Standards and methodologies for IT infrastructure management. Building it infrastructure enterprise it infrastructure service level management

To ensure the successful functioning of an enterprise, its IT department develops an information infrastructure (applications, servers, disk arrays, networks), which makes it possible to provide an appropriate level of service.

The historically established way of building IT departments fully reflects the structure of the information systems used. Moreover, each specific department maintains a specific information system. With this approach, as a rule, there is no effective system of interaction with business users and there are problems with determining the quality of the services provided.

Along with the first information systems, the need arose for managing corporate infrastructure.

Information technology in companies is usually understood as a set of information systems that support and automate existing business processes.

The IT used in the service is distinguished by a number of features:

The variety of applied IT, which is associated with the presence of a large number of subject areas related to the service sector, and their diversity.
Intellectualization of IT. The service must implement the entire range of intellectual services related to individualization, i.e. with a more efficient operation of the product in the specific conditions of its use by a given consumer (or with the expansion of the usefulness of the product for him).
Unification and standardization, the need to take into account Russian and international standards governing the use of IT in the service sector.
Individualization of IT, focus on a specific user. The success of the service activity is determined by the demand for the offered service and how accurately and in a timely manner the service company is able to determine the needs and individual preferences of each of its customers, offering a product or service at a higher level than competitors, which is possible thanks to IT.
Scalability of IT to meet the needs of both small and large enterprises service.
IT adaptability, the ability to meet the varied requests and needs of customers, transform directly in the service process.

Information technology is a system of organizational structures that ensure the functioning and development of the information space of the enterprise and the means of information interaction. The basis information technologies is the IT infrastructure.

Infrastructure(Latin infra - below, under and naT.structura - structure, location) - a complex of interconnected service structures or objects that make up and / or provide the basis for the functioning of the system

Information technology infrastructure (IT infrastructure)- is an organizational and technical union of software, computing and telecommunication means, connections between them and operating personnel ensuring the provision of information, computing and telecommunication resources, opportunities and services to employees (departments) of the enterprise (organization) necessary for the implementation professional activity and solving related business problems.

IT infrastructure includes a collection of various applications, databases, servers, disk arrays, network equipment and provides consumers with access to information resources. IT infrastructure becomes a technological component of any service and ensures its delivery in accordance with agreed rules and procedures.

IT infrastructure of the enterprise- is a single complex of software, technical, communication, information, organizational and technological means of ensuring the functioning of the enterprise, as well as means of managing them.

To ensure efficient operation, modern enterprises need an IT infrastructure consisting of an integrated set of systems, programs and services. The IT infrastructure must be holistic, as reliable as possible, competently designed, have a large margin of safety, correspond not only to the current state of the business, but also take into account its development in the future.

The underlying IT infrastructure is the technological underpinning for the operation of other layers of the enterprise architecture. Its correct design allows:

Reduce IT costs;
Simplify the modernization of existing infrastructure;
Minimize the likelihood of downtime or failure of systems;
Maintain the security of the organization's infrastructure at the proper level;
Provide easy management of IT infrastructure;
Improve the reliability of the organization's IT infrastructure.

One of the conditions for the efficient functioning of the IT infrastructure is the well-established practice of its operation. The operation of the IT infrastructure should be based on policies and procedures developed and established as corporate standards. The distribution of functions and tasks within the IT department should ensure timely Maintenance all elements of the IT infrastructure.

Maintenance is a set of software-technical level measures carried out at the stage of production operation and aimed at ensuring the required reliability and efficiency of the information system.

At the moment, we can distinguish the following group of tasks solved by the IT department:

Ensuring the efficiency, availability, confidentiality of the information being processed.
Maintenance of IT infrastructure operation.
Prevention and elimination of failures.
Planning crisis situations and their management.
Providing automatic monitoring of IT health.
Ensuring the reliability of the IT infrastructure.
Security information security.
Equipment modernization.
Minimizing the cost of maintaining the IT infrastructure.

Ideally, the IT infrastructure responds to changes in the environment

functioning, increasing load, tightening of business requirements, while maintaining its functionality, integrity, readiness, the agreed level of security. Market development forces the organization to change business models, which, in turn, requires adequate changes in the IT infrastructure.

Components of enterprise IT infrastructure

Over time, the composition of the IT infrastructure has undergone changes.

In the days of mainframes, the infrastructure was:

communication lines,
modems,
power supply systems,
air conditioning.

During the development of local networks, the infrastructure remained the same, but the structure of its elements became more complex.

Transition to global networks further complicated this concept.

At the same time, the complexity increased:

by increasing the number of elements,
connections between them,
due to the complication of the internal structure of the elements, the redistribution of functions between them.

For example: programs for managing channels have moved to managing network devices. That is, in parallel with the complexity of the equipment, mathematics became more complicated - infrastructure management programs

The standard network complex infrastructure of any company includes the following components:

The physical composition includes:

wiring, routers,
switching devices,
servers, desktops,
cable system;
passive and active network equipment;
client workplaces;
additional equipment (printers, faxes, authorization devices);
system software (operating systems (OS), information security tools, device drivers);
standard application software (processing tools spreadsheets, work with texts, e-mail, files);
network services (DNS servers, packet protection, authorization, Internet access and application servers - database management systems (DBMS), mail services);
service technical support, dispatch and quality control center.

Organizational and administrative components:

instructions for setting up a server and client software site, work procedure;
rules for dividing the network into areas in accordance with the needs of security and performance;
special software focused on providing some business processes (design, inventory control, accounting, interaction with suppliers, production management).

Information infrastructure of various levels (global, national, industry, organizations, etc.) contains:

distributed information resources, including web resources (sites, portals, etc.), banks and databases (including those with remote access), digital libraries, electronic magazines;
distributed computing resources, including shared computing centers, supercomputer centers, network computing resources of organizations, individual computers;
telecommunication resources that ensure the interaction of remote users with information and computing resources.

Types of IT infrastructure

IT types infrastructure tours	Specifications
	lack of coordination, manual support, scattered workplaces.	building server infrastructure; introduction of a directory service for authentication; setting up services for automatic updates; application of anti-virus protection; traffic protection; implementation of basic scenarios of network technology (DNS, DHCP).
standardized	centralized management of IT infrastructure, availability of automated basic processes, directory service for authentication, updates are automated, anti-virus protection at workplaces; backup system for critical servers; central firewall; internal DNS, DHCP.	software update at workplaces for the latest versions of OS and office suite; active use of System Management Server; Application of solutions for centralized backup and disaster recovery; organization of remote access to VPN-networks; Isolation of critical servers using the IPSec protocol (for Active Directory / Exchange).
rational	centralized managed and consolidated IT	implementation of identity management automation technologies;

infrastructure, use of directory services and group policies for centralized administration; automation of control / monitoring of software and hardware functioning;

server monitoring; backup and recovery for all servers and workstations; remote access (VPN, Remote Desktop); Server isolation using IPSec.

using System Management Server to manage servers; checking applications for compatibility;

image management of workstations;

deployment / management of firewalls in the workplace;

organization of secure wireless network access via Internet Authentication Service (IAS) and Active Directory directory services.

dynamic

fully automated IT infrastructure, fully meeting user needs in heterogeneous environments; automatic control server updates; automatic testing of application compatibility and automatic image management of workstations; firewalls - on servers and workplaces; wireless connections are protected.

solution for automatic distribution of server images; solution for determining the load level;

support of workplace quarantine;

monitoring the productivity of workplaces;

readiness to switch to a new OS version;

tools for effective transition to new software versions; Isolation of Active Directory Domains Using IPSec.

Today in Russia there are practically no companies left that do not use information technologies, and the problem of most of them now is not the lack of automation of certain processes as such, but the consequences of spontaneous automation without long-term plans and without an idea of the prospects for its development. ... The spontaneous purchase of computing equipment and software, ordering and implementation of non-upgradeable business applications from small companies that no longer exist, the presence of different applications for solving the same problem, implemented in different departments, the problems of administration and protection of heterogeneous segmented networks - this is not a complete list of the problems that heads of IT departments of various companies have to face today.

The IT environment of a company with these problems is difficult to manage, even though the capabilities of modern software administration tools are much broader than those available to IT a decade ago. Tasks such as supporting different versions operating systems and business applications, differentiation of access to resources and data with an increase in the number of users, management of server performance with an increasing load, timely installation of critical updates in large companies with heterogeneous networks and spontaneously formed IT infrastructure, cannot be called simple. According to consultancy Accenture, IT professionals spend up to 70% of their time maintaining an existing system, including managing accounts and passwords across disparate information systems, resolving technical user problems, and manually installing updates. It is not surprising that they simply have no time to think about development prospects and develop a strategic vision for the development of their division.

It follows from this that many modern companies need not so much automation of their activities as automation of management of the company's IT environment. According to a survey of 400 companies worldwide by Microsoft, more than half of day-to-day IT management operations are performed manually without the use of automation. As a result, with a five-year life cycle of an IT system, over 60% of the total cost of ownership will fall on the costs of maintaining staff administrators.

Requirements for IT infrastructure management tools

Below we will consider what exactly the requirements should be imposed on IT infrastructure management tools.

Automation of installation of operating systems, applications and updates

In the presence of a huge computer park and a heterogeneous IT environment, it is much more profitable to install new operating systems and standard applications automatically. The rapidity of mass deployment of basic software products is one of the tools to minimize disruptions in business processes and reduce the cost of maintaining IT infrastructure.

Automatic execution of repetitive routine operations (for example, using script recording) greatly simplifies network administration. That's why modern facilities IT infrastructure management should be able to do this.

In the context of a rapidly developing business, business applications used to automate business processes are rapidly changing. At the same time, it becomes necessary to automate the process of regular installation of specialized software while optimizing costs for it, which requires automated software distribution tools integrated with user account management tools.

A significant portion of modern malware exploits vulnerabilities in the operating system, browsers, email clients, and business applications, while the vast majority of attacks target corporate networks becomes possible due to the untimely installation of updates to the specified categories of applications. In these conditions, installing critical updates of operating systems and business applications within a heterogeneous distributed network is a very difficult task that requires a lot of resources. Therefore, tools for automatic distribution of software updates (preferably with the ability to rollback) should also be present in the arsenal of the IT service.

Automated event processing and statistics collection

Automated processing of events in the network involves tracking problems in managed computers and devices, automatically identifying and eliminating their causes, correcting the consequences of failures, and often preventing them by performing diagnostic operations and appropriate preventive measures, collecting and analyzing statistics on the intensity of use and the frequency of network errors. devices.

Inventory of software products throughout the entire life cycle and their verification for compliance with licensing policy is an important task - it allows companies, on the one hand, to avoid costs for unnecessary licenses, on the other hand, to eliminate legal risks in the event of a discrepancy between the number of purchased licenses and actually used copies of products ... Therefore, keeping a detailed account of applications installed on the network, collecting statistics on their use in order to identify rarely used applications, searching for outdated versions of installed software are becoming topical tasks in the management of IT infrastructure.

Performance and availability management

Performance management involves managing the configuration of computers and network devices, turning them on and off depending on a given schedule or in case of technical necessity (for example, turning on additional devices when a certain load level is reached). This category also includes control over the use of resources, in particular, the control of the consumption of network resources by applications or users (for example, the regulation of quotas for the use of memory, processor time, disk space), as well as control over access to network resources based on the selected security policy.

Application management architecture

The architecture of the application controls is roughly the same. Typically, such a tool contains a server side and a management console available to the network administrator. So-called agents are installed on all managed computers or other devices - applications or services that execute commands received from the server side, as well as collect information about the computer, applications running on it and events occurring to them.

Some application controls can perform a variety of actions based on the data they collect, such as running tests, stopping or reconfiguring managed applications, and issuing diagnostic messages.

IT infrastructure management tools from leading manufacturers

According to IDC (see for example: Grieser T., Worldwide Distributed Performance and Availability Management Software 2005 - 2009 Forecast Summary and 2004 Vendor Shares. IDC MARKET ANALYSIS. 2005. July. IDC # 33752. Vol. 1), Hewlett-Packard, Computer Associates, and IBM are the leaders in the application management tool category in the event automation tool category (with NEC Corportion having the highest market share growth), and Hewlett in the performance and availability management tool category. -Packard, BMC Software and IBM (Microsoft has the highest growth in market share). Below we will focus on the families of IT infrastructure management tools from some of the listed companies.

BMC Software

BMC Software is a world renowned developer and supplier of network administration tools, applications, databases, ERP and CRM systems that increase the availability, performance and recoverability of critical business applications and data. BMC products are available for a wide range of platforms, including various implementations and versions of UNIX, Windows, OS / 2, OS / 390, OpenVMS, and NetWare. Of the features typical for BMC products, first of all, it should be noted the orientation towards the support of service level agreements (SLA) and the construction of a functioning model aimed at the implementation of such an agreement, as well as their high performance (Fig. 1). The company offers the following product families for IT infrastructure management:

BMC Application Management - the tool is designed to manage the performance and availability of business applications (including applications from Oracle and SAP) and server products (such as Microsoft Exchange and J2EE servers BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, etc.);
BMC Database Management- a tool for administration, performance management and recovery of databases managed by leading DBMS manufacturers - Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Sybase;
BMC Infrastructure Management- a tool for managing operating systems of servers and mainframes, data storages, networks, hardware, middleware, as well as for optimizing the performance of these categories of software;
BMC Operations Management- a tool for performing routine operations on a schedule and for drawing up reports on events in the network;
BMC Remedy Service Management- a tool for finding, detecting, simulating failures in applications and responding to them;
BMC Security Management- a tool for managing user access rights to applications and corporate resources.

BMC application data can be stored in the BMC Atrium CMDB (Configuration Management Database), which has easy-to-use data visualization tools.

Note that BMC products include a documented API that allows you to build your own solutions and integrate BMC tools with other applications.

Rice. 1. Areas of IT infrastructure management covered by BMC products

Computer associates

Computer Associates (CA) Unicenter's family of IT infrastructure management products can be tailored to fit virtually any computing environment.

This family includes the following products:

Unicenter Asset Management- a tool for automating the management of IT assets of an enterprise, with the help of which complex accounting and control of IT resources is carried out. The functionality of the Unicenter Asset Management system contributes to improved quality management decisions associated with the IT assets of the enterprise, and reduce the associated risks. Unicenter Asset Management provides monitoring of application usage on servers, personal computers and other client devices. In addition, this product allows you to automate IT asset management processes, including accounting and inventory of software and hardware operating in the enterprise network, maintenance of various components of the IT infrastructure, license administration and reporting in heterogeneous environments (Fig. 2);

Rice. 2. Areas of integrated IT infrastructure management covered by Computer Associates products

Unicenter Software Delivery- Provides automation of software deployment and update processes on desktops, mobile computers and handheld computers, as well as on servers in heterogeneous network environments, including application delivery, distribution of patches and updates, system configuration management, and rollback of installations on various software and hardware platforms. This product creates conditions for increasing the efficiency of IT services and reducing the cost of information support for the business by automating IT processes and introducing application catalogs with advanced self-service capabilities. One of the key advantages of Unicenter Software Delivery is a high degree of automation of software installation and maintenance processes and flexible and granular control of application delivery permissions;
Unicenter Remote Control is a reliable and secure corporate system remote control of Windows computers. Remote control tasks include maintaining remote services such as network applications, server administration, and remote control of end-user computers (for example, when providing technical support). This system is one of the industry-leading solutions in its class and provides centralized system maintenance, policy-based management, differentiation of access rights, session auditing and advanced administration capabilities. Unicenter Remote Control fully meets the needs of large enterprises in terms of remote control and allows the operator to simultaneously perform several tasks at once: copy files to a remote computer, communicate with the user, launch applications, monitor and record user actions, as well as manage settings and security settings. Note that when developing Unicenter Remote Control Special attention was given to shortening the time of implementation and mastering of the system.

Hewlett-Packard

HP OpenView is a set of software products for managing corporate information technologies of any size - from small systems based on Windows servers to large distributed systems based on various versions of UNIX, Linux and Windows containing several thousand computers. This complex includes tools for managing networks, operating systems, applications, as well as their performance, copying and storing data, services.

The HP OpenView portfolio of software solutions consists of several product families (Figure 3), including server and application management, storage, networking, Internet technologies, and telecommunications equipment (there is a range of HP OpenView products designed specifically for telecommunications companies, and today HP is the most prominent provider of telecommunications equipment controls). Separately, we note the presence of IT service management tools in the HP portfolio of solutions.

Rice. 3. Portfolio of software solutions HP OpenView for IT departments

The tools for managing servers and applications should include primarily HP OpenView Operations for Windows and HP OpenView Operations for Unix... These products are designed to monitor and manage application performance, and monitor network and application events. HP OpenView Operations for Windows integrates with network infrastructure management tools HP OpenView Network Node Manager This allows you to automatically search for new servers added to the network, and then automatically deploy the required components and policies based on the results of the search for services.

To manage the performance of applications, this family includes tools HP OpenView Performance Manager and Performance Agents that allow using a single interface to carry out centralized monitoring, analysis and forecasting of resource use in distributed and heterogeneous environments, as well as HP OpenView Performance Insight, helping to monitor events in the network and applications, analyze them. Solutions HP OpenVew Report Packs and HP OpenView Reporter are designed to create reports on the operation of a distributed IT infrastructure of an enterprise based on data obtained from HP OpenView applications.

For identity management and access to IT resources, the HP OpenView family includes products HP OpenView Select Identity, HP OpenView Select Access, and HP OpenView Select Federation, and to manage backup and recovery of server DBMS data - HP OpenView Storage Data Protector... The latter of the named products is an enterprise-level solution for data protection and system recovery in emergency situations, implementing instant recovery technology, as well as alternative disaster recovery options to eliminate unplanned downtime, which allows you to restore the information system to operability in a few minutes.

We also note the presence in this family of products designed to interact with end users in order to improve the quality of their service - HP OpenView Service Desk, as well as tools for monitoring business processes HP OpenView Business Process Insight and controls for service-oriented architecture - HP OpenView Service Oriented Architecture Manager.

This product family provides a solution for managing Internet services HP OpenView Internet Services allowing external probing of application services, Internet services and protocols by simulating user requests to catalogs, postal services, web services, remote access services (including dial-up and wireless access).

IBM

The IBM Tivoli family of products for managing enterprise applications of all sizes is based on a set of basic components that build an enterprise-specific solution. The main distinguishing feature of this family of products is the so-called proactive management of IT infrastructure, which is able to identify and eliminate faults before they occur. Tivoli family products are available for AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, Windows, Novell NetWare, OS / 2, AS / 400, Linux, z / OS, OS / 390 platforms. Note that recently IBM has been recommending the implementation of the Tivoli family of products in order to follow the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) methodologies, shifting the emphasis in positioning its products from IT resource and systems management to IT service management (Figure 4).

Rice. 4. Some of the Tivoli software products that support the ITIL service management process

The Tivoli family of products includes configuration management and operational support solutions:

IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager- allows you to manage the installation and updating of software, including for pocket computers;
IBM Tivoli License Manager-designed for software inventory;
IBM Tivoli Remote Control- allows you to set policies for managing IT resources of the enterprise and remotely administer desktop systems;
IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler- Provides the ability to automate workloads.

In addition to configuration management tools, the Tivoli product family includes performance and availability management solutions:

IBM Tivoli Monitoring- for the implementation of distributed monitoring of various systems, automatic detection and elimination of problems and analysis of trends;
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Databases(supported by IBM, Oracle and Microsoft DBMS) and Tivoli Manager for Sybase- for centralized management of servers and databases;
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Web Infrastructure- to manage web servers and application servers;
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Applications- to manage SAP business applications;
IBM Tivoli Analyzer for Lotus Domino 6.0 and IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Transaction Performance- to detect performance problems of systems based on server products from IBM itself;
IBM Tivoli Web Site Analyzer- to analyze the traffic of visitors, statistics of page traffic, the integrity of the content of the website;
IBM Tivoli Service Level Advisor- to provide proactive control and predictive failure through quantitative performance analysis;
IBM Tivoli NetView- for network management;
IBM Tivoli Switch Analyzer- to detect and populate all network layer switches;
IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console- for multilevel troubleshooting and event analysis.

In addition, there are a number of solutions for the automated management of IT resource allocation and peak loads.

The Tivoli family also includes security products:

IBM Directory Server- to synchronize security data across all applications used;
IBM Directory Integrator- to integrate identification parameters contained in catalogs, databases, collaboration systems and business applications;
IBM Tivoli Identity Manager and IBM Tivoli Access Manager for Operating Systems- to control access to applications and operating systems;
IBM Tivoli Risk Manager- for centralized management of network protection.

In addition, the Tivoli family includes a wide range of backup and storage management products.

Microsoft

Although today Microsoft is not the market leader for IT infrastructure management tools, application management tools manufactured by this company are widely used in our country.

The main purpose of the Microsoft Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) tools, as well as the administration tools available to users of the latest versions of Microsoft server operating systems (such as Automated Deployment Services, Remote Installation Services, Microsoft Group Policy Management Console, Microsoft Windows Update Services), - software management, automatic installation of Microsoft operating systems and applications intended for them, automatic delivery of updates, control of access and user rights (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Management of information systems using Microsoft Operations Manager and Microsoft Systems Management Server

Microsoft Systems Management Server is designed to ensure automatic distribution and accounting of software in large distributed systems based on Microsoft operating systems, including planning with the definition of hardware and software in the local network, verification, analysis, implementation of business applications for various target user groups, installation of applications on newly appeared workplaces in accordance with user rights. This product allows for targeted installation of various software for different groups users, as well as solve problems related to software inventory and control over the use of software and hardware resources by collecting information about software products and equipment installed on the network and about their use.

Microsoft Operations Manager is designed to identify and troubleshoot network, hardware and application problems by directly monitoring events that occur, as well as the status and performance of network resources and issuing warnings about potential problems (Fig. 6).

Rice. 6. Monitoring the status of servers using Microsoft Operations Manager

The product is designed to manage the IT infrastructure of small companies or specialized groups of servers (up to 10 pcs.) Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Workgroup Edition... It helps you identify potential dangers in software performance and, with built-in analytics, prevent them from escalating into serious problems, improve the efficiency of IT operations, simplify support for heterogeneous platforms and applications, and create custom service packs.

In addition, there are separate performance management and event analysis solutions for IT infrastructure components based on Microsoft server products such as Active Directory Management Pack- to monitor the status of the Active Directory directory service, Exchange Management Pack- to manage messaging services and Exchange data stores, as well as a number of other products. To ensure interaction with IT infrastructure management tools produced by other companies, there is a product MOM Connector Framework allowing bi-directional alert broadcast and data synchronization using web services.

Instead of a conclusion

The introduction of such tools is a rather expensive investment. However, with a balanced approach to deciding which products to implement and which processes to automate, such a solution can be cost-effective, since it will free up IT specialists who are busy maintaining many servers and workstations and routine operations like installing the same type of updates, as well as reduce costs associated with equipment and application downtime.

In the process of business activities, modern companies must solve a variety of tasks, including entering new sales markets, reducing the cost of manufactured products, the need to comply with regulatory documents, starting with accounting and ending with the processing of personal data, as well as many and many others. Employees of the organization must be able to effectively interact not only with each other, but also with existing and prospective partners and customers, carefully calculate costs, maintain the company's competitiveness and quickly process large volumes of information.

To ensure the fulfillment of all these tasks, it is necessary to build a high-quality IT infrastructure, which is a complex of interconnected systems, including software products, information security policies, network and directory services, a system for backing up and storing information, monitoring and management, and others. The key tasks of the IT structure can be called ensuring the availability of the applications used for business users and supporting the development of the company.

Essential components of a modern IT infrastructure:

corporate email;
video conferencing;
organization of teamwork of employees;
external resources of the company;
Information Security;
basic services;
corporate data center;
control and monitoring systems;
storing and backing up data;
terminal solutions, thin clients;
virtualization;
data transmission networks.

Building an IT infrastructure can include modern solutions in the field of:

effective communication (including email, video and voice communication, organization of remote access to shared resources, communication of remote units, management of individual communication components);
system hardware and software systems for data centers (virtualization of workstations and servers, element management, cloud computing,);
organization of workplaces (configuration and management of hardware and software and software, management of users' computers);
ensuring effective interaction between divisions of the company, management of internal work and services of contractors in the field of information technology (including the implementation and automation of ITSM);
maintenance of information security (analysis of probable risks, creation of protective mechanisms, effective information security management).

When building an IT infrastructure, the design and creation of its various subsystems is carried out, as well as the organization of management of these subsystems and other work in the field of IT. To ensure the smooth operation of IT infrastructure components, it is necessary to remember about high-quality technical support, personnel training and regular IT audits. The use of modern solutions in organizing the IT structure of a company helps to ensure:

gaining access to information regardless of the physical location of company employees;
setting up access rights to the data of a particular user, depending on the security policy in force at the enterprise;
providing access to the general information space of the company using both workstations and mobile devices and terminal clients;
continuous operation and use of hardware and software resources;
reducing the cost of operating the infrastructure;
ensuring business continuity of the organization:
the possibility of continuous development and increasing the profit obtained through the use of innovative technologies and effective business automation.

As we have already said, IT infrastructure is a complex of interconnected information services and systems necessary for the functioning and development of information interaction tools in a company. Thus, this infrastructure is not only the foundation of existence modern organization but also a strategic asset that is a kind of driving force for the business. Therefore, the creation of a reliable IT structure that fully meets the needs of the company's business is a responsible and difficult task, which in most cases is almost impossible to solve with the help of an internal IT service. To create a truly reliable, scalable and high-performance IT infrastructure, you need a sufficient number of highly qualified IT professionals and experience in organizing the IT structure.

KIS - corporate information system - is an integral part of it, which includes databases, information centers, communication systems, shared access and work. When organizing a corporate information system, various important factors... For example, after the implementation of an ERP system, it turns out that the existing IT infrastructure is not suitable for servicing this system, and this happens quite often. The IT infrastructure is the basis for all systems and business applications, therefore, the operation of IT services, ERP systems, databases depends on how it is built, how reliable and efficient it is, and therefore the success of the company's business as a whole.

Development, coordination and approval of the terms of reference - a document that contains the company's requirements for the future information system.
Development of a working draft containing a technical description of the procedures and activities carried out to implement the specified in terms of reference requirements.
Implementation - the implementation of the created project.
Formation of working documentation, which contains a thorough description of the created infrastructure, necessary for the operation and maintenance of the corporate information system.

Work carried out at the stage of implementation:

organization of engineering systems and SCS;
formation of network infrastructure;
installation of automatic telephone exchange;
purchase of equipment and software;
installation of server equipment;
implementation of server virtualization systems;
the introduction of basic network services based on the TCP / IP protocol;
implementation of the Windows domain and directory services Active Directory;
deployment of file servers;
implementation of print servers;
organization of database management systems (DBMS);
implementation of servers for control and protection of Internet traffic;
creation of mail servers;
introduction of unified communications;
organization of terminal servers;
implementation of backup servers;
commissioning of anti-virus protection servers;
installation of client workstations;
installation of peripheral equipment.

Management of IT infrastructure and processes - ITSM (IT Service Management (English), management of IT services) is a modern approach to the management and organization of the provision of IT services, focused on meeting the needs of the company's business activities. Solutions created in accordance with the recommendations of ITIL v2 and v3, including the latest update of ITIL 2011 Edition - a collection of proven international practices for organizing IT processes, help to cope with all the complexities of managing the information infrastructure of an enterprise and its personnel involved in the provision and support of services. The success of an enterprise's IT infrastructure management is largely determined by the experience of an internal department or an outsourcing company in this area.

On initial stage solving management problems involves identifying the results expected from the work of information services, an objective assessment of the state of the IT management system and the subsequent planning of measures aimed at its optimization. In each specific case, an individual concept for the development of an IT infrastructure management system should be developed. The main tasks facing the head of the IT department are - prompt response on requests from employees of the enterprise and quick elimination of emerging failures. To solve them, it is necessary to organize a high-quality customer support service and customer support service.

Support Requirements:

automatic registration of incoming applications;
well-established and strictly regulated support process;
availability of a control and process optimization system;
the ability to assess user satisfaction;
training of personnel to work with an automated system.

Another key task is to control the changes taking place in the infrastructure. For this purpose, solutions are used for the inventory of software and hardware and automated acquisition of data on the IT infrastructure in order to take into account changes in the composition and settings of its components.

The advantages of these solutions:

creation of an automatically updated single asset base;
regulation of changes to the infrastructure;
quick elimination of problems;
preparation of reports in an automated mode.

Specialized solutions offered by outsourcing companies help them to competently organize the planning processes, as well as the deployment and delivery of IT services, which allows them to achieve the required level of service quality. Monitoring systems for the quality of services and IT infrastructure components provide reliable control. Effective management IT infrastructure of an enterprise is impossible without constant monitoring, which allows you to receive up-to-date information required to make the right decisions to improve the quality of services provided.

As a result of the use of modern solutions in the planning, deployment and provision of IT services, the following occurs:

formation of the structure of the catalog of services and templates for describing IT services;
introducing them financial planning;
fixation the right level provision of services based on SLA;
introduction of monitoring of the main indicators of services in accordance with the Service Level Agreement.

Recently, solutions aimed at automating IT infrastructure management processes using software and hardware systems created by leading manufacturers, including BMC Remedy, HP Service Manager, Axios Assyst, have become widespread.

Certification according to the international standard ISO / IEC 20000, which certifies the quality of the provision of IT services and employees important indicator the effectiveness of the work of information processes in relation to the company's clients is also a guarantee of the reliable functioning of its IT infrastructure.

Special tools for monitoring and managing the IT infrastructure help plan its necessary modernization and development, significantly reduce the number of time-consuming routine operations performed manually, to set up user workstations, reduce maintenance and support costs, while increasing the reliability and quality of information services. For each enterprise, a software solution should be selected individually, only after the IT structure and related business processes have been thoroughly studied.

Experts believe that the most justified choice for a Microsoft-oriented infrastructure will be Microsoft System Center. The components of this solution are required for:

secure scalable OS and application deployment;
end-to-end service management;
storage management, backup and recovery in Windows environment;
management of server assets, configurations, desktops and mobile devices;
protect applications and data.

In large companies where IT infrastructure is organized on the basis of equipment and software from different manufacturers, specialized software the largest international vendors, including IBM Tivoli, HP Service Manager, MS Service Manager, BMC Remedy, which supports most operating systems, hardware platforms, databases and business applications (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.).

Solutions include systems:

managing software and hardware configurations, installing and updating applications;
managing the degree of availability of business services;
monitoring and control of engineering equipment, server and peripheral equipment, programs on computers and servers;
control of licenses of installed software;
backup and recovery of information;
storage management and data protection;
Service Desk automation.

ITSM systems developed by domestic companies have now established themselves as highly efficient solutions, and they continue to be constantly improved and developed. Their use allows Russian enterprises to improve the quality of their internal IT services.

Effective IT infrastructure management systems are based on the ITIL library, which contains best practices for organizing the work of IT infrastructure and combines a repository of information about it and the tools necessary to serve user requests. Infrastructure electronic documentation (CMS) provides specialists with the ability to quickly receive the required information during the processing of applications. The HelpDesk module is necessary for responding to user requests and high-quality service management. IT management should always use a systematic approach that is the key to its effectiveness. ITSM solutions help enterprises improve IT infrastructure management, control the quality of IT services and reduce their costs.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is usually understood as a complete description (model) of the structure of an enterprise, as a system, including a description key elements this system, connections between them. Enterprise architecture defines general structure and systems functions (business and IT) throughout the organization as a whole (including partners and other organizations that form the so-called "real-time enterprise") and provides a common framework, standards and guidelines for architecture at the level of individual projects. The vision provided by the architecture of the enterprise creates the possibility of a uniform design of systems that are adequate from the point of view of meeting the needs of the organization, and capable of interoperability and integration where necessary.

The enterprise architecture is based on the "Architectural view" of systems, defined in the ANSI / IEEE 1471 standard, as "the fundamental organization of the system, consisting of a set of components, their relationships with each other and the external environment, and the principles that govern their creation and development." ... Enterprise architecture describes the activities of a company from two main perspectives: Business architecture describes an enterprise in logical terms such as interacting business processes and business rules, required information, structure and information flows. Information technology architecture describes an enterprise in terms of technical concepts such as hardware and computing, software, security, and security.

Documenting and optimizing the architecture of information technology provides us with a reduction in the level of complexity of information systems and simplifies their integration. Optimization of the company's business processes and optimization of the functionality of information systems used to automate business processes increases the inflow of investments in information technology. Enterprise architecture primarily integrates information technology architecture and business architecture into a coherent whole, providing a comprehensive view of both existing areas. Enterprise architecture is an important critical element that connects information technology, business needs of the enterprise and combines the processes of strategic business planning, applied Information Systems and the processes of their support.

At the same time, the architecture of the enterprise is inextricably linked with the main work processes:

enterprise-level strategy and planning; corporate project management. The development of the strategy of a modern enterprise (Strategy and Planning) and the management of corporate projects (Enterprise program management) include a direction directly related to information technology. Modern tendencies consider IT projects and strategic initiatives as a specific asset of the company that can be similarly managed financial assets ... Business and IT portfolio management is an investment management process in the field of IT project management. A portfolio is understood as a set of projects carried out on a common pool of resources (finance, people, equipment, materials, energy), while the pool of resources and the results of all projects in the portfolio are within the competence of one center of responsibility. Analysts at META Group considered this to be the intersection of enterprise architecture, enterprise strategy, and corporate project management. At the same time, strategy and planning provide the basis for developing an enterprise IT strategy, in accordance with which projects for the implementation (modernization) of information systems appear. Project management - can be considered, first of all, as a mechanism that ensures the transition from the current state to the planned one, or, in other words, the transition from the current enterprise architecture to the target architecture. Enterprise architecture is one of the elements of IT portfolio management and provides the necessary information about the business processes and technologies required to automate them. Enterprise architecture is not only the foundation for developing a portfolio of assets, but also provides the entire lifecycle of many IT assets. The architecture of the enterprise allows you to see the entire enterprise as a whole, to create a chain showing the impact of individual elements of the enterprise development strategy on its business processes, and their dependence on information systems and technological elements. Enterprise architecture is a management tool that supports the decision-making process for information technology investments that blur the line between the business and the IT department. Traditionally, it is believed that new initiatives for the implementation of information technology should manifest itself in the form of demands from the business, and new information systems should meet exactly these requirements. But the business must, at the same time, receive and take into account the "signals" from the IT department, which, accordingly, must show the new opportunities that the enterprise has when introducing new ISs. Thus, the architecture of the enterprise can be considered as a new round of development of the organizational principles of building the activities of the enterprise, ensuring its effective functioning. Any enterprise requires the systematic development of its structure, business processes, information systems and their integration with each other. The enterprise architecture itself is the plan for the development of the enterprise (target architecture) and a documented diagram of what is happening in the company at the current time (current architecture) Current architecture - describes the current state of the enterprise architecture. Also referred to as architecture “as is” (AS-IS) or baseline of an existing architecture. The current architecture is a reflection of objective reality that includes existing components (business processes, information systems, technological elements) and their connections. This is a set of models with inevitable simplifications, limitations and subjective distortions. The process of developing the current architecture is, first of all, the process of documenting and maintaining information about the state of the enterprise in an up-to-date form, providing registration and control of information about all elements of the enterprise architecture, including maintaining a database on architectural objects; conducting management accounting and accounting for the state. The current architecture development process is similar to the ITIL / ITSM (Configuration Management) process. To simplify the development of the current architecture, many companies use a configuration item database (CMDB), supplemented with the necessary information. Target Architecture - describes the desired future state of the enterprise, or "what needs to be formed" (TO-BE). In other words, the target architecture is future model enterprises.

Target architecture can be called an ideal enterprise model, which is based on:

· Strategic requirements for business processes and information technology;

· Information on identified "bottlenecks" and ways to eliminate them;

· Analysis of technological trends and business environment of the enterprise.

The target architecture (to-be model) and the current architecture (as-is model) allow describing the initial and final state of the enterprise - before and after making changes to its structure, leaving the change process itself unattended. The process of transition from the current enterprise architecture to the target one transfers the enterprise to a new spiral of development and, thus, we can say that the enterprise architecture is characterized by a certain life cycle, similar to the life cycle of information systems. Modern approaches to the construction of the architecture of the enterprise traditionally divide it into several layers (subject areas). The number of architectural layers varies with different techniques. Below we will look at the layers used in most of the existing techniques:

· Strategic goals and objectives of the enterprise.

· Business - enterprise architecture.

· Information technology architecture (IT - enterprise architecture).

Information architecture (Enterprise Information Architecture). Architecture applied solutions(Enterprise Solution Architecture). Technological architecture (Enterprise Technical Architecture). The strategic goals and objectives of the enterprise determine the main directions of development and set long-term goals and objectives. When developing the strategic goals of an enterprise, it is necessary to take into account the impact of information technology on the formation of the image of a modern enterprise. In the course of developing the strategic goals of the enterprise, a strategy for the development of information technologies is also formed (modernized). Business strategy - determines the direction of business development in accordance with the strategic goals and objectives of the enterprise, and answers the question of why the enterprise should develop in this direction. Business strategy includes:

· The goals and objectives of the enterprise.

· Business solutions necessary to achieve the set goals and objectives.

· Changes that need to be made to achieve the goals and objectives.

IT - strategy defines the direction of development of information technology in accordance with the goals, objectives and business strategy of the enterprise, and determines how the business strategy can be implemented. IT strategy includes:

· Projects that can be launched to implement a business strategy.

· Options for solving current problems and problems.

· Technologies that can be used to achieve the set goals.

· Business - architecture of the enterprise (EBA - Enterprise Business Architecture) - is the target construction of the organizational structure of the enterprise, linked to its mission, strategy, business goals.

Business architecture, as a rule, is understood as a holistic organization of business processes, organizational, cultural and social areas of an enterprise. It takes into account the profile of the enterprise, its goals, implementation options. The architecture of business processes is determined by the basic functions of the organization and can change under the influence external environment... The business architecture of an enterprise is inseparable, connected with the process of its management. Enterprise management generally refers to the activities of a company in response to changes in the economic and social environment. Management personnel distributes financial, labor and material resources for the most effective achievement of the strategic goals and objectives of the enterprise. In the course of developing a business architecture, various models of building an enterprise are considered in detail, corresponding to its development strategy. Business architecture models can be divided into three classes: classic (reference), specialized and specific. IT - enterprise architecture or, in other words, information technology architecture is a set of technical and technological solutions to ensure the effective functioning of business processes of the enterprise in accordance with the rules and concepts defined by the business architecture. The architecture of information technology describes the main information systems, their interconnections and includes their principles of development, improvement and support. Thus, we can say that "architecture is a self-sufficient and complete dynamic model of the system." The architecture of information technology is an integral element of the architecture of the entire enterprise and depends on its goals and objectives, development strategy, the existing model of business processes. Currently, there are many works devoted exclusively to the architecture of information systems. It should be noted that in almost all existing methods, the architecture of information technologies is a derivative (special case) of the architecture of the enterprise as a whole, and it is not advisable to consider it separately from the context of the enterprise. A generalized IT architecture should include both logical and technical components. The logical architecture provides a high-level description of the mission of an enterprise, its functional and informational requirements, system components, and information flows between these components. The technical architecture defines the specific standards and rules that will be used to implement the logical architecture. Traditionally, enterprise IT architecture is represented as three interconnected components:

· Enterprise Information Architecture (EIA) - information architecture.

· Enterprise Solution Architecture (ESA) - architecture of applied solutions.

· Enterprise Technical Architecture (ETA) - technical architecture.

During the development of an enterprise architecture, a model is created that includes information about its production processes, information and material flows, resources and organizational units. At the same time, the IT architecture model directly depends on the role played by information systems in the enterprise: strategic (focused on the implementation of existing strategies and operations), shifting (a tool for increasing business efficiency), supporting (IS do not play a special role in the functioning of the enterprise), factory (IS are an indispensable element that ensures the functioning of a business). The enterprise model (corresponding to its role) allows not only to give a better idea of the structure of the enterprise, but also is effective tool to analyze the economic, organizational and many other aspects of its functioning. IT - enterprise architecture defines the rules for the formation of all IT components, the relationship between them and the business architecture of the enterprise. This is because documenting the IT architecture without linking it to the business architecture of the enterprise quickly loses its practical value.

Information architecture (EIA - Enterprise Information Architecture) or, in other words, information architecture is (from the point of view of analysts of the Meta Group) a managed set of techniques that describes the information model of an enterprise and includes:

· Databases and data warehouses.

· Information flows (both within the organization and communication with the outside world).

The information architecture of the enterprise can be conventionally called the data flow layer. But, when building an enterprise information architecture, there is no need to create models of all types of data used in the enterprise. It is enough to ensure the selection of the most important (critical for the enterprise) data and to model them at a high level of abstraction. Enterprise Solution Architecture (ESA) - or, in other words, application architecture, includes a set of software products and interfaces between them.

The architecture of applied solutions is divided into two areas:

· The area of development of applied systems.

· Application systems portfolio.

The area of application systems development describes the technological part of the architecture of applied solutions and includes: software products; data models; interfaces (API); user interfaces.

The area of application development is a technical description of specific applications. Accordingly, information about these modules is easiest to represent in the form of the following two schemes:

· Components and structure of the system - the internal structure of the system, which includes information about software modules and databases.

Interaction with other systems (interfaces) - describes the interaction of the application with external objects ( software products, users).

The architecture of applied solutions describes the situation in the IT department at the current moment in time (that is, it is a picture that demonstrates the "technological support" of business processes, where each main business function corresponds to certain applications). On the basis of the architecture of applied solutions, plans are made for the further development of information technologies in the company, plans for activities and projects necessary to achieve strategic goals are developed. At this level, the interaction of the business architecture of the enterprise and the IT architecture is best tracked, since it is possible to determine the relationship between organizational structure the enterprise and the applications used. In this case, to optimize the management of applications, they are divided into certain groups (domains) in accordance with their functionality. It should be noted that this separation makes it easier to identify the owner of the application, to determine its compliance with business requirements. Enterprise Technical Architecture (ETA) is a collection of software and hardware tools, methods and standards that ensure the efficient operation of applications. In other words, by technical architecture we mean a complete description of the enterprise infrastructure, including:

· Information about the infrastructure of the enterprise.

· System software (DBMS, integration systems).

· Standards for software and hardware.

· Security tools (software and hardware).

· Infrastructure management systems.

The technical architecture of an enterprise can be visualized as a collection of application architectures used in the enterprise. Visually, the technical architecture of the application, in turn, can be represented in the form of a diagram that includes information about servers, SCS segments, system components, standards (used in this application) and the relationships between them.

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