Datalink Efficiency Tips Wpaper

8/14/2019 Datalink Efficiency Tips Wpaper

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7 Ways to Make Your Data Center

Infrastructure More Efficient

Exploring Top Practices for Cutting Costs andImproving Productivity in Todays Data Center

White Paper

by Kent Christensen, virtualization practice manager, DatalinkJuan Orlandini, principal architect, Datalink

August 2009

Economic pressures place a great emphasis on IT organizations to make wise infra-

structure decisions that ensure the best ongoing use of resources. Striking the correct

balance often comes down to developing strategies that not only solve the most press-

ing IT issues, but that also help drive greater efficiency in the data center infrastructure

(including the servers, networks and underlying storage that fuel a companys coreapplications). This white paper outlines some of the top ways that organizations can

achieve great efficiencies in their environments and drive benefits ranging from steep

capital savings to streamlined operations. It also illustrates how Datalink customers

have implemented these methods in their architectures.


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Table of Contents

Overview: The drive toward efficiency .................................................................................1

Mastering the balancing act ........................................................................................1

Why focus on efficiency ..............................................................................................1Efficiency Tip #1: Virtual backup with a snap .....................................................................3

Leveraging storage array-based snapshots ...............................................................4

Efficiency Tip #2: Move away from one size fits all ..............................................................4

Efficiency Tip #3: Add an extra D to your D to D ...............................................................6

Efficiency Tip #4: Get more out of your primary storage ......................................................7

Efficiency Tip #5: Make smarter copies of your data ............................................................8

Better manage your backup data ...............................................................................8

Efficiency Tip #6: Use smart storage for optimized replication and DR ...............................9

Efficiency Tip #7: Simplify backup with global storage lifecycle technology.......................10

Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................12Datalink can help ......................................................................................................12


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7 Ways to Make Your Data Center Infrastructure More Efficient

2009 Datalink. All Rights Reserved. www.datalink.com

Overview: The drive toward efficiency

Mastering the balancing act

IT organizations face tough decisions. With many having already learned to

go lean with their own staffing and budgetary needs, recent economic pres-

sures now place an even greater emphasis on IT making wise infrastructure

decisions to ensure the best ongoing use of resources.

Balancing these issues isnt easy, especially when pitted against extreme

growing pains and the frequent IT demands typically associated with most

companies mission-critical applications. For many of Datalinks customers,

striking the correct balance comes down to developing strategies that not

only solve the most pressing IT issues but that also help achieve greater effi-

ciency in their data center infrastructures.

As more and more companies embark on consolidation initiativesincluding

those surrounding server virtualizationit has become increasingly clear thatthere are often additional ways to reap huge returns. This has proven espe-

cially true for many Datalink customers that have evolved their virtual server

environments to include efficiency gains in areas like data protection and

remote disaster recovery.

This white paper shows some of the top ways Datalink customers have been

able to achieve great efficiencies in their environments. From steep capital

savings to streamlined operations, the results for these customers speak for

themselves and will continue to pay off for years to come.

NOTE: For the purposes of this paper, our focus on efficiency in a data

center infrastructure surrounds the servers, networks and underlying stor-age that fuel a companys core applications. Data center infrastructure also

encompasses the data protection and disaster recovery needs of this type of

server-to-storage environment.

Why focus on efficiency

Whats so important about achieving greater efficiency? Think back a few

years and recall when it used to take one IT staff member to manage a few

terabytes of data. Today, with highly efficient technology and process inno-

vations, its common for the same staff member to now manage a few hun-

dred terabytes of data.

In a few years, imagine that same staff member managing 10 times the data

they do now. Your IT budget and staff numbers have flat-lined and are

likely to be close to where they are now, yet your data has skyrocketed (see

Figure 1 on the following page).

Another challenge that accompanies massive storage growth is that exist-

ing practices will not scale with the capacity growth, at least not within the

projected budget. While the price of storage is dropping, it is not dropping as

fast as capacity is growing. In addition, with capacities growing as such an

This white papershows some of

the top ways that

Datalink custome

have been able to

achieve efficienci

in their environ-

ments.


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alarming rate, supporting processes like backup and disaster recovery (DR)

are strained or broken.

How will you close this gap? How will your infrastructure accommodate the

storage and management of such a growing volume of data? More impor-

tantly, how can you lay the groundwork now to sustain the innovation youll

need to avoid massive data center expense later on?

In essence, you have two choices:

1. Learn how to slow or reduce your data growth

2. Learn how to manage more with the same IT staff resources

In either case, you are required to look at ways that lead to greater efficiency

in your data center infrastructure. Surprisingly enough, the decisions you

make in this area dont always mean buying more. Often, much headway can

be achieved by incorporating many efficiency-driving practices or features

you may already have available in your current infrastructure.

Datalink works with clients to not just incorporate current best practices and

efficient technologies, but to also help them strategically apply such technol-

ogies toward the bigger picture: Meeting the increasingly demanding needs

of the business without spending more or hiring more.

The by-products of efficiency

The recommendations outlined in this paper, can help drive the following

efficiency by-products:

Delayed capital expenditures

Significant reductions in TCO

Steep reductions in risk associated with remote DR and local/remote data

protection along with associated cost savings


Often, much

headway can be

achieved by incor

porating many

efficiency-driving

practices or fea-

tures you may

already have ava

able in your curre

infrastructure.


Figure 1: Assumingorganizations have a60% data growth rate,their storage require-ments will increase ten-fold. With IT headcountremaining flat, this cre-ates a gap.

GAP


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Lower maintenance charges

Substantial savings on power and cooling

Sizable decreases in server and storage footprints

Streamlined management of data growth with no added IT headcount

The ability to store more data within the existing infrastructure

Dramatic boosts in productivity, service levels and end-user satisfaction

We encourage readers to explore the efficiency tips found here and contem-

plate how one or more of these methods could lead to positive results in your

own environment. While still valid for a broader IT audience, many of the

technologies mentioned throughout this paper become even more valuable

for those in virtual server environments.

Efficiency Tip #1: Virtual backup with a snap

Server virtualization brings with it incredible savings in consolidation.

Consolidating as many as 10 or more physical servers onto one is an amazing

efficiency breakthrough. Yet, one challenge with this type of consolidation is

the potentially negative impact it can have on server backup processes. The

table below illustrates a few of these challenges.



One challenge

with this server

consolidation is th

potentially negativ

impact it can have

on server backup

processes.

Approach Description

Backup in the olddays

With an abundance of physical servers, many organizations subscribed to com-mon backup wisdom: Put a backup agent on each server, manage backup jobs

with one or more master backup servers, then send thefi

nished backups to tape(or increasingly, to some type of intermediate disk-based backup target like thatfound with virtual tape library/VTL technology. While sites may have had to dealwith some network congestion, longer backup windows, tape inefficiencies andthe need to schedule and stagger backup jobs accordingly, the risk of maxingout an individual servers CPU resources for backup wasnt usually a factor.

Backup in virtualserver environ-ments

Virtual machine environments are a whole different story. Here, one physicalservers CPU resources can be in high demand already as it supports the needsof several hosted virtual machines. Adding a backup agent inside each virtualmachine can add extra strain on the physical server and negatively impact over-all performance.Mission critical application platforms support the offload of backup processes viaAPIs that interface with more efficient off host data protection applications.

For example, VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) and its centralized VCBProxy Server offload the data movement and leverage snapshot functionality tosignificantly reduce the backup impact on each ESX Servers CPU resources.For some IT environments, use of VCB with third-party data protection softwarecan be a viable option. As VMs proliferate and the need for multiple proxy serv-ers becomes apparent, however, backup times, longer backup queues and thecomplexity of backup jobs and data recovery may still increase. Virtual serverperformance can also be impacted as virtual machines and applications remainin state-stable mode until the VCB snapshot backup process is completed.


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Leveraging storage array-based snapshots

Both in and outside of virtual server environments, Datalink clients have

seen considerable efficiency gains by offloading server-side processing onto

their underlying network-based storage array. Backup environments are one

example of the merits of this approach. For IT organizations looking to makea change to their backup environments, this first efficiency tip suggests the

alternative use of storage array-based snapshot technology.

You can think of this technology as disk-based snapshots originating from

within the virtualization software layer of the storage array itself. Many stor-

age system vendors have evolved their array-based snapshot technology to

integrate closely with VMware and other server virtualization vendors.

For VMware, this means storage-based snapshots work first with VMware

APIs in order to create system state-stable snapshots of virtual machines.

Some can also interface with the underlying application to create application-

consistent as well as crash-consistent point-in-time copies of the data. Theunderlying copy/snapshot and backup processing leverages storage resources

that have little or no impact on the virtual server environment or the hosted

applications. Using this technology, each VM can often be backed up in just

a few seconds. The process of backing up entire virtual server environments

can also be completed in minutes, as opposed to the hours typically required

for numerous backup jobs to be performed with VMware Consolidated

Backup (VCB) and third-party data protection.

Benefits of this approach often include dramatic reductions in backup win-

dows, significant improvements in recovery points and recovery times,

improvements in virtual server performance, and an easier platform for off-

site disaster recovery.

Efficiency Tip #2: Move away from one size fits all

Another way Datalink clients have begun to get ahead of the typical cost

associated with exponential data growth is by treating certain types (or class-

es) of data in different ways, especially in regards to:



For IT organiza-tions looking to

make a change to

their backup envi-

ronments, this firs

efficiency tip sug-

gests the alterna-

tive use of storag

array-based snap

shot technology.

Efficiency Gains from the Real World

A Datalink client in the natural energy field used array-based snapshot technology to protect

over 160 virtual machines (along with existing, non-virtualized servers). Moving from its prior,

ineffective tape-based backup processes, the client was able to subsequently:

Decrease maintenance costs and avoid a $1M+ investment in a new tape backup system

Eliminate tape and backup-related downtime, with significantly less IT management time

required

Drop backup/recovery times from its prior 1-2 days to just minutes (or seconds, in some

cases)

More easily initiate remote disaster recovery through use of related replication technology


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The type of reliability and performance needed

The type of local and remote data protection required

For example, not every application needs to be supported by high cost Fibre

Channel disk drives. Likewise, not every type of data needs the same levelsof data protection, replication, or recovery time objective (RTO) and recov-

ery point objective (RPO) associated with disaster recovery. Great savings

and efficiencies can be gained by identifying and classifying data sets into

their associated levels of service. Certain technologies are helping IT organi-

zations get there faster. Datalink also offers services that help organizations

align their service level agreements (SLAs) and classes of data with their

business requirements. As a result, decisions about the technical infrastruc-

ture required to support their priorities become much clearer. In the end, this

type of tiered data model often gives organizations improved ability to iden-

tify and meet or exceed service level objectives.



Not every applica

tion needs to be

supported by high

cost Fibre Chann

disk.


Example #1: One large Datalink client in the healthcare field had serious data overload before

it implemented a combined file virtualization/data tiering strategy that allowed it to analyze and

classify its growing slate of unstructured file data (which had already grown to over 100 million

files). Some of the clients prior issues included low storage utilization rates (50% per device),

large backup windows, downtime associated with lengthy and involved data migrations, and

data protection/management issues associated with its 60% annual data growth rate. After

project implementation, the client:

Delayed capital purchases of $1.2M and related annual maintenance costs of $240K per

year

Saved money implementing lower-cost SATA drives for certain types of data

Increased utilization from 50% to over 80%

Improved backup times to become 20 times more efficient

Went from a disruptive, 6-month data migration of just 0.5TB to an automated, non-disrup-

tive migration of 20TB of data in the same timeframe

Example #2:Another Datalink client incorporated near-line SATA storage to archive its produc-

tion snapshots, along with the selective use of solid-state disk (SSD) technology. The move to

nearline SATA storage alone yielded impressive results, which included:

Four-fold savings in capital

50% reduction in power consumption

A further study by Datalink assessed the benefits that SSD storage could bring the client. The

analysis showed the following benefits of moving the clients selected data sets to SSD storage:

A ten-fold increase in performance, with no change in capital expenditure per terabyte A three-fold savings in electricity and cooling costs (as compared to the 15,000RPM Fibre

Channel drives that had previously hosted the data)


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Efficiency Tip #3: Add an extra D to your D to D

As the volume of primary storage continues to grow, it also impacts the vol-

ume and reliability of backup data. A disk-based backup solution, such as

a virtual tape library (VTL) or disk-to-disk (D2D) copy, not only improves

backup and restore performance, but also greatly increases reliability.

However, as the popularity of disk-to-disk backup grows, the volume of stor-

age required to retain data for recovery, archive or compliance can grow as

fast or faster than that for primary storage.

This often leads to ever-increasing requests to buy more disk shelves just to

contain the backup data in your infrastructure. Thankfully, efficient technolo-

gies like deduplication now offer another alternative that extends the use of

existing disk storage, often by many months.

In the case of disk-based backup, Datalink has incorporated deduplication

technology to clients existing backup environments in a number of ways.

Depending on the customer environment, deduplication technology may be

incorporated as an inline system or a post-processing function. It may be

carried out at the source of the data or at the destination. And it may also be

deployed as a component of a companys primary storage architecture or as

a separate appliance within the organizations backup, archival or secondary

storage infrastructure. In any case, deduplication added to D2D environments

typically results in significant efficiency gains. For more information on this

topic, see the Datalink white paper, An In-Depth Look at Deduplication

Technologies, at datalink.com.



In the case of disbased backup,

Datalink has inco

porated deduplica

tion technology

to clients existing

backup environ-

ments in a numbe

of ways.


Another Datalink client in the energy field had begun to seriously struggle in its efforts to back

up several hundred servers to its already overwhelmed tape library. Juggling more than 700

backup tapes, backup slowdowns, multi-hour restores, and relatively high failure rates, the com-

panys IT department knew it needed to make a change. It also needed to discover a better way

to accommodate even more data from remote sites as part of a larger data center consolidation

it had already begun. After assessing the situation, Datalink recommended thatin conjunction

with its move to VMware to reduce server footprintsthe organization employ D2D technology

with deduplication. This decision proved key to greater savings, such as:

Reduced backup storage capacity needed -- from over 800TB to roughly 33TB

Extended backup retention times by 300%

Achieved a storage capacity savings ratio of 100:1 (required just 1/100 of the storage capac-

ity previously used) for VMware backup data with one application achieving a 385:1 capacitysavings ratio

Yielded an average capacity savings of 23:1 across all virtual and non-virtual applications

through the combined used of compression and deduplication

Reduced backup administration from one day a week to 10 minutes per day

Cut recovery times by 50%

Significantly reduced footprint and cooling costs and achieved a 45% reduction in power

utilization compared to expanding the companys legacy tape infrastructure


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Efficiency Tip #4: Get more out of your primary storage

Similar to the previous efficiency tip, this guideline tries to move IT organi-

zations away from the unending cycle of application data growth that then

requires more and more disk trays to support it. While some growth in disk

storage may be unavoidable, there are a few storage optimization technolo-

gies that can significantly slow disk demand. These allow you to make the

most efficient use of the disk you already have in your data center environ-

ment. They can also help you significantly postpone or delay the purchase of

additional disk storage. The most significant technologies for optimizing the

use of your primary storage include:

Deduplication (of primary storage). Similar to deduplication in backup

environments, some storage vendors now offer deduplication of primary

storage as well. For growing VMware environments with lots of duplicate

VM system and OS file data, this can mean the ability to reclaim as much

as 60-80+% of the storage capacity previously alotted to virtual machines.

Across multiple application data types both in and outside of VMware

environments, deduplication often frees over 50% of currently used stor-

age space.

Thin provisioning of storage volumes. Storage systems that use their own

virtualization layer to offer a virtual pool of storage also often offer thin

provisioning functionality. This allows you to configure two volume

sizes to store application data: The first is often a larger sized volume that

the application server or server administrator sees as available for use.

The second, underlying volume is the thin amount of disk space that

the application has actually used within the larger storage pool. The dif-

ference between the two volume sizes can often be used by other applica-

tions and servers, extending the usable life of an organizations storage.Incorporating just this type of thin provisioning technology, Datalink

clients in VMware environments often report the ability to extend their

current storage capacity by 30-40%.



Storage systemsthat use their own

virtualization laye

to offer a virtual

pool of storage al

often offer thin

provisioning func

tionality.


Example #1:Many Datalink customers have already begun using deduplication on their primary

storage. Here are a few ways this technology has begun to drive efficiency:

A manufacturing company reclaimed over 80% of its primary storage associated with

VMware

A medical device company reclaimed more than 65% of its primary storage An airline reclaimed 60% of its primary storage

A Fortune 500 technology company reclaimed 24% of its primary storage

Example #2:Datalink recently worked with a law firm to implement thin provisioning. The

results?

The firm reclaimed 45 percent of its previously reserved storage capacity


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Efficiency Tip #5: Make smarter copies of your data

Better manage your backup data

Backup data sets are a prime example of the current proliferation of disk-

based data. But, they are not the only example of the multiple copies of pri-

mary application data that often accumulate throughout the data center infra-

structure and drive storage costs significantly higher.

There may be still several other data copies in use for test, development,

staging or even training, not to mention the data replicated to a local or

remote site as part of a wider disaster recovery process. Fortunately, technol-

ogies now exist to dramatically reduce the disk capacity needs for multiple

data copies. Including some elements mentioned previously, such technolo-

gies include:

Array-based snapshots. In fact, innovation in storage system software can

mean one vendors array-based snapshots might consume a much smallerfootprint of storage capacity than another vendors. This may come

down to how efficiently the snapshot technology tracks and stores just

the changes (or deltas) since the prior snapshot(s). It is also important to

understand the performance impact of the different snapshot technologies.

Array-based clones. Specifically in the areas of test and development,

some storage systems offer a cloning mechanism based on prior data

snapshots or copies of snapshots. Cloned data sets can often be made in a

few minutes while they only consume a sliver of disk space. This is a sig-

nificant change over the traditional lengthy provisioning, planning and 1:1

data copy requirements often needed for test and development environ-

ments. [Note: VMware offers a VMware-linked clone capability and Lab

Manager functionality that can also prove highly effective in customer

environments.

Deduplication. To reduce capacity needed for data copies, deduplication

can be used on primary storage. If the data is then replicated to another

site, it can mean less WAN bandwidth and less storage capacity on the

other side. When used specifically on backup data, disk capacity needs

also decrease dramatically.



Innovation in storage system soft-

ware can mean

one vendors arra

based snapshots

might consume

a much smaller

footprint of stor-

age capacity than

another vendors.


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Efficiency Tip #6: Use smart storage for optimized replication and DR

Datalink clients who have moved forward with server virtualization have

since been able to make great efficiency strides in their disaster recovery ini-tiatives. This is often the result of leveraging advances in server virtualization

technology and the related integration of the storage systems with VMware

and others.

When these technologies are used effectively, IT organizations benefit in

many ways. One of those is an easier way to reach high service level goals

set for different areas of the business. These include painless yet significant

improvements in disaster recovery-related RPOs and RTOs.

Frequently building on smart storage foundations like array-based snap-

shots, many organizations have begun to achieve more affordable off-site

disaster recovery. This is accomplished through the combination of existingsnapshot technology with related storage-based technologies for remote rep-

lication.

The smart storage copies can then be leveraged for an efficient failover and

recovery process. For example, VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager

(SRM) leverages this architecture type to achieve a more automated, less

time-intensive failover and recovery process. It can also significantly aid IT

organizations in simplifying periodic DR test activities they have underway.




Datalink recently worked with a medical technology company to make smarter copies of data. The company needed the

ability to provide multiple copies (up to 30) of its ERP database for developers. Storing that many copies of the same data

was extremely expensive. Additionally, making and continually resynchronizing so many copies was way too time consum-

ing. The answer proved to be a solution utilizing array-based snapshot and cloning technology. This allowed for creation

of transparent, virtual copies of production data for use by developers. The organization is also using replication and WAN

optimization technology for its DR strategy. Following are a few benefits of this environment:

Production doesnt suffer. The organization makes a copy of the production data. The cloned volumes are created from

the physical copy so there is no impact on production.

More efficient. The organization can provide (in just seconds) as many copies of the data as required by the develop-

ers.

Greater flexibility. The developers can roll back to copies at almost any point in time, nearly instantaneously.

More economical. The core data remains the same so less storage is required. The only additional space required is for

the changed blocks of data among the various data copies.

Better ability to meet SLAs. The organization can meet its RPO of nearly zero and its RTO of less than four hours.

Decreased storage requirements. With 20 TB of data on the ERP system, the storage requirements under the old

method would have been approximately 400 TB (in order to have 20 development copies, which is common). The newscenario now only requires 50-60 TB of storage (the primary data, the copy of that data, and the changed blocks that

exist on the copies).

Bandwidth cost savings. With the WAN optimization appliances located at a major data center and DR site, bandwidth

requirements have decreased by about 50 percent.

Fast. The WAN optimization technology has enabled the IT organization to go from a 36-day window to just a 3-day

window for resynchronizing the data at the DR site.


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The benefits of using this type of smart storage architecture are many:

Reduced cost to deploy remote replication and off-site disaster recov-

ery. Based on these types of innovative technologies, its not uncommon

for the cost of a remote, disk-based DR paradigm to be on par (or even

less than) investing in a legacy tape infrastructure. In contrast to first-generation replication technologies, new smart storage architectures also

offer the flexibility to:

- Replicate between different product models (within a vendor line) at

the primary and secondary sites and, in some cases, between storage

systems from different vendors.

- Significantly reduce bandwidth requirements and telecom charges

associated with remote replication and data transmission.

Reduced impact of any potential disaster. With much faster RPO and

RTO goals now able to be affordably achieved, todays generation of

storage-based DR architectures offer key efficiency gains just when youneed them most.

Efficiency Tip #7: Simplify backup with global storage lifecycletechnology

Many IT environments still rely heavily on server-based data protection and

the use of a master backup server combined with multiple media servers to

protect a mounting group of non-virtualized application servers. Here, too,

significant efficiency breakthroughs can be made by applying what some

server-based data protection vendors call storage lifecycle technology toyour existing backup environment.

Backup administrators who work in these growing environments are already

familiar with the problematic and often excessive manual effort involved in:

Load balancing clients and media servers to ensure backup job success

Assigning and reassigning specific application servers to the proper back-

up media server




Several Datalink clients have moved from tape-based backups alone to a more disk-based

paradigm that capitalizes on smart storage snapshot and replication technology and WAN opti-

mization. In one example, a Datalink client switched to using snapshot and replication technol-

ogy for backup and remote replication. By combining this type of smart storage technology with

a WAN optimization device and deduplication, the client:

Maximized the use of its existing WAN pipe

Achieved 60% reductions in the size of data replicated and transmitted for remote DR

Reduced backup/recovery times significantly Automated its local and remote recovery processes for virtual machines

Efficiency break-

throughs can be

made by applying

what some serve

based data prote

tion vendors call

storage lifecycle

technology to you

existing backup

environment.


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Scheduling and juggling backup jobs with media server resources

Troubleshooting backup issues

Scaling out existing backup policies to new backup media servers and

newer or expanding applications

Setting service level goals around best attempts to back up and recover

what is often perceived as the most critical systems versus a wider, busi-

ness-oriented policy approach to RTO/RPO goals and classes of service

focused on each applications unique needs

Instead of relying on so much manual effort on the part of backup adminis-

trators, newer data protection software offers the ability to create a shared,

load-balanced pool of media servers where automated, storage lifecycle tech-

nology can then be more readily applied. Automated storage lifecycle poli-

cies derived from this technology then make it possible to more easily use,

deploy or alter resources within this shared media server pool.

Using such new features gives administrators a much easier way to perform

technology refreshes. For example, adding a newer, more powerful media

server to the mix then becomes a simple exercise of automatically adding

another resource to the existing backup server pool.

Instead of requiring administrators to perform and manually re-engineer

1:1 mappings of application servers to their associated backup media serv-

ers, storage lifecycle technology now allows applications to be classified

based on the kind of backup and recovery services they might require. This

includes defining (at the data protection software-level) business objectives

for each class of data surrounding backup frequency, retentions, type of

backup and type of recovery.

Once high-level backup policy is defined, carrying out the policy becomes an

automated function with the data protection software automatically perform-

ing much of the scheduling, load balancing, media server assignment and

scale-out typically required to ensure effective data protection.



Newer data pro-tection software

offers the ability to

create a shared,

load-balanced po

of media servers

where automated

storage lifecycle

technology can

then be more rea

ily applied.


Datalink has helped clients achieve the following benefits by applying this type of storage life-

cycle technology to their data protection processes:

Significant operational efficiencies (backup administrators can now do more in less time

since much of their prior backup/recovery activity is now automated)

Success at rapid, horizontal scaling of data protection architectures

A strong business-level focus on data protection and recovery that goes from the adminis-

trators best attempt to a more clearly defined set of business-driven RTO/RPO goals that

focus on different data classes and different tiers of service

A more focused, global policy approach with higher resource utilization, more streamlined

management and a better ability to meet and exceed service levels


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Conclusion

Datalink can help

IT decisions that build on efficient technologies and practices like those out-

lined here can go far toward helping you solve your IT organizations press-

ing challenges. They can also help set a foundation for a stronger service-

oriented architecture that can ultimately lead you closer to a future cloud

computing infrastructure thats highly efficient.

A paradigm shift is needed to keep IT budgets from spiraling out of con-

trol as organizations struggle with exponential application and data growth.

Server virtualization technology represents the beginning of this shift and is

leading to significant consolidation.

Now, optimization of data in these smaller physical footprints is the next

step. Technologies that strive to let you do more with less will continue to be

a key part of getting there.

As a leading information storage architect, Datalink analyzes, designs, imple-

ments, manages and supports information storage infrastructures and solu-

tions in a variety of environments, including those with extensive server

virtualization strategies.

Datalink is known for its balanced insights, field-tested best practices and

practical advice and support that helps todays data center make the best use

of technology to meet business and IT needs.

Not tied to one manufacturer or one suite of products, we use technologies

from multiple industry-leading and competing innovators and tailor solutionsto your needs. Inside access to manufacturers research and development

roadmaps, resources, and technologies, provides us with a unique vantage

point.

Our practice areas span solutions made up of hardware and software from

multiple storage innovators, along with a comprehensive suite of professional

and support services. We specialize in the areas of backup and recovery; con-

solidation and virtualization; business applications; and archive and compli-

ance.

To learn more about how Datalink can help your organization gain greater

efficiency in the data center, contact Datalink at (800) 448-6314 or visit

www.datalink.com.


Not tied to onemanufacturer

or one suite of

products, we use

technologies from

multiple industry-

leading and com-

peting innovators

and tailor solution

to your needs.

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Datalink Efficiency Tips Wpaper