Cisco Cisco UCS B460 M4 Blade Server Guida Informativa
Customer Case Study
© 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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The world’s first organization to deploy the Cisco UCS, Tutor Perini configured it with four chassis, 22 server blades,
and two Cisco 6120 Fabric Interconnects. The system currently connects to 83 terabytes of data in an Ethernet
environment.
and two Cisco 6120 Fabric Interconnects. The system currently connects to 83 terabytes of data in an Ethernet
environment.
The Cisco UCS can still be managed as a single entity when configured with up to 40 chassis. To size it correctly,
Tutor Perini’s IT department added up the compute requirements for all of its member companies and then added
another 30 percent to account for expected growth over three years. “Cisco Advanced Services minimized risk by
looking over our design and collaborating with us to validate our sizing assumptions for server blades and memory,”
says Morgan. “Working with Cisco Advanced Services gave us the confidence that we could implement a new
technology and meet our strict deadline.”
Tutor Perini’s IT department added up the compute requirements for all of its member companies and then added
another 30 percent to account for expected growth over three years. “Cisco Advanced Services minimized risk by
looking over our design and collaborating with us to validate our sizing assumptions for server blades and memory,”
says Morgan. “Working with Cisco Advanced Services gave us the confidence that we could implement a new
technology and meet our strict deadline.”
Tutor Perini has already moved three data centers’ applications to the new data center, using VMware products to
transfer servers, virtual machines, and data over the network. “The deployment was very smooth, which is unusual
for a brand-new technology,” says McGibney. “Cisco Advanced Services worked side-by-side with us to deploy the
Cisco UCS and was instrumental in our success. They also made sure that the Cisco UCS operated well with our
network infrastructure and storage.”
transfer servers, virtual machines, and data over the network. “The deployment was very smooth, which is unusual
for a brand-new technology,” says McGibney. “Cisco Advanced Services worked side-by-side with us to deploy the
Cisco UCS and was instrumental in our success. They also made sure that the Cisco UCS operated well with our
network infrastructure and storage.”
Results
Ongoing Cost Savings
Tutor Perini compared the five-year costs of purchasing and operating a Cisco UCS to upgrading its existing systems,
calculating that the investment will pay for itself in 36 months. Factors contributing to lower costs include:
calculating that the investment will pay for itself in 36 months. Factors contributing to lower costs include:
●
Equipment consolidation: “In data centers, less is more, and the Cisco UCS requires less cabling, less
power, less cooling and, most important, less overhead,” says McGibney. Tutor Perini is consolidating from
230 servers and 75 network devices to four Cisco UCS chassis with integrated switching and management,
reducing its hardware footprint by 60 percent. Just two data center rows support up to 7500 users.
power, less cooling and, most important, less overhead,” says McGibney. Tutor Perini is consolidating from
230 servers and 75 network devices to four Cisco UCS chassis with integrated switching and management,
reducing its hardware footprint by 60 percent. Just two data center rows support up to 7500 users.
●
Increased server utilization: “With Cisco UCS, we anticipate being able to deploy four times as many virtual
machines per VMware ESX host as we did previously, and to achieve 90 percent CPU utilization,” says
McGibney.
machines per VMware ESX host as we did previously, and to achieve 90 percent CPU utilization,” says
McGibney.
●
Simplified cable management: The Cisco UCS has only four cables. Cable management was an ongoing
challenge in the previous environment. “With its integrated network and storage access, Cisco UCS required
the fewest cables to purchase and manage of any platform we evaluated,” McGibney says. Having fewer
cables also improves airflow, which reduces power and cooling costs.
challenge in the previous environment. “With its integrated network and storage access, Cisco UCS required
the fewest cables to purchase and manage of any platform we evaluated,” McGibney says. Having fewer
cables also improves airflow, which reduces power and cooling costs.
●
Lower energy consumption: The Cisco UCS uses 38 percent less power than Tutor Perini’s previous
equipment, which the company says will result in significant ongoing savings.
equipment, which the company says will result in significant ongoing savings.
Simplified Management
“Cisco technology is stable and well understood, reducing management burden,” says McGibney. “I have worked with
Cisco routers and switches for 17 years, both in the Department of Defense and in private industry.” Using Cisco
UCS Manager service profiles, the IT department provisioned 22 new VMware ESX hosts and their I/O properties in
just three hours. Ongoing management is simpler as well, because IT staff can manage the Cisco UCS chassis,
“Cisco technology is stable and well understood, reducing management burden,” says McGibney. “I have worked with
Cisco routers and switches for 17 years, both in the Department of Defense and in private industry.” Using Cisco
UCS Manager service profiles, the IT department provisioned 22 new VMware ESX hosts and their I/O properties in
just three hours. Ongoing management is simpler as well, because IT staff can manage the Cisco UCS chassis,
“With Cisco UCS, we anticipate being able to run four times as many
servers on a VMware ESX host as we did previously, and to achieve 90
percent CPU utilization.”
servers on a VMware ESX host as we did previously, and to achieve 90
percent CPU utilization.”
—James McGibney, Data Center Lead, Tutor Perini Corporation