An Approach toStorage Planning

Andy Perkins, John McGuinness17th June 2011

Agenda• Introduction• Scope & Service Goals• Approach to Storage Planning• High-level workflow• Considerations• Summary

Introduction

“An organisation's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is

the ultimate competitive advantage” – Jack Welch

Wot No Statistics?

• Gartner suggest 4.42% utilisation for x86 Servers in legacy environments

• Prolinx typically see 5% to 10% utilisation of servers• IBM estimate only 15% infrastructure capacity is in

effective use• Prolinx analysis shows 25-35% storage utilisation

Service GoalsLegacy Environment

Dispersed dataHardware SprawlLack of standardsVariability of serviceDifficult to flex & provisionLack of protectionHigh perceived costStaffs are busy managing not transforming the servicePoor UtilisationLocked CapacityOver provision

Service Goals

Agility & Rapid Provisioning Capacity ReclamationService Alignment:• Right sized• Right SLA (HA, DR,

performance, ….)• Cost model reflects service

value & contribution (VfM)• Right Protection levelAgreed Service CatalogueHigh UtilisationEfficient environmentals: CO2, floor space, coolingEase of ManagementEase of change

Transformation

DiscoverPlan

DesignImplement

Manage

Storage Planning?

• It is unlikely a storage conversation can be held in isolation of:– Data Protection– Service Resilience– SLA & Service targets– BCP & DR– Server & networking

Protection/Resilience/Recovery

Application specific

architectures

CapacityBroader Infrastructure

People

ServiceRequirements

SLAs

Discovery & Audit ScopeService by Service Review

Service summary information: # users, location, ….Software stack & LicencingTechnology over view: Block, transactional DB; File; log; exportInfrastructure Platform

Service Impact/Value High: Med: LowPerformance High: Med: LowProtection High: Med: LowRTO Instantaneous: Med: LowRPOData Retention Tier 1:Tier 2: Tier 3

Capacity Review

Storage now (GB), by data typeProjected change over time (GB)I/O requirements

Back-up volumesReplication VolumesDaily change ratesPeak activities & cyclesVault/Archive requirements

Infrastructure Overview

Networking overview & CSDDirectory services & AuthenticationServer overview & CSD

Solutions triedAlliances & PartnershipsStandardsLegal & Compliance

Service Review

Service TargetsService CataloguesSupport structures & team overview

Projects & Initiatives

Sample Categorisation Model

Floo

r spa

ce

Cost

Typical Service Availability Technology I/O Protection Features Connection

Tier 1Transactional databases

CRMRegistration Systems

zero ornear zero

downtime,live update

high duty cycle disk

high speed diskHighest High replication,

snapshotdual

redundant

Tier 2

CRM document storesResearch dataD2D stagingOffice data

Rapid Provision layer

c30-60 min unplanned down time,acceptable

planned down time

Medium duty cycle disk High Medium

shared with tier one or lower tier

Tier 3Static images

near-line demoted storage archive

c60 - 240 min

unplanned down time,acceptable

planned down time

Medium duty cycle disk

Or tape

Medium Low

shared with tier one or lower tier

Carb

on F

ootp

rint

Example workflow

Discovery & Audit

Review results & whiteboardinitial solutions options

with stakeholders

Refined Requirements & service criteria agreed.

Solution Options & recommendations presented &

reviewed

Target Solution, roadmapimplementation &

migration strategies

Scope workshop Statement of works& Deliverables

Stage Stage Output

Summary Findings

Considerations

• Making everything Tier 1 has an associated cost & environmental impact

• Distributed management models can be constraint – Seek senior sponsorship– Frontend the study

• Perform a holistic Value for Money and sector/industry comparative study

• Service Maturity Assessment

• Use SOA & create a strategic platform framework

TCO Example

200 TB - 500TBover 5 years

Tier 1(TB)

Tier 2(TB)

Tier 3(TB) Investment

5 yrOperation

(inc power) 5 yr power 5 yr CO2

(tonnes)5th yrRack space

Tier 1 only 500 £2,339,854 £449,070 £161,046 501 7.5

Tier 1 + Tier 2 110 390 £744,199 £313,002 £81,989 262 3.5

Tier 1 + Tier 2 + Tier 3 110 95 295 £621,824 £321,981 £66,767 210 3.0

tier efficiency 80% 70% 70%

Summary

• Understanding data value, SLA’s & requirements means you can better

• Align Technology to service need• Optimise the solution• Reclaim and reuse existing investments• Articulate the business case• Reduce TCO• Create strategic platforms for growth• Create a Service Catalogue

Analyse

Audit

Plan/Design

Thank you