Sustainable MIS Infrastructure BSAD 141 Dave Novak BDIS: 5.1 and 5.2

Lecture Overview MIS Infrastructure Supporting operations Backup plan Disaster recovery plan Business continuity plan Agile MIS Infrastructure EWaste Sustainable IT Infrastructure

MIS Infrastructure What is it? Plans for how a firm will build, deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and MIS assets Hardware Software Network Client devices & server devices What is the difference between a client and a server? Hardware Consists of the physical devices associated with a computer system Software The set of instructions the hardware executes to carry out specific tasks Network A communications system created by linking two or more devices and establishing a standard methodology in which they can communicate Client A computer designed to request information from a server. Server A computer dedicated to providing information in response to requests. Enterprise architect A person grounded in technology, fluent in business, and able to provide the important bridge between MIS and the business

MIS Infrastructure Data center – A facility used to house management information systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems Cisco projections for data center / cloud traffic to triple over next 3-4 years http://www.zdnet.com/cisco-projects-data-center-cloud-traffic-to-triple- by-2017-7000021985/ If we take a holistic and integrated approach to overall company growth, the benefits of integrating information MIS infrastructures, environnemental MIS infrastructures, and sustainable MIS infrastructures become obvious. For example, a company could easily create a backup of its software and important information in one or more geographically dispersed locations using cloud computing. This would be far cheaper than building its own hot and cold sites in different areas of the country. In the case of a security breach, failover can be deployed as a virtual machine in one location of the cloud can be shut down as another virtual machine in a different location on the cloud comes online.

Data Centers Why would this matter to you? 1) This is the reality of modern IT / IS operations 2) HUGE $$$ 3) HUGE implications with respect to your organization’s information / data needs and uses

Data Centers Design and facilities Infrastructure Power, energy efficiency cooling, site selection, cable infrastructure Infrastructure Legacy hardware, OS integration, rack –vs- blade, virtualization, storage and capacity –vs- performance Operations and best practices Staffing, disaster recovery, capacity planning

Data Center Tour Google Data Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AiN7oJaIM ISWest Green technology Data Center Tour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlDWMg49z_U A not-so-impressive Data Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBUYIv1DTYI Notice the: Cabling – rat’s nest, clothes line, rainbow of colors Removed floor panels with fans resting on them Tripping hazards ‘sticky notes’ on servers

Sustainable Data Centers In addition to cost and performance considerations, may focus on: Reducing carbon emissions Reducing required floor space Choosing a very specific geographic location based on more than just cost minimization strategies

Data Center –vs- Cloud Data centers – enterprise IT, organization specific IT resources / assets Public cloud providers (Amazon, Facebook, Google) – provide IT-related resources and services to anyone for a fee

Cloud Computing Refers to the use of resources and applications hosted remotely on the Internet With cloud computing, an individual or business pays only for the services they need, when they need them and where, much as we use and pay for electricity. In the past, a company would have to pay millions of dollars for the hardware, software, and networking equipment required to implement a large system such as payroll or sales management. A cloud computing user can simply access the cloud and request a single license to a payroll application. The user does not have to incur any hardware, software, or networking expenses. As the business grows and the user requires more employees to have access to the system, the business simply purchases additional licenses. Rather than running software on a local computer or server, companies can now reach to the cloud to combine software applications, data storage, and considerable computing power. Utility computing Offers a pay-per-use revenue model similar to a metered service such as gas or electricity.

Cloud Computing Why would an organization choose this option? Lack of technical expertise Cost savings (capital costs and maintenance) Flexibility Scalability

Cloud Computing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS6w5KYlHko&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_DKNwK_ms This sounds great! Why would your organization build and maintain their own enterprise IT? Maintaining an enterprise IT system allows the organization complete control – cloud computing does not

Data Center –vs- Cloud All storage, security, and service solutions are not equal…. Cloud providers tend to rely on inexpensive, older (not cutting edge) hardware solutions No tier 1 storage vendors in the public cloud (these are largest, most well- known vendors in the field)

Data Center –vs- Cloud Cloud providers tend to rely on Direct Attached Storage (DAS) as opposed to Storage Area Networks (SAN) and do not use Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) DAS is inexpensive and simple “Best practices” for fault tolerance and performance utilize some level of RAID – cloud providers tend to replicate complete data to multiple locations

Data Center –vs- Cloud Cloud providers tend to rely less on virtualization Virtualization solutions tend to be open source as opposed to commercial Cloud data centers focus on cost minimization and tend to locate where resources are least expensive

Supporting Operations 1) Backup plan Strategy for copying and archiving data 2) Disaster recovery/business continuity plan Describes how the organization will deal with any potential disaster Minimize impact Prevention Maximize ability to resume mission critical functions

1) Backup and Recovery Full Backup – An exact copy of a system’s information Differential Backup – Copies only subset of files or parts of files that have changed since last full backup Incremental Backup – Copies all files or parts of files that have changed since previous backup of any type

1) Backup and Recovery Type Pros Cons Full Backup Restoration is fastest – need only one set of backup data Backup process is slowest High storage requirements Differential Backup Backup process is faster than full Restoration is faster than incremental Storage requirements less than full Restoration is slower than full Backup process is slower than incremental Incremental Fastest backup process Least storage space needed Restoration is slowest and requires several sets of data Source: http://www.backup.info/difference-between-full-differential-and-incremental-backup

2) Disaster Recovery Plan A detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of natural or man-made disasters Disaster recovery cost curve - Charts (1) the cost to the organization of the unavailability of information and technology and (2) the cost to the organization of recovering from a disaster over time Hurricanes, floods, fires, and many other types of natural disasters can have devastating effects on businesses. One of the most common types of hardware failures occurs from rats, mice, and squirrels chewing on cords, cables, and devices.

2) Disaster Recovery Curve

2) Disaster Recovery Plan Hot site - A separate and fully equipped facility where the company can move immediately after a disaster and resume business Cold site - A separate facility that does not have any computer equipment, but is a place where employees can move after a disaster

Agile MIS Infrastructure Characteristics of an agile (clever, coordinated) MIS infrastructure 1) Accessibility 2) Availability 3) Maintainability 4) Portability 5) Reliability 6) Scalability 7) Usability If an organization grows by 50 percent in a single year, its systems must be able to handle a 50 percent growth rate. Systems that cannot adapt to organizational changes can severely hinder the organization’s ability to operate. The future of an organization depends on its ability to meet its partners and customers on their terms, at their pace, any time of the day, in any geographic location. These are commonly known as the “ilities”

1) Accessibility Refers to the ease of accomplishing objectives: defines different “levels” or categories of user in terms of what each user can access, view, or create/delete when using a system Administrator access – Unrestricted access to the entire system

2) Availability Availability – Refers to the time when the system is operational or ready for use Unavailable – Time frames when a system is not operating and cannot be used High availability – System is continuously operational at all times

3) Maintainability Refers to how quickly, or the ease a system can transform to support changes as well as the time/effort to repair or upgrade Organizations must watch today’s business, as well as tomorrow’s, when designing and building systems Systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of business changes For example, a system might be designed to include the ability to handle multiple currencies and languages, even though the company is not currently performing business in other countries. When the company starts growing and performing business in new countries, the system will already have the flexibility to handle multiple currencies and languages. If the company failed to recognize that its business would someday be global, it would need to redesign all its systems to handle multiple currencies and languages, not easy once systems are up and running.

4) Portability Refers to the ability of an application to operate on different devices or software platforms: how quickly/easily an application be moved from one environment to another Apple’s iTunes is readily available to users of Mac computers and also users of PC computers, smart phones, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and so on. It is also a portable application. Because Apple insists on compatibility across its products, both software and hardware, Apple can easily add to its product, device, and service offerings without sacrificing portability. Many software developers are creating programs that are portable to all three devices—the iPhone, iPod, and iPad—which increases their target market and they hope their revenue.

5) Reliability Refers to the proportion of time a system is functioning correctly and the accuracy of the information being provided Reliability is another term for accuracy when discussing the correctness of systems within the context of efficiency IT metrics Inaccurate information processing occurs for many reasons, from the incorrect entry of data to information corruption. Unreliable information puts the organization at risk when making decisions based on the information.

6) Scalability Refers to how well a system can adapt to the increased demands of growth Performance - Measures how quickly a system performs a process or transaction Capacity planning - Determines future environmental infrastructure requirements to ensure high-quality system performance Web 2.0 is driving demand for capacity planning. Delivering entertainment-grade video over the Internet poses significant challenges as service providers scale solutions to manage millions of users, withstand periods of peak demand, and deliver a superior quality of experience while balancing network capacity and efficient capital investment. Given the success of YouTube.com and the likelihood of similar video experiences, the bandwidth required to transport the video services will continue to increase and the possibility of video degradation will become more challenging. To ensure adaptable systems performance, capacity planning helps an organization determine future IT infrastructure requirements for new equipment and additional network capacity. It is cheaper for an organization to design and implement an IT infrastructure that envisions performance capacity growth than to update all the equipment after the system is already operational.

7) Usability Refers to the degree to which a system is easy to learn and efficient and satisfying to use How would you measure this? Providing hints, tips, shortcuts, and instructions for any system, regardless of its ease of use, is recommended. Apple understood the importance of usability when it designed the first iPod. One of the iPod’s initial attractions was the usability of the click wheel. One simple and efficient button operates the iPod, making it usable for all ages. And to ensure ease of use, Apple also made the corresponding iTunes software intuitive and easy to use.

E-Waste Discarded, obsolete, or broken electronic devices CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, printer cartridges, cell phones, TVs, DVD players, etc… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Zq Sige34c

E-Waste Americans discard 30 Million computers each year Europeans discards 100 Million phones each year Only 15-20% of all E-waste is recycled E-Waste is 2% of the physical waste produced in the US This 2% is the source of 50-70% of the toxins released from our waste stream Source: Green IT, Velte, Velte and Elsenpeter. Mcgraw Hill. 2008

Why is E-waste different from other waste streams? Anticipated increase, decrease or leveling off of this material? Lifespan of Electronics compared to other appliances? Up-cycling parts or components? Ease of assembly and modularization of parts? Same materials?

Sustainable IT Infrastructure What does this even mean? Pursuing goals such as: Improving “efficiency” Reduce green house gas emissions Reduce electricity usage Reduce e-waste Educate the public and users

Sustainable IT Infrastructure The book focuses on “technological” solutions, but in reality usage policies are the most cost effective approaches to sustainability Energy star purchases Exchanges for outdated equipment Turning off monitors – putting computers in sleep mode Using smart power strips

Sustainable IT Infrastructure The components of a sustainable MIS infrastructure can include Grid computing Cloud computing Virtualized computing

Grid Computing A collection of computers, often geographically dispersed, that are coordinated to solve a common problem Applying resources from many computers to share processing power, memory, and data storage Grid computing - A collection of computers, often geographically dispersed, that are coordinated to solve a common problem. With grid computing a problem is broken into pieces and distributed to many machines, allowing faster processing than could occur with a single system. Computers typically use less than 25 percent of their processing power, leaving more than 75 percent available for other tasks. Innovatively, grid computing takes advantage of this unused processing power by linking thousands of individual computers around the world to create a “virtual supercomputer” that can process intensive tasks Smart grid Delivers electricity using two-way digital technology.

Virtualization Creating a software-based representation of something (rather than the actual thing) Making one resource appear as many (one physical file server appear as multiple file servers) or making many resources appear as one Mimicking the behavior of another system using simulation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AiN7oJaIM

Virtualization For example, a virtual OS is the concept of having more than one OS (more than the native OS) on a single computer Parallels VMWare VirtualBox Virtual Win Windows OS can be run in a virtual environment on a MAC Linux on a PC

Virtualization Virtualization technology fundamentally strives for the same thing regardless of vendor.. Reducing the technological footprint by enabling more virtual machines (VM’s) to run on a single hardware device. Traditional Standalone Server. May be Intel or RISC Virtualized server architecture P to V process

Virtualization Physical World Virtualized World Hardware Traditional x86 Architecture Single OS image per machine Software and hardware tightly coupled Multiple applications often conflict Underutilized resources Physical World: To better understand how these business benefits are delivered via virtualization, let’s talk a little bit about how virtualization works. In the traditional IT stack there was a rigid 1-1 mapping between hardware, an instance of an operating system and a single software application. That rigid model lead to tremendous under-utilization of hardware resources. The industry statistic is that in this traditional model, servers are utilized only 5-15%. This is a huge problem for companies – having a very large pool of resources that stays idle most of the time. it is a picture that CFOs are very unhappy about. But the story doesn't end there – the server sprawl and the associated underutilization of resources have ripple through effects for the entire environment – server sprawl means not only wasted investment in hardware, but also unsustainable power, cooling, and real estate costs. This tremendous complexity means that it is hard to provision new infrastructure and to respond to changing business needs. IT departments are stuck wasting cycles on mundane tasks, and don’t have time to focus on what really matters. For example, in most companies a single sys admin can support only up to 20 servers, and the time for provisioning a new server is often 6-8 weeks. Virtualized World: Virtualization breaks the rigid bond between hardware and software, and allows multiple instances of an operating systems and multiple software applications to run on the same hardware box. In essence, virtualization “bundles” or encapsulates the operating system and a software application into a virtual machine. This entire “package” of virtual hardware - CPU, memory and networking, OS and application, is turned into a single software file. Virtual machines are hardware independent, and because they are files, they can be manipulated with the ease of file copy and paste. Virtual machines bring an entirely new level of efficiency and flexibility to the IT environment. One way to understand the impact of virtualization on the IT industry is to compare it with electronic banking – once the cash money was turned into bytes, it increased the velocity of commerce – money can be moved around the world now with lightening speed – because it is virtual, it is information. By turning physical capabilities into information, virtualization makes provisioning and managing the entire IT infrastructure a lot faster and more flexible. Virtualization: Separation of OS and hardware OS and application contained in single file Applications are isolated from one another Hardware independence & flexibility 41

Driving Reasons for Virtual Infrastructure Economic Environmental Less power consumed Less toxic electronic devices System Portability Enhanced Management

Summary MIS Infrastructure Supporting operations components Agile MIS Infrastructure components EWaste Sustainable IT Infrastructure components