Top 10 Ways to Optimize Network Performance

1. Top 10 Ways to Optimize Network Performance Carrie Higbie, Siemon Global Network Applications Market Manager Ask the Expert , TechTarget – SearchNetworking, SearchEnterprise Voice, SearchDataCenter President, BladeSystems Alliance

2. Top 10 ways to optimize performance • Understand your performance • What is harming optimal performance? • Physical layer • Routing and switching • Applications • Environmental concerns • How to fix performance • What does poor performance cost?

3. 1. Bandwidth bandits – Find ‘em, slay ‘em! • Begin with auto-discovery • Start at the physical layer • Common to all systems • Can cause the most problems • According to LAN Magazine – 70% of all downtime! • Can be 80% of all troubleshooting costs • Only 20% of troubleshooting time is spent fixing the problem • Documentation of the physical layer may be required for compliance • Absolute necessity for security reasons

4. Top offenders • Improperly terminated cables • Improperly terminated patch cords • Lengths exceeded specified maximum • Cabling was improperly or not labeled (troubleshooting problems) • Electronics and closets in bad locations (humidity, EM, RF) • Cables bunched to tightly causing the pairs to be flattened • Cables tied to electrical conduits or run too close to power panels • Cabling that did not pass testing due to various issues • Closet spaghetti • CAT 3 cables terminated to CAT 5 – 100M switches • Bends exceeding bend radius • Cables not to spec • Racks not grounded

5. Active electronics and networking layers • Flat networks with large address ranges • Subnets are helpful • Poor VLAN management • Intruders and security breaches • Build a historic reference • Duplex mismatches • Ports forced to low speeds • Half-duplex connections • May be electronics; may be cabling!

6. 2. Building in resiliency • Load balancing and load sharing will help performance • Proper subnets and/or VLANs can help • If you build a monster, it will be a monster! • Use the electronics to your advantage • Price/performance ratios are key! • Interoperability must be tested, not just stated • Failover must be tested

7. 3. Pay attention to applications Application sizes double every 18 months • More capability and application bloat • Process increasingly larger file sizes • Shared applications and server-side processing can enhance or deplete resources • QoS attributes can be set in applications • Don’t let them step on each other • Increased demands on storage, backups and network resources

8. With growth comes problems • According to Nucleus Research (2004) • Average storage budget = $2.3 Million • Average storage capacity = 115 TB • Troubleshooting = Average 14 hours per month • Among companies with budgets > $1B • 85% report service degradation • 51% said poor application performance • 82% said problems impact employee productivity • 79% said customer service quality suffers! • Study from Network World (2003) • According to Gartner, downtime will increase 200% in Q1 2005 • 20% of all IT expenditures are for things that DON’T work

9. Sample views - SNMP

10. Actual audit data Note: Proprietary And confidential information removed

11. 4. Examine utilization • Snapshots do little good • Must be done over time • Sample period should include all normal business functions • Closing out accounting • End-of-month processes • Payroll runs • High-traffic periods such as high customer service demands • Forget averages – watch peak periods!

12. What is utilization really? What do I look for? • Make sure that periods viewed are consistent with hours worked • Averages do you little good • For real-time applications always plan on highest utilization numbers • Includes VoIP/IPT, video, etc. • Group utilization needs by class of user, not department

13. What causes slow response • Environmental conditions • Temperature and humidity variations • EM and RF interference • High network traffic • Outdated, slow PCs and NICs • Poor installation • Inferior patch cords • Damaged cable due to pulling, bending • Too many splices • Poor cable management • Inferior network cabling • ACCORDING TO ESTIMATES GIVEN TO IEEE, OVER 50% OF ALL CAT 5E WON’T PASS 5E TESTING!

14. The cost of a slow network • Calculate network slow cost: • Cost = P x W x E • P = Total Number of hours lost Productivity per year (weekly minutes/60 x 52) • W = Average hourly Wage • E = Number of Employees on the network Examples: Company A: Number of Employees: 500 Average Hourly Wage: $15.00 Hours of Productivity Lost per Year: 30 Network Slow Cost = $225,000.00 Company B: Number of Employees: 1,000 Average Hourly Wage: $18.00 Hours of Productivity Lost per Year: 52 Network Slow Cost = $936,000.00 Company C: Number of Employees: 5,000 Average Hourly Wage: $20.00 Hours of Productivity Lost per Year: 20 Network Slow Cost = $2,000,000.00

15. Formulas • Revenue per hour • Total revenue / 2080 hour work week • Revenue per employee per hour • Total revenue / Number of employees / 2080 • Salary expense per hour (weighted) • Average hourly wage * 1.4 (to include overhead) / 2080 • Salary expense plus lost revenue • Total revenue per hour + weighted salary expense per hour * % of workforce down at any given time (we used 15%)

16. 5. Performance optimization: Tricks of the trade • Audit your infrastructure – cabling, electronics, etc. • Use a Certified Infrastructure Auditor • Trained to understand relationships between electronics and physical layer • Omitting either one is only half an audit • Audit your ports, not the entire switch • Use RMON to help determine bottlenecks

17. Adding new applications • BEWARE – minimums are dangerous! • Utilize a test bed to help understand needs • Multiply all results by the number of end users • Assume concurrent operations for all on the same shifts • Don’t forget additional loads for replication, redundancy and backups • There is a fine line between not enough and too much • Aim for a little too much • Don’t forget to account for growth!

18. Products to help • Bandwidth managers • Layer 7 products • Application classification • Routing based on need • Dynamic bandwidth allocation • Don’t stop at Layer 3 Courtesy of Packeteer

19. 6. Trends: Know your bandwidth needs Courtesy of Packeteer

20. Determine your need for speed • 10G products are currently available, with new copper-based products expected this year • Your network may be a combination of speeds to the desktop • If a user can’t fill an entire gig channel but you have discards at 100 Mbps, gig should be used • Same applies to 10G • Watch power users • CAD/CAM/CAE • Imaging and graphics • Video

21. 7. Predict the future – The crystal ball • Examine your past 5 years if possible • Application changes • Speed changes • Hardware upgrades • Server upgrades • Memory upgrades • OS upgrades

22. Trends for ‘05 • Gates’ Law revisited • “640k ought to be enough for anybody” -- Bill Gates, 1981

23. Application growth/bloat

24. 8. Know your security challenges • #$%^&* hackers! • Spyware and malware • Breaches • Reporting structure • Weaknesses • Logging • Compliance

25. IT management and security management • Shift in duties • Other spending is often derailed in lieu of security expenditures • Consumes many resources • Patch management adds overhead • WAN links can be hindered or halted • Utilize the best tools • ROI based on cost avoidance • Beware of target size!

26. 9. Revisit and revise • Any and all measures mentioned • Quarterly health checks a must • Downtime is not the only factor • Slow performance is also very costly • Put in the best if you expect the best • The level of support you can give is equal to the level of support you can receive

27. 10. Evaluate products: What are the extras in a top-of-the-line system? • R&D • Standards participation • Support on a global scale • Tried-and-true support • Product expediting • Value-added services • Warranty • Partner as opposed to seller

28. Evaluate your vendors properly • Check non-vendor references • Pose some questions and validate the answers • Training and transfer of knowledge • Quality of training • Certification levels • Training for their resellers • Back-end support – knowledge bases • Pricing is only one factor and should never be the deciding factor • MTBF/MTTR – every single component! • Upgrade paths and future capabilities

29. Have a bake-off • Invite your potential vendors in for testing • If they state it will work – make them show you • Verify fail-over/redundancy/resiliency • Look at the management tools • Play with the technology • If you find a weakness in one product, see how/if it is addressed in another

30. MOST IMPORTANT! • Understand what you are getting for your money • Front end • Back end • In between • Understand market share and marketing information • Understand where the standards are going. Today’s investment could kill support tomorrow!

31. Thank you Carrie Higbie, Siemon Global Network Applications Market Manager Ask the Expert , TechTarget – SearchNetworking, SearchEnterprise Voice, SearchDataCenter President, BladeSystems Alliance