Strategies for managing distributed IT environments

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Strategies for managing distributed IT
environments

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Agenda

• Trends Challenges in Distributed IT Spaces

• Importance of managing these critical spaces

• 10 recommendations for optimizing the
• management of distributed IT spaces

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Changes affecting the IT environments
NETWORK
Virtualization
Consolidation
Co-Location
Cloud Adoption
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Todays technological reality
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Trends in the workforce

• TRENDS CREATE CHALLENGES FOR YOU
• More connected devices
• User expectation of connectivity EVERYWHERE
• Remote workers (home, business travelers)
• Employees are located everywhere
• but the data and applications are centralized
• In light of all the challenges that constantly
  change the way we deploy equipment, we know that
  you must offer robust and available networks and
  VPN to allow users to connect.

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Importance of Network Connectivity
Many businesses have robust protection and
management strategies in the data center while
network closets and distributed server rooms are
often neglected.
Small room Shared space Hot spot Messy
Cables Unmanaged
With the increased demand on availability The
forgotten space is becoming critical space.
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Importance of Physical Infrastructure

• Three of the top 15 reasons for unavailability in
  2010 are related to the infrastructure and
  physical space where your equipment is installed
• No monitoring of relevant components
• Poor physical environment
• Lack of infrastructure redundancy
• There are some simple steps that can be taken to
  ensure that even a one-man show can effectively
  manage multiple sites, mitigate risks and
  maintain availability of the network.

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A tough job
Besides lack of budget and space, the biggest
challenge we see is lack of technical man-power
on the site. Ask yourself How many sites
are you responsible for ? 5, 50, 500? How
spread out are these sites? Same campus, state,
continent? How many people are on your team to
help maintain these sites? 0?
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10 RECOMMENDATIONS tooptimize management of
remote sites and make your job easier!
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1. Remote power management
Deploy a PDU or Outlet strip that has outlets
which can be controlled remotely
The strip should have the ability to cycle power,
shed load and sequence outlet power via a remote
network interface or programmed control.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• This can drastically reduce downtime from hung
  servers and network devices which simple need to
  be power cycled.
• This allows you to leave unused outlets OFF so
  that someone cant use them and risk tripping the
  breaker.

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2. Protect against power failures
Deploy UPS systems to protect critical equipment,
maintain availability during scheduled and
unscheduled power outages
UPSs come in all shapes, sizes and runtimes and
it is important to size them according to the
equipment you are looking to protect. Most UPSs
will also protect against power problems like
surges and spikes.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• An average US business experiences 214 minutes of
  power loss every year.
• Outages could mean lost data, configurations or
  more importantly revenue.
• Ask yourself how much will be lost in your
  business

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3. Monitor environmental conditions
Install probes to capture temperature, humidity
and even sensors for door entry, motion, smoke,
leaks
Simple devices that capture these characteristics
can be set up and integrated into your IT system
so that even if you are not onsite, you can know
what the situation is.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• Knowing about environmental issues early can
  protect equipment and reduce damage from everyday
  risks like water leaks.
• This data can help make decisions about
  implementing cooling or ventilation by proving
  that it is necessary

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Remote monitoring
Example.
Retail scenario.
In this example
Network Management card

• Home improvement retail with 2000 different
  locations
• Application Distributed critical power in
  store
• Remotely Monitor Physical IT Infrastructure
• Power status
• Power problem
• Temperature changes

UPS
Temperature sensor
No IT personal required on-site!
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4. Centrally manage multiple sites
Use a central management system to aggregate data
and statistics from all of your sites on one easy
to read user interface
Find a vendor neutral system that allows for
multi-site management, blanket upgrades and that
can relay proactive notifications to the right
people.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• Logging into each device/site is extremely time
  consuming.
• Allows for multi-user access and is a great way
  to manage changes to a physical infrastructure.

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5. Deploy scalable power management
Subscribe to scalable systems that allow you to
rapidly increase capacity for power requirements
and management
A scalable solution will allow you to pay as you
grow, rather than size a solution with the
maximum load/growth in mind. This improves
efficiency as well.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• IT needs change rapidly and can grow quickly.
• Rightsizing, not supersizing, keeps both capex
  and opex down

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6. Take advantage of field upgrades
To minimize the cost of new functionality in
brownfield environments (where some or all of the
physical products exist) make use of field
upgradable or buy-up enhancements
Some vendors offer field enhancements such as the
ability to add remote management to a device
after it has already been installed.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• Minimize costs by enhancing what you already own
  rather than buying new just to gain a new
  feature.
• Example Almost every APC UPS in the network and
  server room space is field upgradeable with the
  ability to add remote management after
  installation.

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7. Start to monitor energy usage

• Deploy equipment that allows you to monitor
  energy usage, even if you
• are not being asked to report it yet.

Some vendors even offer the ability to integrate
with energy management platforms such as Cisco
Energywise to monitor and optimize energy usage
throughout an enterprise

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• If you dont care now, your boss will eventually.
  Being green is on everyones mind.
• Starting to monitor energy helps make decisions
  on how to consolidate equipment, where to install
  new items, etc.

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8. Deploy pre-installed equipment
Buy racks and enclosures for branch offices that
can be shipped with equipment inside, allowing
you to pre-install equipment before shipping to
the site
Some vendors sell pre-configured IT solutions to
be shipped directly to the customer site, ready
to simply plug-in and turn on.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• This can drastically reduce installation time and
  complication. When this work is done before
  hand, it can be tested and validated.
• Easier way of rolling out IT equipment to branch
  offices and remote sites.

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9. Dont rely on dedicated IT spaces
Dont be afraid to move IT equipment out of a
poor space, especially if it was never designed
for equipment in the first place.
Vendors offer sound proofed enclosures for
putting equipment into the office space outside
of closets and rooms. These often have
ventilation built in and can blend into office
type environments.

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• If there is no alternative to a server room or
  closet, consider a server room in a box
  enclosure solution.
• When compared to building out a space, this is
  often times a much easier and more cost effective
  approach

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IT Room in the office space
Example.
IT Hub scenario.
In this example
IT Reseller with offices in 3 different
locations Application Main IT Hub, housing
servers, network switches storage Savings
17.8k upfront building costs 18k space saving
(annual rent) 8k annual energy reduction
Soundproof server room in a box
Estimated 50K total year 1 savings.
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10. Monitor everything
If a piece of equipment allows for remote
monitoring, use it. You never know what you
dont know
Monitoring sites, equipment, power and
environmental conditions can help make key
decisions, as well as provide evidence needed to
get project funding

• Real Life Reasons for implementing
• Many devices do this by default, or offer low
  cost remote management that let you get
  information at your desk, instead of spending
  your day walking around to inspect spaces.
• Knowledge is power and will help you be
  proactive, rather than reactive.

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In Summary

• Simplify your infrastructure and create an IT
  environment that is Manageable, Adaptable and
  Simple using easy and repeatable remote
  management techniques.
• If you need help
• has the solution for you