VMworld 2013 Bjoern Brundert, VMware Valentin Hamburger, VMware Learn more about VMworld and register at http://www.vmworld.com/index.jspa?src=socmed-vmworld-slideshare

1. SDDC IT Operations Transformation:
Multi-customer Lessons Learned
Bjoern Brundert, VMware
Valentin Hamburger, VMware
OPT4963
#OPT4963

2. 2
Agenda
 The presenters
 The VMware TAM Program
 Cloud thoughts: Business & IT
 Let‘s get started
 Aligning operations
 Lessons learned from multiple (TAM) customers
 Additional material

3. 3
Caution - Real Life Content
Most content in this presentation is based on real-life
experience. It does not reflect just one or a few customer's
situations but summarizes observations that have been made
in the industry over the past few years.
Consuming this content might lead to
positive side-effects in your daily work.

4. 4
The Presenters
Bjoern Brundert, Sr. TAM
Valentin Hamburger, Sr. TAM

5. 5
The TAM Program @ VMware

6. 6
A Little Context
 Virtualization has changed the face of IT in the past 10 years
• Foundation for “Cloud Computing” (IaaS)
• “Bottom-up” innovation (to make IT life easier)
• Focus was/is mainly on cost reduction
 SDDC (IaaS + PaaS) seems to be the logical next steps
• But: its not just another name for automated Virtualization
• Disruptive change in IT delivery
• “Top-down” innovation (requested by the business)
• “Cloud” is not primarily focussed on cost reduction, it’s about agility

7. 7
Server Virtualization Started a Transformation Journey

8. 8
SDDC thoughts

9. 9
SDDC Thoughts: Business & Internal IT
 Multiple companies face the same business challenges today
• Growth in the past few years
• Looking for new markets and ways to expand business
• New/more rapid customer interaction (Android/iOS Apps)
• Benefits of “Cloud” are expected from internal IT
 Internal IT
• Acts often as Internal service provider
• Challenging to react to business needs
• Must maintain various security and
compliance standards
• Needs to keep up with growing
service requests
Image Source: http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/cloud/

10. 10
Business Expectations
BUs want
more flexible /
faster IT (don’t care
about technology)
CxO Level pushes
Cloud move
Short notice
service
provisioning and
decommissioning On-demand model
to react to market
changes
Receive new
services as simple /
quick as possible

11. 11
IT Reality
Use existing
processes and
tools to deploy
VMs
Windows team
manages the
"cloud"
additionally
Ressources are
handled as with
the existing
vSphere
environment
No changes to
existing services /
apps for running
in the Cloud
VMs / Services
need to be
requested using
the same process
as for vSphere
today

12. 12
Let’s Get Started

13. 13
Self-Assessment
 What to self-assess?
• Processes
• Team
• Requirements & Expectations
• Operations
 Work together with a partner
• Provides an "outside" view
• Knows other implementations and gives guidance
• Draws in additional departments
 Reassure if the business case is commonly understood
• Ask the business units / internal customers
• Note the important "must have" requirements vs. "nice to have" or "cosmetic”
People
ProcessesTechnology

14. 14
Service Deployment Dependencies
Infrastructure Storage OS Network
Service
Deployment
Security Application

15. 15
VM Deployment in 5 minutes
Service Need
Translate to
Service Config
Request Service
Service
Approved
Translate to VM
Config
Request / check
storage space
Request / check
network
Request / check
Security
Create VM Install VM OS
Configure OS
corporate std.
Install Application
/ Service
Configure
Service
Service Deployed
5 Minutes 1 Day 1 Day 2 Days
1 Day 4-6 Days 4-6 Days 1 - 2 Weeks
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Day 1 - 2 Days
2 Days

16. 16
VM Deployment in 5 minutes
Service Need
Translate to
Service Config
Request Service
Service
Approved
Translate to VM
Config
Request / check
storage space
Request / check
network
Request / check
Security
Create VM Install VM OS
Configure OS
corporate std.
Install Application
/ Service
Configure
Service
Service Deployed
5 Minutes 1 Day 1 Day 2 Days
1 Day 4-6 Days 4-6 Days 1 - 2 Weeks
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Day 1 - 2 Days
2 Days

17. 17
Information gathering
 Work together with other departments
• What are their biggest challenges?
• What tools are they using? Any changes planned here?
 Visualize your processes and dependencies
 Identify recurring tasks, work packages, etc.
 Document requirements and dependencies for applications
 Standardization is key to success, but they still needed to maintain
some individual builds

18. 18
Standardization
 Why standardize?
• Speed up deployment
• Streamline Day 2 Operations
• Working with less adhoc service delivery requests
 Rethink current installations
• Identify automation/standization potential
• What standards are already used?
• Can they be further simplified?
 Think big - start small
• Identify “Quick Wins”
• Most common tasks
• Most common deployments
• Apply a 80/20 approach
• 80% of services may be easily standardized
• 20% of services may be difficult to standardize
• Question existing implementations and reassure if they are required
Integration
Automation
Standardization

19. 19
Automation
 Automation empowers SDDC
• Is key in providing fast deployments
• Goes hand in hand with integration
• Decouples service deployment and manpower
 Recommendations
• Define major processes to automate
• Again, define required vs. nice to have automation
• Quick wins are important - start simple
• Make sure all needed parties are within
the automation team
Integration
Standardization
Automation

20. 20
Integration
 Integration is key
• Leverages automation and standardization
• Is needed for a seamless user experience
 No more manual Documentation
• Identify required systems to integrate
• Define required vs. nice to have integration
 Think big - start small
• Quick wins are important
• Make sure all needed parties are part of the
Integration team
Automation
Standardization
Integration

21. 21
Integration example: Deployment
User Portal
Approval
Orchestration
Cloud Layer
Infrastructure
$ $ $ $ $ $
Chargeback / Billing
Technical Approval
OS
Updat
es
CMDB
ITSM
External
Billing Link
VM
Chargeback data is provided
out of the cloud for external
billing systems
Technical and business /
budget approval is integrated

22. 22
Integration example: Operations
Open a Change
in ITSM tool
Notify NOC about adhoc
activity (mail, message,
etc)
Perform actual activity
(shut down/reboot)
Close Change
in ITSM tool

23. 23
Aligning Operations

24. 24
Operations - Before
 Functional separation of teams that provide infrastructure
• Network and Security
• Storage and Backup
• Server and Operating System
• Linux and Databases
 Virtualization has grown into a central component without
centralized operations
• Connecting with other teams only for larger outages or in “reactive mode”
Network /
Security
Storage /
Backup
Server /
Windows /
VMware
Linux /
Databases

25. 25
Operations - During Large Projects
Network /
Security
Storage /
Backup
Server /
Windows /
VMware
Linux /
Databases
Project team
(partly assigned resources for a
limited time)

26. 26
Operations - Example Future Structure
Network /
Security
Storage /
Backup
Server /
Windows /
VMware
Linux /
Databases
Cloud Infrastructure
Center of Excellence
Continuous
feedback and
exchange with
“former” team mates
Additional colleagues
can join the CoE over
time (with growing
demand)

27. 27
Lessons Learned from
multiple (TAM) customers

28. 28
Best Practices
 “CSI”: Continuous Service Improvement
• Keep reviewing efficiency of your integration
and automation implementation
• Make sure the operation team is as balanced as the project team was
• Reassess from time to time

29. 29
Best Practices
 Cloud Infrastructure Operations Center of Excellence
• Find a sponsor for your activities
• Think big, start small - even a small team
with the right competencies can achieve a lot
 Transparency can help
• Show how long tasks are running and where time is getting lost
• Assess your current situation without finger pointing
 Start with automation in areas where you spend lots of time with
manual tasks
• Include variables, make them repeatable, think in "modules" that can
be reused
• Check out vCenter Orchestrator
• Think of Orchestration/Automation skills as a carreer opportunity

30. 30
Best Practices
 Internal marketing
• One of the most common observations:
IT is not promoting great achievements
• Do great things and talk about them!
 Exchange regularly with other teams
• Talk to internal customers (Service Managers, Account Managers, ...)
to compare expectation vs. delivery
• Keep listening
• Constructive question demands and requirements
 Keep up with technical developments
• Compare Public Cloud offerings
• Take trainings, e.g. one video from vmwarelearning.com each week

31. 31
Defy Convention

32. 32
Additional Material
 VMworld 2012 and 2013 sessions (Operations Transformation/IT
Transformation)
 VMware Cloud Ops Blog: http://blogs.vmware.com/cloudops/
 Cloud Operations Services:
http://www.vmware.com/services/cloud-operations-services/
 Free “Organizing for the Cloud” Whitepaper:
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/services/VMware-Organizing-for-
the-Cloud-Whitepaper.pdf
 Twitter: @vmwarecloudops @VMwareTAM @harrowandy
@kurtmilne @VHamburger @thinkingvirtual

33. 33
Other VMware Activities Related to This Session
 Group Discussions:
OPT1002-GD
vCloud/SDDC Deployment with Venkat Gopalakrishnan

34. THANK YOU

36. SDDC IT Operations Transformation:
Multi-customer Lessons Learned
Bjoern Brundert, VMware
Valentin Hamburger, VMware
OPT4963
#OPT4963

37. 37
Backup

38. 38
5 Key Disciplines

39. 39
Cloud Infrastructure Operations Center of Excellence

40. 40
Way to the Cloud (in a nutshell)

41. 41
Organizing for the Cloud

42. 42
Software Defined Data Center
 Cloud admins operate the SDDC (needs other skills than an
infrastructure admin)
 Service oriented administration, instead of infrastructure oriented
 Well connected team with collaboration across all datacenter
aspects (storage, network, security, operation systems,
applications)
 Automation skills and process knowledge
 Innovation driven team
 Can react instantly to business requirement due to flexible and
agile design

43. 43
Self-Service Test/Dev Cloud
 Define your usecase
 Check your usecase with the users
 Redefine your usecase :)
 Write down requirements and question them technically and
cenceptually
 Define priorities (80:20 rule), must have - nice to have - road
blockers
 Design according to the usecase/purpose and priorities
 Stick to the plan!

44. 44
Policy and SLA Definition, Service Design Reassessment
 Check SLAs with the business units (cloud users)
 Check OLAs/SLAs with the IT department (cloud providers)
 Make sure SLAs have measurable KPIs in place
 (must run fast, must be responsible, etc...)
 Compare service design to SLA definitions
 Redefine service design if neccessary to fit SLA requirements
 Document SLAs in accordance to their underlying services
carefully (living document)
 Stick to the plan!