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Storage Management 101: Everything you need to know about managing storage efficiently

Learn the fundamentals of storage management, including building a management team, streamlining processes, and selecting the right tools for consistent and efficient operations.

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Storage Management 101: Everything you need to know about managing storage efficiently

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  1. STORAGE MANAGEMENT/GETTING STARTED:Storage Management 101 Everything you always wanted to know about Storage Management (but were afraid to ask) Stephen Foskett Practice Manager GlassHouse Technologies

  2. Agenda • The utility model • Building a storage management team • Break • Storage management processes • Storage management tools

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Systems Administrators Hardware Policies Software Policies Configuration Processes Business Analysts Policies Requirements Analysis Service Level Agreements Operations Standard Procedures Monitoring Escalation IT Management Metrics Cost Modeling Chargeback

  6. Getting started • Create a centralized storage group • Develop strategic policies and standard architecture • Say no to ad-hoc purchases • Migrate and consolidate what you have • Proactively develop SLAs and begin reporting

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. Thank you. Questions on part 1?

  12. 0/0 Please rate the content of Stephen Foskett’s talk, “Storage Management 101, part 1.” • Poor • Fair • Good • Very Good • Excellent

  13. 0/0 Please rate Stephen Foskett’s presentation as a speaker. • Poor • Fair • Good • Very Good • Excellent

  14. STORAGE MANAGEMENT/GETTING STARTED:Storage Management 101,part 2 Everything you always wanted to know about Storage Management (but were afraid to ask) Stephen Foskett Practice Manager GlassHouse Technologies

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. The ITIL framework • (SS) Service Support • Service desk • Incident management • Problem management • Configuration management • Change management • Release management • (BP) Business Perspective • Business continuity • Partnerships and outsourcing • Surviving change • Transformation of business practice Application Management • (SD) Service Delivery • Capacity management • Financial management • Availability management • Service level management • Service continuity management • (IM) Infrastructure Management • Network service management • Operations management • Management of local processors • Computer installation and acceptance • Systems management

  18. Plan Implement Operate

  19. 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!

  20. 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

  21. 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

  22. Package-based approach • Software packages are purchased arbitrarily: • Hardware vendor’s suggestion • Giveaways • Media coverage/Advertising • Hit or miss coverage of business needs

  23. 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”

  24. 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

  25. 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?

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