Utility computing in a heterogenous data center

Many of the major players have outlined utility computing strategies that are very platform-specific, how do I go about gaining the benefits in a heterogeneous data center environment?
- David, Tempe, AZ

After a consult, the doctors sit you down in front of their impressively large desk and say:

Dave Roberts of Inkra Networks:

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Many of the major players have outlined utility computing strategies that are very platform-specific, how do I go about gaining the benefits in a heterogeneous data center environment?
- David, Tempe, AZ

After a consult, the doctors sit you down in front of their impressively large desk and say:

Dave Roberts of Inkra Networks:

I believe that the deployment of utility computing within the enterprise will arrive as a series of smaller changes to the existing infrastructure. Because of that, I don't expect that people will really adopt "full-blown utility computing," per se. Rather, they'll gradually move to a utility model as the technology matures. Utility computing is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it can be done in stages that bring individual cost and complexity reduction benefits. In each of the three fundamental data center technology sectors - networking, computin, and storage - products are available to start the journey today.

Despite the hype, no one vendor today delivers all the pieces of a utility-computing solution. It requires multiple vendors and multiple systems, including a wide array of servers, networking equipment, storage systems, and management software. With that said, your deployment will be heterogeneous by nature. However, to ensure that you're selecting the right solution for your organization, here are some key issues to consider.

First, to start your migration to the utility model on a successful footing, you'll need to have a clear picture of what you've already deployed. Data centers are complex environments and many organizations simply don't have a good understanding of the equipment already in place.

Next, you'll need to balance your existing infrastructure with the strategic investments you'll need to make to move to the utility model. Also, pay attention to management systems. Today, management systems exist that allow you to tie together networking, computing, and storage resource pools. Partnerships and alliances are key to building working systems, and you'll need to ensure your data center equipment vendors are exchanging information.

Here are some questions to ask of your utility data center vendors:

• What are the quantifiable operational and capital expenditure benefits I gain by moving to this model?

• How much control do I have over the services and performance levels in my environment?

• What is the adoption strategy? Is it an all-or-nothing approach or something I can do incrementally?

• How well does the system support a hybrid solution where some applications and pieces are using the utility concepts and others are not?

• How does the system manage the virtualized resources to ensure that there is clear performance, security, and fault isolation between them?

• Can the system support advanced billing and chargeback models? (Though enterprises often don't use those today, they eventually want to. The infrastructure put in place today should support requirements for accounting moving forward.)

In a heterogeneous data center environment, standards will be a critical component of a successful utility computing model. There is a need for standards to bring greater interoperability to data center equipment and provide a roadmap for utility implementations. Look for data center equipment vendors that are participating in new standards efforts, such as the Data Center Markup Language (DCML) organization (DCML definition). These standards will provide a foundation to enable utility computing and will ensure interoperability between a wide array of data center elements, including network components, storage components, Unix, Linux, Windows and other servers, software infrastructure and applications.