SQL Server 2000 Consolidation: a business case

• Other consolidations—Servers that, along with SQL Server 2000, have other higher-priority
functions (especially Web servers) and are included under other consolidation projects can be
excluded from the scope of the project to avoid redundant efforts.
• Frequently changing servers—SQL Server 2000 servers that will be undergoing frequent changes or
rebuilds during the timeline of the consolidation project can be excluded from its scope. Any
information gathered about these servers would quickly become invalid due to the ongoing
changes.
• Tier 4 servers—These servers show extremely high utilization with existing workload and should be
analyzed thoroughly for potential performance improvements and for bottleneck detection before
being added to the consolidation list.
The servers and databases identified for consolidation should be placed into an SQL table as early in
the process as possible. This table can later be augmented with performance data collected from each
server so that queries or stored procedures can be used to quickly generate a consolidation matrix.
This approach significantly reduces the labor-intensive process of analyzing large quantities of data
for a large number of servers—and it will also simplify the process of updating and distributing scope
changes.
Once the identified servers and databases are formally listed in a project scope document, their
respective database administrators (DBAs) are formally informed, and the servers are put into “freeze
mode” to make certain that no configuration changes can be performed on in-scope servers. Once
this freeze occurs, a server utilization study can be performed.
Server utilization study—application profiling
The first part of server utilization study is application profiling. Application profile information can be
formally documented by populating an application profile grid with application-specific information
such as application properties, availability and performance needs, and expected growth in
application workload. This information will make it easier to identify the applications that will be
affected by consolidation, their application availability requirements, and their expected application
growth. The application profile grid has three sections: general information, availability and
performance information, and 2-year growth information. Sample questionnaires for each of these
sections follow.
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