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Server Consolidation: Real People Saving Real Money Timothy Antonowicz Systems Administrator Bowdoin College

Background Bowdoin College IT environment Expanding Technology Requirements New Resource Needs

Spring 2004 Service Demands Datacenter Resources Projected Growth

Service Demands Test and Validation Infrastructure  No standard test and validation environment  No development arena Ease of Management  Increasing demands, Static staffing Higher Availability  Fault tolerance, Quicker response

Datacenter Resources Space and Resources  Floor and Rack Space Limited  Power/UPS/AC Taxed  KVM Capacity Stretched Replace/Retire Old Servers  Service costs exceeding replacement

Projected Growth New Financial System  MSSql/IIS based Application  Terminal Services for Mac users  HA/FT design requirement Extensive List of Projects/Servers  Projected 6-8 new servers

Problem Statement We need to find a solution to our space and resource problem.  Address Hardware and Physical limitations  Support our diverse systems environment  Provide best use of staff resources  Consolidate to better utilize server resources

Hardware Requirements High Density, Rack Mount Console-KVM-Cabling UPS-Power-AC Redundancy-FT-HA Industry Standard

Hardware: HP Blades High Density  40 servers in 36U Rack ILO for KVM and media Integrated Power Enclosure  Redundant AC feeds and power supplies Integrated Switches  no direct cabling  Redundant network paths

Software Requirements Flexibility  Multiple OS support Management  Ease of Use  Rapid deployment Backup and Recovery Industry Standard

Software: VMWare ESX Server “Bare Metal Install”  Licensed per server, not per VM  Each VM assigned the same virtual hardware  VMs portable between different ESX servers Image and Deploy servers in minimal time Multiple Drive States  Use of “REDO” for changes VM is comprised of 2 files for backup

Task List Build ESX infrastructure on HP Blades Create Testing infrastructure Migrate/Retire older servers Build new Financial System Build for future growth Change the mindset of IT at Bowdoin

Task: Put ESX onto HP Blades Build knowledgebase for both products  Install ESX on older DL380s  Install Windows and Linux on Blades Bring together both technologies Integrate into Bowdoin’s infrastructure  Mount common NFS share  ISO and binary storage  Backups, both physical and virtual

Task: Create Testing Infrastructure Build virtual servers as “sandboxes”  Programmers and developers  Application support and upgrades  Standardization of platforms  Backup and recovery  Self-service option

Task: Migrate or retire old servers Replace older hardware with virtual  Application upgrades on VMs  P2V migration for static servers “Plan for Virtual, move to Physical”  New upgrades or migrations are done to virtual servers first. If more resources are needed, it is moved to a blade at that time.

Task: Financial System Buildout MSSQL-IIS Application base  Mac users will need access  Must be Highly Available at all phases  Fault Tolerant  Proven patches and updates  Flexible, able to scale as needed

Financial System Solution 16 servers, both physical and virtual  3 Blades, in an Activex3 SQL cluster  2 VMs: NLB IIS cluster for Web access  2 VMs: NLB TermSvc cluster for Mac users  1 VM: Application Management server  4 VMs: Staging servers: Sql, IIS, App, TS  4 VMs: Testing servers: Sql, IIS, App, TS

Task: Build for future growth Create Server Images  Gold Win2k3 and Linux servers  Scale ESX servers for growth VM resource allocation  Scale servers at a common base  Increase disk, memory, CPU as needed  “Added resources make happy customers”

Task: Change the mindset of IT “Plan for Virtual, move to Physical”  Projects begin with virtual servers  Charge/spec for “Server Resources” Prove patches and upgrades in VM  Beat up on a Clone Spread the wealth  separate file, web, and databases for security

Bowdoin Systems Today 46 X86-based servers 15 HP BL20 Blades 9 ESX servers on 8 Blades +1 Dell tower 118 X86-based hosts 66 of them are VMs, or 56% virtualized

Savings Cost of each Blade: $6,  Includes Disk, Memory, Dual Proc, etc. Number of additional servers:  66 virtual-9 ESX servers=57 Cost to provide physical Servers 57 x $6,250= $356, ** Bowdoin did not purchase servers in FY05-06

Conclusion Server Consolidation is here and now Consolidation can be done by anyone with a little time, resources and determination The benefits can be dramatic Your boss will be happy

Questions? HP Blades VMWare Bowdoin College Red Sox starting rotation

Thank you for attending Tim Antonowicz Systems Administrator Bowdoin College