tca/tco benefits of consolidating databases and x86 servers on ibm enterprise linux servers

White Paper:

TCA/TCO Benefits of

Consolidating Databases

and x86 Servers on IBM

Enterprise Linux Servers

WinterGreen Research, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2012, WINTERGREEN RESEARCH, INC. 2 www.wintergreenresearch.com www.wintergreenblog.com

tel 781-863-5078 email: [email protected] Lexington, Massachusetts

Whitepaper: TCA/TCO Benefits of Consolidating Databases and x86 Servers on IBM zEnterprise Servers with Linux

As a C-level executive, you are always on the lookout for ways to reduce IT costs while

increasing systems capability in order to grow sales and/or improve service. Leveraging

applications with automated business processes that enable user centric interconnected

applications embracing interfaces that are inherently enabled for smart devices with

efficient systems represents a proven way to improve the business.

As your IT managers look for economies within the data center, improved Linux systems

can provide those economies. Benefits of Linux open systems include capabilities for

supporting application and data base consolidation. Linux systems consolidations

eliminate server sprawl and provide for virtualization of servers. Server sprawl may be

eliminated in a partial manner by consolidating from many servers and moving them as

images to ten percent or fewer servers using VMware, or more completely by taking the

images onto one Enterprise Linux Server.

Linux systems consolidation may occur within the line of business or inside the IT data

center. The effect of having a zEnterprise server consolidation of images is to achieve a

condensed footprint. This achieves elimination of application and database distributed

servers, and decrease or elimination of many software application licenses and database

licenses. The cost reduction implications are significant as illustrated hereafter.

The larger, faster IBM zEnterprise servers have compelling TCO and TCA metrics that

show considerable cost savings over VMware consolidation implementations. IBM

zEnterprise is a viable data and server consolidation option. Linux on zEnterprise is a

solution available to the line of business to promote enterprise class capability while

reducing distributed server systems operations costs.

As an Executive responsible for controlling IT costs, you can use the approach outlined

herein to analyze your situation and to quickly identify potential IT cost reduction

benefits by doing a proper TCA/TCO analysis. The IBM Enterprise Linux Server

technology cost advantages presented herein are achieved in part through server




consolidation. Fewer application and database software licenses, fewer people, and less

energy costs provide compelling savings in IT acquisition and operations costs.

Server, Networking, and Software Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA) Comparison

Following is a total cost of acquisition (TCA) cost comparison for 80 physical x86 servers

in the first case versus 80 VMware images on 5 blade Linux servers in the second case,

and 80 applications on one zEnterprise 114 in the third case.

Figure 1

Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA) Comparison of Different Server Implementations of

One Application

730,388

532,212

349,756

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

Distributed Blade VMware zEnterprise Linux

In D

oll

ars

TCA of 80 Linux Servers :x86 Distributed, Blade VMware Virtualized, and zEnterprise z/VM Servers

Source: WinterGreen Research, Inc.




The total cost for one zEnterprise 114 (See Appendix 1 for configuration details) hosting

the virtual images, for server hardware purchase plus software and infrastructure of

network, database, and storage is $349,756 as compared to $730,388 for 80 standalone

x86 servers when every web service application instance is hosted on its very own

server. This is versus $532,212 TCA for the consolidation to 5 larger distributed Linux

blade VMware equipped servers

The acquisition costs of hardware, software, and infrastructure components including

network and storage systems have similar proportions for the three scenarios as

illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Component TCA Hardware, Software, and Network, Database, and Storage

Infrastructure Costs for 80 Linux Servers and / or Images

730,388

532,212

349,756

0.0

100,000.0

200,000.0

300,000.0

400,000.0

500,000.0

600,000.0

700,000.0

800,000.0

1 2 3

Proportion of Hardware, Software, and Infrastructure Cost for 80 Linux Production and 80 Linux Support Servers

Server Cost /x86, Blade Linux, z 114 Cost

Software Application, OS, Security, VM

Network, Database, and Storage Source: WinterGreen Research, Inc.

Distributed x86 Servers Blade Unix Server with VMware zEnterprise with Linux Images




The two charts above illustrate that the zEnterprise 114 is the least cost system by 52%

over the VMware blade systems when considering direct acquisition costs.

When looked at from the point of view of the useful life of the equipment asset, the

analysis yields different results; the zEnterprise server becomes far more attractive than

the other systems implementations. Following is a snapshot analysis of acquisition cost

divided by useful life to show single year cost for the different systems configurations

when shared workload, useful life, and utilization are taken into consideration. As

shown below, the savings are dramatic.

Figure 3

Analysis showing Single Year Costs for Seven Year Timeframe

Including Server Useful Life: TCA of 80 Linux Production

and 80 Linux Support Servers

Including the effects of

variable systems utilization,

variable virtualization

efficiency and variable

workload sharing accumulated

over seven years. This

analysis is rationalized for

constant lease payments, to

show a one year snapshot of

TCA.

133,536

84,458

18,381

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

Distributed Blade VMware zEnterprise Linux

In D

oll

ars

TCA of 80 Linux Servers Over Useful Life of Equipment:x86 Distributed, Blade VMware Virtualized, and zEnterprise

z/VM


Note: Includes virtualization consolidation efficiencies achieved and workload sharing effects.




In this case, the zEnterprise 114 is 4.6 times less expensive than the VMware blade

workload systems implementation. The TCA of 80 Linux servers along with their support

systems over the useful life of the equipment analysis illustrates that the 80 distributed

servers plus the 80 support servers cost $133,536 per year, the blade VMware

virtualized (80+80) systems for a comparable workload are $84,458 per year, and the

zEnterprise 114 hosting (80+80 images) is $18,381 per year.

Additional savings come from utilizing the zEnterprise 114 in a shared workload

environment, where the assumption is that 35% of the zEnterprise 114 processing

capacity is used for other applications (for example: managing distributed server

security authentication or another department running Linux) and 65% of workload

processing capacity is consumed by the consolidated Linux applications.

The most compelling factors that have impact on the more detailed server TCA analysis

beyond purchase price are application workload, shared workload, utilization, and years

of server useful life. By looking at the entire TCA costs for each of the three server

scenarios over 7 years, it is possible to derive rational, comparable costs for one year.

The zEnterprise servers (with a single asset serial number) tend to be refreshed rather

than replaced, permitting continuing lease whereby the actual lease amount goes down

as the years go forward, because the box has been depreciated.




Figure 4

Selected Assumptions Used for TCA Analysis of Servers

Selected Assumptions Used for TCA Analysis of Servers

Distributed Virtualized Linux

Servers Distributed zEnterprise

HP Proliant HP Blade Virtual Machines

DL 381 685 VMWare on z/VM

# Production Servers x 2 for x86 and Blade 80.0 5.0 1.0

$ Per Server 2,340.0 23,680.0 185,000.0

Servers Purchase Price $ 374,400.0 236,800.0 185,000.0

% Server Workload Shared 100.0 100.0 35.0

% Utilization 5.0 35.0 85.0

$ Per Server / Shared Workload 374,400.0 236,800.0 120,250.0

Years of Useful Life / Refresh 3.0 3.0 7.0

$ Server Costs Per Year Over Useful Life 133,536.0 84,458.7 18,381.1


Distributed servers and blade VMware units have a typical 3 year shelf-life. The newer

x86 systems use less energy and are more efficient, creating advantages to a 3 year x86

server replacement cycle program.

The independent benchmarks from TCP C, TCP A and others form the basis for making

assumptions about workload and cost per server. Many variables are considered in the

seven year analysis where the seven year costs are totaled and divided by 7 for each

system. Distributed and blade servers that sit completely idle are a separate issue.

Shared workload is an issue as well. Processing nonrelated workloads during low

utilization times has direct impact on reducing zEnterprise 114 TCA. The number of

application server licenses and database licenses in the virtualized blade systems are an

cost issue for those systems. IBM zEnterprise requires considerably fewer software

licenses than the other systems being compared.




Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA) For Deployment Topology

TCA includes acquisition of server and storage hardware, but also the software licenses

required for the deployment topology. Database servers and licenses, test and

development servers, software licenses, networking routers and cabling are some of the

often overlooked server acquisition associated TCA costs.

The usual as-is configuration in a horizontally scaled-out network of x86 distributed

servers running a like application and/or copies of data to support application workloads

is well defined and typically somewhat standardized. (See Appendix for configuration

used in this analysis). Many firms have already embarked on a consolidation and

virtualization strategy to collapse the high number of smaller user-centric single-

application servers into a larger server shared by multiple users using technologies such

as VMware. A more scalable and cost effective mixed workload solution is provided by

Linux on IBM zEnterprise.

Even though the single server is $2,340 each, when compared to the cost of the

zEnterprise at $185,000 (See Appendix for system configuration used in this analysis),

the zEnterprise is less expensive because when considering workload, the more

expensive unit is more efficient at running the workload, the $ per unit of workload is

lower on the zEnterprise 114 (z114).

IBM zEnterprise 114 Lowers Entry Cost

The IBM z114 lowers the entry cost to get started with the enterprise Linux server.

Faster cores and a bigger system cache on the zEnterprise 114 and its larger sibling

zEnterprise 196 let users do more processing at less cost. Whether running Linux on

z/VM, or on integrated IBM System x or p blades within the zEnterprise BladeCenter

Extension (zBX), the zEnterprise solution offers workload optimization choices beyond

the traditional mainframe operating environments -- and this flexibility of operating

environments and deployment choices within a single system is unique to the

zEnterprise System.

The total cost of acquisition analysis for a single application consisting of 80 production

instances (plus 80 supporting server instances which we will discuss next) illustrates the




differences in cost between images instantiated on single servers, VMware virtualized

servers and a zEnterprise z/VM virtualized server.

The launch of production applications on 80 servers depends on the existence of

background server resources, used for testing, development, quality assurance and

database systems support. This analysis assumes that there is an equal number of non-

production x86 and blade servers used for test, development, and database as

production x86 and blade servers (a 1:1 ratio of production to non-production). It

should be noted that this is a rather conservative estimate vs. the 1:4 or 1:6 ratios often

used in similar analyses. Our belief is that the 1:1 scenario is more accurate than the

other ratios, more representative of what is found in typical data centers. Any higher

ratio simply increases the savings from the zEnterprise 114 server case.

Thus when we analyze 80 x86 Linux servers with a cost comparison, there are an

additional 80 x86 servers needed to make the application instantiation a reality. For

blade servers the same scenario holds true for hosted server images. IT has other

choices for hosting test and development in the cloud, running the database on a

mainframe, and so forth, but we have chosen to analyze using this ratio.

As shown in the illustrations, the 80 distributed production servers plus 80 supporting

other servers together cost more to implement than the single zEnterprise 114 server.

Applications can be implemented on real (physical) servers or as (virtual) server images

on blade servers or a zEnterprise 114 server. In every case there are a total of 160

application images that need to be processed on some server.

Designed, sized and priced for mid-sized organizations, the zEnterprise 114 is the

newest addition to the IBM zEnterprise System class of servers; it sells for approximately

$185,000 USD in the selected configuration considered in this instance (pricing may vary

by country) and is positioned as an alternative to scaled out virtualized servers for the

line of business requirements. Consolidation of an application onto a single zEnterprise

server turns out to be the most cost efficient way to implement web services. (Who

knew?)




Instantiation of multiple server images on a blade server using several servers using

VMware is the second most cost efficient way to deploy web services enabled

applications. Use of multiple single inexpensive x86 servers, one for each single

application instance (commonly called the “scale out” approach) is the most expensive

way to deploy these types of applications.

There are many sets of web services enabled Linux applications running in IT data

centers on 80 or so production servers. This is a typical number of servers or images for

a specific, targeted application.

Competitive pricing for Linux on zEnterprise proves to be an attractive alternative to

server sprawl. A combined total cost of acquisition (TCA) and total cost of ownership

(TCO) perspective provides insight into cost structures. In an environment with 5

virtualized physical blade servers with 80 Linux images on production servers using

VMware as compared to the same Linux images on zEnterprise 114 with z/VM shows

there are multiple areas of cost reduction possible in the total infrastructure.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

In part, the single x86 or blade servers are more expensive because they are more labor

intensive than the zEnterprise 114 and labor accounts for 70% of the cost of running an

IT department. The more automated process provided by zEnterprise 114 is significant

because it permits faster, better application launch and systems management.

In part the difference in IT TCO cost is because the single x86 servers run at only 15%

utilization on average while the zEnterprise server demonstrates 85%+ utilization,

creating economies of scale. Economies on consolidated systems are achieved in

energy, cooling and floor space efficiencies and in the need for fewer software licenses

on the consolidated virtualized systems.

Software cost for the VMware virtualized blade systems are particularly impacted by the

number of cores in the server. The software and software maintenance pricing is by

core so even though there are only 5 distributed servers as in the above VMware

example, there are still 16 cores on each server and 80 licenses needed with

maintenance, resulting in no database or application software savings.




The zEnterprise server uses three cores in this situation so there are significantly fewer

licenses, only three, but it needs to be noted that the dollar per core is higher for this

type of zEnterprise server and this impacts ongoing maintenance costs.

The graphics following show more detail for the TCO of HW/SW for a small

configuration scenario (horizontal scale-out of distributed x86 servers, consolidated

larger distributed blade servers with virtualization, and a zEnterprise consolidated /

virtualized system.

Figure 5

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 80 Linux x 86 Production and 80 x86 Support Servers,

80 Blade Virtualized Production Images and 80 Support Virtualized Images Cost

Comparison to One zEnterprise z/VM Implementation

0.0

50,000.0

100,000.0

150,000.0

200,000.0

250,000.0

300,000.0

Distributed Blade zEnterprise

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 80 Linux Production Servers Cost Comparison

Outage Cost

Floor Space, Power, andCooling

Software and HardwareUpdates andMaintenance

Labor Costs

Note: Analysis per Year, Comparable Cost Over 7 Years.




The 80 production servers or server images are matched by an equal number of support

servers or server images (160 in total). The variables looked at in the total cost of

ownership TCO include outage cost, floor space, power, cooling, software and hardware

updates, backup, software and hardware maintenance, and labor costs.

These TCO costs are shown for one year. They represent recurring costs so the

disparities become more pronounced over the seven years considered in the analysis.

Even in one year, the TCO numbers show very compelling advantage to use of

zEnterprise for web services enabled workloads. An analysis showing significant

advantage to the operating costs of the zEnterprise System over an extended period

beyond the initial first year is not shown but can be calculated fairly easily to

demonstrate the effects over several years.

The 80 x86 distributed production servers have operating costs of $288,298 for one

year. The blade servers with VMware have one year operating costs of $127,225 and

the zEnterprise benefits from no outage costs and lower labor costs because of more

automation in the system. An 80 production server configuration was chosen as an

example because it is representative of a variety of web application situations

commonly found in IT environments. Web services enabled applications are used for

ordering, transaction management, and shipping process management. While there are

thousands of different IT data center metrics to analyze in the WinterGreen Research

ROI tool, a representative average has been chosen for this analysis.




Figure 6

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 80 Linux Production Servers Cost Comparison

Assumptions Used for Analysis of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Linux Servers

In Dollars

Distributed Virtualized Linux

Servers Distributed zEnterprise

HP Proliant DL 380 HP Blade 685 Servers Virtual Machines

VMware on z/VM

Labor Costs 84,000.0 23,000.0 13,500.0

Software, Hardware Updates, Maintenance 72,288.0 51,275.4 51,100.3

Floor Space, Power, and Cooling 48,000.0 11,610.0 3,167.0

Outage Cost 62,010.0 41,340.0 0.0

Total $ 266,298.0 127,225.4 67,767.3

Note: Per single year costs, comparable cost over 7 years.


What costs $266,298 per year to

implement as a set of Linux web services

enabled applications deployed

enterprise wide on 80 distributed x86

production servers, costs $127,225 on

blade servers with VMware. The

comparable processing costs decline to

$67,787 on the zEnterprise 114 because

the mature system has the best

automated processes.

The zEnterprise 114 (or z196) server is cost

efficient because it uses less power and fewer

software licenses. Stand alone servers are very

inexpensive to purchase, but their utilization

tends to be low, software licenses are

cumulatively more expensive. Application images

virtualized under VMware on a Blade are more

expensive than on the zEnterprise 114.




These numbers illustrate why consolidation of servers is creating significant incentive in

the market for IT departments to move to virtualized systems.

As illustrated, virtualization alone is not sufficient, VMware systems have their

limitations, and it is difficult to get many images on a server, 16 virtual server images on

a blade is the number used for this analysis. Many users start out trying to put 50

images on the blade. Studies show that 16 images per blade is reasonable, a little above

the average of 10 images per blade. Utilization of 65% is difficult and expensive to

sustain, 35% is more often the case. Blade servers are generally limited to only one type

of workload, the cost of electricity is still high, and the ratio of full time personnel to

servers remains high.

TCO and TCA Costs Form Basis For Comparative Consideration Of 80 Linux Production Servers

The same amount of workload processing can be done in less time, with more reliability,

more security, and more automated management of process leveraging the high

availability and high utilization for the zEnterprise servers. In addition, the zEnterprise

can manage many different workload types on the same system and is designed to run

at 100% utilization, creating greater efficiencies than are available on blade systems

running VMware, which tend to be tuned for a specific workload type.

For one year TCO / TCA for an organization to run web services enabled application

server virtual images on zEnterprise means that the total cost of each virtual image

including operations and labor is less than the cost of the distributed server hardware

alone. Distributed servers have additional costs for software, networking and database

storage and operations. Once the hardware has been paid for, there are significant

areas of savings from the operations aspects of ongoing systems support. The total cost

per image per year on zEnterprise is $700 in this scenario, including all the associated

hardware, software, labor, and operating systems costs and becomes even less

improves as more workload is added to the system.

This cost per unit of workload analysis is conducted in a thoughtful, detailed, and

professional manner using the independent WinterGreen Research ROI tool, available




for subscription to anyone who is interested. Such an analysis of TCO and TCA costs

forms the base for consideration of a range of systems configurations.

Analyses are done keeping in mind that there are always many different scenarios and

data center complexities due to processor workload optimization and similar

considerations. Identified trends appear over time.

Security is integral to the design of zEnterprise. Security is built in the DNA of the

zEnterprise hardware and operating systems which provide additional support for ANSI,

firewalls, and PCI standards.

IBM middleware packages run equally well on all platforms. This provides the capability

to migrate systems off expensive application and database server sprawl to the

consolidated mainframe. The zEnterprise’s capability to integrate directly with a blade

server extension (zBX) that runs select native POWER7 and System x x86 processors for

those workloads that require it, addresses any past shortcomings.

Competitive IBM pricing for Linux on zEnterprise proves to provide a compelling

alternative to server sprawl when looked at from a TCO / TCA perspective.

Conclusion

The TCA and TCO benefits come from consolidating databases and distributed x86

servers as images on zEnterprise with Linux. Benefits are compelling for the right

workloads. The larger, faster zEnterprise server has TCO and TCA benefit needs to be

considered by you as a fiscally responsible C level Executive. The direction outlined here

illustrates how you can control costs using the IBM zEnterprise server consolidation and

database consolidation value proposition.

Competitive pricing for Linux on zEnterprise proves the scale up server is an alternative

to server sprawl. Linux on zEnterprise is a solution for the line of business. The LoB can

achieve enterprise class capability at distributed server pricing. The benefits of Linux

open systems capitalize on capabilities that enable application and data base

consolidation. Clients are looking for economies relating to Linux. The costs of server

sprawl and associated data base licenses are very high compared to the costs of the




zEnterprise System. The same people who support Linux on distributed servers can

support Linux on zEnterprise because it is the same.

The Enterprise Linux Server runs multiple virtual Linux servers concurrently. IBM

zEnterprise Linux Server provides simplification, scalability, reliability, high availability

and security capabilities that go beyond anything a distributed server can offer and at a

lower TCA / TCO.

Single-server simplicity is a priority and zEnterprise 114 (and/or z196) positions the

Enterprise Linux Server to provide Web based and application functionality directly for

the line of business. The Enterprise Linux Server allows running applications on a single

server, which saves software license and management costs, floor space and energy

costs. It significantly reduces labor costs which represent 70% of the IT budget.

The Enterprise Linux Server handles data analytics. It is a game changing,

transformational server. The Enterprise Linux Server advanced virtualization

technology, automation features and highly-scalable server capacities are significant.

Availability in an enterprise Linux server is enhanced by the backup (spare) cores within

to system so there is no single point of failure, providing a system that goes far beyond

the traditional server hardware in its ability to perform without any downtime.

The availability design point focuses on the applications, which results in an integrated

environment where hardware, firmware, virtualization software, Linux and middleware

work in concert to provide application and data availability and security.

Executives are encouraged to view Enterprise Linux Server as another Linux server with

much more scalability and flexibility. Linux will run on zEnterprise as it does on other

hardware and this enterprise class system has compelling cost of computing benefit.




Appendix – x86 Server Configurations Used In Analysis

Assuming lighter weight Linux web services enabled application:

IBM zEnterprise 114 Server

Machine Model: M05

Memory: 72 Gigabytes RAIM (Redundant Array of Independent Memory).

Number of IFLs: 3

z/VM and Red Hat Linux

x86 Servers

HP ProLiant

Model DL381

Memory: 8 MB RAM

Red Hat Linux

CPU Type: Intel Xeon X5690 3.46 GHz

Total # of Processors: 2

Total # of Cores: 12

Total # of Threads: 24

Linux Midrange Blade Servers

HP ProLiant Blade 685

Memory: 64 GB RAM

Red Hat Linux

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