Sustainable MIS Infrastructure

BSAD 141Dave Novak

BDIS: 5.1 and 5.2

Lecture Overview MIS Infrastructure Supporting operations

Backup planDisaster recovery planBusiness continuity plan

Agile MIS Infrastructure EWaste Sustainable IT Infrastructure

MIS Infrastructure What is it? Plans for how a firm will build,

deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and MIS assets Hardware Software Network Client devices & server devices

What is the difference between a client and a server?

MIS Infrastructure Data center – A facility used to house

management information systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems

Cisco projections for data center / cloud traffic to triple over next 3-4 years

http://www.zdnet.com/cisco-projects-data-center-cloud-traffic-to-triple-by-2017-7000021985/

Data Centers Why would this matter to you?

1) This is the reality of modern IT / IS operations

2) HUGE $$$

3) HUGE implications with respect to your organization’s information / data needs and uses

Data Centers Design and facilities

Power, energy efficiency cooling, site selection, cable infrastructure

Infrastructure Legacy hardware, OS integration, rack –vs- blade,

virtualization, storage and capacity –vs- performance

Operations and best practices Staffing, disaster recovery, capacity planning

Data Center TourGoogle Data Center

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AiN7oJaIMISWest Green technology Data Center Tour

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlDWMg49z_UA not-so-impressive Data Center

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBUYIv1DTYI• Notice the:

• Cabling – rat’s nest, clothes line, rainbow of colors• Removed floor panels with fans resting on them• Tripping hazards• ‘sticky notes’ on servers

Sustainable Data Centers In addition to cost and performance

considerations, may focus on:Reducing carbon emissions

Reducing required floor space

Choosing a very specific geographic location based on more than just cost minimization strategies

Data Center –vs- Cloud

Data centers – enterprise IT, organization specific IT resources / assets

Public cloud providers (Amazon, Facebook, Google) – provide IT-related resources and services to anyone for a fee

Cloud Computing Refers to the use of resources and

applications hosted remotely on the Internet

Cloud Computing Why would an organization choose this

option?Lack of technical expertiseCost savings (capital costs and

maintenance)FlexibilityScalability

Cloud Computing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS6w5KYlHko&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_DKNwK_msThis sounds great! Why would your

organization build and maintain their own enterprise IT?

Maintaining an enterprise IT system allows the organization complete control – cloud computing does not

Data Center –vs- Cloud All storage, security, and service

solutions are not equal….Cloud providers tend to rely on

inexpensive, older (not cutting edge) hardware solutions

No tier 1 storage vendors in the public cloud (these are largest, most well-known vendors in the field)

Data Center –vs- Cloud Cloud providers tend to rely on Direct

Attached Storage (DAS) as opposed to Storage Area Networks (SAN) and do not use Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)DAS is inexpensive and simple

“Best practices” for fault tolerance and performance utilize some level of RAID – cloud providers tend to replicate complete data to multiple locations

Data Center –vs- Cloud Cloud providers tend to rely less on

virtualization Virtualization solutions tend to be open

source as opposed to commercial

Cloud data centers focus on cost minimization and tend to locate where resources are least expensive

Supporting Operations 1) Backup plan

Strategy for copying and archiving data 2) Disaster recovery/business continuity plan

Describes how the organization will deal with any potential disaster• Minimize impact • Prevention• Maximize ability to resume mission critical

functions

1) Backup and Recovery

Full Backup – An exact copy of a system’s information

Differential Backup – Copies only subset of files or parts of files that have changed since last full backup

Incremental Backup – Copies all files or parts of files that have changed since previous backup of any type

1) Backup and RecoveryType Pros Cons

Full Backup • Restoration is fastest – need only one set of backup data

• Backup process is slowest

• High storage requirements

Differential Backup

• Backup process is faster than full

• Restoration is faster than incremental

• Storage requirements less than full

• Restoration is slower than full

• Backup process is slower than incremental

Incremental Backup

• Fastest backup process• Least storage space

needed

• Restoration is slowest and requires several sets of data

Source: http://www.backup.info/difference-between-full-differential-and-incremental-backup

2) Disaster Recovery Plan

A detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of natural or man-made disasters

Disaster recovery cost curve - Charts (1) the cost to the organization of the unavailability of information and technology and (2) the cost to the organization of recovering from a disaster over time

2) Disaster Recovery Curve

2) Disaster Recovery Plan Hot site - A separate and fully equipped

facility where the company can move immediately after a disaster and resume business

Cold site - A separate facility that does not have any computer equipment, but is a place where employees can move after a disaster

Agile MIS Infrastructure Characteristics of an agile (clever,

coordinated) MIS infrastructure1) Accessibility2) Availability3) Maintainability4) Portability5) Reliability6) Scalability7) Usability

1) Accessibility

Refers to the ease of accomplishing objectives: defines different “levels” or categories of user in terms of what each user can access, view, or create/delete when using a system

Administrator access – Unrestricted access to the entire system

2) Availability

Availability – Refers to the time when the system is operational or ready for useUnavailable – Time frames when a

system is not operating and cannot be used

High availability – System is continuously operational at all times

3) Maintainability

Refers to how quickly, or the ease a system can transform to support changes as well as the time/effort to repair or upgradeOrganizations must watch today’s business,

as well as tomorrow’s, when designing and building systems

Systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of business changes

4) Portability Refers to the ability of an application to operate

on different devices or software platforms: how quickly/easily an application be moved from one environment to another

5) Reliability Refers to the proportion of time a system is

functioning correctly and the accuracy of the information being providedReliability is another term for accuracy when

discussing the correctness of systems within the context of efficiency IT metrics

6) Scalability

Refers to how well a system can adapt to the increased demands of growthPerformance - Measures how quickly a

system performs a process or transaction

Capacity planning - Determines future environmental infrastructure requirements to ensure high-quality system performance

7) Usability

Refers to the degree to which a system is easy to learn and efficient and satisfying to useHow would you measure this?

E-Waste Discarded, obsolete, or broken

electronic devicesCDs, DVDs, thumb drives, printer

cartridges, cell phones, TVs, DVD players, etc…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ZqSige34c

E-Waste Americans discard 30 Million computers

each year Europeans discards 100 Million phones

each year Only 15-20% of all E-waste is recycled E-Waste is 2% of the physical waste

produced in the USThis 2% is the source of 50-70% of the

toxins released from our waste streamSource: Green IT, Velte, Velte and Elsenpeter. Mcgraw Hill. 2008

Why is E-waste different from other waste streams? Anticipated increase, decrease or leveling off of

this material? Lifespan of Electronics compared to other

appliances? Up-cycling parts or components?

Ease of assembly and modularization of parts? Same materials?

Sustainable IT Infrastructure What does this even mean? Pursuing goals such as:

Improving “efficiency” Reduce green house gas emissionsReduce electricity usage Reduce e-wasteEducate the public and users

Sustainable IT Infrastructure The book focuses on “technological”

solutions, but in reality usage policies are the most cost effective approaches to sustainabilityEnergy star purchasesExchanges for outdated equipmentTurning off monitors – putting computers in

sleep modeUsing smart power strips

Sustainable IT Infrastructure The components of a sustainable MIS

infrastructure can includeGrid computingCloud computingVirtualized computing

Grid Computing

A collection of computers, often geographically dispersed, that are coordinated to solve a common problem

Applying resources from many computers to share processing power, memory, and data storage

Virtualization Creating a software-based representation

of something (rather than the actual thing)Making one resource appear as many (one

physical file server appear as multiple file servers) or making many resources appear as one

Mimicking the behavior of another system using simulation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AiN7oJaIM

Virtualization

For example, a virtual OS is the concept of having more than one OS (more than the native OS) on a single computer

• Parallels • VMWare• VirtualBox• Virtual Win

Windows OS can be run in a virtual environment on a MAC

Linux on a PC

Virtualization Virtualization technology fundamentally strives

for the same thing regardless of vendor.. Reducing the technological footprint by enabling more virtual machines (VM’s) to run on a single hardware device.

P to V process

Traditional Standalone Server. May be Intel or RISC

Virtualized server architecture

Hardware

Virtualized World Physical World

Virtualization

Traditional x86 Architecture• Single OS image per machine• Software and hardware tightly

coupled • Multiple applications often conflict• Underutilized resources

Virtualization: • Separation of OS and hardware• OS and application contained in

single file• Applications are isolated from one

another• Hardware independence & flexibility

Driving Reasons for Virtual Infrastructure Economic Environmental

Less power consumedLess toxic electronic devices

System Portability Enhanced Management

Summary MIS Infrastructure Supporting operations components Agile MIS Infrastructure components EWaste Sustainable IT Infrastructure components