Dell’s comprehensive approach to server consolidation helps you accelerate productivity by delivering customized systems, software and services that ease management and can result in lower total cost of ownership. The following key benefits are included:
- Helps simplify operations
- Helps improve utilization
- Cost effective scaling
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| How To Purchase | Contact your Dell Sales Representative |
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The Right Approach To Server Consolidation
When it comes to managing your server environment, Dell’s proven expertise goes into every phase of the consolidation process, helping to reduce the complexity of server consolidation while maximizing your server and IT dollars.
Dell Server Consolidation At-A-Glance
- Logical consolidation—Simplifies operations by implementing common processes and standard systems management procedures
- Physical consolidation—Co-locates systems to reduce the number of sites/data centers
- Workload consolidation—Helps enables you to support more users running the same application on fewer servers
- Application consolidation—Combines mixed workloads onto a single system
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Phase 1: Assessment
- Discover and baseline your current environment, including server hardware, installed software, WAN/LAN and domain topology and security
- Develop risk and mitigation plans associated with a migration and/or consolidation
Utilizing predictive performance analysis software, Dell creates a baseline sample of current resource utilization requirements by analysing application usage, storage utilization, and processor utilization. Dell determines estimated capacity requirements for 12, 24 and 36 months based on growth projections
- Develop migration strategy for required server-based applications and other end-user application data
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Phase 2: Design
- Work with Dell’s experienced consultants to architect a scalable server infrastructure
- Create detailed implementation plans with Dell service professionals for a complete understanding of how the migration will be conducted with minimum end-user disruption
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Phase 3: Implementation
- Validate sizing and performance assumptions
- Document and confirm your plan through pilots and proof-of-concept
- Empower your storage administrators to efficiently administer your new environment as Dell’s experts transfer knowledge
- Seamlessly integrate Dell’s consolidation services with award-winning Enterprise Services to optimize uptime. Dell is there to support you onsite or over the phone with expert advice and technical assistance with a single point of contact.
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Tailored Services to Fit Your Consolidation Needs
Infrastructure Consolidation Readiness Assessment —Before you begin a server consolidation, Dell assesses your organization's current infrastructure to identify potential risks of consolidating hardware along with the potential Return on Investment (ROI). This assessment can also identify ways of best simplifying your environment to reduce costs, and improve performance, scalability and availability.
Deliverables:
- Detailed report of operational and technical risks associated with your current infrastructure
- Return on Investment analysis
- Risk mitigation with Dell’s proven methodology, expertise and experience
- Data concerning the current inventory and configuration of your environment
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Consolidation Planning and Validation —After we have recommended a course of action, Dell Services, using well-defined and field-tested processes and best practices, can simplify enterprise management, help boost productivity and enhance data integrity by developing a detailed deployment plan for your server consolidation, as well as a validated and refined solution design.
Our planning and validation services, which frequently follow the completion of an Infrastructure Migration or Consolidation Readiness Assessment and Architecture, focus on:
- Detailed report of operational and technical risks associated with your current infrastructure
- Establishing a consolidation strategy
- Lab build-out for all testing
- Representation of your current and future messaging or other application solutions
- Promoting rigid change control standards
- Validating sizing and performance assumptions
- Integrating your consolidation plans with support teams
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Dell PowerEdge Servers
The Dell PowerEdgeTM family of servers provides a broad offering of cost effective choices for server consolidation. Key features of all new family members are rack density, serviceability/manageability and high performance - attributes critical to successful consolidation efforts. Customers benefit from the common image and common component interfaces across all Dell servers; commonality that helps provide easy integration and management across the IT environment.
For those undertaking physical consolidation (i.e., co-locating systems to reduce the number of sites/data centers), Dell recommends the following:
- PowerEdge rack servers offer a range of performance and capacity in space-saving packaging.These servers can be packed and stacked into a 42U rack helping to reduce the data center footprint required to deliver customers’ application throughput.
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For those interested in consolidation of workloads (i.e., supporting more users running the same application on fewer servers), Dell recommends the following:
- PowerEdge 2950, 2U dual socket servers with dual-core Xeon processors.These servers offer large internal storage and configuration flexibility and deliver the high performance levels and expandability necessary to handle your email, departmental database and infrastructure application needs.
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Software
Dell OpenManage is an easy-to-use suite of standards-based tools, services, and partner-integrated capabilities that can help simplify the management of IT assets. With Dell OpenManage, you can save time and effort maintaining and managing your servers, whether they are located down the hall or across a continent.
Dell tests, integrates and supports server Virtualization Solutions that include virtualization software from partners VMware and Microsoft in a variety of configurations. Virtualization allows multiple applications and operating systems to run independently on a single server, allowing administrators to quickly allocate server resources based on the latest business requirements.
