Capacity Management

IBM Global Services

© 2004 IBM Corporation

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ITIL Foundation Course V1.0Introduction to the IT Infrastructure Library

Capacity Management

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ITIL Foundation Course | Student material v1.0 © 2004 IBM Corporation

Unit 11Capacity Management

Content:

Capacity Management – objectives and overview

Responsibilities and obligations

Important aspects

– Capacity planning– Capacity Database (CDB)

Benefits, risks, costs

Best practices

Summary

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Capacity ManagementIntegration into the IPW Model

Source: IPW Model is a trade mark of Quint Wellington and KPN Telecoms

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Capacity ManagementMission Statement

Capacity Management is responsible for ensuring that the capacity of the IT infrastructure matches the evolving demands of the business in the most cost-effective and timely manner.

Capacity Management needs to understand the business requirements (the required provision of IT services), the organization's operation (the current provision of IT services), and the IT infrastructure (the means of provision of IT services), and to ensure that all the current and future capacity and performance aspects of the business requirements are provided cost-effectively.

However, Capacity Management is also about understanding the potential for service provision. New technology needs to be understood and, if appropriate, used to deliver the services required by the business. Capacity Management needs to recognize that the rate of technological change will probably increase and that new technology should be harnessed to ensure that the IT services continue to satisfy changing business expectations. One of the result of the activities of Capacity Management is a documented capacity plan.

The goal of Capacity Management:

Ensurerequired, acceptable,required, acceptable,

cost-effective capacitycost-effective capacityof IT resources, in order that the service levels which are agreed with the company are fulfilled in a timelytimely manner.

Ensurerequired, acceptable,required, acceptable,

cost-effective capacitycost-effective capacityof IT resources, in order that the service levels which are agreed with the company are fulfilled in a timelytimely manner.

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Capacity ManagementWhy Capacity Management?

There are a number of reasons why an organization should implement Capacity Management.

Capacity Management provides the required information about:– Which components need to be upgraded (such as main memory, faster hard

disk, larger bandwidth)– When to perform upgrades – not too early, otherwise expensive overcapacities

cannot be used; and not too late, in order to avoid bottlenecks, bad performance, and consequently, customer dissatisfaction

– How much the upgrade will be – planning elements and predictions will influence budget planning

Capacity management is based on:– Business requirements– Existing structures of the company– Existing IT infrastructure

The customer does not require capacity; the customer requires services The expenditure for IT capacities needs to be continuously justifiable It provides information on current and planned resource utilization of individual

components, allowing decisions on which components to upgrade, when to do so, and how much it will cost.

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Capacity ManagementCapacity Management has three sub-processes

Iterative activities (Performance Mgmt)

CapacityDatabase

Capacity Plan

Demand Management

Business Capacity Management

Service Capacity Management

Resource Capacity Management

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Capacity ManagementTasks

Demand Managemen

t

Business Capacity

Management

Service Capacity

Management

Analyze

Iterative Activities

Resource Capacity

Management Capacity

Database (CDB)

Capacity Managemen

t

Capacity Managemen

t

Tuning

Implementation

Monitoring

Application Sizing

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Capacity ManagementInput & Output

SUB-PROCESS

Business Capacity ManagementTrend, forecast, model, prototype, size, and documentationof future business requirements

Service Capacity ManagementMonitor, analyze, tune, and report on service performance; establish baselines and profiles of use of servicesManage demand for service

Resource Capacity ManagementMonitor, analyze, and report on utilization of components,Establish baselines and profiles on use of components

TechnologiesSLAs, SLRs, and

service portfolioBusiness plans and

strategiesMaintenance

windowsEmployment and

development plans and programmes

Planning of future changes

Incidents and problems

Service reviewsSLA violationFinancial plansBudgets

Capacity plansCDBMinimum

requirements and profilesThreshold values and

signalsCapacity reports

(regular, ad hoc, and in special cases)

SLA and SLR recommendations

Costs and recommendations for further calculations

Proactive changes and service improvements

Revised maintenance windows

Effectiveness reviewAudit reports

INPUT OUTPUT

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Capacity ManagementIterative Activities

A number of the activities of Capacity Management need to be carried out iteratively, and form a natural cycle:

Set up and maintain the Capacity Database

Reporting

– Analyzes and reports– Production of the capacity plan

Demand Management and Monitoring

– Ensure that the future business requirements for IT services are considered

– Report on performance against targets contained in SLA

– Monitoring of resources– Forecast future capacity requirements

Document costs associated with options

Assess new technology and its relevance

Tuning

Implementation

Monitoring

Analysis

SLM Exception

Reports

Capacity

Management

Database

(CDB)

Resource Utilization

Exception Reports

SLM Thresholds

Resource

Utilization

Thresholds

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Capacity ManagementCapacity Plan

The Capacity Plan should be published annually in line with the budgetary cycle. Ideally, it should be updated quarterly, and consists of the following parts:

Introduction– Scope of planning– Methods

Assumptions and prerequisites Management summary Business evaluations and scenarios Service summary Resource summary Options for service improvement Cost model Recommendations

• Business benefit to expect• Potential impact (of not) carrying out recommendations; risks involved– Required resources– Costs: unique and ongoing

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Capacity ManagementCapacity Database

Capacity Database (CDB)

Data in the CDB is stored and used by all the sub-processes of Capacity Management because it is a repository that holds a number of different types of data: business, service, technical, financial, and utilization data.

The CDB is unlikely to be a single database, and probably exists in several

physical locations.

The information in the CDB is used to form the basis of performance and Capacity Management reports that are to be delivered to management and technical personnel.

The data is also utilized to generate future capacity forecasts, and to allow

Capacity Management to plan for future capacity requirements.

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Capacity ManagementBenefits and Costs

Benefits Reduced risk of performance problems and

failure

Cost savings

Both achievable through:

– Planned buying – Deferring expenditure until really

needed (but in a controlled way)– Matching capacity to business need

Ensures that systems have sufficient capacity to run the applications required by the business for the foreseeable future

Provides information on current and planned resource utilization of individual components allowing decisions on which components to upgrade, when to do so, and how much it will cost.

Costs Setting up Capacity Management:

– Procurement of required hardware and software, such as monitoring tools

– Project management– Staff costs– Accommodation

Daily management of Capacity Management:

– Annual maintenance and upgrades– Ongoing staff costs – Recurring accommodation costs (leasing,

rental, energy)

“Planned buying is cheaper than panic buying.”“Planned buying is cheaper than panic buying.”

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Capacity ManagementRisks

Potential problem areas:

Customer expectations exceed technical capability

Unrealistic product information from vendor

Wrong estimation of future workload by the customer

Precise predictions become more difficult with shorter business planning

cycles

Considering all service areas (software, PC, server, LAN, WAN, TK, and so

on) within the scope of capacity management

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Capacity ManagementBest Practices

The Capacity Management process should be reviewed for effectiveness and efficiency at regular intervals to ensure that:

– It is producing the required output at the required times for the appropriate audience

– Its activities are cost-effective Critical Success Factors

Success in Capacity Management is dependent on a number of factors:

– Accurate business forecasts – Knowledge of IT strategy and plans, and that the plans are accurate – An understanding of current and future technologies – An ability to demonstrate cost-effectiveness – Interaction with other effective Service Management processes – An ability to plan and implement the appropriate IT capacity to match business

needs

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Capacity ManagementSummary

The goal of Capacity Management is to ensure that all the current and future capacity and performance aspects of the business requirements are provided in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Responsibilities: Business Capacity Management, Service Capacity Management, Resource Capacity Management

Demand Management

Capacity Plan and Capacity Database (CDB)

“Good Capacity Management ensures NO SURPRISES!”“Good Capacity Management ensures NO SURPRISES!”

Documents

Capacity Management