Ascent to the Clouds the Clouds Elevate Business Agility and IT Efficiency with Private, Public, and Hybrid Cloud Computing Architectures

power solutions 2011 Issue 03 2011 Issue

Your guide to maximizing IT efficiency dell.com/powersolutions 03

Ascent to Ascent to the clouds the clouds Elevate business agility and IT efficiency with private, public, and hybrid cloud computing architectures

Up in the air? Nothing nebulous about cloud computing benefits

Reaching for the clouds: A three-step journey

Building a flexible SAN foundation for private cloud deployments

Unifying systems management tools for cloud environments DPS-201103-STD US$18.95 Can$19.95 US$18.95 Unlocking Innovation in the Virtual Era

Dell World 2011 Explore strategies for thriving in the Virtual Era at Dell’s premier, hands-on event. Join IT leaders Michael Dell, Steve Ballmer, Marc Benioff, Vivek Kundra, Paul Maritz, Paul Otellini and other IT industry experts as they share their insights on technology’s strategic role in business.

10 Cover story Up in the air? Nothing nebulous about cloud computing benefits

By Holly Vatter, Barton George, and Janet Bartleson Data center virtualization and consolidation often clear the path toward private, public, and hybrid cloud computing environments. Whether enterprises take a revolutionary or evolutionary approach, understanding IT infrastructure options is the first step.

18 Ascent to the clouds Reaching for the clouds: A three-step journey By Egan Christensen Choices abound when enterprises begin to explore a cloud computing strategy. Private, public, or hybrid? Adapt an existing IT infrastructure or create a new one? At the heart of the decision is a careful assessment of business and technology synergies.

Now Time dimension

56 Dell Fluid Data in 62 How automated 90 Flexible traffic 96 6 dimensions of 106 HPC cluster drives action: Why smart sub-volume data partitioning via systems management aerodynamics to storage solutions tiering optimizes hardware-based for empowering hone Team Lotus’s boost efficiency data centers I/O virtualization administrators competitive edge

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 03 1 44 Point of view The Facebook generation Features versus the Fortune 500 Ascent to the clouds By Gary Hamel 21 Building a flexible SAN foundation for private How can companies attract and retain bright, cloud deployments creative members of a generation that grew By Bob Ganley Private cloud computing advances the delivery of efficient, up online? Discover 12 key characteristics agile IT infrastructure. An evolutionary approach to private cloud of Web-based life that unseat traditional computing lets enterprises plan incremental enhancements to management practices. existing infrastructure, and the right SAN smooths the way.

25 Expanding business opportunities through the cloud Large enterprises and small businesses alike are realizing powerful cost-benefits by implementing cloud-based

™ 52 Virtualization computing environments. Dell cloud computing technologies enhance agility, broaden opportunities, Tiered application and streamline IT management. 29 Automating an existing IT ecosystem in a private cloud protection and recovery By Kailas Jawadekar and Tom Baumgartner in virtual environments Transforming a virtualized data center into a private cloud enables fast, flexible IT services delivery and optimized By Sheryl Koenigsberg and William Urban resource utilization. Dell VIS Self-Service Creator helps improve IT efficiency and simplify management of private Together, Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware cloud environments. Edition and Auto-Snapshot Manager/ Microsoft Edition enable IT organizations to use 32 Managing cloud environments for peak business a multitiered approach for protecting virtual value and service delivery machines and mission-critical applications By Lilac Schoenbeck and David Weber Organizations developing private clouds tend to focus on the in VMware® virtualization environments. details of building and configuring the infrastructure—but then the focus shifts to ongoing management. Four considerations are critical to continued success with a cloud-based IT model.

35 Unifying systems management in complex IT environments By M. Consuelo Ortiz and David Weber Cloud computing platforms require transforming data centers to enable dynamic, scalable use of resources and the tools for flexible systems management. The Dell Advanced Infrastructure Manager and BMC Atrium® Orchestrator tools are up to the task.

2 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. 70 38 Hall County Schools: Pioneering Intelligent data management Intelligent data secure, cloud-based education 56 Managing data intelligently to By Patrick Sweeney drive efficiency in the virtual era management At Hall County Schools, cloud computing is broadening academic 62 Intelligent sub-volume storage tiering Unifying horizons. The district uses SonicWALL® heightens data center efficiency Next-Generation Firewalls to secure By Achmad Chadran, Sheryl data retention traffic from diverse endpoints Koenigsberg, and Keith Swindell and access for accessing educational resources 66 Taking a scale-out approach to through the cloud, while maintaining unified block and file storage structured and quality of service. By Scott Sinclair, Arun Rajan, unstructured 41 Leverage the cloud with confidence and John Mannix using next-generation firewalls data 74 Expediting e-discovery with By Patrick Sweeney intelligent e-mail and data archiving By Craig Warthen, Sarah Doherty, When moving applications to the By Philip Favro, Robert Mossi, Dave Zenz, and Kay Benaroch cloud, organizations must find ways to and Kay Benaroch deal with bandwidth contention issues Combining software from and cyber-threat exposure. Learn how Product spotlight Dell partners with the Dell SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls 77 F5 | Dell Tech Forum, The DX Object Storage Platform enhance security, efficiency, and Management Innovation eXchange, provides a holistic data productivity for cloud-based resources. Enterprise Efficiency IT community, repository for simultaneous Dell TechCenter, and more storage of different data Departments Power and cooling types—shared documents, 78 Between a rack and a hot spot: e-mail, file archives, Editor’s comments Integrated cold-air containment databases, and machine- 6 Paper trails By David Moss and Joyce Ruff By Tom Kolnowski generated records. 80 Data centers are heating up— Recent citings intentionally 8 Dell unveils open-source approach By David Moss for quick, simple cloud deployments The Dell OpenStack Cloud Solution Networking helps make the job of deploying 84 Boosting network efficiency an open-source cloud environment through proactive monitoring a lot easier. Plus: Take a technology and management test drive at a state-of-the-art By Chuck Bridges, Jodie D. Robinson, Dell Solution Center. and Michael Rothschild

Virtualization 86 Secure, scalable application delivery 46 Fence data and not the workforce in virtualized environments with simplified desktop virtualization By Fred Johnson and Andrew Walker By Rafael Colorado and Cortney Isunza 90 Enhancing traffic partitioning through I/O virtualization By Brian Johnson, Srinivas Thodati, and Rahul Deshmukh

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 03 3 Oracle 94 Accelerating implementation of advanced business applications Get your complimentary By Michael (Shane) Sedate and Joe Tolod digital subscription Systems management Power Solutions now on Zinio! 96 6 dimensions of systems management solutions By Weijia (John) Zhang, Roger Foreman, and Richard Landau

99 Adopting a pragmatic approach to software license compliance By Anne Haggar

102 Applying community-inspired innovation to software updates By Bob Kelly

Customer perspective 104 Bing Maps: Charting a fast route Dell Power Solutions—your guide to maximizing IT efficiency— to efficiency offers the latest in expert advice, solutions, and technology for

106 Team Lotus: Going with the flow the enterprise. Now, we have partnered with Zinio to bring By Hans Seeberg you the same content digitally. Zinio is an award-winning technology platform that lets you acquire, read, and share digital Linux editions of magazines. Plus, it adds exclusive digital features— 110 Planning for a smooth including video, audio, and live links on desktops, laptops, UNIX-to-Linux migration By Yogesh Devi smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

With the Zinio edition, the publication enables anytime, anywhere Index to featured Dell customers Ai Claims Solutions...... 58 interaction from any device supporting the Zinio reader app. AppDeploy.com...... 102 Bing Maps...... 104 For instant access to your complimentary subscription, visit Boulevard Brewing Company...... 27 Copenhagen Airports...... 26 zinio.com/powersolutions. Hall County Schools...... 38 HDR EOC...... 60 iland...... 23 Going mobile? Scan this QR (quick response) Iper...... 58 Team Lotus...... 106 code using a smartphone or tablet computer Tyro Payments...... 26 Uniserve...... 28 equipped with a camera and QR reader app for University of Kentucky...... 27 Utrecht University...... 61 instant access to Dell Power Solutions on Zinio. Whorton Insurance Services...... 59 To install a QR reader app, visit scan.mobi or Index to advertisers search for QR reader in the mobile app store or American Power Conversion Corporation..... 7, 103 Bakutel...... 112 marketplace appropriate for your device. BMC Software, Inc...... 5 CommVault Systems, Inc...... 31 Dell Inc...... C2 Dell Power Solutions Magazine and special edition articles are also F5 Networks, Inc...... C3 Intel Corporation...... 9 available online at dell.com/powersolutions. Check our Web site Oracle Corporation...... C4 QLogic Corp...... 101 for early-release articles, how-to’s, case studies, best practices, and SonicWALL, Inc...... 51 expert tips you won’t find anywhere else. Product showcase Dell PowerVault tape automation libraries: Simple, automated, affordable, and expandable.....83

4 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. BMC_Cloud_ad_CMYK_fullBleed.pdf 1 5/24/11 1:53 PM

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Editorial staff Editor-in-chief and publisher Tom Kolnowski Managing editor Debra McDonald Features editor Kathryn White Senior editors Dawn Davidson, James Hurd, Catherine Luo, and Terrence O’Donnell Editorial assistant Amy J. Parker Art director and cover designer David Chan Designer and illustrator Cynthia Webb Paper trails Business operations Cissy Walker Staff writers Romy Bauer, Jeanne Feldkamp, Greg Thomas, and Chris Young

Contributing writers Janet Bartleson, Tom Baumgartner, Kay Benaroch, Chuck Bridges, Achmad Chadran, Egan Christensen, Rafael Colorado, Rahul Deshmukh, Yogesh Devi, Sarah Doherty, Philip Favro, Roger Foreman, Bob Ganley, Barton George, Anne Haggar, Gary Hamel, Cortney Isunza, Kailas Jawadekar, Brian Johnson, Fred Johnson, Bob Kelly, Sheryl Koenigsberg, Richard Landau, John Mannix, he differences are subtle, yet loom large. Effective with this issue, the paper David Moss, Robert Mossi, Consuelo Ortiz, Arun Rajan, Jodie D. Robinson, Michael Rothschild, Joyce Ruff, Lilac we use to produce the body pages of Dell Power Solutions has changed to Schoenbeck, Michael (Shane) Sedate, Hans Seeberg, Scott Sinclair, Patrick Sweeney, Keith Swindell, Srinivas Thodati, a much more environmentally friendly stock. On the subtle aspect, the new Joe Tolod, William Urban, Holly Vatter, Andrew Walker, Craig Warthen, David Weber, Dave Zenz, and Weijia (John) Zhang paper is virtually the same weight and a touch glossier than the one it replaced. T Contributing photographers Tony Bolding, Lee Kirgan, It has a slight cream-white tone in lieu of pure white—but type, artwork, and photographs Bryan Kuntz, and Adran Matte

are still crisply represented on high-quality pages. Moving onto environmentally larger Advertising sales Sales director Kyle Walkenhorst (323-340-8585) concerns, this new paper puts up some impressive numbers: the stock contains greater Sales manager/Western U.S. and South/Central America than 90 percent total recycled-fiber content and 30 percent postconsumer fiber, as sales Shaun Mehr (949-923-1660) Eastern U.S. and Canada sales Steve Branda (201-483-7871) compared to our previous body stock that had 10 percent total recycled content. That EMEA and APJ sales Mark Makinney (805-709-4745) Advertising sales assistant Cindy Elhaj calculates to an 800 percent increase in recycled content. In my eight years at the helm Ad coordinator Kathy Hartlove here, this move to a new paper was one of the easier decisions I have had to make. Reader services Subscriptions are complimentary to qualified readers In the paper trail that led to our greener body stock, we retained our 10 percent who complete the online subscription form. To subscribe to the regular quarterly edition of Dell Power Solutions Magazine, recycled-content cover stock and a state-of-the-art printing process with our visit the Subscription Center at dell.com/powersolutions. Once there, you can sign up for a new subscription, manufacturing partner, Quad/Graphics, at their flagship plant in Sussex, Wisconsin. This change your mailing address for a current subscription, or unsubscribe. Going mobile? Visit the digital edition combination of environmentally responsible paper manufacturers, suppliers, and printing online at zinio.com/powersolutions. For other subscription processes has enabled us to display the green Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC) chain- services, please e-mail our Reader Services team via [email protected]. of-custody certification label on the Dell Power Solutions masthead for the first time About Dell (see below, right). You can learn more about FSC certification at fsc.org. Dell Inc., headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, near Austin, listens to its customers and delivers innovative technology and Meanwhile, have you registered yet for the Dell World conference? Our editorial services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services and creative teams have been busy preparing a special edition of Dell Power Solutions company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list. For more information, visit our Web site at dell.com. for distribution to attendees at Dells World 2011, scheduled for October 12–14 in Dell’s Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or hometown of Austin, Texas. Featuring the theme “Unlocking Innovation in the Virtual photography. Dell, the Dell logo, Dell Compellent, Storage Center, Dell KACE, Dell ProManage, EqualLogic, Fluid Data, Era,” the first-ever Dell World promises to be a premier happening for IT professionals OpenManage, OptiPlex, PowerConnect, PowerEdge, and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other trademarks who plan, deploy, and manage enterprise technology. Among the who’s who on the and trade names may be used in this publication to refer presentation docket: Michael Dell, Dell chairman and CEO; Michelle Bailey, IDC research to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the VP, Enterprise Platforms and Datacenter Trends; Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO; Marc marks and names of others. Benioff, salesforce.com chairman and CEsO; Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO; Dell Power Solutions is published quarterly by Dell Inc., Dell Power Solutions, One Dell Way, Mail Stop RR3-68, Round Paul Maritz, VMware CEO; and Vivek Kundra, CIO of the United States (2009–2011). Rock, TX 78682, U.S.A. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without permission from Visit dellworld.com to see the latest agenda or register for this unique event, and use the the editor-in-chief. Dell does not provide any warranty as to the accuracy of any information provided through Dell Twitter hashtag #DellWorld to follow along for the latest developments. We look forward Power Solutions. Opinions expressed in this magazine may not be those of Dell. The information in this publication to seeing you there. is subject to change without notice. Any reliance by the end user on the information contained herein is at the end user’s risk. Dell will not be liable for information in any way, including but not limited to its accuracy or completeness. Dell does not accept responsibility for the advertising content of the magazine or for any claims, actions, or losses arising therefrom. Goods, services, and/or advertisements within this publication other than those of Dell are not endorsed by or in any way connected with Dell Inc.

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Cover photograph by Tom Kolnowski

2011 Issue 3

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998-2158_DellComputer.indd 1 5/14/2010 1:43:24 PM Recent citings

Dell unveils open-source approach for quick, simple cloud deployments

Recent uilding out a scalable cloud data gathering, and alerting. Dell has citings infrastructure can be challenging, released Crowbar to the community to say the least. But now, the Dell™ as open-source Apache version 2 code BOpenStack Cloud Solution helps to enable IT organizations to build make the job of deploying an open-source functionality that addresses their specific cloud environment a lot easier. system needs. In addition, the company Organizations seeking alternatives to is working with the community to help existing cloud options based on proprietary, ensure OpenStack deployments can be licensed software models can turn to automated and repeatably deployed. the Dell OpenStack Cloud Solution, a The solution includes the OpenStack massively scalable infrastructure-as-a- cloud OS, the Kernel-based Virtual service (IaaS) offering for flexible, automated Machine (KVM) hypervisor, and optional cloud computing deployments. The first open-source software such as Nagios OpenStack™-based cloud solution that and Ganglia tools for performance A foundation for open cloud computing integrates hardware, software, and services, monitoring and the Ubuntu host OS. it features a reference architecture based The OpenStack OS is designed to run OpenStack is a massively scalable on Dell PowerEdge™ C Series servers, Linux® and Microsoft® Windows® guest infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) approach that helps simplify hyperscale Dell-developed Crowbar software, open- operating systems; be compatible with cloud deployments. Discover how source OpenStack software, and services for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and the Dell and OpenStack strategy can consulting, installation, support, and training. Rackspace Cloud Server APIs for hybrid advance IT efficiency. Tested, validated, and supported by Dell, cloud installations; and support Citrix® bit.ly/OpenStack-WP the reference architecture documents the XenServer®, VMware® vSphere™, and elements of an optimized, business-ready Microsoft Hyper-V™ Server virtualization. configuration—including best practices For the Dell OpenStack Cloud for designing the cloud solution, solution Solution, Dell offers services that include architecture, packaging, and delivery. It IT consulting, configuration, deployment, incorporates Dell PowerEdge C6100 servers and support—giving organizations a Learn more and Dell PowerConnect™ 6248 switches. range of options, from cloud workshop Dell and OpenStack: The solution also integrates the training to full-scale, on-site hardware and dell.com/openstack Crowbar software framework, which is software installation. Training and software

Dell Crowbar: designed to help administrators deploy support services are also available from github.com/dellcloudedge multi-node OpenStack clouds on a Rackspace Cloud Builders through Dell. bare-metal server infrastructure in just By integrating cloud-optimized a couple of hours, rather than several PowerEdge C Series servers with open- days as typically required for manual source software and customized services, installation. Crowbar manages OpenStack the Dell OpenStack Cloud Solution helps deployment from the initial server boot enterprises quickly develop, deploy, and to the BIOS and RAID configuration of deliver open-source cloud services. This the primary OpenStack components. simplified approach heightens flexibility Administrators may incorporate additional and business agility, enabling organizations cloud components to include network to accelerate time-to-market and meet discovery, status monitoring, performance customer needs on demand.

8 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Take a technology software resources, along with teams of solution experts, enabling IT professionals to test drive test a potential solution to help ensure that it Visitors can see and test the latest technologies meets specific organizational needs. while working with experts at Dell’s newest • Independent software vendor (ISV) solution center in Round Rock, Texas. At the certification: Qualified partners can get center’s state-of-the-art labs, they can engage applications certified through the Dell ISV in a wide array of offerings: Engineering and Certification program. Learn more

• Solution briefings: Teams of Dell solution Dell Solution Centers are located around Dell Solution Centers: dell.com/solutioncenter experts provide in-depth guidance and the world, including the United States, information about specific offerings. South America, Europe, and Asia. The • Architectural design sessions: Solution centers highlight technologies such as experts utilize whiteboarding and technical intelligent data management, network demonstrations to help IT professionals solutions, cloud computing, and security. explore designs that meet their unique Additionally, Dell solution experts conduct business needs. industry-specific, specialized sessions. Such • Proof-of-concept engagements: engagements may focus on large and In a dedicated solution center lab, Dell medium business offerings, public safety, provides comprehensive hardware and healthcare, education, and more.

Intel® Ethernet on Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and storage. Intelligent performance for your data center.

Intel® Ethernet server adapters, coupled with Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and storage, provide 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Data Center Bridging, FCoE, NFS, and iSCSI connectivity. Customers who need high levels of performance for their LAN and storage Intel® Ethernet 10 Gigabit Intel® Ethernet 10 Gigabit Intel® Ethernet 10 Gigabit connections will gain the benefit of advanced I/O virtualization AT Server Adapter X520-DA2 Dual Port X520 -x/k Dual Port Server Adapter Mezzanine Card and unified networking technologies combined with intelligent offload capabilities. Intel Ethernet network adapters deliver maximum performance, reduce complexity and are a cost- effective solution for your data center.

Intel® Gigabit ET Intel® Gigabit ET Intel® Gigabit ET Visit www.IntelEthernet-DellPS.com to learn more. Dual Port Server Adapter Quad Port Server Adapter Quad Port Mezzanine Card for M-Series Blade Servers

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted©2011, Intel from Corporation. Dell Power All rights Solutions reserved., 2011 Intel Issue and 3.the Copyright Intel logo are© 2011 trademarks Dell Inc. or Allregistered rights reserved. trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Cover story Ascent to the clouds

Up in the air? Nothing nebulous about cloud computing benefits

By Holly Vatter, Barton George, and Janet Bartleson

10 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Data center virtualization and consolidation often clear the path toward private, public, and hybrid cloud computing environments. Whether enterprises take a revolutionary or evolutionary approach, understanding IT infrastructure options is the first step.

espite all the attention-grabbing Cloud delivery models headlines, cloud computing is still There are three different deployment models for a confusing concept for many cloud computing: private, public, and hybrid. Each D enterprise decision makers. Is it a has its own advantages, drawbacks, and potential transformative force that will revolutionize IT use cases. service delivery—or just more hype? Clearing the clouds Much of the confusion over cloud computing Private cloud computing Join Barton George as he talks about stems from the inherent versatility of the cloud Private cloud computing platforms are designed open, capable, and affordable ways model. Clouds can be private, public, or a for the exclusive use of a single organization. to drive business value through hybrid of the two. Whichever approach an IT These platforms can be operated and hosted either cloud computing.

organization takes, cloud computing is designed by the enterprise IT department or by an external bit.ly/pA7c4W to heighten responsiveness with outstanding provider. Although they enable greater control efficiency. In addition, cloud computing enables over security and data availability than public and exceptional flexibility to provide the computing hybrid cloud models, private clouds may require IT power and capacity business users need to organizations to make significant up-front capital dynamically support products and services. investments. In addition, the physical infrastructure Follow Dell Cloud models also give IT departments the does not offer limitless scalability. Cloud Computing opportunity to implement alternative deployment Driven by cost, many federal agencies are on Twitter at strategies that help optimize costs to align with moving some functions to private clouds run by @dellintheclouds business goals. For example, a hosted software external providers. For example, Web sites for service can be paid for by the transaction, with no the Recovery Accountability and Transparency capital investment required, or a disaster recovery Board (recovery.gov), the U.S. Department of site can be maintained by a service provider, the Treasury (treasury.gov), and the Federal thereby avoiding the need for a separate facility. Communications Commission (fcc.gov) are Still, cloud computing environments may not hosted by cloud computing platforms, in part suit every organization or every project. Different because the government data centers hosting types of clouds are appropriate for different usage these sites were underutilized. Moving to cloud scenarios. Understanding IT infrastructure options is computing platforms promises to be more cost- the critical first step of any journey into the cloud. effective than maintaining data centers dedicated

to each agency’s exclusive use. At the same time, maintaining these Accelerating the services on private clouds within the shared data center helps protect sensitive data. transition Selected software vendors are also using private clouds to accelerate service deployment while maintaining strict control Virtualizing data center infrastructure is a key first of their data. Delivering services rapidly can create a significant step when taking an evolutionary approach toward competitive advantage. And because private clouds are designed to implementing cloud computing in the enterprise. make computing resources available to these services on demand However, for IT departments without in-house expertise without IT administrator intervention, they also streamline IT efforts on the interdependencies among servers, storage, and while keeping sensitive data within the confines of their own networking—as well as how each component should dedicated hardware. be configured to support cloud-based applications—the complexity of virtualization projects may threaten to Public cloud computing negate efficiency and cost-saving benefits. Public cloud computing platforms are based on shared infrastructure Dell™ vStart infrastructure is designed to simplify that is not dedicated to a single organization or user. They require and streamline the path to cloud computing by no up-front capital investment or associated risk, and they enable offering standardized building blocks that combine agile, highly efficient use of computing resources—as well as virtually servers, storage, networking, racks, cabling, unlimited scalability. However, the shared nature of the resources raises management software, and deployment services in security and regulatory concerns, and organizations must trust their a single package. Because it is delivered pre-racked, cloud providers implicitly because they work through the provider to pre-cabled, pre-validated, and pre-configured, vStart resolve any problems. seamlessly plugs into existing management consoles A public cloud–based IT infrastructure can be installed almost using extensions designed to leverage best practices. overnight without capital investments. As a result, this approach vStart enables IT generalists to perform can be extremely valuable to business startups and organizational tasks that are critical to laying the foundation for initiatives that need to be launched with minimal ramp-up time. cloud computing—including streamlining server And the public cloud approach allows enterprises to focus on core management tools and tasks, using deep device- competencies without the risk or distraction of building their own level detail for monitoring and alerts, deploying data centers. hypervisors to bare-metal servers, and remotely The travel industry was an early pioneer in the use of public clouds. updating BIOS and firmware. In this manner, vStart The Semi-Automated Business Research Environment (SABRE) airline helps organizations accelerate deployment of cloud booking system, used by travel agents since the early 1960s, was infrastructure, reduce configuration errors, and arguably the first widely used cloud-based application. Now, the vast focus resources on managing workloads rather than majority of air travel and hotel reservations are booked directly by configuring hardware. consumers through an array of sites. The Dell Virtual Integrated System (VIS) portfolio can further help IT departments address common Hybrid cloud computing data center challenges that may otherwise hamper Hybrid cloud computing platforms allow for data and application virtualization and cloud computing initiatives. By helping portability between private and public platforms. In this model, an reduce costs related to management, maintenance, and application requiring additional processing capacity and unable to licensing, VIS enhances agility in responding to changing find it on the private cloud platform could access the public cloud technologies and business needs. Open architecture platform for resources. For example, this approach—known as gives IT departments the option to leverage both cloudbursting—relies on external public cloud platforms to handle existing investments and future technologies without capacity spikes. being locked in to a single vendor. VIS also facilitates In general, the hybrid cloud model provides the advantages of real-time provisioning, which helps eliminate the need both private and public cloud platforms. However, all three approaches to overprovision or overpurchase resources when to cloud computing create IT challenges for workload management attempting to preempt unexpected growth. across multiple cloud-based infrastructures.

12 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Cover story Ascent to the clouds

Traditional Virtualized Private cloud Public cloud

Today

Figure 1. Moving from traditional one-server- 3–5 years from now per-one-application IT infrastructures toward resource-efficient private and public clouds

IT is expected to manage a portfolio of compute models

A hybrid cloud approach is gaining a dedicated infrastructure for a private to deepen their understanding of how it popularity among institutions of higher cloud environment. may improve business processes. education. Universities typically face a In these cases, organizations may 3. Adopt: Finally, IT leaders widen the use sudden burst of activity at the start of find their requirements continue to be of cloud computing capabilities to meet each term that demands enormous server well served by traditional IT platforms. a specific business need, create new capacity. But in the months between Still others may explore ways to take opportunities, or enhance efficiency. enrollments, that capacity may not advantage of advanced compute models Alternatively, organizations can build be needed. The ability to use a public that capitalize on cost efficiencies the entire IT infrastructure in the cloud. cloud means the university can meet its from data center virtualization and seasonal needs without investing in IT consolidation as they consider the move Regardless of the approach an IT hardware and infrastructure that it does toward cloud computing platforms (see department decides upon, the path not need to use year-round. Figure 1). includes standardized building blocks, integrated management tools, and Cloud computing, traditional IT—or A practical path to cloud computing automated service delivery. (To learn about something in between? By working closely with IT leaders how Dell PowerEdge™ C Series servers Many enterprises are facing the decision throughout the process of envisioning, advance cloud computing infrastructures, over which cloud model to use—or testing, and deploying a cloud computing see the sidebar, “Build your own cloud.”) whether cloud computing makes sense strategy, Dell can engage in a strategic at all to meet their specific business partnership designed to help enterprises Revolutionary versus and organizational requirements. Some gain a competitive advantage in the evolutionary approaches legacy applications, for example, may following three-step process:1 As cloud computing technologies mature not be able to take advantage of cloud and IT infrastructure management computing scalability because of the way 1. Investigate: In this phase, IT leaders becomes increasingly automated, the they are architected. Other applications, educate themselves and key executives line separating virtualized data centers especially mission-critical applications about cloud computing and explore from private clouds begins to blur. IT that would pose significant risk to the the ways it can be used to heighten leaders can take two different approaches business if they fail to work properly business outcomes. to setting up cloud infrastructures: on the cloud platform, may not warrant 2. Experiment: IT staff test the use of the revolutionary and evolutionary. the time and expense of implementing cloud computing platform in limited ways > Continued on page 16

1 For more information about making the transition to cloud computing, see “Reaching for the clouds: A three-step journey,” by Egan Christensen, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/ us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11-20110406-vatter.pdf.aspx.

PowerEdge C6145 PowerEdge C6105 PowerEdge C6100 PowerEdge C5220 PowerEdge C5125 PowerEdge C2100 PowerEdge C1100

Key features Designed for demanding A building block with Well suited for scale-out Geared for data centers Rightsized for lightweight Geared for scale-out data Well suited for applications and tasks that require excellent work-per-watt environments that require that want to maximize applications, 12 of centers where memory that cache massive capabilities lightning-fast results, performance for cost- high-density, flexible, and the use of floor space, these microservers can and storage density are quantities of data in this rack server features effective data centers, this efficient computing, this up to 12 single-socket be configured in a 3U critical, this rack server memory, this rack server two four-socket rack server is designed to rack server supports four microservers can PowerEdge C5000 chassis. features dual four- offers dual Intel Xeon AMD Opteron™ 6100 utilize low-power AMD server nodes, each with be packed into a 3U Each incorporates up to and six-core Intel Xeon processor 5500 series processor–based Opteron 4100 processors, dual four- and six-core PowerEdge C5000 four cores of low-power processor 5500 series or Intel Xeon processor server nodes for up 92-percent-efficient hot- Intel® Xeon® processor chassis. Each is powered AMD Phenom™ II or or Intel Xeon processor 5600 series and up to to 96 cores, 1 TB of plug power supplies, and 5500 series or Intel Xeon by two- or four-core Athlon™ II processors, and 5600 series, up to 192 GB memory—delivering memory, and 40 Gbps a shared infrastructure— processor 5600 series, in Intel Xeon processor each is designed to run 192 GB memory, and exceptional performance I/O per card—packing enabling IT departments a 2U chassis—providing E3-1200 family—enabling on less than 457 watts per up to 26 TB storage with a large memory exceptional speed to maximize performance outstanding compute two-socket performance chassis—helping increase in a 2U form factor— footprint in a 1U form factor. and efficiency in a while minimizing TCO performance in an on each cost-effective server density, power helping IT departments 2U form factor. and power, weight, and ultra-dense package. one-socket server. efficiency, and serviceability. manage high volumes space requirements. of data.

Cloud computing has inspired a fresh wave of business and technology innovation, in sometimes surprising ways. Dell PowerEdge™ C Series servers and chassis are efficient building blocks for high-performance, scale-out infrastructures to suit a world of opportunities.

n scale-out IT environments for cloud environments. Features that are superfluous environments demand high-performance computing platforms, every inch of data in a cloud scenario—including extensive systems with a dense, energy-efficient design. center space and every watt counts. That systems management consoles, many Engineered to help decrease total cost of Icalls for a different mindset—and distinctly redundant hardware components, and ownership (TCO), several PowerEdge C Series different requirements from general-purpose broad enterprise storage options—are absent servers incorporate a shared infrastructure that servers in traditional data centers. At the same from PowerEdge C Series servers. Instead, leverages chassis, power, and cooling across time, cloud computing enables attractive PowerEdge C Series systems are designed compute resources to heighten density, economies of scale. For example, because to make intelligent and efficient use of energy efficiency, and serviceability. high availability in cloud environments is streamlined system resources, allowing IT In addition, PowerEdge C Series servers typically achieved in the software layer, departments to deploy cost-effective models leverage Dell’s global supply chain as well as organizations may eliminate many system equipped with only the capabilities needed extensive field experience gained by the Dell features and components that are often found for a specific cloud environment. Data Center Solutions (DCS) team. The result is in traditional data center servers. Maximum hardware density is a critical a comprehensive range of purpose-built cloud Dell PowerEdge C Series servers are consideration when building a cloud server models suitable for targeted hyperscale purpose-built for scale-out cloud computing infrastructure. As a result, cloud computing environments (see below).

PowerEdge C6145 PowerEdge C6105 PowerEdge C6100 PowerEdge C5220 PowerEdge C5125 PowerEdge C2100 PowerEdge C1100

Key features Designed for demanding A building block with Well suited for scale-out Geared for data centers Rightsized for lightweight Geared for scale-out data Well suited for applications Building blocks and tasks that require excellent work-per-watt environments that require that want to maximize applications, 12 of centers where memory that cache massive for cloud computing capabilities lightning-fast results, performance for cost- high-density, flexible, and the use of floor space, these microservers can and storage density are quantities of data in this rack server features effective data centers, this efficient computing, this up to 12 single-socket be configured in a 3U critical, this rack server memory, this rack server Get an up-close view of Dell’s two four-socket rack server is designed to rack server supports four microservers can PowerEdge C5000 chassis. features dual four- offers dual Intel Xeon cloud computing systems as solutions architect Rafael Zamora ™ AMD Opteron 6100 utilize low-power AMD server nodes, each with be packed into a 3U Each incorporates up to and six-core Intel Xeon processor 5500 series overviews Dell PowerEdge processor–based Opteron 4100 processors, dual four- and six-core PowerEdge C5000 four cores of low-power processor 5500 series or Intel Xeon processor C6100, PowerEdge C2100, and server nodes for up 92-percent-efficient hot- Intel® Xeon® processor chassis. Each is powered AMD Phenom™ II or or Intel Xeon processor 5600 series and up to PowerEdge C1100 servers. to 96 cores, 1 TB of plug power supplies, and 5500 series or Intel Xeon by two- or four-core Athlon™ II processors, and 5600 series, up to 192 GB memory—delivering memory, and 40 Gbps a shared infrastructure— processor 5600 series, in Intel Xeon processor each is designed to run 192 GB memory, and exceptional performance bit.ly/nUP3vA I/O per card—packing enabling IT departments a 2U chassis—providing E3-1200 family—enabling on less than 457 watts per up to 26 TB storage with a large memory exceptional speed to maximize performance outstanding compute two-socket performance chassis—helping increase in a 2U form factor— footprint in a 1U form factor. and efficiency in a while minimizing TCO performance in an on each cost-effective server density, power helping IT departments 2U form factor. and power, weight, and ultra-dense package. one-socket server. efficiency, and serviceability. manage high volumes space requirements. of data.

> Continued from page 13 Revolutionary approach In a revolutionary approach, IT departments have the luxury of beginning with a greenfield opportunity and as a result do not need to accommodate traditional enterprise applications. Instead, they are able to build highly efficient cloud-native applications from the beginning. For example, nontraditional Web 2.0 applications that are designed to be cloud native—including software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings—can be architected from the ground up for enhanced scalability and use across a multitude of servers. As a result, they are able to run more efficiently and 5 best practices deliver a more responsive end-user experience than applications designed to run in traditional data centers. for taking an evolutionary Using the revolutionary model to build cloud computing platforms typically incurs higher up-front approach into the cloud design and deployment costs than using the IT organizations that adopt an evolutionary approach for developing evolutionary model to develop cloud computing a cloud computing environment can benefit from the following best platforms from existing infrastructures. However, practices when incrementally building out their existing infrastructures: the revolutionary approach can deliver a highly flexible computing platform with the capacity to help 1. Assess the organization’s starting point. The journey to the cloud immediately reduce administrative burden, reduce involves three phases: information gathering, experimentation, and storage and networking costs, and enhance power adoption. Learn as much as possible about how cloud computing can efficiency. Additionally, when applications and cloud benefit the organization during the first phase. infrastructure are designed together, they can both be 2. Find the right path. Building a private cloud means something optimized to help simplify integration with other cloud different for each organization. IT leaders may develop a private, components that may be introduced in the future. public, or hybrid cloud—or use a mix of these models—depending on their industry, size, and type of organization. Evolutionary approach 3. Ensure a strategic cloud computing plan is in place that spans the In an evolutionary approach, organizations start with desktop to the data center. Consider the impact on all areas of the existing traditional enterprise applications and build on business, establish clear goals, and define plans and timelines for an the infrastructure they already have. They then migrate overall strategy. incrementally toward cloud computing. Virtualization is 4. Experiment first with noncritical workloads. Migrate test and a critical first step because it facilitates resource pooling development projects to a public cloud. Then track results to help and increased utilization. Organizations then may convince executives to buy into a cloud computing strategy and free achieve additional benefits as advanced tools are layered up compute capacity in the data center. Or move areas of storage to in to help simplify management of the infrastructure and a public cloud for quick results. speed the deployment of IT services on demand. (For 5. Find a trusted partner who can help cut through the hype. An overall information on how to apply a building-block approach cloud strategy and plan for implementation demands a thorough to virtualization for cloud environments, see the sidebar, understanding of the entire data center ecosystem. Dell offers an “Accelerating the transition.”) approach to cloud computing that is designed to meet organization- However, taking an evolutionary versus a specific requirements. revolutionary approach is not an either-or question. Organizations can use both approaches in different situations, depending on the applications they use and the benefits they want to achieve. Today, the

16 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Cover story Ascent to the clouds

When IT leaders reach an inflection point and begin thinking about delivering workloads rather than managing hardware, the time is appropriate to consider making the move to a cloud computing platform.

evolutionary approach is the predominant cloud infrastructure, and perform ongoing Authors approach—but as additional cloud-native data center management. Organizations applications are developed, the balance is taking an evolutionary approach can work Holly Vatter does portfolio strategy and expected to tip in favor of the revolutionary with Dell Services to help reduce costs planning for Dell Cloud Services. She has more than 23 years experience in product, approach. (For more information on how to through standardization, consolidation, and corporate, international, and field marketing. go about building a cloud infrastructure, see automation; help optimize performance, the sidebar, “5 best practices for taking an power efficiency, and data center Barton George is the director of marketing for the Dell Web and Tech vertical. Prior evolutionary approach into the cloud.”) density; and help reduce IT infrastructure to that, he was the Dell Cloud Computing maintenance costs.2 Group evangelist. First steps toward a cloud infrastructure Janet Bartleson is a director in Dell Data Dell Services helps organizations Many paths into the cloud Center Solutions, a group that custom determine where to start with a cloud As IT departments increasingly take on a designs servers and provides custom services computing strategy—which applications service provider role across enterprises, for some of the world’s largest cloud to take into the cloud first, when to they are shifting from cost centers computing providers. take a revolutionary or an evolutionary to business units with heightened approach, and which technologies to accountability to internal customers. When Learn more use to build the infrastructure. IT leaders reach an inflection point and A Dell Services cloud engagement begin thinking about delivering workloads Cloud computing: dell.com/cloud includes three fundamental steps. Dell rather than managing hardware, the time is Services begins by examining the business, appropriate to consider making the move Virtualization: its IT infrastructure, and IT goals. It then to a cloud computing platform. Whether dell.com/virtualization assesses how an organization may the organization travels a revolutionary or Revolutionary approach to cloud building: benefit from implementation of cloud an evolutionary path—or a combination intel.ly/pUinz5 technologies. And then Dell Services helps of both—Dell can offer guidance, best the organization develop and deploy a practices, and deployment assistance detailed, best-practices–based plan for every step of the way. And in many cases, cloud computing. the potential rewards are great—enabling For companies taking a revolutionary organizations to reduce IT infrastructure approach, Dell Services helps assess maintenance costs, in some cases to less requirements, design and implement the than 50 percent of IT spending.

2 To learn more about Dell cloud computing technologies in action, see “Expanding business opportunities through the cloud,” in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11 -20110408-roundup.pdf.aspx.

Reaching for the clouds: A three-step journey

By Egan Christensen

Choices abound when enterprises begin to explore a cloud computing strategy. Private, public, or hybrid? Adapt an existing IT infrastructure or create a new one? At the heart of the decision is a careful assessment of business and technology synergies.

he potential for exceptional agility, considerations such as industry-specific business mobility, and flexibility has prompted models, brand or service differentiators, and many enterprises to examine the current pain points. Where enterprises begin their T benefits of moving from a traditional journey depends on where they are now. data center approach to a cloud computing environment. While cloud computing beckons Step 1: Investigate with the promise of transformational business Any journey into the cloud begins with investigation. opportunities and organizational advantages, the Before adopting cloud components within journey to cloud adoption starts with investigation an enterprise IT infrastructure, business and and experimentation of many possible paths. technology leaders start by exploring how various At each step along the way, business and cloud options may advance strategic business and technology leaders work together to address key organizational goals.

18 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature section Ascent to the clouds

For example, three basic cloud types can • Capital outlay: Are financial resources the enterprise, it’s time to test the waters. be tailored to meet specific organizational available for the long-term investment In the experimentation stage of the journey, needs: private, which is reserved exclusively of building an in-house private cloud? some organizations choose to begin with a for a single organization; public, which is Alternatively, if an organization needs to pilot project in a public cloud. This approach delivered by an external provider; or hybrid, deliver more immediate results or limit allows them to explore the cloud’s potential which is a combination of the public and capital expenditures, a public cloud may without making a capital investment. private models.1 be the way to go. But even in the experimentation phase, Organizations can also select the type • Privacy and security: Which applications careful planning from the outset is critical to of services to be delivered via the cloud. are mission-critical and require the generating cost savings and efficiency gains The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model highest levels of security? A public cloud down the road. To garner the requisite support supports flexible delivery of applications to enhances scalability and helps to reduce throughout their organization, many IT leaders end users, often through a Web browser. In capital expenditures, but its multi-tenant develop a pilot project that demonstrates how the platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model, the nature may raise security concerns. cloud computing helps solve a problem or cloud becomes a software development In some cases, the security of using a create a new business opportunity. and hosting environment that provides private cloud behind a firewall outweighs IT leaders start by making a thorough tools for creating, deploying, and testing the cost-efficiency of a public cloud. assessment of the organization’s existing applications over the Internet. And when • Application use: Do daily operations IT infrastructure and strategic road map. used as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), depend on custom or legacy applications? Unless an enterprise intends to build its the cloud acts as a remote data center, Does the organization have the resources cloud infrastructure from the ground delivering virtual servers, desktops, and to maintain the infrastructure required for up, it is critical to ensure that the cloud storage over the Internet. those applications? Delivering applications environment will work with the current IT To determine which cloud options—if as a service through SaaS can provide infrastructure. It’s also important to know any—may be suitable to meet the needs of rapid access to new capabilities and help how the project may affect the way the a particular enterprise, IT leaders begin by simplify development and maintenance. rest of the organization operates and to assessing the following factors: • Time to value: How should the communicate the project’s status and development staff focus their efforts? anticipated benefits to business users. • State of current IT infrastructure: PaaS lets organizations outsource In the experimentation phase, business How far along the path of virtualization hardware and software, enabling quick and technology decision makers carefully and automation is the data center? setup of a development environment— weigh costs and potential financial returns The further along, the more likely it is and, as a result, helping accelerate time on the cloud computing investment. For that the organization is ready to start to market. example, building a private cloud may implementing a private cloud. involve up-front capital expenditures. At the • Regularity of demand: Does the Beyond the supporting technology, same time, equipping the IT infrastructure enterprise need computing resources on enterprises also consider how the cloud to handle on-demand cloud services from demand—for example, to accommodate helps create business and organizational the outset may avoid the need for capital seasonal traffic or regular reporting opportunities and solve current problems. investment in IT services and equipment cycles? If so, a public cloud could For example, moving routine IT processes to down the line. As a result, this approach provide the flexibility to reallocate internal a cloud helps reduce the time IT staff spends may help reduce the financial exposure resources when necessary to avoid on server maintenance and other routine of expanding or launching business bottlenecks. A hybrid cloud can augment tasks. With more free time, IT staff can focus ventures—particularly when the supporting this flexibility by allowing organizations on innovation and creative use of resources. infrastructure is already in place. to obtain resources cost-effectively from a public cloud only when needed. And Step 2: Experiment Step 3: Adopt IaaS is designed to offer flexible, reliable, Once IT leaders have investigated the options After successful experimentation with a pilot on-demand access to IT resources with for building a cloud infrastructure and project, enterprises are ready to consider minimal up-front investment. determined that cloud computing will benefit larger-scale use of the cloud. At this point in

1 To learn more about IT infrastructure considerations, see “Up in the air? Nothing nebulous about cloud computing benefits,” by Holly Vatter, Barton George, and Janet Bartleson, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11-20110399-coverstory.pdf.aspx.

the journey, IT leaders encounter a fork in the road. They may take an evolutionary approach, where they adapt an existing IT infrastructure to transform it into a cloud environment—or a revolutionary one, where they build a new cloud-based IT infrastructure from scratch. The answers to several key questions help determine whether the evolutionary or revolutionary path may be more suitable to meet specific enterprise requirements: Finding your way

• Invest in a private cloud or outsource the Moving IT services to the cloud, whether one application or the whole parcel, can cloud to an external provider? generate significant business benefits. Yet mistakes can be expensive, both in terms • Move to an all-cloud infrastructure or of finances and business exposure. Working with an experienced partner can help maintain some functions on-premises in organizations avoid costly pitfalls and missteps. legacy technology? Dell Cloud Consulting Services help enterprises along each step of the journey, • Which functions and data should be starting with offerings such as Cloud 101—a no-charge, half-day workshop that covers accessible anywhere, and which should cloud assessment, design, and implementation. Next, Dell cloud consultants can work be restricted to internal access? with organizations to develop a customized plan based on best-of-breed technology. • What new opportunities could a cloud Dell has invested in acquisitions, partnerships, and data centers that allow the environment enable? company to provide end-to-end cloud offerings. In addition, Dell hardware and software are based on open standards, which enable cloud solutions to interoperate If an organization decides to adapt the with products and services from other vendors for enhanced flexibility when selecting existing IT infrastructure to support cloud- and configuring new systems. For more information about Dell Cloud Consulting based applications, the adoption process Services, visit dell.to/r95prY. may involve layering in new capabilities that serve to upgrade the in-house data center from a virtualized environment to a private a vendor-owned data center. They can build whether organizations follow a public, cloud. It may also be desirable to allow use their cloud from the ground up within an private, or hybrid path, is well on its way to of a public cloud to handle overflow or in-house data center. Or they can choose assuming a pivotal role in boosting agility, seasonal variations. If the enterprise uses a hybrid model in which an internal private mobility, and flexibility. a hybrid cloud model, IT may outsource cloud is used for sensitive data and critical some functions to a vendor-owned applications and an external public cloud Author cloud and keep other functions and data supports other, less security-sensitive functions in an in-house data center. Regardless that require cost-efficiency and ease of access. Egan Christensen is executive director of Cloud Services Sales at Dell. He came to Dell through of which type of cloud is employed, the 2007 acquisition of Everdream, where he the organization must modernize Continuing the journey served as senior global director of SaaS Services. applications to optimize their use in a The journey into the cloud does not end cloud environment. In some cases, legacy with the deployment of a cloud-based applications may need to be replaced application. Instead, the path continues to Learn more with an equivalent application designed twist and fork as an organization’s goals Dell in the clouds: specifically to operate in the cloud. and needs change. And no matter how far dellintheclouds.com Enterprises that elect to take the along the path an organization might be, a revolutionary route also have several trusted guide can be invaluable in helping Dell Cloud Computing: decisions for creating new cloud-based IT IT leaders ask the right questions and dell.to/r5RwnU infrastructures. They can use a public cloud devise suitable solutions. (See the sidebar, Dell Cloud Consulting Services: or have a dedicated private cloud hosted in “Finding your way.”) Cloud computing, dell.to/r95prY

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IOs today pursue a seemingly incongruous agenda— increasing IT innovation while Creducing costs for infrastructure and operations. To help achieve both goals, they are accelerating cloud computing and virtualization initiatives. Organizations have already used virtualization to achieve significant cost- efficiencies in the underlying IT infrastructure by reducing server sprawl, increasing resource utilization, and minimizing the time to deploy server images. Once these phase-one virtualization goals have been reached, the challenge is to move beyond simple workload virtualization and server consolidation by enhancing operations to advance IT flexibility and efficiency. The next steps involve using standardized infrastructure building blocks, integrating the management of virtualized infrastructure, and enabling the automated delivery of computing Building a flexible SAN services. The appropriate storage strategy is a key enabler to help organizations successfully make the transition from a foundation for private virtualized IT infrastructure to a private cloud deployments cloud computing environment. Taking an evolutionary approach By Bob Ganley Many leading-edge cloud computing platforms are being introduced and gaining traction among application developers. Private cloud computing advances the delivery of efficient, These next-generation platforms represent a revolutionary approach to system agile IT infrastructure. An evolutionary approach to design that puts the cloud at the center private cloud computing lets enterprises plan incremental of the computing paradigm—providing the opportunity to build native cloud enhancements to existing infrastructure, and the right applications from the ground up. SAN smooths the way. Making existing applications cloud-native requires redesigning and rewriting those applications to align with the architectural constructs and programming interfaces of the chosen cloud computing platform. For many applications this level of effort is not an option. Instead, IT organizations are seeking a less-disruptive transition to cloud computing—one that advances existing

architecture at a measured pace to achieve Following a “virtualize first” policy, the Integrating infrastructure management specific business and organizational goals. number of virtualized server images at Integration of management interfaces for Virtualization technologies are the Dell has reached the thousands. Dell virtualized computing system infrastructure on-ramp for the evolutionary road to cloud developed standardized building blocks to can be instrumental in achieving the computing. The first step forward is to gain help speed deployment times and reduce cloud computing goals of agile and experience with virtualization technologies configuration errors. efficient IT. Toward this end, Dell has and start to virtualize computing resources. Dell™ vStart implements this approach worked closely with VMware and Microsoft This action breaks bonds between physical to standardization. Each Dell vStart unit to integrate management of Dell hardware infrastructure and applications, helping includes the infrastructure elements with management of virtualized environments. to reduce friction in the movement of necessary for a plug-in approach to For example, with VMware Dell workloads. For organizations experienced virtualizing an IT environment, including developed server and storage management with virtualized production applications, servers, storage, and networking. vStart plug-ins for VMware vCenter, including Dell the question becomes: how do we move offers pre-sized, pre-racked, pre-wired, pre- Management Plug-In for VMware vCenter, from virtualization to cloud computing? tested, and pre-configured units containing and with Microsoft Dell developed the Dell The answer is: adopt standardized the building blocks needed for a private OpenManage™ Integration Suite for Microsoft building blocks, integrate infrastructure cloud deployment. vStart units come with System Center tool. Other areas of joint management, and automate service software installed, and they are delivered engineering work include Internet SCSI (iSCSI) delivery (see Figure 1). with a range of services to help expedite support and the ability to integrate array-based deployment. Dell vStart includes strong replication in support of automated disaster Adopting standardized building blocks management functionality with device-level recovery. A variety of tools, including the To begin this move, organizations instrumentation that facilitates automated following, implement integrated management: must abandon the practice of custom management actions. configuring each new virtualized The Microsoft Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track • Microsoft Systems Center Virtual environment and adopt standardized Program is another option. This turnkey Machine Manager Self Service Portal: infrastructure building blocks containing approach resulted from a joint effort Integration with this tool helps simplify the a predefined set of servers, storage, and between Microsoft and its original equipment process of creating and launching virtual networking. This adoption can standardize manufacturer (OEM) partners, including Dell, machines stored on Dell Compellent™ virtualized infrastructure, helping reduce to help organizations quickly develop and storage area networks (SANs). In addition the time and effort involved to scale implement private clouds while reducing to helping simplify what used to be a out the capacity of the cloud and simplify both the cost and the risk. This reference manual process, it also streamlines large the process of managing that infrastructure architecture combines Microsoft software builds and allows rapid self-provisioning once it is deployed. Dell recognized the and validated configurations with Dell servers, of Microsoft® Hyper-V™–based virtual need for standardized building blocks storage, and network architectures. It is machines from a gold image. as part of its own internal efforts to designed to provide an overview of Dell and • vSphere datastore management: This streamline the management of computing Microsoft guidance and design criteria for a tool enables administrators to create, infrastructure for virtualized environments. private cloud deployment. expand, and monitor data stores from the VMware® vCenter™ management

Physical resources Virtual resources Cloud resources console for Dell PowerVault™, Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series, and Dell OS OS OS … OS Automated Compellent storage systems. Physical Physical Physical Physical service delivery • Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware Edition Resource Data stores Networks pool Integrated infrastructure (ASM/VE): Integrated with vCenter, ASM/VE management is a tool that enables administrators OS OS OS OS OS OS Virtual Virtual Virtual … Virtual Virtual Virtual Standardized to create space-efficient, hypervisor- Physical Physical building blocks consistent, SAN-based snapshots, clones,

Traditional data center Virtual data center Private cloud and replicas of virtual data sets to help simplify the creation of recovery points Figure 1. Key IT capabilities to evolve virtualized data centers to private clouds on EqualLogic PS Series SANs.

22 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature section Ascent to the clouds

• Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME): ASM/ME enables administrators to create hypervisor-consistent snapshots, clones and replicas for the Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 OS, Microsoft Exchange messaging, and Microsoft SQL Server® database software within VMware and Hyper-V virtual environments based on EqualLogic PS Series SANs. • Storage Recovery Adapter for VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM): This tool allows iland: Efficient delivery SRM to coordinate the SAN-based replication of VMware virtualized storage volumes on Dell of cost-effective Compellent and EqualLogic storage, enabling replication across any distance using array- cloud-based services based replication over the network. Virtualization has transformed the Web hosting industry, and 100 percent • EqualLogic Virtual Desktop Deployment availability—not data center space—is a key commodity enterprises are seeking. Tool: Administrators can use this tool to create Cloud services provider iland offers private, public, and hybrid cloud computing and deploy desktops based on an existing infrastructure services in North America and Europe and was recently awarded virtual machine in a space-efficient manner VMware’s Service Provider Partner of the Year. by utilizing EqualLogic PS Series thin clones. It iland needed a fully redundant, cloud-ready approach capable of providing supports creating desktops, deploying additional high availability, scalability, ease of management, and financial efficiencies while desktops, patching and redeploying desktops allowing iland to target replication to a remote facility for disaster recovery. and desktop pools, and resizing desktop pools. The company worked with Dell as one of its key technology partners to provide server and storage environments through cloud offerings based on the Automating service delivery following hardware: Automating service delivery requires templatizing workloads and defining resource bundles so that Dell PowerEdge™ R905, PowerEdge R805, PowerEdge R715, and IT organizations can quickly provision applications PowerEdge R710 rack servers across standardized building blocks. The following Dell EqualLogic PS6500, EqualLogic PS5000, and EqualLogic PS4000 four steps are recommended: Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) arrays Dell Compellent Storage Center SAN 1. Package applications into workload profiles that encompass a deployment-ready configuration By using Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI storage, iland was able to achieve including all components. the following benefits: 2. Predefine server, storage, and network resources bundles needed to run the The organization saved more than US$1 million across several workloads and define specific bundles that multi-array deployments, compared with the previous legacy SAN represent different service levels. storage implementation. 3. Automate workload management for provisioning and deprovisioning workload It reduced administrative time by 30 percent compared with the previous profiles to resource bundles. legacy SAN storage implementation. 4. Create a self-service portal for authorized users with a chargeback mechanism so that Today, 95 percent of the growth iland experiences is derived from cloud the appropriate business units can control and offerings for production, disaster recovery, and test and development. IT track resource deployments. organizations leverage iland vCloud services to go beyond cloud hype by reducing IT costs with nimble infrastructure that can easily adapt to the

The Dell Virtual Integrated System (VIS) demands of business. architecture—together with VMware vCloud™

solutions and services or Microsoft Hyper-V costs through integrated management, and Cloud—is designed to enable automated service increased business agility through automated delivery.1 Dell VIS helps deliver tight integration service delivery and rapid provisioning. with Dell servers and storage. Storage-specific benefits include enhanced Storage for the cloud infrastructure must resource utilization through the use of a shared be designed to complement flexible, rapid storage pool and automated data tiering. deployment of virtualized servers. Virtualized Streamlined management across storage storage creates a layer of abstraction that platforms results in reduced need for manual separates the provisioning of storage objects from configuration, which helps reduce management the underlying physical resources. As a result, costs and configuration errors. Organizations can administrators no longer need to know which also create a hybrid cloud platform that combines volumes are pinned to which disks, or which disks internal private cloud assets with external capacity are tied to different RAID policies. from a service provider. (For more information, Dell Fluid Data™ storage solutions virtualize see the sidebar, “iland: Efficient delivery of cost- storage to enable the rapid deployment of effective cloud-based services.”) This approach Author workloads from templates. This approach has a provides organizations with the flexibility to Bob Ganley is virtualization lead direct impact on the speed with which application meet high-demand seasons, for example, by for storage marketing at Dell and is capacity can be expanded. Dell has worked temporarily tapping public clouds to augment responsible for workload-specific storage solutions. His experience with VMware to offload storage-specific tasks private cloud resources. in engineering, sales and marketing to Compellent and EqualLogic PS Series SANs provides a unique perspective. to accelerate the provisioning and execution of Evolving to private cloud computing virtual workloads. Based on testing performed at with the right storage Dell Labs in May 2010, Dell storage accelerates Private cloud computing is expected to be the Learn more the performance of VMware virtualization by future of IT architecture. Through the adoption Dell storage: helping reduce the time to complete provisioning of virtualization technologies, organizations dell.com/storage scenarios by up to 72 percent.2 can evolve their current infrastructure to

Converged infrastructure: Extensive automation is a hallmark of Dell achieve enhanced efficiency and agility, dell.com/vis virtualized storage, making it well suited for private but physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration and cloud architectures. For example, when additional consolidation are not enough. Dell vStart: storage is needed, the process of nondisruptively As organizations chart a course from merely dell.com/vstart migrating pre-existing workloads to the new storage virtualized to private cloud computing, the Microsoft Hyper-V Cloud hardware is automated. Furthermore, the SAN is appropriate path comprises standardized building Fast Track: designed to automatically optimize performance blocks, integrated infrastructure management, dell.to/n6nZvt by spreading workloads across as many spindles as and automated service delivery. A storage possible. This automation includes migrating data to layer that abstracts storage resources from appropriate storage to achieve optimal performance. storage hardware is a foundational component of the building blocks. The right storage Gaining the benefits of can be integrated with the rest of the virtual a cloud-based architecture infrastructure, helping manage tiers simply and Moving to a private cloud computing environment efficiently, and provisioning workloads as needed enables enterprises to benefit in many different to provide agile, automated service delivery. Dell ways, including reduced capital costs through Fluid Data storage solutions offer the right storage standardized building blocks, reduced operating layer for private cloud computing.

1 For more information on moving to a private cloud, see “Automating an existing IT ecosystem in a private cloud,” by Kailas Jawadekar and Tom Baumgartner, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11- 20110385-baumgartner.pdf.aspx. 2 Based on testing performed by Dell Labs in May 2010 comparing Dell EqualLogic Firmware version 4.3 to Dell EqualLogic Firmware version 5.0 with VMware vStorage Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Array Integration (VAAI). Actual performance will vary based on configuration, usage, and manufacturing variability.

24 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature Ascent to the clouds: Customer perspective section

Expanding business Copenhagen Airports Reduced carbon emissions opportunities Copenhagen Airports reduced carbon emissions by approximately 200 tons per year after implementing a private cloud through the cloud with virtualized Dell PowerEdge™ servers.

Tyro Payments Large enterprises and small businesses alike are Tight PC Security Tyro Payments uses the cloud-based realizing powerful cost-benefits by implementing Dell Distributed Device Management cloud-based computing environments. Dell™ cloud (DDM) software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to help keep PCs secure computing technologies enhance agility, broaden without adding IT complexity. opportunities, and streamline IT management.

Boulevard Brewing Company Increased productivity Boulevard Brewing Company reclaimed more than 3,790 productivity hours per year by managing spam and stopping ith reliance on IT growing and IT budgets leveling off, it is viruses with cloud-based Dell Email no surprise that many business and technology strategists Management Services (EMS). are setting their sights on the cloud. By providing cost- Weffective, on-demand access to powerful IT resources, University of Kentucky cloud computing helps organizations boost flexibility, productivity, Maximized IT efficiency and scalability while avoiding IT expenditures and complexity. And the The University of Kentucky Information deployments can be as diverse as the specific requirements they serve. For Technology (UKIT) group anticipates a example, some enterprises are migrating workloads to large-scale public 17 percent total cost of ownership (TCO) clouds; others are building private clouds that capitalize on pooled, in- reduction over five years for its private house server, storage, and networking resources. and hybrid cloud SAP environment. The success stories highlighted here show how organizations in a wide range of industries have already drawn upon approaches such as Uniserve Dell Cloud Computing Solutions to advance business and technical goals Fresh business opportunities while controlling IT budgets. Whether they are operating airports, brewing Uniserve offered new products to beer, or delivering integrated voice and data services, these companies existing customers and is reaching understand that a cloud computing–based strategy can be instrumental previously untapped verticals by in achieving impressive results—helping to reduce power consumption, adopting the turnkey Dell Cloud Solution secure client systems, increase worker productivity, improve agility, and for Web Applications approach. reach new customers.

Copenhagen Airports: Landing in the cloud Tyro Payments: Tightening PC security As the owner and operator of Kastrup and Roskilde airports Tyro Payments, an independent Australian banking in Denmark, Copenhagen Airports is responsible for running and organization, is focused on producing innovative, enterprise- maintaining all airport buildings and service facilities. Its IT group level payment processes for small and medium-sized retailers, sought new ways to streamline IT management and reduce power hospitality businesses, and health care providers. Protecting the consumption to support continued organizational growth while security of its client systems is critical for Tyro. Yet the near- meeting carbon emission targets set by the Danish government. continuous work of distributing third-party security patches and Achieving those goals required the overhaul of an aging, power- antivirus updates to employee PCs was challenging for the small IT hungry IT infrastructure that comprised 330 servers and several group. Administrators needed to streamline software deployments disparate, proprietary storage systems. to help ensure that updates would reach client systems before Following consultation with Dell, the IT group pooled IT problems arose. resources by creating a private cloud with VMware® virtualization After evaluating several options, the IT group at Tyro decided software, Dell PowerEdge blade servers, and Dell EqualLogic™ to adopt the Dell Distributed Device Management (DDM) software- PS Series storage. After virtualizing just half of its servers, the as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The cloud-based solution enables organization cut IT power consumption costs by approximately administrators to manage client systems in real time through an DKK 800,000 per year and reduced carbon emissions by online portal that is designed to be accessed by any PC connected approximately 200 tons per year. Virtualizing servers also helped to the Internet. Administrators can fix software problems remotely, the company avoid 75 percent of previously planned hardware avoiding time-consuming deskside visits and helping employees to acquisition costs. reduce downtime. Meanwhile, the private cloud approach has helped streamline By deploying DDM, the Tyro team also can capitalize on management. “Thanks to our simplified Dell cloud infrastructure, we automated third-party patch management capabilities to roll out save around 50 percent on management time,” says Michael Øst antivirus software and security patches to the entire organization Larsen, back office IT manager for Copenhagen Airports. “It’s a new in minutes. “Deploying the SaaS solution has increased the security approach to running IT.” of our systems,” says Timothy Kersten, security specialist at Tyro In addition, the IT group is able to respond much more quickly Payments. “The updates process has been simplified and is much and flexibly to service requests; virtualization has helped cut the more effective. We now have peace of mind that we are protected time to launch new services from one month to just one hour. “This at all times.” means that the company can get going on projects faster, which contributes to overall growth,” says Øst Larsen.

26 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Boulevard Brewing Company: University of Kentucky: Journey to the cloud Keeping communications flowing University of Kentucky Information Technology (UKIT) is exploring A pioneer in the craft beer revolution, Boulevard Brewing Company a new approach to IT to address multiple challenges and build an is today the largest specialty brewer in the Midwestern United infrastructure for the future. The campus data center, which houses States. Like most U.S. breweries, Boulevard needs a way to ensure mission-critical applications used across the university and part of the smooth communication with distributors. However, a large volume university health care system, is located in an aging building that leaves of e-mail spam was hampering employee productivity, introducing applications too vulnerable to catastrophic outages. Meanwhile, the security risks, and causing the IT group to spend thousands of data center’s large-scale SAP environment, which helps manage student dollars on spam filtering software every year. Finally, a hardware information, procurement, human resources, and financials, uses failure on the server used for the Microsoft® Exchange Server proprietary systems that have become too costly and complex. messaging application forced the company to rethink messaging. UKIT needs to make changes quickly. UKIT is under pressure Boulevard adopted Dell Email Management Services (EMS), a from the university to identify recurring cost savings and to return the comprehensive suite of cloud-delivered messaging applications, prime campus real estate used for the data center to academic use. A to manage spam and virus filtering and to handle e-mail archiving dwindling budget resulting from the economic downturn means that and continuity. Now e-mail passes through Dell EMS Email Security building a new data center is not a financially viable option. servers before it is delivered to the company’s network. Boulevard UKIT is evolving to cloud computing as a way to help mitigate risks, also refreshed its hardware with a Dell PowerEdge server to host reduce costs, return data center space to the university, and redirect IT Exchange 2010 and implemented Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage staff to focus on strategic organizational goals. As a first step, UKIT worked area networks (SANs) for primary storage and data replication. with Dell Services to design a private and hybrid cloud solution for the SAP Using the cloud-based solution for spam and virus filtering has applications that includes Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell Compellent™ helped Boulevard reclaim more than 3,790 productivity hours per storage, and the Dell Virtual Integrated System (VIS) portfolio. Through a year, refocus IT staff on other tasks, eliminate expenses for spam multi-phased proof of concept, UKIT learned that the cloud approach could filtering software, and avoid significant e-mail outages. Using cloud- help reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the SAP environment by based e-mail archiving, Boulevard also reclaimed 30 percent of disk nearly 17 percent over five years. If the pilot is successful, UKIT ultimately space and achieved a 100 percent return on investment. plans to migrate the SAP environment and other mission-critical applications “If you’re not using a perimeter-based spam and virus filtering to a Dell public cloud to help further reduce risks and costs. solution like Dell EMS Email Security, you’re essentially paying for “Cloud computing helps us address several of our immediate extra bandwidth to allow spam to travel across your network,” says challenges by improving business continuity, reducing operating costs, Tony Lux, purveyor of technology at Boulevard Brewing Company. freeing up campus real estate, and simplifying management,” says Vince “For us, that’s a lot of data, and Dell EMS is stopping it before it even Kellen, CIO, University of Kentucky Information Technology. “In the long hits our mail server.” term, moving to a cloud environment will enable us to create a much more dynamic, agile infrastructure that can support a full range of academic and administrative functions, from scientific research to desktop computing.”

Uniserve: Evolving into the cloud As one of Canada’s first Internet service providers, Uniserve takes pride in being at the leading edge of technology. Founded in 1988 as a computer retail store and dial-up bulletin board system, the company has grown into an industry leader in the integration and delivery of voice and data services. Today Uniserve has 50,000 residential subscribers and more than 3,000 commercial customers throughout Canada. Offering cloud computing services was a natural step in the company’s evolution. Commercial customers were increasingly requesting hosted business applications such as Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server collaboration and document management, Microsoft Exchange Server messaging, and BlackBerry applications to help increase flexibility and reduce costs. Uniserve decided to build a data center to accommodate that demand. Uniserve then sought a proven, secure platform that would allow the company to launch its cloud computing offering quickly, provide the flexibility to meet on-demand needs, ensure the security that business customers require, and provide scalability for future growth. The company selected the turnkey Dell Cloud Solution for Web Applications, which combines Joyent Cloud Control software with Dell PowerEdge C Series servers, Dell Services, and Dell ProSupport in a pretested and preassembled platform with comprehensive support. “This cloud solution gives us credibility,” says Mike Schmidt, president and CEO of Uniserve. “It’s established, it’s proven, it’s reliable, it’s scalable. It has everything our customers need to deliver Web applications.” With its cloud computing– based strategy, Uniserve is offering new products to current customers while growing opportunities in other areas and vertical business segments.

Navigating cloud computing Learn more

Dell Services helps answer a variety of fundamental Dell Cloud Computing Solutions: questions about cloud computing and provide dell.to/r13hBs navigation assistance for those organizations that are ready to explore. Dell Distributed Device Management: dell.to/n2PcTx dell.to/rcnD6K

Dell Email Management Services: dell.to/nSENDP

Dell Cloud Solution for Web Applications: dell.to/owpYYp

Automating an existing IT ecosystem in a private cloud Provisioning By Kailas Jawadekar and Tom Baumgartner a private cloud

Learn how an IT organization can provision its existing multivendor IT ecosystem in Transforming a virtualized data center into a private cloud enables a private cloud using Dell VIS Self-Service Creator. fast, flexible IT services delivery and optimized resource utilization. ™ dell.com/ Dell VIS Self-Service Creator helps improve IT efficiency and privatecloudprovisioning simplify management of private cloud environments.

ot long ago, data center operations were flexible delivery of IT resources to satisfy business confined to a physical IT infrastructure that and organizational requirements. offered little flexibility for how and what But new challenges come with these gains. Nworkloads could be run. This approach Although virtualized data centers facilitate the made it relatively easy for IT organizations to maintain deployment of virtual workloads, the lack of necessary control over the infrastructure, but its rigidity provided life cycle management, governance, and control for very little flexibility for efficient IT service delivery. the virtualized data center often leads to inaccurate Over the past decade, the move toward data accounting of virtualized data center resources such center virtualization has advanced operational as virtual machines (VMs) and storage, underutilized cost savings in great part by consolidating data center capacity, and poor cost measurement of underutilized physical infrastructure into a more virtual workloads. Additional complications arise when optimally utilized virtual infrastructure. Formerly organizations cannot virtualize certain workloads physical workloads now run virtually, enabling fast, because some infrastructure components are not

supported by their virtualization solution different workloads. While the underlying private cloud management capabilities. It vendor’s proprietary technology stack. Such infrastructure is shared, the resources of provides authorized users with a policy- inflexibility impedes IT efforts to operate cost- one group must be properly separated from driven, role-based, self-service portal for effectively in response to constantly shifting, those of another group to avoid accidental accessing IT services—enabling business up-and-down needs of a dynamic enterprise. access to a different group’s resources. When units to provision and access the resources a shared infrastructure between different they need, when they need them, without Key management provisions optimize organizational groups or data center tenants manual IT intervention. In addition, VIS private cloud infrastructure is not possible, dedicated hardware resources Self-Service Creator unifies management An on-demand private cloud infrastructure need to be allocated for each group. This across virtual and physical resources— enables IT organizations to accelerate lack of flexibility may lead to underutilized running both servers and desktops—in service delivery while helping to reduce resources. As a result, secure multi-tenancy in a private cloud, automating delivery of operational costs and optimize capital a shared infrastructure is an important aspect predefined IT services using a secure, investments. It accomplishes these benefits of optimized cloud computing. shared infrastructure. Its modules are built through an optimally utilized, shared on a single automation engine, helping to infrastructure that allows IT organizations Measured service simplify what would otherwise be complex to maintain data center governance Self-service allows organizational units to service definition, capacity planning, and control. A solid, well-executed provision the services they want, without and service delivery. virtualization strategy paves the way to intervention from the IT organization. But VIS Self-Service Creator is designed to a positive, streamlined transition to the with easy end-user access comes the provide enterprise scalability for managing private cloud. potential for overprovisioning, and lack of tens of thousands of VMs, with high However, while private cloud accountability for overprovisioning may result flexibility and multivendor interoperability. infrastructures are an attractive proposition, in unreasonably high service costs. Automated It helps reduce management complexity they require the right management tools management of the workload life cycle is by not requiring an agent on each to achieve the efficiencies organizations essential for managing costs and providing individual machine or virtual host. And it is envision when they plan the transition. In showback to appropriate business units. designed with flexibility and multivendor particular, these tools must address four ecosystem support for enhanced key private cloud management capabilities: Governance scalability, availability, and distribution— enterprise scalability, secure multi-tenancy, With the power of virtualization and ease particularly valuable in a technologically measured service, and governance. of self-service IT delivery, end users may heterogeneous data center. Its sorting be tempted to request more resources or and filtering capabilities enable simplified Enterprise scalability VMs than they need and perhaps some management for a large number of In their search for scalability, many resources to which they should not have objects, with the ability to quickly narrow organizations are looking to automate the access. It is not unheard of for many focus to smaller subsets of data. delivery of IT resources. Manual processes organizations to squander up to 20 percent VIS Self-Service Creator also allows that worked for deploying a few hundred of their resources on unauthorized and a secure private cloud management servers or desktops usually are not designed overprovisioned systems. Policy-based environment where multiple tenants to scale for thousands or tens of thousands governance helps curb this waste by or organizations can share a common of systems with an ever-growing number of enabling IT organizations to oversee what virtual infrastructure. Administrators can virtual servers and desktops while supporting can be provisioned, by whom, for how define organizational groupings, allocate heterogeneous multivendor infrastructure long, and at what cost. resources, define service levels, and specify components. This issue is compounded access controls for dynamic environments when resources need to be managed Unified approach helps improve in which requirements shift regularly. and allocated globally across numerous governance, scalability, and Resource allocation is personalized, geographically dispersed locations. service delivery secure, stable, and monitored to help An extensible management platform ensure efficient delivery and utilization. Secure multi-tenancy for enabling on-demand private clouds, Consequently, the IT organization can Different organizational groups have different Dell Virtual Integrated System (VIS) Self- maintain control while managing costs and hardware and software requirements for Service Creator offers functionally rich enhancing the end-user experience.

30 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. To help manage costs, VIS Self-Service configuration parameters and thresholds Creator provides cost visibility in two for multistage approvals. This kind of ways. Authorized end users can view the governance on the front end and back end cost for each IT service—for example, not only helps reduce VM sprawl, but also a VM or an application—that is linked enables significant cost savings. from a service blueprint, which is a catalog of available virtual workloads. Heightened IT efficiency boosts End users can also view the costs of a business agility and compliance shared infrastructure used by a group. Private cloud management software The costs can be reported per user or generally falls into two categories. Some for an aggregated group to help ensure approaches are quick to deploy but tough effective cost monitoring, measurement, to customize, while others are easy to and showback. Because the private cloud customize but may be cost-prohibitive Authors infrastructure is shared among multiple to deploy. VIS Self-Service Creator helps to tenants, this measurement is critical for minimize these challenges and enables Kailas Jawadekar is a technical marketing manager on the Virtual Integrated System keeping costs within budget. a cost-effective, shared IT infrastructure product marketing team at Dell. Using VIS Self-Service Creator, authorized that allows organizations to provide self- end users can access a policy-driven, service provisioning. Tom Baumgartner is a senior marketing role-based portal to select and deploy IT In particular, VIS Self-Service Creator is manager on the Virtual Integrated System product marketing team at Dell. services. From the back end, administrators designed to provide the management tools can use VIS Self-Service Creator to control required for IT organizations to maintain the quantity and type of resources that end a high level of security, governance, and users are allowed to consume during the control in a private cloud environment. provisioning of a system or application. VIS By addressing these key private cloud Self-Service Creator enables administrators management challenges, VIS Self-Service to establish specific policies and processes Creator helps organizations quickly and for each group, or for individual users within easily automate their existing IT ecosystems each group, with separate service catalogs within a private cloud infrastructure. as desired. Additional rules can limit the administrative rights that end users have for Learn more

any systems provisioned on their behalf. Dell VIS Self-Service Creator: The group administrator can define system dell.com/viscreator

A Magic Why is CommVault positioned as a leader in the 2011 “ Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Disk-Based Backup /Recovery” Report?*

Quadrant The 13,500 customers worldwide who trust us to solve their data management challenges could answer this question for you 13,500 different ways.

Speaks a But if you don’t have time to poll them, get the full Gartner report and more at commvault.com/ITLeaders. Or, to set up a personal conversation about how we Thousand can help you, call Ron Miiller, Senior V P, Worldwide Sales, at 888-311-0365 or +1-732-728-1114. Words. Backup & Recovery > Archive > VM Protection > Deduplication > Snapshot Management > eDiscovery www.commvault.com n Headquarters: 2 Crescent Place n Oceanport, NJ 07757 Regional Offices: Europen Middle East & Africa n Asia-Pacificn Latin America & Caribbean n Canada n India n Oceania ©1999-2011 CommVault Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. CommVault, the “CV” logo, Solving Forward, and Simpana are trademarks or registered trademarks of CommVault Systems, Inc. All other third party brands, products, service names, trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of and used to identify the products or services of their respective owners. All specifications are subject to change without notice.

*TheMagicQuadrantiscopyrighted2011byGartner,Inc.andisreusedwithpermission.TheMagicQuadrantisagraphicalrepresentationofamarketplaceatandforaspecifictimeperiod.ItdepictsGartner’sanalysisofhowcertainvendorsmeasureagainstcriteriaforthatmarketplace, Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. asdefinedbyGartner.ReprintedGartner doesfromnot Dellendorse Poweranyvendor, Solutionsproduct, or2011service Issuedepicted 3. CopyrightintheMagic Quadrant,© 2011 andDelldoes Inc.not Alladvise rightstechnology reserved.userstoselectonlythosevendorsplacedinthe“Leaders”quadrant.TheMagicQuadrantisintendedsolelyasaresearchtool,andisnotmeant tobeaspecificguidetoaction.Gartnerdisclaimsallwarranties,expressorimplied,withrespecttothisresearch,includinganywarrantiesofmerchantabilityorfitnessforaparticularpurpose.

CV-1020-Dell PS Magazine Ad.indd 1 6/2/11 12:57 PM Feature section Ascent to the clouds

lanning, implementation, and ongoing operations are the key phases of a new IT project. When P the implementation phase of a cloud project begins, IT departments naturally focus on infrastructure and logistics. They must establish a framework for converging physical and virtual environments and managing them together. Once the infrastructure is in place, the ongoing operations associated with delivery of cloud services should appear seamless to business users. As the first step toward automating this provisioning, IT departments need to establish clear policies about which services are to be offered, who can access them, how resources are to be allocated for each service, and how end users working in business units may customize the available offerings. IT organizations must also decide which service- Managing cloud level options they are going to offer, according to the line of business and the workload. environments for peak Of course, installing hardware, configuring the network, and establishing rules for provisioning are only the beginning steps. business value and Once an end user requests a cloud service and the resources are provisioned, the operations service delivery phase begins. At that point, performance, capacity management, compliance, and By Lilac Schoenbeck and David Weber financial justification take center stage. The operations phase is part of the overall cloud services delivery life cycle (see Figure 1). Organizations developing private clouds tend to focus on BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management software and Dell™ Advanced Infrastructure the details of building and configuring the infrastructure— Manager (AIM) software—a component but then the focus shifts to ongoing management. of the Dell Virtual Integrated System (VIS) portfolio—can play a key role in making cloud Four considerations are critical to continued success infrastructure a reality.1 with a cloud-based IT model. Providing intelligent management beyond provisioning Because the goal of cloud computing is Dive deeper to use IT resources efficiently all the time,

IT can flexibly apply the correct mix of internal and external services that meet 1 For information on how Dell AIM and BMC Atrium Orchestrator business requirements. This white paper offers four tips for using a strategy and offer complementary systems management for complex IT unified platform to manage business services in private and public clouds while environments, see, “Unifying systems management in complex helping ensure compliance. IT environments,” by M. Consuelo Ortiz and David Weber, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/ enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11 bmc.com/cloudgovernance -20110386-ortiz.pdf.aspx.

32 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Seamless service delivery

day-to-day management of the cloud is through the cloud just as important as performing the initial BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management software is designed to integrate seamlessly with configuration and establishing policies existing IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes, which helps to ensure that cloud services (for more information, see the sidebar, run smoothly. Operational efficiency is particularly important in the following five areas: “Seamless service delivery through the cloud”). The following four considerations • Approvals: IT departments can create flexible rules-based approval workflows, deserve particular attention from IT leaders: both manual and automated, for cloud service requests to avoid draining data center resources. BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management also creates a request log, • Performance: How can IT ensure that each which serves as an audit trail. cloud services component is performing • Change management: Changes are a common cause of downtime in an IT according to business unit expectations, environment, and cloud services can be very long-lived. Effective, integrated from the hardware to the applications? tracking mechanisms help IT stay on top of changes and set up the appropriate • Capacity management: How can approval process when necessary. IT continuously adapt to changing • Patch management: Often not as short-lived as IT organizations believe them to organizational needs and provide cloud be, cloud services require active patch management and OS updates. Keeping up with services cost-effectively? these updates is also a critical measure of continuous compliance. • Compliance: How can organizations • Decommissioning: Setting a service expiration date helps ensure that resources are meet regulatory requirements in a cloud effectively recycled. A key benefit of cloud computing is repurposing of resources, environment? and this benefit can only be realized if those resources are released for reuse either • Financial justification: How can the value manually by the end user or through an automated mechanism. of cloud services be quantified and charged • Problem promotion: Not every alert requires immediate action. The integration of the back to the business units being served? BMC cloud environments with existing ITIL processes enables IT staff to create business rules regarding which performance or alerts data should be handled immediately Monitoring performance and which should be treated simply as background and tracking information. to help reduce help-desk calls Cloud users expect uninterrupted service, regardless of prevailing circumstances. Providing seamless cloud services on and facilitate a seamless transition to policies for exceptions in various aspects demand calls for a different approach than cloud-based applications. An integrated of a cloud service—including elements, IT organizations typically follow in traditional performance, availability, event, and impact transactions, and end users—and then data center environments. In traditional management approach can specifically predict irregularities to help remediate environments there are often one-to-one handle high volumes of business service issues before they affect the organization. relationships between applications and the data and events collected across multiple hardware on which they operate that help platforms, vendors, and sources. Rightsizing cloud services simplify performance tracking. However, The self-service portal component of to optimize resource usage in a highly dynamic cloud environment, the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management To enable efficient use of cloud resources, the relationship between applications and tool includes explanations of the service- IT organizations can actively manage the hardware is fluid, so this performance data level agreement (SLA) associated with capacity of the cloud infrastructure and is not as readily available to either IT or end the requested service. A dashboard of also rightsize individual cloud services users. The cloud is effectively a black box for performance information on existing services on an ongoing basis. This management business units—so if something unexpected provides end users with information on their approach allows IT to continuously happens, the end user’s first reaction is often service performance, which helps validate or anticipate and meet the changing to call the help desk, which needs to be alleviate concerns they may have. capacity needs of the organization, help equipped to support cloud services. The BMC ProactiveNet Performance ensure optimal performance and cost- By updating monitoring in anticipation Management tool offers predictive analytics efficiencies, and maintain a positive of expanding into the cloud, IT to help deliver performance monitoring end-user experience. departments can help reduce operational information and identify performance BMC Capacity Management offers costs, smooth help-desk operations, problems. It can also monitor behaviors and continuous, business-aware capacity

chargeback approach represents a major paradigm shift for the relationship between IT and business requirements. End-user information Servers Applications Networks Public Storage BMC IT Service Costing enables IT clouds departments to accurately calculate the costs of the services they deliver. Having ❑ Option 1 ❑ Option 2 the knowledge of their services costs, ❑ Option 3 Service governor administrators can use BMC Cloud Lifecycle The end user initiates a cloud service Submits request request, selects a service o ering, Builds the The end user Management to set end-user costs for these and conﬁgures options. cloud service receives the cloud service. services and keep track of usage by each business user and group. This information can then be used to generate a bill for The cloud service is decommissioned. chargeback purposes. Optional components Operations and governance may be assigned specific costs that are associated with delivery cost and can vary Performance Capacity Service cost IT controls and availability management management and policy depending on the SLA option—providing management management flexibility that motivates end-user behavior and appropriate business decisions. Figure 1. Provisioning resources, ongoing management and optimization, and service decommissioning in the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management cloud services life cycle Offering active ongoing management of cloud services management tools to support IT resource Designed for enterprises operating under After completing the initial work of optimization in the cloud. By helping to compliance reporting requirements, the configuring the data center infrastructure ensure that each cloud service is getting BMC approach uses network containers and provisioning IT resources for the cloud, the resources it needs, BMC Capacity within BMC Service Automation to create a the day-to-day heavy lifting of service Management facilitates seamless operation virtual “air gap” that keeps separate workloads management and continuous optimization and tracks and predicts the capacity of the apart or within their own peer groups based begins. BMC cloud management tools overall cloud environment, which allows on business rules. By creating isolated and help IT leaders succeed with cloud-based IT to procure additional infrastructure (or secure virtualized network zones within computing environments by delivering obtain public cloud resources) in advance the cloud, network containers can separate the appropriate levels of cloud service of the next wave of demand. cloud services from one another to support performance, proactively monitoring commingled, multi-tenant environments. capacity usage, streamlining compliance Creating secure network containers They can also enforce isolated networking efforts, and linking cloud service usage to the to enhance compliance environments that include security zones, financial models of the organization. The regulations and rules that govern the way firewalls, and load balancers. Once created, data centers operate—including Sarbanes- network containers support the provisioning Authors Oxley Act (SOX), Payment Card Industry Data of cloud services within them. Security Standard (PCI DSS), Health Insurance Lilac Schoenbeck is a senior manager of product marketing for cloud computing at BMC Software. Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Quantifying cloud services and other industry-specific regulations— to determine chargebacks David Weber is lead integration manager, naturally apply to cloud workloads as well. Unlike the traditional IT model, in which strategic alliances at BMC Software. Sharing servers among workloads in a cloud business users submit formal requests and environment means that IT leaders must be IT procures dedicated physical hardware to Learn more absolutely confident that any two workloads handle each additional application stack, have no ability to communicate with one cloud services run on infrastructure that Dell and BMC: another, whether they are on the same is already in place. This model enables IT dell.com/bmc physical server, in the same rack, or in the to quantify the cost of cloud services and Cloud computing management: same data center. charge them back to the business unit. This bmc.com/cloud

34 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature Ascent to the clouds section

nvesting in the right tools to manage complex data center infrastructures is really an investment in simplicity, Iscalability, and efficiency for critical business processes. Finding a way to unify IT management—spanning servers, storage, and network devices, along with the operating systems and applications that run the enterprise—starts with two easy and rewarding steps. First, IT departments identify manual, error-prone tasks, and then they transform these tasks into reliable, repeatable, and timely processes through automation. Designed to provide rapid workload mobility and recovery management across heterogeneous physical and virtual data centers, Dell Advanced Infrastructure Manager (AIM) software—a component of the Dell Virtual Integrated System (VIS) Unifying systems portfolio—helps automate network connectivity, configuration, and workload retargeting to enhance flexibility and management in complex boost data center efficiency. BMC Atrium Orchestrator complements Dell AIM by IT environments automating the manual processes that link point solutions. Instead of capturing By M. Consuelo Ortiz and David Weber data from one tool and inputting that data into another, Atrium Orchestrator adapters enable administrators to create complex, Cloud computing platforms require transforming data deterministic workflows that link different centers to enable dynamic, scalable use of resources tools into a single process.1

and the tools for flexible systems management. Applying flexible systems The Dell™ Advanced Infrastructure Manager and management BMC Atrium® Orchestrator tools are up to the task. Four key use cases illustrate how Dell AIM and BMC Atrium Orchestrator work together to advance IT efficiency by managing complex IT environments through a single console (see Figure 1).

1 For more information, see “Managing cloud environments for peak business value and service delivery,” by Lilac Schoenbeck and David Weber, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/ business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11-20110371 -bmc.pdf.aspx, and “Building blocks for data center DNA,” by M. Consuelo Ortiz and Ben Linder, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 1, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/ business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps1q11 -20110236-ortiz.pdf.aspx.

BMC Atrium Orchestrator Dell AIM Other management console Service Data center Release software and consoles management compliance management

Figure 1. Facilitating management from a single console—Dell AIM, AIM BMC, or third party

Operating Interface systems cards

Servers and Hypervisor Switches Storage blade servers

Change management automation resource utilization on individual physical servers A surprisingly high number of system failures are within a cluster of servers, which VMware refers to as caused by unmanaged change. Large enterprises a resource pool. Administrators may configure DRS with governance, risk, or compliance requirements to automatically move virtual machines from a highly respond to this challenge by documenting every utilized server to one with low utilization, which helps change in detail. These details include the business to balance performance and maintain service levels. requirement that prompted the change, any DRS uses VMware vMotion™ technology to technical changes that were implemented, the perform live migration of workloads between responsible parties from both IT and the business VMware ESX hosts within a cluster. However, side along with their approval of the change, and a although clusters allow for sharing of resources recovery process in case the change should need within the resource pool, vMotion does not to be backed out. support migration of virtual machines from one IT administrators can take advantage of cluster to another. If the cluster nears maximum data center automation capabilities in AIM and utilization, the only way to reduce the overall load BMC Remedy® Change Management without is to shut down some virtual machines or manually needing to use a different console to document move virtual machines to another cluster. their actions. The BMC Atrium Orchestrator Monitoring or capacity planning solutions adapter for AIM is designed to capture changes can alert administrators when resource utilization made by the AIM administrator as they occur. within the cluster reaches a critical point. Typically, These changes can spur change management the next step would be to notify an administrator workflow, such as approvals, or they can simply be so that resources could be reallocated according automatically documented in enterprise change to business rules. management systems, such as BMC Remedy. Dell AIM expands on the capabilities of DRS by As a result, integration of AIM with BMC change facilitating management and execution of external control processes enables administrators to spend migrations. AIM also provides rapid workload their time actually making changes rather than mobility that allows the retargeting of OS instances documenting the process. in a heterogeneous data center. In addition, when the BMC Atrium Resource scheduling for clusters Orchestrator adapter for AIM is used for the The VMware® Distributed Resource Scheduler monitoring platform and AIM, an alert notification (DRS), a utility included with certain versions of the can be part of an increasingly expansive business VMware vSphere™ virtualization platform, tracks process. The adapter can capture information

36 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature section Ascent to the clouds

about a serious condition and its business impact, inconsistent manner may cost the organization and AIM can be automatically invoked to move as much as the outage itself. virtual machines from one cluster to another. This Once AIM has captured an OS instance—either approach helps mitigate the risk of unplanned physical or virtual—and that OS instance is run from downtime and eliminate the otherwise manual shared storage, the replication features available steps involved in migrating virtual machines from in Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series storage or other one cluster to another. leading-edge storage platforms can replicate the OS instance to the disaster recovery site. From there, the Hypervisor diversity OS instance can be quickly booted from physical Each virtualization platform offers specific benefits, or virtual infrastructure. The Atrium Orchestrator so many IT departments may decide to deploy adapter for AIM can assist with the automation of multiple hypervisors in their environments based on disaster recovery testing by coordinating service technical, economic, or business requirements. In IT recovery after AIM successfully boots up the environments with multiple virtualization platforms, workloads and establishes network connectivity and migrating applications and operating systems from storage access at the target disaster recovery site. Authors one hypervisor to another can be a manual, labor- Sequencing the recovery cycle is a complex intensive process. In addition, this process may fail process with multiple interrelated steps that M. Consuelo Ortiz is a product marketing strategist for Dell. to take into account business services that depend involve multiple applications. AIM helps

on the applications—for example, development may simplify the recovery of OS instances and the David Weber is lead integration be well suited to one hypervisor while production is configuration of network settings linking the manager for strategic alliances at well suited to another. recovered applications to the corporate network. BMC Software. AIM helps address this challenge by supporting Integration with Atrium Orchestrator facilitates the repurposing of OS instances independent of coordination between application recovery and their affinity to a cluster, hypervisor, or hardware business services such as telecommunications, Learn more

platform. BMC Remedy Change Management external software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, Dell Advanced Infrastructure manages the business processes and approvals directory services, and the service desk. Manager: that typically apply to significant changes in the dell.com/aim

data center. The Atrium Orchestrator adapter Heightening business process efficiency Dell and BMC: for AIM enables organizations to connect these As these four use cases illustrate, the combination dell.com/bmc business workflows to AIM—thereby enabling of Dell AIM software, BMC Atrium Orchestrator, and hypervisor deployment to be driven by business the Atrium Orchestrator adapter for AIM can extend needs. In addition, the combination of AIM and IT capabilities far beyond automation of simple the Atrium Orchestrator adapter for AIM enables manual tasks. While AIM moves workloads among IT to respond to business requirements without physical and virtual resources and dynamically being tied to a single virtualization platform. repurposes servers with network connectivity and storage, BMC tools can be used to manage Disaster recovery patching, configuration, and compliance processes. Testing disaster recovery plans should take place The Web services application programming well before a disaster actually occurs. However, interfaces (APIs) provided by AIM also enable IT disaster recovery testing can have significant impact departments to integrate workloads with external on the business because it involves real downtime. software, which facilitates unified management of If a disaster happens, IT must respond complex, mixed environments. Together, the two quickly and accurately to restore IT and business platforms deliver exceptional workload portability services. As services are restored, IT needs to and resilience for complex IT architectures—helping ensure that they are delivered in a manner that is IT professionals optimize business processes consistent with the compliance and governance and facilitate high-level business requirements rules of the organization. In some cases, including compliance, change management, and services that are delivered in an unverifiable or disaster recovery.

Hall County Schools Pioneering secure, cloud-based education

By Patrick Sweeney

At Hall County Schools, cloud computing is broadening academic horizons. The district uses SonicWALL® Next-Generation Firewalls to secure traffic from diverse endpoints accessing educational resources through the cloud, while maintaining quality of service.

ike their business counterparts, academic Plus, it may tempt students and faculty to engage institutions are embracing the cloud as in social networking, gaming, and streaming an agile, cost-effective environment to media sites that diminish productivity and rob L support critical applications for students, bandwidth from critical educational applications. faculty, and administrators. Moreover, school To counter these issues, academic IT departments districts are finding ways to improve the quality can deploy high-performance, next-generation of education within tight budget constraints as firewalls such as SonicWALL SuperMassive™ they seek cost-effective alternatives to traditional E10000 Series appliances. This comprehensive textbooks, test sheets, and lab rooms in the approach is designed to combine the processing form of hypertext, online assessments, and power, port capacity, malware protection, and virtual collaboration. Easy access to academic application intelligence and control required to resources and distribution of information over the secure rapidly growing academic traffic through Web enable districts to revolutionize traditional the cloud—while still helping to ensure quality of classroom instruction techniques with an service (QoS) requirements. interactive digital curriculum across all grade levels. Because cloud computing does not generally Embracing the cloud: Hall County Schools require the purchase of additional IT equipment, One academic institution that actively engages in cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing is Hall County Schools. Based platform as a service (PaaS) offerings help schools in Gainesville, Georgia, this public school district avoid up-front costs by shifting IT infrastructure employs more than 3,200 teachers and staff from a capital expense to an operating expense. members, who serve more than 25,000 students In addition, the flexibility of cloud computing attending 20 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, enhances a school district’s ability to quickly 6 high schools, and 1 alternative/evening and easily revise the curriculum in response to school. With assistance from Dell, the district emerging educational or funding requirements. established the HALLCOnnect Connected Learning At the same time, opening the classroom to platform, which provides a cloud environment that the cloud carries the inherent risk of exposing enables students and faculty to collaborate using students to the threats and insecurities of the Web. Agilix learning management tools.1

1 For more information about how Hall County students are getting a head start through the HALLCOnnect platform, see “Welcome to the classroom of the future,” in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 1 Connected Learning special edition, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions ~power~en/documents~ps1q11cl-20110194-hall.pdf.aspx.

38 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature section Ascent to the clouds: Customer perspective

“More students and teachers are going to use more mobile devices and smartphones to access our HALLCOnnect cloud resources. Keeping the network SonicWALL SuperMassive will help us manage safe for students and secure that increased traffic without Tune in as C. J. Daab and Jeremy Hutton of Hall County Schools discuss how the district leverages SonicWALL appliances to help keep their network bottlenecking performance.” safe for students and increase quality of service for critical educational applications. —C. J. Daab Technology support coordinator at Hall County Schools www.sonicwall.com/HallCountyVideo May 2011

Topmost of the district’s concerns Consolidating costs was compliance with the Children’s and administration Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA To maintain compliance, schools have requirements apply to any school or library traditionally used content-filtering solutions that receives funding for Internet access that apply static white lists and blacklists to or internal connections from the E-Rate control student access to potentially harmful program, which provides discounts for or inappropriate Web sites. However, these certain telecommunications services. To traditional approaches often come down to an secure the new cloud environment for either-or defense. For example, a school might CIPA compliance, the district needed a block all network access to a social networking comprehensive approach that provided site to protect students. Yet at the same time, granular, policy-based control over cloud the blockage would prevent teachers or deans computing applications and Web sites. “The from monitoring that site’s activity to identify biggest security challenge to me today serious social issues such as cyberbullying. is trying to keep the network safe for our Traditional solutions that rely on restricting all students,” says Jeremy Hutton, network Web access over port 80 or 443 impair access engineer at Hall County Schools. “They to legitimate cloud-based applications. continuously try to get to various social Previously, Hall County Schools networking sites.” subscribed to a traditional content-filtering Moreover, the district needed to solution. When the district decided to control how much bandwidth the cloud- consolidate its content filtering into a based applications consumed; to optimize comprehensive on-site platform with use of the high-performance network flexible, policy-based controls, it turned to infrastructure, these applications could SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls. The not be allowed to create a bottleneck. district installed the SonicWALL E-Class In addition, the district had deployed Network Security Appliance (NSA) E7500 critical latency-sensitive voice over IP and SonicWALL SuperMassive E10400 (VoIP) and teleconferencing applications, next-generation firewalls to protect its which demand high QoS levels. Cloud metropolitan area network (see Figure 1). computing could not come at the expense By combining two solutions—one for of performance. content filtering and one for the firewall—into

one SonicWALL solution, Hall County Schools Internet Internet was able to realize significant cost savings access Switch Switch access from eliminating the annual paid subscriptions. Central oce Tech center “SonicWALL has saved us up to 50 percent in costs,” affirms C. J. Daab, technology SonicWALL E-Class Network support coordinator at Hall County Schools. Security Appliance E7500 SonicWALL Central oce SuperMassive E10400 “Our savings have been twofold, both in AT&T metropolitan appliance consolidating appliance costs and in reducing area network Tech center overhead of network administration.” Because one network administrator could effectively Router Router manage the SonicWALL solution, Hall School 1 School 2 County Schools could free another staff member to manage other tasks. “I’m able to Router All other schools effectively use my staff for more customer support…either training or to help peers learn Figure 1. Overview of the Hall County Schools metropolitan area network more networking skills, so that we become a better organization,” says Daab. gateway antivirus, anti-spyware, intrusion the number of concurrent users accessing The new consolidated approach involved prevention, and application intelligence and cloud resources over the district’s network. setting up the Microsoft® Active Directory® control with real-time visualization. “Application The SonicWALL SuperMassive platform directory service to enable single sign-on intelligence allows us to dig deeper into the enables active/active clustering and shared (SSO) logon to the campus network. SSO resources that our students and staff are using,” processing power across its architecture, so allows Hall County Schools to enforce says Hutton. “It gives us better options to utilize the platform can scale to grow over time. The appropriate cloud-access policy based that traffic, see what traffic is going across the SuperMassive E10000 Series is upgradeable upon the user’s Active Directory identity as network, and take certain applications and to 96 cores; the district can cluster another a student, faculty member, administrator, or give them quality of service as needed. And unit to expand from 96 cores to 192 cores, guest. In addition, policy can be enforced also take video sharing and other services thus extending performance and hardware based on the endpoint platform—for that are not needed and slow them down redundancy without disrupting the network. instance, whether the user is connecting and not allow them the high bandwidth.” “More students and teachers are going to from a Microsoft Windows® OS–based “The visualization is huge for us,” adds use more mobile devices and smartphones or an Apple® Mac OS–based device; or Hutton. And Daab notes, “We can now to access our HALLCOnnect cloud resources,” whether the endpoint is an IT-managed or monitor bandwidth going across each says Daab. “SonicWALL SuperMassive will help unmanaged personal device. interface in real time.” us manage and secure that increased traffic without bottlenecking performance. It keeps us Securing the cloud with application Accelerating cloud performance at the forefront of this changing landscape.” control and visualization and scalability into the future The Web not only exposes students to To promote and enable access to the Author inappropriate content, it also exposes them to HALLCOnnect Connected Learning cloud Patrick Sweeney is vice president of the product malicious code, viruses, spyware, and adware, environment over the on-campus wireless management team at SonicWALL, where he as well as productivity-draining applications local area network, the Hall County oversees its network security, content security, such as games, videos, and streaming music. board of education modified district business continuity, and policy and management product lines. These applications can bog down network policy to allow students to log in from throughput, consuming bandwidth at the their own laptops, netbooks, tablets, and expense of legitimate cloud-based academic smartphones. The increase in cloud-based Learn more programs and degrading the performance academic resources led to an increase SonicWALL SuperMassive E10000 Series: of latency-sensitive resources such as video, in the number and diversity of endpoint www.sonicwall.com/supermassive teleconferencing, and VoIP. devices that students use to access the SonicWALL Application Intelligence, Control, To address these concerns, the district’s cloud. As a result, the growing popularity and Visualization solution: next-generation firewall solution integrates of mobile platforms is expected to double www.sonicwall.com/applicationintelligence

40 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature Ascent to the clouds section

Leverage the cloud with confidence using next-generation firewalls

By Patrick Sweeney

When moving applications to the cloud, organizations rivate, public, and hybrid cloud services offer access must find ways to deal with bandwidth contention to dynamically scalable and issues and cyber-threat exposure. Learn how P responsive Web applications and SonicWALL® Next-Generation Firewalls enhance security, development environments, whether in the form of software as a service (SaaS) or efficiency, and productivity for cloud-based resources. platform as a service (PaaS). The potential business benefits are clear: fast time to market and enhanced agility. In addition, cloud computing helps organizations avoid up-front costs by shifting IT infrastructure from a capital expenditure to an operating expense—allowing organizations to purchase and terminate cloud services on an as-needed basis. However, cloud infrastructures inherently push end users to create traffic over the wide area network (WAN), which creates two potential problems. First, traffic from mission- critical applications and productivity-draining applications must contend for the same bandwidth. Second, an environment that moves a large number of end users to the Internet tends to increase traffic to Web sites in general, intensifying the organization’s exposure to malware and other threats. As a result, cloud-based computing strategies must effectively address both Bringing order problem areas, by controlling application to application chaos traffic and mitigating the corresponding

Join Greg Young, research VP at Gartner, to threats. Next-generation firewalls such as learn how application control at the central site the SonicWALL E-Class Network Security enables distributed enterprises to recognize the Appliance (NSA) Series, which offers value of new and evolving applications while preserving bandwidth, increasing productivity, application intelligence, control, and and minimizing risk. visualization capabilities, allow organizations

www.sonicwall.com/ngfw to identify and enforce policy-based controls on both cloud-based and on-premise applications, and to securely identify cloud users regardless of port or protocol. These firewalls are designed to manage bandwidth

Headquarters Remote user SonicWALL SuperMassive Data center at client site E10000 Series appliance

High-availability link

SonicWALL Aventail® SonicWALL SuperMassive E-Class Secure Remote E10000 Series appliance Access Virtual Appliance Remote user at client site

SonicWALL SuperMassive™ E10000 Series appliance

Corporate network

Botnets

Remote user home oce Worms Viruses Branch oce 1 Spyware

Applications from SAP, BitTorrent, Oracle, Siebel, Salesforce.com, Skype, and YouTube SonicWALL TZ 210 Wireless-N appliance SonicWALL NSA E5500 appliance

Packet-level Allocate bandwidth Branch oce 2 scanning, Mission-critical applications: Microsoft, Siebel, Salesforce.com, Oracle, and SAP blocking, and bandwidth Restrict bandwidth Branch oce 3 management Acceptable applications: Skype, YouTube, and social media sites Block bandwidth Unacceptable applications: Kazaa and BitTorrent; blocked spyware, viruses, SonicWALL NSA 3500 botnets, and worms appliance

Secure Sockets Layer virtual private IP Security (IPsec) VPN tunnel SonicWALL NSA 240 network (SSL VPN) tunnel appliance

Figure 1. SonicWALL firewalls are designed to deliver intrusion prevention, malware protection, and granular application intelligence and control across a distributed enterprise for cloud applications and users, as well as available for mission-critical applications latency by inspecting network traffic at the protect against malware and productivity and degrade the performance of latency- packet level in real time using SonicWALL threats—helping organizations securely sensitive business resources such as Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection™ leverage the benefits of cloud infrastructures video, teleconferencing, and voice technology and incorporating a performance- powered by Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers. over IP (VoIP). Unfortunately, traditional optimized multi-core architecture. bandwidth-management approaches that Moreover, creating the opportunity Managing bandwidth for optimal rely on restricting Web access over port 80 for workers to access business tools workforce productivity undermine the ability of end users to access through cloud computing applications and Bandwidth efficiency and management cloud-based services. services can significantly boost productivity are paramount concerns for cloud- SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewalls and collaboration. At the same time, based applications, particularly those allow administrators to categorize organizations may inadvertently open the driven by massive databases served from applications, enabling the firewalls to door to inappropriate and unproductive multiple virtual environments. However, distinguish critical cloud-based applications, Web use. Unauthorized Web sites and on-premise bandwidth available to access as well as streaming and latency-sensitive applications waste time that could the cloud is typically limited. As a result, teleconferencing and VoIP applications, from otherwise be spent on conducting business. organizations need the capability to social media and peer-to-peer applications— By enabling organizations to identify prioritize bandwidth allocation and user and to prioritize bandwidth accordingly mission-critical applications and access to the most important applications. (see Figure 1). Additionally, SonicWALL prioritize bandwidth for them while For example, streaming Web-based media Next-Generation Firewalls are designed to restricting bandwidth for lower-priority applications may reduce the bandwidth provide ultra-high performance with minimal traffic, SonicWALL Next-Generation

42 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Feature section Ascent to the clouds

Firewalls enhance productivity as well as In contrast, SonicWALL Next-Generation to identify specific Web applications and bandwidth management. On a granular Firewalls are designed to scan every byte of users, they are also enabled to distinguish level, they enable organizations to set every packet of all network traffic. They enable between critical and noncritical Web traffic policies that allow specific user or group comprehensive malware protection regardless using port 80 or port 443. access to Web applications for legitimate of port or protocol by determining what As applications are created or new use—such as allowing marketing staff applications are used and who is using them. versions become available, the SonicWALL access to a social networking site—while As a result, these firewalls enable the detection Global Response Intelligent Defense blocking access to specific nonproductive and elimination of malware, intrusions, data (GRID) Network automatically pushes Web application features—such as a gaming leakage, and policy violations before the out new signatures to update policies on application on that site. network or its users come to harm. the firewalls, avoiding the time and effort In addition, SonicWALL Next-Generation This approach helps organizations required for administrators to manually Firewalls enhance IT productivity by offering address a twofold challenge in cloud update rules and application objects. comprehensive real-time visualization computing environments—helping to Furthermore, by integrating Secure and control. This functionality allows ensure the security of their networks Sockets Layer virtual private network (SSL administrators to flexibly create bandwidth and to safeguard information integrity. VPN) Web-portal technology, SonicWALL management policies based on logical Concerns over compromised information Next-Generation Firewalls help ensure predefined categories (such as social media and regulatory compliance make protecting secure, encrypted data access and or gaming), individual applications, or users data in flight over the cloud a high priority. transmittal over the cloud, regardless of and groups. It also helps administrators For example, when cloud service providers the endpoint device. visualize application traffic and effectively dynamically relocate data from one physical control ingress and egress bandwidth and server to another, they may undermine Building a foundation for secure, network use by adjusting network policy traditional security approaches that depend high-performance cloud access based on critical observations. Moreover, upon network-layer attributes for policy As organizations transition to cloud-based administrators can quickly modify granular enforcement. As sensitive data migrates applications and services, advanced next- application-based policy to restrict or between enterprise data centers and cloud generation firewall technologies can help block the transfer of specific files and data centers beyond an enterprise’s network keep their computing environment secure, documents, prioritize or throttle bandwidth, perimeter, enterprise data and applications efficient, and productive. Application- and deny access to internal or external must be secured, wherever they are. intelligent SonicWALL Next-Generation Web sites. They can also send data to an Application-intelligent SonicWALL Firewalls offer integrated solutions that analyzer for additional off-box monitoring, Next-Generation Firewalls help protect are designed to cost-effectively boost troubleshooting, and analysis of historical dynamically shifting workloads with workforce productivity, collaboration, and network activity. granularity and resilience, enabling agility without compromising information organizations to comply with regulatory integrity or network security. Protecting against cloud-borne threats mandates such as the Payment Card Increased Web traffic intensifies exposure Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Author to attacks, intrusions, spyware, botnets, and and the Health Insurance Portability and other threats. These threats are constantly Accountability Act (HIPAA). Unlike traditional Patrick Sweeney is vice president of the product management team at SonicWALL, where he growing in number and sophistication, firewalls, they do not rely upon network- oversees its network security, content security, driven by a global, profit-driven shadow centric details such as IP address, directional business continuity, and policy and management economy built upon the proliferation of orientation, or other characteristics of the product lines. malware. Unfortunately, traditional stateful physical or logical environment. Rather than packet-inspection firewalls cannot fully treating all traffic the same, they are equally defend against these attacks. First, they do capable of enforcing policies and inspecting Learn more

not dig deeply into the packet to identify communications traffic for threats based SonicWALL SuperMassive E10000 Series: malware. Second, because they only scan on high layer attributes, such as the specific www.sonicwall.com/supermassive ports and protocols, they cannot identify applications and services being used, who SonicWALL Application Intelligence, Control, or control the Web applications that carry is using them, and when they are being and Visualization solution: these threats over the cloud. used. Because these firewalls are designed www.sonicwall.com/applicationintelligence

The Facebook generation versus the Fortune 500

By Gary Hamel

How can companies attract and retain 1. All ideas compete on an equal footing. bright, creative members of a generation On the Web, every idea has the chance to gain a following—or not, and no one has the power to kill off a subversive idea or squelch an that grew up online? Discover 12 key embarrassing debate. Ideas gain traction based on their perceived characteristics of Web-based life that merits, rather than on the political power of their sponsors. unseat traditional management practices. 2. Contribution counts for more than credentials. When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to he experience of growing up online will profoundly film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have shape the workplace expectations of Generation F—the a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Tsocial environment of work to reflect the social context Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute. of the Web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy. 3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed. If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic In any Web forum there are some individuals who command more members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet- respect and attention than others—and have more influence as a derived expectations and then reinvent its management practices consequence. Critically, though, these individuals haven’t been accordingly. Sure, it’s a buyer’s market for talent right now, but that appointed by some superior authority. Instead, their clout reflects won’t always be the case—and in the future, any company that lacks the freely given approbation of their peers. On the Web, authority a vital core of Gen F employees will soon find itself stuck in the mud. trickles up, not down. With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These are the post-bureaucratic 4. Leaders serve rather than preside. realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in On the Web, every leader is a servant leader; no one has the power determining whether your company is “with it” or “past it.” In to command or sanction. Credible arguments, demonstrated assembling this short list, I haven’t tried to catalog every salient expertise, and selfless behavior are the only levers for getting things feature of the Web’s social milieu, only those that are most at odds done through other people. Forget this online, and your followers will with the legacy practices found in large companies. soon abandon you.

5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned. 10. Users can veto most policy decisions. The Web is an opt-in economy. Whether As many Internet moguls have learned to contributing to a blog, working on an open their sorrow, online users are opinionated and source project, or sharing advice in a forum, vociferous—and will quickly attack any decision people choose to work on the things that interest or policy change that seems contrary to the them. Everyone is an independent contractor, and community’s interests. The only way to keep Reinventing 21st- everyone scratches their own itch. users loyal is to give them a substantial say in key century management decisions. You may have built the community, but Values of this age—community, 6. Groups are self-defining and the users really own it. freedom, transparency—are self-organizing. fundamentally at odds with those of traditional management—hierarchy, On the Web, you get to choose your compatriots. 11. Intrinsic rewards matter most. conformance, control. Gary Hamel In any online community, you have the freedom The Web is a testament to the power of intrinsic paints a vivid picture of what it to link up with some individuals and ignore the rewards. Think of all the articles contributed to means to build organizations that are fit for the future: resilient, rest, to share deeply with some folks and not at Wikipedia, all the open source software created, inventive, inspiring, and accountable. all with others. Just as no one can assign you a all the advice freely given. Add up the hours bit.ly/oQSknZ boring task, no one can force you to work with of volunteer time and it’s obvious that human dim-witted colleagues. beings will give generously of themselves when they’re given the chance to contribute 7. Resources get attracted, not allocated. to something they actually care about. In large organizations, resources get allocated top- Money’s great, but so is recognition and down, in a politicized, Soviet-style budget wrangle. the joy of accomplishment. On the Web, human effort flows toward ideas and projects that are attractive (and fun) and away 12. Hackers can be heroes. from those that aren’t. In this sense, the Web is a Large organizations tend to make life market economy where millions of individuals get uncomfortable for activists and rabble-rousers— to decide, moment by moment, how to spend the however constructive they may be. In contrast, precious currency of their time and attention. online communities frequently embrace those with strong antiauthoritarian views. On the 8. Power comes from sharing information, Web, muckraking malcontents are frequently Author not hoarding it. celebrated as champions of the Internet’s The Web is also a gift economy. To gain democratic values—particularly if they’ve Gary Hamel is visiting professor influence and status, you have to give away managed to hack a piece of code that has been of strategic and international management at the London your expertise and content. And you must do interfering with what others regard as their Business School and the author it quickly; if you don’t, someone else will beat inalienable digital rights. of The Future of Management. you to the punch—and garner the credit that He is also a founder of the Management Innovation eXchange might have been yours. Online, there are a lot of These features of Web-based life are written (hackmanagement.com). incentives to share, and few incentives to hoard. into the social DNA of Generation F—and mostly missing from the managerial DNA of the average 9. Opinions compound and decisions Fortune 500 company. Yeah, there are a lot of are peer-reviewed. kids looking for jobs right now, but few of them Learn more On the Internet, truly smart ideas rapidly gain a will ever feel at home in cubicleland. following no matter how disruptive they may be. The So, readers, here are a couple of questions: The Management Innovation eXchange (MIX): Web is a near-perfect medium for aggregating the What are the Web-based social values that managementexchange.com wisdom of the crowd—whether in formally organized you think are most contrary to the managerial opinion markets or in casual discussion groups. And DNA one finds inside a typical corporate giant? once aggregated, the voice of the masses can be And how should we reinvent management to used as a battering ram to challenge the entrenched make it more consistent with these emerging interests of institutions in the offline world. online sensibilities?

Fence data and not the workforce with simplified desktop virtualization

By Rafael Colorado and Cortney Isunza

Today’s workers need access to enterprise resources without boundaries. Dell™ Desktop Virtualization Solutions offer purpose-built hardware, software, and services designed to simplify deployment and administration.

s the workplace becomes increasingly resources are typically migrated to the data center, fluid and boundaries blur, the which can add increased infrastructure costs. way employees get tasks done is Helping optimize the appropriate combination A changing. People want the option to of shared computing, storage, and I/O resources be connected 24/7 as the boundaries between can be a key strategy for helping reduce total Mobile workforce work and play begin to overlap. Workers need cost of ownership for IT infrastructure. IT staff advantages anytime, anywhere access to enterprise data and can save time through simplified security, business applications—from whatever computing patching, software deployments, and compliance. Watch this video overview that describes how deploying device is at hand—so they can make informed Desktop virtualization also helps enhance IT desktop virtualization delivers the decisions in real time. And because enterprises department productivity by reducing the time advantages of mobility without are taking on rising numbers of contract necessary to resolve problems reported in the security risks, performance problems, and other drawbacks. employees, they are implementing a bring- end-user support calls. your-own-computer (BYOC) approach in which dell.com/virtualdesktopoverview workers often use their own computing devices Desktop virtualization: Enhancing flexibility to connect. Organizations need to balance the and streamlining IT needs of end users with control and efficiency Desktop virtualization works by decoupling requirements by IT. the digital identity of a worker—data, user Desktop virtualization helps organizations preferences, applications, and even the OS— address these challenges. Like server and storage from the individual client device and moving virtualization, which revolutionized efficiency in it to a centralized location, usually within the the data center, desktop virtualization is poised enterprise infrastructure. However, unlike previous to enable flexible advanced ways of working and generations of server-based computing models, streamlining desktop management for IT staff. desktop virtualization enables an expanded Supporting a wide range of computing range of client functionality, flexibility, and device options by virtualizing end-user desktops can be options. For example, an entire desktop can a proactive move for IT departments. In addition be delivered over a WAN, leveraging graphics to helping end users work more productively, protocols that enable a much richer multimedia a virtual desktop model helps IT departments experience than ever before. improve security, reduce costs, and streamline Administrative tasks such as image and management tasks. Desktop virtualization varies patch management and provisioning can be from traditional desktop deployments because the streamlined, and data can be secured in the data

46 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Virtualization

Understand Make informed Lay the path Capture Ongoing the potential decisions for success the value success

Discovery Blueprint Design Implementation Operate workshop assessment and propose

Figure 1. Navigating a structured Dell Services–provided path for desktop virtualization decision making

center but made readily accessible from diverse for IT organizations: securely balancing IT endpoint devices. A robust desktop virtualization operational efficiency, end-user productivity, and deployment can open the possibilities for business agility. Dell leveraged its own service increased end-user productivity and enables organization’s extensive experience in desktop compute environments to expand and contract virtualization deployments to design DDVS, based on demand with greater ease than was which helps deliver an end-to-end desktop 5 Steps to possible in server-based models. virtualization infrastructure that is designed to implementation The Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions be simple, proven, and complete. Take a deeper dive into Dell (DDVS) stack—which enables virtual end-user Dell support of every DDVS component Desktop Virtualization Solutions computing using hosted desktops and application contributes to end-to-end optimization and by watching this video to learn five steps for implementing virtualization—offers a comprehensive platform strong support from a single source—Dell a preconfigured approach to that helps reduce complexity in the data ProSupport for desktop virtualization. The desktop virtualization. center, reduce acquisition costs, and enhance open architecture of DDVS can facilitate dell.com/virtualdesktopprocess the end-user experience. The DDVS stack seamless interoperability and clear upgrade combines enterprise-class hardware, software, paths. Components have been tested and services to create an architecture that is together extensively to help ensure a smooth purpose-built to meet the particular resource deployment and end-user experience. By needs of an organization. tailoring the end-user resources based on The stack also leverages an industry-standard, actual customer requirements, ISS can be open architecture that gives enterprises a flexible optimized for specific scenarios and industry path for upgrades and full support throughout verticals. A broad range of services options the life cycle of the platform. In addition, DDVS is from Dell Services avoids the need for available either as a service in which the desktops organizations to require expertise for multiple are located in a Dell data center, or as a purchase domains to assemble components; the option in the form of a comprehensive Dell configurable ISS offers wide-ranging design Integrated Solution Stack (ISS). Dell also offers a and implementation services. rich portfolio of enterprise hardware, endpoint devices, and custom services for organizations Business agility: Providing fast access that prefer to build their own platforms. for enhanced productivity DDVS helps simplify what would Decoupling desktop environments for end users otherwise be a highly complex proposition from specific computing devices and operating

systems allows desktop virtualization to enhance fully backed up and archived appropriately, flexibility—empowering employees to be based on organizational policy. Workers can productive anytime and anywhere they choose. stay productive even when they cannot get to Desktop virtualization also helps IT staff drive the physical workplace. Centralizing user data business agility by allowing the provisioning of and applications also helps to simplify backup computing resources quickly. processes that are often missing from even DDVS incorporates a delivery center that well-managed desktops. leverages leading-edge virtualization software In addition, the data that workers need is from VMware and Citrix Systems to provide often protected by a firewall—and many IT instant-on, end-user computing resources. departments are not comfortable granting Instead of waiting several days for a new behind-the-firewall access to every mobile desktop instance, for example, an employee device. The virtual desktop model addresses can access required resources within hours. this situation by offering a secure, managed In this manner, desktop virtualization helps path into the data center. This model enables organizations react quickly to changing IT to support a device access policy that is business conditions. Similarly, if an organization increasingly flexible, which helps simplify loses an employee or contractor, the desktop access for employees, and streamlines and can be immediately de-provisioned. standardizes security to help reduce the risk of Delivery and an enterprise security breach. consumption Digital identities: Advancing security with centralized management Field-tested methodology: Helping Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions offers four delivery Loss of a laptop or smartphone can lead to reduce deployment risk models for IT organizations. IP security breaches, information leaks, and Dell has invested approximately 50,000 Watch this video to discover these ownership options for helping identity theft—all of which can result in bad man-hours in extensive research and simplify desktop virtualization. press and loss of customer confidence. Desktop development (R&D) and solution validation virtualization helps organizations avoid these to help ensure that desktop virtualization dell.com/virtualdesktopdelivery risks. The inherent architecture of desktop deployments follow a smooth, finely tuned virtualization helps reduce the risk of accidental process and incur predictable operational data loss. The central management of virtual costs. Each of the components of the DDVS desktops and their associated digital identity comes from a single source, compared with give IT administrators significant control over alternatives based on outsourced storage policies and access. back ends, for example. These single-sourced For regulated industries, the option to components have been tested and validated implement multifactor authentication and together to help streamline deployments and single sign-on features means desktop optimize overall efficiency. A single source of virtualization provides the necessary access support also helps simplify troubleshooting and controls to help mitigate liability and prevent problem resolution. potentially large fines. IT staff can also make A pretested, preconfigured Dell ISS helps security updates, deploy software patches, and facilitate rapid deployment and optimized de-provision new desktop instances faster and operations. The ISS includes servers, storage, more easily than in a traditional one-employee– networking, and virtualization software, as one-computer environment. well as services options from Dell Services Centrally managed virtual desktops also to design and size the architecture for the help simplify regulatory compliance because no needs of each enterprise (see Figure 1). data is stored on remote computing devices. The ISS can dramatically accelerate time to Instead, the data resides on a server in the data deployment and simplify implementation center, helping ensure that enterprise data is by avoiding configuration and testing time

48 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Virtualization

Delivery models for meeting speciﬁc requirements and goals

Virtual desktop Managed Customer as a service service managed (vDaaS) Custom Integrated Integrated Dell cloud solution stack solution stack

Dell manages Customers manage

Figure 2. Building and managing desktop virtualization through a range of delivery models

at the deployment site. It can also be sized Desktop as a service appropriately to a specific IT environment An all-in service, virtual desktop as a service and end-user computing requirements for an (vDaaS) provides the infrastructure to house enterprise before deployment. virtual desktops in the Dell Services cloud or on a dedicated hardware stack within the Dell Versatile deployment: Optimizing virtual data center. With this model, Dell handles desktops from design to implementation the management, monitoring, and incident The perceived cost and complexity of deploying resolution of the virtual environment. The a virtual desktop infrastructure may seem as-a-service model is billed using a per- daunting at first glance. DDVS addresses these seat subscription, allowing organizations to challenges through a range of purchasing avoid the commitment of a capital purchase, models, including pay-as-you-go monthly fees hardware depreciation, and refresh. for the hosted platform, which helps prevent a high up-front investment. In addition, a Managed service and service-based rollout process helps mitigate customer-managed service complexity with end-to-end planning, design, Based on Dell Cloud Services infrastructure and implementation services, as well as optional and leveraging enterprise-class servers, ongoing management and sustainability. storage, networking, hypervisor, and desktop From the beginning of an engagement virtualization software, ISS is internally tested through successful deployment, Dell offers and certified to help deliver an optimized IT a well-defined process that is grounded in management and end-user experience. ISS years of experience with desktop virtualization includes design services to size the stack for and powered by leading-edge hardware and the specific requirements of organizations. software. Four flexible delivery models give Implementation is also included; Dell organizations deployment flexibility based on builds, delivers, and deploys ISS at the their level of implementation involvement. customer location and implements desktop Models range from a fully managed platform in virtualization. For the ongoing management which Dell Services implements, operates, and of the infrastructure, there are two options manages deployment using a Dell cloud or available: managed services, in which Dell dedicated infrastructure in the Dell data center provides this service, and customer managed, or on a customer’s premises to a custom in which Dell provides knowledge transfer implementation managed by a customer and hands over the management to the (see Figure 2). operations team.

Services for consulting, deployment, and sustainability Custom fit for peak Working with Dell Services to design and deploy DDVS helps simplify the process of transitioning efficiency and performance to a virtual desktop model for many enterprises. A broad base of engineering, infrastructure Each organization has its own way of operating or engaging consulting, and field expertise enables Dell with customers, colleagues, and suppliers, and industry-specific consultants to help simplify the process of approaches help tailor the desktop virtualization architecture to correctly sizing the environment for an optimal meet particular enterprise needs. For example, by integrating quality of service as well as potential future scale. purpose-built implementations with the Dell Desktop Virtualization As part of the standard offering, Dell Services can Solutions (DDVS) stack, higher education and health care create the virtual images, packages the virtual organizations can optimize productivity, application delivery, and applications, configures the infrastructure, and secure access to critical data. provisions the virtual machines within the domain of the customer. The comprehensive services In institutions of higher learning, application access can be help organizations to mitigate risk and achieve a a key requirement for students, particularly in fixed laboratory fast return on investment. settings where specific applications to complete lab assignments Because Dell provides the necessary may reside. Colleges and universities can deploy Dell Virtual Labs hardware, software, and services components to enable students to use their own computers to access the lab for the desktop virtualization platform, environment and applications.* This approach offers students the organizations can access streamlined support freedom to be productive at times best suited to their schedules. from a single toll-free telephone number. It unencumbers institutions from managing student devices. And it Providing a single point of contact helps to enables them to optimize physical lab space and data storage. ensure a consistent experience. Organizations in the health care field have critical requirements for productivity and information privacy controls. Custom The Dell Mobile Clinical Computing solution is designed to Dell provides a rich portfolio of enterprise deliver a DDVS approach that offers efficient access to patient hardware, PCs, thin clients, and mobile devices for organizations that prefer to build, implement, records through kiosks and workstations.** This architecture host, and operate their own desktop virtualization enables safe, secure virtual desktop access to patient information deployments in a DIY approach that can include that resides on a centralized server, boosting productivity and the following: collaboration for highly mobile doctors, nurses, and health care

professionals within clinic or hospital settings. In addition, this • Dell PowerEdge™ servers approach offers multifactor authentication such as proximity • Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series storage badges for access and automatic logoff when a health care • Dell PowerConnect™ networking employee leaves a station. • Dell OptiPlex™ thin clients Dell’s ongoing efforts to develop approaches that leverage • Dell-validated original equipment manufacturer DDVS in other industries allow organizations to improve application (OEM) software from Citrix Systems and VMware access and performance, heighten data security, enhance • Services from Dell Global Infrastructure regulatory compliance, and enable increasingly mobile workforces Consulting (ProConsulting), Dell ProManage™, to stay productive through efficient, flexible architectures. and Dell ProSupport services

Organizations can follow implementation best * For more information on Dell Virtual Labs, visit dell.com/virtuallabs. ** For more information on Dell Mobile Clinical Computing Solution, visit dell.com/clinicalcomputing. practices documented in Dell-validated reference architectures or leverage consulting to create a custom architecture.

50 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Expert guidance: Transforming Authors enterprise desktops Desktop virtualization has the potential to transform Rafael Colorado is the director of marketing of desktop virtual solutions at Dell, where enterprise efficiency by giving workers the power he is responsible for go-to-market strategy to do their jobs when and how they are most and communications for domain solutions, productive. However, knowing where to begin and including Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions. how to successfully size, scale, and deploy virtual Cortney Isunza has been with Dell for desktop infrastructures can be complex, and building 12 years in several roles including strategic the appropriate platform from the beginning is account manager, business development critical. Dell enables organizations to benefit from strategy, and solutions planning, Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions. the guidance of deployment experts, who can share field experience and extensive knowledge of best practices for designing and implementing a DDVS- Learn more based virtual desktop infrastructure that meets the Dell desktop virtualization: requirements of an organization. In addition, the dell.com/virtualdesktop broad range of pretested and validated hardware, infrastructure, and software from Dell helps to The Dell difference: provide a more predictable outcome of the user dell.com/virtualdesktopdifference

experience—either the same as or even more Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions: enhanced than their local desktop. dell.com/desktopvirtualization

[ TOUGH QUESTION #14 ] CAN A NEXT-GEN FIREWALL ENABLE GRANULAR APPLICATION CONTROL FOR YOUR ENTIRE ENTERPRISE? IT CAN NOW.

SonicWALL® Next-Gen Firewalls identify apps running across your network and allocate bandwidth for what’s essential while limiting or blocking apps that are not. To learn how our new SuperMassive™ E10000 Series as well as E-Class NSA, NSA and TZ Series can scale for your entire enterprise, visit www.sonicwall.com/ngfw

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. © 2011 SonicWALL,Reprinted from Inc. DellSonicWALL Power Solutions and the SonicWALL, 2011 Issue 3.logo Copyright are registered © 2011 trademarksDell Inc. All ofrights SonicWALL, reserved. Inc. DYNAMIC SECURITY FOR THE GLOBAL NETWORK

SonicWALL50110162-sonicwall-fixed Ad for Dell size.indd Power 1 Solution Magazine, half-page, horizontal; 8.625"x 5.375"; 0.125" bleed on three sides 6/23/11 4:55 PM Virtualization

irtualization technology continues to mature and help IT organizations operate their V data centers with enhanced efficiency and flexibility. Many organizations are now finding they can extend the reach of virtualization throughout their data centers. Traditionally, only less-critical, or tier 2, applications such as test and development were virtualized. Today organizations are also virtualizing mission- critical, or tier 1, applications. In many cases, tier 1 environments include the Microsoft® SQL Server® database platform and applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server messaging. Expanded use of virtualization for production environments increases the importance of protecting data and enabling quick recoverability. Tier 1 applications, for example, often have more stringent recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time Tiered application objective (RTO) requirements than tier 2 applications. Based on the business needs of an organization, RPO specifies an acceptable protection and recovery amount of application data loss for a specific, elapsed time period prior to a disaster or in virtual environments disruption. Conversely, RTO specifies the time period after a disaster or disruption that By Sheryl Koenigsberg and William Urban is required to restore the application data loss.1 Data protection and recoverability demands for tier 1 applications are typically more demanding than those required for Together, Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware Edition and tier 2 test and development applications. Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition enable IT Although traditional data protection organizations to use a multitiered approach for protecting strategies such as nightly backups offer significant protection, they are not virtual machines and mission-critical applications in designed to handle the protection needs VMware® virtualization environments. for—and probably cannot meet RPO and RTO requirements of—tier 1 applications. Traditional backup strategies often lack the flexibility and granularity required to Whiteboard series meet the differing demands of backup and recovery for production applications. View whiteboard presentations by author William Urban at the Dell Enterprise Technology Center. The collection offers a three-part series on implementing data protection and disaster recovery using tools integrated 1 For more information about RPO and RTO, see “Optimizing the with Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage and VMware virtualization. replication environment for speed and reliability,” by Magi Kapoor and Mike Kosacek, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 2, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power dell.to/q7Ses6 ~en/documents~ps2q11-20110301-kapoor.pdf.aspx.

52 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Deploying a multitiered data protection virtual environments can be easily and application-aware snapshots, clones, and strategy can provide an appropriate level rapidly protected with data protection tools replicas, and augment traditional data of data protection for an environment with capable of creating snapshots and clones. protection strategies by providing quick varying recoverability requirements. To facilitate virtual environment recoverability at increasingly granular levels. backup and recovery, VMware vCenter™ Organizations can deploy ASM/VE for virtual Integrated data protection Server software offers native support machine–level data protection and ASM/ME for storage area networks for creating virtual machine–aware for selected virtual machines running To help organizations meet increasingly snapshots and clones. Similarly, Microsoft applications that require high stringent RPO and RTO requirements for Microsoft supports localized data granularity and recoverability (see Figure 1). certain applications, many IT environments protection for Microsoft applications ASM/VE can protect servers running tier 2 utilize a multitiered data protection strategy. with Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). applications—for example, Dynamic Host For this growing number of environments VSS is designed to facilitate backup and Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers, with differing data protection goals, Dell offers recoverability of Microsoft applications by file servers, and test environments—at the Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware Edition providing a platform to create application- virtual machine level. ASM/VE is installed as (ASM/VE) and Auto-Snapshot Manager/ aware snapshots of NT File System a virtual appliance that is managed within Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME). These tools offer (NTFS), Microsoft SQL Server database, and vCenter, and snapshots or replications of protection and recoverability at both the Microsoft Exchange messaging software. virtual servers protected by ASM/VE can virtual machine level—with ASM/VE— Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage be created a few times each day and fully and at the application level—with ASM/ME— is designed to leverage VMware- and recovered following disruption or a disaster. through automated point-in-time snapshots, Microsoft-localized data protection For an additional level of granularity, clones, and replication. capabilities, enabling organizations to ASM/ME can protect servers running tier 1 Both ASM/VE and ASM/ME are well implement granular data protection applications such as selected SQL Server suited as a complementary approach to strategies. ASM/VE offers integrated data and Exchange applications. ASM/ME traditional data protection strategies such protection for VMware virtualization can be installed within the guest virtual as nightly backups. They are available for all environments leveraging native VMware machine of the server running SQL Server Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet SCSI snapshots, and ASM/ME offers application- or Exchange that has its data volume (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) arrays level protection that leverages VSS-based directly connected to an iSCSI volume on currently under maintenance agreements. snapshots for transactional workloads in an EqualLogic PS Series SAN. Snapshots (For common questions that may arise SQL Server and Exchange applications and or replications of applications protected when considering a multitiered approach file-level protection for NTFS. by ASM/ME can be created a few times using ASM/VE and ASM/ME, see the sidebar, ASM/VE and ASM/ME are designed each day, but after disruption or disaster “FAQs: Adopting a multitiered approach.”) to create space-efficient, point-in-time, individual components of SQL Server or By enabling a multitiered approach to data protection, ASM/VE and ASM/ME

allow organizations to fine-tune their data VMware ESXi hosts Virtual machines (VMs) protected with ASM/VE protection strategies to efficiently and Selected applications protected VM with ASM/ME effectively protect applications in VMware VM VM VM Microsoft application virtualization environments. VM VM VM VM Microsoft Microsoft Data protection at the virtual machine application application iSCSI-attached volumes hosting and application levels Microsoft applications Virtualization offers advanced opportunities Microsoft for localized data protection. For example, application Volumes storing data because virtual machines and their data virtual machines Microsoft application are stored as hardware-independent files, data VMFS volume 01 VMFS volume 02 saving or recovering a virtual machine can Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage be as easy as copying or opening a file. As a result, individual virtual machines or entire Figure 1. An environment with a tiered application protection strategy using EqualLogic PS Series storage

Exchange can be recovered at a level of granularity not available for virtual FAQs: Adopting a machines protected only by ASM/VE.2 Generally, virtual machines identified as multitiered approach running tier 1 applications are protected at the OS level by ASM/VE in addition to the IT decision makers weighing the benefits of deploying Auto-Snapshot Manager/ ASM/ME-protected applications installed in VMware Edition (ASM/VE) and Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition those virtual machines. (ASM/ME) frequently ask the following questions. Administrators can further implement best-practice design for ASM/VE by aligning Can ASM/VE and ASM/ME be implemented in the same environment? service-level agreements (SLAs) of individual Yes. IT organizations can implement both tools in the same virtual environment, virtual machines to the volumes on which deploying ASM/VE to protect the virtual infrastructure and ASM/ME to protect they are located. In the environment shown individual applications that require more granular recovery options. in Figure 1, for example, snapshots of virtual Which applications should be protected with ASM/VE, and which machines located on volume 01 can be should be protected with ASM/ME? created every four hours, and snapshots of The decision around which tool to use should be based on the recovery point virtual machines located on volume 02 can objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) requirements for each be created every eight hours. application. Business leaders need to define the application priorities before IT can execute a strategy for data protection. Applications with more granular Protecting virtual machines requirements for recovery than others should be protected with ASM/ME. Understanding the details of how ASM/VE protects virtual machines is important when Are there any prerequisites to using ASM/VE or ASM/ME? implementing a multitiered data protection Organizations having a current support contract for Dell EqualLogic PS Series strategy. ASM/VE offers automated, storage can download ASM/VE and ASM/ME. Architecturally, to use ASM/ME in integrated, and scalable protection for a virtual environment, the Internet SCSI (iSCSI) initiator must be installed within VMware virtualization environments. It the guest virtual machine. Additional prerequisites are provided in the respective is integrated with the VMware vSphere™ release notes for these tools. virtualization platform and performs rapid, space-efficient, hypervisor-aware What interfaces can be used for managing these different types SAN-based snapshots, clones, and replicas of data protection? of individual virtual machines or an entire Starting in version 3 of ASM/VE, management of virtual machine snapshots and VMware virtualization environment. replication takes place within VMware vCenter. For Microsoft Windows® OS– ASM/VE is designed to coordinate based snapshots and replication—including for Microsoft SQL Server database VMware virtual machine snapshots and and Microsoft Exchange messaging applications and for the Microsoft Hyper-V™ EqualLogic PS Series SAN-based data hypervisor—ASM/ME is a simple, Windows-based utility that is installed on the protection features to help reduce workload Windows host and in virtual environments runs inside the virtual machine. on VMware ESX or ESXi servers. These data protection activities have little to no impact on Does ASM/VE or ASM/ME replace traditional backup software? virtual server performance. The tool leverages Not entirely. Both ASM/VE and ASM/ME are designed to complement traditional native VMware snapshot technology to backup strategies by offering quick recovery between regularly scheduled nightly backups. The granularity of Auto-Snapshot Manager protection can be place virtual machines into native snapshot well suited for object-level or virtual machine–level recovery, or recovery of mode, create a SAN-based snapshot or data more recently than the previous night. Nightly backups can still be suitable replica of the virtual machine, and then for other data protection goals, such as long-term retention. return the environment to its normal state.

2 Servers running Microsoft SQL Server or Exchange that are protected by ASM/VE but not ASM/ME are protected at a consistent state but without the same granularity of recoverability available to ASM/ME-protected servers.

54 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. be restored to an EqualLogic PS Series SAN on a different remote or local server for new application usage or for test and development. By enabling rapid, online backups and restores of Microsoft application data sets, ASM/ME offers localized, granular data protection for Microsoft applications that enhances data protection beyond traditional backup and recovery.

Enhanced management of granular data protection Together, ASM/VE and ASM/ME deliver a powerful, comprehensive, software-based approach that enables Figure 2. VMware vCenter–based ASM/VE management of data protection in virtual environments organizations to deploy and manage multitiered data protection for VMware Fully VMware virtualization–aware, and recovery, helping minimize the impact virtualization environments. By offering ASM/VE is capable of identifying on the virtual infrastructure. increasingly granular data protection and interpreting the locations of and at the virtual machine and application relationships between VMware objects— Enhancing application availability levels, respectively, ASM/VE and such as virtual machines, virtual machine ASM/ME is a key second tool for ASM/ME help organizations enhance folders, and Virtual Machine File System implementing a tiered data protection the efficiency, availability, and (VMFS) data storage—and their underlying strategy utilizing EqualLogic PS Series recoverability of mission-critical volumes on EqualLogic PS Series storage. storage. To help optimize application applications, less-critical applications, Because VMware virtualization protection, ASM/ME offers integrated and data in virtual environments. administrators can access ASM/VE application-level data protection for functionality from vCenter, they can Microsoft applications supporting easily create data protection schedules transactional workloads and NTFS. Authors for individual virtual machines or entire ASM/ME is integrated with VSS to create Sheryl Koenigsberg is a consultant in virtual infrastructures using the same application-aware, point-in-time SAN- storage solutions marketing and has helped management tool they are using to manage based snapshots, clones, and replicas organizations design enterprise environments. the rest of their virtual environment (see of Microsoft application data sets with Follow Sheryl on Twitter @storageDiva. Figure 2). A built-in scheduler enables little to no impact on application or William Urban is a technical marketing engineer automation of these processes, including server performance or availability. The at Dell working on VMware virtualization processes for which VMware does not tool is easy to set up and manage, and integration for the Dell EqualLogic product family. Follow William on Twitter @VirtWillU. provide automation. ASM/VE also enables it features an intuitive, step-by-step fast recoverability of virtual machines for interface with a scheduler included for heightened availability. The tool can recover automated operations. individual virtual machines or entire VMFS ASM/ME offers fast recoverability with Learn more data stores and supports both manual several quick-restore options. A file, storage Dell EqualLogic PS Series data protection: and automated rollback of virtual machines group, or database can be quickly restored dellstorage.com/equallogicdataprotection for fast recovery. from a snapshot. Similarly, even more By automating protection of VMware granular recovery options are available, Dell storage: virtualization environments with ASM/VE, including recovery of a single Exchange dellstorage.com

administrators can enhance data mailbox or rolling forward of SQL Server Dell EqualLogic: protection beyond traditional backup database logs. Additionally, snapshots can dell.com/equallogic

Managing data intelligently to drive efficiency in the virtual era

In nearly every industry, from insurance he IT industry is often defined by eras of significant innovation, such as the PC, mobile computing, and the to engineering to higher education, Internet. Today the industry is at another inflection point organizations are using Dell™ Fluid Data™ T driven by increased mobility demands and the explosion of digital data. To benefit from the opportunities and overcome the storage solutions to help ensure that the challenges presented by this virtual era, organizations are adopting an right data is available to the right people at advanced model of computing that is open, efficient, and agile. In short, the right times—and at the right cost. the virtual era demands efficient IT approaches that help simplify the way technology is deployed, integrated, and maintained in today’s data centers.

56 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management: Customer perspective

Efficient storage infrastructure and intelligent data Iper management are crucial for success in a data-driven world. However, organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to manage, maintain, and protect their data. Many storage approaches that have been deployed widely over the past two 50% decades are insufficient to handle emerging storage and data Using Dell Compellent™ Storage Center™, the Italian management challenges. IT approaches that treat data as a static retailer cut its capacity requirements in half compared to entity are missing an essential truth: data is not something to be the previous storage environment. stored; it is something to be actively and intelligently managed. Dell Fluid Data solutions are designed to help organizations optimize data movement and management, both within and across Ai Claims Solutions storage platforms. The Fluid Data solutions portfolio encompasses a broad range of systems, software, and services that advance overall data center agility and efficiency for heightened business response 80% and can enhance storage infrastructures in the following ways: Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) arrays helped Ai Claims Solutions improve • Automate data management Microsoft® SQL Server® performance by 80 percent. • Optimize the storage footprint • Scale seamlessly to meet fluctuating demands • Protect data simply and cost-effectively Whorton Insurance Services • Integrate efficiently into the IT environment

A fresh approach to storage based on Fluid Data architecture helps organizations build an open, capable, and affordable 83% storage infrastructure that is designed to leverage their existing IT Using the Dell PowerVault™ DL Backup to Disk Appliance – investments—offering a clear path toward intelligent, cost-effective Powered by Symantec™, Whorton Insurance Services realized data management. As a result, Fluid Data helps to reduce the an 83 percent reduction in staff time for data protection. ongoing cost of maintenance in the data center while also helping to control data volume, reduce storage and infrastructure costs, HDR EOC and securely increase data availability. The success stories highlighted here demonstrate how different organizations are using Dell Fluid Data solutions to help ensure that their data is available when and where 100% they need it. Fluid Data solutions encompass a broad range Using a Fluid Data–based storage solution, HDR EOC of innovative technology, systems, software, and services experienced 100 percent successful data recovery. that help organizations consolidate and virtualize storage, optimize applications, protect critical data, recover quickly after service interruptions, and govern data throughout its Utrecht University life cycle in accordance with compliance requirements. The results these organizations have achieved show that regardless of how they use their data, Fluid Data solutions enable IT departments to manage data efficiently and flexibly, helping 2x deliver key information to stakeholders anywhere, anytime, The Dell DX Object Storage Platform enabled Utrecht and on any device. University research to access data twice as quickly.

Iper: Shrinking the IT footprint to help maximize performance across through intelligent data its application workloads while helping management minimize storage capacity and cost. Fast-growing Italian retail chain Iper As a result, Iper cut its storage footprint depends on real-time access to more than significantly. When the company moved 400 GB of bar code tracking information an Oracle® database from its previous to run its day-to-day business. However, traditional enterprise storage environment with inactive historical data clogging stacks to the Dell Compellent SAN, it halved of expensive, inaccessible disk storage, the number of drives. For another the company needed a way to make the application, Dell Compellent storage appropriate information easier to access. matched the capacity and performance of Iper made Dell Compellent storage the a competitor’s 60-drive storage platform basis of a fully virtualized infrastructure, with just 20 drives. including redundant mirrored storage “With Dell Compellent you get less area network (SAN) arrays for enhanced hardware and more brainware,” says disaster recovery. Leveraging intelligent, Giovanni Oteri, ICT manager at Iper policy-based automated tiering across Montebello S.p.A., a subsidiary of Gruppo multiple storage tiers, Iper now uses the Finiper S.p.A. “All other storage technology Dell Compellent Storage Center SAN now seems obsolete in comparison.”

Ai Claims Solutions: Optimizing were developing,” says Andrew Robinson, have doubled our capacity, but we’ve application performance head of IT operations and data at Ai Claims also seen an 80 percent improvement in In the UK, insurance industry changes can Solutions. “Our technology was five years SQL performance. This was unexpected happen in the blink of an eye. Regular old and we were spending a lot of money but has given us much more flexibility,” legislative changes, shifts in the economy, on warranty and lease extensions. To stay says Robinson. and rapidly evolving public expectations competitive, we needed to make a change.” Through virtualization and the extra mean that insurance firms must be flexible Dell consultants helped Ai Claims Solutions capacity afforded by the Dell infrastructure, in their approach to providing services. virtualize its infrastructure using the Microsoft Ai Claims Solutions has been able to Because insurance is a high-transaction, Hyper-V™ hypervisor, Dell PowerEdge™ accelerate its research and development low-margin business, improvements to servers, and Dell EqualLogic PS5000X programs. Implementation time has also the IT infrastructure can have a significant SANs—all of which combined to provide an been noticeably reduced. Robinson says, impact on profit margins. extremely efficient, scalable, and powerful “It used to take a week to deploy new At Ai Claims Solutions, a provider of a solution. This simplified architecture allowed environments on our servers, but now it range of non-fault accident services, rapid Ai Claims Solutions to reduce its infrastructure takes half a day. Plus, with much more growth was putting significant pressure on management team by 40 percent, deliver a capacity, we’ve been able to scale up its IT infrastructure supporting transaction reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), and significantly the number of development systems. “The company has been growing optimize database performance. streams in progress at any one time. We’ve at a rate of around 25 percent a year for a “We anticipated running out of SQL Server gone from 40 to 485 databases. We’re number of years, and the IT infrastructure was capacity in the coming months due to rapid more productive and can release new straining to support new applications that we business growth. The Dell EqualLogic SANs applications and improvements faster.”

58 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Whorton Insurance Services: Helping simplify data protection Managing data protection at Whorton Insurance Services used to consume most of its operations manager’s nights and weekends. To ease the burden and avoid adding IT staff resources, Whorton first virtualized eight physical servers onto two Dell PowerEdge servers running VMware® virtualization software and began backing up to disk, but problems persisted. Verifying backups was a challenge, and through-host backups of virtual machines sometimes stretched into the morning, which slowed network performance. Then Whorton decided to try the Dell PowerVault DL Backup to Disk Appliance – Powered by Symantec Backup Exec. Backups are now automated, and virtual machines and Microsoft application data are continuously protected with granular recovery technology. Off-host virtual machine backups are now performed with little or no impact to network performance. “The Dell PowerVault DL2000 and Symantec Backup Exec solved our backup problems without the management complexity and hassles of a virtual tape library,” says Chris Whorton, operations manager for Whorton Insurance Services. “Backup Exec Agents for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server allow us to back up our e-mail and databases with granular recovery technology. We now have continuous protection—and it took me only 30 minutes to set up out of the box.” Without any tape-based backups to perform, Whorton now spends 83 percent less time managing data protection, and the company was able to avoid hiring part-time help at a cost of approximately US$20,000 per year. Backup success rates are up to 99 percent—as compared to 50 percent using the old system. “Between tape media and tape-related hardware costs, and what we would have had to spend on additional IT staff, the Dell PowerVault DL2000 paid for itself in 10 months,” Whorton concludes. “It’s enabled me to continue to wear multiple hats—and get some rest. Sleep is good!”

HDR EOC: Bringing reliable disaster eight hours. And thanks to deduplication, HDR EOC recovery to distributed data is seeing a 40 percent reduction in the volume Engineering and environmental firm HDR EOC of backup data crossing the network, which allows (formerly e2M) manages large volumes of project the company to save on network bandwidth data in 12 geographically dispersed offices. Each and backup software licensing and reclaim office was backing up all its data locally and approximately 572 hours of staff time each year storing backups on site—a time-intensive process for more valuable tasks. that resulted in a mere 60 percent recovery Moreover, storing data in multiple locations success rate. provides disaster protection, and IT can find With assistance from Dell, the firm designed desired files quickly. “We’ve been able to recover a centralized backup architecture built on Dell every file users have asked us for since we PowerEdge rack-mounted and blade servers, two implemented the Dell and Symantec solution,” Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN arrays, and a Dell says Lloyd Cramer, system administrator at PowerVault ML6000 Tape Library. Dell then provided HDR EOC. data protection from Symantec for deduplication and “Data recovery used to be one of our greatest centralized backup. As a result, HDR EOC achieved concerns,” says Gustin Hare, corporate IT director 100 percent successful data recovery. for HDR EOC. “Now we focus our energy on HDR EOC has also reduced backup windows supporting our business users, while the backups by 83 percent, from 48 or more hours down to just take care of themselves.”

60 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. system. Without download delays, the team’s time can now be dedicated to analyzing protein behavior that can change the way medicine manages disease.

Heightening data center agility In any industry, burgeoning volumes of data are inducing organizations of all sizes to consider fresh approaches to storage and data management. These approaches encompass critical areas such as consolidation and virtualization, application integration and optimization, data protection, disaster recovery, and data retention and governance. Utrecht University: Keeping up to five additional hours each week Dell Fluid Data solutions enable data safe and compliant to help researchers with their IT needs. automated data management and At Utrecht University, the Biomolecular Mass The department also takes advantage of optimization of unified block, file, Spectrometry and Proteomics Group is the platform’s automated, policy-based and object storage resources through exploring new methods of protein research, data management, adding metadata on Dell Compellent, Dell EqualLogic, Dell which produces vast amounts of data that retention and deletion to help ensure PowerVault, and Dell DX Object Storage needs to be processed, safeguarded, and compliance with international standards. Platform systems. These innovative easily retrieved. As a result, the department “When our research is published, we approaches to storage and data outgrew its storage solution and was not must retain and make available all the management are designed to deliver able to scale its platform to accommodate relevant data—both raw and processed—for a dynamic and flexible foundation for the estimated 1,000 TB of new data that is five years. Using metadata as part of Dell’s efficient, agile IT through intelligent expected to be created during the next five DX Object Storage Platform means we can automation and simple integration— years. In addition, system administrators now specify for how long the information supported by storage expertise and found that backing up the department’s must be kept and how many copies of a worldwide service capabilities from Dell. existing 13 TB of data each day was time- file are needed. The solution does the rest,” consuming and unreliable. The group says Bas van Breukelen, assistant professor Learn more sought an advanced approach to storage of bioinformatics at Utrecht University. “This, that would prevent bottlenecks and cut out together with mirroring, gives us complete Dell storage solutions: the painstaking backups. peace of mind that we are complying with dellstorage.com As a long-standing Dell customer, international regulations and protected the department turned to Dell for insight against the loss of valuable data.” into available systems. The Dell DX The benefits of the DX Object Storage Object Storage Platform—an object- Platform extend beyond the data center based, clustered storage platform—was as well. Now that researchers can attach well suited for the storage needs of the metadata—such as the name of the group based on its simplicity, scalability, researcher conducting the experiment—to integrated storage protection, and superior a file, they can retrieve relevant information information management. Instead of slow quickly and easily. Also crucial was the tape backups, the IT team now relies on capability enabling researchers to download mirroring and automatic replication. The files twice as quickly because the platform group’s system administrator now has has higher throughput than the previous

Intelligent sub-volume storage tiering heightens data center efficiency

By Achmad Chadran, Sheryl Koenigsberg, and Keith Swindell

Automated data tiering at the sub-volume level helps ccelerated data growth and the broadening reach of enterprises boost application performance, enhance virtualization across enterprise cost-efficiency, and streamline storage management. Acomputing environments Learn how Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series firmware are intensifying storage infrastructure requirements. Advanced, automated version 5.1 optimizes data center resources. storage tiering can enhance performance and cost-efficiency by helping to optimize resource utilization while simplifying storage management. Storage tiering places low- latency, high-access data (or hot data) on fast storage media such as solid-state drives (SSDs) and static, low-access data (or cool data) on low-cost storage media such as 7,200 rpm capacity optimized drives. Although traditional storage tiering methods can be effective, they operate only at the volume level, not within a volume itself. As volume sizes grow—particularly in large, virtualized environments—the ability to automatically manage data placement at the sub- volume level is key to optimizing performance and efficiency. EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 enables Dell EqualLogic PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) arrays to leverage automated performance load balancing (APLB). This feature is designed to analyze and find the most efficient location for data at the sub-volume level, enabling a more granular level of data management than traditional tiering approaches provide. The firmware offers a range of other features that enhance the performance and manageability of storage resources. (For more information, see the sidebar, “Storage smarts boost IT efficiency.”) The firmware supports all EqualLogic PS Series SAN arrays.

62 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

Sub-volume load balancing offers an intelligent, automated method for managing storage that helps organizations cost-effectively improve application performance, enhance

resource efficiency and productivity, and Dell EqualLogic FS7500: Offering scale-out architecture for unified storage streamline management.

Tiering storage at the sub-volume level Storage smarts boost Traditional storage tiering methods typically are based on an aggregate level of performance IT efficiency measured at the volume level. High-access volumes are generally placed on low-latency EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 for Dell EqualLogic PS Series arrays media, while low-access volumes are generally offers a range of enhancements designed to advance data center placed on media that is more cost-effective efficiency, including: than low-latency drives. For many organizations, however, storage volumes are increasing in size • Automated performance load balancing (APLB) helps improve and complexity—particularly for organizations application performance and resource efficiency by analyzing sub- deploying virtualization or large high-transaction volume workloads, and, where appropriate, moving them to more applications. In virtualized environments, for suitable resources. example, individual volumes often store data • Data Center Bridging (DCB) and Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) from many virtual machines, each with a different support applies IEEE-standard protocols designed to add reliability to performance profile. Additionally, organizations Ethernet connectivity. often deploy large volumes to help minimize management overhead. • Support for next-generation hardware includes 3 TB drives and the As a result, the usage profile within volumes EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out network attached storage (NAS). can be quite varied; it mixes data that is frequently • Microsoft® Active Directory® directory service integration enables accessed and has low latency requirements with mapping of EqualLogic administrative users to Active Directory comparatively static, infrequently accessed data. to further simplify operations and enhance integration with data Managing this complexity is not possible using center environments. volume-level storage tiering alone. Nevertheless, • VMware® vStorage Thin Provisioning awareness extends integration traditional storage technologies limit tiering with VMware storage application programming interfaces (APIs) by management to the volume level. To help ensure enhancing data protection for virtual machines using thin-provisioned application performance requirements are met, disk capacity. organizations typically must overbuy expensive, low-latency storage, which can increase storage This firmware-based intelligence supports advanced storage costs significantly. technologies that enable administrators to enhance performance and EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 supports fully efficiency while streamlining management. automated sub-volume load balancing. The firmware enables a more granular treatment of workloads and

Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN before automated performance load balancing

Higher-performing Lower-performing array array Underutilized Overutilized Figure 1. Using APLB to distribute a tiered workload Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN after automated performance load balancing

Higher-performing Lower-performing array array Optimally utilized

Hot Cold

storage resources than treatment at the volume simultaneously, static, low-access data may be level and leverages the APLB feature, which migrated to arrays running cost-effective media analyzes and rebalances data at the sub-volume such as 7,200 rpm capacity optimized drives. No level. This feature is designed to offer a “set-and- management intervention is required—APLB is forget” level of management. designed to provide fully automatic and dynamic The Dell EqualLogic PS Series architecture management of data placement. enables EqualLogic PS Series arrays to share Sub-volume level load balancing enables information about capacity and I/O workloads. organizations to enhance the performance and Algorithms continuously compare usage and utilization of storage infrastructures, reduce the need performance statistics at the array level to to overbuy expensive, high-performance drives, and identify opportunities for reallocating sub-volume potentially extend the life of storage arrays. workloads among arrays in a storage pool. These algorithms give administrators the opportunity Deploying sub-volume tiering to mix arrays with different drive types and RAID for specific use cases configuration levels within a pool. The APLB feature Sub-volume level load balancing can be effective can then intelligently align application workloads in a wide variety of enterprise computing with appropriate media. scenarios, including these fairly typical use cases. In the SANs shown in Figure 1, for example, the workload is initially distributed randomly, Storage optimization in virtualized which causes the higher-performing array to be infrastructures underutilized and the lower-performing array to be In virtualized environments, a single volume overutilized. Once the algorithm recognizes this typically handles storage for multiple virtual imbalance, hot data is relocated from the lower- machines. This single-volume approach can performing array to the higher-performing array lead to increased volume size and significant (for example, from an array with 7,200 rpm drives workload variation within individual volumes. to an array with 15,000 rpm Serial Attached SCSI The APLB feature in EqualLogic firmware [SAS] drives) in exchange for cold data—balancing version 5.1 can continuously monitor workload the workload so the utilization of both arrays is usage of the physical arrays. As workloads shift optimized for both capacity and performance. over time, APLB may redistribute hot data to Data within volumes that require low-latency high-performance, low-latency media and cool access to storage may be migrated to arrays data to cost-effective media. In addition to running high-performance SSDs or SAS drives; virtualized environments, APLB works well for

64 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

any other heterogeneous workload deployed Efficient storage of unstructured data within a volume. Certain types of data such as engineering designs, architectural blueprints, and other Cost-effective solid-state drive utilization unstructured data tend to generate moderate-to- SSDs can deliver extremely high-performance, high, or hot, usage when first created, but only low-latency storage, but can be costly to minimal, or cool, usage over time. The sub- deploy for large data sets. Many applications, volume load-balancing capability in EqualLogic such as online transaction processing (OLTP) firmware version 5.1 enables the APLB feature applications, only require extremely fast to automatically detect this shift in usage and response times for a subset of data. The sub- migrate cool data to more cost-effective storage— volume load-balancing capability in EqualLogic freeing low-latency storage to handle newly firmware version 5.1 enables organizations to created, hot data. deploy high-performance storage such as SSDs only for the subset of data that requires it. Driving storage efficiency APLB can automatically and dynamically move EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 enables highly accessed data requiring low-latency organizations utilizing virtualized environments media onto SSDs and migrate less-utilized data or running applications requiring dynamic data to more cost-effective media, which helps access to deploy advanced placement of data significantly improve performance. at the sub-volume level. By leveraging the Learn more For one example of how sub-volume APLB feature of EqualLogic firmware version performance optimization helps improve 5.1, data is automatically analyzed and placed Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN: the performance of a tiered workload, based on aggregate levels of performance by dell.com/equallogic performance benchmarks from internal Dell migrating data to well-suited media—SSDs or Automatic data tiering benefits: testing in May 2011 have shown up to three SAS drives for hot data and 7,200 rpm capacity bit.ly/ejRhZr times performance boosts with EqualLogic optimized drives for cool data. Managing Storage tiering: firmware version 5.1–enhanced load balancing data placement at the sub-volume level helps dellstorage.com/tiering over previous EqualLogic firmware releases.1 improve performance, enhance efficiency, and streamline data storage management on Dell Temporary management of usage increases EqualLogic PS Series arrays. in storage Organizations often have to manage workloads Authors such as end-of-the-month financial processes that temporarily need increased storage Achmad Chadran is a storage solution marketing manager in the Dell Public and Large resources. The sub-volume load-balancing Enterprise Business Unit. capability in EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 can detect the increase in resource usage Sheryl Koenigsberg is a consultant in and redistribute storage across arrays to help storage solutions marketing and has helped organizations design enterprise environments. optimize performance and balance utilization. By Follow Sheryl on Twitter @storageDiva. being able to adjust to increased workloads on the fly, APLB avoids the need for administrative Keith Swindell is a product manager on the EqualLogic Engineering team at Dell with intervention to manage these periodic events. over 20 years of experience in designing and Using sub-volume load balancing, storage arrays implementing effective IT solutions to help can often adjust to the increased performance solve complex business problems. demands of a workload without the need for adding resources.

1 Based on internal Dell testing of an environment comprising a Dell PowerEdge™ R710 rack server, Dell PowerConnect™ 6248 switch, and EqualLogic PS6000XV-450 and EqualLogic PS6000S-100 storage systems.

Taking a scale-out approach to unified block and file storage

By Scott Sinclair, Arun Rajan, and John Mannix

Rising volumes of data often create performance and scalability challenges for traditional network attached storage (NAS) in midsize organizations. Now, IT leaders can deploy unified block and file storage that offers an innovative scale-out architecture.

ncreases in business data volume have data. These architectures must change and overtaken expected growth predictions across evolve to keep pace with the growing demand for a range of industries. As a result, many IT online storage. However, evolving and expanding I organizations are exposed and in some cases storage environments present many midsize unable to accommodate the surfeit without organizations with a dilemma: although their file requiring significant upgrades to their storage data volumes continue to expand rapidly, their environments. Several types of business data have storage budgets remain virtually flat. contributed to the influx, and a large percentage Simply adding individual storage systems of this information is not organized in any type of is not an answer. Traditional network database management system. attached storage (NAS) and file server storage Examples include small and medium files architectures can be difficult to expand such as e-mail messages, office documents, because of scalability limits and management audio, photos, and videos stored across end-user complexity—challenges that also hinder home shares; large files such as digital medical traditional unified storage architectures, which images compliant with the Digital Imaging and combine NAS and storage area network (SAN) Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard; arrays. The complexities are forcing IT leaders and specialized application data such as seismic to reevaluate existing storage infrastructures analysis data for oil and gas research. Virtualized that are underutilized. environments are also consuming increasing Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS7500 scale-out NAS amounts of primary storage for end-user data and offers an innovative, unified storage approach OS images. Requirements such as compliance, to the problem of growing capacity demand at retention policies, data protection, and security midsize organizations. This platform combines NAS call upon IT organizations to ensure data remains and SAN arrays into a single, flexible architecture stored, secure, and accessible for extended designed for both performance and scalability, periods of time—potentially for several years or helping to provide the benefits of unified and even decades and in multiple copies. scale-out storage for midsize deployments. From an IT operations perspective, traditional By implementing a unified storage data center storage architectures were not architecture, EqualLogic arrays now include the designed to accommodate this surge in business benefits of NAS and SANs in a single platform. As

66 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

Common Internet File System (CIFS) significant limitations when compared and Network File System (NFS) Single namespace and scalable NAS performance to a scale-out approach. Traditional scale-up systems consist of a monolithic storage enclosure with a pair of redundant controllers and room for disks to be Dell EqualLogic FS7500 Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS scale-out NAS added as storage requirements grow. Application servers Performance may suffer as disks are added Single iSCSI management and processing resources remain the same. interface When the maximum number of disks per enclosure is reached, another storage system must be added. When existing systems are deemed insufficient, the IT department can add LUN 1 LUN 2 NAS reserve another system that is either the same as LUN 3 LUN 4 the existing systems or a next-generation

Single pool of storage and load-balanced capacity on demand system—in the latter case creating two distinct islands of storage. Conversely, an IT department can perform a significant Figure 1. Scale-out unified architecture based on the Dell EqualLogic FS7500 upgrade to a next-generation system that is larger than the existing storage system a result, the unified scale-out architecture, the storage environment. This approach and migrate data into it. These options add single management interface, and also eases the operational burden that management complexity and cost. multigenerational support of underlying ensues from islands created by traditional Requirements for storage capacity hardware help simplify capacity scaling and storage deployments. and performance are typically not fixed in planning and increase overall IT efficiency. data centers because these needs expand The EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS Comparing scale-out and scale-up over time. However, deploying a scale-up architecture allows administrators to storage architectures approach requires data centers to invest enhance performance and add capacity Traditional unified storage systems are in a monolithic enclosure with a fixed as needed without a significant upgrade of based on a scale-up model, which has performance level ahead of time. Sizing is

Enterprise-class storage scaling made easy

The relentless growth of business data and the burgeoning Designed as an enterprise-class approach to storage demand for online storage threaten to outstrip performance, for midsize organizations, Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out capacity requirements, and IT budgets at many midsize NAS with the Dell Scalable File System (DSFS) offers ease of organizations. Key challenges include the following: use and a robust feature set. The DSFS architecture provides an enterprise-class, high-performance, unified, and scalable Limited performance of traditional network attached file system. storage (NAS) systems Through features such as unlimited namespace scalability, transparent load balancing, and a single file-system image, Low utilization of prepurchased capacity DSFS is designed to enable both the processing performance Islands of storage leading to frequent, costly data migration and storage capacity of a file system to scale as needs increase, without adding management complexity. This design Unplanned capital expenses enhances performance and capabilities using next-generation Rising energy and footprint costs hardware, without requiring difficult data migration.

based on guesswork around future data center requirements. This rigid model can easily result in overbuying, misallocated budgets, and poor utilization levels. Additionally, monolithic units purchased over time can lead to islands of storage that result in inefficient data allocation, requiring manual steps to ensure load balancing. These complexities can be avoided in storage environments deploying Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS architecture, which enables auto- provisioning, workload balancing, and automated scale out. Administrators do not need to perform significant upgrades, and budgetary cycles can follow a pay-as-you-grow model to procure additional systems as needed. EqualLogic Figure 2. Integrated SAN and NAS management FS7500 scale-out NAS is designed to deliver a unified storage capability balancing of data across controllers, network • Scalability: Scales a single share to the that offers outstanding reliability, connections, and disk drives to help optimize maximum capacity of the EqualLogic PS availability, simplicity, automation, and application performance. When a new Series SAN deployment investment protection. array is added, it expands the storage pool • Efficiency: Maximizes disk drive utilization dynamically—including not only disk space, Understanding the benefits of but also connectivity, security, performance, Organizations can build on this basic scale-out unified storage and data protection. design to create a highly available, scale- When working with Dell EqualLogic PS The EqualLogic PS Series storage out NAS architecture. Unlike traditional Series arrays, the EqualLogic FS7500 architecture is designed to simplify NAS systems, the Dell Scalable File System architecture further enhances scale-out expanding or shrinking storage (DSFS) is designed to deliver physical benefits by providing unified storage environments while systems remain online; and logical scalability up to the limit of capability (see Figure 1). In addition, the new arrays can be added or removed the underlying arrays—helping to reduce unified management capability allows IT dynamically from the SAN. When using complexity because the EqualLogic FS7500 departments to manage both NAS and SAN volumes in EqualLogic PS Series can scale within a single namespace. (For SANs from a single management interface. storage environments, comprehensive host more information on DSFS, see the sidebar, In a scale-out unified storage software toolkits are provided to facilitate “Enterprise-class storage scaling made easy.”) implementation with the EqualLogic FS7500, the deployment, ongoing management, This capability allows data centers EqualLogic PS series arrays provide the and protection of Microsoft® Windows® to consider their changing application underlying pool of storage. EqualLogic PS OS–based and VMware® virtualization– and data requirements and then create, Series arrays are based on an advanced, based environments. modify, or allocate NAS or SAN volumes peer storage architecture in which arrays are For NAS capability, the EqualLogic accordingly. Administrators can use a pool designed to collaborate in equal partnership FS7500 scale-out storage system offers the of arrays and create chunks of capacity or to share resources and provide simplified following advantages: add to existing volumes as needed, helping deployment that can sense network topology, ensure efficient capacity utilization. automatically build RAID sets, and conduct • Single namespace: Carves out capacity Using this architecture, organizations a system health check. This architecture as a single file-system image can avoid performance degradation as enables a seamless virtualized pool of self- • Automatic load balancing: Load storage demands increase and disks managed storage, including continuous balances data automatically, without are added. EqualLogic FS7500 scale- resource monitoring and automated load being tied to physical media locations out NAS provides horizontal file I/O

68 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

performance scaling, while EqualLogic load balancing across array disks, RAID sets, PS Series storage provides horizontal block connections, cache, and controllers also helps I/O and capacity scaling. In addition, several reduce administrative demands. As a result, growth expected enhancements for EqualLogic is less labor-intensive and time-consuming for IT FS7500 scale-out NAS include deduplication, than in traditional scale-up storage environments replication, and compression. because modules can be added incrementally, avoiding the need for significant upgrades. Gaining the benefits of scale-out unified storage architecture Addressing storage needs Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS of midsize organizations architecture combined with DSFS offers key Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS is benefits for growing midsize organizations. designed to deliver a unified storage design and architecture that is specifically geared toward • High availability: This capability presents the midsize deployments with ever-increasing block storage pool to clients as a single file system with and file storage requirements. The scale-out a single IP address. All logical units (LUNs) are architecture helps deliver flexible pools of high- aggregated into one entity using virtualization, performance block and file storage, enabling and all nodes can access all LUNs. As a result, both the performance and capacity of a unified the organization experiences no degradation storage system to be increased incrementally in storage access if a single controller failure through added resources. The scale-out occurs. Active/active controllers, redundant and architecture is designed to allow organizations to backup power supplies, and load balancing also expand capacity up to 509 TB while avoiding the support this capability. scalability constraints and challenges of managing • Outstanding performance: By using cache separate block and file systems. By utilizing efficiently, EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS is EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS, midsize designed to provide fast, highly reliable reads organizations can cost-effectively add storage on and writes, with caching technology that the fly to meet their needs—providing a flexible automatically tunes itself to the current workload. platform for business agility. In addition, multithreading allows for highly efficient I/O processing with fast response times. Authors • Streamlined migration: The scale-out architecture of EqualLogic FS7500 systems enables IT Scott Sinclair is a product manager and strategist for the Dell Storage Product Marketing Group. departments to bring new hardware online quickly

and streamline the migration process. Arun Rajan is a product marketing consultant • Enhanced consolidation and utilization: Poor with the Dell Storage Product Marketing Group. utilization is a hallmark of scale-up systems He has more than eight years of experience across technical product marketing and product because capacity purchased in advance can development. remain unused for a long time before it is actually needed. In contrast, the EqualLogic John Mannix is a marketing manager for the Dell Storage Product Marketing Group. Previously, FS7500 scale-out NAS architecture separates he was a marketing manager at Gemalto, end users’ data and access from the underlying Hyperformix, and Cirrus Logic. hardware configuration—helping to ensure maximum utilization of servers, processors, Learn more cache memory, and disk drives. • Optimal management efficiency: Both block and Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS: file storage can be managed from a single Dell dell.com/FS7500

EqualLogic interface (see Figure 2), streamlining Dell networked storage: NAS and SAN administration. Automated dell.com/us/business/p/network-storage-products

Unifying data retention and access for structured and unstructured data

By Craig Warthen, Sarah Doherty, Dave Zenz, and Kay Benaroch

Combining software from Dell partners with the Dell™ DX Object Storage Platform provides a holistic data repository for simultaneous storage of different data types—shared documents, e-mail, file archives, databases, and machine-generated records.

he Dell DX Object Storage Platform Advanced uses can range from optimization helps enterprises of all sizes fulfill of the Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server archiving requirements for efficient collaboration and document management T long-term retention and retrieval of platform to machine-generated data data that is highly useful for business continuity, preservation and application retirement. compliance, and accessibility. Beyond the These uses are all based on a unified approach expected use cases such as e-mail and file to retention and retrieval of enduring data archiving, IT organizations are finding innovative in an organization, regardless of which ways to use the capabilities of the DX Object format the data is in or which applications Storage Platform for other data storage purposes. are using the data.

70 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

For organizations considering one massively scalable repository with infrastructure that includes associated deployment of the DX Object Storage minimum complexity. Microsoft SQL Server® databases. By Platform to handle routine archiving, these The applications combined with utilizing certified partner software with additional use cases present opportunities the DX Object Storage Platform offer the Dell DX Object Storage Platform, to further leverage this platform as a holistic a comprehensive, consolidated, and organizations can use the platform as tier 1 repository designed to meet comprehensive integrated hardware and software approach. storage for SharePoint Server content and storage needs. Dell offers the DX Object Storage Platform also as a central repository for SharePoint as part of a multilayered stack for storage Server backup and archive data sets. In all, Moving toward an enterprise (see Figure 1) that can include Dell services scalability, manageability, performance, information archive and consulting, Dell storage and servers, and recoverability of the SharePoint Server A range of advanced technologies an integrated advanced database, and Dell infrastructure are enhanced and optimized. capable of handling the retention of cloud infrastructure. Adding capacity to the SharePoint unstructured data, such as images, video, Server platform requires growing or adding e-mail, documents, and other file formats Understanding object-based SQL Server databases that can lead to allows organizations to innovate storage storage platforms server and storage sprawl as the business repositories in a number of ways. However, Organizations can use the Dell DX Object usage of SharePoint Server increases. This structured data, such as database records, Storage Platform to quickly identify and proliferation in conjunction with large log files, and application data, continues to retrieve information and automatically database sizes can lead to management be managed and retained in a traditional manage data from creation through and performance challenges and render relational database management system deletion. The platform is designed to meet backup and recovery to required service- (RDBMS) or data warehouse. These data management requirements through level agreements (SLAs) increasingly methods of storage have typically been automated, policy-based retention and difficult. Introduction of externalized used for specific purposes, such as online deletion. Inextricably linked to each storage storage—often referred to as binary large transaction processing (OLTP) or online object is its rich metadata, which enables object (BLOB) storage—with the DX Object analytical processing (OLAP) databases. long-term preservation while helping ensure Storage Platform into the environment Today, enterprises are seeking a data remains safe and accessible over time. offloads the majority of the SharePoint next-generation class of repository that is The DX Object Storage Platform Server content stored in SQL Server optimized for online retention and access is designed to support evolving data databases and can provide immediate in a way that cost-effectively advances management strategies, enabling performance improvements. business agility while helping to ensure organizations to manage and distribute While the metadata for SharePoint regulatory and policy compliance. Many digital content effectively and efficiently. As Server files remain in the SQL Server IT organizations are exploring enterprise storage requirements grow, the platform database, the unstructured BLOBs are information archiving (EIA) strategies can scale to avoid the complexity incurred stored on the DX Object Storage Platform. to accomplish that objective. The EIA from implementing significant upgrades. Depending on the total size of BLOBs in approach can be used to consolidate siloed Additionally, Dell has integrated the DX a SharePoint Server content database, archives throughout an organization into Object Storage Platform with optimized achieving a reduction of the database by one integrated platform capable of storing software from Dell partners to expand the more than 90 percent and improving and managing e-mail messages, files, uses of this platform in a number of ways, file retrieval performance in excess of SharePoint Server information, application including SharePoint Server information 69 percent is possible. In addition, BLOB data, documents, and rich media. management, preservation of machine- offload can be deployed in an existing Utilizing integrated and optimized generated data, and application retirement. SharePoint Server infrastructure online and software from Dell partners, the Dell in a manner that is seamless to all users. DX Object Storage Platform is designed Optimizing shared data infrastructures Because the content database typically to support such an EIA strategy that As usage of the Microsoft SharePoint Server represents the bulk of capacity usage enables organizations to archive multiple platform grows to become a primary within an infrastructure, by shrinking its size information types—including structured means of managing enterprise content SharePoint Server BLOB storage offers the and unstructured data. Based on this within many organizations today, IT faces additional benefit of helping significantly holistic model, data can be stored on the challenge of administering a complex reduce the required backup and recovery

Structured data Unstructured data platform provides the following key capabilities for reducing, retaining, and retrieving machine-generated data:

Machine- Documents E-mail • Reduce: Deduplication at the generated data Video structured data value and pattern Applications level is designed to enable up to 100:1 and databases Photographs compression rates—depending on the type of data—and associated reductions in storage requirements. • Retain: Massive record volumes can Access be preserved in their original form; Store immutable data can be tamperproofed Distribute using audit trails and write-once, read- many (WORM) technology; and massive Dell DX Object Storage Platform Dell DX Object Storage Platform Dell DX Object Storage Platform mirror site primary site mirror site scalability avoids complexity. • Retrieve: Standards-based tools can be Figure 1. An integrated, multilayered stack for storage and archiving used for fast queries of large, complex data sets, and flexible retrieval of data windows. Dell has measured 28 times backup, and recovery capabilities because includes point-in-time access. SharePoint Server backup time reductions it provides a flat pool of storage that does and 32 times restoration improvements. not require any provisioning or SharePoint The DX Object Storage Platform allows The backup data sets for recovery can also Server configuration. for schema evolution to provide additional reside on the DX Object Storage Platform. flexibility. As schemas change over time—for The DX Object Storage Platform offers Preserving machine-generated data example, if compliance requirements call policy-based data governance and archiving Traditional databases and storage systems in for an additional field of data—the platform for SharePoint Server sites. Many of these many organizations are becoming flooded recognizes the change and allows both sites accumulate legacy or stale data that with big data—large data sets of immediately the old and new data fields to be searched. no longer needs to be stored in the active historical content. Examples include There is no need to manage two formats or environment. This data, which may be securities trading data, market data, telecom convert the older data to a new format. already externalized on the DX Object call detail records, medical monitoring Storage Platform, can now be marked as systems, data from electrical utility smart Deploying object-based storage archived without actually moving it. The meters or facilities management sensors, for application retirement associated metadata remains in the system, and a wide variety of scientific and log data. Many IT departments find they are updated to archived status, and ready for These data sets are historical or static using scarce resources and constrained use in data retrieval operations. The DX upon creation and do not benefit from the budgets to manage applications that are Object Storage Platform can provide rapid transactional performance optimization no longer needed for the organization. search and retrieval of the archived data. capabilities of a traditional transactional Through acquisitions, mergers, application Scalability can be enhanced because database. Massive numbers of these rationalizations, and similar situations, one DX Object Storage Platform cluster can records can flood transactional databases applications may become redundant or be used for multiple farms or site collections or file systems that are not designed to irrelevant. At the same time, organizations such as finance, engineering, and legal data. ingest data at such high rates. This high may need to continue managing and If additional SharePoint Server capacity is level of inflow can easily outstrip the supporting these applications to gain needed, IT can simply add another storage capacity of an RDBMS. infrequent access to the data in the node to the DX Object Storage Platform Organizations can address this applications for reporting or discovery instead of configuring or growing SQL Server problem by using the Dell DX Object purposes. Managing these application databases. The DX Object Storage Platform Storage Platform with optimized environments can result in high ongoing is designed to simplify management, applications from Dell partners. The hardware, software, and maintenance costs.

72 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

By deploying the Dell DX Object Storage The platform also helps deliver important IT Platform integrated with intelligent data benefits, including a highly flexible peer-scaling management partner application software, architecture with nondisruptive upgrades, ease of organizations can consolidate the data administration with self-managing and self-healing generated by these applications into one features, and data protection without traditional repository. The applications themselves can then backups. Metadata capabilities provide intelligent be eliminated to help save licensing, support, management, governance, and compliance and infrastructure costs. The DX Object Storage with minimal intervention. And multi-tenancy Platform integrated with software from Dell capabilities allow IT organizations to segment partners helps enable application retirement departmental or customer data for chargeback by delivering the following key capabilities for to internal departments or billing to customers reducing, retaining, and retrieving data: based on usage. In addition, optimized software from Dell • Reduce: Deduplication and data compression partners is enabling innovative use cases for capabilities are designed to provide up to 50:1 the DX Object Storage Platform beyond e-mail compression rates and associated reduction and file storage—for example, providing a long- in the storage footprint, without specialist term preservation approach to help solve big database administrator (DBA) support or added data storage problems, optimize SharePoint storage management. Server sites, and enhance archiving of legacy • Retain: Data can be configured with applications. By taking advantage of these retention and expiration policies and capabilities, organizations can implement an preserved long-term on optimized, object- EIA strategy that is designed to achieve the goal based storage with metadata. of consolidating siloed archives throughout the • Retrieve: In addition to the capability for fast enterprise into one integrated platform capable of queries of large, complex data sets, the ready- storing and managing multiple data types. to-use platform integrates with standard SQL and business intelligence (BI) query tools. Authors

Using these capabilities, the DX Object Craig Warthen is the product marketing manager Storage Platform enables organizations to for Intelligent Data Management (IDM) data retention and governance solutions within the Dell Enterprise decommission legacy applications, move the Product Group. data to a long-term, retention-optimized database and storage tier, and keep the data accessible on Sarah Doherty is a senior product marketing manager focused on marketing software solutions with Dell demand for end users. storage products.

Delivering object-based storage benefits Dave Zenz is the product marketing manager for for the enterprise enterprise content management solutions in the Dell Enterprise Solution Product Group. The Dell DX Object Storage Platform helps organizations address both business and Kay Benaroch is a senior marketing consultant at technology challenges. The platform delivers Dell focused on data protection, deduplication, and object-oriented storage. business value through cost-effective data accessibility, data availability, and support for regulatory compliance. It also contributes to a Learn more minimized total cost of ownership (TCO) based on the combined efficiencies of optimized Dell storage: dell.com/storage hardware and software, enabling organizations to

drive down the cost per terabyte of keeping data Dell DX Object Storage technology partners: online and accessible for business agility. dell.com/dxpartners

Expediting e-discovery with intelligent e-mail and data archiving

By Philip Favro, Robert Mossi, and Kay Benaroch

Courts and regulatory bodies have increasingly high expectations for e-discovery. An intelligent archiving solution can help organizations efficiently and cost-effectively store, manage, and discover information in a defensible manner.

t any time, an organization might Developing an effective approach face the complex and costly task of to data management e-discovery—the process of producing By taking measures to ensure that governance A electronically stored information rules, policies, and archiving strategies are in (ESI) in response to legal or regulatory demands. place, IT and legal departments can be well Organizations of many sizes and from many prepared to respond to e-discovery requests. To industries are responsible for properly managing their implement an effective data governance strategy, data. Moreover, courts and regulatory bodies expect organizations should follow three guidelines: that organizations will live up to that responsibility. Judges do not hesitate to sanction organizations that 1. Facilitate cooperation between key enterprise fail to respond adequately to e-discovery requests. stakeholders. IT, legal departments, and other The “safe harbor” provision of Federal Rule of key groups should work together to decide Civil Procedure 37(e) can protect organizations which data to keep and for how long it should be from sanctions in certain instances even retained. As part of that collaborative effort, the though requested data has been destroyed. team should define processes for preserving and That provision, however, only protects those producing requested documents during litigation. organizations that, acting in good faith, 2. Establish and follow information governance have followed best practices for information procedures. Working together, the team should governance. Such practices include enforcing construct effective enterprise governance data retention policies through automated procedures that include records retention policies systems, which overwrite or delete data pursuant for specifying when certain e-mail or other data to their routine operation. can be deleted without incurring legal risks. To comply with legal and regulatory demands, 3. Adopt an archiving approach to help reduce and to avoid sanctions, organizations should storage costs and legal risks. An effective establish an effective information governance plan archiving approach helps organizations ensure that combines precise ESI retention policies and that governance policies are implemented an intelligent approach to archiving and discovery. precisely and consistently. Not only can this Such an approach should enable organizations approach substantially reduce costs through to minimize the complexity, costs, and risks of technologies such as storage deduplication, e-discovery while enhancing data center efficiency compression, and automated retention policies, and helping reduce storage requirements. but it enables organizations to minimize risk,

74 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Intelligent data management

Effective in part by avoiding potential inconsistencies searches and retrieval, DCS enables organizations information and errors that can be introduced by individual to respond efficiently and cost-effectively to governance employees. The automation of data retention e-discovery demands. and expiration also helps reduce legal risks by Enterprise Vault also enables organizations Courts and regulatory bodies limiting the amount of information available for to create a future-proof archive. To help IT and expect organizations to implement effective information follow-on litigation. legal personnel access documents produced governance procedures or face with legacy software, Enterprise Vault renders penalties. Join this on-demand Webcast describing the impact Providing intelligent archiving documents in HTML. If a document was created of recent court decisions on that enhances efficiency in an application that the organization no longer best practices for implementing Symantec™ Enterprise Vault™ software can play uses, authorized personnel can still find and information governance. a key role in effective information governance. extract the content they need from the HTML symantec.com/Vrt/ Enterprise Vault helps organizations prepare rendering using a browser or mobile application. offer?a_id=113079 for e-discovery by providing intelligence for At the same time, Enterprise Vault allows streamlining the tagging, classification, employees to access content from a variety of deduplication, storage, management, and new and emerging applications and document discovery of enterprise information. Dell offers types, such as instant messages. By adopting Enterprise Vault as part of its Dell™ E-mail and complementary solutions from the Symantec File Archive solution, which was designed to network of partners, organizations using address the challenges of data management and Enterprise Vault can efficiently collect, manage, e-discovery by integrating leading-edge archiving and search quickly proliferating data from social software with Dell servers, storage, and services media applications. (see Figure 1). The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution helps organizations achieve regulatory Mitigating risks and storage costs compliance and adhere to court rules while also When applied with data retention policies, Symantec helping improve the efficiency of archival storage. Enterprise Vault helps organizations reduce Enterprise Vault enables organizations to storage costs and legal risks. Organizations can collect data from a wide variety of sources such use Enterprise Vault to specify the retention of as e-mail, file servers, and servers for Microsoft® data sets they have determined are required for Office SharePoint® Server collaboration and business purposes and legal requirements. Through documentation management into a central archival automatic execution of enterprise policies, Enterprise repository. By using both standard application data Vault also helps eliminate the inconsistencies and metadata from archived documents and e-mail and potential errors introduced when individual messages, Enterprise Vault helps accelerate searches employees make data retention decisions. within that repository when content is needed. While preserving necessary content, The Enterprise Vault Data Classification Enterprise Vault helps reduce storage costs Services (DCS) feature helps enhance the through deduplication of duplicate items such as precision of information governance for archived messages—also known as single-instance storage content. DCS intelligently analyzes Microsoft (SIS). Deduplication helps decrease the amount Exchange Server e-mail content and metadata as of storage capacity needed for archiving. Instead of e-mail is archived. It adds context and relevance keeping 10 copies of a 4 MB presentation sent to by recognizing certain content that IT and 10 people, for example, Enterprise Vault enables legal deem to be important and then tags the an organization to keep a single copy, allowing metadata, assigning particular retention protocols the 10 recipients to access that single copy in the for those words. By assigning these custom archive. When used with archiving data retention protocols in this manner, DCS helps ensure that policies, SIS dramatically helps reduce the amount the organization maintains e-mails that must be of data stored by the archive repository. kept for legal, regulatory, or business purposes The archiving process removes inactive data only. By enhancing the efficiency of information objects from primary storage, helps decrease

SharePoint Server needs of each organization. After assessing File server E-mail server the requirements of an organization for archiving and e-discovery, the Dell Services E-mail archive team designs and installs an infrastructure sized for the needs of an organization. Symantec Enterprise Vault As part of the project, the Dell team can provide data migration from existing storage archive platforms to Dell storage. Unlike Dell Services other service providers, Dell Services offers pragmatic and project-oriented approaches Dell DX Object Storage Platform Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN that help deliver targeted, integrated archiving rapidly to accelerate efficiency. Figure 1. Dell E-mail and File Archive solution: Comprising archiving software and Dell servers, storage, and services Implementing intelligent archiving the size of traditional backup volumes, tightly integrated with Enterprise Vault using for e-discovery and offers cost-effective primary storage application programming interfaces (APIs). The uptick in e-discovery across support for an application such as e-mail. The DX Object Storage Platform offers organizations of all sizes is unlikely to ebb Reduced data volume typically enhances object-based storage designed for archiving any time soon. Meanwhile, the volume of search efficiency during e-discovery. vast amounts of data, including unstructured electronic communications and documents data. Its peer scaling architecture provides continues to grow. By deploying Symantec Deploying integrated data archiving the scalability to support billions of stored Enterprise Vault as part of the Dell E-mail The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution files and multiple petabytes of capacity and File Archive solution, organizations can integrates Symantec Enterprise Vault under a single address space. The DX Object minimize the complexity, costs, and risks of software with Dell servers, storage, and Storage Platform includes automated e-discovery and storage. services. Deploying Enterprise Vault with capabilities that help simplify management Dell PowerEdge™ servers provides a powerful of archival data throughout its life cycle, Authors platform for collecting and analyzing data from creation through deletion. from various information sources and then For organizations that do not require Philip Favro is a discovery attorney at Symantec Corporation. During his 11-year litigation routing data to the Dell storage systems. the large-scale archiving capacity offered by practice he has advised a range of technology Unlike proprietary hardware used with some the DX Object Storage Platform, EqualLogic organizations and other clients on complex other archiving approaches, Dell servers PS Series storage also can serve as the discovery issues. help control management complexity cost- archiving tier in the Dell E-mail and File Robert Mossi is a senior product marketing effectively. Typical configurations include Archive solution. Built on a peer storage manager for Symantec Enterprise Vault at Symantec one or more Enterprise Vault servers. When architecture, EqualLogic PS Series arrays Corporation, where he brought more than 10 years discovery is a requirement, for example, a create a virtualized storage environment of experience in archiving and backup. separate server for Enterprise Vault Discovery that facilitates rapid and easy scalability Kay Benaroch is a senior marketing consultant at Accelerator helps speed the search and by provisioning volumes automatically Dell focused on data protection, deduplication, and retrieval process of archived ESI. One or more as capacity is added to the storage object-oriented storage. She has more than 30 years of experience in marketing technology products. servers can be deployed to run Microsoft pool. EqualLogic PS Series storage also SQL Server® database software linked to a incorporates automation capabilities, such Dell storage environment. as auto-tiering and thin provisioning, along Learn more The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution with self-tuning features that help optimize Dell and Symantec: uses the Dell DX Object Storage Platform utilization of storage resources and simplify dell.to/pqFXV1 and Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet storage management. iSCSI connectivity SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) enables organizations to leverage the Intelligent data management: arrays to provide the scalability and ease existing Ethernet network cost-effectively. dell.com/datamanagement of management required for archival Dell Services helps to ensure a successful Dell Services: applications. Both storage systems are implementation that meets the specific dell.com/services

76 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Product

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dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 03 77 Power and cooling

Between a rack and a hot spot: Integrated cold-air containment

By David Moss and Joyce Ruff

The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Energy Smart Containment Rack Enclosure is an easily deployed cold-air containment system that helps overcome rack density limitations and improve cooling efficiency in raised-floor data centers.

n the pursuit of cost-efficient IT, One way to help reduce expenses improving the distribution of air to in data centers using raised-floor data center equipment can have cooling is to install the Dell PowerEdge I a surprisingly favorable impact on Energy Smart Containment Rack energy costs and capital expenses. Enclosure. This approach offers a Many data centers distribute cool passive and effective way to manage air through a raised floor that positions the air consumption of IT equipment. ventilated tiles adjacent to IT equipment racks. Air passes from the tiles through Optimizing air distribution perforated doors to reach the rack- in data centers mounted systems. When used as an air- The Energy Smart rack adds a solid-panel delivery plenum, the space beneath the front door and a bottom seal to the Cooling up to 25 kW open raised floor allows the flexibility to standard Dell rack frame, transforming it with integrated move air to any portion of the room. into a stand-alone containment system. Unless intentional control is The solid front door seals a front vertical containment imposed, the cooler air is drawn into and connected lower horizontal air the warmer equipment rack and then plenum that delivers cold air to the The Dell Energy Smart rack is designed returned on its natural path back to equipment through the ventilated tile to provide even distribution of airflow to the computer room air conditioning positioned below the rack. The Energy all equipment installed in the rack, (CRAC) unit. In common practice, Smart rack is coupled to the floor with allowing CRAC units to decrease flow the CRAC unit distributes two to three a tight brush seal around its lower and increase efficiency. times more air than needed—and that perimeter, enabling the IT equipment air is not necessarily reaching the to take part in the CRAC air distribution • Minimizes energy costs right areas. Some racks are exposed process by controlling how much air • Supports high-density deployments to too much cold air, and the overage comes out of the floor (see Figure 1). • Helps reduce capital and operating is wasted. Other racks get too little Normally, local under-floor pressure expenses airflow, resulting in hot spots that and inherent airflow resistance of the cause IT system fans to speed up vent determine the amount of air and waste energy. These airflow delivered. The containment rack acts as inefficiencies limit equipment density a second resistance but also has its own and increase operating expenses. air-moving capability. Each Dell server,

Liq uid suppl y

CRAC Floor tiles

Floor slab How it works

Find out how the Dell PowerEdge Energy Smart Containment Rack Enclosure addresses air distribution CR AC issues in raised-floor data centers. Figure 1. Server fans in the Energy Smart Liquid supply racks (green) pull cold air (blue) out of the floor dell.to/mXOB1D and push hot air (red) out into the data center. The hot air returns to the CRAC (purple), which in turn cools the air and pushes it back into the floor.

storage, and networking system has elaborate airflow- Equipment can be installed anywhere in the Dive deeper control algorithms that constantly adjust to help rack without concern for hot spots, because ensure an adequate volume of air is passing through the system enables the proper amount of air to When selecting a cooling and containment solution, data center and maintaining proper component temperatures. be delivered into the entire plenum. Moreover, managers look at balancing These systems use the rack as a duct to regulate how the plenum is designed to maintain a consistent efficiency, utilization, and costs. Discover how the Dell PowerEdge much air comes out of the floor. The rack consumes temperature even at the top of the rack. As long as Energy Smart Containment Rack from the floor only what is needed by the equipment the CRAC provides sufficient airflow into the floor, Enclosure helps to produce energy savings and reduce capital and it houses. It is designed to reduce waste by helping to additional servers can extract it through the Energy operating expenses. eliminate unnecessary air blowing past the rack and Smart rack. Because the passive design does not dell.to/q8xjDX traveling back to the CRAC unit unused. limit airflow, the Energy Smart rack is designed to Although not a requirement, the Energy Smart achieve rack densities exceeding 20 kW. rack is designed to work with CRAC units that control airflow delivery by sensing static pressure Boosting data center cost-efficiencies under the floor. Given the rack’s ability to adjust the As IT directors look for ways to lower costs airflow extraction from the floor, each rack affects associated with energy usage and capital expense, Learn more under-floor pressure. Static pressure control in the the Energy Smart rack helps organizations further CRAC units allows them to respond to pressure their goals for cost-efficient IT. The easy-to-deploy Dell PowerEdge Energy Smart Containment Rack Enclosure: fluctuations that occur when IT demands change, Energy Smart rack enclosure is designed to dell.to/lvRxRd such as to accommodate an increase in compute improve CRAC efficiency for reduced operating loads. In this manner, the CRAC is enabled to expenses and to support high-density deployments Dell racks and accessories: dell.com/poweredge/rack always seek the most efficient operating point by for reduced capital expenses. providing no more than the complement needed to satisfy each rack’s consumption. Authors Providing simple deployment, high density David Moss is a Dell Data Center Infrastructure strategist Deployment is easy: simply roll the Energy Smart who is responsible for facility-cooling product development. rack into place, position it over the ventilated tile, and He has worked at Dell for 20 years. install IT equipment. Deployment does not affect data center facilities such as water, power, or fire Joyce Ruff is a product marketing manager for the Data Center Infrastructure team within the Dell Enterprise suppression systems. This containment system is Product Group. She is responsible for the rack enclosures designed to be placed anywhere in the data center. and accessories that complement Dell server solutions.

he days of icy-cold data centers are gradually melting away. Many facility owners are finding that T they can achieve substantial savings simply by turning up the thermostat (see the sidebar, “Turn up the heat for energy savings”). However, raising the temperature in a data center is more complicated than it is in a home. Before shifting to higher temperatures, facility owners need to explore the ramifications on each piece of equipment involved. Facility owners can optimize the benefits of higher temperatures by applying containment systems to separate the incoming and outgoing air from IT racks.1 The separation provided by a containment system enables IT equipment temperatures to be consistent. Consequently, inlet temperatures can be raised while minimizing the risk of pushing a hot spot past allowable limits. For example, a simple shift from 55 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) to 75 °F helps cut cooling-related energy by one-third, enabling a reduction in the facility’s electric bill of 15 percent or more.2 Dell recommends an Data centers are heating operating (inlet) temperature of approximately 75–80 °F for optimal efficiency when using up—intentionally compressor-based cooling.3 Raising inlet temperatures much past this level comes with the risk that power By David Moss consumption may actually start to increase. In compressor-based cooling, each degree increase in operating temperature saves Surprisingly, IT organizations can enable savings in facility energy in the chilling process. However, IT cooling energy by raising the operating temperature of equipment fans generally start increasing a data center. Discover the factors involved in finding fan power consumption exponentially in the mid-to-high 70 °F range. This increase the optimal temperature. in equipment fan power consumption, accompanied by complimentary increases in facility fan power consumption, may outpace the savings on the chilling side.

1 For information about the Dell™ PowerEdge™ Energy Smart Containment Rack Enclosure, visit dell.to/lvRxRd and see “Between a rack and a hot spot: Integrated cold-air containment,” by David Moss and Joyce Ruff, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content. dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/ documents~ps3q11-20110267-ruff.pdf.aspx. 2,3 For information on the test environment, methodology, and results, see “Data center operating temperature: The sweet spot,” by David Moss, June 2011, dell.to/nLwgGM.

80 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Power and cooling

Cooling it down from the outside locations could take advantage of To save even more cooling energy, facility economizers year-round. The elimination owners can turn to economizers, which of compressor-based cooling could Turn up take advantage of cool conditions outside. save a large amount in capital expenses— In compressor-based cooling, the facility potentially several million dollars per the heat is essentially recycling the same air. The megawatt of IT equipment.4 IT systems heat the air; the heating, Many locations do not exceed 95 °F for energy ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) by a large amount, or for a long time each savings systems cool it back down; and the cycle year. A small but growing community repeats continuously. In cold weather, is asserting that if IT equipment could What if all data centers raised their operating temperatures by compressor-based cooling may be slightly tolerate slightly higher temperatures 5 degrees Fahrenheit (°F)? less expensive to operate than in hot than they currently do, more locations weather, but the vapor compression cycle could use economizers year-round. This 85 billion still continues. Economizers allow the community includes the Institute for kilowatt-hours facility to turn that cycle off. Energy of the Joint Research Centre of the The total electricity consumption A water-side economizer bypasses European Commission. by data centers per year in the the chiller by rerouting the facility’s chilled Since 2007, the Institute for Energy United States.a water outside to a heat exchanger when has been working on guidelines to outside temperatures are below IT operating help increase the energy efficiency of 5% temperatures. An air-side economizer is data centers. The group developed the The savings in energy costs per 5 °F a system of external louvers that work in European Code of Conduct for Data increase in facility temperature.b concert with a building management system Centres, a voluntary set of guidelines to turn off the chillers and bring fresh air that prescribes energy-saving techniques 4.25 billion into the facility when outside temperatures such as blanking panels, containment, and kilowatt-hours are below operating temperatures. This raising operating temperatures, as well The approximate savings per year introduction of fresh air is economical and as raising the temperature tolerance of IT obtained if data centers raised their temperatures by 5 °F—equivalent to usually requires only a little extra fan power equipment with the goal of eliminating the the electricity consumed by the state to force air into and out of the facility. need for compressor-based cooling. ASHRAE of Oregon in one month.c Economizers are more cost-effective followed suit and in May 2011 introduced two

to operate than compressor-based systems new classes for equipment that can withstand a “Growth in data center electricity use 2005 to 2010,” by Jonathan G. Koomey, Ph.D., August 2011, because they do not require a refrigeration broader ranges of both temperature and bit.ly/nOcpul. cycle—they simply take advantage of the humidity than previous classes. b “Data center operating temperature: The sweet spot,” by David Moss, June 2011, bit.ly/ktpUA5. outside air temperature. If allowed to rely c “Electric power annual with data for 2009,” by U.S. Energy Information Administration, November 2010, on the outside conditions, data center Taking the heat bit.ly/oaZ2vS. temperatures can reach 90 °F degrees or For several years, Dell has supported the higher in many cases. However, most effort toward establishing the European of today’s IT equipment has a maximum Code of Conduct. In response to this allowable operating temperature of 95 °F. effort, Dell engineers ran an extreme- An economized data center can continue environment experiment starting in Dive deeper: Thermal to save energy until the outside temperature October 2008. Results indicated that the guidelines for data centers

approaches this level, at which point it should company’s hardware was exceptionally Raising the temperature and humidity ranges in revert back to compressor-based cooling. resilient. Because that experiment did a data center helps increase the opportunity for chiller-less cooling. Learn about IT equipment not push the operating environment as suitability for different environmental conditions Warming up to high temperatures far as the European Code of Conduct and key considerations for optimizing data center Some locations around the world never and ASHRAE suggest, in April 2011 Dell energy efficiency. exceed 95 °F. A data center in these engineers set up a validation test that bit.ly/qRWsyU

4 To determine the effect of physical infrastructure design changes on capital costs, see the online data center capital cost calculator at bit.ly/rohzVA.

brought mainstream Dell™ products to those limits. After testing nine servers with 18 Intel® Xeon® processors and several Selecting processors for storage, networking, and power distribution products, the Dell team determined that the high ambient temperatures equipment tested complied with the new In the Dell validation test, Intel processor–based Dell servers demonstrated exceptional ASHRAE class A3 and class A4 equipment performance in conditions of high ambient temperatures. Not only are Intel processors standards (see the sidebar, “Selecting designed to withstand temperature extremes, they are also designed to reduce power processors for high ambient temperatures”). consumption and minimize heat generation if needed. Thermal throttling of the In fact, the Dell equipment tested in this processors did not kick in over the entire temperature range of the Dell validation test. study continued to operate in extended temperature and humidity ranges, Based on Intel 32 nm process technology, the Intel Xeon processor 5600 series is including temperatures up to 113 °F.5 designed to automatically regulate power consumption and intelligently adjust server This demonstrated capability of Dell performance according to application demand, helping maximize performance per equipment to operate in extended temperature watt. The energy-efficient Intel Xeon processor 5600 series is designed to enable and humidity ranges enables many locations performance comparable to that of the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series while around the world to benefit from year-round consuming up to 30 percent less power. chiller-less cooling. Facility owners have an To determine an appropriate processor platform, system builders can turn to the opportunity to avoid the capital expenditures Intel high ambient temperature platform guide, which makes recommendations based on associated with a chiller plant, not to mention desired efficiency and workload. The Intel data center prescriptive guide and Intel solution the ongoing maintenance costs. architects can help facility owners achieve the optimal temperature for their data centers. Even if facility owners are not ready to Additionally, the Dell Global Services team can assess data centers and recommend best go chiller-less, they can still benefit from the practices around implementation. For more information, see “Data center operating ability of Dell equipment to operate in a wide temperature: The sweet spot,” by David Moss, June 2011, dell.to/nLwgGM. environmental range. For example, if data center air handlers are not backed up by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), stagnant consistency necessary for higher operating However a facility owner decides to conditions force IT inlet temperatures to temperatures than are common in data raise the operating temperature, the fact soar.6 If the inlet temperature exceeds centers today, which helps to improve remains: heating up the data center can lead 95 °F, some IT equipment will shut down, the efficiency of a compressor-based or to reduced energy consumption and positive and some manufacturers may void the economizer-based data center. environmental and economic impacts. warranty. Instead, using Dell equipment that When facility owners maximize is designed to tolerate almost 20 °F over the economizer use in a compressor-based Author standard 95 °F enables data centers to avoid facility, they may discover that the chiller David Moss is a Dell Data Center Infrastructure mishaps during facility cooling failures. rarely operates—which opens the door to strategist who is responsible for facility-cooling considering a chiller-less facility. If the data product strategy. He has worked at Dell for Blazing the way to data center efficiency center is in a location that exceeds current 20 years and has over 20 US patents. He is currently a voting member of the ASHRAE Whether in the pursuit of going green, allowable equipment temperatures, facility Technical Committee 9.9 on data centers. prolonging the longevity of a legacy owners should use equipment that follows facility, or saving operational dollars, facility the ASHRAE class A3 or A4 standard, such Learn more owners are looking to increase data center as Dell servers, storage units, and network energy efficiency by adopting strategies switches that are designed to tolerate Dell rack enclosures and accessories: such as containment and increased temperatures up to 113 °F. Use of this dell.com/poweredge/rack operating temperatures. Containment equipment also helps reduce the risk of European Code of Conduct for Data Centres: is designed to create the temperature facility cooling failures. bit.ly/r4Qcqc

5 For information on the test environment, methodology, and results, see “Chiller-less facilities: They may be closer than you think,” by David Moss, Jon Fitch, and Paul Artman, June 2011, dell.to/prDoPl. 6 For more information on facility cooling failure, see “Facility Cooling Failure: How Much Time do You Have?” by David Moss, June 2011, dell.to/nrGG2k.

82 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Product showcase

Dell PowerVault tape automation libraries

Simple, automated, affordable, and expandable

The Dell™ PowerVault™ TL tape automation library Green offers a simple and affordable backup and archiving Tape uses zero energy when stored, making it naturally “green.” device for organizations that need automated data protection. With its green energy use, secure Secure encryption capabilities, and expandability, it is the Tape encryption provides security and helps reduce the risk of data being misused. product of choice for small, medium, and enterprise LTO-4 and LTO-5 encrypted data is businesses looking for an easy-to-use and easy-to- unreadable to people without a key. maintain data backup and archiving solution. iSCSI attachment An iSCSI-to-SAS bridge card supplements the growth of your iSCSI SAN.

For more information, visit Performance dell.to/PowerVault-tape-automation The libraries support up to 432 GB of data per drive per hour, for a maximum of 1.73 TB per hour with four drives. Networking

Boosting network efficiency through proactive monitoring and management

By Chuck Bridges, Jodie D. Robinson, and Michael Rothschild

To heighten business agility in a fast-changing technology landscape, Dell™ Networking Solutions offer Infrastructure Managed Services for Networks—an end-to-end approach designed to optimize global network operations, performance, and security.

onvergence has become a way of network infrastructures. Throw in an acquisition life, if not the means, for business or two, and network connectivity and survival. Cloud computing, category integration challenges may begin to take on a Cconsolidation, mergers and life of their own. acquisitions—all add to the demands on data and So how can organizations untangle their communication networks. Security concerns and networks to optimize IT efficiency? They could an increasingly mobile workforce connected by choose proprietary solutions or travel the intelligent devices further intensify IT complexities. rip-and-replace road. Instead, an exceptionally Of course, every network is different. cost-effective approach for streamlining the Network configuration and troubleshooting network infrastructure is to integrate open remain highly specialized and valued skills. But standards such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) today, even seasoned network administrators into existing IT assets. Dell Networking Solutions are hard-pressed to keep pace with emerging help organizations simplify networks and technologies while maintaining their existing boost efficiency by integrating standardization

84 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. and automation into their current technology Managed services environments. Moreover, outsourced networking services from Dell Networking Cost transparency Services appear as a single line item on an invoice.

Solutions help provide a reduced cost structure, Cost predictability Costs are constant and priced per device; organizations compared to transactional services attached can schedule payments on a monthly basis. to network hardware sales that vary in size and Quality of service Services include standardized, global service-level agreements. complexity. Lastly, organizations can draw upon Skills Technology-agnostic Dell networking experts are well versed a deep pool of domain expertise from network in multiple platforms and devices from different vendors. management professionals available through System tools Advanced network monitoring and management tools through Dell Networking Solutions. Global Operations Centers enable Dell engineers to respond quickly to critical issues in an emergency situation.

Business agility Pay-as-you-go services are designed to scale with Optimizing network operations, an organization’s growth. performance, and security Standardization Services leverage consistent, repeatable ISO-certified practices. Among the first of many planned managed Availability A single Dell point of contact is available 24/7, globally. services in the Dell Networking Solutions portfolio is Dell Infrastructure Managed Reporting Online Web portal offers 24/7 access to network status reports. Services for Networks, which offer proactive Figure 1. How Dell Infrastructure Managed Services for Networks help increase efficiencies and monitoring and management of networking reduce costs devices (see Figure 1). Proactive monitoring forms a critical component of industry- monitoring services detect network issues and standard, best-practices Dell services, which dispatch remote or on-site support to avoid are designed to optimize global network service interruptions and limit system downtime. operations, performance, and security. And because the Infrastructure Managed Services An automated Dell tool set is included for Networks offering is vendor-agnostic, it Authors in the offering, enabling organizations to supports a comprehensive array of network leverage exceptional network monitoring and devices—including switches, routers, gateways, Chuck Bridges is a senior management capabilities without incurring and wireless access points. product consultant on the Global Services Messaging team at Dell. the expense of purchasing tools to support a He has more than 30 years of IT complex, changing network infrastructure. This Advancing business agility in a changing marketing experience. suite of best-of-breed tools provides fast visibility technology landscape into an organization’s network activities—allowing Dell Networking Solutions offer an end-to- Jodie D. Robinson is an executive director at Dell. He has been in the Dell certified network engineers to respond to end approach to help enterprises optimize IT services industry for 30 years. automated threshold alerts and solve problems network operations, increase performance, around the clock. and enhance security. A key part of this Michael Rothschild, Ph.D., is responsible for setting networking The Dell team of engineers helps manage portfolio, the Infrastructure Managed Services solutions strategy at Dell. He is an organization’s network resources, including for Networks offering provides an exceptional a professor of marketing in New ongoing tasks required to keep a network balance of flexibility and control—combining York City. functioning optimally. The team enables advanced tools, embedded health monitoring, organizations to respond quickly to changing and anytime-anywhere access with industrial- Learn more business conditions while avoiding the cost of strength security, Web-based reporting training in-house resources to stay abreast of capabilities, and repeatable, field-tested Dell Networking Solutions: evolving technology. processes. As organizations are charged to dell.to/nJcWVV Through Dell Global Operations Centers, “do more with less” in a constantly changing Infrastructure Managed Services for Networks technology landscape, Dell Networking offer global operations support 24/7 for networks Solutions offer the technology—and the of all sizes—from complex, enterprise-wide technical expertise—to cost-effectively optimize networks to simpler, stand-alone ones with network efficiency and enhance overall a minimum of 50 network devices. These business agility.

Secure, scalable application delivery in virtualized environments

By Fred Johnson and Andrew Walker

Dell™ architectures leveraging F5® BIG-IP® Access Policy Manager™ systems help enterprises create consolidated, scalable infrastructures designed to provide fast, flexible, and secure Web access to virtualized environments.

ooking to improve delivery of valuable quantity of virtual machines and their increasingly consumer services and enhance worker dynamic nature. Optimizing IT infrastructure efficiency productivity, organizations are moving allows organizations to reduce complexity, simplify L applications to the Web. However, management, and minimize the cost of protecting and they must heighten application security in this scaling Web-based applications. environment—one of intensifying Web access, Dell and F5 Networks offer a comprehensive compliance requirements, and cyber threats—which framework that enables organizations to efficiently adds complexities to the IT infrastructure. overcome many of these barriers. Leveraging the Moreover, virtualization pervades many F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) module and environments hosting Web-based applications— the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM®) system, including virtualized servers, clients, applications, these integrated solutions help provide a simplified, and services. Virtualization helps realize key benefits central point of control for managing end-user Web such as data security, agility, and consolidation while access to virtual infrastructures. BIG-IP APM validates accelerating IT cost savings. At the same time, a big clients based on access policies before requests reach challenge for organizations is to handle the growing the application infrastructure, creating a hardened layer management complexity that stems from an escalating of security around the back-end resources.

86 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Networking

Helping simplify the management of Web application access BIG-IP APM is a flexible, high-performance Delivering fast, secure access and security module that runs on the BIG-IP LTM application delivery controller remote access of applications (ADC). It provides secure, context-aware Built on the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) foundation, the BIG-IP Edge end-user access to Web applications Gateway remote access appliance brings together Secure Sockets Layer virtual private while helping simplify authentication, network (SSL VPN) remote access, security, application acceleration, and availability authorization, and accounting (AAA) services for remote end users. This combination leads to fast application performance management. The advanced Visual Policy and an enhanced end-user experience. To optimize efficiency, F5 offers these Editor (VPE) helps simplify the creation of capabilities on a single hardware appliance—helping to eliminate the need to purchase individual and group access policies for two or more separate hardware platforms for SSL VPN and application delivery. The different identities, geo-locations, and Web Edge Gateway configuration comprises BIG-IP systems located in data centers and authentication environments (see Figure 1). the BIG-IP Edge Client™ software module running on the remote devices. Administrators enable the Edge Gateway feature set on a BIG-IP appliance Centralized access-policy management by activating a license key. The concurrent user count scales with the hardware AAA management is often implemented platform models. Remote users can access the protected networks and using application coding, Web server agents, applications located behind the BIG-IP Edge Gateway module using standard Web or specialized proxies. In contrast, with AAA browsers or client software. BIG-IP Edge Client is available for several platforms, control directly on the BIG-IP system, BIG-IP including Microsoft® Windows® OS, Windows Mobile OS, Linux® OS, Mac OS, and APM enables administrators to apply repeatable Apple iOS. BIG-IP Edge Portal™ is an application that users can install on their Apple access policies across many applications and iOS– and Android OS–based devices to gain access to protected Web applications. servers while gaining centralized visibility of the authorization infrastructure. BIG-IP APM enables IT managers to consolidate the AAA helping protect an organization from virus or running on a high-end appliance, such as the infrastructure, avoid redundant Web access malware infections, accidental data loss, and BIG-IP 11050 platform, is designed to support proxy tiers, and help simplify management— rogue device access. BIG-IP APM can deliver up to 60,000 connections. all of which help in reducing capital and an inspection engine through the browser Credential caching enables end users operating expenses. that performs endpoint inspection services— to sign in only once to access all authorized including OS, antivirus, and firewall checks— sites and applications. BIG-IP APM can deliver Context-aware, policy-based access and adds the results to access policies. sign-on credentials to Web applications as Using BIG-IP APM, not only can IT managers the end user navigates, helping to save time gain valuable insight into who is on the Fast, scalable application access and increase productivity. network and which applications are being BIG-IP APM is designed to deliver fast Organizations can offer remote end users used, they can also maintain comprehensive, application access and enable an organization the same fast application access through policy-based control of end-user navigation. to scale quickly and cost-effectively. As the stand-alone BIG-IP Edge Gateway™ BIG-IP APM creates secure connections an add-on module for physical and virtual product module. (For more information, with HTTP over SSL (HTTPS) encryption and editions of BIG-IP LTM, BIG-IP APM enables see the sidebar, “Delivering fast, secure provides access authentication through access up to 600 logins per second. BIG-IP APM remote access of applications.”) control lists (ACLs) and AAA server integration. Administrators can quickly and easily create ACLs by using the VPE. They can implement dynamic access control by creating Layer 4 and Layer 7 ACLs based on user identity, IP address, and attributes such as group membership pulled from the directory. An optional endpoint security service uses access policies to validate end-user devices, Figure 1. Creating an access policy using the Visual Policy Editor

Streamlining the administration Clients of a virtual infrastructure Incorporating management systems such as the Dell Advanced Infrastructure Manager (AIM) component of the Virtual

Directory services Integrated System (VIS) architecture with optional two-factor ® ™ authentication F5 BIG-IP and VMware vCenter Server software Local Tra c Manager (LTM) Access Policy Manager (APM) helps to improve administrative Dell PowerEdge server efficiencies in virtual infrastructures. vCenter Server supports third-party plug- ins—such as the F5 Management Plug-In VMware ESX Microsoft Hyper-V™ Citrix Xen® for VMware vSphere™ virtualization environment environment environment platform and the Dell Management VMware View servers Web applications Citrix XML Broker and and Web applications and servers XenDesktop servers Plug-In for VMware vCenter—to help simplify management tasks and synchronize changes across devices.

Dell PowerEdge servers Dell PowerEdge servers Dell PowerEdge servers As part of application deployments, many organizations rely on BIG-IP LTM ADCs to manage traffic for virtual infrastructures. Helping ensure

Dell shared storage Dell shared storage Dell shared storage that BIG-IP LTM configurations are synchronized with VMware vSphere Figure 2. Facilitating secure, scalable access to multivendor virtualized desktops and other Web administrative changes is an important applications in a reference architecture link to streamlining virtual infrastructure management. Taking advantage of the extensibility of VMware vCenter Server, the F5 Management Plug-In for VMware Optimizing performance and vSphere installs easily and provides integrated management of the BIG-IP availability of virtual servers LTM devices. (For more information, see the sidebar, “Optimizing performance F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is designed to provide a full proxy and availability of virtual servers.”) between end users and application servers, creating a layer of abstraction to Figure 2 shows a reference secure, optimize, and load balance application traffic. BIG-IP LTM in a server- architecture that uses Dell PowerEdge™ virtualization implementation enables organizations to achieve the following: servers, Dell shared storage, and F5 BIG-IP ADCs in a virtualized environment. • Scaling and availability: Obtain advanced load balancing and traffic management. BIG-IP APM and BIG-IP LTM enable • Consolidation and efficiency: Significantly increase virtual machine density. secure, scalable access to VMware • Offloaded operations: Free server resources by offloading processor-intensive View™ 4.5 and Citrix® XenDesktop® 5.0 operations such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and Transmission virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs). Control Protocol (TCP) handling. The architecture gives organizations the flexibility to host multivendor VDI • Long-distance movement of live virtual machines: Enable automated long- services on a single ADC platform. distance migration of virtual machine hosts and data between data centers using (For more information about the VMware vMotion™ and VMware Storage vMotion software. implementation of this architectural • Responsive global traffic management: React quickly to events from VMware model, see the sidebar, “Using best vCenter Site Recovery Manager by redirecting application traffic to the failover site. practices to implement secure access to virtual infrastructures.”)

88 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Networking

Using best practices to implement secure access to virtual infrastructures

The following recommendations can facilitate the Best practices for configuring VMware View include deployment of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) devices the following: in a virtual infrastructure that includes VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs):* • Through the Universal Inspection Engine, enable persistence using the F5 iRules® scripting language to • Consult the F5 deployment guides for VMware View, the direct traffic with enhanced precision, resulting in a Citrix XenApp™ application delivery system, and Citrix uniform load distribution on the connection servers. XenDesktop.** • Before introducing the BIG-IP device to the environment,

• The BIG-IP device must have connectivity and routes to make sure that all servers running VMware ESX, vCenter the Microsoft Active Directory® directory service server or Server, View Manager, and Microsoft Active Directory are in other authentication servers. good working order. • Configure the View Manager server External URL field • Take advantage of the F5 BIG-IP OneConnect™ with the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the feature. In many cases, HTTP client requests can BIG-IP virtual server. Clients use this FQDN to connect to use existing server-side connections, therefore the View Manager pool. helping to reduce the network overhead on the back-end Web servers. Best practices for configuring Citrix XenApp and • Enable Domain Name System (DNS) and Network XenDesktop include the following: before configuring BIG-IP Time Protocol (NTP) on the BIG-IP device and other APM, run the BIG-IP LTM application template for XenApp to infrastructure systems. help ensure that all prerequisite settings are in place.

* These best practices apply to the following product versions: Citrix XenApp Version 5.0.x or 6.0.x; Citrix XenDesktop Version 5.0; F5 BIG-IP LTM Version 10.2.1 Hotfix 1 or higher; and VMware View Version 4.5. **F5 deployment guides are available at bit.ly/dSrNGq.

This architectural model can be applied to a initiatives. An infrastructure based on Dell and F5 variety of other Web-based applications for both technology helps organizations cost-effectively physical and virtual environments. For example, secure, scale, and manage virtualized environments. F5 provides BIG-IP APM deployment guidance In particular, because AAA control resides directly on Learn more based on tested and validated solutions for the BIG-IP system, BIG-IP APM enables organizations Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2010 to consolidate infrastructure, help reduce AAA Dell and F5 Networks: collaboration software and Oracle® Access costs, enable agile application delivery, and scale f5.com/dell devcentral.f5.com/dell Manager (OAM). Additionally, administrators can to support tens of thousands of simultaneous user customize BIG-IP APM to accommodate Web- sessions on a single appliance. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager: application authentication schemes based on an bit.ly/mSmvgR organization’s requirements. Dell services for virtual desktops: Authors dell.to/kxFH29

Advancing virtualized environments with Fred Johnson is a partner engineer at F5 Networks secure, agile application delivery dedicated to Dell Labs. Virtualization technologies help dramatically improve Andrew Walker is a solutions design engineer at data-center operating efficiencies and act as a key F5 Networks focused on Dell Global Infrastructure enabler for consolidation and flexible computing Consulting Services.

Enhancing traffic partitioning through I/O virtualization

By Brian Johnson, Srinivas Thodati, and Rahul Deshmukh

Rapid 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) throughput can meet the I/O demands of today’s high-powered servers and converged networks. I/O virtualization goes even further—boosting traffic partitioning efficiency in virtual and nonvirtual 10GbE deployments.

ach new generation of Understanding the limitations processors brings additional of traditional traffic partitioning processing power and In traditional data centers, organizations E new capabilities to server may physically partition different platforms, and today’s servers are kinds of traffic—such as Network File running more applications and System (NFS), Internet SCSI (iSCSI), and processes simultaneously than ever backup—on different physical uplinks. before. Many IT departments are Physical partitioning allows for inherent deploying 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) quality of service (QoS) because the networks to meet the I/O demands different types of traffic use discrete of these servers and also to support physical uplinks. This partitioning converged LAN and storage area approach also helps to ensure that no network (SAN) connectivity. single traffic type can monopolize the The increased throughput Ethernet connectivity with head-of-line and support for multiple traffic blocking. However, this approach can Dive deeper types provided by 10GbE gives IT lead to complexity, with six or more administrators the opportunity to physical Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) uplinks Virtualization technologies continue to evolve with the expansion of virtualized simplify network infrastructure and to from each server. server deployments. Discover how hardware- increase network flexibility for quick Virtual LANs (VLANs) can be utilized based Intel virtualization technology helps IT departments enhance I/O performance. adaptations to changes in demand. to help partition different traffic types Hardware-based I/O virtualization is over a shared Ethernet uplink by intel.ly/pOjDv6 an innovative way to enhance this providing logical partitioning. However, network flexibility and data center VLANs also have limitations. They efficiency. This approach enables do not provide any ability to prevent administrators to partition a physical one traffic type from monopolizing I/O port into multiple virtual ports, the available bandwidth, resulting in helping overcome restrictions of head-of-line blocking, and they do not traditional, physical partitioning and prevent the starving of other processes segmentation of network traffic. for Ethernet connectivity.

90 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Networking

Implementing hardware-based Intel® Virtualization Technology for I/O virtualization Connectivity (Intel VT-c) supports these capabilities I/O virtualization helps transition physical network in Intel Ethernet controllers. At the core of Intel models traditionally used in data centers to models VT-c are important functions and technologies that that provide enhanced efficiency. Hardware-based are designed into the controller silicon to provide a I/O virtualization provides port partitioning, multiple common QoS feature set. This feature set delivers transmit and receive queues, and on-controller a variety of capabilities that can be used directly by QoS functionality. It can be used in both virtual and the hypervisor or configured by an IT administrator nonvirtual server deployments. to meet a specific need (see Figure 1). To help improve I/O performance in virtualized In virtualized servers, Intel VT-c helps reduce environments, the PCI-SIG organization created the I/O bottlenecks and improve overall server Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) specification, performance by offloading the data sorting and which defines extensions to the PCI Express (PCIe) queuing functionality from the hypervisor to specification suite, enabling multiple system images the Intel Ethernet controller. In nonvirtualized to share PCI hardware resources. SR-IOV enables a environments, port partitioning provides hardware- single physical I/O port of a network controller to based QoS features that enable a physical port to be partitioned into multiple virtual I/O ports called consolidate the traffic of multiple physical ports virtual functions, which can then be mapped to while avoiding loss of functionality and helping individual virtual machines. deliver flexible bandwidth allocation. These QoS SR-IOV and Virtual Machine Device Queues features are integrated into the Intel Ethernet (VMDq) are two of the optimization technologies controller to provide native throughput, balanced used to enable enhanced I/O virtualization functions bandwidth allocation, and enhanced I/O scalability. that share many of the same QoS features built into Ethernet controller silicon. These functions Partitioning traffic in a help reduce I/O bottlenecks and improve overall nonvirtualized environment server performance by offloading functionality to By supporting the SR-IOV specification, Intel the Ethernet controller, which reduces the data Ethernet controllers enable the partitioning of a processing bottleneck associated with virtualization single physical port into multiple virtual functions. and enables process and application network Through the SR-IOV specification, a single physical segmentation in nonvirtualized environments. device can show up as multiple virtual devices,

PCIe Ethernet PCIe Ethernet controller in OS controller in OS physical function virtual function

PCIe

VMware NetQueue or virtual machine queue Receive (Rx)/Transmit (Tx) Physical Virtual queues assigned by hypervisor Two methods to take function function to virtual machine advantage of Intel VT-c: Rx Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx • VMDq: Multiple Rx/Tx queue available to hypervisor Rx/Tx Rx Tx queues Rx Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx • Virtual functions: Lightweight Rx Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx PCIe functions made up of Rx/Tx queues

Virtual Ethernet bridge and classiﬁer (Layer 2 switch) Intel Ethernet controller

Figure 1. Overview of Intel Virtualization Technology for Connnectivity

each with dedicated hardware and properties. These virtual devices can be assigned to a virtual machine to bypass the hypervisor Configuring port network overhead. While this bypass functionality has been a primary focus, it is not the only use for the SR-IOV specification. partitioning Consider the use of SR-IOV in a nonvirtualized Linux® OS–based server with an Intel Ethernet X520 server adapter, which is powered In capitalizing on the SR-IOV support in Intel Ethernet by the Intel 82599 10GbE controller. Before SR-IOV is enabled, the devices, administrators can use port partitioning to create Linux OS recognizes the two physical ports of the adapter and lists multiple virtual functions from a single physical port. them as Ethernet controllers available on the server: The following procedure can be used to configure an SR-IOV–enabled Citrix Provisioning Services virtual #lspci | grep 82599 machine on the Citrix XenServer 5.6 hypervisor, provided 06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599EB system requirements are met: 10-Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01) 07:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599EB 1. Enable the I/O memory management unit (IOMMU) on 10-Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01) the host by running the following command within the domain 0 console: After SR-IOV is enabled using the modprobe ixgbe max_vfs=5 /opt/xensource/libexec/xen-cmdline --set-xen iommu=1 command, the OS lists not only the two original ports but also multiple virtual functions: 2. Reboot the host. Once rebooting is completed, virtual functions appear. #lspci | grep 82599 06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599EB 3. Obtain a list of virtual functions in the system by 10-Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01) executing the lspci command in the XenServer console. 07:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599EB As many as 120 virtual functions may be available. 10-Gigabit Network Connection (rev 01) 07:10.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599 4. Assign one of these virtual functions to the target virtual Ethernet Controller Virtual Function (rev 01) machine by executing the command that follows. Note: 07:10.2 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599 Substitute 07:10.0 in the following command with the Ethernet Controller Virtual Function (rev 01) PCI bus address of the virtual function to be assigned: 07:10.4 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599 xe vm-param-set other-config:pci=0/0000:07:10.0 Ethernet Controller Virtual Function (rev 01) uuid=uuid_of_the_VM 07:11.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599 Ethernet Controller Virtual Function (rev 01) 5. To assign multiple virtual functions to a target virtual 07:11.2 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599 machine, use a comma delimiter: Ethernet Controller Virtual Function (rev 01) xe vm-param-set other-config:pci=0/0000:07:10.0,0/ ... 0000:07:10,2 uuid=uuid_of_the_VM

Each virtual function appears to the OS as a unique Ethernet 6. Boot the virtual machine, and install the correct virtual controller with dedicated hardware resources and specific Media function driver in that virtual machine. Access Control (MAC), VLAN, and IP addresses. The Linux host processes can be assigned to dedicated network resources to provide Port partitioning requires an SR-IOV–enabled platform. traffic isolation and balanced bandwidth allocation. Instead of adding The following Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers are SR-IOV capable: adapters to the server to increase the number of ports, administrators PowerEdge R610, R710, R810, R910, R715, and R815 rack can assign the process to a virtual function that acts as a virtual port. servers and the PowerEdge T610 tower server. Hardware-based QoS functionality in the Intel Ethernet controller is designed to keep the network connections available for critical traffic during heavy use. These isolation and QoS features are essential in 10GbE network deployments but can also be useful

92 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Networking

Combining the capabilities of the domain 0 domain U domU domU domU (dom0) (domU) Intel Ethernet X520 server adapter family and Citrix NetScaler SDX appliances can Front end Front end yield impressive results. Fully virtualized NetScaler SDX appliances can achieve Back Back end end Virtual function driver Virtual function driver nearly the same throughput as bare-metal Bridge NetScaler MPX appliances. For example, Citrix XenServer hypervisor with SR-IOV Physical function driver the NetScaler MPX 21500 is rated at up to Intel VT-d PCIe 50 Gbps. Citrix also rates the NetScaler SDX 21500, which uses exactly the same Physical Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual function function function function function function function function hardware platform, at up to 50 Gbps. When consolidating and virtualizing a Virtual Ethernet bridge and classiﬁer (Layer 2 switch) data center, a NetScaler SDX appliance Intel Ethernet with VT-c support can be an effective way to consolidate Layer 4 through Layer 7 services. Figure 2. Virtual functions bypassing the hypervisor for direct virtual machine connections Additionally, using Intel Ethernet controllers with SR-IOV support in the appliance in GbE environments to help ensure that (For information about configuring an means that this consolidation can be management traffic has access to the host OS. SR-IOV–enabled Citrix Provisioning Services achieved without sacrificing instance New capabilities included in Linux drivers allow virtual machine on XenServer 5.6, see the isolation or performance. the configuration of hardware bandwidth sidebar, “Configuring port partitioning.”) throttling and monitoring capabilities, Providing flexible and efficient networks which enables the fine-tuning of QoS Enabling a virtualized network Growing deployments of 10GbE requirements for each virtual port whether it appliance with I/O virtualization connectivity give administrators the is used by the OS or by a virtual machine. SR-IOV is also incorporated in the opportunity to create simple, flexible Citrix NetScaler® SDX virtualized network infrastructures. Integrated into Using I/O virtualization for traffic networking appliance. Intel Ethernet controllers, the SR-IOV partitioning with a hypervisor Multiple virtualized NetScaler instances specification provides functionality To access SR-IOV–enabled functionality in a can run on a single physical appliance that helps administrators address their virtualized environment, the hypervisor must without compromising its throughput. various I/O needs for both virtualized and support the SR-IOV specification. The direct Support for SR-IOV and Intel Virtualization nonvirtualized servers. assignment of a virtual machine to a virtual Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) that is port helps to reduce the processor overhead built into the Intel 82599 10GbE controller Authors that typically occurs when using a software- on the appliance provides hardware-assisted Brian Johnson is a product marketing engineer based network bridge or virtual switch. The I/O virtualization. at Intel for 10 Gigabit Ethernet products and processor overhead can be reduced by off- Up to 64 virtual functions per port are virtualization technologies. loading network traffic management to the exposed as virtual Ethernet controllers Intel Ethernet controller (see Figure 2). directly to the host OS. These virtual Srinivas Thodati is a marketing director at Dell and has more than 18 years of experience in the IT industry. For example, the Citrix® XenServer® 5.6 functions can be assigned to each hypervisor supports SR-IOV. With this support, NetScaler SDX instance to provide direct I/O Rahul Deshmukh is a senior technical marketing the Citrix Provisioning Services™ function— access, with the Intel controller hardware manager at Dell specializing in server peripheral devices. which is used by Citrix XenDesktop® managing device queues and address virtual desktop infrastructure to scale translation on behalf of each instance. The boot performance—can now run with native direct I/O access avoids the performance Learn more performance as a virtual machine. This overhead and additional management Intel Virtualization Technology for Connectivity: capability has enabled booting hundreds of introduced by the need for the device intel.ly/qsnQKh

hosted virtual desktops across a network emulation or split-mode driver approaches Citrix NetScaler SDX: with minimal impact on processor utilization. that are typically used in virtualization. bit.ly/mVbyaQ

Accelerating implementation of advanced business applications

By Michael (Shane) Sedate and Joe Tolod

Oracle® Accelerate for high-tech organizations blends Oracle enterprise applications, Oracle Business Accelerators, and deployment expertise from partners such as Dell Services to deliver top-tier business software rapidly and cost-effectively.

n the high-tech industry, organizations face a complex array Oracle Business Accelerators—rapid implementation tools, of business requirements. To sustain a competitive edge, they templates, and wizards—help minimize deployment time and costs. accommodate compressed product life cycles, facilitate customer- These tools enable organizations to generate targeted, customized Icentric collaborative design, and ensure regulatory compliance configurations based on industry best-practice business flows without as they expand globally. At the same time, many organizations coding or conducting extensive validation work. need to enhance IT efficiency by optimizing the supply chain and Through tight application integration, Oracle Business Accelerators implementing tools to foster rapid decision making. also facilitate information sharing across the enterprise. For example, Oracle Accelerate for high-tech organizations enables these if an organization makes a change within the Agile PLM application to organizations to capitalize on top-tier Oracle applications. This replace an aging component, that change flows through the enterprise approach allows high-tech organizations to address business and resource planning (ERP) system down to the manufacturing floor IT challenges while helping reduce deployment time and costs. automatically. Integration helps organizations reduce the time and Dell Services, a certified Oracle Accelerate provider with deep resources spent ensuring that applications work together while helping deployment expertise, helps ensure a successful implementation increase the time available for strategic projects. and seamless integration of technologies and processes. Expediting deployment with deep expertise Combining enterprise-class software Dell Services helps high-tech organizations implement Oracle with rapid implementation tools applications. Through its experiences and the knowledge gained The Dell™ service that offers Oracle Accelerate provides the by deploying Oracle applications at Dell, the Dell Services team functionality high-tech organizations need without requiring them to has an intimate understanding of how these applications fit within select and integrate numerous disparate applications. This approach a high-tech organization. (For more information, see the sidebar, incorporates the entire Oracle software stack, including core “Deploying Oracle applications at Dell.”) Dell Services offers a application modules, the database, and supporting technology tools. suite of services that help organizations ensure a cost-effective, At the center of the stack is Oracle E-Business Suite, a comprehensive successful deployment. These services include the following: set of integrated, global business applications that provides an end- to-end view of information across all lines of business. • Project planning: Analyzing business practices, processes, and Oracle Accelerate also supports applications that are particularly key requirements useful for high-tech organizations, including the Oracle Agile • Software installation: Installing and configuring Oracle Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) product suite and the Oracle E-Business Suite—including core application modules, database Billing and Revenue Management suite of applications. By deploying software, and supporting technology tools—using Oracle product suites in scalable modules, organizations deploy only what Business Accelerators and custom Dell templates they need now while gaining the flexibility to extend functionality as • End-user training: Bringing employees up to speed on deployed business needs change. applications, processes, and reporting capabilities

94 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Deploying Oracle applications at Dell Deploying Oracle applications internally has helped Dell achieve helped eliminate several challenges caused by the previous significant benefits, particularly for order management, core financials, proprietary platform. Dell streamlined the financial close process and enterprise performance management. and regulatory compliance while gaining scalability and efficient backup and recovery. Order management: Oracle E-Business Suite applications helped Enterprise performance management: The addition of Oracle increase the productivity and reliability of Dell order management. Hyperion enterprise planning applications helped Dell reduce the Oracle applications for order management, accounts receivable, cycle time, cost, and complexity of the financial close process. It and advanced collections also helped Dell standardize global also helped improve forecasting processes while offering scalability processes, decrease data duplication and IT efforts, enhance for expected growth. compliance, and reduce the total cost of ownership. Core financials: Dell standardized globally on Oracle E-Business Dell Services has incorporated the knowledge gained from internal Suite financial applications, including general ledger, accounts Oracle application projects to offer comprehensive Oracle application payable, fixed assets, and project accounting. This standardization design and implementation services.

• Conversion services: Offering data migration and security design Authors • Conference Room Pilot (CRP) deployment: Incorporating real organizational data that facilitates testing and fine-tuning of Michael (Shane) Sedate is a director in the Oracle Practice for Dell Services at Dell and is responsible for leading the Oracle Accelerate programs at Dell. applications to meet specific needs and usage patterns

• Production rollout: Providing go-live conversion support Joe Tolod is a senior business development manager at Oracle and is responsible for the Dell Global Systems Integration Alliance. Realizing the benefits of Oracle Accelerate The Oracle Accelerate approach Dell offers helps high-tech organizations Learn more rapidly capitalize on the benefits of Oracle applications while minimizing costs and risks. Speeding deployment enables organizations to start using Oracle solutions at Dell: dell.com/oracle Oracle applications quickly and achieve a fast return on investment.

This approach also helps organizations avoid long deployment Oracle Accelerate: engagements and eliminate the need for custom coding. In addition, oracle.com/accelerate prebuilt templates can rapidly deliver a system design, process Oracle PartnerNetwork podcast: templates, and testing scripts, which can reduce training, support, and bit.ly/pcYMPB maintenance expenses. By taking advantage of industry best practices and processes, and by drawing on the extensive Oracle application deployment expertise of Dell Services, the Dell-provided Oracle Innovator of the year Accelerate approach helps reduce the risks of deploying multiple Dell received the 2011 Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) Innovator business applications in an enterprise environment. of the Year award for its method of standardizing the deployment of Oracle applications in a virtual environment. Visit the Dell Enterprise Technology Retaining a competitive edge Center to learn more. To succeed in the contentious high-tech industry, organizations dell.to/oRDjNK must not only create leading-edge products but also maximize operational efficiencies. Deploying Oracle applications helps high-tech organizations address key challenges, from the need to Oracle OpenWorld streamline core financial functions to the drive to enhance product Preview Dell activities at Oracle OpenWorld, life-cycle management. The Dell service that offers Oracle Accelerate and learn more about this educational and combines enterprise-class Oracle applications, Oracle Business networking event that helps organizations enhance results and plan strategic objectives. Accelerators, and the deployment expertise of Dell Services to help high-tech organizations implement Oracle applications rapidly and qrs.ly/zg15frj cost-effectively so they can stay focused on innovation.

he term systems management is often used very broadly. It usually encompasses everything—people, processes, tools, and T actual equipment—related to implementing and running data processing. Following industry trends, systems management has been segmented by network technologies and different software architectures, and by hardware vendors developing their proprietary systems management technology. As hardware and software converge to become commoditized, systems management is moving toward directly addressing the needs of end users. Comparing today’s systems management technologies from different vendors is like comparing apples and oranges; there is currently no standard yardstick by which system administrators can make empirical comparisons between technologies. A set of common criteria may help end users and software 6 dimensions of strategists evaluate different approaches to systems management from six key dimensions. This article systems management proposes a set of criteria for such evaluations. Defining solution dimensions solutions Systems management approaches fall into six dimensions: anytime, anywhere, any band, any By Weijia (John) Zhang, Roger Foreman, and Richard Landau state, any scale, and any device. Solutions within these “A” categories allow system administrators to easily compare features and make better choices for their systems—and each highlights a specific administrative challenge. With the convergence and commoditization of Anytime systems management technology, organizations An anytime solution enables system administrators to need to establish a set of criteria to evaluate systems perform systems management operations whenever management alternatives in a way that is focused on requested—for example, execute a current operation on demand or reschedule an operation for later. Such end-user needs rather than technology itself. operations may include monitoring, configuring, updating, or deploying a system, or examining a system’s history of changes and life-cycle logs. This solution also sends administrators instant alerts when an event is triggered (see Figure 1).

Anywhere The anywhere dimension lets system administrators manage systems in various geographic locations, which systems management application vendors refer to as remote management. This capability enables not only local control over systems, but also management

96 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Systems management

through a network, at disparate places that may be server’s power consumption, which may require far from the administrator’s location (see Figure 2). moving applications between servers. For systems that are not on the local area As data centers use these and other green network (LAN)—that is, remotely managed technologies, administrators can encounter systems—security becomes a heightened servers in a variety of power states: at full power, concern. Over public wide area networks (WANs), at reduced power, in a standby or sleep state, systems management communication must be or powered down. Still, systems management secure against public network vulnerabilities. functions must be fully operational whatever power state the server is in. In reduced power Any band states, OOB management is needed to Systems management information is accessed communicate with the server. in two ways: from an agent that runs under the OS—in-band management—or from a specialized Any scale hardware management controller or service Management domains vary greatly in size. processor—out-of-band or OOB management. System administrators may manage only one OOB management is more readily available in system, a small group of systems such as a few server and client computer systems than in-band rack servers, or a large data center with a sea of management, and it is becoming increasingly servers. Systems management applications need important to system administrators. The systems to cover this range of sizes. management functions in an OOB service Monitoring or managing a large group of processor are available regardless of the state of servers requires specialized software, but that the OS on the primary processor. Even if the OS software may not be well suited for overseeing fails, the OOB interface enables management small groups or individual servers—enterprise- functions to be performed. scale tools and one-to-one management Additionally, an OOB management agent solutions have very different interface styles and may have access to some hardware functions operational characteristics. that in-band OS agents cannot access directly. Large groups of servers are rarely However, a new cross-band technology is homogeneous; they typically contain different emerging that gives in-band agents access to system makes and models. Management tools functions that are usually restricted. for large-scale installations must be able to handle a variety of system brands, models, Any state structures, buses, and peripheral devices. To Data centers operate 24/7, but not every server help administrators cope with this complex runs continuously at full power. Several trends heterogeneity, systems and their management make systems management increasingly vital agents must conform to industry standards. for round-the-clock operations. For instance, virtualization permits multiple applications to share Any device servers and migrate between servers to balance Servers are not the only devices that require or concentrate computing loads. New processors management. Data centers and corporate and power management applications can cap a networks have other network-connected devices,

Real-time event and operations History, logs, and events Scheduled operations and scheduled alerts

Now Time dimension

Figure 1. An anytime systems management solution can perform real-time operations, view system history, and schedule future tasks

Local server management

Remote server management

Figure 2. An anywhere systems management solution can manage both local systems and remote systems

including infrastructure devices such as routers strategists can also use these dimensions and switches; client PCs and workstations; and to design and build commoditized systems peripheral devices such as printers, projectors, management solutions that address the and scanners. To handle these different makes common needs of end users. and models, vendors must follow industry standards for management. Authors Combining all six “A” dimensions provides the opportunity to classify and compare system Weijia (John) Zhang, Ph.D., is a platform senior software engineer with over 15 patents authorized management frameworks. This comprehensive or pending with the U.S. Patent Office. He has been comparison is different from the traditional with Dell for over 10 years and has in-depth, hands- characterization of systems management tools on experience on the full spectrum of systems management–related products and projects. and techniques, such as zero touch, lights out, Wake-on-LAN (WOL), and so forth. Roger Foreman is a senior product manager on the Dell OpenManage™ Marketing team with responsibilities for Chassis Management Controller (CMC) firmware and Empowering system administrators management of blade servers. Previously, he led the As in banking, where customers want to manage team that created the Dell Enterprise Technology Center their money anywhere, anytime, and from any (delltechcenter.com) wiki community. Web-enabled device, system administrators Richard Landau is a software strategist in the Office must be able to manage their entire data center of the CTO, concentrating on systems management infrastructures at any time or place, using any protocols and deployment. He has been with Dell for devices, in any state, in-band or out of band, from 11 years working on a variety of systems management– related products and projects. any interface point. With the six “A” dimensions—time, location, state, band, scale, and type of device—systems Learn more management capabilities can be easily compared. Ranking systems management Dell systems management: delltechcenter.com/page/dell+systems+management solutions based on these dimensions provides

a new paradigm for administrators to tackle Dell TechCenter—Lifecycle Controller: systems management issues. Marketers and delltechcenter.com/page/lifecycle+controller

98 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Systems management

Adopting a pragmatic approach to software license compliance

By Anne Haggar

As independent software vendors (ISVs) ramp up compliance audits, the ability to track and manage assets and software licenses cost-effectively is becoming a critical concern for many organizations. Five key steps help simplify and automate the process.

anaging software licenses Five steps for managing across an organization software licenses Plug-and-play asset is not easy. A single Today, organizations of all sizes can management helps Msoftware title may accrue benefit from tools that help them comply numerous versions in the network’s with software licensing requirements. save time and money inventory because software updates These tools handle tasks throughout are released frequently. Even for the entire software life cycle—including organizations with just a handful of asset discovery and usage tracking, end users, tracking software packages version management, enforcement installed on client PCs—and which of software installation policies, and versions are in use, when licenses are compliance verification and reporting. expiring, and whether end users are Five key steps enable IT organizations even using all the software licenses that to take a pragmatic approach to software were purchased—can be a challenge. license compliance. (For information Most commercially available license on an appliance-based approach management tools aim squarely at large to software license compliance for Dell KACE™ M300 Asset Management enterprises. As a result, IT administrators small organizations, see the sidebar, Appliances are designed to simplify at smaller organizations often track “Comprehensive asset management PC inventory management, enforce their licensing information manually. made easy.”) configuration policies, and ensure However, in recent years an unstable software license compliance across economy has pressured software Step 1: Set policies small organizations—those with up vendors into maintaining a revenue Clear policies on software license to 200 managed PCs and servers. A stream through compliance audits. compliance can form the foundation snap to configure and deploy with no And although large organizations are for effective compliance management. formal training, M300 appliances offer typically the first audit targets, small Policies should govern all software plug-and-play functionality with a Web organizations also need to implement usage, including which versions and browser–based dashboard that makes it software license compliance programs platforms are supported. Software can easy to check alerts, status of software to protect themselves from litigation be divided into the following categories: license compliance, recent network threats and unnecessary costs that may activity, and pending tasks. result from shelfware, malware, and • Sponsored: Software that is other productivity-killing software. purchased through the organization

• Supported: Software for which the IT department provides maintenance Comprehensive asset and upgrades • Approved: Software that can be installed management made easy on the organization’s property but is not Designed to deliver comprehensive asset and license compliance management supported by IT tools for IT departments that manage up to 200 systems, Dell KACE M300 Asset • Prohibited: Software that is restricted from Management Appliances manage a range of functions that are often handled installation on the organization’s property— manually in small organizations. These functions encompass asset discovery and with penalties assessed for violation tracking, including software versions; software asset grouping to help simplify Step 2: Take inventory management and patching; compliance status reporting; and software installation Once policies are in place, IT departments tracking and alerts. For more information, visit kace.com/m300. can get a clear picture of the software For large organizations with hundreds or thousands of individual systems under running on systems throughout their management, Dell KACE K1000 System Management Appliances are designed organizations—and which applications to address asset and license compliance requirements, in addition to providing are actually being used. Taking inventory such comprehensive functionality as software deployment, security audit and provides insight into license usage levels, enforcement, power management, and service desk. For more information, visit which enables the IT department to kace.com/products/systems-management-appliance. harvest unused licenses and redeploy them. It also enables organizations to make unused licenses available for other end users before IT procures new licenses. In addition, an inventory helps IT staff anticipate possible compatibility issues and initiate plans to upgrade or replace applications as part of a migration.

Step 3: Retire outdated applications Obsolete software can be costly for organizations in several ways. It can prevent end users from working at maximum productivity and increase IT complexity and support costs. It complicates migrations, and it increases the risk of application conflicts. By using license management tools to proactively remove outdated or redundant applications, IT departments can substantially cut down the size of their supported application portfolios, refocus IT resources on strategic projects rather than day-to-day administration, and significantly streamline migrations.

Step 4: Collect records of all software licenses To face compliance audits with confidence, Figure 1. Recent network activity and important notifications on the Dell KACE M300 Asset Management Appliance dashboard IT departments must keep all license

100 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. documentation, including the following, in redeploy underutilized software licenses, Dive deeper a central repository: evaluate licensing needs and make informed purchase decisions, and provide strong proof Stakes for compliance are rising as new software licensing types proliferate, including open • Receipts and invoices of compliance. They also enable IT staff source, network licensing, virtualization, and • Documentation for any open source, to respond to audit requests quickly, with cloud computing. This white paper explores best practices for managing software licenses cost- shareware, freeware, or public domain minimal disruption to business processes. efficiently—to avoid noncompliance fees and to software in use at the organization help eliminate or reallocate underused licenses. • Copies of all electronic transactions and Automated management for kace.com/resources/five-best-practices-for license agreements software licenses -small-organizations • Support and maintenance information Software license compliance is a growing • Warranties concern, particularly in small and medium Author • All corporate software requests and organizations that often use spreadsheet- approvals based tracking processes. Approaching the Anne Haggar is a senior product marketing manager for Dell KACE Appliances at Dell. challenge systematically helps simplify this Step 5: Run license verification reports task. Dell KACE M300 Asset Management Once software assets have been cataloged, Appliances are designed specifically Learn more

IT departments need an efficient way to meet the needs of IT organizations Dell KACE Systems Management Appliances: to run regular reports that match the managing up to 200 PCs and servers— kace.com/products organization’s licenses to the currently boosting efficiency by helping to automate Dell KACE software license compliance: installed software (see Figure 1). These and streamline the traditional manual and kace.com/solutions/software-license reports help IT professionals identify and error-prone processes. -compliance.php Systems management

Applying community-inspired innovation to software updates

By Bob Kelly

By replacing time-consuming, often complex processes for installing and updating software with streamlined methods, administrators can spend more time on strategic IT projects. Discover peer resources for enhancing software updates at AppDeploy.com.

hen an IT organization receives AppDeploy.com community provides application- a request for a new application, specific deployment details that can ease the the request is vetted and approved installation and update process. Managing software administration W and the software is purchased. An One approach, installing a new version of administrator must then begin discovering, testing, software over the old version, almost always works Obtain detailed guidance for and refining an automated installation process to successfully, but administrators must still perform understanding and using MSI packages, application deployment roll out the application for end users. For some thorough testing before they can get completely and patching, and other software organizations this process can take weeks; for others through this process. However, by targeting systems administration tasks through it may take months. Regardless of the time frame, with a new version of the software that has already an extensive video series at AppDeploy.com. the frequency of application updates and installation been deployed, administrators can often perform an jobs can require a lot of time and effort. Many in-place update with little challenge. appdeploy.com/video administrators have also experienced updates that Updating applications centrally by running go badly, which can increase demands on their time. a command to reinstall on client systems is the To streamline software installation, administrators Microsoft-recommended method for rolling out can benefit from the experiences of others and an update using an MSI package. The installation learn techniques from their peers by participating media typically resides on a network share, also at AppDeploy.com, an online community offering known as an installation point. An administrator comprehensive resources for refining application can run the following command to update the deployment and software updates. installation point to the new version:

Exploring deployment methods MSIEXEC.EXE /A [NEW MSI FILE] Software updates are improving for administrators TARGETDIR=[PATH TO INSTALLATION POINT] because many applications today are provided as Microsoft® Windows® Installer (MSI) setup After updating the installation point, an packages. These packages are designed to offer administrator can run the following command command-line support, logging functionality, line on each client system that is to be updated: and rollback-on-failure capabilities. Many MSI packages even provide intelligence to update MSIEXEC.EXE /I [ALREADY INSTALLED MSI FILE] themselves from one version to the next, with REINSTALL=ALL little or no administrator intervention. Different approaches to software installation For an approach to patching, administrators and updates are well documented; the can use a method that is available with the

102 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell KACE™ K1000 Management Appliance. the experiences of administrators and other implementing techniques such as patching These appliances add patching support members. Windows OS administrators widely used applications with Dell KACE for many common applications to the can participate to share command-line K1000 Management Appliances help free up same system that IT organizations use installation, update, and removal tips for time that administrators can use for other to update operating systems. Because thousands of applications. projects that benefit the organization. these applications are numerous, not all When beginning an application applications can be supported; however, deployment project, administrators of all Author many widely used applications—particularly skill levels can visit AppDeploy.com as a those that tend to require frequent updates— first step to learn details before beginning Bob Kelly is the founder, manager, and moderator of AppDeploy.com, an Internet destination can be addressed using this patching support the project. And in the spirit of community for systems management professionals and a capability. Frequently updated applications, support, many administrators often visit broad community of application and computer which often account for a significant amount AppDeploy.com as a last step following administrators. of time spent on updates in a calendar year, a deployment project to share their can be kept current effectively through this experiences and what they have learned. In Learn more automated, efficient approach. addition, the Package Knowledge Base and AppDeploy.com—Package Knowledge Base: discussion forums can be key AppDeploy.com appdeploy.com/packages Leveraging community experience locations for sharing information. Wide participation in AppDeploy.com has Because administrators often must AppDeploy.com—discussion forums: grown the community into a rich resource contend with numerous software appdeploy.com/messageboards

for application-specific deployment updates and application deployments, Dell KACE: information where participants can leverage utilizing AppDeploy.com resources and dell.com/kace

The strategic bridge between your data center and your business? You. Only StruxureWare for Data Centers enablesenables a healthy, business-driven data center

Tap in to the health of your data center APCAPC byby Schneider Schneider Electric™ Electric™ is is the the pioneer pioneer of of modular modular data data center center As an IT or data center manager, you know that doing youryour jobjob wellwell meansmeans savingsaving youryour infrastructureinfrastructure and and innovative innovative cooling cooling technology. technology. Its Its products products and solutions, including InfraStruxure™, are an integral part of the company both time and money. Today, there finallyfinally isis aa wayway forfor youyou toto bebe completelycompletely and solutions, including InfraStruxure™, are an integral part of the SchneiderSchneider Electric Electric IT IT portfolio. portfolio. tapped in to the overall healthhealth ofof youryour datadata center.center. StruxureWare™StruxureWare™ forfor DataData CentersCenters gives you visibility across your entire data center infrastructureinfrastructure soso youyou cancan makemake informedinformed decisions — not arbitrary ones — about your infrastructure.

For example, you can plan proactively for needed capacitycapacity andand streamlinestreamline workflowworkflow management to improve your business agility and availability. InIn fact,fact, nownow moremore thanthan ever,ever, infrastructure decisionsdecisions areare businessbusiness decisions.decisions.

How Data Center Infrastructure ManagementHow Data Center Software Infrastructure Improves PlanningManagement and Cuts Software Operational Improves Costs Planning and Cuts Operational Costs White Paper 107 White Paper 107

> Executive summary Tap the business value of your data center! > Executive summary Tap the business value of your data center! Learn how in our management softwaresoftware whitewhite paper.paper. Visit SEReply.com KeyKey CodeCode r804wr804w

©2011 Schneider Electric. All Rights Reserved. Schneider Electric, APC, StruxureWare, and InfraStruxure are trademarks owned by Schneider Electric Industries SAS or its affiliated companies. ©2011 Schneider Electric. All Rights Reserved. Schneider Electric, APC, StruxureWare, and InfraStruxure are trademarks owned by Schneider Electric Industries SAS or its affiliated companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 35 rue Joseph Monier, CS 30323, 95506 Rueil Malmaison Cedex (France) • Tel. +33 (0) 1 41 29 70 00 • 998-4108A All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 35 rue Joseph Monier, CS 30323, 95506 Rueil Malmaison Cedex (France) • Tel. +33 (0) 1 41 29 70 00 • 998-4108A

998-4108A_.5page.indd 1 8/24/2011 1:17:22 PM 998-4108A_.5page.indd 1 8/24/2011 1:17:22 PM Customer perspective

Bing Maps Charting a fast route to efficiency

Bing® Maps requires tremendous compute resources to produce detailed geo-spatial images. By installing Dell™ Modular Data Centers at its microsite, the Bing Maps team is on the road to dramatically reduced operating costs.

t Bing Maps, technology imitates art. The Bing Imagery Technologies team (BITs) takes satellite, aerial, bird’s-eye, and street-side imagery and stitches them together to form visual mosaics for Bing Maps. The A complex geo-spatial processing needed to produce all the imagery requires enormous amounts of processing power, data storage, and memory. “We generate about 10 TB per hour,” notes Ryan P. Tracy, IT operations manager for BITs. “Our record is 3 PB in four days. So we have a significant amount of processing going on.” To operate cost-effectively at this scale, the BITs team must work continuously to drive down computing costs. So when it came time to launch a microsite in Colorado, the team wanted a highly efficient, highly reliable, extremely scalable, and quick-to-deploy IT infrastructure. The team also needed the ability to quickly add IT capacity to support new products, new partnerships, and ongoing growth. What’s more, BITs wanted an extremely low power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio—a key measure of data center energy efficiency.

Mapping a course to optimized power, performance in 60 days area network (SAN), and administrative servers. Dell Data Center Solutions (DCS) engineers worked with the BITs team to rapidly Each of the other Modular Data Centers holds deploy an infrastructure based on customized Dell Modular Data Centers. “We AMD processor–based Dell Nucleon servers now have a reference site, we have the design, and we have a great partner in and associated storage running over high-speed Dell that can produce the IT gear and the containers in the timeframe that we InfiniBand network connections. put in place. And we’ve proven that we can turn those containers on in three “The throughput is off the charts,” Clark says. “In a weeks, from dropping them from a truck to turning them live. So everything’s 24-hour period, we transferred close to 250 TB from up and running within 60 days. That’s a pretty amazing feat,” says Brad Clark, one container to another.” group program manager for BITs. Efficiency, too, is all but off the charts, as measured Dell engineers changed the server design to meet the unique storage and in PUE. This measure compares the amount of I/O needs of the processing environment. “Dell closely partnered with us for the power flowing into a data center with the amount duration of the project on all aspects,” Clark says. “We really challenged everything of power used for computing equipment, instead of to keep costs low. The Dell guys were cut from the same cloth.” facility overhead. The closer PUE is to 1.0, the better The resulting configuration includes three custom-designed Dell Modular the efficiency. “We worked very closely with the Dell Data Centers. One Modular Data Center houses a database cluster, a storage electrical engineering team to make sure we drove

Rapid microsite deployment

In less than two minutes, this time-lapse video shows the construction of the Bing Maps microsite, including the installation of Dell Modular Data Centers.

bit.ly/nM5kuY

The path to cost-effective image processing

Bing Maps team members Tom Barclay, Brad Clark, and Ryan Tracy talk about their work in geo-spatial image processing and how Dell helped them build their Colorado microsite.

bit.ly/nizXiK

A bird’s-eye view Bing Imagery Technologies (BITs) set out to build a powerful, scalable site to support image processing for Bing Maps. The Dell Data Center Solutions team worked with BITs engineers to deliver on the vision of a quickly deployable computing infrastructure optimized for power savings and workload performance.

60 days 1.03 PUE 250 TB The Dell and BITs The BITs team upped In a 24-hour period, teams deployed a fully efficiency and cut the BITs team functioning data center operational costs with transferred almost container in three a near-perfect power 250 TB from one weeks and got the usage effectiveness Modular Data Center new data processing (PUE) ratio of 1.03 under to another. site up and running in heavy load. just 60 days.

the theoretical PUE down. This has been Paving the way to global sites cooling—instead of fans in each server—in measured at 1.03 under heavy load and up Clark envisions building replicas of the the Modular Data Center. to 1.05 under very heavy load,” says Tracy. Colorado microsite site in locales where Dell also implemented a cooling system This efficiency helps BITs cut its environments are harsh and governments that combines free (ambient) air with operational costs. Explains Clark, “From require data to be processed in-country. evaporative cooling. “Having the evaporative a power consumption perspective, Dell “Dell Modular Data Centers are cost- cooling system in a dry climate like the comes in at 180 kW of power per container, effective, reliable, agile, and rugged Colorado Front Range is perfect. It drives which lowers our power consumption by solutions that can be located in extreme lower operating costs and is just better all 80 percent and delivers roughly five times environments within various countries the way around.” the amount of compute density. That around the globe,” he notes. Ultimately, “better all the way around” obviously lowers the electric bill.” “It’s very well thought-out,” says Clark describes how BITs thinks about Dell “With the Dell Modular Data Center of the Modular Data Center design. “And and the Modular Data Center. Says Clark, solution, we project roughly an 8x reduction when you get inside the container, it’s very “They had the best solution and the best in [overall site] costs when compared to quiet.” The quiet environment is made team, which was well aligned with our traditional models,” adds Clark. possible by the use of one central fan for site philosophy.”

Team Lotus Going with the flow

By Hans Seeberg

Key to boosting a race car’s performance is understanding how air flows over, under, and around the car. Computational fluid dynamics on a Dell™ HPC cluster enables Team Lotus engineers to develop parts that give the car an extra competitive edge.

ormula 1™ (F1™) racing has a well-established has overtaken all others as the most vital tool in reputation as the world’s most technologically unlocking these complexities. It is computational advanced sport, with teams spending millions fluid dynamics (CFD), and it can be powered only Fof dollars in the pursuit of going just a tenth of by a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster. a second quicker. But such is the way of the modern Its necessity in making a fast racing car perfectly world that F1 has long since left the point where this illustrates the extent to which F1 has come to rely kind of performance gain can be achieved with human on HPC power. brainpower alone. The speed of F1 race cars relies CFD has existed in F1 for the past 15 years or so but on a deep understanding of the complexities of has become truly vital over the past decade, as teams aerodynamics, and one computer-based technology explore every possible avenue in the search for speed.

106 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Customer perspective

In essence, it works by using an exact replica pieces of data. Whereas a standard PC might of the car on a computer and then providing take months to perform these calculations, the detailed aerodynamic analysis of how different Dell HPC cluster gets the job done in 17 hours. parts might perform on an actual racetrack (see In a sport where time is the most precious Figure 1). The replica of the car, which in itself commodity of all, this is the real magic of CFD: takes approximately three weeks to make, is the less time it takes to assess whether a part will painstakingly built from every single wing, nut, work, the quicker the part can be manufactured and bolt—themselves all designed on a computer. and fitted to the car. From there, Team Lotus CFD aerodynamicists can After the HPC cluster has made its calculations, begin to test the validity of any part on the car and, the engineers working on the car will not crucially, experiment with new ones. simply receive a several-hundred-page dossier containing numerical data. Instead, the final two From calculation to visualization hours of the HPC cluster’s 17-hour workout is This is the point at which the HPC cluster post-processing, which converts the mass of enters the process. If Team Lotus engineers information into eight videos, several graphs, and want to assess the potential performance of a new front wing, for example, CFD will perform The great thing is that CFD allows us to a series of calculations to provide them with a “ comprehensive breakdown of how air is flowing experiment with a lot of ideas at once, and over that part and how it is affecting airflow over the rest of the car. it will cost us only hours in this HPC cluster, The first stage of the CFD process is called rather than having to physically fabricate the meshing. Imagine that a giant fishing net with thousands of tiny squares has been placed over parts to try in a real wind tunnel. You can run the car, and that each of those squares has in turn been divided in half to create thousands a hundred slightly different versions of a wing and thousands of tiny triangles. CFD will provide through CFD and it will tell you which one incredibly in-depth information for each of these several million triangles on variables such as will be the most efficient.” pressure, velocity, turbulence, and temperature, —Geoff Dunk giving the team’s engineers a microscopic HPC engineer at Team Lotus understanding of how the part they are testing June 2011 might function in the real world. It can even give them information on thermals, which is useful approximately 200 pictures for the race engineers for when the engineers are looking into how to analyze. “The great thing is that CFD allows the exhaust gases are exiting the car and what us to experiment with a lot of ideas at once, and effect they are having on certain parts, such as it will cost us only hours in this HPC cluster, rather the suspension and rear wing. CFD can easily tell than having to physically fabricate the parts to try them, for example, if these gases are too hot for in a real wind tunnel,” says Geoff Dunk, whose job the bodywork—something that an F1 team would is to run the Team Lotus HPC cluster. “You can have discovered as recently as 20 years ago only run a hundred slightly different versions of a wing when the car caught fire. through CFD and it will tell you which one will be To provide the engineers with this the most efficient.” information, the HPC cluster performs a series of highly complex partial differential equations. Maximum performance through And in assessing the validity of just one part it will minimum interference make more than 10 billion individual calculations, With CFD being so dependent on huge amounts eventually reducing these to around 800 million of information, the HPC cluster’s function is

simply about power, memory, and speed. Having requirements. Your computer at home basically cost Team Lotus approximately US$1.5 million, gets slower and slower the older it gets—storing this supercomputer is made up of 1,500 cores data and downloading applications all take and has 96 TB worth of storage—enough to keep their toll. The HPC cluster doesn’t get slower. six months’ worth of CFD data available. “It’s an Everything is locked down and the OS stays incredibly impressive machine,” confirms Dunk. exactly the same. There are no software updates “It’s essentially 186 separate machines which have or anything capable of upsetting it.” been made into one giant one, with each one Such is the importance of CFD that the having 24 GB of RAM for memory.” HPC cluster is on 24 hours a day all year round, HPC clusters are made-to-order designs performing a maximum of six 17-hour jobs at catering to the specific needs of an organization. once; the only exception is an enforced two- The HPC cluster for Team Lotus was custom built week factory shutdown in August that all F1 by Dell over a period of two months before its racing teams must observe. With such extreme delivery to Team Lotus in April 2010. “Once it demands being placed on highly sensitive and was delivered, it took us about two months expensive equipment, every eventuality must to tune,” says Dunk. “In actual fact we’re still be covered—even the threat of power outages. tuning it now. The reason we need to do this is Next to the HPC cluster are sixty 24-volt because each machine has an OS on it, such as batteries, similar to those found in a car but the Microsoft® Windows® OS, that can be tuned slightly more hard wearing. If the electricity is for maximum performance. Everything needs to cut off, these batteries will automatically keep be kept as free as possible for memory and disk the cluster running on full power. However, they space so that it’s as fast as possible for our CFD are capable of powering it for only 12 minutes,

Understanding aerodynamics

What factors affect the speed of a race car? Find out as Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer of Team Lotus, discusses how aerodynamics, downforce, and other variables are reflected in reality during a straight-line aero test.

bit.ly/qeqZ7F

Figure 1. Assessing CFD data to streamline parts development for F1 cars

108 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Customer perspective

buying enough time for Dunk or whoever is as CFD there’s another department called on-site to shut down the HPC cluster properly. Finite Element Analysis, which is a structural Team Lotus must also have a transfer unit that department concerned with how the carbon cleans the electricity powering the cluster. “It’s fiber used in the cars twists and bends,” says very important that the electricity is spotless, Dunk. “Currently, all that analysis is done on with no spikes or interference,” says Dunk. software similar to that used in the HPC cluster but on a smaller scale. They could be interested Concurrent processing to accelerate in getting some more power.” car design Almost all F1 teams use CFD in conjunction Essentially, the key to the HPC cluster’s function with real wind tunnels, where parts shown to within the team lies not only in the vast numbers have promise in CFD are physically made and of calculations it can perform, but also in the tested on a 60-percent-sized model of the car. amount of work it can process simultaneously. This physical test is done for one very good With six concurrent 17-hour jobs always being reason: as useful a tool as CFD is, it cannot put through the cluster, this throughput allows replicate real-life conditions in the way that a the team to have a constant cycle of investigating wind tunnel can. “As advanced as CFD gets, several parts at any one time—enabling new I think we will always use wind tunnels in parts to be manufactured quickly and, as a result, F1,” says Dunk. “The conditions within CFD making a difference to the car on the track as are basically utopian—the wind is right and soon as possible. everything is perfect. At a racetrack, on the other Team Lotus certainly gets its money’s worth hand, you’ve got all sorts of environments that from the HPC cluster, particularly when it is can’t be simulated—dust, sand blowing, even the working at full capacity, according to Dunk: changes in ambient temperature. A wind tunnel “The HPC cluster is always running flat out. is not real life either, but it will always be closer Fridays are a busy day for it, for example, to it than CFD.” because the weekend usually has a fair few Even so, CFD remains one of the most vital

jobs lined up. Come 6 p.m. on a Friday, the development tools available in F1 racing today. machine is screaming, because having six jobs The progress of the technology in a relatively going through it means that every single core is short space of time has been relentless: in 2011, running at 100 percent.” an F1 team may be capable of performing as much as 100 times more work using CFD than The continuing need for speed it would have been able to do in 2001. Within However, not even HPC clusters are spared from another 10 years, powered by ever faster and the relentless march of computer development, more sophisticated HPC clusters, the progress of and conversations have already begun between the world’s most technologically advanced sport Team Lotus and Dell to replace the current will undoubtedly be just as impressive. cluster with a faster one. “We can’t actually make this supercomputer any quicker now,” admits Author Dunk. “And it has a finite life just like any piece of computer equipment. The ultimate aim for Hans Seeberg is editor of F1 Racing magazine and us is to get the 17-hour job down to 10 hours. If a journalist with over 15 years of experience. we could set the HPC cluster working on a part and get an answer back later that day rather than Learn more the following morning, that could make a real difference. I’d imagine the new one will appear Team Lotus: sometime next year.” teamdellracing.com

It immediately begs the question: what Dell HPC: would happen to this HPC cluster? “As well dell.to/qL46Fh

Planning for a smooth UNIX-to-Linux migration

By Yogesh Devi

Migrating from the UNIX® OS to the Linux® OS helps reduce capital and operating costs while increasing IT flexibility and scalability. Find out more about how to determine the right time to make the move and what to look for in a migration vendor.

hat is driving the migration from lower than that of RISC-based servers running UNIX to Linux? According to proprietary UNIX variants. Replacing legacy researchers at the University of RISC-based servers with potentially fewer, WLeeds, a mere 5 percent minority more energy-efficient x86-based servers also can influence a crowd’s direction; the remaining helps drive down data center expansion costs. 95 percent follow without realizing it.1 On the Operating costs are an additional consideration: other hand, convergence theory postulates that running Linux on x86-based systems helps individuals who want to act in a certain way come reduce system maintenance, software licensing, together in a crowd. No matter how psychologists staffing, and energy costs compared to a typical may look at it, the fact is that a growing number RISC-based deployment. of like-minded IT professionals have converged The open Linux platform enables on the path of Linux migration—prompting many organizations to simplify their operations, organizations to take a closer look. And when they enhance flexibility, and avoid vendor lock-in. It do, convincing cost-efficiencies are spurring them also provides a scalable, cost-effective platform on. Beyond the strategic reasons for migrating to for cloud computing–based environments. Linux, important considerations include how to determine the best time to move forward and what When is the best time to migrate? to look for in a migration vendor. For some, it’s no longer a question of whether to migrate—it’s a question of when. Although Why migrate to Linux? there are no ready-made answers, the following Several compelling reasons point toward the questions can help organizations determine when migration from UNIX to Linux (see Figure 1). First the time has come: and foremost, shrinking IT budgets have led organizations to examine the cost advantages • Are legacy systems coming to end of life? of an x86-based Linux system over a RISC- • Are legacy systems too expensive to maintain? based UNIX system. Consider capital costs: for • Do performance and scalability meet current comparable performance, the cost of industry- and projected needs? standard systems—such as Dell™ PowerEdge™ • Are operating costs too high? servers running Linux—can be significantly • Are IT systems inflexible, hampering innovation?

1 “Consensus decision making in human crowds,” by John R. G. Dyer et al., in Animal Behaviour 75, 2008.

110 2011 Issue 03 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Linux

Dive deeper “Linux migration provides a way for Switching from RISC-based systems running UNIX to x86-based servers running organizations to move beyond the Linux was once considered risky. Not anymore. Discover how and why savvy IT leaders challenges of maintaining legacy are leaving legacy systems behind and moving ahead with an IT infrastructure that’s flexible UNIX systems toward the scalability, enough to respond to dynamic business demands. flexibility, and cost-efficiency of an marketing.dell.com/risc -migration-wp open, x86-based Linux system.”

• Is time to market too long? vendor who will provide best-of-breed, • Are operational processes becoming standards-based technology and service too complex? without lock-in to proprietary hardware, software, operating systems, or services. A considerable amount of calculation The vendor should be committed to goes into deciding whether organizations industry standards such as Portable should take the plunge. In the end, it boils Operating System Interface for UNIX down to a reasonable risk-reward ratio. A (POSIX) and the Linux Standard Base. good yardstick is the return on investment (ROI) that can be expected from this Breadth and depth of experience migration within a fixed time frame. The Look for a vendor with experience that aim is to realize a positive ROI at or before spans the migration spectrum, from large- a reasonable time horizon—say two to scale, enterprise-wide migrations involving three years—from the start of the migration. multiple applications to individual projects If a vendor can categorically determine for single applications. This experience this horizon, then an organization should indicates that the vendor likely has the consider migrating. necessary technical and strategic know-how and has gained both breadth and depth of Who should help in the migration? knowledge. Also consider vendors who can Converting an existing IT infrastructure to solve support issues in-house. the Linux platform can divert IT staff from Experienced vendors will have mission-critical tasks, and unexpected migrated to the Linux OS from many UNIX obstacles may hinder the process. variants, including the Oracle® Solaris, Organizations looking to simplify the IBM® AIX®, HP-UX, SCO OpenServer, migration process can benefit from the and NCR UNIX SVR4 operating systems. assistance of an experienced vendor. Furthermore, they should offer a choice of Linux distributions from vendors such as Vendor-agnostic services Red Hat® Enterprise Linux and Novell® SUSE® Vendor-agnostic vendor: this term is Linux Enterprise, and communities such as not intended to be an oxymoron. It is Community Enterprise Operating System important for organizations to find a (CentOS) and Ubuntu.

Meticulous methodologies Meticulous planning and strong project Linux is ready for prime time. Major governance are key requirements for a smooth While UNIX systems are traditionally known independent software vendors (ISVs) already for their reliability, Linux systems have migration, and these can stem only from ship Linux versions of their software. factored reliability into the x86 Linux runs many mission-critical architecture and are designed established, well-developed methodologies. systems around the world for to provide equivalent, if not banking, health care, security, Sound methodologies enable successful Big stage Built-in better, reliability as their and other deployments that UNIX counterparts. deployments reliability assessment, design, implementation, and require 99.999% uptime. maintenance of migrated environments. Administrators ﬁnd the Minimal Compelling By mapping out a favorable Apart from solid methodologies, the functionality and environment retraining cost beneﬁts short-term ROI horizon for of Linux similar to those of vendor should provide a balanced mix a Linux migration, funds can be their existing UNIX versions. freed for other strategic initiatives. of practice leads, consultants, program For end users, the move to Linux is typically transparent. managers, and architects—preferably ones with a strong network of industry partners such as Intel, Red Hat, Novell, Accenture, and BMC. Moreover, the vendor should Figure 1. Considerations for moving to Linux be able to maintain servers, storage, and software under a single umbrella. cost of reconnecting interfaces broken migration provides a way for organizations to by migration, impact of migration on the move beyond the challenges of maintaining Established best practices for migration user community, leverage obtained by the legacy UNIX systems toward the scalability, Vendors with established migration salvage value of the hardware, reduced flexibility, and cost-efficiency of an open, practices bring to the table consulting energy consumption for cooling, and other x86-based Linux system. methodologies that factor in a whole migration-induced changes. gamut of considerations. They address Author specific customer pain points and present Why it makes sense to converge on a comprehensive solution that spans the an open, cost-effective platform Yogesh Devi leads the UNIX-to-Linux-Migration Center of Excellence for Dell Services. Over the systems development life cycle (SDLC), Convergence has brought together IT past 22 years, he has spent much time migrating which includes assessment, planning, professionals driven by the common goal UNIX applications to Linux. design, migration, and deployment. of Linux migration and the promise of an A vendor’s repertoire of best practices enhanced IT infrastructure—making a case Learn more should account for migration-induced for the operational and cost benefits of the changes and their effects. These elements— migration. To help plan a successful UNIX-to- Dell services: which should not be overlooked because Linux migration, organizations can explore dell.com/services they can affect the time-horizon calculation the alternatives with vendors offering broad- Linux operating system solutions: for a positive ROI—include the following: based experience and deep expertise. Linux dell.com/linux Secure and manage VDI services with less infrastructure.

Virtualization dramatically improves operating Learn how you can use one dynamic and unified efficiency and flexibility, but it can also increase system to: the complexity of securing and managing your • Consolidate, scale, and secure your infrastructure resources. more effectively

• Deliver VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Read this informative article to ﬁnd out how solutions concurrently F5 and Dell™ can help you improve the security, • Simplify and centralize secure access control availability, and scalability of virtual desktop infrastructures and web-based applications.

>> Scan the barcode or visit Dell.to/kLg0ks to read the article.

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