majkablog

Computer networks - security

2008-03-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

DIPLOMA OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION) ICA50199

COMPUTER NETWORKS (SECURITY)

ICAITAD052B Design IT security framework
ICAITAD053B Design system security and controls
ICAITAD056B Prepare disaster recovery/contingency plans
ICAITS118B Manage system security
ICAITS124B Monitor and administer network security

ASSESSMENT TESTS
THEORY ASSESSMENT (SUMMATIVE)

Part 1 - mid session
(WEIGHTING ON THEORY ASSESSMENT 0.3)

15 MINUTES READING TIME
ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ATTEMPTED
TIME LIMIT 3 HOURS (OPEN BOOK)

THEORY ASSESSMENT (SUMMATIVE) 1
Part 1 - mid session 1
(WEIGHTING ON THEORY ASSESSMENT 0.3) 1
15 MINUTES READING TIME 1
ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ATTEMPTED 1
TIME LIMIT 3 HOURS (OPEN BOOK) 1
Question 1a (Eave Dropping) 3
Question1b Eave Dropping 3
Question 2 Encryption Systems 3
Question 3 on Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 3
Question 4 on Hashing Algorithms 4
Question 5 on an Example of a Symmetric Cryptosystem 4
Question 6 on an Example of an Asymmetric Cryptosystem 5
Question 7 on Authentication 5
Question 8 on Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) and Digital Signature Standard (DSS) 5
Question 9 on the Public Key Calculation of Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) 5
Question 10 on factors in choosing the Cryptosystems for your Security System 5
Question 11 on the trustworthiness of Certificates as part of the security control system 6
Question 12 on using the tools in a security control system 6
THEORY ASSESSMENT (SUMMATIVE) 7
Part 2 – final 7
(WEIGHTING ON THEORY ASSESSMENT 0.3) 7
15 MINUTES READING TIME 7
ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ATTEMPTED 7
TIME LIMIT 3 HOURS (OPEN BOOK) 7
Question 1 on Threat Modeling 8
Question 2 on Defense in Depth 8
Question 3 on ‘Defense in Depth’ Models 8
Question 4 on Host Intrusion Detection Systems 8
Question 5 on Network Intrusion Detection Systems 8
Question 6 on Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) 8
Question 7 on Firewall Architectures 9
Question 8 on Firewall Products 9
Question 9 on Building Firewalls 9
Question 10 on Securing the Accounts 9
Question 11 on Security Problem with Disk Formats 10
Question 12 on Recommendation following Security Risk Assessment 10
Question 13 on Privacy Issues in Designing the Security Plan 14
Question 14 on Purpose and Scope for a Disaster Recovery and Contingency Plan 14
Question 15 on the goals for a Contingency Plan 14
Question 16 on Business Disaster Planning Project 14
Question on Operational Risk 15
Question 17 on Standards for Designing a Security Management System 15
Question 18 on AS/NZS BS 7799 15
THEORY ASSESSMENT (SUMMATIVE) 16
part 3 – Assignment 16
(WEIGHTING ON THEORY ASSESSMENT 0.4) 16
Assignment on Blind SQL Injection 16

Question 1a (Eave Dropping)

Describe eavesdropping and countermeasures against eavesdroppers.

Question1b Eave Dropping
An area that eaves droppers are exploiting is the use of light as a medium to breach security systems. Briefly discuss countermeasures against the new technique.

Question 2 Encryption Systems
Most computer encryption systems belong in one of two categories:
• Symmetric-key encryption
• Public-key encryption
Discuss these two categories

Question 3 on Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Discuss the background to SSL and its role in transmission of sensitive data.

Question 4 on Hashing Algorithms

1. Discuss the role of hashing in data encryption
2. Calculate the number of possible combinations of a 40 bit and a 128 bit hash value.

Question 5 on an Example of a Symmetric Cryptosystem

Discuss an example of Symmetric Cryptosystem for security management

Note: The meaning of XOR, EOR or Exclusive OR - A Boolean operator that returns a value of TRUE only if both its operands have different values. Contrast with the inclusive OR operator, which returns a value of TRUE if either of its operands is TRUE. Whereas an inclusive OR can be translated "this, that, or both," an exclusive OR means "this or that, but not both." reference @http://mathworld.wolfram.com/XOR.html
The binary XOR operator has the following truth table.

A B

T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F

Question 6 on an Example of an Asymmetric Cryptosystem

Discuss an example of an Asymmetric Cryptosystem for security management

Question 7 on Authentication

Describe the nature of authentication and its relation to system security.

Question 8 on Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) and Digital Signature Standard (DSS)

Describe the nature of Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) and Digital Signature Standard (DSS)

Question 9 on the Public Key Calculation of Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)

The private key in DSA is a number X. is known only to the signer, how are the four numbers of the public key derived?

Question 10 on factors in choosing the Cryptosystems for your Security System

What are the factors that you will need to consider in choosing the Cryptosystems for your Security System?

Question 11 on the trustworthiness of Certificates as part of the security control system

Discuss the trustworthiness of Certificates in its use as part of the security control system.

Question 12 on using the tools in a security control system

Discuss the use of the three tools: symmetric cryptography, asymmetric cryptography, and digital signatures in the design of a security control system

DIPLOMA OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION) ICA50199

COMPUTER NETWORKS (SECURITY)

ICAITAD052B Design IT security framework
ICAITAD053B Design system security and controls
ICAITAD056B Prepare disaster recovery/contingency plans
ICAITS118B Manage system security
ICAITS124B Monitor and administer network security

THEORY ASSESSMENT (SUMMATIVE)
Part 2 – final
(WEIGHTING ON THEORY ASSESSMENT 0.3)

15 MINUTES READING TIME
ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ATTEMPTED
TIME LIMIT 3 HOURS (OPEN BOOK)

Question 1 on Threat Modeling

List steps to model and respond to threats to your business computer system.

Question 2 on Defense in Depth

List a 7 layer Defense in Depth Model that you use to examine your system to design your security framework. Give countermeasure systems of each layer.

Question 3 on ‘Defense in Depth’ Models
In designing your security defense for the system, you can have different layers, list the layers in a 2, 5, 8 layer model.

Question 4 on Host Intrusion Detection Systems

Most organizations build a layered defense that combines NIDS with Host Intrusion Detection Systems (HIDS). A HIDS monitors on what's happening on its computing platform, detecting and alerting you to signs of attack like overwriting or deletion of system files, suspicious processes, and unusual user activity. What type of vendor products have you come across in your information gathering of current security products?

Question 5 on Network Intrusion Detection Systems
Describe what a network intrusion detection system is. Comment on its role and fit in a security defense system.

Question 6 on Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)
Describe the nature of “IPSec”. Comment on its role and fit in a security defense system.

Question 7 on Firewall Architectures
In designing your firewall, there are a number of architectures that are in use. The following list is some of them:
• Screening Router
• Dual-homed Host
• Screened Host
• Screened Subnet
Draw up these firewall architectures.

Question 8 on Firewall Products
For you to specify the firewall in your security design, you need to investigate firewall products. You may come across products used in the current system that are redundant. The following is a sample list of firewall products used in both small and large systems:

• Cisco Centri
• ConSeal
• EMD Armor
• Check Point FireWall-1
• CyberwallPLUS
• SATAN
Briefly give a summary of one of them.

Question 9 on Building Firewalls
What are the considerations when building your firewall?

Question 10 on Securing the Accounts
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 has a number of built-in user accounts that you cannot delete but can rename. Two of the most well known built-in accounts in Windows Server 2003 are the Guest and Administrator accounts. There is vulnerability with these accounts.
The Guest account is disabled by default on member servers and domain controllers. Do not change this setting. Rename the built-in Administrator account and alter the description to prevent attackers from compromising a remote server using a well-known name.
Many variations of malicious code use the built-in administrator account in an initial attempt to compromise a server. The value of this configuration change has diminished over the past few years since the release of attack tools that attempt to break into the server by specifying the security identifier (SID) of the built-in Administrator account. A SID is the value that uniquely identifies each user, group, computer account, and logon session on a network. It is not possible to change the SID of this built-in account.
Use a countermeasure to tackle this vulnerability.

Question 11 on Security Problem with Disk Formats
The NTFS setting partitions support Access Control Lists (ACLs) and, optionally, encryption - via the Encrypting File System (EFS) - at the file and folder levels. This support is not available with the file allocation table (FAT), FAT32, or FAT32x file systems. FAT32 is a version of the FAT file system updated to permit significantly smaller default cluster sizes and support hard disks of up to two terabytes in size. FAT32 is included in Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP. The vulnerability is that files you cannot protect with ACLs can be easily viewed, changed or deleted by unauthorized users who can access them locally or over the network. ACLs help to protect these files, but encryption provides much more protection and is a viable option for files that only need to be accessible to a single user. What is the countermeasure to overcome this vulnerability?

Question 12 on Recommendation following Security Risk Assessment
An effective risk management process is an important component of a successful IT security program. The main goal of a security plan is to ensure the following areas are properly controlled:
• Confidentiality of information
• Data (or information) integrity
• Availability of information
The Assessment below is the first step into getting to know the type of information handled by your department and the type of security needed to protect these IT assets as they relate to confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Indicators: Probability (or the likelihood of an occurrence) and Impact (or the effect of an occurrence) will relate to security recommendations for your systems.
Confidentiality risk refers to the impact of unauthorized access to information assets, such as client information, passwords, computer hardware, research data, financial data and marketing and product data.

Security Rating Grid concerning the following factors: Probability; Impact; Security Level

(Probability + Impact = Security Level) ------------------------------- Equation (a)

1. Risk to Confidentiality of Information

If you store sensitive information, sensitive research data, or other confidential information, first of all, you need to know the probability or likelihood that it will be compromised and, secondly, if compromised, what is its impact.
You can rate these two factors as:
Probability
High
Medium
Low

Impact
High
Medium
Low
Using Equation (a), the security level rating can be any of the following:
High + High = High level security
High + Medium = High level security
High + Low = Medium level security
Medium + High=High level security
Medium + Medium = Medium security
Medium +Low = Medium level security
Low + High = Medium level security
Low + Medium = Medium security
Low + Low = Low level security

2. Risk to Data (or information) integrity

Data integrity risk addresses the impact if inaccurate data is used to make inappropriate business or management decisions. The risk also addresses the impact if customer information such as account balances were incorrect or if inaccurate data is used in research or sent to a sponsoring agency. The release of inaccurate data to customers, regulators, shareholders and the public could lead to a loss of business, possible legal action or public embarrassment.
You can rate the Probability and Impact factors as:
Probability
High
Medium
Low

Impact
High
Medium
Low

Using Equation (a), the security level rating can be either of the following:
High + High = High level security
High + Medium = High level security
High + Low = Medium level security
Medium + High=High level security
Medium + Medium = Medium security
Medium +Low = Medium level security
Low + High = Medium level security
Low + Medium = Medium security
Low + Low = Low level security

3. Risk to making information available

Availability or business disruption risk considers the impact if the function or activity was rendered inoperative due to a system failure, or a disaster situation. If you are highly dependent upon access to your data (5x8 or 24x7) you need to estimate the probability of loss of access during those time slots.
Additionally, if you suffer from a loss of access for say, greater than 4 hours, you need to consider the impact on your business.

You can rate the Probability and Impact factors as:
Probability
High
Medium
Low

Impact
High
Medium
Low

High + High = High level security
High + Medium = High level security
High + Low = Medium level security
Medium + High = High level security
Medium + Medium = Medium security
Medium + Low = Medium level security
Low + High = Medium level security
Low + Medium = Medium security
Low + Low = Low level security

For the three factors:
1. Confidentiality of information
2. Data (or information) integrity
3. Availability of information

What will your recommendation be if the rating is
(1) low
(2) medium
(3) high ?

Question 13 on Privacy Issues in Designing the Security Plan

Discuss issues on privacy legislation in designing your security plan.

Question 14 on Purpose and Scope for a Disaster Recovery and Contingency Plan

Discuss the purpose and scope for a disaster recovery and contingency plan as part of your security plan.

Question 15 on the goals for a Contingency Plan

Discuss the goals of a contingency plan.

Question 16 on Business Disaster Planning Project

Describe and discuss the phases in a Disaster Recovery Planning Project.

Question on Operational Risk

Discuss the role of security in terms of business operation risk.

Question 17 on Standards for Designing a Security Management System

List the Australian Standards that organizations can use for designing its Security Management and Control Plan. Give a brief description for each standard.
Question 18 on AS/NZS BS 7799

For the security standard “AS/NZS BS 7799”, list the areas in security that it covers.

DIPLOMA OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION) ICA50199

COMPUTER NETWORKS (SECURITY)

ICAITAD052B Design IT security framework
ICAITAD053B Design system security and controls
ICAITAD056B Prepare disaster recovery/contingency plans
ICAITS118B Manage system security
ICAITS124B Monitor and administer network security

THEORY ASSESSMENT (SUMMATIVE)
part 3 – Assignment
(WEIGHTING ON THEORY ASSESSMENT 0.4)

This is a take home test which must be completed within 2 Weeks.

NOTE:
No collaboration is permitted on the take-home assignment. It is a completely individual assignment.
You may discuss the problem set material with others. You must, however, write up your solutions independently.
If you do collaborate, acknowledge your collaborators in the write-up. If you obtain a solution with help (e.g., through library work or a friend), acknowledge your source and write up the solutions on your own. In most of your solutions, we will expect to see citations.
You may use any reference material to complete your homework assignments, including material on the Internet. You must remove any possibility of someone else's work from being misconstrued as yours.
Assignment on Blind SQL Injection

Investigate and describe the nature of Blind SQL Injection, describe a method that you can use to test if your system is vulnerable and what countermeasures that you can take.

Capacity Planning Discipline for data center decisions

2007-12-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

Capacity Planning DISCIPLINE FOR DATA CENTER DECISIONS
Introduction
1 Introduction
Both server capacity planning and network capacity planning are important disciplines for managing the efficiency of any data center. The focus of this e-Book is on server capacity planning.
Traditionally, server capacity planning is defined as the process by which an IT department determines the amount of server hardware resources required to provide the desired levels of service for a given workload mix for the least cost. The capacity planning discipline grew up in the mainframe environment where resources were costly and it took a considerable amount of time to upgrade. As the data center transitioned to a distributed environment using UNIX, Linux, and Windows servers, over-provisioning and the introduction of cheap new boxes served as a replacement for capacity planning. However, as the distributed data center matures we have found these practices to be less than optimal.
The average utilization on many servers in the distributed data center is way below acceptable maximums, wasting costly resources. Further, as the economy evolves, IT is expected to do its share to become more efficient, both in terms of hardware and human resources. And finally, IT is now becoming an accepted partner in the organization’s drive to grow revenue while increasing profits and remaining competitive for the long term. All of these factors require more mature IT processes, including the use of capacity planning, a core discipline every company should adopt.

There are a number of types of capacity planning including the following:
1. Capacity benchmarking
2. Capacity trending
3. Capacity modeling
Benchmarking, or load testing, is perhaps the most common, but also the most expensive. The idea is, you set up a configuration and then throw traffic at it to see how it performs. To do this right, you need access to a fully-configured version of the target system, which oftentimes makes benchmarking or load testing impractical, to say the least.
Linear trend analysis and statistical approaches to trending can provide quick and dirty ways to predict when you will need to do something about performance, but they don’t tell you what you should do to optimally respond. Trending does not provide a way to evaluate alternative solutions to an impending problem, nor to understand problems unrelated to trending, e.g. server consolidation or adding an application.
That leaves modeling, which comes in a couple flavors: simulation and analytic modeling. Simulation modeling can be very versatile and accurate, but requires a great deal of set up effort and time. Analytic modeling is fast and is potentially very accurate as well. The beauty of modeling is that you can “test” various proposed solutions to a problem without actually implementing them. This can save a lot of time and money.
This eBook explores the modeling approach to capacity planning. However, regardless of the toolset you use, if any, the key is to adopt mature IT processes, including the strategic use of capacity planning.
This eBook is organized into a series of chapters, with Chapter 2 following this introduction:
2. The Value of Capacity Planning
The second chapter is excerpted from a paper1 written by Enterprise Management Associates, an analyst organization focused on the management software and services market. It explains the benefits of capacity planning.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 1-1 Introduction
3. Capacity Planning Processes
In this chapter we discuss capacity planning in context with other generally accepted IT processes, specifically using the ITIL model.
4. How to Do Capacity Planning
This section illustrates a methodology for capacity planning with examples using the TeamQuest product line.
5. Using Capacity Planning for Server Consolidation
Server consolidation is a popular capacity planning technique for making IT operations more efficient. This chapter explains server consolidation and provides two real-world examples where capacity planning tools were used in consolidation projects.
6. Capacity Planning and Service Level Management
This chapter discusses key aspects of service level management and the relationship between service level management and capacity planning.
7. Product Focus: TeamQuest Model
We conclude with another excerpt from EMA’s paper1 that highlights TeamQuest’s capacity planning solution, TeamQuest Model.
8. Bibliography
This eBook includes material from several resources listed here.
Whether you are learning about capacity planning for the first time, or you are an old hand looking for some new points of view on the subject, we hope this eBook will prove useful to you.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 1-2 The Value of Capacity Planning
2 The Value of Capacity Planning
Introduction
The boom-and-bust economy of the past five years has had an unprecedented effect on IT organizations. In the late 1990s and 2000, IT infrastructures grew at a frantic rate, creating a level of capacity and staffing that had never been seen before. Yet, with the economic tailspin of the subsequent three years, most corporations are now seeking new ways to leverage IT to improve business efficiency and automation—while severely restricting IT’s budgets for personnel, training, bandwidth, and equipment.
This roller coaster of supply and demand has left many IT managers looking for new, better ways to manage their resources. While previous IT strategies focused primarily on managing growth, today’s IT organizations now are seeking methods to expand the number of applications and services available to support the business while cutting costs at the same time. In the current economy IT is increasingly being asked to do more with less.
From a server perspective, the rise and fall of IT has instigated several shifts in resource management. First, most IT organizations are looking to make better use of existing assets by consolidating underutilized server resources and re-purposing capacity that was purchased during the boom years, but has now been freed up by down-sizing and/or reorganization of corporate business units. In a recent EMA survey, “reclaiming and/or re-purposing hardware and software that is underutilized” was cited as a top priority by 57% of IT executives responding.
Second, IT organizations are re-thinking their previous “brute force” approach to provisioning server capacity. During the boom years, when growth was the top priority, many IT organizations responded to performance problems simply by purchasing additional servers to handle the load. Today, when every IT dollar is critical, this “over-provisioning” approach is viewed as wasteful and inefficient, particularly since downsizing, not growth, is the order of the day. In difficult economic times, IT organizations must be able to measure server utilization in sharp detail, and make the best possible use of every processor cycle.
Lastly, many IT organizations have grown weary of traditional server-by-server resource management efforts and are now evaluating next-generation technologies that would enable servers to pool and dynamically allocate their capacity to fit the specific needs of applications and services. This dynamic allocation of capacity, sometimes called “virtualization,” enables applications to draw capacity as needed from a collective infrastructure, rather than relying on dedicated servers. This virtualization technology could eventually pave the way for a new paradigm known as “utility computing,” in which users and/or applications draw only the capacity they need from a common infrastructure, just as homes or businesses draw only the water or electricity they need each month from their local utility.
How can enterprises re-purpose underutilized capacity, implement structured methods for provisioning servers, and prepare their IT environments for the coming wave of virtualization? The answer to all three questions is the same: capacity planning. By using capacity planning tools and processes, enterprises can measure server utilization trends, analyze future capacity needs, and predict the exact server requirement for a given application, service, or general time period. Some capacity planning toolsets also offer the ability to model the server environment, testing a variety of “what if” scenarios against proposed server configurations to determine the most efficient use of capacity and server resources. In the following section, we examine the capabilities of capacity planning and modeling tools, and evaluate the value that they can deliver to the enterprise.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 2-1 The Value of Capacity Planning
The Value Proposition for Capacity Planning
In a difficult economy that has imposed severe restrictions on IT budgets, it may seem counterintuitive to invest in new technology as a means of cost control. Yet, in the case of capacity planning technology, a relatively small investment in software can lead to a very large savings in server hardware and associated costs. While there may be some costs associated with deploying capacity planning tools and processes, the value of that investment is typically extremely high.
How is that value achieved? One way is through the reduction—or, in some cases, complete elimination— of server over-provisioning. Capacity planning tools enable IT organizations to benchmark the exact workload that a server handles over time, then project trends in traffic that the server might need to handle in the future. This data, in turn, enables the IT organization to determine the exact server requirements for a particular situation, ensuring that the server environment will have enough capacity at all times. This process contrasts sharply with the “estimated” capacity allocation method in which the IT organization simply guesses at the capacity requirement, then overbuys servers to ensure that there will always be sufficient processor power. In many cases, capacity planning may enable the enterprise to slash its server acquisition budget significantly.
The flip side of this server utilization data is that it helps enterprises to identify underutilized servers and capacity so that they can be consolidated or re-purposed for other applications and services. Capacity planning tools help organizations to identify server resources that might be idle, enabling IT departments to consolidate several applications or services on a single server, or reallocate server processor power to other services that may need the capacity. This is an essential capability in today’s IT organization, where capacity purchased during the “boom years” may be sitting idly while budgets for new server capacity have often been slashed to the bone.
Capacity planning can also help preserve another crucial enterprise resource: IT staffing. Over the course of a server’s life, most enterprises spend more money on maintenance, configuration, and upgrade of servers than they spent to purchase the server in the first place. For every underutilized server, there is a group of IT staff who have been tasked with installing, configuring, and maintaining that server. If server resources can be used more efficiently—either by eliminating servers or by enabling a single server to handle multiple applications—then the cost of IT staffing drops proportionately.
A related benefit of capacity planning is the reduction of server downtime. Under the “estimated” method of capacity allocation, enterprises typically purchase more servers than they need, then simply re-provision their servers when there is a capacity overload. As a result, most IT operations centers are tasked with maintaining and repairing more servers than they can use, yet they still experience outages or system performance problems when an overload forces the addition or hot-swapping of a new server in the environment. By contrast, enterprises that use capacity planning tools generally can anticipate overloads before they occur, thus reducing or eliminating workload-related outages while enabling the IT operations center to reduce the number of servers it must maintain.
Capacity planning can also improve the overall performance and availability of the server environment. While experienced IT staffers may be able to make an educated guess as to their capacity needs at any given time, such guesses are fallible and may not take all contingencies into account. As a result, many IT organizations that do not use capacity planning tools occasionally find their servers oversubscribed, delivering slow response times or timeouts that may slow business

Key Capacity Planning
Value Points
• Reduce or eliminate server over-provisioning
• Identify and repurpose underutilized servers
• Reduce IT operational expenditures
• Reduce server downtime
• Improve server performance and availability
• Improve IT budget accuracy
• Leverage future technologies

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 2-2 The Value of Capacity Planning

processes or cause customer dissatisfaction. With capacity planning tools, however, the enterprise can track trends—or, in some cases, model new applications or services—to anticipate potential performance and availability problems and eliminate them before they occur.
Capacity planning tools can also help deliver another key benefit in the current economy—budget predictability. During the boom years, enterprises could afford to provision their servers on the fly, over-provisioning new services at the outset and then purchasing new capacity when existing servers were oversubscribed. Under today’s tight budgets, however, the ability to predict future server needs is crucial to making intelligent buying decisions. Capacity planning enables the enterprise to develop an educated server purchasing strategy, and helps to reduce the need for “panic purchasing” situations that a server vendor might exploit to charge premium prices for its equipment.
Finally, capacity planning technology is an essential element in the emerging paradigms of system virtualization and utility computing. In order to create an effective pool of capacity to support all necessary applications and services, enterprises must have a way to track utilization and predict future capacity needs. This process of analyzing and projecting capacity requirements will become even more complex when enterprises begin to employ computing “grids” that are designed to support the broad diversity of applications and services used in the enterprise. In the utility computing model, capacity planning will become as important to the enterprise IT organizations as it is to power, telephone, or water utilities today.
The next chapter places capacity planning in the overall context of IT processes.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 2-3 Capacity Planning Processes
3 Capacity Planning Processes
The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)2 describes a standard set of established processes by which an IT organization can achieve operational efficiencies and thereby deliver enhanced value to an organization. ITIL is most commonly used in Europe, originally having been created for the U.K. government. Because it provides a useful best-practice framework that can be put to use relatively inexpensively, ITIL is growing in popularity as a means to manage IT services within both commercial and governmental organizations.
As shown in the following diagram, Capacity Management is part of the Service Delivery area of ITIL. Capacity Planning is part of the ITIL Capacity Management process.
Figure 3-1 ITIL Service Delivery Processes
Further, ITIL defines three sub-processes in the Capacity Management process:
Business Capacity Management: This sub-process is responsible for ensuring that the future business requirements for IT Services are considered, planned and implemented in a timely fashion.
Service Capacity Management: The focus of this sub-process is management of the performance of live, operational IT Services.
Resource Capacity Management: The focus in this sub-process is the management of the individual components of the IT infrastructure.
The types of capacity planning that we will cover in this eBook focus on the last two sub-processes, service and resource capacity management. Specifically, when we build a single system model, we are usually performing aspects of resource capacity management rather than service capacity management. This is because services typically span multiple systems. When we combine models from multiple systems, then we are performing aspects of service capacity management.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 3-1 Capacity Planning Processes

The capacity planning function within capacity management interfaces with many other processes as indicated in the following diagram:
Figure 3-2 Workloads and Service
As you can see, service level management is where all good IT processes begin, since this is the crux of the problem. At a minimum, service level management provides service definitions, service level targets, business priorities, and growth plans. Within given architectural constraints, capacity planning determines the cheapest optimal hardware and software configuration that will achieve required service levels, both now and in the future. Capacity planning then feeds configuration and asset management to make this all a reality so that service delivery can begin. On another process branch, performance management verifies capacity plans and service levels and provides revised input into capacity planning when necessary.
The next chapter provides a high-level approach capacity planning best practices.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 3-2 How to Do Capacity Planning
4 How to Do Capacity Planning3
It is very common for an IT organization to manage system performance in a reactionary fashion, analyzing and correcting performance problems as users report them. When problems occur, hopefully system administrators have tools necessary to quickly analyze and remedy the situation. In a perfect world, administrators prepare in advance in order to avoid performance bottlenecks altogether, using capacity planning tools to predict in advance how servers should be configured to adequately handle future workloads.
The goal of capacity planning is to provide satisfactory service levels to users in a cost-effective manner. This chapter describes the fundamental steps for performing capacity planning. Real life examples are provided using TeamQuest® Performance Software.
Three Steps for Capacity Planning
In this chapter we will illustrate three basic steps for capacity planning:
1. Determine Service Level Requirements
The first step in the capacity planning process is to categorize the work done by systems and to quantify users’ expectations for how that work gets done.
2. Analyze Current Capacity
Next, the current capacity of systems must be analyzed to determine how they are meeting the needs of the users.
3. Planning for the Future
Finally, using forecasts of future business activity, future system requirements are determined. Implementing the required changes in system configuration will ensure that sufficient capacity will be available to maintain service levels, even as circumstances change in the future.
Determine Service Level Requirements
We have organized this section as follows:
a. The overall process of establishing service level requirements first demands an understanding of workloads. We will explain how you can view system performance in business terms rather than technical ones, using workloads.
b. Next, we begin an example, showing workloads on a system running a back-end Oracle database.
c. Before setting service levels, you need to determine what unit you will use to measure the incoming work.
d. Finally, you establish service level requirements, the promised level of performance that will be provided by the IT organization.
Workloads Explained
From a capacity planning perspective, a computer system processes workloads (which supply the demand) and delivers service to users. During the first step in the capacity planning process, these workloads must be identified and a definition of satisfactory service must be created.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 4-1 How to Do Capacity Planning

A workload is a logical classification of work performed on a computer system. If you consider all the work performed on your systems as a pie, a workload can be thought of as some piece of that pie. Workloads can be classified by a wide variety of criteria:
who is doing the work (particular user or department)
what type of work is being done (order entry, financial reporting)
how the work is being done (online inquiries, batch database backups)
It is useful to analyze the work done on systems in terms that make sense from a business perspective, using business-relevant workload definitions. For example, if you analyze performance based on workloads corresponding to business departments, then you can establish service level requirements for each of those departments.
Business-relevant workloads are also useful when it comes time to plan for the future. It is much easier to project future work when it is expressed in terms that make business sense. For example, it is much easier to separately predict the future demands of the human resources department and the accounts payable department on a consolidated server than it is to predict the overall increase in transactions for that server.
An Example Using Workloads
The TeamQuest View chart below shows 24 hours (cropped to fit the page) of CPU utilization on an IBM F50 PowerPC system. The chart is useful, but it provides a bird’s eye view of performance, at best.
Figure 4-2 CPU Utilization
In Figure 4-3, below, the “Process Table” chart of TeamQuest View reveals that during the same 24 hour period, 10,642 individual processes ran on this system. All of the utilization information for all of those processes was displayed together in our CPU utilization chart. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could show a similar chart, but display utilization based on the major functions being performed on this

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system? Using TeamQuest Performance Software, we can do just that, by going through a process called workload characterization.
Figure 4-3 Process Table
We will leave the detailed instructions for performing workload characterization to another eBook, or you can refer to the TeamQuest Performance Software documentation. In a nutshell, workload characterization requires you to tell TeamQuest Performance Framework how to determine what resource utilization goes with which workload. This is done on a per process level, using selection criteria to tell the TeamQuest Performance Framework how to determine which processes belong to which workloads.
Figure 4-4, below, shows a list of workloads that have been characterized so that the work of each of the 10,642 processes is attributed to one of seven workloads. These workloads are defined according to the type of work being done on the system.
Figure 4-4 Workload Definitions

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If you look carefully you will see six explicitly defined workloads in Figure 4-4, but we said there were seven. The reason is that there is always an “OTHER” workload in addition to the explicitly defined workloads. Any resource utilization that does not match the characterization for any of the explicitly defined workloads becomes associated with “OTHER.” This ensures that no performance data “falls through the cracks” simply because it didn’t match any of the defined workloads.
In Figure 4-5, below, “pink” bars show utilization that did not match the characterization criteria for any of our define workloads. There is little or no pink in the chart, demonstrating that we have done a good job of explicitly characterizing most of the work done on this server.
Figure 4-5 CPU Utilization by Workload
All we did was define some workloads based on the type of work being performed on this server, but notice how much more useful the information is that is provided in our new chart. Workloads can be very powerful.
Determine the Unit of Work
For capacity planning purposes it is useful to associate a unit of work with a workload. This is a measurable quantity of work done, as opposed to the amount of system resources required to accomplish that work.
To understand the difference, consider measuring the work done at a fast food restaurant. When deciding on the unit of work, you might consider counting the number of customers served, the weight of the food served, the number of sandwiches served, or the money taken in for the food served. This is as opposed to the resources used to accomplish the work, i.e. the amount of French fries, raw hamburgers or pickle slices used to produce the food served to customers.
When talking about IT performance, instead of French fries, raw hamburger or pickle slices, we accomplish work using resources such as disk, I/O channels, CPUs and network connections. Measuring the utilization of these resources is important for capacity planning, but not relevant for determining the amount of work done or the unit of work. Instead, for an online workload, the unit of work may be a transaction. For an interactive or batch workload, the unit of work may be a process.
The examples given in this chapter use a server running an appointment scheduling application process, so it seems logical to use a “calendar request” as the unit of work. A calendar request results in an instance of an appointment process being executed.

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Establish Service Levels
The next step now is to establish a service level agreement. A service level agreement is an agreement between the service provider and service consumer that defines acceptable service. The service level agreement is often defined from the user's perspective, typically in terms of response time or throughput. Using workloads often aids in the process of developing service level agreements, because workloads can be used to measure system performance in ways that makes sense to clients/users.
In the case of our appointment scheduling application, we might establish service level requirements regarding the number of requests that should be processed within a given period of time, or we might require that each request be processed within a certain time limit. These possibilities are analogous to a fast food restaurant requiring that a certain number of customers should be serviced per hour during the lunch rush, or that each customer should have to wait no longer than three minutes to have his or her order filled.
Ideally, service level requirements are ultimately determined by business requirements. Frequently, however, they are based on past experience. It’s better to set service level requirements to ensure that you will accomplish your business objectives, but not surprisingly people frequently resort to setting service level requirements like, “provide a response time at least as good as is currently experienced, even after we ramp up our business.” As long as you know how much the business will “ramp up,” this sort of service level requirement can work.
If you want to base your service level requirements on present actual service levels, then you may want to analyze your current capacity before setting your service levels.
Analyze Current Capacity
There are several steps that should be performed during the analysis of capacity measurement data.
a. First, compare the measurements of any items referenced in service level agreements with their objectives. This provides the basic indication of whether the system has adequate capacity.
b. Next, check the usage of the various resources of the system (CPU, memory, and I/O devices). This analysis identifies highly used resources that may prove problematic now or in the future.
c. Look at the resource utilization for each workload. Ascertain which workloads are the major users of each resource. This helps narrow your attention to only the workloads that are making the greatest demands on system resources.
d. Determine where each workload is spending its time by analyzing the components of response time, allowing you to determine which system resources are responsible for the greatest portion of the response time for each workload.
Measure Service Levels and Compare to Objectives
TeamQuest Model is a tool that can help us check measured service levels against objectives. For example, after building a model of our example system for a three-hour window, 7:00 AM – 10:00 AM, the display below (Figure 4-6) shows the response time and throughput of the seven workloads that were active during this time.
By looking at the top line of the table, you can tell that the model has been successfully calibrated for our example system, because the total Measured AR% and Modeled AR% are equal. “AR” stands for “Active Resource.” An active resource is a resource that is made 100% available once it has been allocated to a waiting process. In this case, the active resource is CPU.

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Figure 4-6 Response Time and Throughput
Because no changes have been made in the system configuration, modeled response time and throughput for each workload should closely match reality. In our example, the response time means the amount of time required to process a unit of work, which in the case of our application, is an appointment request process. So this report provides us with an appointment request average response time for each of our workloads that we could compare with desired service levels.
Measure Overall Resource Usage
It is also important to take a look at each resource within your systems to see if any of them are saturated. If you find a resource that is running at 100% utilization, then any workloads using that resource are likely to have poor response time. If your goal is throughput rather than response time, utilization is still very important. If you have two disk controllers, for example, and one is 50% utilized and the other is swamped, then you have an opportunity to improve throughput by spreading the work more evenly between the controllers.
Figure 4-7 Overall Resource Usage
The table above (Figure 4-7) shows the various resources comprising our example server. The table shows the overall utilization for each resource. Utilization for the four CPUs are shown together treated as one resource, otherwise each resource is shown separately.

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Notice that CPU utilization is about 64% over this period of time (7:00 AM – 10:00 AM on January 02). This corresponds with the burst of CPU utilization that was shown earlier in Figures 4-2 and 4-5.
No resource in the report seems to be saturated at this point, though hdisk2 is getting a lot more of the I/O than either hdisk0 or hdisk1. This might be worthy of attention; future increases in workloads might make evening out the disparity in disk usage worthwhile.
Measure Resource Usage by Workload
Figure 4-8, shows the same period again, only now resource utilization is displayed for the APPOINTMENTS workload. Note that this particular workload is using 59% of the CPU resource, nearly all of the 64% utilization that the previous table showed as the total utilization by all workloads. Clearly, the APPOINTMENTS workload is where a capacity planner would want to focus his or her attention, unless it is known that future business needs will increase the amount of work to be done by other workloads on this system. In our example, that is not the case. Ramp-ups in work are expected mainly for the APPOINTMENTS workload.
Figure 4-8 Resource Utilization by Workload
The previous charts and tables have been useful for determining that CPU Utilization is likely to be a determining factor if the amount of work that our system is expected to perform increases in the future. Furthermore, we were able to tell that the APPOINTMENTS workload is the primary user of the CPU resources on this system.
This same sort of analysis can work no matter how you choose to set up your workloads. In our example, we chose to treat appointment processes as a workload. Your needs may cause you to set up your workloads to correspond to different business activities, such as a Wholesale Lumber unit vs. Real Estate Development, thus allowing you to analyze performance based on the different requirements of your various business units.

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Identify Components of Response Time
Next we will show how to determine what system resources are responsible for the amount of time that is required to process a unit of work. The resources that are responsible for the greatest share of the response time are indicators for where you should concentrate your efforts to optimize performance. Using TeamQuest Model we can determine the components of response time on a workload by workload basis, and you can predict what the components will be after a ramp-up in business or a change in system configuration.
A components of response time analysis shows the average resource or component usage time for a unit of work. It shows the contribution of each component to the total time required to complete a unit of work.
00.050.10.150.20.250.3 Step: 1SecondsAll Other AR Queues Queue DelayAll Other AR Queues Service20-58-00(aixdemo) Queue Delay20-58-00(aixdemo) Servicehdisk0(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk0(aixdemo) Servicehdisk1(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk1(aixdemo) Servicehdisk2(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk2(aixdemo) ServiceCPU(aixdemo) Queue DelayCPU(aixdemo) Service
Figure 4-9 APPOINTMENTS Components of Response Time
Figure 4-9, above, shows the components of response time for the APPOINTMENTS workload. Note that CPU service time comprises the vast majority of the time required to process an appointment. Queuing delay, time spent waiting for a CPU, is responsible for the rest. I/O resources made only a negligible contribution to the total amount of time needed to process each user call.
The ASMAIN workload, shown in Figure 4-10, is more balanced. There is no single resource that is the obvious winner in the contest for the capacity planner’s attention (however, make note of the queue delay for hdisk2.)

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0123456789 Step: 1SecondsAll Other AR Queues Queue DelayAll Other AR Queues Service20-58-00(aixdemo) Queue Delay20-58-00(aixdemo) Servicehdisk0(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk0(aixdemo) Servicehdisk1(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk1(aixdemo) Servicehdisk2(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk2(aixdemo) ServiceCPU(aixdemo) Queue DelayCPU(aixdemo) Service
Figure 4-10 ASMAIN Components of Response Time
Plan for the Future
How do you make sure that a year from now your systems won’t be overwhelmed and your IT budget over-extended? Your best weapon is a capacity plan based on forecasted processing requirements. You need to know the expected amount of incoming work, by workload, then you can calculate the optimal system configuration for satisfying service levels.
Follow these steps:
a. First, you need to forecast what your organization will require of your IT systems in the future.
b. Once you know what to expect in terms of incoming work, you can use TeamQuest Model to determine the optimal system configuration for meeting service levels on into the future.
Determine Future Processing Requirements
Systems may be satisfying service levels now, but will they be able to do that while at the same time meeting future organizational needs?
Besides service level requirements, the other key input into the capacity planning process is a forecast or plan for the organization’s future. Capacity planning is really just a process for determining the optimal way to satisfy business requirements such as forecasted increases in the amount of work to be done, while at the same time meeting service level requirements.
Future processing requirements can come from a variety of sources. Input from management may include:
• Expected growth in the business
• Requirements for implementing new applications

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Additionally, future processing requirements may be identified from trends in historical measurements of incoming work such as orders or transactions.
Plan Future System Configuration
After system capacity requirements for the future are identified, a capacity plan should be developed to prepare for it. The first step in doing this is to create a model of the current configuration. From this starting point, the model can be modified to reflect the future capacity requirements. If the results of the model indicate that the current configuration does not provide sufficient capacity for the future requirements, then the model can be used to evaluate configuration alternatives to find the optimal way to provide sufficient capacity.
Figure 4-11 Setting Up TeamQuest Model
Our base model in Figure 4-11 was representative of 300 users generating appointment/calendar requests on our system. From there we have added “steps” in increments of 30 users until the incoming work has increased by one-half again as much. This ramp-up in work has been added only for the APPOINTMENTS workload, because no such increase was indicated for other workloads when we did our analysis of future processing requirements in the previous section.
TeamQuest Model will predict performance of the current system configuration for each of the steps we have set up. Figure 4-12 is a chart generated using TeamQuest Model showing the predicted response time for each workload.

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300390APPOINTMENTSASMAINBOURNEGPMSOTHERSTAFFSYSTEM02468101214161820APPOINTMENTSASMAINBOURNEGPMSOTHERSTAFFSYSTEMFigure 4-12 Predicted Response Time
As we can see, the response time starts to elongate after 390 users.
Figure 4-13 is a chart showing predicted response time using a stack bar chart that also shows the components of response time. Notice the substantial increase in CPU wait time after the number of uses reaches 360. It seems that the performance bottleneck is CPU resource.

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00.20.40.60.811.21.4300330360390420450SecondsAll Other AR Queues Queue DelayAll Other AR Queues Service20-58-00(aixdemo) Queue Delay20-58-00(aixdemo) Servicehdisk0(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk0(aixdemo) Servicehdisk1(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk1(aixdemo) Servicehdisk2(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk2(aixdemo) ServiceCPU(aixdemo) Queue DelayCPU(aixdemo) Service
Figure 4-13 Predicted Response Time
Figure 4-14 shows the same stack bar chart, but this time TeamQuest Model was told to predict performance if the system involved was changed to a p670 1100Mhz 4-CPU system. Clearly, the newer, faster architecture not only allows us substantial growth, but reduces our overall response time to a more realistic level and still allows us the headroom to experience additional growth if needed.

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00.20.40.60.811.21.4300320360390420450SecondsAll Other AR Queues Queue DelayAll Other AR Queues Service20-58-00(aixdemo) Queue Delay20-58-00(aixdemo) Servicehdisk0(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk0(aixdemo) Servicehdisk1(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk1(aixdemo) Servicehdisk2(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk2(aixdemo) ServiceCPU(aixdemo) Queue DelayCPU(aixdemo) Service
Figure 4-14 Predicted Response Time After Upgrade
Capacity Planning Process
In summary, we have shown these basic steps toward developing a capacity plan:
1. Determine service level requirements
a. Define workloads
b. Determine the unit of work
c. Identify service levels for each workload
2. Analyze current system capacity
a. Measure service levels and compare to objectives
b. Measure overall resource usage
c. Measure resource usage by workload
d. Identify components of response time
3. Plan for the future
a. Determine future processing requirements
b. Plan future system configuration
By following these steps, you can help to ensure that your organization will be prepared for the future, ensuring that service level requirements will be met using an optimal configuration. You will have the information necessary to purchase only what you need, avoiding over-provisioning while at the same time assuring adequate service.
The next chapter provides example applications of capacity planning for today’s data center issues.

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5 Using Capacity Planning for Server Consolidation4
With the right tools, you can locate underutilized capacity and move applications and subsystems to take advantage of that capacity, oftentimes delaying the purchase of additional servers. This is just one of many IT optimization strategies that falls under the definition of “server consolidation.”
This chapter explains server consolidation and provides two real-world examples where performance management and capacity planning tools were used in consolidation projects. These projects saved the organizations involved thousands of dollars in one case, and millions in another, mainly by helping them to use resources they already had on hand.
Server Consolidation Defined
Consolidation by definition is the act that brings together separate parts into a single whole. Typically, server consolidation refers to moving work or applications from multiple servers to a single server. Server consolidation is just one aspect of capacity planning.
Why, Oh Why?
There are many reasons to consolidate servers, but the underlying reason is ultimately, “To save money.” The goal is to lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) information technology and increase Return on Investment (ROI). By increasing ncy, IT departments can do more with less and make optimal use of what they already have. In a typical for efficie server consolidation effort, you can increase efficiency by: ments l space, hardware systems and software This a server consolidation was used to increase efficiency by: ing servers Whe ran on one or a few big boxes. This simplified ol means a hodge-podge of servers and techniques used to introduce management
• Reducing complexity
• Reducing staff require
• Increasing manageability
• Reducing costs for physica
• Increasing stability/availability
chpter will provide examples where
• Delaying new purchases
• Extending the life of exist
• Optimally utilizing existing servers
n mainframes ruled the earth, everything
management. Now even where there are mainframes in an organization there are frequently a great many distributed servers as well. Running many distributed boxes offers a great deal of flexibility, and when business departments “own” those boxes rather than IT departments, they get to have their own playground. Applications can be rolled out without going through a bureaucratic quagmire, and expensive mainframe expertise is not required. This flexibility allows for rapid deployment, but the cost is a management nightmare. Decentralized management and contr
manage them. Management is primarily reactive, oftentimes with data center managers being consulted only after disaster strikes, when problems are far out of hand. Because of this, it is not unusual for the IT department to provide the impetus to consolidate servers. Today there is a general trend toward server consolidation. The idea is to
where chaos previously ruled, reducing complexity and optimizing existing IT resources.

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Finding the Answers Can Be Difficult
Server consolidation sounds simple enough, but it is not. How much capacity is available on each server? What resources are underutilized? Is the CPU? What about memory?
What happens if work is moved in from another server? Will there be enough resources for both applications? Will I/O be a bottleneck after the move? What will response time be like?
Can more than one application be moved to that server? What are the overall effects of increasing the work on that server? Is there any space for future growth? How long will it be before business workloads increase to the point that the CPU or other resources are over-utilized?
These are all true concerns and legitimate questions when talking about server consolidation, and without the proper tools, finding answers can be difficult.
Predict the Future
The tool of choice for many server consolidation experts is TeamQuest Model. TeamQuest Model uses analytic modeling based on queuing theory to rapidly evaluate various hypothetical system configurations. It also predicts performance based on projected business growth. Most importantly for this chapter, it can predict how applications will perform after servers are consolidated.
With TeamQuest Model you can:
1. Measure work being done on each individual server.
2. Model effects of consolidating work from multiple servers onto a single server.
3. Quickly identify any performance bottlenecks that are likely to be caused by the additional work being done on the server.
4. Predict effects of future growth in your business using “what if” scenarios. What if the work grows by “X” percent over “X” amount of time?
5. Predict effect on performance of changing hardware configurations. What if another CPU is added? What if disk drives are added, or another controller? What if the make or model of server is changed?
The most important benefit of using TeamQuest Model is that you can see the effects of changes before any work or data are actually moved. You can then be more confident regarding the effects of the server consolidation before you make any purchases and before data or applications are moved.
Case Studies
Below are two examples of how server consolidation was used in different situations, saving both companies money. The examples are real, but we have changed the names to protect our customers’ interests. “Company A” used capacity planning and server consolidation to accomplish big cost savings in their disaster recovery/management plans. “Company B” discovered they could make do with existing capacity, and canceled an order for a large server.
Company A – Finding Underutilized Resources for Use as Disaster Backup
A disaster management consultant was hired for Company A. Company A had three locations, one in California, the second in New York, and the third in Kansas City. All three sites used a large SAN environment so that each site had access to the same data. There were a total of some 900 servers. The consultant was to come up with a disaster management plan that would be able to recover 200 of the most critical servers in case of a disaster. 100 of these mission critical servers were located in the

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California office, 50 in New York and 50 in Kansas City. In case of a disaster, the mission critical servers had to be recovered and operational within a 24-hour time period.
This consultant started looking at the workloads and utilizations of each server, and found that there was one business application per server. Upon interviewing system administrators (SA), the consultant learned that Company A had at one point tried running multiple applications per server. This resulted in unacceptably poor performance and the people responsible for the applications pointing fingers at each other.
The company thought they could resolve the problem quickly by putting each individual business application on its own server. This turned out to be a very difficult, time consuming and expensive task. To avoid having to separate applications again in the future, a company-wide policy was instituted requiring each business application be hosted on its own dedicated server.
Hndsight being 20-20, it would have been prudent to have TeamQuest i ® View installed onthe servers, helping to analyze performance bottlenecks. It might have been possible to eliminate problems with just a few carefully chosen changes or upgrades. Even better, TeamQuest Model could have been used to explore alternative configurations to meet capacity requirements.
Instead, the company chose what appeared to be the most expedient solution to their performance finger-pointing problem; they hosted just one application per server. This is not an uncommon solution, but it usually leads to inefficient use of IT resources.
Using TeamQuest View the disaster management consultant analyzed a few of the larger critical servers and found they were less than 3% to 6% utilized at any given time of the day or night. There were vast amounts of underutilized capacity that could potentially be used as backup in the event of a disaster.
The consultant then used TeamQuest Model to evaluate a potential 10-to-1 server consolidation. He modeled 10 of the mission critical servers from California, and moved the work to a mission critical server in Kansas City. The model showed that even with the consolidation of these servers, the server in Kansas City would be less than 71% utilized.
The consultant then did an analysis of the historical growth of the workloads on servers that resided in California for the preceding year. He used what-if analysis capabilities of TeamQuest Model to predict the utilization for the next 12 months based on the growth patterns of the previous year. This revealed that after the consolidation and the projected growth for the next 12 months, the server would still be less than 80% utilized.
The consultant convinced management to let him use the server in Kansas City as a backup site for the 10 mission critical servers. He mirrored the individual server from California to the one server in Kansas City, and found performance to be within a small percentage of what had been projected with TeamQuest Model.
The consultant is currently modeling the entire enterprise, including all three sites in the analysis. It is quite likely that no new computer resources will be required to provide disaster back-up, resulting in a very significant savings, a very pleasant surprise for upper management.

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Company B – Avoiding Unnecessary Expenditures
Company B was a small company with a System Administrator (SA) who was in charge of six servers within his department. One of those servers was leased, and the lease was expiring at the end of the month. The hardware vendor convinced Company B to order the newest, latest, greatest (and most expensive) server on the market. If the new server arrived as scheduled, service levels could be maintained, but the SA was concerned. What would he do if the new server did not arrive before the old leased equipment had to be returned?
The work being done on the leased server included an instance of Oracle and two custom applications. Could that processing be temporarily moved to any of the other five servers?
The SA used TeamQuest Model to analyze all six servers. He found that no single server would be able to take the entire load of the leased server, but he did find a way to distribute the load over two existing machines. He could move the Oracle instance to a machine that had another small instance of Oracle running on it. If he added two more CPUs to that server, there would be sufficient capacity for the next 12 months with the current growth patterns. He found another server that had enough capacity to host the custom applications without any modifications for the next 12 months.
With sufficient capacity to cover growth over the next 12 months, there was no need for the leased server or the replacement server that had been ordered. The SA quickly took these findings to his management, and the changes were successfully implemented over the next weekend. The order for the new server was cancelled, and the SA received a healthy bonus for saving the company a substantial amount of money.
Conclusion
These are just two examples of how using a good capacity planning tool to perform server consolidation can save money. Company B saved thousands of dollars, and Company A literally saved millions, dramatically demonstrating that performance management and capacity planning is best done with the proper tools. To do otherwise creates risk instead of minimizing it.
To make optimal use of your organization’s IT resources, you need to know exactly the amount of capacity you have available and how that capacity can be utilized to its fullest.
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6 Capacity Planning and Service Level Management
In this chapter we discuss service level management and its relationship to capacity planning.
We hear a lot about service level management today, but what do we really mean when by it? In the boxes below we show side-by-side definitions of service level management and capacity planning. The service level definition is from Sturm, et al, Foundations of Service Level Management.5
You can clearly see that these two critical IT processes really share common goals—provide adequate service for the least cost. So how do you really do this? You must employ an integrated approach to service level management and capacity planning, as this section describes. Stated slightly differently:
• Capacity planning requires a firm understanding of required service levels
• Service level management is successful when the necessary IT architecture and assets are available
• Operational processes should incorporate both capacity planning and SLM to maximize success
We will now examine two key aspects of service level management, setting service level agreements and maintaining service levels over time as things change.
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Many of the IT organizations we talk to do not have any type of SLA mechanism in place and this is a concern. How can you adequately provision a service if you do not have goals to shoot for? And how can you plan upgrades if you do not know what the business expects for this service over time? We recommend at least recording the following information for each service:
• The business processes supported by the service
• The priority to the business of these processes
• The expected demand for this service and the seasonality, if any, of that demand
• The expected growth in demand for this service over the next three years
• The worst response time or throughput that is acceptable for this service
You do not have to make this process formal with signed agreements, but it is a very good idea for both IT and the affected business units to have a copy of the above information to resolve conflicts should they arise.
With this minimal information, or a more complete and formal SLA if you have it, you are now ready to use capacity planning to ensure performance that is adequate at a minimum cost.

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The key SLA questions to answer are:
• What hardware configuration is required for the performance and workload level?
• Can the service be provisioned on existing systems and meet the requirements?
• What hardware upgrade plan must be in place for anticipated business growth?
There are many ways to determine how much hardware capacity you need to deliver a service level. You can perform load testing, but this assumes you can afford exact duplicates in the test lab of the production floor, and load testing fails in a consolidated environment anyway. As an alternative, you can use capacity modeling to determine how much hardware you will need.
About the only way to find out if a service can be provisioned on an existing system with the specified service level is to use capacity modeling. And what about after it is up and running? How do you maintain the service level as workloads grow? When do you need to upgrade, if at all? Capacity modeling is often the best way to know for sure. We will present best practices for doing this in a moment.
Proactive Management of Resources to Maintain Service Levels
Essentially you must answer the following questions:
• Do predicted service levels match real service levels?
• Can we consolidate applications or servers to save money and still provide the required service?
• If growth plans change, what does this mean to our upgrade plan?
How do you manage resources to maintain service levels and minimize costs? First you need to measure service levels and compare to specified and predicted. This requires a performance management system with workload measurement. Are you providing adequate service levels but at the expense of over-provisioning? You can find this out by (a) looking at historical resource utilization for the service and the system and looking for headroom, or (b) by building a model and stressing it to see where it breaks.
If you have a service over-provisioned for now, is it also for the foreseeable future? If yes, you should definitely consolidate or provision a new service here. It is always a good idea to check with business units or other client organizations periodically to verify growth plans in the SLA. What if they recently changed? The best thing to do is get out your model of this service and plug in the revised growth projections and see how your upgrade plan looks now.
Service Level Management Scenarios
The following scenarios illustrate capacity planning applications for service level management.

Provisioning a new service to meet an SLA

1. Perform load planning and testing.

2. Baseline the test runs.

3. Build a model of the test environment.

4. Change the model parameters to the production environment.

5. Solve the model for the projected workloads.

6. Compare predicted response time/throughput to service level parameters.

7. Make necessary changes to planned provisioning.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 6-2 Capacity Planning and Service Level Management
To summarize, the goals of service level management and capacity planning are tightly interwoven. Both strive to provide adequate levels of service at an acceptable cost. And both are much more successful when implemented together as part of a disciplined and unified process.
The final chapter introduces the TeamQuest solution for capacity planning.

Adding an SLA to an existing service

1. Build a model of the production environment.

2. Solve the model for the projected workloads.

3. Compare predicted response time/throughput to service level parameters.

4. Make necessary changes to planned provisioning.

Developing an upgrade plan under an SLA

1. Gather projected growth estimates from business units.

2. Build a model of the existing service based on current configuration and workload.

3. Solve the model for one, two and three year growth projections.

4. Compare predicted response times and throughputs to the SLA.

5. Use modeling what-if scenarios to find least cost, just-in-time upgrade path.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 6-3 Product Focus: TeamQuest Model
7 Product Focus: TeamQuest Model
One of the leading vendors in the capacity planning space is TeamQuest Corp., which makes tools both for performance analysis and capacity planning. Founded in 1991 as a spin-off of Unisys Corp., TeamQuest’s software has become one of the industry’s most established capacity planning solutions, and is used by such major corporations as 20th Century Fox, AT&T, Nike and 3M Corp. While TeamQuest offers a variety of products designed to help enterprises optimize performance, its primary capacity planning tool is TeamQuest Model (Model), which offers full planning and modeling capabilities. The full TeamQuest product line is depicted in Figure 7-1.
One of the first criterion that distinguishes Model from its competitors is its support for multiple hardware platforms. While there are many vendor- or platform-specific tools for capacity planning, the number of multi-platform solutions is much smaller. Many vendors have found it difficult to instrument tools that can collect and extrapolate data coming from platforms as different as Microsoft Windows and Unix, but that capability is essential for most large enterprises, which usually support a variety of different servers.
Another key differentiator is Model’s multiple system modeling capability that allows management of the capacity of a multi-tiered application from a holistic point of view. Model’s ability to specify and play what-if with the horizontal scaling of a tier is unique. The impact of changing or adding CPUs may be easily modeled, showing the impact of adding servers to the tier. Additionally, Model supports split workloads, showing application flows from one server to the next, recognizing that today’s applications do not move in a single path through the tiers.
From a functional perspective, Model’s chief benefit is its ability to provide predictive analysis required for long-term capacity planning. It is a PC-based application that automatically retrieves data from Windows and Unix servers and then builds models of systems and applications that enable the user to analyze “what if” scenarios and predict the effects of proposed changes on systems and applications before they are made. This capability is essential to IT organizations not only for planning system purchase and configuration, but to predict the impact of IT changes and escalating business workloads on the performance of business services.
Two example TeamQuest Model screens are shown below; the first depicts predicted performance as the number of users increases over time, and the second depicts the projected performance if a proposed system upgrade is performed. Clearly the proposed upgrade will adequately prepare the system for future workloads. In fact, it may be overkill. TeamQuest Model would allow the easy exploration of additional, perhaps less expensive, alternatives.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 7-1 Product Focus: TeamQuest Model

00.20.40.60.811.21.4300330360390420450SecondsAll Other AR Queues Queue DelayAll Other AR Queues Service20-58-00(aixdemo) Queue Delay20-58-00(aixdemo) Servicehdisk0(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk0(aixdemo) Servicehdisk1(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk1(aixdemo) Servicehdisk2(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk2(aixdemo) ServiceCPU(aixdemo) Queue DelayCPU(aixdemo) Service
Figure 7-2 TeamQuest Model Shows Predicted Response Time
00.20.40.60.811.21.4300320360390420450SecondsAll Other AR Queues Queue DelayAll Other AR Queues Service20-58-00(aixdemo) Queue Delay20-58-00(aixdemo) Servicehdisk0(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk0(aixdemo) Servicehdisk1(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk1(aixdemo) Servicehdisk2(aixdemo) Queue Delayhdisk2(aixdemo) ServiceCPU(aixdemo) Queue DelayCPU(aixdemo) Service
Figure 7-3 Predicted Response Time After Upgrade
Model’s most obvious benefits are in planning the purchase and deployment of new hardware. The software offers an array of pre-built capacity profiles, enabling IT organizations to use real-world data to perform “what if” queries on the infrastructure impact or performance of planned hardware installations. Using Model, enterprises can get a real-life picture of how a new server will affect capacity and performance, even before that server is purchased or installed.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 7-2 Product Focus: TeamQuest Model

Model also enables enterprises to test the effects of various server consolidation scenarios, making it easier to find the most efficient configuration of hardware and expose potential consolidation conflicts before they occur. Model offers an advantage over other capacity planning products in this area, because it can integrate, analyze, and compare data from multiple servers to aid in server consolidation efforts.
Aside from server acquisition and consolidation, Model offers a number of other potential benefits for IT planning. For example, Model can be used to measure the effectiveness of proposed workload balancing strategies, such as examining the impact of increased activity on a particular server or of moving some types of processing to a different part of the day. In addition, Model has been used to model capacity for newly introduced applications, or even the impact of infrastructure consolidation that may take place as a result of mergers or acquisitions.
While Model can make a significant difference in efforts to evaluate and measure the impact of future IT initiatives, it can be equally effective in facilitating day-to-day activities, such as the ongoing monitoring and modeling of server capacity. For example, Model can be used to predict when a particular server will run out of capacity, given the projected business workload growth rate. This data can be used to help IT organizations precisely plan their strategies for system upgrade, as well as providing data on exactly what the upgrade requirements might be.
Model can also be used to support the development, analysis and enforcement of established service levels, whether they are delivered by internal IT organizations or external service providers. Model can help organizations model the time, costs, and resources required to maintain different levels of performance, enabling service providers and their end-user customers to reach mutually-satisfactory service level agreements that are based on realistic expectations and scientific analysis, rather than wishful thinking. With Model, IT organizations can benchmark a variety of service levels to determine their costs – and then set realistic customer expectations for maintaining them.
In fact, the sophistication of Model’s ability to predict performance is one of the elements that sets it apart from other capacity planning tools on the market. IT organizations can use Model to predict a variety of performance metrics, including response time, throughput, and queue length as well as resource utilization. Model is the only capacity planning tool on the market that offers a choice between analytic modeling and discrete event simulation, which means that users can employ Model to gain insights on overall performance or on the impact of specific IT events in the enterprise, such as infrastructure upgrades.
Case Studies
Clearly, Model offers a range of advantages on paper, but how does it work in practice? To answer this question, EMA interviewed two Model users: the U.S. Patent Office and a US Government Subcontractor that maintains records and data about U.S. military personnel and their dependents. The following is a synopsis of those interviews.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Three years ago, the U.S. Patent Office (www.uspto.gov) had a major performance problem in a critical application. A key search system was suffering major performance problems, yet IT technicians needed a method to model and design specific scenarios to optimize the proposed solution. The technicians contacted Hewlett-Packard, maker of the Patent Office’s HP MeasureWare performance management software, and an HP contact suggested that the TeamQuest Model performance-modeling tool could save valuable time in optimizing the proposed solution.
By employing analytic modeling and validating its search system application using Model, the Patent Office found the I/O bottleneck immediately. After locating the problem, technicians used Model to help test a variety of channel “striping” sizes and find the appropriate Fibre Channel configuration.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 7-3 Product Focus: TeamQuest Model

Model enabled the Patent Office to aggregate statistics for each storage drive across the Fibre Channel, making it possible to identify bottlenecks and then determine the best method for dividing I/O across the channel to eliminate those bottlenecks.
Today, the Patent Office is using Model regularly to import, analyze, and enhance data from MeasureWare. Model captures workload data from existing systems, and applies that data to the Patent Office’s new system model, projecting workload growth over the lifespan of the server. This approach enables the Patent Office to avoid over-provisioning over the life of the system, because the IT organization can accurately predict the need for future capacity.
And what of the Patent Office’s search system? In early 2000, the Patent Office was awarded a Department of Commerce Silver Medal Award for the Patent Search Performance Team’s improvement of its multimillion-dollar search engine project. IT executives at the Patent Office say that TeamQuest Model has saved them millions of dollars in over-provisioning costs, and helped make the search system project a “roaring success.”
US Government Contractor
A contractor to the US Government that provides services to many government agencies (and whom requested anonymity) has a database engine that contains information on hundreds of thousands of military personnel and their dependents. Just a few years old, the system has become enormously popular, growing from two Unix servers to nearly 200 since it began operations.
Such rapid growth was good news for the company, but bad news for its IT organization, which was scrambling to keep up with the skyrocketing demand for server capacity. To have any chance to catch up, the company needed automation and planning technology to facilitate growth. The company also needed performance reporting and tracking capabilities to ensure good service and debug performance problems.
In 2001, the company’s sole server provider, Sun Microsystems, recommended Model to the company’s IT department. TeamQuest technicians came to the company and installed Model on six Web servers to collect data and create some sample models for IT staff. Once company officials gave the go-ahead, the full Model package was installed and operational within a few days.
Since its installation, TeamQuest Model has enabled the company to save millions of dollars in over-provisioning costs, according to officials associated with the Model deployment. In one instance, Model modeling helped the company find a configuration that spread the workload across existing Sun servers, reducing the need for new servers from 30 to 20 and saving the organization millions of dollars.
Today, Model is helping the company maintain consistent levels of service across its government customer base, which is a crucial element to its business. Model enables the company to model server performance and establish service level agreements with realistic thresholds, making it easier for the organization to meet or beat customer expectations, even as its server infrastructure continues to evolve.
EMA Perspective
In a difficult economy, every IT dollar matters. The days of solving performance problems by indiscriminately buying more servers are over, and there is an excellent window of opportunity for deploying management technology that can optimize server utilization and performance. IT organizations are looking for ways to make better use of existing server capacity while reducing the need to buy more processor power.
At the same time, it is important to note that IT budgets are tight, and that most IT organizations are not prepared to purchase new management or planning software unless they are guaranteed a clear

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 7-4 Product Focus: TeamQuest Model

and fast return on their investment (ROI). Today’s management tools must be affordable, easy to deploy, and show strong results in a very short period of time.
Capacity planning tools meet all of these criteria. Through capacity planning, IT organizations can realize major cost savings immediately by reducing or eliminating the need to over-provision their server environments. Capacity planning and modeling technology also can guide IT through the server consolidation process, and can help set realistic goals for service levels that can be maintained over time.
EMA has established that TeamQuest is a superior partner for capacity planning. TeamQuest has been in the performance assurance business since 1991, and has a legion of satisfied customers. The company has an excellent reputation in the industry, and all of the customers interviewed for this report offered high praise for the TeamQuest organization, from pre-sales to post-sales. The Model product has several features that separate it from its competitors, including multi-platform support and the ability to do broad or event-driven capacity analysis and modeling.
EMA recommends TeamQuest Model to IT executives that are concerned with “doing more with less” in today’s difficult economy. Model clearly demonstrates the ability to recognize major cost savings and increased efficiencies in a short amount of time, generating excellent value and a strong ROI for the IT investment dollar.

Like what you see? Subcribe. Capacity Planning: Discipline for Data Center Decisions Page 7-5 Bibliography
8 Bibliography
1. “The Value Proposition for Capacity Planning,” Enterprise Management Associates, 2003.
2. The Office of Government Commerce web site, http://www.ogc.gov.uk.
3. “How to Do Capacity Planning,” TeamQuest Corporation, TQ-WP23 Rev. B.
4. “Consolidating Applications onto Underutilized Servers,” TeamQuest Corporation, TQWP20 Rev. A.
5. Sturm, Rick & Morris, Wayne, Foundations of Service Level Management, SAMS, 2000.

capacity planning information

2007-12-04T19:56:00.001-08:00

Capacity Planning Information
Capacity planning is the key to a well-oiled, smooth-running data center, helping IT organizations to:
• Accurately and efficiently provision new applications
• Reduce, delay and sometimes completely avoid costs
• Justify upgrades with objective analyses
• Optimally configure systems to accommodate forecasted changes in business
• Migrate systems to take advantage of new technology
• Consolidate servers to simplify management and gain economies of scale
• Mitigate service delivery risk by playing out potential scenarios in advance, and then preparing for them
Capacity Planning Techniques
A variety of capacity planning techniques are available, each useful in its own right. TeamQuest provides tools for each of these techniques

Trending Trending uses simple extrapolation of resource utilization over time. The advantage of this technique is that it does not require sophisticated tools. A spreadsheet will do, but it can be difficult to take into account non-linear behavior buried deep within a multi-tiered system.
Linear Trend
Analysis Linear trend analysis looks at historical data and projects a linear trend line into the future, applying upper and lower confidence intervals as well as a threshold at which resources will become inadequate. This capacity planning method is a quick sanity check and identifies over-utilized resources, but it does not allow for experimentation with different configurations.
Short Term
Analysis Short term analysis identifies potential problems early by generating exception events (alarms) based on historical averages (rather than a fixed threshold) tied to a particular point in a periodic time interval. For example, if a particular resource averages 60% busy on Tuesdays and 50% busy on Thursdays, an exception event will only be generated when utilization crosses those thresholds on the respective days.
Simulation
Modeling Simulation, a much more sophisticated capacity planning technique than trending, actually simulates the queuing events that occur during execution. The downside of simulation modeling is that it can be very time-consuming to build and run the models.
Analytic
Modeling Analytic modeling uses mathematics to calculate how a queuing network will perform. To use analytic modeling, a baseline set of measurements is taken on a system and a model is then built based on a description of the system. Results from the model are compared with the baseline, and when they match, the model is considered calibrated. From there, hypothetical changes can be made to system configuration or business workloads, and the model will predict how the changes will affect performance. Done properly, analytic modeling is a fast and accurate capacity planning technique.

Analytic Modeling and Load Testing
Especially when rolling out new applications, it can be useful to use a load-testing tool in conjunction with an analytic modeling tool.
A load-testing tool can be used to simulate transactions coming from end users, or applications can be benchmarked on test systems to be certain they can support required service levels. However, time and cost considerations often make it prohibitive to conduct such tests on the actual hardware using production-level workloads. Full-sized machines and software are too costly to dedicate for testing purposes, and finding the optimal configuration through empirical testing can take a long time.
Instead, smaller but representative loads can be applied to a scaled-down set of test servers while performance analysis software takes a baseline reading of performance. Analytic modeling can then be used to rapidly predict how various configurations will perform under a production-level workload, all without the need to purchase the actual configurations under consideration. Analytic modeling is a cost-effective, fast and accurate alternative to brute-force testing.

build & planing

2007-12-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

Theory Assessment
Plan and Build Computer Network (1A)

ICAITS029B Install network hardware to a network
ICAITS021C Connect internal hardware components
ICAITS030B Install software to networked computers
ICAITS116B Undertake capacity planning

Time Allowed: 3 hours
Pass Mark: 15
(Assessor’s Copy)
NOTE: the theory focus on capacity planning

Table of Contents

Question 1: What is meant by capacity planning in information technology? 2
Question 2: What are some of the factors that capacity planning needs to consider? 2
Question 3: Briefly describe the following terms 3
Question 4: What are the stages in capacity planning? 4
Question 5: Describe some of the commerce site metrics in capacity planning for a business that is moving into e-commerce. 4
Question 6: Describe some of the differences in a corporate site as against a high-end e-commerce site that directs the activities for capacity planning 6
Question 7: Describe the steps in capacity planning for your organization that has moved onto e-commerce utilization of computer systems 7
Question 8: Describe the difference between Tier 1, 2 and 3 system configurations for capacity planning for an organization that has moved onto e-commerce utilization of its computer systems. 7
Question 9: Discuss the term “persistence: in capacity planning 9

Question Marks
1 2
2 1
3 4
4 1
5 5
6 4
7 4
8 5
9 4
Total Marks 30

Table 1 Assessment Grid
UNIT Theory/Project Practical/Project
ICAITS029B (All elements) X
ICAITS021C (All elements) X
ICAITS030B (All elements) X
ICAITS116B (All elements) X
Marks 30 70
Grade : < 50 Not Yet Competent, 50 - 72 competent, 73 – 82 competent with credit, 83+ competent with distinction

Question 1: What is meant by capacity planning in information technology?

Answer Suggestion:

Capacity Planning is the activity relating to the management of the information communication infrastructure to ensure that the output of the facility is maximized and the input is minimized.

The activity involves the use of tools to measure inputs and outputs that may be competing. Constraints come in the form of labour, material availability, equipment utilization and limited space. Planning, the use of mathematical models and flexibility in resource utilization is needed
Capacity planning in information communication technology systems is needed when:
• Starting a new system, or a service organization
• Extending the operations of an existing business system.
• Considering additions/modifications to the system
• Introducing new techniques, equipment and materials

Question 2: What are some of the factors that capacity planning needs to consider?

Answer Suggestion:
• Bottlenecks that will determine the capacity for any particular stage of the process.
• Peak demand rate
• Communication Bandwidth
• Load balance within the system
• Existing Hardware and scalability
• Cost
• Technology changes in hardware and software

Question 3: Briefly describe the following terms

a. Design Capacity

Answer Suggestion:

• Target output level
• Note: It could be reached or exceeded in practice.
• It is the agreed % between vendor contractor and customer of the system

b. Effective Capacity

Answer Suggestion:

• It is the actual capacity to reflect current conditions.
• Note: could be less than or more than design capacity.
• Required because of; limited resources, increased equipment breakdowns when run at higher capacity for long periods and the impact of the environment.

c. Utilization

Answer Suggestion:
• Measures use of resources i.e actual running time.
• Measure as % of effective capacity.
• Note: measurement is often different between organizations and systems.

d. Yield

Answer Suggestion:
• Measures output of product in % against equivalent, potential or maximum products or systems’ input.
• Yield is concerned with avoidable and unavoidable losses due to downtime as a result of system or equipment problems.

Question 4: What are the stages in capacity planning?

Answer Suggestion
1. Analyse existing system capacity
2. Determine future capacity requirements
3. Plan for capacity enhancement
4. Install capacity enhancements

Question 5: Describe some of the commerce site metrics in capacity planning for a business that is moving into e-commerce.

Answer Suggestion

a. Hits: Results of multiple hits from the browser to the Web server

A hit is any request from the browser to the Web server this includes requests for dynamic content, images, or streamed video

b. Average hits per page: The average number of Web server hits per page.

The suggested configurations used stores with 1 hit per page. The test tool did not load any images, nor did it use frames. The test tool only made one HTTP request per page.

c. Commerce/non-commerce page ratio

Most pages are generated by issuing a database query and rendering the results by using JSP (Java Server Page) templates.

Typical stores also contain some static content, such as HTML page requests. The suggested configurations did not contain any requests for purely static pages. Static pages are served at roughly the same rate as static images.

Requests for static pages can be ignored in capacity planning, if the ratio of dynamic requests to static requests is fairly high. A site which serves two dynamic pages for every static page can be sized without regard for the static pages.

This is because dynamic pages require substantially more resources to serve.

d. Database size

The database size affects performance of the system. Sites that include many shoppers, merchants, or catalogue items usually cannot serve requests as quickly as those that do not.

Various factors will affect the throughput of the system, including database tuning, hardware capacity, and physical topology.

e. Megabytes of data that are served per unit of time

It is important to plan your site to have sufficient resources for serving expected network throughput. This includes sizing all firewall, routing, and other network components to be able to handle the peak workload expected of your site. The suggested configurations can be measured using a full duplex 100 Mbps Ethernet between the load generator and Web server.

A 100 Mbps switch can be used between the Web server and database server.

It must be noted that added equipment results in the Internet communication being significantly slower.

If the site is running web casts or real time audio, this will demand bandwidth. This has to be taken into account in the overall capacity planning solution.

f. Performance Test Scripts

The commands executed affect system workload.

Te set up and the commands run as part of performance tests can be like the following.

Components:

A basic store that contains a set of use cases commonly used in shopping model:

– New shopper registration
– Registered shopper logon
– Browse categories, products, and items
– Add item to shopping cart
– View shopping cart with tax and shipping details
– Modify quantity of items in the shopping cart
– Delete items from the shopping cart
– Checkout by entering billing and shipping information

A script to generate the following:

– Up to 5 000 categories
– Up to 50 000 items
– Up to 50 000 registered customers
– Up to 50 000 orders

A script to simulate various shopper scenarios
– Browse
– Add
– Prepare
– Buy

A script to define the regular shopping mix

The regular shopping mix depends on two variables:
1. Customer type
New registered customer
Existing registered customer
Guest shopper

2. Shopping flow

Browse

Visit the home page

Logon using registered customer id (existing registered customer only) or register as a new customer (new registered customer only

Select “Multiple Category Display” then “Multiple Product Display”

Browse and Add

Browse, and then randomly add one, two, or three items to the shopping cart.

Browse and Prepare

Browse and add, then enter address book information (guest shopper only) or specify which address to use (new registered customer or existing registered customer).

Browse and Buy

Browse and prepare, then display order information. Enter a credit card number with expiry date, finally submit the order.

Question 6: Describe some of the differences in a corporate site as against a high-end e-commerce site that directs the activities for capacity planning

Answer Suggestion
Typical corporate site High-end commerce site
Page Views Approximately 15,000 More than 50,000
Connection (Note 1) Single DSI Multiple DS3s
Back-end integration Optional Mandatory: inventory, logistics, and sales demand integration
Availability OK – Networks rarely fully redundant 24x7x365 – Network has no single point of failure
Scalability Poor – little content monitoring Good – Local and geographic mirrors
Impact of downtime Embarrassment, inconvenience Financial loss, customer loss
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Note 1: IEEE 802.6, Metropolitan Area Network, DQDB Media Access Control (PHYSICAL LAYER: Interfaces between network medium and network devices; Defines electrical and mechanical characteristics)

Question 7: Describe the steps in capacity planning for your organization that has moved onto e-commerce utilization of computer systems

Answer Suggestion

Steps

1: Complete a worksheet with calculated system capacity metrics.
2: Select the number of server tiers
3: Determine requirements for availability
4: Select hardware
5: Configure the appropriate number of disk drives
6: Configure memory for each system
7: Configure the network requirements
8: Is a separate Payment Manager server required?
9: Is a separate server required for search?
10: Will a Staging server be used?

Reference: IBM® WebSphere® Commerce Suite, Capacity Planning Guide, Version 5.1
Question 8: Describe the difference between Tier 1, 2 and 3 system configurations for capacity planning for an organization that has moved onto e-commerce utilization of its computer systems.

Answer Suggestion

1–Tier
In this configuration the Commerce Server, the database server, and the Web server are all on the same machine.

2-Tier
In this configuration the Web server and Commerce Suite is on one machine, the database server is a separate machine

3-Tier
In this configuration the Web server, Commerce Suite and the database are on separate machines

Question 9: Discuss the term “persistence: in capacity planning

Answer Suggestion
Persistence is a term that comes into play when using a Controller to load balance multiple servers at a site which is designed to have customers return to the same server during a session. Persistence is required to seamlessly process customer requests while keeping the link between your site and your customer unbroken. However, E-commerce poses its own special challenges for persistence, specifically in regard to scalability and performance of the load balancing device.

No Persistence No SSL Persistence
No Persistence: Left example shows the effects of a customer source IP address changing over the course of a session. Customer accesses server (A), and fills a shopping cart full of goods. Customer decides to visit other areas of the site before purchasing. Customer returns to shopping cart and finds it apparently empty because customer was accidentally rerouted to the wrong server (B).
No SSL Persistence: Example on right shows the results of IP users being funneled into very few IP addresses. Four customers log on to AOL (An ISP) and are directed to a Web site. All end up concentrated in a single server (A), giving customers sluggish site performance while other available resources (servers B, C and D) sit idle.

For example, a customer uses regular HTTP to select items from a catalog, and places them into a shopping cart. When the customer wishes to purchase the items, however, most sites use SSL – a secure, encrypted protocol required for transmitting sensitive information like credit card numbers. In some cases, site design dictates that customer traffic for both HTTP and SSL be sent to the same server in order to keep the buying process seamless. This can be handled by persistence settings available on Controllers

Example:
BIG-IP Controller has SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Persistence. It tracks persistence using SSL Session ID, and allows BIG-IP Controller to properly load balance SSL traffic when it is originating from a site using proxy servers or multiple firewalls. These types of traffic sources concentrate a large number of users into a small number of IP addresses, or cause the end users’ IP address to change over the course of the session. Both of these scenarios cause standard persistence based on source IP to "break". In the case of IP address concentration, source IP persistence will concentrate the load on a single server, giving end users poor performance while other available resources sit idle. When a user’s IP address changes over the course of a session, source IP persistence will no longer be able to associate the user with the server that she was sent to, thereby causing things like shopping carts to appear empty. SSL Session ID Persistence solves these problems.

19.09.2007

2007-09-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 10, 2007
Communicate in the IT workplace
Information Technology
ICAITTW002B
Communicate in the IT workplace
On completion of this unit learners should be competent in promoting professional client support through verbal and non-verbal communication. This Unit incorporates a broad knowledge of OH & S principles, organisational Policy and Procedures and the ability to process information and establish contact with both internal and external clients.
This Unit includes:
1. Establishing contact with clients
2. Processing information

Glossary
Active Listening
Responding to what you hear, indicating you are listening.
Aggressive
To put others down, only see your point of view, pushy and abusive at times.
Assertive
To be clear and honest when speaking about your feelings and respect the rights and needs of others without making judgements.
Body Language
Movement of the body and facial expressions to communicate.
Communicate
Successfully convey an idea from one person to another using some form of medium – verbal, non verbal.
Communication Breakdown
Failure to communicate or be understood for some reason.
Compose
To produce or put together an idea, usually written.
Empathy
The ability to see things from the other person’s point of view.
Feedback
Any reply to a message.
Internal Client
Other workers within the same organisation.
Interpretation
What the receiver understands from the communication and what they get from it.
Medium
The method or channel you choose to send the message by – verbal, written, visual, non-verbal.
Message
What you want to communicate – an idea, instruction, request, statement.
Non Verbal
Without talking (words)
Oral
By way of speaking in words.
Passive
When you do not clearly communicate what you think or feel.
Pessimists
People who always seem to see the negative side of things.
Receiver
The person/s who you want to communicate with.
Screening Calls
Listening to the caller and asking questions to establish the purpose of the call, then make a decision based on this information and the company policy.
Stereotypes
Judging or classifying people into a particular category according to appearance, behaviour, clothes or a belief.

Activities

Exercise 1

In its simplest form communication can be described as a process and demonstrated in the following model:
Simple Model of the Communication Process
Using this model, think about the different types of mediums you can use in your communication to send a message to someone.

Different kinds of medium:
Conversation
Telephone
Fax
E-mail
Meetings
Letters
Memos
Reports
Demonstration
Observation
Diagrams
Symbols
Body language
Video
Audio tape
Advertisement

Exercise 2
Questions

1. For any kind of communication to take place, whether it is verbal, non-verbal, written or via computers, there are two main components – what are they?
Sender and Receiver.

2. What kinds of ‘hindrances’ can cause bad or poor communication to occur?

Noise, poor medium, misunderstanding, personal problems, feeling unwell

3. How can you tell if someone is listening to you?
Body language, head gestures, facial expressions

4. It is always better to make a __ Suggest or request.
________________ rather than command or order someone to do something.

5. Communication is a ___ Two-way.
_________ process.

6. Besides passive communicators there are two other main types, what are they?

Aggressive and Assertive

7. List some of the differences between these main types of communication styles:

Aggressive – hurtful, forceful, self-opinionated, commanding; Assertive – Clear
and honest, respects the rights of others, requests rather than commands.

Exercise 3

Telephone technique
1. What are some of the advantages of using telephones?
Advantages: Instant response, speak to someone in person over long distance, they can save time, issues can be clarified over the phone – reducing travel time and unnecessary delays.

2. How would you describe correct courtesy and preferred greeting when using the telephone?
Courtesy: Respect what the other person has to say, don’t interrupt or cut them off before they are finished. Be polite at all times, even if they are abusive or upset. The success of the conversation relies on this kind of courtesy.

3. Briefly list the main points to consider when answering an incoming call.
Greeting: A pleasant greeting, which will be different depending on whether you are making or receiving the call. It is the first impression and can decide how the remainder of the conversation will go.

4. Briefly list the main points to consider when making an outgoing call.
Answer with a greeting such as “Good morning/afternoon”, then identify the name of your company/organisation/department followed by your name and ask, “How may I help you”. If you can not assist then you should be able to direct them to someone who can.

5. To ensure effective communication, you must speak _________, using a _______tone and speaking at a speed that can be easily ____________.
Outgoing call: You may need to organise some information or questions before making the call – be organised. Identify yourself, ask for the person you wish to speak to or state what you need so you can be directed to the right person, then outline the purpose of the call or ask ques

6. What are two time-wasters that callers are most resentful of?
You must speak clearly, using a pleasant tone... that can be easily understood.

7. List the main steps you should take when preparing to make a telephone call.
Preparing: In the workplace in particular, a lot of time can be wasted if you have not prepared what you need before making a call – having all the required information at hand and knowing exactly what you need to say or ask is very important. Write down a series of questions or have a list of specific points in front of you so nothing is overlooked. Taking notes during the conversation so nothing is forgotten – Do not rely on your memor

8.When concluding a telephone conversation you may have to ________the key points.
repeat

Range Statement
Organisational
Variables may include but are not limited to; policies and procedures relating to answering client support inquiries; telephone, written messages and on-line other organisational policies; job descriptions/responsibilities; organisational code of conduct; service standards; tracking processes.
Communication
Variables may include but are not limited to; external clients and internal clients including team members, supervisors and management; inquiries relate to routine client support needs; clarifying and recording information and does not involve technical problem solving.
Internal communication
Can include memos, electronic mail and bulletin boards.
Client User
May be a department with the organisation or a third party and so the relation and ease of access will vary.
Documentation and Reporting
Audit trails, naming standards, version control.
OH and S Standards
As per company, statutory and vendor requirements. Ergonomic and environmental factors must be considered during the demonstration of this competency.
Organisational Standards
May be based upon formal, well documented methodologies or non-existent. For training delivery purposes best practice examples from industry will be used.

Other resources
K Burton & K Le Rossignol, 2000, Communicating in an IT Environment, Eastern House, Victoria
Videos:
The Ten Deadly Sins of Communication, AV302.2242/TEND, by Wilson Main, 1994, Video Communicators, North Adelaide
Communicating with Customers and Clients (Internal and External), AV658.812/WORK, Hughes, Brown & Dickens, 1997, Video Education, Australia
Telephone Techniques, AV651.73/TELE, Videotrain, 1990, Carlton, Vic.

Exercise 2
Consider all the different forms of media used for communication and place a tick in the boxes you think would be the most appropriate for the message being sent. There may be more than one choice.
Message Phone Meeting E-mail Memo Letter Advert In Person
Job Application v v v
Information for staff v v v
List of Specials v v v
Asking a friend out v v v
Message for work mates v v v v
Dinner invitation v v v v
Seminar Invitation v v v
Feedback on a work task v v
Calling a meeting v v v

Case study 1
Read the following scenario and list the communication and customer service faults.
Robert Martin needed some information on the latest accounting software available from the local Computer Store.
Robert experienced the following:
• There was no one at the counter when he walked in, so he looked around the store for a while, then went back to the counter and called out for someone.
• A sales person finally appeared complaining about the end of month paper work and how there was not enough time in the day and there were too many interruptions!
• Before Robert had time to finish his enquiry the phone rang and the sales person answered the call, which took several minutes to complete.
• He finally got to finish his enquiry but the sales person felt there was someone else better suited to answer his questions, so called a second person to the counter.
• Robert then had to repeat everything again.
• The sales person did not seem too interested in his needs and talked him into buying a different version of the accounting software, which cost more.
• Robert went away feeling like he had been “fobbed off”, but was pleased to finally have his software.
• When he tried installing it however, he discovered the hardware did not support that version of the accounting software, at which point he became very angry and frustrated.
After identifying the customer service faults, write a letter of complaint to the manager of the computer store and make some suggestions towards improving their communication and service techniques.

Exercise 4
Compose a memorandum to all Helpdesk staff, from you as the IT Services Manager advising them of the list of questions they must ask clients when they log a call for help:
Date, time, name of client, where they are from, what was the user trying to do when the problem occurred? Has this happened before? Write down exact wording of any error messages, Which application were they using? Did they try re-booting?
Include all this information on the log sheets provided.
Key in memorandum or use a memo template from Word.

Exercise 6
You are working for the Bits & PCs Computer Company and your supervisor has asked you to fax a client regarding some delayed stock, which they were expecting from your company.
Compose a fax using a Fax Template from Word. Briefly apologise for the delay in delivering the printer cartridges and copy toners they ordered on 25 September and that since these items are now in stock they will be delivered to their office on Friday 5 October.
The information for Fax details is:
Bits & PCs Computer Company TO: W & W Printing Services
405 Claxton Road FAX: (02) 942952125
Wentworthville FROM: Your Name
FAX: (02) 952216398 DATE: Today’s Date
Pages including this one:
Subject: Delayed Stock
Message:

Sample project
Communicate in the IT Workplace
You are to use the following case study to answer all the questions.
Read through it carefully and then refer to this situation as you answer each question.
Imagine that you work in a computer sales and repair shop. Mrs Penn comes in on Tuesday morning. The digital video camera she bought from you a month ago has been damaged in an accident. She put it in for repairs at your shop two weeks ago last Friday. She has not heard from anyone and she needs the camera for a special videoconference she has arranged with her family overseas, next Saturday.
Promoting client satisfaction
1. How would you and an observer know if Mrs Penn went away feeling satisfied?
Acting consistently with employer’s needs
2. What would you say to actively promote the image of Bits & PCs? What would you say to reassure Mrs Penn that her decision to buy the Camera was a wise one?
3. How would you check with Mrs Penn that you had understood her main need in this situation?
4. What reasonable solution could you find to the problem of the slowness of the repairs?
5. In the event that it cannot be fixed in time for the videoconference, what will you suggest for her?
Interpersonal Skills
6. Write down four interpersonal skills your employer would like to see you use in a situation like this.
7. What interpersonal skills would you as a client like to find in someone helping you?
Telephone Technique
8. How would you answer the telephone?
9. How would you greet Mrs Penn once she had identified herself?
Questioning Techniques
10. Give two examples of open-ended questions you might ask Mrs Penn.
11. Give one example of a closed question you would ask Mrs Penn.
Active Listening
12. Write one response that shows that you really heard what she said?
13. Write one response that shows that you understood and empathised with her.
14. Write down four ‘listening responses’ you would use in your exchange.
Service follow-up
15. List three things that you and Mrs Penn could agree on jointly as a course of action. These would be things that either you or your boss or she would do.
16. How would you check that she was happy with this proposed course of action?
17. How would you re-check important details like phone numbers and times?

landscape 27.08.2007

2007-09-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

MAJA LANDSCAPE PTY LTD

Address 318 Warringah Road, Frenches Forest , NSW, 2086
Telephone 6120011991412
Fax numbers 6120011991413

CHAIRPERSON MAJA PULLMANOVA
Owner and founder SINCE 1975, through her vision, she has assembled a number of eminent people to joint her organisation
MANAGING DIRECTOR ERIK BENKOVSKY
10 years experience in a senior management role for many other SME business, Eric is charged with the responsible to grow the company further using latest design and innovation models.
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT IREENE MOISAAAR
She has many major design awards in landscape architectural fields in Australia and Europe
OPERATION MANAGER MARIO STANEK
Mario has strong skills in people management, resources management, planning and coordination. Major projects Mario has been responsible for are Sydney Airport, botany garden in Slovakia.
FINANCIAL CONTROLLER DAVID TESARIK
David has responsibility in managing the financial resources of company. David has many years experience in financing SMEs in Europe and Australia. Some of his major achievements include MacDonald’s Restaurant Chain in the 70s and Hilton Hotel chain in the early 60s.

MARKETING MANAGER HARRY HA
Harry has many years experience in product development. Major campaigns creditted to Harry include the launch of BMW 500 series in Indonesia and the promotion of the Environmental EXPO 2000 in SEOUL. Harry brings his expertise into the company. He sees the opportunity of promoting Ireene’s innovations

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER MENA FACHURI
Mena has leadership skills in identifying key and pivotal human recourses requirements to take the company forward in medium and long term. He is very strong motivation. He is an astute psychologist.

LANDSCAPERS JOSEPH WONG
DARWIN SI
EVI BOLA
BOBBY SERVE
WILION WILION
SHEFRIL REZA
DARWIN FADIL

These expert landscapers are very skillful and committed in meeting deadlines and have experience with an artistic flair. They have the ability to visualise design and translate them into physical reality. Their knowledge is extensive in relation to local native floral and stone works and wall building. They have also excellent skill in customer services.

Organisation chart

Mission Statement

Maja Landscape believes that a garden should reflect the personality and values of its owner. It should complement both the house and its surroundings.

It should be an inviting and a welcoming space.

Beyond the beauty of the moment we address the pragmatic considerations of ongoing and seasonal maintenance.

From satisfying practical needs to fulfilling dreams, successful gardens are created through thoughtful and thorough planning.

We create tranquil retreats from the rude intrusions of the everyday world. We can conjure up an oasis of calm, a place of beauty, a garden of delights. We can create an intimate spot to be alone with your thoughts or an expansive space to enjoy the company of family and friends.

Design is the first step in any great landscape. It allows the owners the opportunity to create and visualize the garden of their dreams before any construction begins. A good designer listens to the needs and wants of the owner and uses his or her ability to turn those needs into reality.

A successful design helps ensure the project is constructed well, on time, and within budget.

EMPLOYEES’ VIEW

At Maja Landscape, the employees are passionate and loyal to the company’s goals as it defines an objective of quality, success in achieving recognition amongst the Landscaping industry and peers.

Information technology functions within the organisation

1. INFORMATION STORAGE
2. COMMUNICATION
3. ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION AND DATA
4. E-BUSINESS/E-COMMERCE
5. SCHEDULING
6. PAYROLL/HR
7. CRM/ERP
8. DESIGN
Information technology equipment within the organisation

Hardware

Table 1 Workstations (Pentium IV)
Departments Number of Computers
SENIOR EXECUTIVES 2
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS 2
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 5
OPERATIONS 3
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER 2
MARKETING MANAGER 3

Table 2 Printers
Departments Number of printers
CORPORATE
1
FINANCE
1
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 3 (HP A3 LASER COLOR, 2 HP A4 STANDARD LASER )
OPERATIONS 1 ( HP A4 STANDARD LASER )
HUMAN RESOURCES 1( HP A4 STANDARD LASER )
MARKETING 2 (HP A4 LASER COLOR, 1 HP A4 STANDARD LASER )

Table 3 Fax
Departments Number of fax
SENIOR EXECUTIVES 0
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS 1
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 1
OPERATIONS 0
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER 0
MARKETING MANAGER 1

Table 4 Scanners
Departments Number of Scanners
SENIOR EXECUTIVES 0
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS 1
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 1
OPERATIONS 1
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER 1
MARKETING MANAGER 1

Table 5 Cameras
Departments Number of Cameras
SENIOR EXECUTIVES 2
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS 0
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 2
OPERATIONS 1
HUMAN RESOURCES 0
MARKETING 1
FINANCE 0

Table 6 Scratch pads
Departments Number of Scratch Pads
SENIOR EXECUTIVES 0
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS 0
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 3
OPERATIONS 1
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER 0
MARKETING MANAGER 0

Table 7 Data Projectors
Departments Number of Data projectors
SENIOR EXECUTIVES 2
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS 0
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 1
OPERATIONS 1
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER 0
MARKETING MANAGER 0

Software

Table 1
Departments Number of Software
SENIOR EXECUTIVES Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Word
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS CODA’s Accounting Software
1 Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Word
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Word Microsoft office Visio Microsoft Office Power Point Master Landscape Pro™ Version 10
OPERATIONS Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Word
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Word
MARKETING MANAGER CODA’s Accounting Software Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Word

Software (including operating system software)

Special information technology equipment used in the workplace

1. 3D HOME ARCHITECT LANDSCAPE DESIGN DELUXE EDITION 6 NEW @
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/3D-HOME-ARCHITECT-LANDSCAPE-DESIGN-DELUXE-EDITION-6-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ1251QQihZ013QQitemZ230070892603QQrdZ1
2. ViaCAD 2D/3D @
http://www.punchsoftware.com/index.htm

1. Find out and write down the telephone number and location of your nearest branch of the Australian Computer Society.
Secretariat Address PO Box Q534
Queen Victoria Building
SYDNEY NSW 1230

Courier Address Level 3
160 Clarence Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Ph: +61 2 9299 3666
Fax +61 2 9299 3997
Email: info@acs.org.au NO SPAM
Home Page: https://www.acs.org.au

2. Find out where the following policies and procedures are located in your organisation and write down where they are kept.
a. Occupational Health & Safety
b. Equal Employment Opportunity
c. Purchasing Guidelines
d. Information Technology Training

A.
This is the Health and Safety Policy of Johnson's Lawn Service, (JLS) and Mountview Landscaping, (MVL). This document is a reflection of the importance management places on the safety of its employees, management and the general public that may be affected by the actions of our company through its operations. It is intended to be used as a superceding guideline for operational procedures in all actions taken by staff and management in conjunction with the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It is the objective of JLS and MVL to provide a safe work environment for all employees and management. With this objective in mind, the ultimate goal is to maintain an already established, zero frequency, lost time injury record.
Roles and Responsibilities
Employer
The duties of the employer and management of the organization are outlined in the occupational health and safety act of which a copy is available to all employees. In addition to those duties both JLS and MVL stresses to management to also be acutely aware of and enforce the following:
• Ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act are carried out on each job site.
• Ensure that every member of the organization carries out their duties as prescribed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• Appoint and train competent persons as supervisors.
• Initiate, monitor and up-grade this document as needed.
• Participate in safety meetings to facilitate the evolution of the safety policy.
• Provide all required safety equipment that is not provided by the employee.
• Carry out unscheduled site inspections to verify safety procedures are being followed and provide written instructions to correct deficiencies observed.
Supervisors
Each crew operating shall have one person appointed as crew supervisor. That person is responsible for any duties outlined in the Occupational Health and Safety Act pertaining to Superintendents as well as the following:
• Be responsible for on site safety and accident prevention.
• Ensure that each morning all required protective gear and first aid kits are with that crew and that all are in proper condition.
• Warn employees at each site of potential dangers to themselves or bystanders, as well as instruct them on how to handle those dangers.
• At each site the supervisor shall point out to employees unusual terrain or conditions associated with that site and instruct them as to how to handle those areas.
• For the first visit of each employee to a site, the supervisor will walk the entire property with the employee to allow for questions the employee may have regarding site specific conditions.
• Ensure that all employees are utilizing protective equipment properly.
• Have first aid training.
• In the event of an injury the supervisor shall see to it that the person is treated appropriately and timely without regard to lost production time or cost to the company.
• Notify management of the injury promptly and later discuss in detail what happened, what steps were taken to prevent the injury and what steps could be implemented if any to ensure that it never happens again.
Employees
All employees of JLS and MVL are regulated under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and must comply with any restrictions and duties outlined within. In addition to that the employees will appoint a person to meet with Management and Supervisors to help in the evolution and up-grading of this document. They will also be responsible for the following:
• The employee shall be responsible to refuse any work they feel is dangerous to themselves or others by informing their supervisor of that concern. If the concern cannot be resolved between the employee and supervisor then the matter shall be brought to the attention of management and the employee Health and Safety Representative.
• Before operating any equipment, they have read the operators manual and have been given training on that equipment and feel competent to operate it safely and efficiently.
• Co-operate with the supervisor to identify any potential hazards.
• Co-operate with the supervisor to treat any injury suffered by anyone on site.
• Co-operate in the investigation of any work refusals to bring about a resolution.
Enforcement
All supervisors and employees of JLS and MVL will adhere to the policies outlined in this document and will be held responsible for any breach of these policies.
1st violation will entail a verbal warning.
2nd violation of same offence will entail a written warning.
3rd violation of the same offence will involve a written notice and one day loss of work and pay.
4th violation of same offence will involve a written notice and one week loss of work and pay, dismissal may also occur at discretion of management.
All written notices will be completed and served by management following a discussion with both the supervisor and employee to determine exactly what occurred. In the event of an event involving gross negligence the verbal warning of the 1st violation may be bypassed at the discretion of management.
Equipment
Footwear - All workers must at all times wear CSA approved safety shoes or boots that bear the Green Triangular Patch stamped with the CSA logo. Footwear is to be provided by the employee and it is their responsibility to ensure that they are fully laced and tied.
Head Protection - Hard hats shall be provided by the company for use on sites that require them. The hats shall be at least Class "B" as defined by the CSA and be in good condition. It is the Supervisors responsibility to ensure these are available on the morning of the job.
Eye Protection - Approved CSA safety glasses must be worn by all employees at any time they are operating a line string trimmer, or quick cut saw. Glasses are also required when an employee is using a hammer or a combination of a hammer and chisel whither it be while performing maintenance responsibilities or when used on stone landscape projects. Glasses will be provided free of charge by the company, one pair to each employee monthly. Employees may provide their own glasses, but they must show to their supervisor that they bear the CSA logo and it is not felt by that supervisor that the tint is too dark as to obscure vision and potentially cause the operator to not see a hazard. If the employee needs a second pair within the one month time frame they will be provided to the employee by the company at a cost.
Ear Protection - It is recommended that any time an employee is operating motorized equipment that they wear ear protection. Ear plugs will be made available by the company for use of the employees. It is the employee's responsibility to ensure that they have sufficient ear plugs to use for the day when they leave the shop in the morning. If ear muffs are preferred over plugs then the company will supply each employee with one set per season.
Sun Protection - Sun screen lotion will be made available by the company to be carried in each truck for the use of employees as they feel necessary. It is strongly urged by the company that employees protect themselves from the known health hazards of the sun by applying sun screen. It is also recommended that when working at a site not requiring hard hats, that the employee wear another hat as supplied by the company to protect themselves from the sun.
In case of Injury
The employer must:
1. Make sure first aid is given immediately.
2. Make sure there is a record of the first aid treatment given to the employee.
3. Complete and give to the employee the Treatment Memorandum Form 156 if more than first aid is required.
4. Provide immediate transportation to a hospital, doctor's office or employee's home if necessary.
5. Pay full wages and benefits for the day the injury occurred.
Submit a Form 7 to WSIB within 3 days of the incident.
The Employee must:
1. Promptly obtain First Aid.
2. Notify the employer of any injury.
3. Notify the employer of possible onset of a work related disease/condition.
4. Choose your own doctor or qualified practitioner. Once this choice is made you cannot change doctors without permission of the WSIB.
5. Complete and return all forms from WSIB promptly.
Accidents happen at any time and place without regard for people, experience or routine. Please remain at all times vigilant and aware of yourself, the equipment you are operating and others around you to ensure that at the end of the day we all remain healthy.

B.
In Australia national and local laws cover equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination in the workplace. All employers are required by these laws to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. It’s important that you, as an employer, understand your rights and responsibilities under human rights and anti-discrimination law in Australia.
By putting effective anti-discrimination and anti-harassment procedures in place in your business you can improve productivity and increase efficiency. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has a range of fact sheets and brochures to help you develop effective policies and best practice guidelines.

C.
1.Petty Cash – guideline
Purpose

The Petty Cash Fund Policy has been created to provide guidelines for the appropriate establishment, use, and accountability of such funds. Procedures have been established to encourage effective administration and internal control of cash handling operations.

Summary

The majority of petty cash funds are established to enable departments to make small, emergency purchases where a purchase order is not cost effective or a purchasing card cannot be used.

Petty cash float
The value of petty cash float will be limited to a maximum of $200.00.
Applicability

This policy is applicable to every MAJA S LANDSCAPE PTY department, administrative office, and affiliated organization involved in handling any cash. Employees with any type of cash handling function are required to be familiar with the requirements of this policy.

Authority and Responsibility
MAJA S LANDSCAPE PTY has delegated the authority and responsibility for establishing policies and procedures for all cash handling activities to the Controller’s Office. In carrying out this duty, the Controller’s Office is responsible for:
• Establishing and enforcing policies and procedures governing the receipt, handling, custody, and disbursement of funds.

• Requiring the establishment and maintenance of records accounting for funds received and paid buy the company.

• Performing periodic audits of departments with cash handling operations.

• Establishing and authorizing banking depositories to be used for company funds.
• Establishing and authorizing procedures for granting, maintaining, and terminating departmental petty cash funds.
• Reconciling all petty cash funds on a monthly basis.

Petty Cash Guidelines

• Adequate receipts and documentation must be maintained to support all transactions made from the Petty Cash Fund.
• The following expenditures from petty cash accounts are prohibited:
- Travel-related expenses (e.g., parking)
- Sales Tax
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Donations
- Tips or Gratuities
• A petty cash fund or custodian may be revoked at the discretion of the Controller.
• The amount of the petty cash fund may be reduced at the discretion of the Controller.

2. Project Purchase
Amount $20 000.00
Who- Financial controller David Tesarik
Any outgoings over $20 000.00 need to be approved and signed buy chairperson Maja Pullmanova and managing director Erik Benkovsky.

3. General Day today purchases for running the business

System
Purchase requisition
Scope
Cost
Quality
Risk
Hr
Communication
Procurement
Price
Time
Warranty (SLE)
Stakeholders
- Delegation

d.Information Technology Training

Information Technology Training for Managers, Software Development and System Administration.
We are using GBdirect to train our staff.
GBdirect specialise in training 4 kinds of information technology user:
• Managers responsible for IT strategy
• Software developers and programmers
• System administrators
• Other IT trainers (passing leading-edge experience to the mass market)
GBdirect concentrates largely on training these groups on an in-house basis (on or off site).
Courses are taught by GBdirect consultants who practice the skills they teach.
Since much of our consultancy work now involves the design and deployment of web, internet, e-commerce and e-business technologies these topics weigh heavily in our training portfolio.

2007-08-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

OH&S REPORT
FOR NEW PRE - PRESS COMPUTER WORKSTATION

Completed by MAJA PULLMANOVA

2st August 2007

CONTENT

Background. 3
Recommendation. 5

Background

This printing company has the following dimension: 850 M2 (34m x 25m), ceiling height 6,5 metres, 21 windows around the floor, each production room has enough day light. It is important for checking qualities color samples and products. The Fire exit is marked through the pres production area and expedition area on the right side of building,. There is big expedition doors.
Customers access is situated on the left side of the building on front. Inside of the door is a reception desk. This is located on the left side of the room on the back. The reception area is 8m x 9m (72 M2). The reception desk has common area for waiting customers. Near by the reception desk is show room. Showroom is 5m x 9m (45 M2) boardroom with many products of our company. Behind the reception desk is PRE – PRESS area. It Is 13m x 11m ( 143 M2). Next to the PRE – PRESS area is PRESS PRODUCTION AREA. It is 20m x 15m (300 M2) and last is EXPEDITION AREA. It is 21m x 10 m ( 210 M2 ). All Printing company area is secured .
The reception area and pre – pres area has connects to the RTA mainframe server. The FIRST AID KIT is located in the each Production area..

Reception, Showroom and pre – press area are isolated. There is the barrier to isolate sound. Every production area has reverse cycle air-conditioning with climate control (humidity and temperature). There are sprinkles and smoke detector. In the all printing company are located separate fire extinguishers. They are CO2 based. CO2 fire extinguishers are good for electrical and oil based/hydrocarbon fires. Each production area has fire blanket. In press area is sufficient ventilation which extract fumes and exhalation from drying of color.
Every computer has protective filter of screen. As the result this does not affect excessive amount of glare from the screen. Inside all printing company are 21 sets of power points. Therefore, there are sufficient power points for the each work station.
There is insufficient artificial lighting in the propose area. For the current staff there are 8 trained printers and two graphics. In addition, there is Two clerk that does the administration work. The 6 Printers as part of their training and experience have already the OHS skills and knowledge for the job. These 6 printers have the responsibility for training of the clerk and two apprentice printers on OHS WORKCOVER requirements.
The floor plan is given in figure 1
Figure 1

Recommendation
Install the new PRE - PRESS computer in the office facing the door. Install another light above the computer. This would comply with the requirements of the WORKCOVER guidelines for environmental factors. For ergonomic requirements an additional ergonomic chair is purchased. The computer system is installed based on the WORKCOVER guide lines for the following:

The angle of the screen to the eye is max 30 degrees to horizontal. This is to protect the neck.
The key board is positioned to reduce stress on the risk.
The back rest is adjusted to ensure the back is vertical when seated.

Refer to http://www.acay.com.au/~mkrause/workstation_ergonomics.htm for additional information on Workstation Ergonomics.

The basic setup is given in Figure 2. Basically this includes the setup oft he following: Chair, Desk screen, Documents Layout, Keyboard, Mouse, Environment, Telephone Operations and Headsets and Work Organisation.

Figure 2

The workstation adjustment requirement relates to Figure3:
Figure 3

The layout of the workstation is given in figure 4

Figure 4

Additional requirements for posture are given in the following reference.
http://www.acay.com.au/~mkrause/posture.htm