Data Storage Management

The objective of the task order is the integration of a pilot for the IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center (TPC) in a manner that allows for end-to-end visibility of resources from host, tape, as well as the storage infrastructure. The ultimate goal was to simplify the management of storage, provisioning of the Storage Area Network (SAN), attached storage, monitoring of SAN attached devices, and the management of the capacity utilization and availability of file systems and databases. The pilot was intended to provide the following key elements: Create a single management platform that allows a centralized view of SAN and storage infrastructure; Develop and test supportable custom software applications appropriate to the test environment for replication to the network; To improve the visibility of resource allocation; Improve planning; and, To identify potential bottlenecks from a host perspective and data delivery point of view.

Windows/VMware Infrastructure: The NFC hosts a myriad of applications and databases that run under Windows 2003 Server and 2003 Enterprise Server Operating Systems (OS) as well as VMware that runs on IBM HS-21 BladeCenters and standard x-Series architecture.

UNIX Infrastructure: The current OS environments for UNIX include AIX, Solaris, and Red Hat Linux. The AIX systems are running on P595 or P570 Power 5 platforms in an LPAR environment, OS level 5.3. The Solaris systems are SUN-Fire-480r or SUN-Fire-880 platforms, OS level 9. The Red Hat Linux systems are running on IBM HS-21 BladeCenters and standard x-Series architecture.

Enterprise SAN Architecture: Approximately sixty hosts share enterprise storage through the Enterprise SAN architecture.

SAN Infrastructure: The SAN architecture is comprised of Cisco MDS 9513 SAN switches at the core with MDS 9000 and QLogic SAN switches at the edge.

Enterprise Storage Infrastructure: The Enterprise Storage architecture is comprised of IBM SAN Volume Controller and EMC DMX 3-3500 storage array with approximately 50 TB of configured storage.

Enterprise Tape Infrastructure: The Enterprise Tape architecture is comprised of a partition on an IBM Power 5 server that runs AIX 5.3 and Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM), Tivoli Data Protection for UNIX, and associated applications and other distributed applications. Central to the Enterprise Tape services is a Storage Technologies STK SL-8500 library with a total of twenty-eight 9840C and T10000 tape drives. This library is SAN attached through the two Cisco MDS 9513 SAN switches.