Consolidation in the Data Center: Simplifying It Environments to Reduce Total Cost of Ownership - Softcover

Hornby, David; Pepple, Ken

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130454958 ISBN 13: 9780130454959

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2002

Synopsis

*Reduce your IT total cost of ownership *Increase application service levels and infrastructure manageability *Deploy more flexible and efficient IT architectures This book presents the case and methodology for optimizing your computinginfrastructure through proven consolidation techniques. It steps you throughthe consolidation process from the initial business justification, through projectplanning, architecture, deployment, and management. It provides real-worldrecommendations for consolidating your infrastructure, as well as avoidingnumerous pitfalls along the way. The Official Sun Microsystems Resource Series

About this title

About the Author

DAVID HORNBY has been with Sun for the last five years in both SunProfessional Services (SunPS) and Sun's Global Sales Organization. Whilewith SunPS, he specialized in server consolidation and data center consulting,and was instrumental in developing the SunPS consolidation methodology. Hehas participated in the sale and implementation of multiple server consolidationprojects for Sun customers. David currently focuses on consolidation and TCOstrategies in his work with Sun customers. Prior to joining Sun, David spent 25years in IT with an emphasis on providing IT solutions to business problems.He has 10+ years' experience managing IT organizations at the CIO level.

KEN PEPPLE is an IT Architect in Sun Professional Services' Asia Pacific practice.In this role, he assists clients with enterprise computing architecture solutions,concentrating on advanced data center projects. Before moving to his currentposition, Ken managed Sun Professional Services' high-end platform servicesprogram and focused on complex performance issues for the InformationTechnology Consulting and Operations practice. While there, he co-wrote andtaught Sun Education's "Solaris OE Performance and Tuning Secrets" seminar.When not travelling in Asia, Ken is based in the San Francisco Bay area.

From the Back Cover

• Reduce your IT total cost of ownership
• Increase application service levels and infrastructure manageability
• Deploy more flexible and efficient IT architectures

This book presents the case and methodology for optimizing your computinginfrastructure through proven consolidation techniques. It steps you throughthe consolidation process from the initial business justification, through projectplanning, architecture, deployment, and management. It provides real-worldrecommendations for consolidating your infrastructure, as well as avoidingnumerous pitfalls along the way.

The Official Sun Microsystems Resource Series

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

This Sun BluePrints book provides a methodology for justifying, scoping, and implementing server and storage consolidation. This book addresses the followin topics:

* Establishing a vision for server consolidation
* Methods for achieving and measuring a successful solution
* Understanding and creating a business case for a consolidation project
* Quantifying total cost of ownership (TCO) savings and other benefits of consolidation
* Designing an architecture for a consolidated solution
* Implementing server consolidation based on the established vision
* Managing a consolidated solution
Sun BluePrints Program

The mission of the Sun BluePrints program is to empower Sun customers with the technical knowledge required to implement reliable, extensible, and secure information systems within the data center using Sun products. This program provides a framework to identify, develop, and distribute best practices information that applies across the Sun product lines. Technical subject matter experts in various areas contribute to the program, and focus on the scope and usefulness of the information.

The Sun BluePrints program includes books, guides, and online articles. Through these vehicles, Sun can provide guidance, installation and implementation experiences, real-life scenarios, and late-breaking technical information.

The monthly electronic magazine, Sun BluePrints OnLine, is located on the web at sun/blueprints. To be notified about updates to the Sun BluePrints program, please register yourself on this site.Who Should Use This Book

The audience for this Sun BluePrints book includes customers and partners interested in server and storage consolidation, mixed workload planning and management, and TCO analysis for production environments. Specifically, this book is for data center managers, chief architects, and executive-level information technology (IT) managers.Before You Read This BookThis book complements the Resource Management and Capacity Planning Sun BluePrint. It provides a high-level analysis of some of the topics and product presented in Resource Management and Capacity Planning, and cross-references this material, when necessary. You may find it helpful to review the Resource Management and Capacity Planning Sun BluePrints book before reading this book.How This Book Is Organized

This book contains the following chapters.

Chapter 1, "Evolution of the Data Center" provides a definition of consolidation and explains how data centers have evolved to a point where consolidation has become necessary.

Chapter 2, "Business Aspects of Consolidation" explains the business issues to consider when preparing for a consolidation project. This chapter provides guidance for selling a consolidation project, provides methods for properly assessing the cost of complexity and total cost of ownership, and explains how you can avoid some of the problems you may face during a consolidation project.

Chapter 3, "Types of Consolidation" describes the different types of consolidation you can perform. This chapter provides specific information about the opportunities of each type of consolidation, and presents general strategies used to perform them.

Chapter 4, "Consolidation Methodology" introduces the four phases of Sun Professional Services' consolidation methodology, and identifies general recommendations for their successful completion.

Chapter 5, "Performing a Consolidation Feasibility Study" explains the value of performing a feasibility study, and provides guidance for doing so.

Chapter 6, "Planning a Consolidation Project" explains the importance of properly planning for a consolidation project. Through the use of a sample project, this chapter explains the tasks involved in creating a project plan including defining objectives, estimating time lines, setting milestones, and estimating realistic project durations. In addition, this chapter provides information about identifying and securing essential project resources.

Chapter 7, "Assessing Technical Feasibility" explains how to perform the tasks that must be completed before you can design a consolidated architecture. These tasks include compiling a starting inventory, profiling applications, assessing requirements (of platforms, storage, networks, security, and infrastructure and operations), and assessing risk.

Chapter 8, "Designing a Consolidated Architecture" explains how to perform the tasks involved in designing a consolidated architecture. These tasks include reviewing requirements, developing an initial solution, prototyping the design, revising the design, and documenting the architecture.

Chapter 9, "Implementing a Consolidated Solution" explains how to specify the low-level details of the platform, define a migration strategy, build the consolidated environment, and deploy it. Also, it provides information about putting the solution into production and ensuring that the administrative staff is trained and prepared to document the results of the consolidation.

Chapter 10, "Managing a Consolidated Environment" explains some of the sticky operational issues created by the newly consolidated solution. With several applications sharing the same platform and operating systems infrastructure, availability, and maintenance problems are bound to arise. This chapter explains the importance of careful planning, strong operational processes, and flexible architectures in facing these challenges.

Appendix A presents the complete sample feasibility study referenced in Chapter 5.

Appendix B presents a sample application profile.Ordering Sun Documents

You can view, print or purchase a broad selection of Sun documentation, including localized versions, at: sun/documentationAccessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun sm web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online. You can browse the docs.sun archive, or search for a specific book title or subject. The URL is docs.sun/

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0130454958
• ISBN 13: 9780130454959
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192