Eight Requirements for Self-Service IT and the Next Generation Data Center

8/4/2019 Eight Requirements for Self-Service IT and the Next Generation Data Center

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Eight Requirements forSelf-Service IT and the

Next Generation Data Center

Using a Service Catalog for Data Center Automation

newScale White Paper


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Table of Content s

Executive Summary ................................................................................................1

1. Make Self-Service Easy and Convenient .................................................2

2. Drive Users to Standard Service Options ................................................3

3. Enable IT to Track and Manage Lifecycles and Workloads ...............5

4. Provide Complete Services, Not Just Servers ..........................................7

5. Include Role-based Access Controls ...........................................................8

6. Coordinate and Integrate with Back Office Systems ............................8

7. Shape Demand ...............................................................................................9

8. Accommodate Move to Cloud Computing .............................................10

Conclusion ...............................................................................................................12

Eight Requirementsfor Self-ServiceIT and the NextGenerationData Center


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ExecutiveSummary

Exec ut ive Summ ary Virtualization is revolutionizing computing. It greatly facilitates the creation anddeployment of services, permitting IT to be fast on its feet in delivering the servicesthe business requires. With virtualization, IT can deliver services to users on-demand.With this capability, IT can empower users to serve themselves in requesting services.

For example, a user can request a complete application development system and havethe request quickly fulfilled through the provisioning of virtual resources. This eliminatesthe long delays and much higher costs of provisioning physical resources.

Like all technology innovations, however, virtualization introduces IT managementchallenges. IT has to ensure that it effectively manages user self-service so thatdemand does not quickly outstrip available resources and that request fulfillment isdone in compliance with internal policies and external regulations. And, because ofthe ease of creating and deploying virtual servers, IT has to ensure that an operatingmodel exists to control and manage this technology so that it does not replace physicalserver sprawl with virtual server sprawl.

A comprehensive and well-designed Service Catalog offers a solution to these challenges.It provides a single point from which the IT staff can gain enterprisewide visibility andmanagement control of its physical and virtualized data center infrastructure. It alsoprovides an effective vehicle to communicate standardized data center offerings toend-users and allow users to serve themselves in requesting services.

In essence, the Service Catalog is the foundation for a new front office of IT and actsas the face of IT to the enterprise. This important capability positions IT to take fulladvantage of the next major wave in computingcloud computingwhich is basedon virtualization. Consequently, IT organizations must take great care in designing andimplementing their Service Catalogs.

newScale, the recognized thought and market leader in the Service Catalog industry,has derived eight major requirements that a Service Catalog must satisfy to meet thechallenge of self-service. newScale has developed these requirements based on 10years of experience in providing Service Catalog software for more than 1.7 millionusers. The company presents this paper with the intent of helping IT organizationsimplement an effective Service Catalog that will enable them to reap the full benefitsof self-service in virtualized and cloud computing environments.

This paper examines the requirements and provides guidance on leveraging theresultant capabilities to their full potential. The paper focuses on VMware environmentsbecause it represents the majority of virtualization implementations. However, the

concepts discussed apply to all virtualized environments across multiple hypervisorsas well as physical data center infrastructures.


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1. Make Self-Service Easy and Convenient

To realize the full promise of the virtualized environment, it is critical to empower usersto easily and conveniently serve themselves in selecting and requesting services. Awell-designed Service Catalog enables users to confidently select and request servicesall on their own, without intervention by the IT staff. This requires far more than just a

web form in which user simply enter their requirements. Here are some suggestions forbuilding a Service Catalog that fully empowers users to serve themselves:

Self-service Lifecycle Management

User self-service should continue beyond the initial request and receipt of services andgive users visibility and control over the entire lifecycle of the services they request.This includes the ability to stop or delete the VM entirely, or to modify it such as bychanging memory or CPU allocation, or migrating the VM to another physical server.Extending user self-service over the entire service lifecycle allows the requestor toquickly and easily make adjustments (or turn off the VM) to meet changing businessrequirements. Self-service reduces the load on the VM administrators and helps controlserver sprawl by eliminating orphan VMs that are still active but no longer used.

Search

Users are accustomed to Google-type search engines. Consequently, you need toprovide users with a powerful, easy to use, and fast search capability to find theservices they need.

Navigation

Different users approach service selection from different perspectives depending ona variety of factors, such as job function. For example, some users approach selectionfrom the point of view of their use of the service (intranet or application server);others think in terms of performance (high, medium); still others think in terms of cost.

You should provide different navigation paths that guide users in choosing the serversand configurations they need based on their perspective. There should be multiplepaths to arrive at the same servers and configurations.

Comparison

Comparison guides help users answer the question, Am I making the right choice fromwhats available? These guides should have different vectors of comparison so userscan see the most important differences among configurations.

Content

Be sure that the content clearly communicates features, functions, and benefits. Includelinks to other materials such as FAQs or videos. Dont scrimp on graphics. Establish an

overall graphic appearance in which colors, fonts, and pictures are coordinated. Useservice bundles to communicate value. A library of pre-defined content, graphics,and images is critical.

Wizards

Include wizards that guide users through various processes. For example, a configurationwizard can guide users through to a final configuration once they have selected ageneral server or environment. The wizard should permit users to tweak their choicesso they can make adjustments where necessary. In addition, the wizard should preventusers from combining elements that cannot be used together.

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Make Self-ServiceEasy andConvenient


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Figure 1. Service request wizards help users choose the proper computing environments

2. Drive Users to Standard Servi ce Options

You can achieve significant consolidation and efficiency gains by adoptingvirtualization as a key component of your data center strategy. To gain thefull operational efficiencies of virtualization, you need to establish standardizedservice offerings.

Without standardized services, the IT staff has to address every user requestfor server environments individually, and that typically requires laborious andtime-consuming interaction with each requester. Fulfilling each request involvessubstantial server engineering to create a unique configuration. This results inservice delivery delays. A one-off approach is not desirable in the virtualizedenvironment because it limits the agility made possible by virtualization and itcomplicates management.

Drive Users toStandard Service

Options

To influence users to

utilize standard service

offerings, the Service

Catalog should provide

four capabilities:

1. Enable users todiscover whatsavailable in a waythat is meaningfulto them

2. Guide users in theirselection, basedon their roles and

requirements3. Help users compare

options

4. Assist users in guidingtheir requests to theright options fortheir needs

Other useful wizards guide users through calculations or estimates for capacity,availability, and security. The calculations dont have to be exact, but ratherprovide estimates that help users make more informed choices.

Wizards should be embedded in service request forms to allow more granularcontrol. (See Figure 1.) For example, in a form that asks whether there are data

privacy requirements, if the user selects yes, the wizard would automaticallyrecommend an internal environment as opposed to a cloud environment.


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The problem is that customers may resist adopting standard VM builds or templates, insome cases for valid reasons. In most cases, however, the reluctance arises because thestandard configurations are not described in ways that are meaningful to users. Thatsbecause IT typically views requests from a technology perspective whereas businessusers view requests from a service perspective. As a result, users may not be able to

match their requirements to the standard offerings and cannot compare offerings todetermine the best match.

The right Service Catalog provides the means to overcome these two obstacles. Itprovides a useful tool to communicate, in the language of the customer, the differentoptions in virtual environments that are available. These options are based on theserver standards and configurations that you want to encourage users to request.Rather than having one-off discussions with users concerning their service requests,you can publish baseline services and pre-defined variations in the Service Catalog.Standard service offerings eliminate time consuming telephone calls and emailexchanges.

As Figure 2 illustrates, the Service Catalog can present a comparison of standardservice offerings to custom configurations. By making standard services easy to find,understand, compare, and request, the Service Catalog influences users to utilize them.

Figure 2. Comparison of standard offering to custom configuration

The Service Catalog must provide multiple views for different user roles, such ascustomer, technical, and financial. For example, when a developer (technical) customerselects small Linux environment for testing, the appropriate bill of materials andstandard options are generated. Once the user selects the standard basic offering forhis role, self-service request forms provide guidance that helps him select appropriateoptions, and prevents him from making errors such as requesting incompatible options.

Drive Users toStandard ServiceOptions


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Enable IT toTrack and Manage

Lifecycles andWorkloads

Once the customer selects the desired service, the system generates the environmentbuild sheet. That drives the provisioning and configuration of the requested resource,including any in-place automated activities required.

The Amazon EC2 Service Catalog provides an example of a catalog that standardizescomplicated service offerings. Their catalog clearly outlines the two available

standard packagesStandard and High CPUand three sub-choices. The EC2Service Catalog also provides descriptive information, including links to explanationsand FAQs to guide users in making selections.

The Dell Computer storefront provides another example of publishing standardservices and options in an easy-to-understand Service Catalog. The Dell catalogdivides servers into classessuch as rack and bladeeach with different models.Customers can then customize the basic offerings within the parameters defined foreach model.

By eliminating manual forms and automatically triggering the workflow to fulfill therequest, the Service Catalog reduces the chance for human error and eliminates the need

for involved bottleneck discussions and strategies with every server deployment request.

Standard classes and models combined with self-service is a useful construct to keepin mind when designing Service Catalog templates. In building templates (serviceofferings), ask the following questions: What standard classes of environment do youprovide (e.g. production, development, and QA)? What models do you offer (e.g.,on-line transaction processing, extranet, intranet HR, basic web server, basic data-base)? When providing guidance to customers in building services, keep in mind thatchoices differ markedly, depending on the environment. For example, the choices foran extranet, high transaction database differ from those for a personal developmentenvironment.

Standardizing the offerings for users greatly facilitates and speeds the provisioningprocess because IT knows up front all the parameters of each request. Consequently,VM server administrators can deliver functional server environments in hours and daysrather than weeks and months, and that means faster realization of value to the business.

The Service Catalog also reduces the cost of selection, ordering, and provisioning.Through the Service Catalog, users can access infrastructure on a just-in-time basis froman easy-to-use self-service portal. For short timeframe projects or last-minute requests,users can quickly access available capacity on-demand. For planned needs, they canreserve resources for use in the future.

The Service Catalog should also allow VM administrators to capture the information

about what their market is requesting. That information is useful for capacity planning.

3. Enable IT to Track and Manage Lifecycl es and Work loads

Virtual servers are fast and easy to provision. Without the proper server manage-ment processes in place, however, virtual servers can easily spin out of control, such asremaining active even after they are no longer being used. In addition, over time, theconfigurations of these servers may drift from the original requested configuration dueto a variety of factors, including software updates and patches.


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Enable IT toTrack and ManageLifecycles andWorkloads

It is therefore necessary to manage virtual servers across their entire lifecycle, frominitial selection (as offered), to requested service (as agreed), to provisioning (asbuilt), and then through change, and finally to retirement. A well-designed ServiceCatalog maintains a wealth of information that can be leveraged for lifecyclemanagement.

The Service Catalog, being the source of as offered, as requested, and as built,maintains the lifecycle for VM server requests. The VM build sheet also gathers infor-mation on who owns each server, how long the user needs it, and other relevant data.A well-architected Service Catalog also maintains a record of the parameters thatdescribe the servers workload.

The Service Catalog should maintain information that indicates the kind of requests auser can make on a virtual server during its deployment, such as add memory, start,stop, snapshot, and upgrade. It should also maintain information on service levelagreements (SLAs), operational level agreements (OLAs), and available maintenancehours. In addition, the Service Catalog should maintain a history of all requests made

against each standard server configuration.Figure 3. Managing and tracking the lifecycle of a workload or virtual machine

A well designed Service Catalog provides a unified management environment from

which VMware administrators can manage the complete lifecycles of virtual machines.(See Figure 3.) As a result, administrators can achieve a higher first-time success ratein request ordering and server deployment, and make cleaner task handoffs to backoffice systems. The result is faster time to value. In addition, administrators can monitorserver workloads and retire servers that are no longer being used, eliminating a majorsource of server sprawl.


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Provide CompleteServices, NoJust Servers

4. Provide Complete Servic es, Not Just Servers

VMware administrators can quickly provision new virtual server instances, but thatsjust the beginning of providing a complete application hosting service. It is importantto understand the entire service requested. Is it just raw computing power with an OS,or is it an entire application stack? What ancillary services need to be coordinated to

deliver a complete server environment? What integration points are required? VMadministrators need to view their task as delivering complete environments that canwork in a physical data center, a virtual one, or in a cloud environment.

To fulfill user requests, its necessary that the Service Catalog trigger workflow thatinitiates action to add any additional components necessary to complete the serverstack. This includes such components as security, network, storage, middleware, data,and applications.

Consequently, administrators must have a centralized, vendor-agnostic platform formanaging services that may include multiple back-office vendors and provisioningproducts. A well-architected Service Catalog provides just such a platform.

Figure 4. Display of available data center services in self-service storefront

As Figure 4 illustrates, the Service Catalog should present users with an IT storefrontof available ancillary services to support the virtual servers they are requesting.By influencing users to request complete packages, the Service Catalog enablesadministrators to maintain governance and control across dedicated, virtual, andphysical environments, including storage, security, network, and back-up.

You should also consider packaging environments into complete services, so insteadof requesting a VM, users can request a complete service such as a complete hostingenvironment (e.g., Oracle application test environment or MS SQL development system).


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5. Include Role-based Ac cess Contr ols

Different users have different needs with respect to services. In addition, differentusers have different levels of authorization with respect to the types of environmentsthey can request. These needs and privileges usually depend on the users role in theorganization. For example, in the physical domain, certain mainframe environments

may be available to only the application teams that work on mainframes; whereasLinux test servers are available to all QA and development groups. Similarly, in theVMware environment, some developers may be permitted to perform only basic life-cycle functions (start, reboot, terminate), while others have more expanded privileges(add memory, snapshot).

Consequently, its important to place role-based controls on users access to services.This ensures that users are presented with only the services that they are authorizedto use. These controls should be based on corporate policy and external regulations.

Here is where role-based access control (RBAC) comes in. RBAC allows the creation ofrules that limit the view of users to only those service classes, or even individual services,

that the users are authorized to request. Access privileges can be based on departments,groups, or even individuals. Implementing RBAC in your Service Catalog enables youto control:

Who can see, order, or approve which services

Who can change which services once operational

The Service Catalog should provide access control for a complete service category,a service definition, a form component, or a field. Access control ensures security bypreventing users from accessing services that they are not authorized to use. It alsosimplifies use of the Service Catalog because users are presented with only theservices they are authorized to use.

6. Coordinate and Integrate w ith Back Office Systems

Facilitating self-service in selecting and requesting services is only part of the story.It is also important that users have confidence that their requests, once submitted, arehandled competently and expeditiously. Consequently, it is important to support theService Catalog with automation that streamlines request fulfillment. The ServiceCatalog provides the foundation for orchestrating this automation to create a self-service system.

Heres an example of how such a system can operate:

The user browses, and selects and requests a standardized VMware build from theService Catalog.

The Service Catalog adds the necessary parameters, such as hostname and IP address

The system automatically gathers the necessary approvals.

When all necessary approvals have been obtained, the system forwards the requestto the VMware administrator.

The VMware administrator checks resources and approves the build.

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Once approved, the system automatically integrates to the vCenter server andprovisions the requested VMware resources based on the standard template that theuser selected from the Service Catalog.

Automation requires integrating the Service Catalog platform with back officesystems that perform the build and delivery of the requested services. This includes

integration with a virtualization management console, such as VMware or otherhypervisors, and/or with data center automation and provisioning tools. Integrationenables the Service Catalog to trigger the necessary workflow to build and deliverthe requested server environments. It smoothes task handoffs to back office systemsresulting in faster turnaround and a higher first-time success rate in request fulfillment.Consequently, you should look for a Service Catalog that includes tools that facilitateintegration with back office systems.

In addition to requesting provisioning of virtual servers, the Service Catalog cansupport provisioning of other services. For example, a common service request is foridentity provisioning, such as to add specific test ids, grant access, or change firewall

rules. These services require provisioning by different groups and/or tools. By integrat-ing the Service Catalog with back office systems that provision other services, you canincrease its scope. That gives you the flexibility to bundle other services with virtualserver offerings, or offer the services separately.

Integration of the Service Catalog with back office systems enables you to automatethe fulfillment of service requests. Through automation, you can enforce policies andretain full control of the infrastructure, eliminating the problems of manually fulfillinginfrastructure requests.

7. Shape Demand

Virtualization makes server provisioning fast and easy. Thats a double edge sword.The advantage is that you can achieve a high level of agility in responding to theneeds of the business. But there is also a risk. You can expose the organization to therisk of replacing physical server sprawl with virtual server sprawl.

The Service Catalog is key to maintaining control of the virtual environment. With theright Service Catalog, you can shape demand by clearly communicating to users thecost of resources. Users can then assess whether the service they are about to requestmakes economic sense. This will cause users to think twice before they request resourcesbecause people do respond to cost information.

Cost information is also important to enable customers to make intelligent and cost-

effective choices. Here are some examples of cost tradeoffs. The cost of a largeLinux environment is three times that of a small Linux environment. The cost differencebetween 4 nines and 5 nines availability is usually substantial. The cost of a smallLinux VMware instance for GA/testing is essentially $0 on a monthly basis, whereasthe same configuration in physical form has a significant cost. Including cost informationin the Service Catalog not only communicates value, but also provides users withvaluable data to help them make more informed decisions in matching their requestswith their needs.

You can begin with showback, that is, showing the cost for each service but notactually billing it back to the business customer. Showback can be a stepping stoneto full chargeback in the future. Its important to note that, even without chargeback,

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clearly communicating costs changes users behavior. For example, a newScale customershowed in the Service Catalog that an expensive service provided by a third-partycost $200. The company saw requests for that service drop 40 percent.

You can also add other demand shaping information such as lead times. For example,a virtual machine instance can be delivered in a far shorter timeframe than a physical

implementation.

Demand shaping requires an understanding of customer demand. Its important,therefore, that understand your virtual environment across the enterprise. You needto know what virtual servers are deployed, where they are deployed, what they aredoing, and who is using them. You have to define your products carefully to enablethe reporting needed to give you visibility into demand.

Figure 5. Server demand

This is where the standardization and packaging that a Service Catalog permits comesin. Understanding the product packages and the services included and tracking theirconsumption helps you better align existing capacity and architecture with demand. Italso helps you better understand future capacity requirements. Figure 5 illustrates howa Service Catalog can clearly indicate user demand.

By understanding and shaping demand with the Service Catalog, you can gain valuableinsight that helps you better manage capacity and achieve higher utilization of yourIT infrastructure. Also, by understanding demand you can more closely align IT withthe business by providing the services that the business needs, much like a productmanager monitors demand to more closely align product offerings with the market.

8. Accomm odate Move to Cloud Comput ing

Cloud computing brings user self-service to the next level. Enabled by virtualizationand automation, cloud computing features standard service options and pay-as-you-go billing. The benefits are compelling and include lower capital and operating

AccommodateMove to CloudComputing

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expenditures and greater business agility in that IT can more quickly respond tochanging business demands. Many organizations are already taking advantage ofservices provided by public clouds, such as the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2),and some organizations are beginning to implement private or internal clouds.

In order for the organization to reap the full benefits of cloud computing, users must

be able to easily request the cloud computing services they need and the IT staff mustbe able to respond quickly to those requests. Consequently, a well-designed ServiceCatalog is an essential ingredient of cloud computing. It empowers users to serve them-selves in requesting cloud services, and it enables the IT staff to quickly fulfill thoserequests.

The Amazon EC2 offering provides a good example of how a Service Catalog canbe structured to maximize the effectiveness of the cloud environment by enabling fastprovisioning of virtual servers at guaranteed costs and service levels. The AmazonEC2 catalog presents cloud computing in a consumer-like manner that is meaningfulto users. It provides a comprehensive look into the available resources and includes a

wide variety of meaningful information, such as: Functionality

Service highlights (benefits)

Instance types

Operating systems and software

Pricing

Resources

Detailed descriptions

Intended usage and restrictions SLAs

Pointing out benefits is important to influence users to take advantage of cloudresources. The Amazon EC2 catalog does this by including a description of its uniquedifferentiators and comparing its cloud offerings to those of an internal data center.Amazon is careful to point out to its customers that they are able to maintain completecontrol of their environment. The Amazon catalog includes more than just servers. It alsodescribes available operating systems, database software, and middleware choices.

Its important that the Service Catalog provide pricing information. This permitsusers to make intelligent choices based on economic as well technical considerations.Pricing should be shown not only for virtual servers, but also for supporting servicessuch as network and storage services. In the case of Amazon, pricing is presented ona per hour basis.

Another feature worth noting is that Amazon provides a pricing calculator to helpusers calculate certain costs, such as data transfer charges, that are difficult to mapto controllable costs. Amazon also provides sample configurations with cost estimates.

Keep in mind that the Service Catalog is not static; its actionable. Amazon, forexample, enables its users to create private login accounts. Through these accounts,users can request, configure, and deploy services that are delivered with known,

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Computing


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vetted standards, and thats key to making cloud computing work. Amazon users canalso perform a variety of actions on their own to manage the lifecycles of their virtualinstances. For example, users can track hourly usage and costs.

If you plan to move into cloud computing, you need to consider a Service Catalogvery early to help you establish standards, service levels, and provisioning processes.

By making service requesting easy and convenient, a well-designed Service Catalogcan help you accelerate the adoption of and drive demand toward standard, lower-cost virtualized and cloud computing environments. Whats more, the Service Catalogenables you to satisfy demand with fulfillment of requests in hours or even minutes, andnot the weeks or months typically associated with traditional service request fulfillment

Many organizations will eventually implement hybrid cloud environments that combineservices from both public and private clouds. These organizations will strive to implementthe optimum combination of private and public clouds based on their specific needsand resources. Its important, therefore, that the Service Catalog allow users toseamlessly request and obtain both private and public cloud services from hybrid

environments, and where there are similar services, make easy comparisons.Its also important that IT control the mix of internally-provided and externally providedcloud services available to users. IT can do this through the Service Catalog by pre-senting only those externally-provided services that supplement rather than competewith internally-provided services. In this way, IT can prevent becoming Amazoned.

Conclusion Virtualization is revolutionizing computing. One of the most important benefits ofvirtualization is that it enables IT to become far more agile in responding to the needsof the business. Key to fully exploiting this agility is to empower users with self-service

through a well-architected Service Catalog. The Service Catalog can provide an ITstorefront and to an e-commerce-like operating model for data center automation.

A Service Catalog that meets the requirements discussed in this paper will enable youto automate the deployment of user-centric, multi-tier IT services, and permit easy self-service access for business users and administrators. In addition, it will enable you togain extensive visibility and tight control of the virtualized environment, which increasesefficiency and reduces the risk of sprawl.

Now organizations are beginning to move into the next wave of virtualizationcloudcomputing. Public cloud services are already available and many organizations arebeginning to implement private clouds and hybrid clouds that combine private and public

could services. With the right Service Catalog, you will position your organization to takefull advantage of virtualization and cloud computing, and reap the resulting benefits.

Conclusion

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For More Informat ion

newScale provides the only complete suite of Service Catalogand Service Portfolio software solutions for the front office of IT.Comprehensive out-of-box capabilities give you a head start on

implementing this important component of virtualized and cloudcomputing environments. That means less costly development andfaster time to value.

For more information on the newScale offering, visit www.newscale.com.

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* The initial content for this white paper is from blog entries written by

Rodrigo Flores, newScale founder and CTO (www.servicecatalogs.com).

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Eight Requirements for Self-Service IT and the Next Generation Data Center