STORAGE MANAGEMENT/GETTING STARTED:Storage Management 101

Everything you always wanted to know about Storage Management (but were afraid to ask)

Stephen FoskettPractice ManagerGlassHouse 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

OperationsStandard Procedures

MonitoringEscalation

Systems AdministratorsHardware PoliciesSoftware Policies

Configuration Processes

Business AnalystsPolicies

Requirements AnalysisService Level Agreements

IT ManagementMetrics

Cost ModelingChargeback

Getting started

1. Create a centralized storage group

2. Develop strategic policies and standard

architecture

3. Say no to ad-hoc purchases

4. Migrate and consolidate what you have

5. 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 FoskettPractice ManagerGlassHouse 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

(BP) Business Perspective1. Business continuity 2. Partnerships and outsourcing3. Surviving change4. Transformation of business practice

(SD) Service Delivery1. Capacity management2. Financial management3. Availability management4. Service level management5. Service continuity management

(SS) Service Support1. Service desk2. Incident management3. Problem management4. Configuration management5. Change management6. Release management

(IM) Infrastructure Management1. Network service management2. Operations management3. Management of local processors4. Computer installation and acceptance5. Systems management

ApplicationManagement

The ITIL framework

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!Level Name Description

1 Initial Ad-hoc, reactive, “firefighting”

2 Repeatable Proactive, trained people

3 Defined Documented, standardized products and procedures

4 Managed Metrics for deliverables and processes

5 Optimizing Continuous improvement with feedback

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?