT departments operate, so administrators can be more efficient and strategic. What does this next-generation data center look like? In many ways, it resembles a cloud-computing model in that the applications and services supported by the data center are decoupled from the actual infrastructure. In other words, operations are executed using logical definitions of the data center resources, such as servers, storage, networks and workload. The logical definitions are mapped to physical resources, transparent to users. The result is a dynamic data center that streamlines and automates resource management and delivers more efficient use of resources, making the infrastructure more agile at responding to the needs of the business. Rather than having dedicated servers doing the same functions all year, in this virtual-ready 1

2 infrastructure IT can dynamically allocate resources depending upon the business need. For example: An online retailer is releasing a hot new product for the summer and is expecting a huge increase in traffic and orders during the first three weeks in June. Instead of adding new servers and storage to handle this peak period, IT can simply and easily allocate resources to handle the load. When the demand diminishes, the resources can be dynamically re-allocated somewhere else. The infrastructure storage, servers and networks works together dynamically and in synch. Transforming the Value of IT By transforming the data center, IT professionals have the opportunity to transform their value to the business. For example, 80% of IT budgets are spent on maintenance. This means when that next important project comes along it gets scheduled behind when fixes get done. With an infrastructure ready to operate at the speed of virtualization or virtual-ready IT administrators can re-deploy workloads at the click of a button and turn their attention to the next business imperative the day it arrives in the inbox. Transforming the data center not only adds value to the business, it also provides tremendous benefits to the people within the IT organization. A virtualready infrastructure done right can mean less time provisioning new devices and it can make life much easier for IT professionals by filling in some of the gaps between server, storage and network administrative functions. Of course, not all virtual-ready infrastructure solutions are created equal. In order to truly make life easier for IT professionals, several features and functions are critical when deploying a virtual-ready infrastructure. These include: Rapid provisioning of new devices, whether they are servers, switches or storage devices; Support for open standards, for now and the future; Support for heterogeneous devices, so IT departments are not locked in to a single vendor; The ability to incorporate your existing infrastructure why rip and replace when you can reinvigorate what you already have? If these features and functions are important to you then it is essential to look at which solutions are delivering state-of-the-art innovations in virtualready infrastructure architecture and design. In most cases, the solution that will offer the most flexibility, functionality and simplicity to install and manage will be the Dell Advanced Infrastructure Manager (AIM). That s because of all the vendors, Dell has taken the most open approach to infrastructure management and has focused on developing a solution that provides for maximum flexibility and scalability. Enabling the IT Organization Dell AIM allows IT to combine new and existing servers, storage, networks and workloads into a unified solution that dynamically allocates resources. There are many advantages to this approach, including: rapid provisioning of new hardware and 2

3 applications; support for multiple hypervisors and operating systems; support for existing hardware, as well as hardware that may be purchased in the future; a single point of management for both physical and virtual servers, and others. In fact, even existing non-virtual servers can be transformed to achieve virtualization-like functionality, including automated failover, dynamic load balancing and business continuity. For IT professionals, the advantages of this approach can be staggering. Provisioning workloads, for example, is one of the important functions that is dramatically simplified by this next-generation data center. With a virtualready infrastructure as enabled by Dell AIM, IT can simply and easily provision the correct server settings, allocate a workload to a server and then allocate networking and storage resources to that workload. This saves the IT organization considerable time and expense in provisioning new devices and services, and it enables the data center to be much more responsive and adaptable to the needs of the business. For the individuals involved in managing various areas within IT, this means less time is devoted to some of the basic tasks and more time is available to focus on delivering more value quickly to the business. Here s how a virtual-ready infrastructure through the use of Dell AIM, can make lives easier for IT professionals: Server Administrators: The way most data centers work now, if you are adding a server, you install it and then provision it. The server administrator has to spend hours sometimes days provisioning the new server. This is challenging enough for physical machines: For virtual machines it can be even more difficult. With a Dell AIM solution, this provisioning is completely automated for both physical and virtual servers. Beyond that, when it is time to roll out new services or applications, this is automated as well, so there is no worry about adjusting every server in the organization. The time it takes to accomplish these tasks is significantly reduced. Also, when a server goes down, Dell AIM provides automated failover, resulting in less downtime and fewer spare servers to manage. Another benefit to the server administrator: Today even a simple action such as remotely powering off a server requires an administrator to be trained with a specific management tool supplied by the manufacturer. With Dell AIM, the administrator can simply instruct the system to power off the server. Network Administrators: In today s data centers, every time a new server is installed, it must be connected to the network. The process for doing this is often manual and subject to confusion and delays: Basically, the server administrator has to tell the network administrator when there is a new server and the network administrator has to make sure it is attached to the network. With Dell AIM, this function is fully automated, and when new hardware is provisioned servers, switches or storage devices it is automatically added to the network. This saves time and it eliminates the risk of downtime. In addition, Dell AIM supports multiple varieties of network switches, so administrators are not locked in to one vendor and can choose best-of-breed products throughout the network. AIM supports any network configuration, so network administrators don t have to undergo wholesale changes in transforming the data center. Storage Administrators. One of the big challenges for storage administrators is managing a wide variety of devices, all delivering different levels of performance and functionality for the organization, including solid 3

4 state drives, Fibre Channel, iscsi drives, as well as storage-area networks. The last thing a storage administrator wants to do is rip out these devices and start anew. Dell AIM not only supports existing devices as well as open standards it enables the additional provisioning of new devices simply and easily. Dell AIM allows storage administrators to assume more control of the data infrastructure by enabling them to eliminate local storage on the servers and move storage onto SANs. For both network and storage administrators, there will be savings in time and worry by not having to think about making changes every time there is a change in a server. Transforming the Data Center, Strategically While many IT professionals are ready to make significant changes in their data centers and almost all are prepared to make some changes the idea of completely transforming the data center can sound both harrowing and overwhelming. The reality is that it doesn t have to be either: The technology to make this transformation can be rolled out in stages and it doesn t require IT to rip out and replace a single piece of their current infrastructure. When you are thinking about turning to a virtual-ready infrastructure solution, here are some of the questions you should be asking, both of yourself and your potential vendor. 1. Does the solution support open standards? Most IT departments don t want to get locked into a single vendor, whether it is for hardware or software. The idea of transforming your infrastructure is to support the best technology solutions no matter which vendor since you want this data center architecture to last for a long time. If it turns out that you want a mix of VMware and Hyper-V, you should be able to have that, right? 2. Does the solution support your existing infrastructure? You also don t want to have to throw out everything and start fresh. If your data center is like most data centers, there is a wide array of heterogeneous solutions in place: Rack and blade servers from various vendors; solid state, SATA and Fibre Channel storage; several different network operating systems. The new data center should support all of this and enable you to add new technology based on the value of the technology to your organization, and not based on the strategy of a particular hardware or software vendor. 3. Is the functionality easy to manage? One of the big challenges in managing today s data centers is in connecting the separate silos that have been artificially created between servers, storage and networks. You will still need separate teams to manage those silos, but you must be able to simplify management and bridge all of the gaps between the networks, servers and storage. You want the tools to be in the hands of the people who know how to use them, and you don t want the tools to be so complicated that you need a PhD in order to run them. Dell AIM offers synchronization of tasks for each specific role and puts the power in the hands of the administrators. 4. Does the solution improve business continuity? Downtime is expensive in every way: It costs money, drains resources, impacts a company s reputation and gets upper management quite upset. In a virtualready infrastructure you can quickly recover from server failures without having to rebuild a server from scratch. Within minutes the functions performed by the failed server virtual or physical are re-targeted to an 4

5 available spare server and the applications are back up. Another important consideration is to determine how easy the system is to deploy. In most cases, you will probably want a solution that can be rolled out over time, so that the IT organization can deploy it gradually if it so chooses. This way, IT can get used to how it is working; determine which departments and applications might benefit from it; and decide how it might be successfully deployed across the entire infrastructure. It is also important that the solution be flexible: If the organization chooses to go back to physical servers for any particular application or function, it should be able to do so within the architecture of the infrastructure. Now s the Time to Make the Transformation It is not often that IT has the opportunity to transform the way in which it operates, and also transform the way in which it delivers value to Delivering Value To The Business With a Virtual-Ready Infrastructure Here are some of the specific ways in which a virtual-ready infrastructure can transform the value of IT to the business: Lower Costs: With IT looking to save money in every nook and cranny, having a virtual-ready infrastructure is a surefire way to create immediate as well as long-term savings for the organization. The business will be able to use fewer servers, consume less energy and consolidate space in the data center. It will also be able to save money by eliminating local disks in the servers, if it chooses, as well as by reducing the number of idle spare servers. Better ROI: In addition to reduced spending, the ROI for the organization s entire infrastructure will improve dramatically. The cost, time and complexity of provisioning new servers will all be reduced. A virtual-ready infrastructure enables instant provisioning of storage and network devices as well. This not only saves the organization money over the long term, it frees up precious IT resources. Maximum Flexibility: The goal of the IT infrastructure is to seamlessly support the business and be flexible so it can adapt as the needs of the business change. A virtual-ready infrastructure at least one done right can enable the organization to shift resources transparently and without putting additional costs and strain on the data center. IT management is simplified and scalability is enabled. Improved Efficiency: Almost every goal of IT can be enhanced through the use of a virtual-ready infrastructure, including security, compliance, energy efficiency, redundancy and disaster recovery. When all IT resources virtual as well as physical are managed in the same environment, it makes for far more efficient data centers and IT infrastructures. 5