J&B Group was facing server sprawl issues with 20 Dell servers running various applications. They implemented an IBM xSeries virtualization solution with VMware software to consolidate servers. This reduced their server footprint to 6 virtual servers on one xSeries 440 system. It provided benefits like smaller data center footprint, lower maintenance costs, improved disaster recovery capabilities and faster ROI of less than a year. They plan to add another xSeries 445 system for high availability and split the workload between the two systems.

1. IBM Case Study
J&B Group freezes runaway
server sprawl with virtual servers
on IBM ^ xSeries.
Overview
 Application
Server consolidation using
IBM ^® xSeries ® virtual
servers with centralized storage
 Business Benefits
Smaller server footprint with
projected ROI in less than a year
from savings in maintenance costs
and reduced capital investment in
new servers; enhanced business
continuance capabilities
 Servers
IBM ^ xSeries 440 and 445;
J&B Group operates a wholesale food distribution business with its own fleet of trucks, in addition to
IBM TotalStorage ® FAStT900 supplying restaurants and institutional food facilities.
Storage Server
 Software
IBM FlashCopy ®; VMware ESX;
Linux Kernal 2.6
Refrigerators and offices are not “The IBM and VMware
comparable in most respects, yet
 Business Partners virtualization solution
they do share a common dilemma:
Citrix Systems, Inc.
always running out of space. This is
will begin to earn an
TSG Server and Storage
VMware, Inc. a fact that J&B Group (J&B) knows ROI in less than a year
only too well. With its 380 employees, because we’re using the
Minnesota-based J&B processes x440 instead of making
and distributes fresh and frozen
capital investments in
meats, deli and other food products
in an 11-state area. It even offers
new servers.”
a public cold storage facility for – Kurt Anderson, Vice President of IT,
wholesale customers who don’t have J&B Group
enough space in their own freezers

2. Earning fast ROI with high-performance virtual servers
and refrigerators. However, with its
burgeoning business spawning new
IT applications continually to keep its
operations efficient, J&B wasn’t happy
about the growing number of servers
on its data-center floor. Not only did it
confound human traffic and consume
power, it was driving up costs and
quickly proving to be an inefficient the data center. Less obvious was
model for growth. the manageability problem. All
our servers had to be maintained
Twenty Dell servers ran the company’s individually, which meant a lot
business processes, such as of repetitive, manual tasks for IT
connectivity solutions from IBM technicians who could have been
Virtual servers on rack-dense IBM xSeries Business Partner Citrix Systems, Inc., doing more value-add work.”
systems can take the place of a room full of
payroll systems, e-mail applications
physical machines.
and databases that support logistics, Also of concern were the availability
help desk and costing solutions. and recoverability of data and
Two IBM UNIX® processor-based applications. To upgrade a server,
systems ran the company’s enterprise a technician had to power it down.
resource planning (ERP) systems. With no redundant servers to take
over the workload and no centralized
“Server sprawl created a number of storage to automatically restore
problems for us,” says Kurt Anderson, operating systems, applications
vice president of IT, J&B Group. and data, downtime was a very
“The space issue was of course serious proposition. “We lost a
visible to anyone who came through whole day of shipping once when a
server went down,” says Anderson.
“That was a wake-up call. We
needed to find a more efficient,
“Quality starts at the manufacturing end, dependable infrastructure for our
and IBM is a computer manufacturer, business systems.”
whereas its competitors are computer
assemblers. There’s quite a bit of difference.”
– Kurt Anderson

3. The incredible shrinking server solution
Seeking a manageable,
recoverable solution, Anderson
took the suggestion of J&B’s IBM
representative and visited an IBM
Executive Briefing Center in Raleigh,
North Carolina — a resource center
for customers who are evaluating
server and storage solutions. There
he encountered the solution he’d
been looking for— IBM ^
xSeries systems running server
virtualization software from IBM
Business Partner VMware. With
virtual servers taking the place of
The scalable design of the xSeries provides customers with a building-block approach that enables future
boxes on the floor, J&B’s data center expansion in low-cost increments.
would be safer for human traffic,
and for business data as well.
As a result, six virtual servers on one
IBM xSeries 440 machine are now In addition to saving costs and floor Perhaps the most welcome feature of
processing the workload of five Dell space, the virtualization solution the new solution is the assurance it
machines, and more machines will was easy to install and requires little brings that data and applications will
be replaced in the near future. With maintenance. With the help of IBM be available when they are needed.
centralized storage in the form of an Business Partner TSG Server and Citrix Metaframe XPA with NFuse, for
IBM TotalStorage FAStT900 storage Storage, J&B implemented its server instance, provides remote employees
server, data is backed up routinely and storage solution in two months. with access to the company’s
and is recoverable to all six virtual “The IBM and VMware virtualization business systems. “Many of our
servers in a single, fast process. solution will begin to earn an ROI in employees use this service to check
less than a year because we’re using their e-mails and enter orders when
the x440 instead of making capital they are away from the office, and
investments in new servers,” our remote offices use this service
says Anderson. exclusively to perform their daily
duties. We would be lost without
this application, and now we can
ensure its availability.”

4. Enterprise architecture times six as Dell because they take both For more information
With its new xSeries solution, machines apart and show you what Please contact your IBM sales
J&B runs its Citrix applications; you’re getting. That was when we representative or IBM Business Partner
three third-party databases; e-mail, decided to make the switch to IBM
file and print systems; and a MITS servers. We saw that IBM technology Visit us at: ibm.com/servers
business intelligence application on is really designed for the enterprise
To find out more about J&B Group,
a single xSeries 8-way 440 system with autonomic features to help
please visit: www.jbgroup.com
with 2.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors. ensure availability, such as Light Path
VMware ESX software running Diagnostics and Predictive Failure To find out more about Citrix, VMware
on Linux Kernel 2.6 partitions the Analysis. Also, there’s IBM Director and TSG Server and Storage, visit:
xSeries into six virtual servers with for efficient system management and www.citrix.com
no degradation in the performance the Enterprise X-Architecture™, which www.vmware.com
of the applications that had run on is based on the standard computing www.tsg-usa.com
individual, physical machines. platform for the enterprise, the IBM
mainframe. We also saw the way
J&B leverages IBM FlashCopy software IBM manufactures its equipment.
with its IBM TotalStorage FAStT900 Quality starts at the manufacturing
storage server to take flash and end, and IBM is a computer
volume copies of the data on all its manufacturer, whereas its competitors
servers several times a day. This way, are computer assemblers. There’s
the business has a backup of its quite a bit of difference.” © Copyright IBM Corporation 2004
data should it need to take down IBM Corporation
any of its servers or experience an Building profits through IBM technology Route 100
Somers, New York 10589
accidental outage. As it counts the many benefits of U.S.A.
its IBM solution, J&B is contemplating Produced in the United States of America
The next step for J&B is to create extending its virtualization strategy 04-04
All Rights Reserved
redundancy at the server level to still further. Eventually, the company
^, the e-business logo, FlashCopy, IBM,
ensure the business continuity it has would like to implement storage area the IBM logo, TotalStorage, X-Architecture and
been seeking. For this, the company network (SAN) virtualization with xSeries are trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other
plans to purchase an xSeries 445 IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume countries or both.
system along with VMware ESX Controller and IBM TotalStorage UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group
software, and it will split its workload SAN File System. These software in the United States and other countries.
in half so that each of the two products greatly simplify storage This case study is an example of how one customer
and Business Partners use IBM products. There is
machines is both a production management and facilitate the no guarantee of comparable results.
server and a hot standby. utilization of data resources from References in this publication to IBM products or
multiple operating systems. services do not imply that IBM intends to make
“The ability to host so many them available in all countries in which IBM operates.
applications on the xSeries with “When we made the decision to
redundancy and storage is a powerful switch to IBM,” says Anderson,
offering,” says Anderson. “But what “we enhanced our technology tool
really struck me at the IBM Executive chest with a new set of tools that
Briefing Center was the xSeries itself. we can use to grow our business
You see a side-by-side comparison profitably. We also got some elbow
with competing machines such room to expand and time to focus
on strategies for the future.”