Gary Stronach

Percy Gouchie Technical Service Delivery

November 24, 2009

Virtually …transforming health care

 

Agenda

• An overview of HITS-NS • Our Challenges• Our Approach (VMWare)• Benefits of Virtualization with VMWare• Results (our environment/infrastructure) • Lessons Learned• Top Ten Tips• Questions

• Health Information Technology Services Nova Scotia (HITS-NS) enables Nova Scotia's health care community to use information technology to deliver better health care.

• HITS-NS manages a secure and private health care IT environment, for the benefit of all Nova Scotians.

• This is accomplished through our committedhealth care focused staff, integrated systems and24/7 operational support.

What is HITS-NS?

About Us • Established in 2006, HITS-NS is an independent,

permanent program funded directly by the Department of Health.

• Annual budget of approximately $15 million. • As part of a national vision, we are helping Nova

Scotia move toward one electronic health record (EHR) to enhance the quality of patient care.

Our Challenges • Unpredictable resource demands as new services

were required for delivering healthcare in NS• Under-utilized servers with requirements for

additional servers. • Limited technical resources were stretched to the

limit• Constant requirement for more infrastructure

servers.• High demand for temporary/test servers .• Server refreshes

• Started slow• Training Life Without

Vmware:• Testing• Committing• Deploying• Upgrading S/W• VMWorld

Our Approach

• Availability• Efficiency Life With Vmware:• Flexibility• Manageability• Hardware Independence • Cost avoidance• Environmental

Benefits of our VMware Implementation

Our Environment

• 44 ESX Enterprise Servers version 3.5 update 4• 1 Enterprise Virtual Center version 2.5 update 4• 228 virtual machines• 8 clusters on Dell 1955 and M600 Blades• 3 tiers of EMC storage (low-end ISCSI, mid-tier

ISCSI, High I/O Fiber Channel)• 130 different data stores – 5.1TB ISCSI & 5.3TB

Fiber

DC-SV-ESX2DC-SV-ESX1

Each Dell 1955 blade server has 4 NIC’s

2 on-board Broadcom GigE NIC’s provide redundant network connectivity

2 daughter-card Broadcom GigE TOE NIC’s provide ISCSI SAN connectivity

Cisco 2960 GigE Switch

Cisco 2960 GigE Switch

EMC Celerra ISCSI Array (7.5 TB)

Cisco 2960 ISCSI Switch

Cisco 2960 ISCSI Switch

NIC2NIC1

NIC3(toe) NIC4(toe)

NIC1 NIC2

NIC3(toe) NIC4(toe)

IP Storage Network

The NS80 Storage Array is connected with 4 redundant GigE Etherchannel uplinks

IP Network

ISCSI Setup

1. Cluster size – use larger clusters of ESX hosts2. Use tiered storage to reduce costs3. Use resource pools where necessary4. Use a separate database for VM updates5. For fiber attached servers – check with your vendors for

optimal settings6. For ISCSI attached servers – use jumbo frames7. For ISCSI attached servers – use a dedicated GigE network8. Use the built-in vCenter performance graphs or ESXtop

rather than relying on guest performance tools like perfmon

9. Use IOMeter to get baselines and monitor frequently10.Must-have VI client plugins (and they’re free!)

Top Ten List

Add-ons

Add-ons cont.

• Get Senior Management commitment to Virtualization

• ‘Virtualize first’ policy will make purchases easier• Still have to prove VM to vendors and developers• Not everything should share resources – some 1

to 1• Get clients to buy vm license with hardware

instead of multiple servers for test/dev and backup

• Virtualization is not free but it is freeing.

Lessons Learned

• ELA• More applications / services - Target of 80%• SRM

Next Steps

Questions?

HITS-NSPercy.Gouchie@nshealth.caGary.Stronach@nshealth.ca