SAN Recommendations Attached please find a summary and supporting analysis reflecting the recommendations for the SAN (Storage Area Network). Swartz Consulting and City Staff collaborated and issued a request for proposal for a new IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) or SAN (Storage Area Network) solution. The City wanted to explore all opportunities, including both premise-based SAN and Infrastructure as a Service (Cloud or Hosted) options. After reviewing all the responses, seven vendors were selected for interviews to demonstrate the proposed solution in their response to staff. The process revealed that a Dell Compellent SAN solution was the best technology for the City. History of City Storage The City has used SAN storage since 1997 to store and protect City data in a primary data center. In 2005 staff upgraded the SAN at the primary data center and in 2006 a second data center was added in another building. A SAN was installed in the second data center. The two existing SANs are 7 years old and have reached capacity limits and manufacturer s end of life. The need for replacement is urgent. The new solution is expected to have a minimum useful life of 5 years. The volume of data that the City maintains is increasing exponentially. A large amount of data is created daily with general data files and digital files such as video and pictures. SAN Replacement Project The 2012 CIP includes funding in the amount of $750,000 to replace and upgrade the City s SAN and related components. As proposed the SAN includes 200 TB of storage, data migration and necessary switches to support the SAN. The recommended NovaCoast solution including storage and data migration is $659,252.12. The SAN switches to be bid separately are projected to have a cost of $90,000. Cloud Computing for the City Cloud computing is an evolving changing model of ideas and services that are related to one another. Cloud computing is not a new concept. These definitions, attributes, and characteristics will continue to evolve and change over time. Cloud computing comes from the cloud symbol that represents the Internet in flowcharts and diagrams. Cloud computing is everything that happens out there somewhere, and those services are divided into three categories, SaaS(software as a service), PaaS(platform as a service) and IaaS(infrastructure as a service). The Cloud for the City of Overland Park refers to using hosted applications and services regardless of the platform to reduce our infrastructure. The City currently uses several applications and services in the Cloud. Crywolf, CopLogic, MEPP processing, Class hosted payment server and Fairway Golf systems are all applications that are hosted off site. Additionally police staff connects to secure public safety applications and databases like, CopLink, Rejis and FATPOT. The City is in the process of implementing Electronic Invoice processing that will be hosted by USBank. Staff will continue to evaluate opportunities to leverage cloud technologies and move additional applications and services to the cloud. In addition to City information stored on the SAN, the City is the Cloud service provider for Public Safety information for many of the other cities in Johnson County (essentially acting as a hosted provider). It is critical that this data be secured and available when needed, and that compliance with regulatory guidelines is met. The City has a Metropolitan class carrier network with the fiber connectivity between agencies in the county.
Data Centers Currently, the City has two data centers connected via fiber with a 10 gigabit backbone. Each data center has redundant functions including business continuity and disaster recovery. In addition, stored City data is replicated and resides at both data centers. A generator for backup power is located at each site. Each data center has an internet connection to a diverse carrier. The diagram below shows the current configuration. ` The Process Initially, Staff met with various vendors to learn about and better understand the marketplace for Infrastructure as a Service. A request for proposal was developed and issued for Infrastructure as a Service and/or an onsite SAN solution. The specifications required 200 TB (terabytes) of storage for the SAN solutions to meet the anticipated storage needs for 5 years, and 60 TB of storage for the IaaS solutions to meet current needs with expansion to be available as needed in the future. Proposals were received from 16 different vendors, and many of them proposed multiple options. The team received, reviewed and evaluated 12 proposals for premise-based SANs, 5 proposals for IaaS and 3 hybrid proposals. After group discussion and proposal evaluation, the following responses were eliminated, due either to an incomplete response, or high cost, or because multiple responses were received for the same SAN (XIOTech) equipment. The three highest priced XIOtech responses were eliminated. The NetStandard proposal included a high speed connection to their data center which was $30,900/month ($1,854,000 over 5 years). The remainder of the cost was $129,642/month ($7,778,520 over 5 years). Their cost for storage alone (without other necessary components) was $39,000/month. The median for other IaaS proposals was $20,000 to $25,000 per month, with all of the necessary services.
Company 5 Year Cost (Proposed) Reason for Elimination NetStandard (IaaS) $8,970,620 Cost NovaCoast (Hybrid) $5,632,000 Cost Dell (IaaS) $3,368,800 Cost Integrated Data Storage (SAN) $2,767,199 Cost Mythics (SAN) $2,254,013 Cost AOS (Hybrid) $1,987,640 Cost IBM (SAN) $1,189,816 Cost AOS (SAN) $748,668 Cost Provision Data Solutions (SAN) $593,164 Cost (XioTech SAN equipment) Sage Innovations (SAN) $582,011 Cost (XioTech SAN equipment) Peak Uptime (SAN) $572,426 Cost (XioTech SAN equipment) Vital Support Systems (SAN) Incomplete response NetSource (SAN) Incomplete response The following bidders were interviewed to obtain additional detail and information about their proposals and capabilities: 5 Year Cost (As Proposed) Migration and implementation Services Company Name Total Iland (IaaS ) $1,508,456 $7,999 * $1,516,455 Arsalon Technologies (IaaS) $1,426,800 $12,330 $1,439,130 Peak Uptime (Hybrid) $1,392,777 $36,422 $1,429,199 CoSentry (IaaS) $1,213,080 $122,312 $1,335,392 NovaCoast/Dell Compellent (SAN) $603,892 $55,360 ** $659,252 Pomeroy/XioTech (SAN) $531,582 *** $531,582 Sirius/NetApp (SAN) $447,839 $32,500 **** $480,339 * Includes migration of data with significant downtime of all applications. ** Includes installation and configuration of SAN switches. Data migration services for 25 hosts to include all 911 applications. *** Includes 64 hours of data migration services to include 8 onsite visits. **** Includes planning and 80 hours of data migration services. SAN vs. IaaS Solutions While there is significant variability between the IaaS options proposed, most of the proposals had the following elements in common: The IaaS providers would provide the following services: A Tier 3 Data Center environment o Multiple carrier connectivity as option o Redundant power sources o Redundant cooling equipment o Physical Security o Hardened facility (rated to withstand F4 tornadoes) Server hardware, VMware licenses, management tools, hardware upgrades, and updates Coordination with various carriers for connections coming into their data center
Using an IaaS solution, the City would have to provide: WAN (Wide Area Network) optimization solution (for faster response times) Higher bandwidth internet connection or point to point connection to the provider s facility Operating system support on the servers, including patching and upgrades All application support Backups (available for extra cost from some IaaS providers) Backups to another data center (available for extra cost from some IaaS providers) Replication (available for extra cost from some IaaS providers) There are requirements and limits as to what can be moved to a cloud environment: The application must be virtualized (Note: The City uses Oracle, which is not authorized for use on VMware) The applications can t have local connections; all parts of the system must move to the cloud Some applications simply don t work well in the cloud Regulatory requirements (specifically CJIS) limit ability to move data to the cloud. This requirement mandates that approximately 40% of the City s data must remain directly under the control of the City. An IaaS solution would be configured as depicted in the following diagram: Since regulatory requirements mandate that approximately 40% of the City s data cannot be moved to the cloud, the City must maintain a premise-based SAN solution, and must therefore maintain a secure and robust data center environment and qualified staff to support it. This requirement negates many of the advantages of moving to a hosted/cloud environment. Overall, the IaaS (hosted or cloud) solutions were significantly more expensive than a premise-based SAN solution, even though the total storage quoted was 70% less than the amount of storage required in the SAN solution. Staff anticipates that the need for storage will increase at 40% per year, based on past trending. The
SAN storage required (200TB) is anticipated to meet these requirements, whereas additional IaaS storage will meet current needs but would have to be increased over time. This would increase the cost difference between the two solutions. Below is a five year comparison between the preferred SAN solution and a typical IaaS solution. SAN (200 TB) IaaS (60 TB) Year 1 Initial Cost $ 603,892.12 Data Migration Cost $ 55,360.00 $ 36,422.00 Monthly Fees $ - $ 236,040.00 WAN Optimization N/A $ 182,577.00 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Total Costs: $659,252.12 $1,549,199.00 Replacing a SAN is complex and involves many pieces and parts. The SAN requires specialized switches to connect all the servers to the SAN and for communication between data centers. Brocade model 6510 Fiber Channel switches are the recommended switches to replace the existing switches for this project. A request for Bid has been prepared and issued to purchase these switches. It is estimated that the cost of the switches will come in under $90,000. The total SAN replacement project will not exceed the budget amount of $750,000.00. Recommendation Based on the costs of the IaaS solution, when compared to a premised-based SAN solution, staff recommends that the City move forward with a premised-based SAN solution. The recommended solution is the Dell Compellent solution proposed by NovaCoast.
Although this solution was the most expensive of the three SAN solution finalists, it is recommended because it demonstrated superior software capabilities and investment protection through the solution design. The software in the system is designed to eliminate the need for forklift upgrades; instead the software can be updated without also requiring changes to the hardware. This capability will allow the City to avoid expensive upgrades and thus it offers a less expensive total cost of ownership over the entire system life. Furthermore, the migration process presented in the proposal and during their presentation emphasized data safety and demonstrated a very thorough plan. In addition, ongoing support is strong. Finally, their Reporting and Analysis Tools are best in class.