gary stronach percy gouchie technical service delivery november 24, 2009 virtually …transforming...
TRANSCRIPT
Gary Stronach
Percy Gouchie
Technical Service Delivery
November 24, 2009
Virtually …transforming health care
Agenda
• An overview of HITS-NS • Our Challenges• Our Approach (VMWare)• Benefits of Virtualization with VMWare• Results (our environment/infrastructure) • Lessons Learned• Top Ten Tips• Questions
• Health Information Technology Services Nova Scotia (HITS-NS) enables Nova Scotia's health care community to use information technology to deliver better health care.
• HITS-NS manages a secure and private health care IT environment, for the benefit of all Nova Scotians.
• This is accomplished through our committedhealth care focused staff, integrated systems and24/7 operational support.
What is HITS-NS?
About Us
• Established in 2006, HITS-NS is an independent, permanent program funded directly by the Department of Health.
• Annual budget of approximately $15 million. • As part of a national vision, we are helping Nova
Scotia move toward one electronic health record (EHR) to enhance the quality of patient care.
Our Challenges
• Unpredictable resource demands as new services were required for delivering healthcare in NS
• Under-utilized servers with requirements for additional servers.
• Limited technical resources were stretched to the limit
• Constant requirement for more infrastructure servers.
• High demand for temporary/test servers .• Server refreshes
• Started slow• Training Life Without
Vmware:• Testing• Committing• Deploying• Upgrading S/W• VMWorld
Our Approach
• Availability• Efficiency Life With Vmware:
• Flexibility• Manageability• Hardware Independence • Cost avoidance• Environmental
Benefits of our VMware Implementation
Our Environment
• 44 ESX Enterprise Servers version 3.5 update 4• 1 Enterprise Virtual Center version 2.5 update 4• 228 virtual machines• 8 clusters on Dell 1955 and M600 Blades• 3 tiers of EMC storage (low-end ISCSI, mid-tier
ISCSI, High I/O Fiber Channel)• 130 different data stores – 5.1TB ISCSI & 5.3TB
Fiber
DC-SV-ESX2DC-SV-ESX1
Each Dell 1955 blade server has 4 NIC’s
2 on-board Broadcom GigE NIC’s provide redundant network connectivity
2 daughter-card Broadcom GigE TOE NIC’s provide ISCSI SAN connectivity
Cisco 2960 GigE Switch
Cisco 2960 GigE Switch
EMC Celerra ISCSI Array (7.5 TB)
Cisco 2960 ISCSI Switch
Cisco 2960 ISCSI Switch
NIC2NIC1
NIC3(toe) NIC4(toe)
NIC1 NIC2
NIC3(toe) NIC4(toe)
IP Storage Network
The NS80 Storage Array is connected with 4 redundant GigE Etherchannel uplinks
IP Network
ISCSI Setup
1. Cluster size – use larger clusters of ESX hosts2. Use tiered storage to reduce costs3. Use resource pools where necessary4. Use a separate database for VM updates5. For fiber attached servers – check with your vendors for
optimal settings6. For ISCSI attached servers – use jumbo frames7. For ISCSI attached servers – use a dedicated GigE network8. Use the built-in vCenter performance graphs or ESXtop
rather than relying on guest performance tools like perfmon
9. Use IOMeter to get baselines and monitor frequently10.Must-have VI client plugins (and they’re free!)
Top Ten List
Add-ons
Add-ons cont.
• Get Senior Management commitment to Virtualization
• ‘Virtualize first’ policy will make purchases easier• Still have to prove VM to vendors and developers• Not everything should share resources – some 1
to 1• Get clients to buy vm license with hardware
instead of multiple servers for test/dev and backup
• Virtualization is not free but it is freeing.
Lessons Learned
• ELA• More applications / services - Target of 80%• SRM
Next Steps
