Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization

Customer Solution Case Study

Forest Preserve Reduces Costs by $20,000 a Year, Trims IT Work with Switch to Hyper-V

Overview

Country or Region: United States

Industry: Government—Local

Customer Profile

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County acquires, restores, and manages forests, prairies, and wetlands in DuPage County, Illinois, for the education, pleasure, and recreation of its citizens.

Business Situation

A decentralized IT structure bred inconsistencies and inefficiencies, which caused extra IT work and availability problems. The IT staff tried VMware ESX but found it expensive and hard to use.

Solution

The District centralized its IT holdings and switched to Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V technology and Microsoft System Center data center solutions to consolidate servers, increase availability, and monitor servers centrally.

Benefits

Server costs reduced by 15 percent annually

Annual licensing savings of U.S.$20,000

More time to deliver new services

Increased availability

Energy usage reduced 20 percent

“We’ve eliminated $20,000 annually in VMware licensing fees, consolidated 35 servers to 5, and cut hardware costs by 15 percent annually by moving to Hyper-V.”

Dave Tepper, Manager, Information Technology, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County manages approximately 25,000 acres of open space in DuPage County, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago. Being a good steward of the county’s flora and fauna meant trimming servers and reorganizing the District’s IT setup. By switching from VMware ESX to the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system with Hyper-V technology, the District was able to expand its use of virtualization, consolidate 35 physical servers to 5, and reduce server costs by 15 percent annually. It has also eliminated VMware licensing of U.S.$20,000 a year. By streamlining IT and using Microsoft System Center data center solutions, the District has freed time for IT staff to learn new skills and implement new efficiencies. Server availability is higher with Hyper-V clustering and energy usage is 20 percent lower, which is important to a conservation organization.

Situation

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County acquires, restores, manages, and protects forests, prairies, and wetlands and their associ (“Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V delivered the same levels of redundancy, performance, and management that VMware ESX Server provided, at a fraction of the cost.” Dave Tepper, Manager, Information Technology, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County)ated plant and animal communities for the enjoyment of the citizens of DuPage County, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago. The District has 350 employees who work in its Wheaton headquarters and 18 field locations dispersed throughout DuPage County.

Some of these field locations are educational facilities, where the District offers nature tours, classes, and interactive presentations to the public. There is also an 1890s working farm, a honey processing station, an animal hospital, an equipment maintenance facility, and three golf courses that serve dual roles as critical flood plain mitigation and 54 holes of competitive play.

Because of the diversity in District operations, each department maintained its own IT staff and equipment in a highly decentralized infrastructure. However, this disparate infrastructure led to inconsistencies, inefficiencies, high costs, and server availability problems.

“We had servers located all over the District,” says Dave Tepper, Manager of Information Technology at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. “There was no standard way that they were configured and no standard methods for monitoring and managing them. Caring for the infrastructure was time consuming and inefficient.”

The various departments had acquired a mix of server monitoring and backup software, which did not provide proactive indications of infrastructure health. A minor issue could escalate into a major problem and cause service disruption and lengthy IT troubleshooting efforts. There was no consistent way to back up or restore servers, and it could take days to restore a server. The result was poor-quality service to employees and, ultimately, the public.

In 2005, the District decided to centralize IT services and create a common standard for server builds, backup procedures, and other data center tasks. It implemented VMware ESX Server 3.5 virtualization software to trim its physical server count, which had hit 35. “We found VMware difficult to use and expensive,” Tepper says. “Migrating to VMware was absolutely painful. It was also an additional burden on our Windows-trained staff to learn a completely new operating system.”

Although the District succeeded in virtualizing 18 servers in Wheaton, the high cost of VMware licensing prevented it from virtualizing further. “We wanted a virtualization platform that would let us eliminate more servers and reduce our costs,” Tepper says.

Solution

In 2008, Tepper and his team learned about the Windows Server 2008 operating system with Hyper-V virtualization technology. They waited for the availability of Windows Server 2008 R2, the second release of the operating system, which provided important new availability functionality—specifically, the Live Migration feature—that was on a par with the VMware vMotion feature. “Hyper-V gave us a great opportunity to reduce VMware licensing costs,” says Tepper. “Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V delivered the same levels of redundancy, performance, and management that VMware ESX Server provided, at a fraction of the cost.”

Tepper brought in CDW, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with extensive experience in virtualization and data center optimization, for help migrating to Windows Server 2008 R2. “CDW helped us realize our vision of centralizing IT and standardizing on a single software provider to run all our business software—Microsoft,” Tepper says. “CDW conducted a number of planning and design sessions to help us arrive at the appropriate technical solution. Then they (“[CDW] really went above and beyond the traditional partner relationship. They introduced us to new technologies and processes and brought the right players to the table.”Dave Tepper, Manager, Information Technology, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County)really went above and beyond the traditional partner relationship. They introduced us to new technologies and processes and brought the right players to the table—notably, the lead architect, Arif Mahmood, Anthony Bailey for server monitoring work, Mike Schorr for server configuration work, and the project manager, Jim Vanden Boom.”

In September 2009, the District deployed Windows Server 2008 R2 on five host servers, configured as two clusters. The District successfully virtualized its messaging platform running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise, its database platform running Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 data management software, and a highly available domain-based Distributed File System Namespaces to consolidate geographically dispersed file servers. It further virtualized directory services running Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Domain Services; its management platform running Microsoft System Center data center solutions; and line-of-business applications such as Microsoft Dynamics GP, Golf Operations Management, ESRI ArcGIS, and others.

Ultimately, the District will combine its two Hyper-V clusters and create one 5- to 10-node cluster. By the end of 2010, it aims to consolidate 35 physical servers to just 5. It has created 18 virtual machines across the five hosts but has capacity for 45 or more virtual machines.

The district also deployed Microsoft System Center data center solutions to provide a uniform and centralized suite of data center management tools. The District used Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 to migrate both physical servers and VMware virtual machines to Hyper-V.

Smooth Migration

“The migration to Hyper-V was seamless, mainly because of the P2V [physical-to-virtual] and V2V [virtual-to-virtual] processes made easier with System Center Virtual Machine Manager,” says Arif Mahmood, Lead Architect at CDW, who worked with the District. “We migrated domain controllers, file servers, database servers, Microsoft Dynamics GP servers, and many other workloads.”

System Center Virtual Machine Manager provided a single point of management for VMware and Windows-based hosts during the migration. Using virtual machine templates in System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the IT staff was able to create standard images using hardware and operating system profiles. As the team decommissioned VMware hosts, their workloads were moved to Hyper-V and the hosts added to the Hyper-V cluster as an additional node.

The District was able to use its existing Dell EqualLogic storage area network (SAN), which was upgraded to take advantage of the Hyper-V Cluster Shared Volumes native support for Volume Shadow Copy Service snapshots. This provided an additional level of redundancy that was not available in the VMware infrastructure. The Cluster Shared Volumes feature allows a given volume to be accessed by all nodes of a failover cluster. The Volume Shadow Copy Service in Windows Server 2008 R2 enables volume backups to be performed while applications on a system continue to write to the volumes.

The District still has servers in the field but plans to virtualize these servers by the end of 2010.

Centralized Backup, Monitoring, and Management

In addition to (“We have saved so much time from virtualizing our infrastructure and using System Center that our staff has freed up at least one hour per person per day.”Dave Tepper, Manager, Information Technology, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County)deploying System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the District deployed three other System Center programs, all licensed through the company’s Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. With this suite of programs, the District can better manage, monitor, support, and maintain not only its Microsoft infrastructure but also non-Microsoft components such as routers and firewalls.

It uses Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 for disk- and tape-based backups of the organization’s data. “We’re using Data Protection Manager to back up data from remote locations to our Wheaton servers and then replicate it to a separate disaster recovery site,” Tepper says. “It’s much easier to use than any other backup software, and I’ve used Veritas, Tivoli, and others. File restores are flawless. It connects to all the Microsoft programs natively, so we don’t have to buy third-party add-ins.”

Tepper’s staff uses Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 to monitor physical and virtual servers and proactively notify them if server health or performance wanes. “I no longer have to wait for someone in the field to tell me that something’s wrong,” Tepper says. “I know when a server is having trouble—a drive filling up, a switch not working, a cluster having trouble—so I can avert disasters. It saves countless hours spent guessing at where a problem might be and enables us to jump right to the affected server or application and correct what’s wrong.”

Lastly, the District implemented Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 for deploying software and security updates and tracking IT inventory. Down the road, Tepper will utilize this program more fully, to manage desktop computers, Active Directory Domain Services and resources, and applications it hopes to virtualize and deploy quickly.

Benefits

By optimizing its data center with Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V, and System Center products, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has cut hardware and software costs, freed IT time to create new efficiencies, improved availability, and trimmed energy usage by 20 percent.

Hardware Savings of 15 Percent, Licensing Savings of $20,000 Annually

By using Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, the DuPage County Forest Preserve has achieved levels of redundancy, performance, and management that it had never experienced with VMware ESX Server, at a much lower cost. “We’ve eliminated $20,000 annually in VMware licensing fees, consolidated 35 servers to 5, and cut hardware costs by 15 percent annually by moving to Hyper-V,” says Tepper. “Plus, we’ve freed up hardware that our staff can use as a lab to learn new technologies.”

Tepper has also observed that Hyper-V is more efficient than VMware, which makes for better server utilization. “The same virtual machines running on the same hardware use about 25 percent less CPU and memory,” he says.

More Time to Deliver New Services

By centralizing and streamlining its data center infrastructure, the District has freed IT staff time to do more and tackle new projects. “We have saved so much time from virtualizing our infrastructure and using System Center that our staff has freed up at least one hour per person per day,” Tepper says. “They use this time for training and working on new ideas.” The time savings add up to almost 2,000 hours a year, a significant gain for a small staff.

Now, the District’s IT staff is working to optimize its desktop infrastructure by upgrading to the Windows 7 operating system and deploying Microsoft desktop virtualizatio (“Our systems simply do not go down now, thanks to a combination of clustering, Live Migration, and Data Protection Manager backups.”Dave Tepper, Manager, Information Technology, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County)n technologies. The IT staff is also investigating Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, which would give the District a collaborative intranet where information could be easily shared and searched.

Increased Availability

Server downtime is a thing of the past with Hyper-V clustering. “Our systems simply do not go down now, thanks to a combination of clustering, Live Migration, and Data Protection Manager backups,” Tepper says. “If someone accidentally deletes a file, I can restore it in 10 minutes, whereas before it would have taken hours.”

Using System Center Data Protection Manager, the IT staff can perform a bare-metal server recovery in just two hours and do a complete restore in a few hours. Between native Data Protection Manager support for Exchange Server 2010, Hyper-V clustering, Cluster Shared Volumes, clustered file servers, and bare-metal server restores, the IT staff has multiple short- and long-term retention points of recovered data.

Energy Usage 20 Percent Lower

As a conservation organization, the District is interested in being environmentally responsible across its operations. “We are using 20 percent less energy because of virtualization,” says Tepper. “This is not only a benefit to the business but a benefit to the citizens of DuPage County.”

(Software and ServicesMicrosoft Server Product PortfolioWindows Server 2008 R2 EnterpriseWindows Server 2008 R2 StandardMicrosoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2010Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2TechnologiesHyper-VHardwareFive HP BL460c blade serversTwo Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series storage area networkPartnerCDW) (This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published January 2011) (For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.comFor more information about CDW products and services, call (847) 465-6000 or visit the website at: www.cdw.com For more information about Forest Preserve District of DuPage County services, call (630) 933-7200 or visit the website at: www.dupageforest.com )Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization

With infrastructure optimization, you can build a secure, well-managed, and dynamic core IT infrastructure that can reduce overall IT costs, make better use of resources, and become a strategic asset for the business. The Infrastructure Optimization model—with basic, standardized, rationalized, and dynamic levels—was developed by Microsoft using industry best practices and Microsoft’s own experiences with enterprise customers. The Infrastructure Optimization model provides a maturity framework that is flexible and easily used as a benchmark for technical capability and business value.

For more information about Microsoft infrastructure optimization, go to:

www.microsoft.com/io