1. Reducing costs and enhancing efficiency with capacity on demand
IBM Managed Hosting -
Linux virtual services
An e-business on demand solution for managed server capacity
Capitalizing on e-business on demand running the Linux operating system—
Highlights to help reduce costs without the up-front expense of buying
Many customers today are suffering the physical hardware. As an IBM
s Allows you to tap into server from server farm “sprawl.” As business e-business on demand™ solution, your
capacity on demand, simplifying reliance on information technology (IT) IBM Managed Hosting - Linux virtual
capacity planning and the Web grows, IT infrastructure services solution is delivered like a
grows—and customers are faced with utility: you only pay for the processing,
s Lowers up-front expense while
constantly deploying new servers to storage and network capacity you
improving performance with
keep up. Each of these dedicated require, and can easily add more to
virtual servers on IBM ^™
zSeries ® servers requires connections, middle- handle peaks or as your needs grow.
ware, firewall protection, redundancy, Instead of physical Web, database
s Provides rapid service backup, and more. The result: and application servers, your opera-
deployment for a faster time constantly escalating complexity and tions run on virtual servers, hosted
to market expense, a greater chance of problems and managed by IBM. A virtual server
and performance issues, and more combines the elements of a physical
s Manages workload peaks
potential points of failure—plus the server—computing capacity, storage
through flexible capacity
mounting need for expertise to manage capacity and network capacity—in a
capabilities
it all. These problems have many security-rich shared hosting environ-
s Consolidates workload on companies searching for new ways ment. Through the e-business on
zSeries running Linux to help to acquire IT capabilities. demand concept and industry-leading
reduce IT expense, complexity technology and experience, IBM
With IBM Managed Hosting - Linux Managed Hosting - Linux virtual
virtual services, you can consolidate services helps you improve the
distributed server workloads onto availability and reliability of your IT
robust IBM ^ zSeries servers environment while simplifying
your infrastructure.
2. Solution Snapshot Complementary managed services
are also available to help you optimize
Required per solution Required per virtual server (Linux instance)
your complete environment, and we
• Linux server cage, which includes: • Linux instance management
- Virtual router and firewall • Dynamic storage services can customize services to fit your
- Base DNS and mail services • Service units
specific needs.
• Networking services (bandwidth)
Available server types Additional options Offering mainframe performance
• Linux server (managed) • High-availability services without high up-front costs
• Linux Web server (Apache) • Linux assistance services
• DB2® for Linux IT managers are all too familiar with the
• WebSphere® Application Server for Linux dilemma of building and maintaining an
• WebSphere Commerce Suite for Linux
• Network-attached storage (NAS) for Linux IT infrastructure while facing limited
budgets, multiple workload types, and
Complementary and custom services
the need for high availability and
A range of complementary services—including storage and backup, monitoring and security
services—are also available. Enhanced customized services are designed to meet specific needs, security. IBM zSeries mainframe servers
and include virtual private network connections, advanced DNS and mail services, and provide power and performance,
advanced firewall.
but capitalizing on the strength of
mainframe-class servers has tradition-
Providing on-demand capacity for accommodate future growth or
ally required a large, up-front capital
optimum efficiency workload surges—so you can avoid
expense and specialized IT expertise.
Our experience with e-business wasting money on unused capacity.
Hosting™ customers has shown that To further ease the burden of capacity IBM Managed Hosting - Linux virtual
most companies overbuild their planning, you can easily add more services makes the power and reliability
solutions with a capacity overhead capacity as your business require- of the IBM zSeries mainframe available
of approximately 40 percent to cover ments dictate. to you without requiring you to purchase
growth and peak workloads. Routinely the physical hardware. With Linux
operating below maximum capacity, On-demand storage capacity also
virtual services, you can avoid making
however, means that money is enables you to buy only the storage
a substantial up-front investment while
being spent on a resource that you need. This allows you to optimize
capitalizing on the benefits of capacity
isn’t being used. your storage usage by eliminating
on demand. In addition to lowering your
separate, underutilized hard drives
up-front costs, you can leverage a state-
With Managed Hosting - Linux virtual housed on physical servers or
of-the-art hosting infrastructure. Our
services, you can purchase process- underutilized storage arrays. Linux
world-class IBM e-business Hosting
ing power by the “service unit.” Since virtual services leverages dynamic
Centers™ provide redundant facilities
you can purchase service units based storage services to help provide
and around-the-clock monitoring to
on your anticipated demand, there is discrete and reliable storage.
help ensure virtually continuous
no need to overdeploy capacity to
performance and network availability.
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3. The security-rich zSeries server platform Handling usage peaks with flexible options Consolidating the workload of your
is the same platform already trusted by Workload surges, anticipated or distributed system onto virtual servers
many of the world’s largest organiza- unanticipated, can cripple your on a zSeries running Linux helps you
tions to keep their mission-critical company if the surge exceeds the improve system reliability while
applications running around the limits of your capacity. Although simplifying system maintenance and
clock. As the foundation of the paying for extra capacity is an administration. Because your workload
zSeries platform, the revolutionary unattractive option, until now it has runs on virtual servers, your physical
z/Architecture™ provides optimal been the only way to safely handle requirements are removed—you don’t
flexibility in selecting, building and the workload surges you expect as need to purchase a mainframe or a
rapidly deploying applications across well as those you don’t. physical cage. By cutting the number
your e-business infrastructure, while of potential points of failure, workload
taking advantage of zSeries availability Managed Hosting - Linux virtual consolidation gives you greater
to ensure that your business is always services includes a ten-percent availability and reliability while reduc-
up and running. additional processing capacity per ing cost. Delegating hosting and
virtual server at no extra charge. This management of your solution to IBM
Gaining a competitive edge through enables you to commit to a certain enables you to focus on the long-
rapid deployment number of service units, based on the term growth of your company and
Speed has always been crucial in average of your anticipated processing frees your IT staff from time-intensive
business, but e-business has pushed needs, and still handle surges in your operational issues.
the need for speed to new heights. workload. For further flexibility, Linux
IBM Managed Hosting solutions can virtual services allows you to schedule Migrating to the Linux operating
help you improve your competitive additional capacity for workload system can also help improve the
position through rapid service peaks, such as batch processing, performance of your IT environment.
deployment. As an e-business on without paying for capacity beyond The world’s fastest-growing server
demand offering, Managed Hosting - your commit level. operating system—in large part due
Linux virtual services enables you to to its inherent cost benefits, scalability
deploy additional virtual servers Reducing IT expense by consolidating and reliability—Linux has a proven
quickly once the initial service has your workload record as an enterprise-class operating
been implemented. You also have Individual Intel-based servers system, providing the foundation
a choice of “ready-to-go” server are relatively inexpensive, but the for more than 2,800 independent
platforms, including an Apache-based associated operating expenses can software vendor (ISV) applications.
Linux Web server, DB2 Universal quickly multiply. Software resources Choosing Linux virtual services enables
™
Database and WebSphere—plus need to be duplicated for each server, you to leverage these Linux benefits
a managed Linux server environment and all server communication is done and reduce your dependency on
that is ready for your own applications. through external networking hardware— proprietary operating systems.
The reduced time-to-market from significant factors that can require a
concept to service delivery can help great deal of time and expensive
you achieve a first-mover advantage systems management skills to handle.
or fast-follower capabilities.
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