1. Sustainable MIS Infrastructure
BSAD 141
Dave Novak
BDIS: 5.1 and 5.2

2. Lecture Overview MIS Infrastructure Supporting operations
Backup plan
Disaster recovery plan
Business continuity plan
Agile MIS Infrastructure
EWaste
Sustainable IT Infrastructure

4. 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?
Hardware Consists of the physical devices associated with a computer system
Software The set of instructions the hardware executes to carry out specific tasks
Network A communications system created by linking two or more devices and establishing a standard methodology in which they can communicate
Client A computer designed to request information from a server.
Server A computer dedicated to providing information in response to requests.
Enterprise architect A person grounded in technology, fluent in business, and able to provide the important bridge between MIS and the business

5. 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
by /
If we take a holistic and integrated approach to overall company growth, the benefits of integrating information MIS infrastructures, environnemental MIS infrastructures, and sustainable MIS infrastructures become obvious.
For example, a company could easily create a backup of its software and important information in one or more geographically dispersed locations using cloud computing.
This would be far cheaper than building its own hot and cold sites in different areas of the country.
In the case of a security breach, failover can be deployed as a virtual machine in one location of the cloud can be shut down as another virtual machine in a different location on the cloud comes online.

6. 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

7. Data Centers Design and facilities Infrastructure
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

8. Data Center Tour Google Data Center
ISWest Green technology Data Center Tour
A not-so-impressive Data Center
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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Cloud Computing
Refers to the use of resources and applications hosted remotely on the Internet
With cloud computing, an individual or business pays only for the services they need, when they need them and where, much as we use and pay for electricity. In the past, a company would have to pay millions of dollars for the hardware, software, and networking equipment required to implement a large system such as payroll or sales management. A cloud computing user can simply access the cloud and request a single license to a payroll application. The user does not have to incur any hardware, software, or networking expenses. As the business grows and the user requires more employees to have access to the system, the business simply purchases additional licenses. Rather than running software on a local computer or server, companies can now reach to the cloud to combine software applications, data storage, and considerable computing power.
Utility computing Offers a pay-per-use revenue model similar to a metered service such as gas or electricity.

12. Cloud Computing Why would an organization choose this option?
Lack of technical expertise
Cost savings (capital costs and maintenance)
Flexibility
Scalability

13. Cloud Computing
This 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

14. 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)

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 1) Backup and Recovery Type 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
Fastest backup process
Least storage space needed
Restoration is slowest and requires several sets of data
Source:

20. 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
Hurricanes, floods, fires, and many other types of natural disasters can have devastating effects on businesses.
One of the most common types of hardware failures occurs from rats, mice, and squirrels chewing on cords, cables, and devices.

21. 2) Disaster Recovery Curve

22. 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

23. Agile MIS Infrastructure
Characteristics of an agile (clever, coordinated) MIS infrastructure
1) Accessibility
2) Availability
3) Maintainability
4) Portability
5) Reliability
6) Scalability
7) Usability
If an organization grows by 50 percent in a single year, its systems must be able to handle a 50 percent growth rate.
Systems that cannot adapt to organizational changes can severely hinder the organization’s ability to operate.
The future of an organization depends on its ability to meet its partners and customers on their terms, at their pace, any time of the day, in any geographic location.
These are commonly known as the “ilities”

24. 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

25. 2) Availability
Availability – Refers to the time when the system is operational or ready for use
Unavailable – Time frames when a system is not operating and cannot be used
High availability – System is continuously operational at all times

26. 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 upgrade
Organizations 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
For example, a system might be designed to include the ability to handle multiple currencies and languages, even though the company is not currently performing business in other countries. When the company starts growing and performing business in new countries, the system will already have the flexibility to handle multiple currencies and languages. If the company failed to recognize that its business would someday be global, it would need to redesign all its systems to handle multiple currencies and languages, not easy once systems are up and running.

27. 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
Apple’s iTunes is readily available to users of Mac computers and also users of PC computers, smart phones, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and so on. It is also a portable application. Because Apple insists on compatibility across its products, both software and hardware, Apple can easily add to its product, device, and service offerings without sacrificing portability. Many software developers are creating programs that are portable to all three devices—the iPhone, iPod, and iPad—which increases their target market and they hope their revenue.

28. 5) Reliability
Refers to the proportion of time a system is functioning correctly and the accuracy of the information being provided
Reliability is another term for accuracy when discussing the correctness of systems within the context of efficiency IT metrics
Inaccurate information processing occurs for many reasons, from the incorrect entry of data to information corruption. Unreliable information puts the organization at risk when making decisions based on the information.

29. 6) Scalability
Refers to how well a system can adapt to the increased demands of growth
Performance - Measures how quickly a system performs a process or transaction
Capacity planning - Determines future environmental infrastructure requirements to ensure high-quality system performance
Web 2.0 is driving demand for capacity planning. Delivering entertainment-grade video over the Internet poses significant challenges as service providers scale solutions to manage millions of users, withstand periods of peak demand, and deliver a superior quality of experience while balancing network capacity and efficient capital investment. Given the success of YouTube.com and the likelihood of similar video experiences, the bandwidth required to transport the video services will continue to increase and the possibility of video degradation will become more challenging.
To ensure adaptable systems performance, capacity planning helps an organization determine future IT infrastructure requirements for new equipment and additional network capacity. It is cheaper for an organization to design and implement an IT infrastructure that envisions performance capacity growth than to update all the equipment after the system is already operational.

30. 7) Usability
Refers to the degree to which a system is easy to learn and efficient and satisfying to use
How would you measure this?
Providing hints, tips, shortcuts, and instructions for any system, regardless of its ease of use, is recommended. Apple understood the importance of usability when it designed the first iPod. One of the iPod’s initial attractions was the usability of the click wheel. One simple and efficient button operates the iPod, making it usable for all ages. And to ensure ease of use, Apple also made the corresponding iTunes software intuitive and easy to use.

31. E-Waste Discarded, obsolete, or broken electronic devices
CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, printer cartridges, cell phones, TVs, DVD players, etc…
Sige34c

32. 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 US
This 2% is the source of 50-70% of the toxins released from our waste stream
Source: Green IT, Velte, Velte and Elsenpeter. Mcgraw Hill. 2008

33. 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?

34. Sustainable IT Infrastructure
What does this even mean?
Pursuing goals such as:
Improving “efficiency”
Reduce green house gas emissions
Reduce electricity usage
Reduce e-waste
Educate the public and users

35. Sustainable IT Infrastructure
The book focuses on “technological” solutions, but in reality usage policies are the most cost effective approaches to sustainability
Energy star purchases
Exchanges for outdated equipment
Turning off monitors – putting computers in sleep mode
Using smart power strips

36. Sustainable IT Infrastructure
The components of a sustainable MIS infrastructure can include
Grid computing
Cloud computing
Virtualized computing

37. 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
Grid computing - A collection of computers, often geographically dispersed, that are coordinated to solve a common problem.
With grid computing a problem is broken into pieces and distributed to many machines, allowing faster processing than could occur with a single system. Computers typically use less than 25 percent of their processing power, leaving more than 75 percent available for other tasks. Innovatively, grid computing takes advantage of this unused processing power by linking thousands of individual computers around the world to create a “virtual supercomputer” that can process intensive tasks
Smart grid Delivers electricity using two-way digital technology.

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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.
Traditional Standalone Server. May be Intel or RISC
Virtualized server architecture
P to V process

41. Virtualization Physical World Virtualized World Hardware
Traditional x86 Architecture
Single OS image per machine
Software and hardware tightly coupled
Multiple applications often conflict
Underutilized resources
Physical World:
To better understand how these business benefits are delivered via virtualization, let’s talk a little bit about how virtualization works.
In the traditional IT stack there was a rigid 1-1 mapping between hardware, an instance of an operating system and a single software application. That rigid model lead to tremendous under-utilization of hardware resources. The industry statistic is that in this traditional model, servers are utilized only 5-15%. This is a huge problem for companies – having a very large pool of resources that stays idle most of the time. it is a picture that CFOs are very unhappy about.
But the story doesn't end there – the server sprawl and the associated underutilization of resources have ripple through effects for the entire environment – server sprawl means not only wasted investment in hardware, but also unsustainable power, cooling, and real estate costs. This tremendous complexity means that it is hard to provision new infrastructure and to respond to changing business needs. IT departments are stuck wasting cycles on mundane tasks, and don’t have time to focus on what really matters. For example, in most companies a single sys admin can support only up to 20 servers, and the time for provisioning a new server is often 6-8 weeks.
Virtualized World:
Virtualization breaks the rigid bond between hardware and software, and allows multiple instances of an operating systems and multiple software applications to run on the same hardware box.
In essence, virtualization “bundles” or encapsulates the operating system and a software application into a virtual machine. This entire “package” of virtual hardware - CPU, memory and networking, OS and application, is turned into a single software file. Virtual machines are hardware independent, and because they are files, they can be manipulated with the ease of file copy and paste. Virtual machines bring an entirely new level of efficiency and flexibility to the IT environment.
One way to understand the impact of virtualization on the IT industry is to compare it with electronic banking – once the cash money was turned into bytes, it increased the velocity of commerce – money can be moved around the world now with lightening speed – because it is virtual, it is information. By turning physical capabilities into information, virtualization makes provisioning and managing the entire IT infrastructure a lot faster and more flexible.
Virtualization:
Separation of OS and hardware
OS and application contained in single file
Applications are isolated from one another
Hardware independence & flexibility 41

42. Driving Reasons for Virtual Infrastructure
Economic
Environmental
Less power consumed
Less toxic electronic devices
System Portability
Enhanced Management

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