At a time when the efficiency and rationalisation of IT resources are essential for local authorities, Arles Town Hall and the ACCM Urban Community have found DC Scope® to be a strategic solution for optimising their virtualised infrastructure. Nicolas Issart, Director of Information Systems, shares his experience.
A constantly evolving IT infrastructure
The information system of Arles Town Hall and the Urban Community is based on a VMware virtualised infrastructure, consisting of a cluster of three nodes hosting 217 virtual machines (VMs). All the resources and applications used by the various departments are centralised on these virtualised servers.
IT requirements are increasing significantly, but the increase in the number of VMs remains moderate thanks to the gradual hybridisation of the information system. Several applications have been migrated to SaaS solutions, limiting the growth of the on-premise infrastructure while optimising available resources.
The main objective: to ensure efficient management of IT resources while keeping operating costs under control.
DC Scope®: a decision-making tool for a controlled infrastructure
Nicolas Issart discovered DC Scope® at the Coter conference in 2019. “The solution immediately struck me as a coherent and useful decision-making tool,” he explains. The initial objective was to optimise VM sizing in order to avoid unnecessary oversizing, a source of excessive resource consumption.
The first need that DC Scope® met : optimising the calibration of VMs
One of the first challenges faced by Arles Town Hall and the Urban Community was the efficient management of the resources allocated to virtual machines. Over time, some VMs had been configured with more resources than they actually required, resulting in unnecessary consumption of CPU, memory and storage.
DC Scope® immediately identified these oversized VMs and proposed precise adjustments to rationalise the use of the cluster. This optimisation not only continues to free up resources, but also helps to improve the stability and resilience of the infrastructure while reducing operating costs.
Managing infrastructure performance and depreciation
DC Scope® is currently used for two main purposes :
- Continuous optimisation of the cluster, to ensure efficient and effective management of resources..
- Calculating financial depreciation on a per-VM basis. This approach makes it possible to invoice the administrative structures with which Arles Town Hall and the Urban Community work (CCAS, Tourist Office, Joint Syndicates, Camargue Regional Park, etc.), by integrating not only the cost of using the VMs, but also the depreciation of the cluster and storage.
An integrated Green IT approach
The environmental aspect is also a major driver for the use of DC Scope®. The tool makes it possible to assess the energy consumption of each VM and identify the most energy-hungry. By including this data in its invoices, Arles Town Council is making its administrative partners more aware of their responsibilities and encouraging more virtuous IT practices.
Up to 20% savings : optimising your infrastructure also means cutting costs
Optimising the cluster has freed up a significant margin on the VMware infrastructure, with savings of 15-20% depending on resources.
These gains have had a tangible impact on IT management, in particular by making it possible to:
- Balancing the two server rooms, ensuring more efficient load distribution and greater resilience.
- Continuing to operate with just two nodes for all virtual machines, and ensuring continuity in degraded mode with just one node.
- Delay the renewal of ESXs by one year, optimising investment and the hardware replacement cycle.
Simplicity and efficiency: the strengths of DC Scope®
According to Nicolas Issart, one of the major strengths of DC Scope® is its ease of use and configuration: “You can very quickly obtain usable and relevant data”. The level of detail offered by the tool is also a decisive advantage for rapid and effective decision-making.
A tool recommended for IT Departments providing shared services
On the strength of his experience, Nicolas Issart recommends DC Scope® to IT Departments managing shared infrastructures for several entities.
“DC Scope® brings real added value to organisations like ours, which provide services to other structures. It’s an essential tool for optimising, controlling costs and making strategic IT decisions.”
With this proactive approach, Arles Town Council and the Communauté d’Agglomération are showing how effective IT governance can address budgetary and environmental issues while improving the performance of IT infrastructures.
By optimising resource management and anticipating needs more effectively, local authorities and pooled structures can reduce their costs while ensuring an infrastructure that is scalable and adapted to usage.
