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Virtualizing and CentralizingNetwork Infrastructure at a
Decentralized FederalStatistical Agency
Elvera Gleaton ([email protected])
Joseph L. Parsons ([email protected]
Outline of the PresentationI. IntroductionII. MotivationIII. Business ConsiderationsIV. Technical SolutionV. Implementation ProcessVI. Return on InvestmentVII.Lessons Learned, Challenges,
Next Steps
Introduction
• Mission of NASS is to provide timely, accurate, and useful statistics on United States agriculture• NASS conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports on United States agriculture• NASS had a distributed network of servers across the United States• Conducts the Census of Agriculture every five years
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS)
Motivation Government Mandates
◦ Security (Centralized versus Decentralized)◦ Green IT (reduce energy consumption)◦ Data Center consolidation initiative◦ Budget Efficiencies
Agency Business Needs◦ Streamline and Standardize LAN Administration◦ Provide High Availability (continuity of operations)◦ Increase Flexibility: Employee access anywhere,
anyplace, anytime◦ Increase integration: All users have same desktop
Business Consideration:We consolidated from 48 locations to 2 locationsWe consolidated 98 physical servers to 44 virtual servers
Technical Solution: The Design
NASS researched and engaged technical consultation from an industry certified vendor to create virtualized design.
Design consisted of: ◦ Server Software: Citrix XenServer, MS Windows 2008, MS SQL
Server,
◦ Desktops: Citrix XenDesktop, Windows XP, Windows 7, MS Terminal licenses
◦ Servers: Dual Blade Chassis with High Availability (Redundancy)
◦ Storage: Replicated SANs in two locations
◦ Telecommunications: 3 level of redundancy 1 - primary (T1) 2 - backup (DSL) 3 – Disaster Recovery (Hot Spot)
◦ Monitoring Software: Alerts on all systems
NASS Centralized Design
Data Center(Eastern)
Data Center(Western)
MobileSmartphone/iPad
Teleworker(Remote User)
Field OfficesHeadquarters
Replication,Clustered w/
Load Balancing
Two server farms, clustered and replicated
Technical Solution: Secured Application Delivery
Technical Solution:One Physical PC showing 4 virtual desktops
Implementation Process
Migrated two Field Offices (VA and IA)◦ Proof Of Concept; monitored for two months watching bandwidth and application performance
Pilot migration with two additional offices ◦ Finalizing migration checklist and tweaking system
Conducted an external verification and validation of system (system review of all components) Migrated two Field Offices a week (pausing when
there was a peak in business workload) Issues were documented, but there were no
changes to the system during migration
Return on InvestmentStaffing
◦Significantly reduced number of staff managing the Local Area networks
◦Net savings of US $1.8 -1.9 million dollars
Infrastructure (hardware and software)◦Reduce life cycle of file and print servers◦Net savings of US $750,000Note: We are now reducing the number of software licenses (software is only
deployed to limited desktops which are used when needed)
Lessons Learned, Challenges Deploy in stages over time
◦ Fix small issues they will increase as more users are added to system
Involve and train operations and maintenance staff early◦ Operations was slow to accept the new environment
Keep stakeholders up to date ◦ Communicate often on project status to everyone, users
were fearful of the unknown Develop and implement standard operating
procedures◦ Technology continues to evolve and improve, maintain a
design, build, test implement model Develop a robust and always available operation
◦ Centralized system where we have users working late in the evening – maintenance windows are tight.
Next StepsContinue to improve the system
◦Deploy AppSense maintain user profiles
Continue to train operations and maintenance staff
Bring in expert contractors for review and oversight of system
Improve fail-over time
Thank You
