FIVE STEPS FOR SUCCESSFUL 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

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."

CAPEXOPEX

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

DEFINE HOSTS/SERVERS FOR CONSOLIDATION ANALYSIS

• Keep business strategies in mind.

• Thoroughly analyze the current IT environment and costs associated with it.

• 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.

STEP ONE

BUSINESSSTRATEGIES

OPERATINGEXPENSES

$$

$$

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

• 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.

DEFINE A TIME-FRAME (BASELINE)STEP TWO

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

• 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.

DEFINE A TIME-FRAME (BASELINE)STEP TWO

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

• 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.

DETERMINE CPU, MEMORY, NETWORK AND DISK USAGE

STEP THREE

VM VM VM

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

• Past performance data gives you a good perspective of the past — not necessarily the future.

• Align IT with the business plan to create a successful server consolidation and capacity planning strategy.

DEFINE GROWTH PROJECTIONSTEP FOUR

BUS

INESS DRIVES IT

EN

ABLES

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

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.

DEFINE GROWTH PROJECTIONSTEP FOUR

GROWTH = (B*1.25) * 1.15Y

B = Baseline, Y = Year

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

• 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.

RECOMMEND CONSOLIDATION AND CAPACITY SOLUTIONS

STEP FIVE

Five Steps for Successful Server Consolidation and Capacity Planning | Galileo Performance Explorer

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

GOALS FOR SERVER CONSOLIDATION AND CAPACITY PLANNING