The DR Datacentre - is there a more Cost-Effective way? Dennis Adams a s s o c i a t e s UK Oracle User Group Conference 2007 Dennis Adams 3rd December 2007 Rev 1433

Introduction For many companies, the DR Datacentre represents a significant cost-sink investment. This investment is only realised when DR has to be invoked. Given the pressures on budgets these days, there is an increasing demand to make effective use of this Datacentre cost by using it for Production purposes Despite this, the benefits of a truly “active-active” Datacentre elude many companies. Is there a more Cost-Effective way? 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Cost-Effective The “Green Datacentre” Cost-Effective = –Managed Costs + –Efficient use of the resources. “Green Issues” have become increasingly important to IT Management, particularly when it comes to Infrastructure procurement. Of all the costs of IT Production, the Datacentre itself, and its running costs, are a key issue. The Datacentre is the most significant single cost of IT. 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

How people view the DR Datacentre FSA demands it ! Insurance Policy “Just in Case” Somewhere to put the development servers? Don’t spend too much money on it! DR is really part of BUSINESS CONTINUITY 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

One-Way DR 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

In Practice, is your DR Datacentre % Production Ready? Fully equiped? Able to be invoked at short notice? Large enough for the levels of production utilisation that would be required if that disaster really happened? Good enough to run your company from. –For months And Months 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Active-Active ? Active-Passive is seen as an inefficient approach to DR. Many companies are keen to implement an Active-Active Dr Approach in order to ensure that hardware is appropriately utilised. But there are practical Issues with Active-Active Works well for applications which scale linearly. –There aren’t many of them. Exchange? Highly Complex Lots of data migration 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Thinking Outside the Box Why have a DR Datacentre at all? Why do we want a DR Datacentre? –In order to support Business Functionality At what level of availability? For how long? Let’s go back to the requirements... 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

The “Armageddon principles” If you do have to invoke DR you probably won’t need to support 100% of the typical production VOLUME … but you probably will need 100% of the typical production FUNCTIONALITY Personnel Systems? Purchasing? Help Desk Software ? Customer Relationship?.. database of equipment/applications/support responsibilities.? NOT ONLY the BUSINESS SYSTEMS but also… 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

The “Armageddon principles” Your most valuable IT resource is your PEOPLE Their knowledge, expertise and understanding of the business Some of them may not be there… Those that are around may need help There may be a shortage of knowledge, expertise and understanding of the business 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

The “Armageddon principles” IF you invoke, you will probably have to continue with the DR configuration for a very long time, probably MONTHS Do not assume that you can suddenly purchase new equipment or infrastructure to make up the shortfall…. (Don’t forget, this is a DISASTER scenario!) 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

What the Armageddon principles tell us Ideally, organisations need to have all their DR infrastructure in place all the time. DR plans should cover how to run the business, not just how to survive the disaster. IF DR is invoked, it will need to work. –So that teams can concentrate on the more complex tasks of moving the business forward and reacting to the disaster. –We don’t want to be side-tracked by BAU problems. There will be enough going on without having to procure and deploy new infrastructure on the fly –… even if there is time. 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007 Documentation could be one of your most valuable DR products

We don’t just have one Application 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

... We have hundreds ! 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Application Layering Viewpoint 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

Application Layering Viewpoint 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

One-Way DR 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

A Different Approach: Be Co-Active Don’t Replicate Servers Don’t Replicate Hardware Replicate Functionality Services (Applications) deliver Business Value. Enable the Services to be hosted somewhere else if the need arises. The Co-Active Approach is based on the principle that DR contingency should be addressed at Datacentre level, not at Application Level. 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Co-Active DR 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

Co-Active DR (2) 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

Acceptable Recovery Timescale seconds minutes hours days weeks Recovery Support Costs ££ Different Business Requirements mean different DR profiles 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited,

Pre-requisites for a Co-Active Datacentre A Co-Active Datacentre is only practical for organisations which first address the issue of Technology Standards in IT Production Two (or more) Datacentres Investment in networking connectivity Both fully “Production Ready” Inventory of Applications Standardisation of Infrastructure Solutions Ongoing commitment to “pairing” applications. “Business-Centred” (not “Application Centred”) view of IT Mature Project Financing Strategy 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Action List for designing a Co-Active Strategy Audit your current Applications Categorise by: –Technology Stack –DR Recovery Profiles Agree Levels of DR Recovery associated with different applications. Group applications of similar stacks. Deploy Co-actively. 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007 Inventory of Applications Standardisation of Infrastructure Solutions

Advantages of Co-Active approach Improved Business confidence in the ability of IT to support a Business Continuity issue. Fully functional second Datacentre does not require “prep” work before being invoked. Both Datacentres are running fully production-level applications, which proves their ability to support production. Effective utilisation of equipment. DR Testing simplified. Costs ? £ 3rd December © Dennis Adams Associates Limited, 2007

Conclusions As long as we see DR provision from a purely Application level, we may be missing opportunities to reduce costs and optimise our use of equipment. In order to achieve this, it is essential that this is introduced as part of a strong Strategic Initiative. There are technical issues. Massive investment would be required in IT Infrastructure in order to prepare for Co-Active. 3rd December 2007© Dennis Adams Associates Limited, £

The DR Datacentre - is there a more Cost-Effective way? Dennis Adams a s s o c i a t e s UK Oracle User Group Conference 2007 Dennis Adams 3rd December 2007