Business white paper

Automation in the HP Converged Infrastructure

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The HP Converged Infrastructure enables agile and rapid service delivery while driving out costs. It integrates all the infrastructure elements —servers, storage, and networking—together with management resources to deliver a data center that can scale up or down according to business needs. When combined with HP Data Center Automation (DCA) software, efficiencies are realized that make it possible to quickly deliver a service by orchestrating applications, data, and infrastructure components as one business request, rather than multiple ones from different departments. Automation optimizes resources, reduces errors, and enables compliance.

You, automation, and the cloudWhile the HP Converged Infrastructure refers to an agile, integrated hardware and software environment, the HP Converged Cloud refers to an environment where services may reside in public, private, or managed clouds as well as in traditional IT. To deliver converged cloud services, IT will need a hybrid delivery model so it can deliver the right service from the right place at the right time. Automation plays a key role in this environment where the IT mix can rapidly change as organizational requirements change.

Three steps to automationWith automation providing a key functionality in the HP Converged Infrastructure and the HP Converged Cloud, where do you start? This three-step approach featuring HP DCA software provides a controlled path that automates simple routine tasks to much more complex processes.

Starting at the infrastructure level, IT can rapidly show ROI by automating routine, repetitive, time-consuming operations. Automating processes saves even more time, eliminates hand-offs, and increases agility. Automating service delivery enables IT to utilize resources from on-premises, private, managed, or public clouds.

HP DCA enables automation at all these levels.

Figure 1.Components of the HP Converged Infrastructure

Network

ServersStorage

Power and cooling

Management software

ConvergedInfrastructure

Figure 2.A converged cloud combines traditional IT with private, managed, and public clouds. Automation is a fundamental requirement for successfully delivering services that reside in these environments.

Physical/virtual Middleware

DB

Automation and orchestration

Servers NetworkStorage Applications

Managedcloud

Privatecloud

PubliccloudTraditional

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Step 1: Automate operational tasksBecause most infrastructures continue to scale up and sprawl out, the impact of one mistake can be huge. Automating tasks at the server, database, storage, and network levels reduces errors by automating best practices across the data center. Automation can be used to streamline and optimize tasks such as:

• Bare-metal provisioning of virtual machines (VMs), servers, networks, storage, and databases

• Compliance reporting

• Operating system patch updates

• Configuration updates

Automation saves time, increases accuracy and consistency, and enables compliance.

Step 2: Automate IT processesAutomating IT processes enables agility by building consistent and repeatable workflows without manual intervention. Processes that benefit from automation include:

• Provisioning the application stack—from infrastructure to database to the application

• Closed-loop incident management and remediation

• Change control and release

Automation helps to make sure that processes are documented, discipline is enforced, and best practices are applied consistently. It helps set standards across the data center. It also improves collaboration and provides wider visibility that drives informed decision-making.

Step 3: Automate service deliveryFinally, automating the service lifecycle—from initial provisioning to updates, change management, and continuous monitoring—can cut delivery time from months to hours. This enables IT to support self-serve environments for faster response times. IT can publish catalogs, ensure compliance, and improve SLAs—key metrics for the HP Converged Infrastructure and cloud environments.

Figure 3.Three key steps to automating the converged infrastructure

Automate tasks

• Replace routine manual tasks

• Free up resources for new projects

Automate IT processes

• Standardize on best practices

• Increase IT agility and quality

Automate service delivery

• Automate provisioning and cloud

• Cut service delivery time from months to hours

What HP customers have accomplished• Increased server-to-administrator ratios from 30:1 to 200:1

• Reduced the time required to roll out new desktop functionality from 10 months to eight days

• Reduced time to deliver a database from 48 hours to 30 minutes

What HP customers have accomplished• Reduced time to repair from three hours to seconds

• Cut application deployment time by 80 percent

• Saved $5 million per year by automating 65 percent of infrastructure alerts

What one customer accomplished• Rapidly deployed more than 14,000 new hotspots

• Reduced delivery time from five months to two hours

• Reduced total cost of ownership for maintenance and support by 40 percent

• Created a new source of revenue

HP Datacenter Automation portfolioThe HP Datacenter Automation (DCA) portfolio is comprehensive—automating operations of physical and virtual platforms in heterogeneous environments. HP DCA automates the entire application stack, giving a complete view of each business service rather than just a server, network, or storage perspective. HP DCA includes:

• HP Server Automation for bare-metal and virtual machine provisioning, patch management, software deployment, configuration management, code deployment and rollback, and audit compliance.

• HP Database and Middleware Automation for provisioning, patching, compliance, and release management of databases (e.g. Oracle, SQL server, Sybase) and middleware (e.g. WebSphere, WebLogic, JBoss)

• HP Network Automation for providing real-time visibility and control over network change and configuration management

• HP Storage Essentials for visualizing the server-to-storage supply chain and drilling down from the host to the storage for fast troubleshooting and impact analysis

• HP Operations Orchestration for automating IT processes across infrastructures and business processes that span the entire service lifecycle. This IT process automation platform lets teams automate the triage, troubleshooting, and repair of incidents, alerts, change, configuration management, and repetitive maintenance tasks.

• HP BSA Security and Compliance for providing content from Payment Credit Industry (PCI), Center for Internet Security (CIS), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and other regulatory agencies directly to HP DCA software

Robust integrations with HP software—such as monitoring and help-desk functions—deliver greater efficiencies and visibility to IT.

Whether part of the HP Converged Infrastructure, HP Converged Cloud, or a traditional data center, HP DCA provides a comprehensive view for IT to make better-informed business decisions.

Why HP?HP DCA supports the overall CIO agenda, not just individual automation initiatives. As part of the HP IT Performance Suite (ITPS), HP DCA contributes key performance indicators (KPIs) to role-based scorecards that give IT staff at every level the specific visibility they need into IT operations. The DCA KPIs include metrics for change and resolution, utilization, compliance, resource provisioning, and resource reclamation.

In the HP Converged Infrastructure, where driving out cost and enabling agility are top priorities, HP DCA helps IT operations achieve these goals, and provides metrics to show IT’s value to the business.

Furthermore, as customers move toward an HP Converged Cloud environment that combines private, managed, and public cloud with traditional IT infrastructure, delivering services from these different entities becomes possible with HP DCA automating many of the underlying tasks and processes.

Learn moreFor HP Datacenter Automation, visit hp.com/go/dca.

For HP Converged Cloud, visit hp.com/go/cloud.

For HP Converged Infrastructure, visit hp.com/go/convergedinfrastructure.

For HP IT Performance System (ITPS), visit hp.com/go/ITPS.

Join Discover Performance for IT Ops Leaders, hp.com/go/discoverperformance.

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© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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4AA4-1321ENW, Created May 2012