Simplifying capacity planning and management

IT organizations increasingly rely on complex, heterogeneous storage environments that span multiple on-premises vendors and cloud providers, and multiple generations of hardware. The sheer volume and diversity of data, coupled with the need for seamless access and cost optimization, creates a monumental task for IT departments. Capacity management in such an environment is no longer just about having enough space; it also encompasses optimizing utilization, predicting future needs, balancing workloads, and maintaining performance across all platforms.  

This is where NetApp^® Data Infrastructure Insights comes into play, offering a comprehensive solution that’s designed to navigate the intricacies of modern multicloud storage environments and streamline tedious business processes. Cloud Insights simplifies capacity planning by filling in critical gaps left by element managers, providing standardized metrics for heterogeneous storage, easy identification of wasted resources, and much more.

Hybrid and heterogeneous are the new normal. There are endlessly debatable pros and cons of a multivendor storage strategy, but even the most committed customers often find at least two or three different bezels on their storage arrays. Whether intentional, by acquisitions, one-off pet projects, regime change, or shifting cloud strategy, it’s more common than not for a storage team to be dealing with multiple storage and cloud vendors. 

Every storage array has its own element manager, every public cloud provider has its own web UI, and they all present data in their own way, often using their own terminology. This situation is untenable for the storage team that is responsible for capacity planning. Fortunately, NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights can help. 

DII provides a common operational picture of all capacity utilization and waste across all on-premises infrastructure and major cloud providers. This comprehensive visibility simplifies capacity management, enabling informed decisions. Regardless of the complexity of your environment, DII storage is just storage and you get the same normalized data and terminology for every storage element in the environment. 

One of the big challenges of managing a complex IT landscape is all the different reporting that is required. Most element managers provide some level of functionality for configuration and performance reporting, but aggregating that information into something useful across a heterogeneous storage landscape can be extremely time consuming and error prone. 

NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights significantly reduces the toil associated with common IT tasks and automates traditionally manual tasks such as tracking resource utilization, identifying wasted resources, and generating reports. This ability frees up valuable time so that IT teams can focus on initiatives rather than routine maintenance.

For instance, Data Infrastructure Insights can automatically identify underutilized resources and optimization opportunities, eliminating the need for manual audits. Additionally, Data Infrastructure Insights generates automated management reports that provide insights into capacity trends, resource allocation, and cost distribution, among other key metrics. These reports can be customized and scheduled, which means that stakeholders always have up-to-date information at their fingertips.

By automating these tasks, Data Infrastructure Insights reduces the burden on IT teams and also enhances accuracy and efficiency, leading to better-informed decision making and improved infrastructure management.

NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights offers two powerful features that revolutionize capacity planning in complex, multiplatform environments. 

First, Unified Infrastructure Monitoring provides a comprehensive view of your infrastructure across all platforms. It ensures availability, tracks headroom, and identifies trends, offering cross-platform consistency that is crucial to maintaining a diverse storage landscape. This ability allows you to monitor your entire infrastructure from a single point, simplifying management and ensuring that you're always aware of your current capacity and usage, regardless of where it comes from.  

Second, Predictive Analytics offers invaluable foresight by providing insights into capacity trends. This feature allows you to avoid disaster by predicting future storage needs. By combining real-time monitoring with predictive analytics, Data Infrastructure Insights prevents unpleasant surprises and helps avoid emergency storage purchases by providing plenty of runway to address unexpected storage growth.  

In the world of IT, having disparate teams, administrators, and managers using different tools and processes can lead to communication gaps, inefficiency, and errors. By providing a common platform, Data Infrastructure Insights helps all to be on the same page and speaking the same language.  

This unified approach fosters collaboration, enhances understanding, and streamlines processes. With everyone accessing the same data and using the same metrics, it becomes easier to coordinate efforts, make collective decisions, and troubleshoot issues. And this approach eliminates the need for time-consuming translations between different systems or metrics. In essence, Data Infrastructure Insights acts as a universal language within the broader IT organization, promoting efficiency, accuracy, and harmony. 

In conclusion, NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights provides a comprehensive suite of tools for effective capacity planning and management. With this capability, IT departments can significantly enhance their ability to forecast future needs, optimize resource allocation, reduce unnecessary expenditures, and proactively address potential shortages before they impact service delivery. With its intuitive visualizations and actionable intelligence, NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights empowers organizations to make data-driven decisions, facilitating a more efficient and effective approach to capacity planning and management.  

For more information, check out our other Data Infrastructure Insights blogs. To get started with a free trial in your own environment, go to Innovate faster with valuable insights.