Questions to ask when planning storage and server infrastructure
Storage Requirements
- What our their current storage environment? (What technology do we use? NetApp, EMC, HP, Hitachi, Compellant?)
- What is our current amount of usable storage?
- What is our current data in GB / TB? How much of that data is deemed critical as opposed to 2nd tier, or even archivable?
- What growth increase are we seeing from year to year? (25%? 30%? 40%? More?)
- Is this our largest variable IT cost within our overall budget?
Server Infrastructure
- How many servers do we have within our overall Infrastructure environment?
- What percentage is comprised of Power, Linux or “Wintel”?
- Do we have a vendor standard? (HP, Dell, IBM?)
- What is our overall server utilization (7%? 10%? 20%? 50%? More?)
- Do we utilize virtualization in our server infrastructure environment?
- If so, what percentage of our environment is virtualized?
- What version / type of virtualization do we use?
- Are we looking to do a server consolidation project to help us save on additional software maintenance and energy costs?
Network Infrastructure
- Do we have (primarily) our own data center or do we store all of our equipment at a co-location / managed services location? (and if so, whom?)
- What is our current network environment (Cisco? Avaya?)
- Do we standardize on a vendor?
- How old / new is their network environment?
- What kind of connectivity do they have? (T1? T3? DS?)
Security Solutions
- Do we have a set standard for our security environment?
- Do we do quarterly security assessments? (PCI and/or FFIEC Assessments?) (Who do we use?)
- Are there areas we need to improve?
Software Maintenance
Do we have a goto partner we standardize on for software and hardware maintenance contracts?
Projects
- What are there next three primary projects?
- What is our IT budget?
- What is our Calendar year? Jan – Dec? July – June? Etc.
For more information about planning for storage, servers, and network infrastructure, look at our data warehouse pages.