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Server Consolidation

Server consolidation pdf notes

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
24 views16 pages

Server Consolidation

Server consolidation pdf notes

Uploaded by

divyasaroha543
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

A N A P P L I C AT I O N C E N T R I C V I E W O F
Server Consolidation and IT Optimization
Preface systems accelerated, so did the number of different
hardware platforms, operating systems/versions,
During the late eighties and on into the nineties, there development tools, application packages, and
was a concerted move of business functions away from databases, along with the need for an enlarged and
mainframe systems to smaller, more highly distributed diverse IT staff to develop, deploy and support these
mid-range organization/server environments. While systems.
the mainframe produced highly structured and
standardized applications, the time required to develop This continuous expansion of technology has caused
and deploy applications was perceived as a liability in a IT to become fragmented and inflexible, with
highly volatile, competitive, and rapidly-changing proliferating pockets of specialties and knowledge not
marketplace. For cost and competitive reasons, shared among the rest of IT. Because they were
organizations began to deploy most of their application purchased and dedicated to single business units or
workload on UNIX and other mid-range organization/ function, these systems also tended to be greatly
server systems. For the most part, this change was underutilized. Compounding the problem further was
made without strict adherence to standards because the belief that IT understood the business problem
strict standardization was considered a constraint on better than the business professional, which often
delivering and deploying applications rapidly. resulted in technology “solutions” that did not fully
meet business needs and applications that were out of
Therefore, the typical mid-tier development and step with business processes. Today IT simply cannot
deployment strategy allowed development teams and keep pace with business and this must change.
business units to select their own hardware, software,
development tools and products. The tendency was to This paper will explore how server consolidation and
purchase hardware for each application that was IT Optimization can significantly reduce cost and
developed. As the shift to UNIX and other mid-range complexity in the data center.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 2

What Is IT Optimization That’s why you must be cognizant of the complex


And Server Consolidation? relational model that exists in every IT infrastructure
— a relationship that is a unique reflection of the
Server consolidation and IT optimization are often business process model around which an IT
used interchangeably. Server consolidation focuses on organization has designed and engineered their
lowering cost by reducing the number of boxes, which business.
is relatively easy to quantify and justify on the basis of
a “speeds-and-feeds” configuration and can be This relationship is not hardware centric — it is
calculated purely “by the numbers” of CPU/disk/ application centric. Each application can be mapped to
memory requirements. a unique server or set of servers. Further, each server
can be mapped to a unique IT architecture. Each of
IT optimization, on the other hand, typically includes the architectures will have a discrete set of support
server consolidation as an aspect but does so in a richer costs associated with it. Combining these elements into
context, resulting in a more tempered and balanced a data model that reflects the core logical relationships
solutions design that combines business process and among one another allows us to profile an IT
goals, standards, systems and asset management, infrastructure in unique and insightful ways.
security and backup/disaster recovery, as well as server
and applications consolidation. To optimize an organization’s IT we must go beyond
applications, servers, architecture and cost and
Organizations can greatly reduce IT cost and simplify the consider organizational strategy and maturity.
IT environment through server consolidation or IT
optimization. However, server consolidation and IT IT optimization is about going back to the basics.
optimization is complex and often confused by vendors What are some of the basics?
that insist they have the answer to all of your server 1. Clear strategies, direction and standards
consolidation needs. Most of them know what “the 2. Strong application delivery and execution processes
answer” is before they even take the time to 3. Avoid pockets of intellectual capital that fragment
understand your business requirements. You don’t have the organization
to convince an organization that it is cheaper, easier, or 4. Make data available and accessible
simpler to run an application with two servers rather 5. Align IT with business needs
than ten. That’s patently obvious. What you are
wrestling with is probably much deeper than that. IT optimization addresses crucial questions that
organizations are dealing with — things like:
First, the problem is not ten servers. It’s more likely 1. How do we optimize our IT operation and lower
100, 500, 1000, 2000 or even more. How do you go the total cost of ownership (TCO) of our IT
from 2000 servers, encompassing perhaps ten different infrastructure?
architectures, to “something less?” And how do you 2. How can we deliver a higher level of IT services to
know what “something less” is? How do you even our existing (and future) organizations/
know what you’re shooting for? applications?
3. How can we provide a more stable and highly
Interestingly, organizations often say that the number scalable IT foundation capable of deploying new/
of servers is not the crucial focus — it’s the 1000 different solutions — such as B2B, ERP, supply
applications running across those 2000 servers that are chain management — quickly and efficiently?
the crux of the matter. How do you know which of
those 1000 applications should be consolidated and/or The challenges reach beyond just “consolidating little
centralized based on the company’s core business servers onto bigger ones.” It involves looking at the
process model? Which ones shouldn’t and why? How entire end-to-end IT infrastructure and assessing
would you rank those applications, from high to low, whether it is truly aligned with the organization’s
in terms of business return in such a way that you current (and future) business model. And since no two
know which ones to go after first? companies have implemented their businesses the same
way, no two organizations will implement IT the same
way, either. There simply is no such thing as a “one size
fits all” IT solution.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 3

Who Needs to Optimize? 4. You are running more than seven operating systems
The rule of thumb is that one person can know
Consider an organization that has accumulated disparate two operating systems reasonably well. Any more
hardware, software, architectures, databases, and than that and you face a dilution of expertise.
redundant functionality. The infrastructure is becoming Once you get up to seven you are seriously
increasingly difficult to manage. Staff, license and stretched and vulnerable.
hardware/software maintenance, and support account for
an increasingly large portion of the IT budget. It has 5. You have difficulty controlling software licenses
become difficult to staff and maintain the resources Complex, dispersed environments = a tangle of
needed to support existing systems. software licenses. If you fail to comply, or forget to
buy them in the first place, you could face
In general any organization suffering from the following prosecution.
is a candidate for IT optimization:
6. You think it’s cheaper to buy new servers than to
• Higher than average IT costs do capacity planning
• A unnecessarily complex environment A classic warning sign. It’s nearly always cheaper to
• Low utilization of CPU resources plan properly than to buy new kit as a knee-jerk
• Low utilization of storage resources reaction to increased demand. If you think
• Weak systems management capabilities otherwise, you probably need to consider
• Weak asset management capabilities consolidation.
• Slow provisioning
• Inadequate service level agreements 7. You manage your infrastructure centrally, but
• No utility model your purchasing is decentralized
In short, you don’t control what’s being purchased,
IT optimization can deliver a computing model that but you are responsible for managing it when it
will reduce cost and improve quality and value by arrives. What seems like a good deal to the
simplifying your technical infrastructure. procurement department can mean your having to
hire another administrator.
Top 10 Reasons For Consolidation*
A few years back InfoWorld published a list of ten 8. Your utilization rates for more than half your
things that indicate whether an enterprise needs to servers are in single digits
consider consolidation. They are still valid today: Most of your servers are idle for 90% of the time,
but you are paying to administer and maintain
1. You start losing track of servers them 100% of the time.
Easily done if you have dozens or hundreds
dispersed over several locations. The flip side of 9. You are running out of physical space
this is knowing where a server is but not knowing This one is pretty hard to miss. When there’s no
what it does. more room for new hardware then some kind of
basic consolidation is difficult to resist.
2. You can’t scale
The complexity and rigidity of highly dispersed 10. Your server maintenance costs are rocketing
architectures works against scalability. There comes You may not have full visibility of these until the
a point where bolting on another server simply CEO tells you to cut overheads. Then the true cost
adds to your problems. of maintaining all those servers can come as a
shock.
3. You don’t have enough administrators
Someone has to look after all those servers. The *As identified by InfoWorld
more you have the more likely you are to run short
of skilled people to maintain them.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 4

What Technologies Have Made When Possible, Reuse What You Have
Optimization Practical? Consolidation does not necessarily mean that you must
go out and purchase all new hardware. The business
New hardware technologies can simplify and improve the may have some large servers with 18 to 36 months left
IT environment. Here are a few things to consider. on the lease. These servers are good candidates to
consolidate on. The same applies to storage.
Technology Advancements
• Logical partitioning Struggling With The Choice
• Virtualization If you are considering new hardware, here are
• Blades questions to ask the hardware vendors:
• Business process/data abstraction: Web services
• Automated infrastructure management 1. What is your technology roadmap? Discuss OS,
• Self-healing infrastructure chipset, architecture, platforms, uptime,
performance, scalability, pervasive technology, and
What Size Box Should I Consolidate On? investment protection.
You should consolidate on the largest server practical 2. Do you support logical-partitioning capability on
simply to reduce the number of physical servers. Most UNIX and Intel? How does your system
major vendors offer some facility for setting up partitioning technology allocate the resources?
partitions or domains to run multiple OS images on 3. Open architecture/Linux direction
their large servers. However there are other things to 4. Philosophy and direction for autonomic
consider. For example, you may decide that lines of computing (self-healing, self-diagnosing, self-
business (LOB) cannot share the same physical configuring systems along with uptime and
hardware. So if the workload for a line of business only reliability figures planned and unplanned outages.
requires a six CPU box you wouldn’t necessarily want 5. Capacity on demand/utility model capability
to install a 32-way for that LOB, even though all other
LOBs may need larger systems. You could need a
combination of sizes, which may lead you to
establishing a standard set of configurations. For
example, you may standardize on 8-way and 16-way
servers and then combine them to meet more rigorous
needs. Also price may lead you to use an 8-way over a
32-way, because proportionally the 8-way is less
expensive. However an 8-way would need to be
significantly less to overcome the space, power and
load balancing capabilities of a larger box.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 5

Types Of IT Optimization

Physical Consolidation
Physical consolidation is the
Benefits
consolidation of applications from
• Reduce staff
a large number of servers to a • Optimize staff utilization
fewer number of servers. • Decrease facilities cost
• Lower utilities cost
• Simplifies network
Homogeneous Consolidation
• Few servers to manage
(Like To Like) • Reduction of software licenses costs
Homogeneous consolidation is • Increases CPU utilization
the process of consolidating
workload from many servers to
fewer servers of the same type of
platform. For example, moving
the workload off 30 Sun Solaris
servers to a few Sun Solaris Physical consolidation on like architectures
servers, and at the enterprise level,
doing the same within all the
platforms. Taking this approach
will significantly reduce server and logical count. In many cases source code recompiling will not be necessary.
However, expect to recompile approximately 30% of your applications for product and compiler upgrade
requirements. For example, objects, PL/SQL and embedded SQL will need to be recompiled when upgrading
from Oracle 7.x.x to Oracle 8 or 9. Oracle 7.x.x will not be available for new hardware technologies.

Heterogeneous Consolidation (Single Or Fewer Architectures)


Heterogeneous consolidation is the process of consolidating workload from many servers on disparate platforms to
fewer servers on a single
platform type. For example,
moving the workload off 30
Sun Solaris, 30 HP UNIX
and 30 HP Tru64 servers to a
few IBM AIX servers. The
transitional costs are greater for
heterogeneous consolidation
compared to homogenous
consolidation, but taking this
approach will significantly Benefits
reduce server and logical count. • Reduce staff
The payoff is that operating • Optimize staff utilization
this environment is cheaper in • Decrease facilities cost
• Lower utilities cost
the long run. Heterogeneous
• Simplifies network
consolidation will also reduce • Few servers to manage
the number of disparate • Reduction of software licenses costs
operating environments and • Increases CPU utilization
overall IT complexity. • Fewer architectures to manage

Physical consolidation onto a single architecture


SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 6

Additional benefits to consolidating to a single Centralization


architecture: Centralization takes the concepts of server and storage
• Greater simplification consolidation across many data centers. For example
• Greater reduced facility needs reducing from 30 data centers to two. Actually most
• Greater reduced need for staff (system large organizations have fewer than ten large data
administrators) centers. However an organization may have utility and
• Greater reduced cost of licenses infrastructure servers in support of business operations
• Reduction in skill set requirements at any site where an employee needs to print and
connect to the network. Keep in mind that it may not
Storage Consolidation be possible to centralize utility and infrastructure
Storage is very tightly coupled to servers and should be servers when you are centralizing IT but other LOBs
considered in any server consolidation. Typically remain at the site. For example, a site may continue to
storage is significantly underutilized. Storage need file, print and domain controllers even though all
administration costs are increasing significantly and the production and development servers for
can be reduced through storage consolidation. applications have been centralized.

Benefits Distributed Centralized


• Single file system
• Common point of management
• Heterogeneous file sharing
• Local file systems performance
• Increase storage administrative productivity Denver
• Improve capacity utilization
Denver

Chicago Benefits
• Staff need reduction
• Staff utilization optimized
• Reduce facilities cost
• Lower utilities cost
• Simplified network
Los Angeles
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 7

Logical Consolidation
Logical consolidation takes advantage of the logical partitioning capabilities available from most hardware vendors.
Logical partitioning provides maximizing the use of platforms resources.
Oracle production servers running Peoplesoft
Peoplesoft

Web layer App layer Database layer

Oracle production servers running Payroll data for online services


Online services

Web layer App layer Database layer

Oracle production servers running intranet


services
Intranet services

Physical Consolidation – 9:1


Web layer App layer Database layer Logical Consolidation – 3:1

W2KW2KNT

Web Farm - Intel Web Application Farm- Database Farm-


Server UNIX Application Server UNIX Database Server
NT
This is an example of consolidating three applications into Farms.

Peoplesoft -The Web (Presentation) layer for Peoplesoft runs on 2 Windows 2000 servers and has been consolidated
into a single partition on an Intel Web Server. The application layer runs on 2 UNIX machines and has been
consolidated into a Domain on a UNIX Application Server. The Oracle Database layer runs on 4 UNIX machines and has
been consolidated into a UNIX Database Server. W2K
Online Services -The Web (Presentation) layer for Online Services runs on 3 Windows 2000 servers and has been
consolidated into a single partition on an Intel Web Server. The application layer runs on 3 UNIX machines and has
been consolidated into a Domain on a UNIX Application Server. The Oracle Database layer runs on 3 UNIX machines
and has been consolidated into a UNIX Database Server.

Intranet Services -The Web (Presentation) layer for Intranet Services runs on 4 Windows NT servers and has been
consolidated into a single partition on an Intel Web Server. The application layer runs on 2 UNIX machines and has
been consolidated into a Domain on a UNIX Application Server. The Oracle Database layer runs on 4 UNIX machines
and has been consolidated into a UNIX Database Server.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 8

Application Rationalization
And Legacy Transformation

Current Technology State Future State

Oracle Sybase DB2 Informix Ingres Oracle

WebLogic .NET WebSphere WebSphere

Openview CA BMC Tivoli Tivoli

Iplanet Apache Apache

Application rationalization is the process of reviewing Workstation Technology Refresh


applications and applying architectural patterns. IT optimization focuses on the data center, however there
Architecture rationalization represents a logical next are significant savings possibilities for large workstation
step to drive IT excellence by simplifying the environments. If the organization has more than 500
environment, consolidating skills, and allowing UNIX workstations, compare the operational cost to
iterative improvement to the architecture management running the workstations on an Intel or AMD platform.
process. The vision of application rationalization is to Of course you must keep in mind the short-term non-
create a set of patterns that satisfy a majority of recurring cost of transitioning your software from UNIX
business requirements to be met by the IT community to an operating system that runs on Intel or AMD. If you
within any organization. These patterns will serve as have several thousand UNIX workstations, the transition
the architectural standards for all software costs may be a rounding error in your TCO difference.
development and commercial software package
implementation. What To Shoot For
1. Logical consolidations of about 4:1. If you have
Through application rationalization organizations can 1000 servers today, you should be able to reduce
reduce the number of redundant applications, the current image (OS) counts by 75%.
overlapping third-party software packages, and 2. Stack applications by function and products. For
development environments, all of which will example, create farms. Farms for SQLserver,
significantly reduce cost and complexity. Oracle, applications, web, mail, file, print, etc.
3. Physical consolidation of 15:1. This ratio will
Consider the cost and complexity of managing an increase as faster hardware replaces older hardware.
application environment with so many possible
combination of technologies and then consider what
simplicity application rationalization can provide.

What organizations benefit from application


rationalization?
• Organizations that have grown through mergers and
acquisitions
• Organizations with large amounts of third-party
software
• Organizations with legacy systems
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 9

What Amount Of Saving Application Servers


Should I Expect? An application server is a non-infrastructure server that
supports an application.
Savings typically fall in the range of 5% to 60%. To • SAP
understand how to drive savings we need to consider • Peoplesoft
what the typical data center looks like. • Homegrown application
• Database
Typical Data Center • Web
Most organizations deploy three primary types of
functional servers. These include utility, infrastructure Data Center Observations
and application. Each defined below in more detail: • Utility and infrastructure servers make up
approximately 20% of the Intel environment and
Utility Servers 15% the UNIX environment.
Utility servers include: • Average utilization per server is about 17% for Intel
• Email and 20% for UNIX.
• File and print • Peak utilization per server is 25% for Intel and 30%
• Other utility/network servers for UNIX.
• Domain name servers (DNS)
• NIS Factors That Impact Savings
• DHCP There are many factors that impact the savings your
• Domain controllers organization should expect. These factors include:
• Firewall • The mix of server types. Utility and infrastructure
• WINS server consolidations yield a lower proportion of
• Authentication savings than application servers.
• Current utilization levels. The lower the current
Infrastructure Servers utilization the higher the savings potential.
An infrastructure server supports distributed • Homogenous or heterogeneous consolidation.
computing services, the primary function of which is Consolidating to a single platform will bring
any of the following: additional savings.
• Systems management capabilities — asset • Maximizing logical consolidations. Staking like
management, problem management, capacity applications in a single partitionable image can
management, performance management, availability provide additional savings.
management (ESM framework: including ESM • Current software licensing agreements. Your
application servers, concentrators, altering servers, organization should renegotiate software license after
business logic servers and databases) a consolidation.
• Network management • Server consolidation will reduce staff needs. The
• SLA reporting and data warehouse organization must be willing to reduce cost through
• Storage controllers staff attrition or reassignment.
• Batch scheduling controllers
• Security ID servers
• Anti-virus
• SMS
• Help desk
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 10

Savings and Benefits by Consolidation Type


This table illustrates the savings and benefits based on type of consolidations

Categories Category 1 Category 2A Category 2B Category 3A Category 3B Category 4 Category 5


Consolidation Consolidation Consolidation Migrate and Migrate and Application Legacy
Consolidate Consolidate Rationalization Transformation
Type of Server Infrastructure Application Application Application Application Application Application
Or Utility
Approximate Less than 20% 70% 10%
Percent of
servers in
this category
Example DNS Web, application Web, application Web, application Web, application Web, application Legacy application
or Database or Database or Database or Database or Database
DHCP e.g. OpenVMS to UNIX
Domain Mainframe to UNIX
Mail
Type of Homogeneous Homogeneous Homogeneous Heterogeneous Heterogeneous Homogeneous Heterogeneous
Consolidation or Heterogeneous or Heterogeneous
Upgrades No No Yes No Yes Maybe Yes
Required e.g. Oracle 7 to 8 e.g. Oracle 7 to 8
Middleware No No No No No Yes Yes
Replacement e.g. Oracle to DB2
WebLogic to
WebSphere

Benefits Fewer servers Fewer servers Fewer servers Fewer servers Fewer servers Fewer servers Fewer servers
Reduce Reduced Reduced Fewer platform Fewer platform Fewer platform Fewer platform
staff count licenses cost licenses cost types types types types
Reduce Reduce Reduced Reduced Reduced Reduced
staff count staff count licenses cost licenses cost licenses cost licenses cost
Less complexity Reduce Reduce Reduce Reduce
(fewer versions staff count staff count staff count staff count
to support)
Reduce staff skill Reduce staff skill Reduce staff skill Reduce staff skill
set requirements set requirements set requirements set requirements
Less complexity Less complexity Less complexity
(fewer versions (fewer versions (fewer versions
to support) to support) to support)
Fewer software Fewer software
products/costs products/costs
Reduce dependency
on legacy systems
Savings 8% SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE ===============================================➨
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 11

What Are The Key Success Factors? Data Collection


Starting with good data builds a solid foundation for
Sponsorship From A Senior Executive beginning an IT optimization project.
Within The Organization
Strong sponsorship is required for the success of any A Solid Methodology
large initiative. An oversight or steering committee is Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use a proven methodology
suggested. for migration and consolidation.

Buy-In From IT And The Lines Of Business A Partner With The Intellectual Capital
A consolidation requires collaboration between the Work with a partner that can provide the differentiated
lines of business and IT. After all, one the most skills coupled with experience, methodology and tools
significant results of a consolidation is the realignment necessary for the project success.
of the two.

Incentives For Those Involved


Like any major project a large organization undertakes,
the chances of success increase if the participants are
rewarded.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 12

Mitigating Transformation Risk — Planning For Consolidation And Virtualization


Call in the Experts Start with a holistic approach. Make a list of the issues
facing you today.
Strong tools — coupled with proven methodologies —
are the only way to achieve the comprehensive coverage The list might include:
of requirements within a short period of time for IT
optimization initiatives. Each stage of the process must 1. I can’t control my costs
be designed to build upon the previous stage and move 2. I have too many underutilized servers
seamlessly into the next. Analysis that supports the 3. I have too many platform types
plan must be comprehensive and knowledgeable from 4. I have too many data centers
both technical and business perspectives. This is at the 5. I have too many software products
heart of the SCON/IT optimization practice at 6. My environment is too complex
Sector7. 7. I can’t meet my users needs in a reasonable amount
of time
Risk Mitigation Elements 8. I have no idea how many servers are actually on my
• Partner with an organization that has tools for: network
- Consolidation
- Application Assessment Then ask yourself if you can benefit from IT
- Migration and Porting optimization. If you listed any of the items above, you
- Functional Testing probably can benefit. The next steps might include:
- Performance Testing • Thoroughly research whether the organization will
benefit from optimization
• Pilots, Proof of Concepts • Put a steering committee in place
• Appoint an executive sponsor
• QA and Acceptance Criteria • Locate a partner that can provide methodology, tools
and subject matter expertise
• Project Management

• Technology Adoption
- Implemented only when mature and stable
- New technology adopted in selected groups if so
desired

• Experienced skilled resources

• Fewer architectural differences throughout the


enterprise
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 13

Corporate Background Sector7’s IT optimization methodology recognizes the


complex relational model that exists in every IT
Since 1985, Sector7 has provided solutions for infrastructure: A relationship that is a unique reflection of
organizations that need to leverage their IT investments. the business process model around which an IT
Sector7 understands the challenge of consolidating, organization has designed and engineered their business.
migrating, technology refresh and application
rationalization. Sector7 has performed IT optimization At the core of this relationship is the individual
projects for many organizations around the world. Our application or solution. Each application can be mapped
broad range of experience allows us to be effective in all to a unique server (or set of servers). Further, each server
aspects of an IT optimization project — from the can be mapped to a unique IT architecture. Each of the
business case to the most detailed technical problem. architectures will have a discrete set of support costs
associated with it. Combining these four elements into a
Sector7 brings extensive experience in the analysis and data model that reflects the core logical relationships
implementation of large enterprise IT optimization among one another allows us to profile an IT
projects. We have developed strong tools — coupled infrastructure in some unique and insightful ways.
with proven methodologies — to achieve the
comprehensive coverage of requirements within a short Having built that relational data model, a series of
period of time for IT optimization initiatives. Each intelligent filters is then applied to that data. Solution
stage of our process is designed to build upon the specialists have built these filters based on experiences
previous stage and move seamlessly into the next. Our working with other IT organizations globally. The
analysis is comprehensive and supports plan filters, along with the specialist’s skills and experience,
construction. Our analysts are knowledgeable from allow a framework to be built that identifies the
both technical and business perspectives. The Sector7 changes that best address the particular business and
methodology for IT optimization is not a theoretical infrastructure requirements.
approach. It has been tested, improved, enhanced and
adapted for more than six years. In today’s economic climate, the old paradigm simply
cannot continue and must change. It is time to
optimize.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 14

Intellectual Capital Assessment Phase


1. Powerful Application Inventory Tool
Below is some the intellectual capital that Sector7 Understands most application languages and
leverages to reduce your risk and project cost: provides sizing for validation of file counts and
lines of code. The tool incorporates years of
Consolidation Phase migration knowledge base built-in to evaluate
1. Enhanced ALIGN complexity, find and flag portability issues. The
6-step methodology for ensuring consolidation output provides the initial data for migration
success estimating and planning.
2. Asset Inventory Control and Consolidation Tool 2. Historical Database
Stores large amounts of server and application data Previous projects and metrics to improve project
for asset inventory and includes built in queries that estimates and provide project measurements.
produce powerful reports used to develop 3. Porting Questionnaires
consolidation strategies Capture essential metrics and complexity issues.
3. Qualification Questionnaires 4. Report Templates From All Previous Projects
4. “TCO-Lite” Tool 5. Plan Templates From All Previous Projects
Used to qualify a candidate for consolidation 6. Sector7 Portfolio Strategy Matrix Profiler
5. Data Collection Worksheets Classifies application by complexity
Worksheets needed for a successful project
6. Business Analysis Questionnaires
Used to determine business needs for a consolidation
7. SCON Estimator
Estimates the time and requirements of performing a
consolidation study
8. Solution Tool
Uses the Asset Inventory Control and Consolidation
Tool to help us create possible solutions
SERVER CONSOLIDATION & IT OPTIMIZATION

An Application Centric View Of Server Consolidation And IT Optimization 15

Migration Phase Testing Phase


1. Sector7 5-Step Migration Process 1. Sector7 Test Methodology
Incorporates 17 years of experience performing Tailored to the test needs of migrating applications
application migrations, which has produced an 2. Sector7 Test Analyzer
extensive knowledge base of detailed metrics Determines code dependencies for creating a
around the conversion of languages, databases and maximized test plan
third-party products. 3. Test Plan Templates
2. Suite of Tools for Migrating Application Code Based on all previous projects
We have tools for most common application 4. Sample Test Scripts
development languages including Perl, Shell, HTML, Provide guidance for test script development
Java, C, C++, Fortran, Assembler, Cobol, Basic, PL/ 5. Test Guides
SQL, Pascal and many more. Documenting our years of test experience
3. Porting Guides 6. Migration Factory
Documentation of years of porting experience Leverages depth in testing skills, methodology and
4. Tools For Migrating Infrastructure intellectual capital — results in higher efficiency,
And Binary Code lower cost.
These tools will move files, email and binary code
including user accounts.
5. Powerful Code Synchronization Tool
Compares and merges code from the original source
base that has been migrated with any new software
release and needs to be synchronized. The inability to
handle code changes and lack of migration experience
causes the majority of migration projects to fail.
6. Migration Factory
Leveraging a high concentration of specialized skills,
tools, methodology and intellectual capital — high
productivity and cost reduction benefits

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