the blade server decision at the university of florida september 19, 2005 faeds 2005 conference palm...

The Blade Server decision at the University of

FloridaSeptember 19, 2005

FAEDS 2005 ConferencePalm Harbor, Florida

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Overview

• Introduce UF and our ERP environment

• Bridges perspective• Our Vision• Our Requirements• Our Decision

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University of Florida Profile

• Largest and oldest university in Florida

• 4th largest enrollment on a single campus 49,000 students in Gainesville

• 15,000 distance, continuing, and executive students

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University of Florida ProfileUniversity of Florida Profile

• $2.0 Billion annual budget

• $475 million in research -- growing at 9% per year

• Health Sciences – 55% of research

• Neuroscience, Genetics, Cancer

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University of Florida Profile

• 140 academic depts • Agric extension in 67

counties

• Law, Medicine, Eng, Business

• #4 in Merit Scholars

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IT at the University of Florida

• 500 IT professionals across campus and the state

• Very decentralized (very!) • Over 300 email servers • 30,000 devices on the open network • Directory Project 2002-2003 • PeopleSoft implementation 2002-2005• Cognos implementation 2002-2005

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UF “Bridges”

A new central IT office created to implement and operate PeopleSoft and other enterprise applications

• UF employees – functional and technical

• New hires w/ PeopleSoft experience• Consultants with PeopleSoft Experience• Advisory User Councils

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ERP Implementation

• Vendor Selection July 2002• Contract with PeopleSoft Sept 2002• Portal in production March 2003 w/

100,000 users• Data warehouse and Cognos in

production August 2003• Finance and HR simultaneous launch of

18 modules, July 2004• $25 million. On time. On budget.

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ERP Infrastructure

• Five physical environments – lab, alpha, beta, training and production

• PIA on AIX/DB2 – 42 production p-series processors

• Reporting on W2K3 – 44 production Intel processors

• Dual Cisco 6509 border switches• 22 TB storage, Shark, NetApp, SAN, NAS• SiteScope monitoring, Tivoli backup, AppWorx job

scheduling• “GatorLink” single username/password for

enterprise systems

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Our Vision

• Simplified Server deployment• Simplify LAN Management• On Board SAN Switch• Commoditization of Servers• Simplified Physical Deployment• Move toward next generation

remote management capabilities

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Our Requirements

• Established Company• Enterprise Level Support• Mature Product• Highest Density Possible

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Our Decision

• Looked at Dell, HP, and IBM• Tried HP, and IBM• Selected IBM

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Mark PalmerMark PalmerComputer Applications CoordinatorComputer Applications CoordinatorUF BridgesUF BridgesUniversity of FloridaUniversity of FloridaE-mail: E-mail: mpalmer@ufl.edumpalmer@ufl.edu

ContactsContacts

The BladeCenter in action at the Office of the

Provost

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Overview

• Introduce Office of the Provost• Environment Profile• Services Provided• Our Vision

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University of FloridaOffice of the Provost Profile

• Oversees the Academic Affairs aspect of the University covering all Colleges

• Manages Academic departments such as Admissions, Registrar, and Records Management

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Office of the Provost IT Profile

• Supports 20 separate departments with individual needs

• 35 servers 1u, 2u, 5u, Blade Center and SAN

• Microsoft-only environment• 1100 end users in 10 buildings across

campus

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IT in the Office of the Provost

• 4 Full time support staff providing the following:– Microsoft 2003 AD Native mode, DNS, DHCP– MS Exchange 2003– MS File Services– MS SMS 2003– Blackberry Enterprise Server, Goodlink, Barracuda

SPAM Firewall– MS Web Hosting (IIS6)– Network Associates ePolicy– MS SUS– MS Live Communication Server– MS Sharepoint Portal– MS Rights Management Server

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Our Vision

• Centralized Server containment– Implementation of Virtual Servers

• Centralized Storage• Centralized Backup procedures

– Fibre connection to IBM 4560-SLX library• Centralized Server Management

−IBM Director• Offering Support and Services to

departments that fall under the Provost Office with IT budgetary restraints

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IBM on the hotplate

• Our Air-con units froze up over the summer. When we arrived the server room temp was above 120F. Most of our servers had shut off and several APC 1400’s shut down that were connected to the Cisco switches.

• Exchange and file servers are running on the Blade/SAN which ramped up the exhaust fans and somehow kept these system running with no ill effects

• I know these key systems would have died had they been on any other servers. The most visible end user systems remained active thanks to the efficient cooling on the blades

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Bright Future

• The current setup is not optimal but is still a very solid part of our environment

• I’m very excited to reconstruct my foundation and move forward with the IBM Blade/SAN system I have. I know it’s capable of much more than the simple things its been doing and look forward to expanding my horizon.

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Jason HeeterJason HeeterNetwork CoordinatorNetwork CoordinatorOffice of the Provost and Senior Vice PresidentOffice of the Provost and Senior Vice PresidentUniversity of FloridaUniversity of FloridaE-mail: E-mail: jheeter@aa.ufl.edujheeter@aa.ufl.edu

ContactsContacts