HP_Use Cases for Cloud Management_white Paper (2)

8/11/2019 HP_Use Cases for Cloud Management_white Paper (2)

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Use cases for application provisioning andmonitoring with HP Cloud Service

Automation for Matrix

Technical white paper

Table of contents

Executive summary............................................................................................................................... 2

Today’s challenge................................................................................................................................ 3

Lifecycle approach to cloud .................................................................................................................. 3

The integrated HP solution................................................................................................................. 4

HP BladeSystem Matrix and Insight Dynamics ..................................................................................... 4

HP Cloud Service Automation for Matrix............................................................................................. 5

Use cases for cloud management........................................................................................................... 6

Design templates that include infrastructure and applications................................................................. 6

Requesting a service from the self-service portal ................................................................................... 8

Automated provisioning of infrastructure and application...................................................................... 9 Automatic infrastructure monitors ..................................................................................................... 10

Flexible configuration of application monitors.................................................................................... 10

HP BladeSystem Matrix and HP CSA for Matrix working together............................................................ 14

Expertise for your cloud solution .......................................................................................................... 14

Next steps ........................................................................................................................................ 15



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Executive summary

Cloud initiatives represent both a threat and opportunity for IT leaders. The public cloud allows non-ITusers to provision and consume IT services directly from providers, giving them unprecedentedflexibility. It also allows them to bypass IT departments who must now respond with greater agilityand speed or risk being marginalized. At the same time, many organizations are moving to theprivate cloud, which represents an opportunity for IT to capitalize on the agility and speed while stillmaintaining control and security over applications and services.

This white paper explores new automated provisioning and monitoring solutions, specificallydesigned for HP BladeSystem Matrix users. Matrix customers can extend their cloud capabilities byusing HP Cloud Service Automation for Matrix to:

Provision infrastructure and applications simultaneously

Monitor their performance and availability

Manage the applications and server lifecycle end to end

In this white paper, we’ll explore the most common use cases, integration points, and benefits from acombined hardware and software solution for Matrix.



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Today’s challenge

Cloud computing is an evolution, not a revolution. Still, traditional approaches designed for physicaldata center environments do not provide the necessary agility required for the cloud. To support thedynamic nature of cloud environments, IT must be able to quickly provision new applications andservices and ensure that they meet availability and performance expectations.

Manual approaches and siloed management tools are ill equipped to deal with the standardization

and automation required for today’s cloud initiatives. Instead, an automated, turnkey approach thatlets IT get up and running quickly and easily, without long implementation times, is needed.

Lifecycle approach to cloud

Today’s challenges require a lifecycle approach to cloud management that consists of the followingsteps:

Step 1: consolidate and virtualize the infrastructure into shared resource pools. Consolidation and virtualization enable you to source resources internally or externally andassemble them dynamically from server, network, storage, compute, memory, and input/outputpools.

Step 2: design standard, repeatable service templates. Standard, repeatable templates forcloud services that define server, storage, network, and applications requirements, as well as otherservice parameters—such as lease life, costs, workflows, and approvals—can reduce cost and effort andimprove results going forward. Customers can then select a specific application as part of the overallservice template, thereby defining both infrastructure and applications in one service template.

Step 3: make it possible to publish to a portal in a self-service format. Once the cloudservice templates are designed, they can be published to a self-service portal where users can selecfrom a catalog of IT-approved services. IT should be able to offer infrastructure services that couldinclude physical or virtual servers and operating system, as well as applications in the catalog ofservices.

Step 4: automate the provisioning and monitoring of applications and infrastructure.

Resource pools and the service template referenced above enable automated provisioning of boththe infrastructure (server, storage, networking) and the applications (platforms, operating systems,middleware, business applications) governing the installation order and reducing the time involvedfrom months to minutes. Once you provision the service, you can then able to automatically monitorthe CPU, memory, and disk utilization of those servers. In addition, you should have the ability toeasily configure application level monitoring by choosing from multiple application, database,operating system, and other monitors.

Step 5: enable server lifecycle management. Full server lifecycle management includespatching of the operating system and applications and compliance verification andreporting.



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Figure 1Complete lifecycle management of cloud infrastructure and applications

The integrated HP solution

By combining HP solutions for automated provisioning and infrastructure optimization with the HPprivate-cloud delivery solution, you are able to bridge the gap between provisioning and monitoringof infrastructure and applications, enabling you to deliver infrastructure and applications in minutes,not months. For turnkey private cloud initiatives, this capability is essential. The integrated HP solution

consists of HP BladeSystem Matrix and Insight Dynamics plus HP Cloud Service Automation forMatrix.

HP BladeSystem Matrix and Insight Dynamics

HP BladeSystem Matrix is the industry’s first converged infrastructure platform that doublesadministrator productivity and reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) up to 56 percent versustraditional infrastructure.1 HP BladeSystem Matrix integrates silos of computing, storage, network, andfacilities resources with unified management to deliver a virtualized, highly automated environment.

With pools of shared resources that can be leveraged on demand, HP BladeSystem Matrix delivers aconverged infrastructure so that IT can increase the flexibility of the environment and speed time tovalue.

HP Insight Dynamics provides automated provisioning, optimization, and recovery managementcapabilities for HP BladeSystem Matrix. HP Insight Dynamics combines the best of the industry-leadingHP infrastructure management portfolio—including HP Systems Insight Manager and HP InsightControl—into one integrated offering for HP BladeSystem and HP ProLiant servers. The result is asingle toolkit that helps IT accelerate complex technology projects and simplify daily operations.

1 Source: HP White Paper: The business case for HP BladeSystem Matrix, based on data from the HP BladeSystem and BladeSystem Matrix TCO Calculator,

http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA2-5606ENW.pdf





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Use cases for cloud management

The following examples illustrate how HP CSA for Matrix and HP BladeSystem Matrix work togetherto maintain control of your data center while allowing for the agility and flexibility that your businessdemands. These examples are not intended to be comprehensive, just illustrative.

Use case 1: provision infrastructure and applications together

In this example, an IT department is moving to a shared services model using HP BladeSystem Matrixand HP CSA for Matrix. The department plans to offer a catalog of available services to its users. Theusers will then be able to go into a self-service portal and request the services they need. In this case,the user needs to test a three-tiered application (web, application, database). First, the service heneeds must be created in the catalog.

Design templates that include infrastructure and applications

Matrix enables architects to visually design a standardized infrastructure service that is offered tousers through a web-based catalog. A built-in design tool enables architects to create infrastructuretemplates that offer various system configurations and levels of services.

Rather than designing infrastructure services from scratch each time a team requests resources,

architects design templates with specific, approved configurations for individual servers or multi-tier,multi-node services, and then reuse these templates over and over. This catalog incorporates existingbest-practice templates for key applications as well as templates that architects build from scratch.

Architects use the visual design studio to create an infrastructure template using a drag-and-dropeditor as shown in Figure 3.



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Figure 3Matrix template designer

The example above is a typical three-tier web service containing a mix of both virtual and physicalservers and a mix of OS and applications specific to each tier. Each server is dual-homed with aconnection to both a Server Automation deployment network (a component of CSA for Matrix) as wellas either a public or private interconnect network. The architect in this case has designed the serviceto initially produce six logical servers: three at the web tier, two at the application tier, and one at thedatabase tier. Drilling into the logical server configuration details at the web tier shows the use of thesoftware inventory from the CSA for Matrix primary core for both the operating system environmentand its associated applications.



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Figure 4Software selection using HP CSA for Matrix as source

The architect has specified both an operating system and two applications that are required for thelogical server to fulfill its role within the overall service. All of the software elements are referenced

directly from CSA for Matrix.

Requesting a service from the self-service portal

Once the architect has completed the definition of the template and moved its status to “Published,” itbecomes available for creating one or more services from the template. There are two roles withinMatrix that are capable of creating a new service. The first is the “user” role.

Any user assigned to this role is capable of viewing a set of one or more templates and has access toan administratively defined set of server resources (VM Hosts and Virtual Connect C-Class blades).Users with this role are considered “self-service users” and will access the system through a specificportal designed for their use. This allows Matrix to be used as a shared-service utility environment and

provides controlled service provisioning and management to a set of customers.The second role that is capable of creating a new service is the “administrator” role. Any personassigned to this role is capable of using any of Matrix service-automation tools and typically providesadministrator support for the environment and its self-service users. The Matrix administrator may ormay not be the same person (or set of people) providing CSA for Matrix administrative support.



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Figure 5Requesting a service from the Matrix self-service portal

Automated provisioning of infrastructure and applicationOnce the service has been requested, it may enter into an approval cycle in which an e-mail isgenerated or a ticket is generated for approval. Once the request is approved, Matrix works inconjunction with HP Server Automation to automatically deploy the service. When the entire serviceprovisioning process is complete, its status can be viewed both within Matrix and CSA for Matrix.CSA for Matrix can be used to manage the interim aspects of the server lifecycle such as patchingand compliance. When the service is no longer needed, Matrix works in conjunction with CSA forMatrix to retire the service, moving the associated resources back to their associated resource poolwhere they are made available for the next service request.

Use case 2: monitor performance and availability of infrastructure and applications

This example shows how, now that a service has been created, IT can easily set up performance andavailability monitors for that service.



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Automatic infrastructure monitors

HP CSA for Matrix automatically sets up three specific infrastructure monitors when a service isinstantiated from a service template. When a service is created, the IP address of the target physicalor virtual server is passed to CSA for Matrix from Matrix, and CPU, memory, and disk utilization areautomatically monitored for those IP addresses. CSA for Matrix keeps the monitors up and running forthe life of the service. Users can create thresholds, alerts, and baselines and can obtain continualreporting based on the monitors.

Figure 6HP CSA for Matrix automatically sets up CPU, memory, and disk utilization monitors when a service is requested and keepsthem continually running for the life of the service.

Flexible configuration of application monitors

CSA for Matrix can also easily monitor the performance and availability of applications that areprovisioned to the infrastructure.

CSA for Matrix provides out-of-the-box support for over 80 application and other monitors including:

Operating systems (Linux and Microsoft Windows)

System monitors (Composite, CPU utilization, database, DHCP, File, LDAP)

Cloud and virtualization monitors (Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESX Server/ESXi, VMware VirtualCenter and Sphere)

Application monitors (Apache Web Server, Checkpoint, Citrix, IBM DB2, Websphere, JBoss,Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft IIS, Microsoft SQL Server, BEA Weblogic Application Server, Oracledatabase, and more)

Network service monitors (DNS, FTP, Mail, Network Bandwidth, SNMP)



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Figure 7CSA for Matrix easily allows users to pick specific application monitors and counters for each application.

Use case 3: end-to-end server and application lifecycle management

This example shows how HP CSA for Matrix enables users to easily provide continual lifecyclemanagement of the servers and applications that provide services. Business units are increasinglyplacing pressure on IT and demanding complex business services that typically include hundreds oreven thousands of servers, distributed across several data centers and managed by different teamsand systems. They also demand greater flexibility, agility, and accountability, which means that IT

needs to manage change more effectively. HP CSA for Matrix provides server lifecycle managementfor enterprise servers and applications, from discovery to provisioning, patching to ongoingconfiguration management, and script execution to policy enforcement.



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Figure 8HP CSA for Matrix allows users to easily create specific software policies and then enable script execution to those policies.

HP CSA for Matrix also allows companies to address compliance management. CSA for Matrixallows administrators to:

Document what the standards are Test the environment to see what’s in and out of compliance with those standards

Remediate to bring the environment back into compliance

Run simple out-of-the-box reports to respond to auditor needs



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Figure 9Complex audit and compliance policies can also be created for specific application monitors and counters for eachapplication.



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HP BladeSystem Matrix and HP CSA for Matrix workingtogether

In combination, CSA for Matrix and BladeSystem Matrix enable IT to deliver a private-cloudcapability to the business. IT can:

Consolidate and virtualize the infrastructure into shared resource pools, providing the ability tosource resources internally or externally and assemble them dynamically from pools of resources(server, network, storage, compute, memory, I/O)

Design standard, repeatable service templates that define the resource requirements of a service bydescribing the server, storage, network, and applications required, as well as other serviceparameters such as lease life, costs, workflows, and approvals

Publish to a self-service portal where users can select from a catalog of IT approved services

Automatically provision applications and infrastructure (server, storage, networking) and theapplications (platforms, OSS, middleware, business applications), preserving installation order, inminutes as opposed to months

Use continuous reporting, usage-based billing, and server lifecycle management to integrate withchargeback systems and full server lifecycle management, including patching operating systems

and applications, and to provide compliance verification and reporting

HP BladeSystem Matrix and HP CSA for Matrix offer complementary capabilities for turnkeyprovisioning and management of infrastructure and applications. HP CSA for Matrix enables users toprovision and monitor applications and easily manage the configuration of large numbers of serversand applications through its policy-based configuration and auditing capabilities. Matrix enablesusers to get the most from HP servers by enabling them to dynamically adjust to business demandsusing advanced infrastructure management. Using these products together, IT can manageinfrastructure and applications to meet changing business demand.

Expertise for your cloud solution

From developing your cloud strategy and roadmap to design and implementation services for CSA forMatrix and HP CSA software, HP and HP preferred partners provide a comprehensive portfolio ofcloud consulting services to ensure your cloud solution meets your business goals. Our services fromHP and HP preferred partners provides you with the ability to effectively transform and automate yourbusiness services, infrastructure, and processes including public, private, and hybrid cloudenvironments.



Next steps

To learn how you can use turnkey provisioning and management to accelerate cloud applicationdeployment, contact your HP representative or HP preferred partner.

For more information on the HP Cloud Service Automation for Matrix solution, including white papersand downloads, go to www.hp.com/go/csa4matrix. To learn more about Matrix as a foundation forcloud initiatives, go to www.hp.com/go/matrix.

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© Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject tochange without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warrantystatements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting anadditional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Microsoft, Hyper-V, and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Linux is a U.S. registeredtrademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware is a trademark of VMware Inc.

4AA0-2034ENW, Created October 2010

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HP_Use Cases for Cloud Management_white Paper (2)