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The document proposes a new workflow to streamline the storage request process. It recommends that application teams work directly with the storage administration team for physical storage allocation and associated costs, rather than going through the database administration team as an intermediary. This will reduce delays, confrontation, and make application teams more responsible for budgeting and efficient data practices. The document outlines the new recommended workflows for different storage-related scenarios.
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- 1. Below is the published white paper I wrote that won an award in the IMFs Financial and Administrative Systems department. The first version is a copy as it currently appears on the IMFs intranet. The second version below it is simply a text version which is easier to read.
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- 5. 5 Principles of Continuous Improvementand Calling Into Question Unrealistic Plans and Practices IMF Intranet (Financial and Administrative Systems Award Recipient) March 6, 2014 This article provides a new and improved worked flow that will yield quicker turnaround, less confrontation between all departments involved, make the application teams more responsible in their budget planning process, and influence the application teams to think in more efficient terms of data usage and storage. I'm pleased to announce that the TGSIF leadership team has selected Jimmy Ferrara as the first person to be recognized for Living the TGSIF Principles! Please join me in congratulating Jimmy! A Living the TGSIF Principles poster has been placed on Jimmy's door. Please submit any additional nominations to Laurie Husak. Jimmy wrote the following to describe the situation and we think that it is an exemplary demonstration of the Principles we focus on continuous improvement and we call into question unsound or unrealistic plans and practices. Jeffrey Modell Division Chief, TGS Financial and Administrative Systems International Monetary Fund (202) 623-7523 --- December2013 re: Tasks165440 and 171625 Task Description:Increase the size of the tablespace 'IMFAPATTCH'to50GB. The record IMF_PCSH_FA_TBL, whichwill be usedforstoringthe IERSClaimreceipts,willbe addedtothis tablespace. The Issue:In orderto performthe requestedDDLonthistablespace,the physical diskstorage must firstexist,otherwise the tablespacewillgrow until itconsumesitsdatavolume to100% capacity, therebyputtingthe database inafrozenstate all transactionsstopandno new connectionsare allowed;essentially,takingaproductiondatabase offline.These typesof requestsare analogousto a homeowneraskingforanadditiontobe builtontohishouse,yethe doesnthave the acreage that wouldallowenoughspace forsaidadditiontophysicallybe constructed. The History:In the past, IFSAAsdbagroupwouldplayman-in-the-middleandgoto IRsStorage Adminteam,andrequestthatthe physical space be allocatedonbehalf of the requesting applicationteam.At$20 a GB fortierI storage,and $10 a GB for tierII storage,the firstquestionIR alwaysasks,Whospayingforthis? Out of what budgetshouldwe charge?etc.Thisstarteda roundof deliberationsbetweenthe applicationteamrequestingthe task,IFSAA dbagroup,andIR Storage Admingroup puttingIFSAAsdbateaminthe middle.Afterweeks,sometime months,of decidingwhere the fundsweretobe sourcedfrom, andwhateverdeals,underthe table or otherwise were workedout(alotof one time favorsor well pull the moneyfromhere fornow),
- 6. 6 eventuallythe storage wouldbe addedafterwe hadtolistentovariouslecturesfromIRabouthow theycant give awaythisstorage for free,etc.Inthe endit was always a long,drawnout,and painful processwiththe dbateamstuckin between:IRcomplainingtousthat someone hasto pay for the storage,the applicationownercomplainingtousthat itwas not theirresponsibilitytopay for the storage,or theydidntunderstandwhythe storage wassoexpensive. My SolutiontoProcessImprovement:Withthistask,Idecideditwastime to pull IFSAAsdbagroup out of the role of playingthe middlemannegotiatortryingtostrike adealbetweenthe requesting application teams,e.g.,TGSIFHR,TGSIFFADW,etc.andIRsStorage Adminteam.Iexplainedinan email toBruce Ward that I couldnot performthe DDL on the requestedtablespace until the physical diskstorage actuallyexistedinthe finprodvolumesandthathe would have tocreate anothertask assignedtoIRsStorage Adminteam, withPaul Hutchinsasthe assignee,askingfor50GB of disk space to be allocatedtothe data volumes.IalsoinformedBruce thatIRwouldbe askingwhose budgetshouldbe charged. The Outcome & Benefit:Muchto hiscredit,Bruce understoodthe taskrequiredworkfromtwo differentdepartmentsunderTGSandaskedYogesto create a new taskto create the physical disk storage on finprodandassignitto IR. YogesfollowedthroughbycreatingTask171625. The benefits were a quickerturnaroundwithoutthe dbagrouphavingtoargue betweenIRandthe requesting applicationteam,IRwasable to getdirectanswerstocostingstraightfrom the applicationteamand performthe taskas a directassignmentfromthem.IRthencoordinatedwithme whenthe physical diskspace was presentsothatI could proceedwithmydbatask of performingthe DDL necessaryto allowthe tablespace togrowto the requestedsize. LookingAhead:Thisrepresentsanew andimprovedworkedflow thatwill provide quicker turnaround,lessconfrontationbetweenthe three groupsinvolved,make the applicationteams more responsibleintheirbudgetplanningprocess,andperhapsinfluence the applicationteamsto thinkinmore efficienttermsof datausage and storage now that theyare aware that theirrequests for more diskspace isntthe same type of diskstorage as buyinga $79 diskdrive atBestBuy. DetailedWorkflowforGoingForward:Recently,therehasbeenmuchdiscussion thatIFSAAsdba teamis neededtospecifythe namesof the volumesandthe sizesetc.,andshouldmanage all the tasksassociatedwithstorage.Partsof thisargumentare true for newstorage as inthe creationof a newdatabase.However,IRsStorage Adminteamstill hastophysicallyallocate the storage,and IRsUnix Adminteamhasto mountit.In the case, as shownabove,where additionalstorage was requestedtoanalreadyexistingdatabase,the dbateamdoesnotneedtoprovide thisinformation. Therefore,Ihave listedthe properworkflow forthree,typical scenariosrelatedtodiskstorage purchase or expansion: NewDatabaseCreation: 1) ApplicationteamsubmitsataskrequesttoIFSAAsdbateamsupplyingthe name of the database to be createdand the size of its data requirements 2) Dba team updatesthe taskwiththe full pathnamesof the volumesandtheirsizes. 3) Applicationteamcopiesandpastesthisinformationintothe requirementsfieldof anewly createdtask assigneddirectly toIRsStorage Adminteamaswell asworkingoutbudgetcharging directlywiththem. 4) Once IR closesthe above task,the dba teamcreatesthe new database.
- 7. 7 DatabaseDDL Requiring AdditionalStorageto an Existing Database: 1) ApplicationteamconsultswithIFSAAsdbateamto expandatablespace explainingindetailthe reasonsforthissuddengrowth.If the dba teamdeterminesitisajustifiedrequestandconcludes there isno otherway,e.g.,purgingoutolddata, etc.,the dba teamwill give them the greenlightto create two tasks: 2) ApplicationteamcreatesataskassigneddirectlytoIRsStorage Adminteamspecifyingthe size of additional storage neededaswell asworkingoutbudgetchargingdirectlywiththem. 3) ApplicationteamsubmitsataskassignedtoIFSAAsdbateamsupplyingthe name of the tablespace tobe expanded AdditionalStorageto an Existing Database(no DDLrequired): 1) ApplicationteamconsultswithIFSAAsdbateamto increase physical diskspace forthe database. If the dba teamdeterminesitisa justifiedrequestandconcludesthere isnootherway,e.g.,purging out olddata,etc., the dba teamgivesthemthe greenlighttocreate the task forIR. 2) ApplicationteamcreatesataskassigneddirectlytoIRsStorage Adminteamspecifyingthe size of additional storage neededaswell asworkingoutbudgetchargingdirectlywiththem.