Carnival Cruise Case Study: Slashing Server Footprint

Carnival Cruise Lines slashes server footprint by around 60 percent, preserving scarce shipboard resources

•  Consolidation•  Dell Systems Management•  Green Computing•  Power & Cooling•  Services•  Storage•  Virtualization

“ We do everything possible to ensure that our guests enjoy their vacations. By providing a highly reliable server environment, our virtual machines support that mission.” John Staker, Senior Information Systems Manager, Carnival Dream

Customer Profile

Company: CarnivalCruiseLines

Industry: Travel,HospitalityandTourism

Country: UnitedStates

Employees: 43,000

Web: www.carnival.com

Business NeedEachCarnivalCruiseLinesshipoperatesasaself-sufficientenvironmentinwhichpowerandfloorspacearelimited,makingITefficiencyacriticalrequirement.Severalyearsago,theITinfrastructureonCarnivalshipswasconsumingtoomuchpowerandoccupyingtoolargeafootprint.ThecompanyengagedDellConsultingServicestoevaluateitsoptions.

SolutionCarnivalbeganvirtualizingshipboardserversusingVMware®vSphere™runningonDell™PowerEdge™serverswithIntel®Xeon®processorsandDellEqualLogic™storagearrays.TheimplementationhasbeensosuccessfulatboostingefficiencythatCarnivalalsoadoptedDellPowerEdgeandDellEqualLogicequipmentinitsshoresidedatacenterandremoteofficeoperations.Now,CarnivalismovingitscriticalOracledatawarehousefromaSolarisandFibreChannelplatformtoRedHatLinuxrunningonDellPowerEdgeserversandEqualLogiciSCSISANs.

  Benefits

•  Approximately 60% reduction  in physical footprint of servers  on ships

•  Approximately 7,000 hours/year reclaimed for shipboard  IS managers

•  100% availability for shipboard virtual servers over past 6 months

•  Shoreside management possible  for storage arrays on ships at sea

•  4-hour recovery time objective (RTO) for virtual machines through SAN-based replication

•  38% performance improvement  for Oracle data warehouse in proof-of-concept

•  Hundreds of thousands of dollars saved by selecting iSCSI SAN

“Ourshipscarryasmanyas4,500guestsatatime,sopaper-and-pencilmanagementdoesn’tcutit,”saysDougEney,vicepresident,informationsystemsengineeringforCarnival.“Whenguestscomeonboard,weneedtohavetheircabinpreparedthewaytheywantit.Whentheyarriveatdinner,thewinetheyrequestedneedstobeontheirtable.Andwhentheydisembarkatadestination,theirshoresideactivitiesneedtobeexactlyastheirreservationsspecify.Allthelogisticsthatmakeavacationgosmoothlyneedtobetransparenttoourguests.Makingthathappenrequiresexcellent,reliabletechnology.”

Destination: efficient and  effective IT

EveryshipintheCarnivalCruiseLinesfleetisitsownfloatingisland,whichposesuniquechallengesforIT.“Acruiseshipiscompletelyself-contained,”saysEney.“Itcarriesitsownwaterandgeneratesitsownelectricity.Thephysicalfootprintofhardwaredevicesisahugeissueonaship.Reliabilityisalsocrucial.Ifsomethingbreaksontheship,ithastobefixedontheship;hardwarevendorsaren’tgoingtosendnewpartsbyhelicopter.Oursystemsmustbebothhighlyavailableandhighlyefficient.”

Afewyearsago,eachshipintheCarnivallinerequiredbetween13and22physicalservers,withdirect-attachedstorage,torunthevariousapplicationsthatsupportoperations.“Wehadoneserverforeachjob,sothosesystemsweretakingupalotoffloorspace,”saysRodneyOrange,supervisorofWintelserverengineering.“Weneededtoreducethephysical,powerandcoolingfootprintofeachship’sITinfrastructure.”

60% smaller server footprint

CarnivalengagedDellConsultingServicestohelpevaluateitsutilization

ofshipboardserversanddeterminehowitcouldusevirtualizationtomeetitsconsolidationgoals.Its22shipsrotatethroughdrydocksothateachgetsacompleteoverhauleveryfewyearsorso.Startingwiththeshipsthatwereondrydockatthetime,CarnivalbeganimplementingVMwarevSphereservervirtualizationandDellEqualLogicvirtualstoragesolutions.Thefirstshipssawtheirserverfootprintconsolidatedto22virtualmachineshostedonthreeDellPowerEdgeR900serverssupportedbytwoEqualLogicPS5000XVSANs.Morerecently,shipshavebegunreceivingDellPowerEdge

Customers of Carnival Cruise Lines want to get away from it all. Whether they choose to dance into the wee hours, play miniature golf with the kids or just read a great book by the pool, most are looking for a vacation from the complexities of everyday life. Paradoxically, the company’s fun and carefree cruises rely on a cutting-edge and highly efficient IT infrastructure to run smoothly.

“ We initially selected the PowerEdge R900 servers because of their chipset.” Rodney Orange, Supervisor of Wintel Server Engineering, Carnival Cruise Lines

Technology at Work

Services

Dell™ConsultingServices

Hardware

DellEqualLogic™PS6010XV,PS6010XVS,PS6000XV,PS6000EandPS5000XVstoragearrays

DellLatitude™laptopswithIntel®Core™2Duoprocessors

DellOptiPlex™desktopcomputerswithIntelprocessors

DellPowerEdge™R710,R900and2950serverswithIntelXeon®processors

DellStudioOne19all-in-onedesktopcomputerswithIntelCore™2Duoprocessors

Software

DellEqualLogicSANHeadQuarters

Oracle®10gdatabases

RedHatLinux

VMware®vSphere™

WindowsServer®2008and2003

R710serverswithEqualLogicPS6000XVorPS6000ESANs.

“WeinitiallyselectedthePowerEdgeR900serversbecauseoftheirchipset,”saysOrange.“Butwe’vefoundthatalthoughthePowerEdgeR710servershaveasmallerfootprint,theycanholdasmanyvirtualmachinesastheR900servers,ifnotmore.”Fifteenofthecompany’sshipsnowrunavirtualenvironment;theentirefleetwillbeupgradedbytheendof2011.

Ontheupgradedships,efficienciesabound.Now,thecriticalapplicationsandservicesfortheship,includingMicrosoftExchange,runonthevirtualized,consolidatedDellplatform.“Nowthatwe’vegonevirtual,we’resavingfloorspace,savingpowerandgettingbetterairflow,whichkeepstheserverscooler,”saysJohnStaker,seniorinformationsystemsmanageronthenewshipCarnivalDream.“We’vereducedthephysicalfootprintofourserversby60percent.”

“Acrossourfleet,thecombinationofVMwarerunningonefficientDellserverswithEqualLogicstoragearraysisprovingtobeagreensolution,whilealsogreatlyreducingthecostofrunningourships’criticalapplications,”saysEney.

Simplified management saving 7,000 IT hours per year

ITstaffarealsosavingtimetheypreviouslyspentonsystemadministration.DrivenbyacombinationofstorageautomationandintelligenceoftheEqualLogicSANsandadvancedvStorageAPIintegrationwithVMwarevSphere,Carnival’svirtualizationsolutionisabletoextendefficiencyacrosstheentireITinfrastructure.

“Managementofourserversisgreatlysimplified,”saysStaker.“Wenolongerhavetospendtimegoingthroughlogsforeachserver.VMwarevCenterenablesustosee,inoneplace,everythingthat’shappening.Plus,ifavirtualserverisrunningslowly,wecanaddanotherprocessor,doubletheRAM,addmorediskspace—dowhateverweneedtodo—withoutphysicallyopeningupthebox.Eachshipboardinformationsystems(IS)managerissaving5to10hoursaweek,soacrossthe15shipsthathavegonevirtual,wemaybesavingasmuchas7,000hoursayear.”

Moreover,ITstaffeffectivenesshasincreased.ISmanagersmovebetweenshipsasfrequentlyaseverysixmonths.Previously,wheneachshiphaddifferenthardware,anISmanagerwouldrequiretimetogetuptospeedafteratransfer.Inthevirtualenvironment,managementofvirtualmachines,aswellasserverandstoragehardware,isverysimilarbetweenships.“WhenIcomeintoanewsituation,Icanfocusonwhatneedstobedonewithouthavingtoreinventthewheeleverytime,”saysStaker.“It’sfantastic.”

CarnivalusesEqualLogicSANHeadQuarterssoftwaretomonitorperformanceoftheshipboardstoragearraysfromadatacenterinMiami.“Wehaveroughly60EqualLogicSANs,mostofwhichareinmotionatanygiventime,”saysJohnAshmore,managerofsystemsengineering.“ButEqualLogicSANHQenablesustolookatallourstorageplatformsfromonecentralizedlocation.”

Fromtheshoresidedatacenter,theITstaffmonitorsalertsandstorageutilization.Whennecessary,theyalsoplancapacityincreasesfortheSANs.“OnethingweparticularlylikeaboutDellEqualLogicstorageisitsabilitytoscaleincrementally,”saysAshmore.“WecanaddbothstoragecapacityandcontrollercapacitytogenerateadditionalI/Owithasingleunit.”

High-availability data centers  at sea

ThevirtualizedserverandstorageplatformalsohelpsCarnivaldeliverhighavailabilityandredundancyforitsisolatedfloatingdatacenters.UsingvSphere’svComputeandvStoragefeaturesbackedupbyaniSCSISAN,Carnivalcanachievehighlyreliableproductionenvironments.Inaddition,withEqualLogicauto-replication,theSANshavealocalrecoveryoptionbuiltin.

“We’realsotakingadvantageofthesoftwarefeaturesthatareincludedatnoextracostwiththeDellEqualLogicplatform,includingsnapshottingandreplicationfordisasterrecovery,”saysAshmore.“MostofourshipshaveathirdEqualLogicarray,keptinaseparateroom,towhichtheprimarySANsreplicatedata.Ifavirtualserverweretofail,wecouldrecoveritfromthereplicatedVMwarevirtualmachineswithinafour-hourwindoworless.”

“ Across our fleet, the combination of VMware running on efficient Dell servers with EqualLogic storage arrays is proving to be a green solution, while also greatly reducing the cost of running our ships’ critical applications.” Doug Eney, Vice President, Information Systems Engineering, Carnival Cruise Lines

Sofar,theDell-basedvirtualinfrastructurehasbeenextremelyreliable.“Thestoragearrayshavebeenrock-solid,”Stakersays.“Ifserversononeofourshipswentdown,thatwouldimpactthewholeguestexperience.ButtheEqualLogicarraysjustrun.OnCarnivalDream,we’vehad100percentavailabilityofourserverssincetheirlaunchsixmonthsago.We’veneverhadanyproblemswiththem.AtCarnivalCruiseLines,wedoeverythingpossibletoensurethatourguestsenjoytheirvacation.Byprovidingahighlyreliableserverenvironment,ourvirtualmachinesonDellserversandEqualLogicstoragesupportthatmission.”

38% performance improvement for data warehouse

NowCarnivalisplanningtomoveitsshoresideOracle10gdatawarehouseontoasimilarplatformofDellPowerEdgeserversandDellEqualLogicstoragearrays.“Ourdatawarehouseisveryimportanttous,”saysGarthLyn,Supervisor,UNIXandStorageEngineeringwithCarnival.“Weusebusinessintelligencesoftwaretocrunchinformationinourdatawarehouse,analyzingwhat’shappeningonourcruises,howguestsarespendingtheirtimeandwhat’sgoingoninthetravelindustry.Thishelpsuseffectivelypriceourcruises,soitgivesusadistinctcompetitiveadvantage.”

ThedatawarehousehasbeenrunningonalegacySunSolaris-basedsystemsupportedbyEMCSymmetrixstorage,buttheserverhardwareisend-of-lifeandthediskarraycannotsupportCarnival’sprojectedshort-termgrowth.DellConsultingServicesperformedasix-weekproof-of-conceptusingPowerEdgeR710serversrunningRedHatLinuxwithDellEqualLogicstorage.

First,Dellconsultantstesteda10-gigabitiSCSIEqualLogicPS6010XVSAN.Performancewasapproximately19percentbetterthanthatofCarnival’scurrentproductiondatawarehouse.ThenDellrepeatedthetestsusingaDellEqualLogicPS6010XVShybridarray,whichincludesbothsolid-statedrivesandspinningdisks.Thehybridarrayproducedanadditional16percentperformancegain,foratotal38percentperformanceimprovementoverthecurrentenvironment.

“TheDellconsultantshelpedusrealizetheadvantageoftheEqualLogicPS6010XVSSAN,whichisthatithostshotdataonthesolid-statedriveswhilepushingcolddata,theleast-useddata,totheslowerspinningdisks,”explainsLyn.“Thisensuresthatthemostfrequentlyuseddataisservedupfast,butwedon’thavetomanagethemovementofdatabetweenthetwotypesofstorage.Andthehybridsolutionismuchlessexpensivethanapuresolid-statediskwouldbe.Theproof-of-conceptshowedusthattheDellsolutioncansaveus60to80percentcomparedwiththehigh-endenterprisestorageoptionswewereconsidering,and40to60percentcomparedwithourmidrangeenterpriseoptions.”

Theproof-of-conceptsoldCarnivalonthebenefitsofmovingtoiSCSIeveninadatacenterthatalreadyhadFibreChannelconnectivity.“WealreadyhadFibreChannelinourdatacenter,butthecostofexpandingtheplatformtoincreaseourstoragecapacitydroveustouseiSCSI,”saysAshmore.“What’sgreatabouttheDellEqualLogicPS6010seriesisthatwith10-gigabitEthernetasastandard,weactuallyhavefastertransportoveraniSCSInetworkthanoverourFibreChannel.”Betteryet,Eneyadds:“Overthenextfiveyears,thisdatawarehousemigrationwillsave

ushundredsofthousandsofdollarsthatwewouldotherwisebespendingonstoragehardwareandstoragemanagementsoftware.”

Dell throughout the enterprise

Intwodatacenters,anofficeinLondonandshipyardsinItaly,CarnivalrunsavirtualizationplatformusingMicrosoftHyper-VrunningonDellPowerEdge2950serversandtheefficientDellEqualLogicPS5000seriesSANs.TheseofficesrequireMicrosoftExchangeandSQLServer,buttheircomputingrequirementsaremorelimitedthanthoseofthecompany’sdatacenter.“TheEqualLogicSANsfitverywellinourremoteoffices,”saysEney.“Insteadofadatacenter,wehaveasmallwiringclosetintheselocations.TheDellandEqualLogicplatformenablesustofittheneededstorageandserversinacompactspace.”

CarnivalalsousesDellclientsolutionsthroughoutitscorporateenvironment,includingDellLatitudelaptopsandDellOptiPlexdesktopcomputersforemployeesandDellStudioOne19all-in-onedesktopcomputersforpassengeruseinCarnivalDream’sFunHub,comprisedofaship-specificintranetandthecruiseindustry’sfirstshipboardsocialnetwork.

Dell: a true partner

“WehaveatruepartnershipwithDell,”Eneyconcludes.“Manyvendorshavewalkedinhereandsaidthey’reourpartner,butthenwe’vehadaproblemwhenthepresalesperiodwasoverandthepartnershipwentoutthewindow.Delldeliverscost-effectiveandreliablesolutions,andwheneverwe’vebroughtupissueswiththeDellteam,they’vedeterminedtherootcauseandworkedwithusonthesolution.Theyalwaysshowacommitmenttoactuallybeingourpartner.”

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©September2010.IntelandIntelXeonareregisteredtrademarksofIntelCorporationintheUnitedStatesorothercountries.WindowsServerisaregisteredtrademarkofMicrosoftCorporationintheUnitedStatesand/orothercountries.Thiscasestudyisforinformationalpurposesonly.DELLMAKESNOWARRANTIES,EXPRESSORIMPLIED,INTHISCASESTUDY.Referencenumber:10008832

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