Level: Introductory Michael J. Welsh (writer@roninwriter.com), Senior Writer, Ronin Writer
19 Feb 2008 You can build the perfect IT architecture using resources you have at your
fingertips. Dreams can come true, but they take time. Whether you're building a new
architecture from scratch or bringing an existing architecture under control,
building from your dreams will get you there.
If you're lucky, you get to start with a company from the ground up to design the
data center, you have plenty of capital and new servers, and you have a clean slate. Unfortunately, in
the real world, we inherit the problems of those who came before. Whether it's a
poorly written application, twisted network cables in the closet, or an
overcrowded data center, you probably have a bit of a mess to clean up.
This article shows you how to build goals for a new information technology (IT)
architecture, regardless of whether it's from the ground up or just a renovation
of an existing one. Assume that you've inherited a medium-sized business called
WidgetCo that has a neglected IT architecture. WidgetCo started as a small
business without a vision of how to grow. As the company grew, the IT department
took a fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants approach to keeping up with the company's
expansion.
You've been brought in, either as a full-time employee or as a consultant, to
rein in the overgrown data center, solve problems with application delays, and
create a plan for growth.
Skills and competencies
Learning the lay of the architecture without disrupting business can be tricky.
By viewing the existing documentation, you can get an idea of what's in place and
how it interconnects. But, what if there's no documentation or the documentation
is too out of date to be relevant? Start with what you know and what you can
learn. Like building architects, you need to know the foundation before you can
build.
A noninvasive walkthrough of the hardware is a great place to start. Count the
number of servers and gather their brand, processor, memory, and hard disk space
information. Collect information about network switches, routers, firewalls, and
any other devices. Note the use of space in the data center. Is the equipment on
shelves or in racks? How many open ports are available on the switches? How much
room is there for growth? If you add more servers, is there enough electrical
power? Can the cooling system handle additional equipment?
Input from groups
Meeting with the company experts, such as the systems administrators, application
specialists, and department mangers, can help you get a feel for what's critical
and how the departments interact. Start with small, face-to-face meetings: They
can be more informative than large meetings. Large meetings tend to offer too much
information at once, and attendees can get sidetracked.
From these small meetings, build a diagram of the business workflow, such as that
shown in Figure 1. A workflow diagram can be helpful when
making changes to contact information.
Figure 1. WidgetCo's business workflow
diagram
WidgetCo example
WidgetCo's exploding growth meant that little documentation was ever kept.
Getting a walkthrough of the data center and network closets is a good start.
The WidgetCo data center is a 30 x 50-foot room with a shelf of desktop servers
from a variety of vendors. Some servers are nothing more than workstations without
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, redundant power supplies, or
other safeguards.
There are several uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), and they appear to be at
maximum load. The data center has a dedicated heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning (HVAC) system, so the temperature is always a cool 70 degrees
Fahrenheit. The
servers are plugged into the same network switch, which has only a few remaining
open ports. There is one router marked Internet.
Armed with the information gathered from the walkthrough, start to meet with the
company's experts either individually or in small groups to discover what the
walkthrough did not tell you. Which applications are running on the servers? How
many people depend on the IT infrastructure? How does business flow though the IT
systems?
By the end of these conversations, you should have something like the simple IT
layout diagram shown in Figure 2. Because of WidgetCo's growth
without vision, several servers are packed with multiple services. Using servers
for multiple services has a simple Return on Investment (ROI) advantage: the
reduced need to buy more servers. But stacking applications creates problems if
the server experiences a hardware failure. With WidgetCo, too many applications
have been improperly balanced on a single server, and those applications fight for
server resources. For example, WidgetCo has several applications with their
databases on one server (SQL01). The load on this server has hit a critical level,
and users and customers alike are complaining about performance.
Figure 2. Current server role and
applications
WidgetCo has more than its share of other problems in the architecture. Here's a
quick list of the biggest problems identified:
- No redundancy for applications or servers
- Poor demilitarized zone (DMZ) configuration
- No monitoring tools
- The accounting and payroll software were purchased, but the sales software was
developed in-house
What works and what needs improvement?
The next step is deciding the architecture's needs. This process should be
inclusive of all departments and all situations. Don't be afraid to dream big.
Think of an all-new data center with buzzing blade servers, new workstations, and
a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) implementation. But remember to face the
reality that you probably won't get everything you want.
Think in terms of a marathon rather than a 100-meter sprint. Start by creating a
budget and assigning priorities. Input from other groups is critical at this
stage, because you will begin to request budget dollars, plan downtime, and change
the way people work. Remember that the excitement of new ideas brings the fear of
change. That fear may cause others to create roadblocks for you to overcome
through an understanding and clear communication of the new system's benefits.
Modifications can also be as simple as upgrading to the latest operating system
or application versions. In fast-moving small- and medium-sized businesses,
upgrades are often overlooked as an unnecessary expense. The saying, "if it isn't
broke, don't fix it," is too often policy.
How about applications with built-in redundancy? Most companies provide
redundancy to outside applications such as customer ordering but often neglect to
provide the same to internal applications. While customer orders are still coming
in, fulfillment is stalled because the warehouse server is having a network
controller problem.
When a failure does occur, you need a system to notify you. Even better, be
informed before the failure occurs. Knowing how much hard disk space is left or
the system load on a server is essential before you begin installing other
applications. Application crashes can be tricky to troubleshoot, but good
monitoring tools can provide information about what happened just before the
failure. IBM® Tivoli® is an excellent and comprehensive tool for
watching your servers and applications.
Make your plan
As the IT architect for WidgetCo, your job is to formulate a plan for making the
dreams of others come true. One decision that the IT team made is to begin phasing
out the shelf-top servers in favor of rack-mounted hardware. The team also wants
to standardize their computer vendor to simplify purchasing and support. Because
of space limitations in the data center, using blade servers makes sense.
The team also noticed that the DMZ the part of the network exposed to the
Internet is insecure. Fixing this should be relatively easy and inexpensive with
existing hardware and staff.
In addition, the vendor for the application that the Accounting department is
using has released an updated version. The upgrade is as simple as inserting the
CD and answering a few questions. The upgrade is available at no cost, because
WidgetCo purchased a support plan. You're on your way!
Unfortunately, none of the in-house applications has any tolerance to failure.
Even worse, the majority of those applications are on the same server. When that
server is down, all work stops. A meeting with the development staff has confirmed
that it's possible to arrange these applications and databases on other servers,
but it will take some time.
Soon, you are able to create a vision for the future for WidgetCo, as shown in
Figure 3. Notice that this vision plan avoids the details
shown in Figure 1. Because this plan will be rolled out over
time, specific elements should be avoided to allow for future technology. For
example, avoiding specific brand technology allows the flexibility of multiple
vendors.
Figure 3. WidgetCo's future architecture
Find the right people
As the IT landscape changes in scale and complexity, finding the right people to
build and support it can be challenging. Managers dream of the simplicity of
adding hardware, applications, and quality without the cost of additional support
personnel. Sadly, with the daily grind of hardware issues and application
problems, support personnel can be run ragged trying to keep up. If a major
failure occurs, the quality of service that customers and internal people receive
will suffer. Managers should look for the balance of server responsibility and
workforce.
Implementation can often be simplified through the use of outside consultants.
Not only can these consultants offer their expertise, but more importantly, they
free current staff members to work on existing projects.
WidgetCo's staff
WidgetCo has historically had a small and informal IT staff. To build the new
architecture, resources must be freed from the normal grind. The IT manager brings
in consultants from IBM to help renovate the in-house applications for failover
tolerance so that the developers can continue to work on the next version of the
software.
In addition, users currently call IT staff members directly, which eats up these
staff members' time, which would be better spent making improvements. Starting a help desk to
funnel help requests, WidgetCo hires a temporary worker. By measuring the number
of calls and the time needed to resolve them, the IT manager can judge the
usefulness of the position.
Tools and techniques
Several tools are available for mapping and managing your technology. IBM Tivoli
products enable central management of all of your IT devices.
Because they work with most platforms, they can quickly fit into most environments.
Using IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT to find your current infrastructure
will fill in the gaps that are missed during the walkthrough. By using the
centralized management component you can generate reports on current hardware
configurations. Then as your grow your infrastructure, Tivoli Asset Management for
IT helps from procurement to installation to monitoring. Plus, you can use it to
track software licenses and service contracts with vendors. As your maintenance
agreements come due, you can make informed decisions to renew, upgrade, or replace
software. See the Resources for information about downloading
trial versions of Tivoli products.
Designing your new architecture with a failure-resistant SOA is easier when you
use IBM Rational® products. Developers working to decrease application
dependency on a single server can use Rational Software Architect to design and
implement your next generation of applications. Rational Software Architect
leverages various programming languages to build-on with existing architecture or
create new. As you expand your architecture, software revision history is
critical. Using Rational’s Change and Release Management software is excellent for
making application improvements. Accurate change management could be dictated from
any new standards you are implementing. For example, PCI compliance requires that
handle card holder information to be monitored. Implementing Rational products to
handle change process takes out the compliance worries. See the
Resources for information about downloading trial
versions of Rational products.
Milestones
Planning for the future or fixing a technology mess is a chore best suited to an
IT architect. Ease into the future by:
- Knowing what you have to work with. Maximize current resources and knowledge.
- Dreaming big. You won't get everything you want, but you will find what you
need.
- Including others. You are not the only one with dreams.
- Thinking in terms of miles, not inches. Set goals for the next month, the next
year, the next two years.
Conclusion
Keep dreaming big, and someday all your dreams will come true. Well, probably
not, but you can improve the quality of service that the company and the IT team
can offer. Even if you can't predict the future, you can be ready for it by
building with flexible and resilient components from your hardware all the way
down to your software.
Resources Learn
Get products and technologies
- Download
IBM
product evaluation versions
and get your hands on application development tools and middleware products from
DB2®, Lotus®, Rational, Tivoli, and WebSphere®.
-
More trial downloads from Rational:
Discuss
About the author  | | | Michael Welsh is a 15-year IT professional specializing in IT security, disaster
recovery, and networks. He is also knowledgeable in operating systems, hardware, and
many server-side applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server. Michael writes
technical articles and documentation for Web sites and businesses. |
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