Data Center Software Infrastructure and Standardization with Business Critical Services

Executive Summary

Overview
Statistics Canada is the central statistics agency for the Canadian Government, providing economic, business, and social statistics that help Canadians understand their county better. In addition to conducting a nationwide census every five years, Statistics Canada produces up to 450 statistical surveys on an annual basis; areas include agricultural, environmental, health, manufacturing, consumer pricing, social/economic conditions, primary trade, travel, and tourism. Located in Ottawa, Ontario, Statistics Canada has over 5,700 employees spread across 60 different operating divisions consisting of eight regional fields (or directorates). The Infrastructure Services Subdivision (ISSD) supports statisticians with server and storage services and functions as a fully integrated internal cost recovery organization.

Barriers
The number of statistical reports and surveys offered by Statistics Canada has grown dramatically over the last 10 years, increasing server requirements, data storage capacity, and IT operating costs. To meet future business needs, Statistics Canada faced five major challenges. First, disparate server platforms, operating systems, and storage platforms from eight different fields needed to be consolidated into one centrally managed organization. The consolidation effort involved over 753 servers and 106TB of data. Second, both server and storage operating costs needed to be dramatically reduced to lower the fee-for-service costs charged back to the 60 divisions of Statistics Canada on a monthly basis. Third, the IS department needed a better method for allocating and provisioning both server and storage disk space. Fourth, the IS department needed the ability to automatically track and bill divisions for allocated disk space to improve the accuracy of fee-for-service charges and to better understand the utilization of disk space to support future capacity planning initiatives. Fifth, unstructured file and print data needed to be centrally managed and migrated to a more cost-effective storage infrastructure.

The Solution
Transformation of the IT infrastructure at Statistics Canada took place over a period of seven years, starting with the Enterprise Backup Solution in 1999 that provides backup and recovery on a fee-for- service basis. The majority of the IT transformation was completed from 2004 through 2006 when the IS organization standardized and centralized storage and server environments as displayed in Figure 2.

The transformation included the following elements. First, using Veritas NetBackup software, Statistics Canada consolidated and standardized data protection processes. The backup and retrieval environment includes two Sun StorageTek Powderhorn 9310 tape libraries, two Sun Fire V280R master servers, and 12 Sun Fire V240R media servers. Second, using Veritas Storage Foundation and Veritas Cluster Server, Statistics Canada centralized server and storage management. The next-generation data center software infrastructure allows Statistics Canada to manage volumes and file systems from a centralized console and to manage a multi-layered storage architecture consisting of online storage based on HP XP1024 and Hitachi USP Virtual Disk Arrays, near-line storage based on a Hitachi Thunder 9570V storage system, and off-line storage based on two Sun StorageTek Powderhorn 9310 tape libraries. Third, the IS organization transformed the storage and management of unstructured file and print data by moving it to the online Hitachi USP Virtual Disk Arrays using NetApp file servers and then to the near-line Hitachi Thunder 9570V storage system using Symantec Enterprise Vault software. Fourth, Veritas CommandCentral Service and Veritas CommandCentral Storage were deployed for managing server utilization and storage provisioning as well as managing charge backs for backups as well as storage and server utilization rates.

Benefits
The technology and services solutions enabled by the Symantec Data Center Foundation tools are producing tangible business value for Statistics Canada. Business value analysis shows cost avoidance and productivity savings of $9,254,000 from 2003 to 2005 and a projected $7,790,000 in comparable savings for 2006 to 2008.

For more information on Alchemy Group or to download this document, go to http://www.alchemygroupinc.com/category/research/bva/