Data Center Assessments: The First Step to Optimization

Table of contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Optimizing the IT architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Meeting mandates for efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Realizing return on investment (ROI) in projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Elements of a good assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Types of assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The cost of assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The benefit of assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Types of facility infrastructure assessmentsexamples of scopes of services and deliverables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A basic capacity survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 An infrastructure condition and capacity survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Thermal quick assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Thermal comprehensive assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1

Introduction
Data centers are large, important investments that, when properly designed, built, and operated, are an integral part of the business strategy driving the success of any enterprise. Yet the central focus of organizations is often the acquisition and deployment of the IT architecture equipment and systems with little thought given to the structure and space in which it is to be housed, serviced, and maintained. This invariably leads to facility infrastructure problems such as thermal hot spots, lack of UPS (uninterruptible power supply) rack power, lack of redundancy, system overloading and other issues that threaten or prevent the realization of the return on the investment in the IT systems. The solution is to understand fully the capacity of the data center to support mission critical loads (the IT infrastructure), the availability (uptime potential) of the data center, and the condition of the key facility components and systems. Management then can make informed decisions based on facts, which leads to better direction of resources to close the known gaps between what is and what should be in systems reliability. Good management decisions rest on knowing: What you have What it can, and cant do Where investment gives the greatest returns A well designed facility infrastructure assessment provides the facts needed for informed decision making, which minimizes waste in the form of misdirected investment, unrealized investment returns, and over and under-sizing the facility infrastructure systems needed to support the IT infrastructure.

The problem
Many data center managers and operations directors do not know the capacity, utilization, or the availability of their data centers. This leads to the inability to: Support a change in the business strategy Optimize the IT architecture with equipment refreshes, or through consolidation and virtualization Meet corporate mandates for efficiency Realize the return on investment (ROI) as used in justifying upgrade projects Missing any one of these business drivers can range from, in personal terms, a career changing event or, in business terms, a lost opportunity to contribute significantly to the success in achieving a business strategy.

The solution
Supporting a change in the business environment: A well-designed and executed assessment supports the ability to respond to a change in the business environment. IT processing, systems, and software are now an integral part of company offerings, either in distinct products (that is, the software driving your digital camera), or services (that is, on-line real time quotes from your car insurance company). The speed of business today is approaching real time, and change is the constant, not the exception. The ability to react to changes in the business environment quickly and effectively is not only a competitive advantage, but is required in this day and age. Understanding your capacity and utilization levels helps you understand your margin, which is the resources a data center manager needs to redirect and re-deploy to effectively manage change.

Optimizing the IT architecture

Lets face it; the cost of computing has gone down markedly. More bytes of processing can be obtained per dollar invested than ever before. With this drop in actual processing costs has come a concurrent increase in the thirst of companies for more processing capacity as the software applications become key to business products and business efficiency. Instead of seeing a reduction in the size of IT platforms due to increased processing capacity in ever-smaller footprints, the number of platforms and systems has increased to meet business demands. This has lead to large amounts of equipment with very low utilization levels (10-20% is not uncommon), which means a lot of equipment is being used ineffectively and inefficiently. The solution has been to consolidate the applications on servers to drive up the utilization through virtualization and to refresh technology through new equipment deployments that drive up processing capacity more efficiently. Knowing the ability of a given data center or data center space to support these consolidation and optimization efforts is key to realizing the value of the investment and attaining the project goals. A well designed and executed assessment will identify both the strengths of a data center facility infrastructure that can support the optimization project, and the gaps that must be closed as part of the project to insure success.

Meeting mandates for efficiency

Going green is not just good business in the 21st century; it is becoming a corporate and government mandate. Environmental or energy efficiency is as equally important as knowing how the data center can provide the flexibility to respond to changing business directions. Efficiency in a data center is ultimately the ratio of the electrical power being delivered to a data center at the utility service, to the electricity needed to run the IT infrastructure systems and platforms. This is where the real work of a data center is being performed. Knowing what the utility capacity is through a power survey and how much of that is being used for just the IT equipment facilitates the ability to identify the systems that should be targets for efficiency improvement. If, for example, an assessment finds that the UPS system is significantly oversized for the size of the data center IT equipment load, and there are multiple UPS modules in the system supplying redundancy, the analysis of the data gathered in the survey might suggest shutting down one redundant module to achieve a higher efficiency. This simple step may be counter-intuitive, but the management decision to do so would be supported by the facts discovered and analyzed in the assessment.

Realizing return on investment (ROI) in projects

Sound business practices drive good investment decisions. IT systems and software represent a significant allocation of company resources. Investments in projects to improve, upgrade, or consolidate almost always have a predicted return on investment (ROI) that justifies the management decision to approve the project. Frequently, the projects focus on one aspect, such as just the IT server investment, or the software upgrade, without considering the data center as an end-to-end information processing tool. Investments have typically been justified and made on partial information, which can result in and unrealized return on the investment when the new equipment or systems cannot be supported adequately by the facility infrastructure. The result is equipment that operates in a degraded mode because it is too hot (not enough cooling capacity), or insignificant redundancy (no dual power source for dual cord loads), or insufficient space (no rack space that fits manufacturers requirements). Due to the unforeseen constraints, the result is loss of anticipated processing capacity, or additional investment to upgrade the facility infrastructure to meet the needs of the equipment, both of which act to drive down the ROI. A well designed and executed assessment provides the information for an accurate ROI because it will identify all the factors that need to be addressed in the investment to fully realize the anticipated benefit (return).

Elements of a good assessment

Assessments are targeted to a multitude of concerns: IT architecture, software, electrical power, cooling, security, maintenance practices, and so on. They all have common elements which should be clear when their scopes of work (SOWs) are presented for consideration in purchasing or conducting an assessment service. These elements, all of which should be in the assessment report are: Survey Analysis Recommendations

Survey
A survey may take many forms but is essentially a review of information, systems, or site conditions to establish known, valid facts on which to base the analysis and recommendations necessary for sound management decision making. This may involve a high-level review of existing site documentation, equipment specifications, software capabilities, facility, or IT infrastructure systems. It is frequently conducted on site, though some surveys can be done remotely given the power of the internet and digital information processing (that is, a survey of a facility building control system through remote access link). The results of the survey are the findings which are the facts that are objective and generally agreed to on which the analysis will be performed.

Analysis
Once the survey establishes the facts, they can be held up to the scrutiny of interpretation. As with any human endeavor, this is where variances are encountered since a useful analysis relies on the expertise and experience of the person or persons looking at the facts and drawing conclusions. Validity of the analysis is only assured if it is based on facts and an objective study by a qualified and experienced professional. The expertise to do this is often found in-house (the staff and management of the data center) or can be outsourced to a qualified consultant, but in either case the implications of the facts as discovered in the survey must be understood and articulated in a useful manner. Through this process, gaps are discovered, qualified, and quantified, as well as assets and attributes that may be leveraged to close the gaps.

Types of assessments
Assessments range in complexity and subject matter, but all strive to answer the same basic questions: What do I have? What can it do? What are the limitations? Where can I direct resources to do the most good? For data center managers, these are key issues that are addressed through assessment products designed to address general or specific issues. In general, they fit into four specific categories of data center concerns: The ability of the data center to support IT equipment used to directly support IT processing equipment, either as new equipment, refreshes of existing equipment, or changes in the IT processing platform. The ability of the facility infrastructure to support the total IT critical loading of the data center and deliver the availability required to support the business functions supported by the IT equipment. The nature and quality of the maintenance and operations protocols followed in employing the data center equipment in a manner that minimizes the contribution of human error to downtime (the largest single source of downtime) and maximizes the life span and reliability of the equipment. The energy patterns and utilization of the data center which impacts operational costs, preserves utility capacity for IT processing and contributes to efforts to meet environmental green standards and goals.

Recommendations
An analysis leads to identification of gaps, and the action plans to close the gaps constitute the recommendation phase of a good assessment. How extensive the recommendations are is dictated by the scope of work of the assessment. This may range from high level recommendations that provide global guidance for strategy making by management, to detailed gap remediation on a rack by rack deployment for IT service personnel. It may include, if specified in the scope of work, a matrix of actions that range from easiest to most difficult to implement, and cost to implement with attendant ROI calculations.

Most data center equipment manufacturers (IT and Facility Infrastructure), equipment suppliers, design firms and consultants offer a menu of assessments, or can customize a data center assessment that cover one or more of the types above. HP is a good example of what is available in the industry, and lists the following assessments offered as standard service products: Energy assessments Quick thermal assessment Comprehensive thermal assessment Energy efficiency analysis Quick assessment Intermediate assessment Custom assessment  Environmental assessments\recovery assessments Quick security assessment Custom security assessment Document Capture and Security Assessment System healthcheck Serviceguard audit System resilience healthcheck SAP assessment SAN assessment VMware capacity planner assessment Performance Analysis for HP-UNIX

Data center transformation assessments Application consolidation assessment Consolidation and virtualization assessment

Data Center Consolidation Assessment Project/portfolio management assessment services Blade tools assessment and blade environment assessment Basic capacity survey Infrastructure condition and capacity analysis Operations and maintenance risk assessment Relocation assessment As with any assessment, the scope of services defines the value to the IT manager, the ability to provide the information needed, and ultimately, cost of the service. Examples of typical scopes of three facility assessments applications are included in Appendix A for reference.

ITSM assessments

IT security and risk assessments

The cost of assessments

Gathering facts, analyzing them, and developing recommendations can be an expensive process, whether done internally or through consultants, because it involves high value human activity. While most managers focus on the hard dollar costs since it directly influences budgets, there are soft costs that must be accounted for when using internal staff. The individuals most apt to bring validity and value to an internal assessment are most often the most experienced technical managers who also tend to

Infrastructure optimization assessments

have heavy and important workloads. Diversion from daily duties bears three costs: the direct cost of accounting for their time, the time of persons charged with executing their responsibilities while they work on the assessments, and the opportunity cost of their contributions while not being in their regular roles. These costs, while seemingly obtuse, are real and a decision to conduct an assessment either internally or through a consultant should take them into account. Frequently, when these costs are weighed against the cost of obtaining an assessment through an external source, the decision is made to avoid the potential internal disruption and go with a consultant having the required expertise. Consultants fees for conducting assessments reflect the hours of expertise needed to obtain and analyze the information, and to produce the report with recommendations. It frequently includes travel hours, administrative support costs, and the facilitation costs of running any business (that is, IT, management, finance, and accounting, and so on). Cost typically range from $150 to $300 per hour, depending on the expertise of the assigned professionals, which translate into typical assessment costs ranging from $10,000 for basic reports to well over $100,000 for complex assessments with very detailed costing and implementation recommendations.

The benefit of assessments

Weighed against the cost of performing an assessment, whether through internal or consulting resources, are the benefits, tangible and intangible: The as-is state of the data center, or the data center subsystems, is known. Utility capacities, existing load levels, margins for system expansion are defined. Vulnerabilities (single points of failure) are understood leading to the development of risk mitigation planning or the design of projects to reduce the threat of failure. The capabilities of the data center and targeted systems (either IT, facilities, or both) are known. The capacity to support IT systems and operations is understood, along with any gaps that must be addressed to support existing or planned equipment. The chances of investing in unsupportable equipment, or systems, that will operate in a degraded mode are reduced or eliminated through addressing gaps in a methodical manner. The availability of the data center is defined and gaps between the availability as required by the business strategy and the availability inherent in the data center design are quantified. Projects can be designed to address better availability and increased capacity based on real information. Investments in improving the availability and the capacity can be directed to those areas that will yield the greatest return. Operating from a factual base with clear analysis reduces guesswork and speculation and allows for a best practice solution for that particular data center supporting the assigned processing loads. True ROI can be defined because all the gaps and variables have been identified through a careful analysis, which leads to cost effective recommendations.

Figure 1: Data center capacity system

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

W at

Po w er

Given the cost of data centers ($750$3000 per square foot), and the value of the IT equipment they support (3X5X the data center cost), the potential cost of misplaced investment is enormous, frequently in the tens of millions of dollars. Against the risk of investing in the wrong place, or at the wrong magnitude, an assessment is a good investment both in hard dollar value and in the intangible benefits as well. Reducing operational stress, moving from a reactive to a proactive management process, directing focus to problems that have high potential impact on business success all are intangible benefits that ultimately lead to tangible results. A well designed and executed data center assessment is the foundation for accruing these benefits.

obtaining those facts, analyzing the gaps between what is and what should be, and developing action plans to close those gaps by directing resources efficiently. In this manner, the goal of attaining the maximum level of availability is achieved with a thorough knowledge of the capabilities of the data center to adapt to change when driven by a relentless business environment. Assessments are good investments.

Appendix A
Types of facility infrastructure assessmentsexamples of scopes of services and deliverables
A basic capacity survey Identifies the business strategy driving the data center Identifies the availability of a data center using standard benchmarks like the Uptime Institute Tier designation system Identifies gaps between the availability needed by the business and the availability of the data center design

Conclusion
Sound decision making in data center management is the key to realizing the success of a business strategy. Decisions made objectivelybased on valid facts and thorough analysisyield strong results by directing resources where they can achieve the greatest positive impact for the minimum expenditure or effort. Assessments are a powerful management tool in

VA C

W at

ts/

(F Sq T) .M et er (o rf oo t)

Ch ill er s

A er at or Sy ste m

To w er s

Fe ed er

Sy ste m

RA HS /C

RA C

UP S

ty

ts/ Sq .

ili

en

Ut

M et er

Figure 2: Facility infrastructure condition summary

B es t I n Cl as s Gener al Condi t i ons Sec ur i t y Fi r e Sy s t em M oni t or i ng and Cont r ol s Heat Rej ec t i on Rac k A r ea St andby P ower Sy s t em E l ec t r i c al Di s t r i but i on UP S B at t er i es UP S Sy s t em 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50

Lists the facility infrastructure systems and their design capacities Quantifies the capacity of the utility Quantifies the level at which that utility power is being used Identifies the margin left for supporting more IT equipment, or identifies gaps in capacities that will have to be closed through upgrades to the facility infrastructure system An infrastructure condition and capacity survey Includes the elements of the Basic Capacity Surveyavailability and capacity issues, utility and power infrastructure capacities, level of utilization and margins (or lack thereof) to support increased IT equipment infrastructure components Identifies Single Points of Failure (SPOF) as discovered in the survey process Identifies high-level energy saving opportunities as discovered in the survey process Examines the level of sophistication and effectiveness of the maintenance, operations and emergency procedures as applied to key infrastructure systems (UPS, Electrical Distribution, Generators, Cooling Systems, Building Monitoring and Control System, Security, Rack Spaces, and so on)

Compares the findings to best in class benchmarks for the given Tier level of the data center (that is, Tier 2 is compared to Tier 2, Tier 3 to Tier 3, and so on) Identifies physical constraints to expansion of the data center Recommends actions to close gaps identified in the analysis process Thermal quick assessments Surveys raised floor spaces to provide a rapid evaluation of the cooling capacity of the area Identifies airflow problems in rack areas designated for new equipment installations Provides supply and return air information to optimize heat control Notes humidification issues that may be an impediment to optimum IT equipment performance

10

Figure 3: Facility infrastructure condition summary

Thermal comprehensive assessments Provides the basic high-level information in the Thermal quick assessments Provides extensive metering of the raised floor air flow system, under-floor distribution configuration, and dedicated air conditioning equipment located in the spaces Provides an airflow and heat transfer model using Computational Fluid Dynamics software utilizing the data gathered. This is a visual representation of heat sources, cooling equipment and the air flow patterns affecting how useful the cooling system is in meeting the needs of IT equipment and systems

Provides a base case study that is useful in developing what if scenarios for expansion, consolidation, or adding more IT equipment Recommends changes and modifications to the system, based on empirical information, which will aid in optimizing the capacity of the raised floor area to support more IT equipment, or to do it more efficiently

11

Technology for better business outcomes

To learn more, visit www.hp.com/go/eypmcf
Copyright 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. 4AA2-4389ENW, February 2009