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Learn the fundamentals of storage management, including building a management team, streamlining processes, and selecting the right tools for consistent and efficient operations.
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STORAGE MANAGEMENT/GETTING STARTED:Storage Management 101 Everything you always wanted to know about Storage Management (but were afraid to ask) Stephen Foskett Practice Manager GlassHouse Technologies
Agenda • The utility model • Building a storage management team • Break • Storage management processes • Storage management tools
The basics • IT is made up of people, process and technology • Mature processes enable strategic IT: • Leverage “utility” concepts • Build an effective storage management group • Use “maturity” concept to drive process improvements • Select tools to enable consistency and streamline processes
The utility model • Utilities offer fixed centralized services to consumers • Benefits of the utility model: • Reduced costs through resource sharing • Improved service through specialization and standardization • Alignment of service and requirements through SLAs
Systems Administrators Hardware Policies Software Policies Configuration Processes Business Analysts Policies Requirements Analysis Service Level Agreements Operations Standard Procedures Monitoring Escalation IT Management Metrics Cost Modeling Chargeback
Getting started • Create a centralized storage group • Develop strategic policies and standard architecture • Say no to ad-hoc purchases • Migrate and consolidate what you have • Proactively develop SLAs and begin reporting
Building a storage management group • Requirements: • Dedicated focused resources • Ownership of infrastructure • Empowerment to control purchases • Start with the people and architecture already in place
Align resources with requirements • Most storage groups are under-staffed • Risks abound: • Lack of technology coverage (vacations, nights) • Lack of focus (storage, backup, operations) • Failure to align technology with business • Define roles/responsibilities and boundaries
Debunking the TB per admin metric • Problems with TB/Admin: • Ignores complexity - Heterogeneous/homogenous • Ignores other skill sets - operations, cost accounting, business analysis, management • No indication of effectiveness – I can manage 1PB for one day! • No defined “best practice” – Analysts say .5, 1.25, 1.5; Vendors say 5, 7, 10 • Usually a quick-fix or scapegoat metric; No relation to the real world
Members of the team • Resources: • 1+ Manager: High-level metrics • 1+ Analyst: Business/technology alignment, SLAs • 2+ Engineers: Storage and backup experts • 4+ Operators: 24x7 monitoring, escalation • 1 Engineer per 3 technologies or 10 systems • Share operations with other groups
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STORAGE MANAGEMENT/GETTING STARTED:Storage Management 101,part 2 Everything you always wanted to know about Storage Management (but were afraid to ask) Stephen Foskett Practice Manager GlassHouse Technologies
Understanding process and procedure • Mature management processes is one “leg” of the utility model • Ad hoc process becomes Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) through maturity • ITIL and GlassHouse SMLSM are frameworks for understanding processes
International IT standards • ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) • Europe – Wide acceptance in the UK, spreading worldwide • Task framework – Focused delivery of IT services • COBIT (Control Objectives for IT) • Canada/US – IT Governance Institute • Control – Focused on processes and governance • COSO (the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission) • US - Gaining traction for Sarbanes/Oxley auditing • Auditing - Focused on process assessment
The ITIL framework • (SS) Service Support • Service desk • Incident management • Problem management • Configuration management • Change management • Release management • (BP) Business Perspective • Business continuity • Partnerships and outsourcing • Surviving change • Transformation of business practice Application Management • (SD) Service Delivery • Capacity management • Financial management • Availability management • Service level management • Service continuity management • (IM) Infrastructure Management • Network service management • Operations management • Management of local processors • Computer installation and acceptance • Systems management
Plan Implement Operate
Assessing process maturity • Maturity is a hard metric for a soft area • Leverage the CMU capability maturity model • Where are you? Where should you be? • Each process can be at a different level – not all should be at level 5!
Processes and tools • Outline your management processes – leverage ITIL or GlassHouse SML • Understand what you need to do – which processes need automation? • Buy tools to support critical processes
Tool confusion • There are no standard category names: • Storage Resource Management (SRM) usually analyzes host storage contents (number, type, attributes of files) but not always • Different storage management suites have different functions • Suites are lacking: • Many “suites” do not offer SRM or device management functionality • Hardware vendors dominate management suite business
Package-based approach • Software packages are purchased arbitrarily: • Hardware vendor’s suggestion • Giveaways • Media coverage/Advertising • Hit or miss coverage of business needs
Selecting storage management software • Look for software offering just what you need • Minimize number of tools: • Lack of integration options • Complexity = Confusion • Look beyond “suites”
Commonly needed management tools • Enterprise backup – Essential • Backup reporting – Success rate, failures, needs customization • Utilization reporting – Who is using what resources, needs customization • Architecture visualization – Enables engineers to understand environment • SNMP framework – Send traps to operations
Rarely used management tools • Traditional SRM – One-shot wonder • Automated provisioning – Requires mature processes, saves little time • Automated cost accounting – Needs massive customization • Process/Policy automation – Are you ready?