FIVE STEPS FOR SUCCESSFUL SERVER
CONSOLIDATION AND CAPACITY PLANNING
Chris Churchey, Server/Storage Performance Expert
churchey@TheAtsGroup.com
GOALS FOR SERVER CONSOLIDATION AND
CAPACITY PLANNING
•
Eliminate multiple, individual servers and maximize
available resources.
•
Adequately support business expansion while reducing
CAPEX and OPEX.
•
Approach consolidation and capacity planning with a
simple and thorough process, rather than treat it as a
"black art."
CAPEX
OPEX
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
THE 5 STEPS
There are five basic, but important steps:
•
STEP 1: Define hosts/servers for consolidation analysis
•
STEP 2: Define a time-frame (Baseline)
•
STEP 3: Determine CPU, Memory, Network and Disk Usage
•
STEP 4: Define Growth projection.
•
STEP 5: Recommend Consolidation and Capacity
Solutions
STEPS
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
STEP ONE
DEFINE HOSTS/SERVERS FOR CONSOLIDATION ANALYSIS
•
Keep business strategies in mind.
•
Thoroughly analyze the current IT environment and costs
associated with it.
BUSINESS
STRATEGIES
•
Do more than just a census, think holistically and include
CAPEX and well as OPEX.
$
•
Think about leases and leasing or co-hosting.
•
Consider the age of the current servers and the potential
support or staffing problems to keep them operational.
•
Consider constraints such as existing floor space
requirements and power constraints.
$
OPERATING
EXPENSES
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
$
$
STEP TWO
DEFINE A TIME-FRAME (BASELINE)
•
Correlate the business peaks and IT peaks.
•
Make IT a good business partner: monitor your
data center performance and capacity
24x7x365.
•
Make accurate consolidation or expansion
decisions based on that data.
•
Use a tool like Galileo Performance Monitor to
provide accurate information to base sound
decisions on.
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
STEP TWO
DEFINE A TIME-FRAME (BASELINE)
•
If you do not have the appropriate data – consider installing a monitoring
software and gather some data for the next 30 to 60 days to give you a baseline.
•
It is best if this period includes business peaks and valleys.
•
If not, use the baseline data to map to the business cycle.
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
STEP THREE
DETERMINE CPU, MEMORY, NETWORK AND DISK
USAGE
•
Are you moving any physical environments
to virtual environments?
•
Such a move is not a one to one
correlation. For example, you must
account for the doubling of network
packet processing.
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
VM
VM
VM
BU
IN
S
S
E
D
S
VE
RI
S
E
L
B
A
Align IT with the business plan to create a
successful server consolidation and
capacity planning strategy.
EN
•
Past performance data gives you a good
perspective of the past — not necessarily
the future.
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
IT
•
S
STEP FOUR
DEFINE GROWTH PROJECTION
STEP FOUR
DEFINE GROWTH PROJECTION
Without past performance data, try this algorithm:
•
Use your Baseline and increase by 25%. (This
gives you a base for the coming year.)
•
Then, increase by 15% year-to-year over the next
3-5 years.
•
The algorithm is not as accurate as the first
approach, but without historical performance
data – assumptions are necessary.
GROWTH = (B*1.25) * 1.15
Y
B = Baseline, Y = Year
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
STEP FIVE
RECOMMEND CONSOLIDATION AND CAPACITY
SOLUTIONS
•
This consolidation plan is based on a realistic
assessment of the required capacity for support of the
business plans.
•
Build it to support the required availability, footprint,
and performance requirements.
•
Efficiently map out location, energy, and resource costs
to optimize your CAPEX and OPEX.
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer
GOALS FOR SERVER CONSOLIDATION AND
CAPACITY PLANNING
Consider installing Galileo Performance Monitor to make your plan
realistic and experience the benefits - www.galileosuite.com
Contact us to talk with you more about the best practices in server
consolidation and capacity planning.
Chris Churchey, Server/Storage Performance Expert
churchey@TheAtsGroup.com
Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer