Microsoft System CenterCustomer Solution Case Study

B2C, B2B Tour ServiceThat Take Wings with Private Cloud

OverviewCountry or Region: KoreaIndustry: Travel

Customer ProfileEstablished in 1989, MODETOUR is one of the leading tour agencies in Korea with 940 employees as of May 2012. Whilst, its headquarters are in Korea, it has signed collaboration contracts with more than 80 local tour agencies in over 120 countries worldwide.

Business SituationThe replacement cycle for the virtualization infrastructure established in 2008 has now arrived. Under the assumption that the expansion of virtualization servers makes them more difficult to manage.

SolutionThe combination between Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center 2012 has allowed for high-density virtualization and.

Benefits Transparent monitoring Facilitates collaboration Strengthens customer service quality

“In the past, we tended to resort to just using our intuition when

operating a system after first creating and distributing a virtual server.

But, now we can ensure the program performance of the entire site

and achieve a stable and efficient operation of the private cloud.”Jin-Young Kim, Section Chief of IT Department of Mode Tour

MODETOUR has been garnering many plaudits as the first company within the domestic tour industry to opt for a private cloud system. The main reason that MODETOUR decided to take the plunge and develop its virtualization environment into a private cloud in 2012 was that the management of the invisible bulky virtual infrastructure has become more hindrance than help. As it planned to develop its existing virtualization environment into a private cloud which ensures transparent End to End monitoring ranging from physical resources to application codes and management automation of the overall virtualization environment, MODETOUR decided to introduce Microsoft’s Hyper-V and System Center technology and migrate part of the existing virtualization environment in 2012. After the 1st round of migration, the company plans to move all of its virtualization servers into the Hyper-V environment in accordance with the depreciation schedule of its existing servers.

SituationMODETOUR is well known for its exploration of the then new business field of wholesale travel, which was a first time for Korea back in 1989. Since then, it has expanded its business portfolio to include inbound tourism, domestic travel, and hotel reservations to strengthen its status as a global travel business. The history of MODETOUR, which has continued to pursue the values encapsulated in the words ‘first’ and ‘foremost,’ also finds its reflection in its use of IT. MODETOUR established a ‘Private Cloud’ system for the first time in the domestic travel industry in 2012 and has already begun to migrate existing virtualization infrastructure, which has been operational since 2008.

The company currently offers B2C and B2B services through its website. The various travel contents and services contained in the website are directly exposed to customers, but they are also provided to major portal sites, credit card companies and other partner companies. Although the screens are seen through the web pages of partner companies, the contents and services are offered through the infrastructure of MODETOUR. In addition to B2B support, the company’s web environment is filled with marketing campaigns throughout the year, with the release of various new products and constant demand for creating new web pages, particularly given the nature of the travel business.

Such demands can be difficult to handle for those tasked with the management of the IT infrastructure. Given that new servers should be introduced whenever demand for performance and volume arises, there

are numerous potential problems, including a lack of top surface and increased difficulties in management. MODETOUR has experienced all such problems and in fact launched the virtualization of the web server farm in 2008 to resolve them.

Back then, MODETOUR started with two virtual server hosts and began to integrate its web server with the virtual environment. It started to operate about 80 virtual machines (VM) in the virtual environment as it gradually increased the number of additional hosts. The server virtualization brought about immediate advantages in server management to MODETOUR. Jin-Young Kim, Section Chief of IT Department of MODETOUR, stated that, “with the growing mobile-related traffic, which has increased with the popularization of Smartphone and tablet devices, services have been diversified from websites to mobiles, along with a growing demand for building up more servers. We have properly handled all these issues present in the virtual infrastructure in a stable manner. For instance, as we were able to offer a web server environment based on templates, it takes only several hours to place an order and set up a server, a process which usually took 2 or 3 weeks to complete.” Of course, it does not mean that there was no disadvantage. As the visible servers entered into the logical structure of virtualization, they faced difficulties identifying the location and the cause of the defect when problems did occur. To resolve the various problems faced, MODETOUR introduced the Application Performance Management (APM) solution.

Although the company was well equipped to operate its virtual server environment, it

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faced a critical juncture in 2011 as the replacement cycle of virtual server host devices arrived. Preparing to replace its servers, MODETOUR considered changing its software environment. Section Head Kim said, “As we operated virtual servers based on the VMWare host, we used only basic functions without having additional management solutions in place, which gave rise to limits in operation efficiency.” He added “although we conducted monitoring with APM solution, its function was not integrated with the virtual server management tool, so that it was not easy for us to detect various problems before their occurrence, nor to preemptively respond to them to ensure smooth operation.” For these reasons, MODETOUR set a strategy of changing its virtualization environment towards strengthening monitoring and automated management.

SolutionAimed at developing its existing virtualization environment into a private cloud which enables the transparent monitoring of physical resources and application codes at the E2E (End to End) level, as well as the management automation of the overall virtualization environment, MODETOUR began in earnest examining and comparing solutions from Microsoft and VMWare. Kim said, “We couldn’t find any major difference between them, since the server virtualization technology has been standardized. After pondering this in terms of management and cost, we considered the gains and the losses by combining the operation system and management tools and reached a conclusion that the introduction of Hyper-V and the System Center would be more advantageous for us.”

In fact, Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition allows an unlimited number of virtual instances on host servers. Thus, it offers far better comparative advantages by reducing cost when compared to the VMWare solution, which requires securing an additional license whenever there is an increase in virtual memory in a particular server. In addition, Microsoft changed its licensing policy for the System Center 2012 to allow consistent access to all the functions required to realize a private cloud, rather than an individual tool unit license, which was a more attractive option for MODETOUR.

Determined to introduce a solution from Microsoft, the company started the migration of its existing virtual server environment. It planned to transfer the VMWare environment to a new server based on Hyper-V in accordance with the replacement cycle for the existing servers. 3 VMWare 3.5-based host servers (among a total of 6) were first transferred. MODETOUR plans to complete its virtual infrastructure transition in line with the depreciation of VMWare 4.5-based servers.

Meanwhile, in establishing a host server environment which was completely transferred, MODETOUR showed the greatest interest in distributing the System Center. To achieve management innovation, the company joined virtual servers on the Active Directory. It also allocated the management server consisting of System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), System Center Operation Manger (SCOM) and System Center Configuration Manger (SCCM), to manage virtual servers on host servers. E2E

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monitoring, which MODETOUR regarded as one of the most important elements in the newly established management system, was fulfilled by SCOM and AVICode, an application monitoring management pack included in SCOM.

Upon establishing the new environment, the company decided to expand the use of System Center for a temporary advancement task. To that end, it additionally applied System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager to upgrade its security and data protection standards on the overall virtualization infrastructure. Meanwhile, starting with the establishment of the foundation of the private cloud, the company is now examining a comprehensive management scenario encompassing the physical environment and the densely virtualized environment. Kim said that, “we are considering incorporating physical servers whose console-based management is conducted by each server unit into the management system under the System Center. To do so, we are currently reviewing entering into a license agreement for Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI), which has shown remarkable cost efficiency.”

Benefits

Transparent Monitoring of Virtualization Infrastructure MODETOUR successfully transformed its existing simple virtualization environment into a private cloud one. System Center played a key role in achieving this transformation. In fact, there is no big difference in conducting provisioning–related work, including virtualization design, composition and distribution at the

single tool level. However, it is a different story in terms of monitoring. The previous monitoring, accomplished through the APM, cannot match the new kind of monitoring, which is conducted under the System Center, in terms of user satisfaction and adherence to standards.

Kim said that “the APM functions included in the System Center support monitoring on overall E2E transactions ranging from physical sections, such as servers, networks and storage, to applications, including the operating system, database and web servers. When considering monitoring alone, it seems a little different with ordinary APM, but the gap is huge when considering operations. What I personally liked was it gives us clear information on factors that would have harmful effects on the operation of the virtual servers, such as storage volume or memory shortage, before such problems occur, making it possible for us to take preemptive measures.”

Facilitates Collaboration between IT Managers and DevelopersTransparent monitoring facilitates efficient collaboration between IT infrastructure managers and application developers. For developers, their attention is primarily focused on applications or web pages for which they were responsible. On the contrary, IT managers are interested in the entire infrastructure. Since the areas that they take interest are different, it often leads to difficulties in collaboration with regard to urgently required performance tasks or resources. Developers tend to ask for excessive resource provisioning while IT managers often complain about difficulties providing immediate responses without

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having enough time. MODETOUR expects the System Center to resolve these old conflicts.

Kim continues: “There is a long list of check boxes to ensure normal operation of services. The question is whether there is a difference between what a developer should be concerned with and what IT managers should care about. Both of them should closely cooperate with each other to check the monitoring of information, the amounts of which increase on a daily basis. In that sense, the System Center allows them to effectively cooperate and make decisions in the face of server expansion or other issues, since they can conveniently share needed information through a dashboard.”

Strengthens Customer Service Quality The ultimate value of creating a private cloud environment by combining virtual server infrastructure with transparent monitoring and management automation lies in strengthening customer service quality. As for companies that provide B2C and B2B services through the web like MODETOUR does, it is meaningful for them to instantly control factors that have an impact on the user experience — even ones that may seem insignificant, such as delayed loading. Considering the fact that most users tend to abandon web pages if page loading is delayed by more than 5 seconds, it is critical to maintain the optimal status of a website. More Tour’s

private cloud environment has significant business merits, allowing it to maximize the user experience.

Kim has the final word: “In the past, we usually resorted to our intuition to operate the system after creating and distributing a virtual server. It’s fair to say we thoroughly monitored detailed parts in the case of important servers. But, we always suffered difficulties covering the entire range of virtual servers in the same manner due to the shortage of time and resources. As a result, we were able to fix glitches only when outside partner companies or customers reported problems to us in cases where there was a delayed loading or temporary shutdown of our web server. But, now, we can identify connection increases and bottlenecks that are occurring during transactions in a swift and precise manner, allowing us to take a broader perspective to infrastructure management so that we can ensure the program performance of the entire site and achieve a stable and efficient operation of the private cloud. Since we can detect and respond to problems before someone calls or emails us about such problems, we can offer stable services to every user of our website.”

Microsoft System CenterSystem Center solutions help IT pros manage the physical and virtual information technology (IT) environments

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Mode Tour’s products and services, call 82-2-753-5656 or visit the website at: www.modetour.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published June 2012

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft System Center

Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1

− Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

− Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2

− Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

across data centers, client computers, and devices. Using these integrated and automated management solutions, IT organizations can be more productive service providers to their businesses.

For more information on Microsoft System Center please visit:  www.microsoft.com/systemcenter

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