Understanding IT Infrastructure Chapter 5

Key Learning Objectives Recognize the core components of modern IT infrastructure and understand the management issues associated with these components Understand the business opportunities and challenges associated with pervasive internetworked computing power

75% of al IT dollars go to infrastructure (2001) Half of all capital expenditures in many companies What is IT infrastructure? Past IT infrastructure decisions severely impact the current business capabilities Leave it to the techies?

Agenda The drivers of changes: better chips, bigger pipes The basic components of internetworking infrastructures The rise of internetworking: business implications

The drivers of change: better chips, bigger pipes 1965, Gordon Moore The performance of memory chips doubled every 18 to 24 months Size and cost roughly constant

Moore‘s Law

The Evolution of Corporate IT Infrastructure

1960s and 1970s Centralized computing architecture In batches

1980s-1990s Personal computer (early 1980) Local area network (LAN) Client-server Front and back office Internet in businesses (early 1990s)

History of Internet 1960s, cold war U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) No critical communication lines or nodes could be targeted by an enemy Open standards (e.g. TCP/IP) Not owned by any person or company

Metcalfe’s Law The usefulness of a network increases with the square of the number of users connected to the network n2

Metcalfe’s Law

The Bandwidth Explosion

The result of better chips and bigger pipes? Reduction in the cost of computing power Reduction in the cost of exchanging information between computers How to mix old and new? The function of mainframes?

Basic components of internetworking infrastructures Technologies (HW and SW) that permit exchange of information between organizations Processing system HW and SW proved an organization’s ability to handle business transactions Facilities The physical systems that house and protect computing and network devices Many more degrees of freedom in how components can be arranged and managed

Network Core technologies Key management issues Fibre optics, cable systems, DSL, satellite, wireless, internetworking hardware (routers switches, firewalls), content delivery software, identity and policy management, monitoring How to select technologies and standard How to select partners How to manage partner relationships How to assure reliability How to maintain security

Processing systems Core technologies Key management issues Transaction software (enterprise systems offered by companies such as SAP and Oracle or more targeted solutions, sometimes home-grown), servers, server appliances, client devices (PCs, handhelds), mobile phones What to keep internal and what to outsource How to deploy, grow, and modify Enterprise system or best-of-breed hybrid Relationships with legacies How to manage incidents How to recover after a “disaster”

Facilities Core technologies Key management issues Corporate data centres, collocation data centres, managed services data centres, data closets Internal or external management Choosing a facilities model suited to one’s company How to assure reliability How to maintain security How to maximize energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact Source: http://blog.connectzone.com/clean-up-your-data-closet/

The technology elements of networks Local area networks (LANs) Define the physical features of solution to local communication problems and the protocols (rules) Token Ring protocol Speak when you have the token http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Token_Ring/IEEE_802.5 Ethernet computer speak out whenever they 1) have something to say, and 2) hear silence on the network for a moment What is a collision?

A Simple LAN

Wireless access points Network adapters Hubs, switches Serve as central junctions into which cable from the computers on a LAN are connected Wireless access points Connect wireless devices into hubs and switches Network adapters Are physically fitted into the computers on a LAN Translate the computer’s communications into a language that can be broadcast over the LAN and understood by listening computers

Wide area network Provide a way for computers physically distant from each other to communicate Networks of networks Enable LANs to connect and communicate Intranet A WAN inside the boundaries of a company’s physical premises Extranet A WAN that extends outward from a company’s physical premises to business partners

An Example of a WAN

Firewalls and other security systems and devices Routers Routing stations for cars analogy… Firewalls and other security systems and devices Firewalls act as security sentries within and at the boundaries of an organizations internal network to protect it from intrusion from the outside HW and SW Intrusion detection systems, IDSs Sensors and probes Virtual private networks (VPNs)

Caching, content acceleration Accelerate the delivery of information across the network Caching/storing information in a location close to the destination machine content acceleration, media servers, and other specialized network devices

The technological elements of processing systems Client devices and systems PCs and handheld devices Perform front-end processing (interaction with users) Server devices and system Servers are the source of many of the IT services that clients receive from across the network Perform back-end processing (heavy computation or interaction with other back-end computers) Often physically located in data centres Special functions: database servers, web servers, application servers

Servers in a Possible E-commerce Configuration

Mainframe devices and systems Do business-critical transaction processing Develop systems that enable interaction between legacy mainframes and internetworks Middleware Help clients, servers, mainframes, and their systems coordinate activities in time and across networks Often runs on servers

Infrastructure management systems Systems for managing its computing infrastructure Monitor the performance of processing systems, devices, and networks Examples Helpdesk, deliver new software to computers throughout an organization, load balancing Business applications Computer users interact with this layer ERP, off-the-shelf packages (spreadsheet…)

The technological elements of facilities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilisr2k9zkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j70OfuL9CPw Buildings and physical spaces Size, physical features Minimize the environmental impact Network conduits and connections Speed, cost, performance, availability and security Power Uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs)

A Modern Data Center

Temperature and humidity controls Security Protect from malicious attacks, both physical and network-based Security guards, cages, locks (control access to machines) Network…much more complex

Operational characteristics of internetworks Based on open standards TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) standards define how computer send and receive data packets http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.commadmn/doc/commadmndita/tcpip_protocols.htm Hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) Prices are lower, and performance better than proprietary technologies

Operate asynchronously Unlike a telephone call, no dedicated link Internetwork communications have inherent latency Not all packages of a single message arrive in the same moment New routing technologies provide options Move high-priority packets to the top of the queues

Decentralized Scalable Routed along multiple paths

The rise of internetworking: business implications The emergence of real-time infrastructures Better data, better decisions Improve process visibility View the progress of filling an order Improved process efficiency Hold less buffer stock improves return on investment (ROI) From make-and-sell to sense-and-respond Response to actual customer demand rather than forecasted customer demand

Broader exposure to operational threats Allow access unless someone intervenes to disallow it New models of service delivery Physical location of computer less important Telephone answering machines vs. voice mail Machine vs. subscription Managing legacies Legacy systems, processes, organizations and cultures

Questions to be asked What does the public infrastructure of the Internet mean to our business operations? Are we leveraging this infrastructure to maximum advantage? How dependent are we still on proprietary technologies? How close do our company operations come to running in real time? What value creation opportunities can still be obtained by moving more in the direction of real-time value capture?

Are we exploring new service delivery models aggressively enough? Has our company taken appropriate advantage of the many degrees of architectural and operational freedom offered by internetworking technologies? Have we thought through the inherent complexities and risks in those additional degree of freedom? Are we exploring new service delivery models aggressively enough? Have we re-examined our management frameworks in light of the new and more adaptive capabilities that internetworking technologies offer? Most important, do senior business managers play and active and informed role in infrastructure design and planning decisions?