1. Deployment of a Virtualized Server Grid
Dr. Ray Nazzario
Senior Analyst
Programmer
Baylor University
Bob Hartland
Director of Security, IT Servers and Networking Systems
Baylor University
Tommy Roberson
Manager of Server Operations
Baylor University

2. Baylor University Waco, Texas
Chartered in 1845
Largest Baptist University in the World
14,000 Students
2,225 Full Time Employees
Approx. 800 Faculty
276 Servers (90 Virtual)

3. Organization Chart Information Technology and Dean of Libraries
Vice President
Pattie Orr
Associate Vice President for Information Technology
Becky King
Client Services
Security, IT Servers and Networking Systems
Bob Hartland
Data Networking
IT / Physical Security
Tommy Roberson
Dr. Ray Nazzario
Servers
Voice Networking
Information Systems and Services
Internet Services
Libraries
Organization Chart

4. Presentation Overview
Why? Our Challenges with Server Management
Implementation
Results
Challenges
Conclusion

5. It’s not only about cost

6. Why? Our Challenges with Server Management

7. Server Management Challenges
Hardware Acquisition Costs
While hardware costs have fallen, more and more applications are demanding dedicated servers.
Utilities
Power Costs
Power for servers has doubled from
(InfoWorld, 2/19/2007)
Increase mainly due to need for more small to midrange servers
Cooling Costs – cooling proportional to power

8. Server Management Challenges continued
Datacenter Space
Personnel Time
Disaster Recovery

9. Implementation

10. Implementation Scheduled a virtualization assessment Platform choices:
Showed that the 125 servers in our datacenter were at 4% avg. utilization.
Platform choices:
VMWare
Hyper-V
Xen.
Implemented Vmware Virtual Infrastructure on 8 SAN-attached Dell 2950’s
Configured Vmotion to address availability concerns
Hardware issues have yet to cause downtime
Configured DRS to provide best performance

11. Implementation Continued
To date we have 90 VM’s running on the
8 physical servers
Running around 50% capacity
Current high end VM
applications are:
Exchange front ends
SCT Web access
Printing
Currently at 11:1 ratio
Expect to reach at least 18:1 ratio

12. Results

13. Results Hardware Acquisition Costs Virtual Grid Traditional Servers
Approximate Savings so far: $265,000.
Some from our Replacement Roadmap
Some of the 90 servers would not have been purchased due to budget issues, but are now online as VM’s due to the lower costs.
Virtual Grid
Traditional Servers
Server Cost
$90,000
(8 Servers)
$450,000
(90 Servers)
Software
$50,000
Not Applicable
Storage
$45,000
None
Total Cost
$185,000
Approximate Savings
$265,000

14. Results continued Utilities Space Savings Power Savings
Cooling Savings
Space Savings
90 servers = four full size racks in the datacenter
8 servers = less then one rack
90 Servers
90 VM’s
Savings
KW*H
243,000
20,500
222,500

15. Results continued Personnel time Disaster Recovery
Faster provisioning = better service!
Better uptime
Fast Reboot
Easier remote administration with console access
Snapshots and clones can be huge time-savers
Disaster Recovery
Backing up VM files to offsite locations (in progress)

16. Challenges

17. Challenges Charge-back models Failure concerns User Perceptions
If not careful a failure could bring down dozens of VM’s
User Perceptions
Older Systems
Allows you to keep old operating systems around longer
Not Suitable for All Applications

18. Conclusion

19. Conclusions The benefits of virtualization are not only about costs
Improved Service
Better uptime
Faster deployment
Personnel Time Savings
Cost Savings

20. Questions

21. Contact Information
Dr. Ray Nazzario
Senior Analyst Programmer
Tommy Roberson
Manager of Server Operations
Bob Hartland
Director of Security, IT Servers, and Networks