Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

Transcription

1 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

2 This paper describes the practical approach used at a number of sites to introduce and implement effective Performance Assurance. This embodies both performance management and capacity planning and is essentially Capacity Management as defined in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Business objectives were clarified and then met by establishing related ITIL functions and exploiting relevant tools. Business benefits were derived within each function, from management reporting and advice, through trending of resource demands, to modelling and ensuring service levels. 1 Introduction Assurance involves the payment of a regular fixed sum for a lump repayment after events that are certain. Insurance involves a proportionate compensation after events that are uncertain. In the case of Information Technology Infrastructure (ITI), the performance of computer systems is only assured if there is a regular input of control and the repayment lies only in the continued provision of a required Service Level. Nonetheless, common parlance has defined Performance Assurance as the objective. Performance Assurance, ITIP and ITIL Performance Assurance embodies performance management, capacity planning and performance forecasting. These functions have to be incorporated within the framework of Information Technology Infrastructure Planning (ITIP), including interfaces with performance engineering, network planning and service planning. This in turn is essentially the function within the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) defined as Capacity Management. Thus: ITIL - covers the entire systems management arena ITIP - is Performance Assurance and Performance Engineering, including liaison with Management, Software Development, QA, Service planning, Network and Business Planning functions. Performance Assurance is also known as Capacity Management and covers Performance Management, Capacity Planning and Performance Forecasting. 2 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

3 Performance Engineering is to do with the link from development to QA covering Performance Testing and Performance Prediction. Companies turning to best practices for ITI systems management have a number of sources for standards. The Computer Measurement Group (CMG) issues relevant papers (see The UK Office of Government Commerce issues procedures under the ITIL title (see Developed in the late 1980 s, ITIL started as a guide for UK government. Today, ITIL is known and used worldwide (see and www,itsmf.co.uk). ITIL is also the foundation for the Microsoft Operations Framework (see Service Support Service Delivery Membership of itsmf@yahoogroups.com will open up academic discussion of related standards such as: CobiT ( Capability Maturity model ( Balanced Score Card ( Six Sigma ( However, ITIL as a whole, or ITIP as a subset in particular, is currently practised in an ad hoc manner in many sites and there is often recognition of a need for its wider and more formalised adoption. Business, Customer, Users Incident Management Service Desk OPS Service Level Management Problem Management Change Management Dev Availability Management Capacity Management Release Management Configuration Management SM Financial Management Customer Relations Management IT Service Continuity Figure 1. ITIL Process Model with Operations (OPS), Development (Dev) & Security Management (SM) Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 3 2

4 ITIL Content The ITIL library is essentially a set of books and definitions. The core books define Service Support and Service Delivery, with related books on the Business Perspective, Infrastructure Management, Software Development and Service Management as indicated in figure 1. They form a best practice code which can be used as a basic framework for managing IT services. They are the basis of Standards BS15000, BS7799 and ISO ITIL users are world-wide and meet under the auspices of the IT Service Management Forum, itsmf. There are chapters in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, South Africa, Canada, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the USA. The ITIL process model defines the activities within a typical organisation. The major importance in such definitions lies in the identification of the boundaries and resultant necessary interfaces and dataflows. ITIP Objectives ITIP expands on the Capacity Management process, including the liaison with Performance Engineering, Service Level management, development, QA etc. The business objectives of ITIP are to: Ensure the right level of ITI investment Optimise the resources available, right-sizing or consolidating servers as necessary Ensure accurate and timely capacity procurements to minimise disruption and expenditure Ensure effective service level management in terms of response times and throughputs Help prepare for new application implementations or new sites or new acquisitions The essential objective is to achieve the most cost-effective balance between business demands and the size and form of the ITI needed to support it. This can be summarised in terms of detailed objectives as below: Configuration matched to workloads Money not wasted on redundant hardware Users able to meet business demands Financial leverage on delaying purchases Reliable hardware plans Impact of upgrade properly sized Timely procurement planning Maintenance of service levels Predict impact of workload growth Size new applications 4 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

5 Improvements in performance Identify potential bottlenecks Evaluate tuning strategies Generic expected benefits include: Improved quality service provision and cost justifiable service quality Services that meet business, Customer and User demands via integrated processes Everyone knows their role and knows their responsibilities in service provision Learning from previous experience with demonstrable performance indicators 2 Approach The following summarises the main requirements usually perceived for this approach: ITIP should be introduced on an integrated basis with existing functions and other Business and Service Planning processes. All applications development should include an explicit prediction of the performance and resource requirements at pre-defined stages during t h e development cycle. Quality Assurance (QA) conformance testing should include specific performance tests to confirm and refine the above predictions. Performance Management of existing configurations should be extended t o provide a clear picture of the resource utilisation and performance of business applications, and to provide a historical picture of trends. Service Delivery should develop capacity planning processes to incorporate Performance Forecasting by using current performance data to predict future performance based on observed trends and predicted developments. Service level targets should be established to reflect the requirements of individual business units, and should be used as an input to application functional specifications, as well as providing a yardstick for day-to-day performance management. The total performance cycle needs to be closed to form an iterative loop by introducing a review process to compare actual and predicted behaviour and action accordingly. Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 5

6 3 Solution A number of stages are necessary to analyse the requirements in detail and to identify the solution such that formalised procedures can be specified. Pilot implementations will finally evolve into the operational adoption of ITIP processes. For the project to be successful, it is essential that a practical, step-by-step approach is adopted. The standard approach is first to scope, then prototype, then implement and finally to review. ITIP processes need to be developed in four main functional areas: Function System Development Quality Assurance Service Delivery Service Review Process Performance Prediction Performance Testing Performance Assurance ITIP Audit The ITIP strategy must be designed as a whole, although there will be different emphases at different sites. There are five inter-dependent stages. 1. Scope project and develop relevant ITIP framework 2. Develop Performance Prediction for Systems Development 3. Develop Performance Testing within QA Conformance Testing 4. Develop Performance Assurance for Service Delivery 5. Introduce ITIP Audit within Service Review using outputs from Stages 2-4 Figure 2 indicates the total ITI and position of ITIP and its processes within it. Information Technology Infrastructure (ITI) All the supporting services to provide Data processing Computer systems Communications Managment View IT Sevices Organisition Planning and Control Customer Liaison Quality Audit Vendor Management FM Supplier Management Computer Operations View Computer Operations Management Unattended Operating Hardware Maintenance Computer Installation & Acceptance Service Quality IT Planning View Performance Assurance Performance Engineering Software Development View Application Lifecycle Support Design Development Prototyping Testing and Benchmark Software Maintenance Quality Assurance Performance Assurance Targets Result Targets Result Environmental View Network View Service Planning View Service Support View Environmental Services Computer Buildings Cable Infrastructure Strategy Equipment Accommodation Fire Precautions Electrical Services Office Environment Physical Security Network Planning Network Management End-user Support Service Level Management Contingency Planning Availablility Management Cost Management Configuration Management Problem Management Software Distribution Control Change Management Help Desk Figure 2. Process outline of ITI and different functional views 6 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

7 IT infrastructure is established in a variety of solutions in different businesses. The various functions involved range from application development and testing through to computer operations and network management. These can be viewed from a number of different angles, via the management view, the operations view, the developer view, the QA view, the Help Desk view. 4 Functional Processes Performance Assurance will require the adoption of major relevant processes: Performance Management Performance Measurement, Monitoring & Analysis Resource Accounting and Management Tuning & Optimisation Capacity Planning Workload characterisation and prediction Trend analysis Hardware Planning Performance Forecasting Future performance prediction Liaison with Service Planning Service Level management Contingency Planning Availability Management Cost Management Liaison with Network Planning Network Capacity Planning Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 7

8 ITI Planning Networks Computers Performance Assurance The provision of a consistent and acceptable end-user service at a known and controlled cost Performance Engineering The assurance of an application s performance by predicting its likely resource demands and affecting design where feasible Performance Management Performance Measurement Performance Monitoring Performance Analysis Resource Accounting Resource Management Tuning and Optimisation Capacity Planning Workload characterisation Workload prediction Trend analysis Hardware planning Identification of bottlenecks Proposals for tuning Evaluation of prediction Definition of future scenarios Procurement recommendations Performance Prediction Application Profile Application sizing ITIP Audit The continuing review of target against actual performance and feedback of results Performance Forecasting by Rules of thumb Linear projection Regression analysis Benchmark emulation Performance simulation Analytical modelling Performance Testing Application Metrics Application Benchmarks Application Results Figure 3. Process outline of ITIP 5 System Functions A typical project will cover the main processes laid out in 4. These individual processes will be reviewed within four overall functional areas: Development Application Systems that are being developed may be carried out by in-house development or an external software house using bespoke code or standard packages QA & Testing Appropriate Quality Assurance procedures for new releases are carried out in conformance testing. The overall requirement is to provide an early indication of likely sizing needs for operational sites. This is best achieved by generation of standard application performance 8 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

9 metrics. In order to refine figures produced from the development stages, carry out more realistic sizings at the stage when the total system is available for initial testing or piloting. Service Delivery At operational sites it is necessary to manage all aspects of the IT service so that current business needs are adequately met, future developments are accommodated and hardware upgrades are adequately planned. This process is traditional Performance Assurance or Capacity Management. Service Review To provide some measure as to the effectiveness of this entire process it is necessary for details of operational experience to be fed back. This process is defined as ITIP Audit. 6 Information Requirements To carry out Performance Assurance requires specific information from the following sources: Corporate (e.g. mergers, acquisitions, down-sizing, centralisation and consolidation) Business Units (e.g. transaction rates, priorities, response requirements, seasonal workloads) Technical Design (e.g. file organisation, accesses, processes, communications needs) ITI (e.g. computer types, devices, connectivity, communications) and existing workloads (e.g. current resource utilisations, transaction rates, patterns of usage/demand) 6.1 ITIP Data Flow Diagram Figure 4 is a sample Data Flow Diagram for ITIP showing the relationships between the entities involved, the processes actioned and the datastores used. A suggested organisation for local ITIP processes, and its relationship with other functions, is indicated. This will vary in practice from site to site. Single arrows represent information flows; double arrows represent processes of consultation and negotiation. Since ITIP is by its nature a continuous process, there is no necessary sequence of events. The information flows are as follows: Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 9

10 Business Management Business Appraisal Analysis 1,2 Service Level Agreements Service Level Management Network Capacity Planning Capacity Planning 1,2 1,2 Installation Profile End User Modelling Database Operations & Technical Support Performance Forecasting System Development Performance Management Performance Database Prediction and Testing Performance Engineering Application Profile Figure 4. Sample ITIP Data Flow Diagram 1,2 Users, Business and Capacity Planning agree on service level objectives for planned developments. 3. Business Analysis and System Design work takes place. 4. Systems are measured at the earliest possible stage in their development. 5. Modelling creates performance predictions for use by Capacity Planning. 6. Capacity Planning reports to the Business Planning function on alternative Action Plans. 7. Appropriate action plans are agreed between Capacity Planning and Business Management. 8. The agreed Action Plans are passed to Operations for implementation. 9. Revisions to the Action Plans are agreed between Business Management and Capacity Planning in the light of, for example, changes in workload forecasts. 10. Revised Action Plans are passed to Operations. 11. Capacity Planning generates files of Performance Predictions, which are used by Performance Management to identify major deviations between actual and planned performance. 12. Performance Management obtains performance data with the co-operation of Computer Operations. 13. Performance Management responds to Operations with details of tuning to maintain service levels. 10 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

11 14. Performance Management reports to the Modelling function on any major deviations from planned performance that are impacting on delivered service. 15. Forecasting obtains information about current service levels from Computer Operations. 16. Service Level information of a less detailed nature is made available to users, who may then verify that they are receiving agreed service and may also revise their actual service level requirements. 6.2 Performance Forecasting Figure 4 includes five major processes. Service Level Management is defined with ITIL. Performance Management is generally well understood. Performance Engineering and its relations with Performance Testing and Prediction and System development typically require some enhancement. But the areas often least understood lie within the areas of performance forecasting, capacity planning and the related processes and data. The processes involved in Performance Forecasting are expanded below in figure 5. Current Configuration Define: Device hierarchy Device type Service time Server type Characterise workload Derive workload components Define components by type Priority, loading, device Usage count Current Configuration System activity Resource usage Device utilisation Response times Baseline Model Performance Prediction Results of evaluation Service levels Device loadings Calibration Future Configuration Modify as scenario: Device hierarchy Device type Service time Server type Modify as scenario: Workload components Type, priority, loading, Device usage counts Future Workload New applications Resource demands Device utilisation Response times Projection Model Performance Prediction Results of evaluation Service levels Device loadings Compare with Actuals Figure 5. Process definition of Performance Forecasting Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 11

12 6.3 Capacity Planning Likewise, the processes involved in capacity planning are outlined in figure 6. Definition Determine objectives Establish horizons & identify constraints Define project plan (Practical and incremental) Gain management commitment Identify and implement tools Create infrastructure & procedures Baseline Establish current workload using workload translation Characterise workload components Identify current resources & configuration topology Monitor current resource usage Identify current service levels Build and calibrate Baseline Model Forecast Define future workload using workload translation Forecast future resources required Forecast future Service Levels Modification analysis What if Sensitivity analysis so what Action Establish effective reporting Define exception conditions Report on situation Make performance engineering recommendations Define procurement actions Monitor Monitor outcomes Report on outcomes Revise forecasts Figure 6 Process definition of Capacity Planning Characterising workload components is a key step in the capacity planning process. The process is essentially one of translation. The objective is to convert the business planners estimates of future growth in terms of number of products sold to the resultant demands on the computer in terms of CPU & IO demands. 12 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

13 There may be many steps in this process, as the Business Planner talks in what are called Natural Business Units to the End-user Manager. He in turn may talk in terms of say lorries to the End user who may think in terms of number of delivery notes. To translate this to a transaction, the Capacity Planner may talk to the designer who talks in terms of typical paths for specific application transactions. The programmer on the other hand may talk about he detailed level of program interaction at process level. This finally has to be related to the network traffic and services demanded from each device in terms of CPU instructions or IO accesses. This demonstrates the way raw data must be translated in order to obtain meaningful input to the Performance Assurance process. 6.4 Data Model The detailed range of data required to carry out the processes described above has to be defined. This definition is unique to each site and is contained in a data model, including a data dictionary and process dictionary. The general categories within which it resides are: Business Planning Data for workload growth prediction Operating System & Technical Design Features for configuration and architecture IT Infrastructure Details such as network and terminal population Existing and future Workload Characteristics and Volumes The methods for obtaining ITIP data are varied. Some details may be extracted automatically from existing computer held data (e.g. operating system measurement data); whereas others need to be collected manually (e.g. transaction rates for existing and proposed systems). This workload information has to be combined with data relating to the IT infrastructure on which applications are to run. Figure 7 shows a generalised data model which provides the basis for developing the detailed ITIP data requirements. Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 13

14 Corporate Objectives Supporting IT Systems Applications- Critical / Significant / Minor IT Procurement Policy Hardware: computer systems networks Software: operating systems database packages TP monitors Development Environments user interfaces Service Level Objectives Transaction Objectives (TP): SLA sevice hours response time requirements traffic rate to be supported number of users Batch: SLA, critical path number of business transactions processing schedule Inventory Applications Data Centre Data Centre Business Units External factors Configuration Configuration topology Operating environment Applications supported Overall load / utilisation Monitoring tools Networks Carrier, Protocols Nodes, Links Terminals served Traffic Network Managements Environments Target machine Language used TP Monitoring Database User interface Capacity Planning for existing applications Key Transactions Volumes Underlying trends Cyclic Patterns Seasonal variations Sizing of new applications Databases Type - Hierarchy / Relational Structure, Mapping Number of items Size, Growth rate Recovery, Buffering, Locking Traffic for CP Resource usage TP - Arrival rate Batch - Number of transactions Traffic for PE I/O To each file Prog statements / complexity TP - Arrival rate Batch - Number of transactions Figure 7. Data Model of ITIP data for Performance Assurance All of this data has to be gathered and maintained to provide the bedrock for the capacity management process. The detail for each entity and the elements of data to be collected will vary from site to site. The essential process is to ensure a well structured information base with as much normalisation as is practical. The danger lies in having a formal repository for some of this data and then to have alternative unofficial sources emerge locally which are reputed to contain the real position. The volumes of data involved are such that tools are required. In the case of some of the data, standard office systems on a PC may suffice. However, once the capacity planning and sizing information for existing and new applications are being addressed, comprehensive capacity management packages are essential. 14 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

15 7 Performance Assurance outputs & project deliverables The actual reports and project deliverables used to are a function of the requirements and objectives at each site. However, a typical framework can be based around the functions and processes of ITIP. Then it can be addressed using selected applications from within the selected solution. Figure 8 shows an extract from a typical set of project objectives. OBJECTIVE DELIVERABLE MILESTONE Effective and timely Performance Assurance Alerting of performance problems across all nodes Reports Exceptions Effective reporting of the status of all target machines Report Daily Effective advice for all target machines Report Weekly Web presence for performance metrics for management Web site Hourly System-level and workload component level models Projections Quarterly Formal and effective liaison with other teams Product & Architectural Design process provide CM input Projections Quarterly QA ditto Projections Quarterly Network Planning ditto Projections Quarterly SLA ditto Projections Quarterly DBA ditto Projections Quarterly Configuration matched to workloads Money not wasted on redundant hardware Projections Quarterly Users able to meet business demands Projections Quarterly Financial leverage on delaying purchases Reliable hardware plans & Timely procurement planning Projections Quarterly Impact of upgrade properly sized Projections Quarterly Maintenance of Service Levels Predict impact of workload growth Projections Quarterly Size new applications Projections Quarterly Improvements in performance Identify potential bottlenecks Projections Quarterly Evaluate tuning strategies Projections Quarterly Figure 8. Sample extract from typical Objectives for ITIP Figure 9 indicates some of the related ITIP functions and their status as of now and as targeted for a typical project. This will require detailed consideration of all the constituent processes and how the organisation can most readily change to accommodate them and thus move towards the defined objectives. Performance Assurance Monitoring done OK needs planning Performance Management Done against sample needs 100% for alerting Performance Measurement System level needs user/command accounting Performance Monitoring System level needs user/command accounting Performance Analysis System level needs workload analysis Performance Reporting Dumb reporting needs exceptions defined Performance Alerting Not done - Needs thresholds set Capacity Planning Little done - required Workload Prediction Some thresholding Trend Analysis Some linear assumptions Identification of Bottlenecks Performance Forecasting Not done - required Service Level Planning Little done - (only available - add performance) network Planning Little done - (autonomous) - outside scope Performance Engineering Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 15

16 Performance Prediction Not done - outside scope until much later Performance Testing Some done - needs liason Service Review Some done - add more later Process Engineering Some done - improve with new processes ITIP Audit Figure 9. Extract from list of related ITIP Functions Not done - much later (once rest established) Note indicates level of implementation as of now; target for a typical project An extract from a typical list of the ITIP functions installed at a site based on a view of the relevant applications for the chosen solution is shown in Figure 10, showing the assessment of the current state of local implementation and the required plan for improvement. Again, such improvements will require management commitment to introduce the changes necessary to achieve the objectives and benefits. Control Central Capture and Collection Control Centre Data Management Alerting Not used - covered elsewhere Sentinel CustomDataBase Not used - intigrate new data with AR CustomDB (CDB) Web Log Parser Not used - not required Analysis Little used - more workload analysis Analyst Explorer Not used - statistical analysis, correlations etc Define an Existing Report Explore Reports Automatic Reporting Dumb currently - add exceptions & alerting Define a Bulletin Not used - extensions for performance alerting Define an Automatic Report Add more trending Advisor & AR Schedule View Processed Reports Planner Not used - required formal process Build - set up baseline models for primary pools Results - publish as necessary Modify - as scenarios emerge Multi-tier Not used - needs association & network metrics etc Client-Server - move to later after initial planner experience Figure 10. Extract from a typical list of the status of ITIP Applications Note indicates level of implementation as of now; target for a typical project 8 Costs & Benefits The current direct cost of formal ITIP within an organisation is usually difficult to establish. What work is undertaken in this area is normally carried out as a by-product of other functions. Any time recording systems in use could only give figures for current activity in these areas if they have been identified as separate tasks. In sites and Data Centres where there are specific resources dedicated to ITIP there are often limited levels of commitment and adoption. 16 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

17 Ultimately, the purpose of ITIP is to provide sufficient capacity to satisfy the needs of the business. The need is to match the computing infrastructure to the needs of the applications. This discipline is increasingly needed, despite hardware price-performance improvements as the aspirations of end-users and resource demands of application software are increasing even more rapidly. ITIP has become highly visible in most corporations as e-commerce response times affect business transactions and the Service Level is manifest with web-based transactions. Equally, although modern severs may introduce smaller incremental upgrades and shorter timescales for procurement, it still merits accurate sizing of demands for new procurements. The open competition between suppliers should allow even more benefit to be obtained from predictions of the likely impact of alternative procurement solutions. Also, the potential disruption and resource costs of every upgrade need to be reviewed before action. Cost-benefit analysis is notoriously difficult in any discipline which is essentially directed towards providing an insurance against disasters, and offering a guideline for good practice and efficient operation. The savings as a result of introducing Performance Assurance are not readily quantified on the basis of a per application or per configuration basis, as the previous efficiency of matching business needs to resources will vary widely from one site to another. Certainly, once established, few sites abandon the process of formalised ITIP which is now widely adopted. The following notes indicate some of the factors in making financial estimates. Performance Prediction there are some extra costs per project as the procedures will be a new requirement imposed on the developers. The savings gained by Performance Engineering in terms of reduced development work in rewrites and maintenance are significant. There is also a major saving in avoiding corrective software development projects to resolve to performance problems. Performance Testing some extra costs will be incurred due to the increased workload placed on QA Conformance Testing. Performance testing will extend the formality of benchmarking and may well incur extra costs in analysis and prediction. The savings are achieved through the earlier identification of problems. Performance Assurance - this area potentially adds extra costs in that a new discipline may have to be introduced at each service delivery site or Data Centre. The costs of the staffing and tools are highly variable depending on the extent of adoption. A typical large computer centre might have a team of some two to five planners, with special areas of responsibility and expertise. The savings lie in the controlled acquisition of necessary upgrades. ITIP Audit - this is often a new process requiring specialist expertise to liaise with all the other processes. The basic cost of the central function would be that of establishing the team, training it and providing appropriate tools. The savings lie in the integration of all the processes and the overall benefits of ITIP. Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice 17

18 9 Conclusion The costs identified above may turn out to be significant. But the savings and benefits in both financial and service terms will typically far outweigh those infrastructure costs. Experience of introducing ITIP into large organisations indicates that over the first few years of introduction there is likely to be a minimum average net saving in the order of 5%-10% on capital expenditure and operating costs, plus an unquantifiable (but possibly more significant) saving where systems have not been delayed (or cancelled) due to inadequate resourcing. In practice, some quantifiable data is available from a number of case studies. For example, one site saved 1M on a proposed upgrade which would have had insignificant impact on performance. Another site saved the costs of establishing a new Performance Assurance function in its first study. Further, a major benefit lies in the guarantee of a known and controlled IT service, with the impact of proposed changes to workload or configuration being formally sized. In this way, the discipline provides insurance that performance disasters due to bad design or underresourcing can be avoided at the same time as not overspending on equipment. The overall conclusion of this paper is that it is feasible, desirable and cost-effective to establish a fully integrated ITIP environment. 18 Performance Assured by Capacity Management: Experience refined through ITIL practice

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