Starbucks

Starbucks Reduces Costs and Prepares for Growth with Server Upgrade

Starbucks Coffee Company is the leading roaster and retailer of specialty coffees in the world. In order to simplify its complex server environment, while still supporting its growth plans, Starbucks decided to implement a new domain structure and upgrade to Active Directory® Domain Services in the 64-bit edition of Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise. As a result, Starbucks expects to achieve easier IT management, enhanced auditing capabilities, and cost savings.

 

Business Needs

Starbucks Coffee Company is the world’s leading purchaser and roaster of high-quality, whole bean coffee. Based in Seattle, Washington, it is renowned for its coffee and specialty beverages that it sells in its 15,756 worldwide retail stores.

By reducing the number of domain controllers we will have a much smaller physical footprint, and that will bring us significant savings. Imran Ali Lead Systems Engineer, Starbucks Coffee Company

The company relies heavily on the Active Directory® service for its desktop authentication for corporate employees and contingent staff on more than 9,000 PCs, as well as for its portal access for retail store employees. Its Active Directory infrastructure was supported by Windows® 2000 Server domain controllers. To support separate password policies and administration for distinct user groups, the company’s infrastructure of more than 800 servers included one root domain for its corporate directory and three child domains—one each for its retail infrastructure, its roasting plant infrastructure, and operations in China.  As the company continued to grow, it experienced capacity limits for distributing personalized information to its users.

Adding to this complexity, Starbucks recognized that proven security best-practices for domains had evolved since it had configured its legacy Active Directory in Windows 2000 Server infrastructure. It wanted to consolidate its child domains to the root domain to support best practices, as well as to improve manageability and disaster recovery.  In addition, it wanted to lay the foundation for future support of business applications, including Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 communication and collaboration server and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.

To help it keep pace with its growth, Starbucks was looking for manageability and scalability in its server infrastructure. The company wanted a solution that would help it reduce complexity in its Active Directory infrastructure design, while still ensuring appropriate levels of security and isolation, and delivering more flexibility with its directory-enabled applications.

Solution

Starbucks considered an upgrade to the Windows Server® 2003 operating system, but quickly realized that Windows Server 2008 would scale better to meet growth needs.

The company teamed with Microsoft Services to design and implement a new domain structure using Active Directory Domain Services in the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise using HP ProLiant 360G5 servers with Intel Xeon Quad Core processors.  Its initial plans include a Server Core installation with eight domain controllers. As part of this upgrade, the company is planning to:

• Upgrade the root domain to Windows Server 2008 domain controllers
• Retire regional office domain controllers
• Migrate the child domain supporting China operations to the root domain
• Establish new Active Directory forests to support retail and roasting plant domains

Starbucks also considered new features in Windows Server 2008 as part of its upgrade. After its initial deployment, it hopes to use the Read-Only Domain Controller for physical server security, and Windows BitLocker™ drive encryption for enhanced data encryption services. “These new security enhancements are critical factors that attracted us to Windows Server 2008,” says Imran Ali, Lead Systems Engineer at Starbucks. In addition, the company plans to take advantage of management tools, including Windows Management Instrumentation and the Windows PowerShell™ command line interface combined with Microsoft Visual Basic® Scripting Edition (VBScript).

Benefits

Simplified IT management. Server Core only requires a minimum server installation. By only installing what is required to support the Active Directory Domain Services server role, Starbucks expects to see significant improvements to its IT administration tasks. With a minimal installation, the company can reduce its server management and servicing requirements.  “One of the key benefits we expect to see with our Server Core installation is better update management,” explains Greg Onstot, Senior Systems Engineer at Starbucks.

Streamlined auditing capabilities. Starbucks also anticipates improving how it logs changes to Active Directory objects. “The biggest change that we’re excited about is that the new auditing features for Active Directory show the previous value and the new value when objects are changed,” says Matt Keller, Manager of IT Infrastructure at Starbucks. “Instead of just seeing that an object has been changed, you can now see the what, where, and when for those changes.”

Reduced costs. With its new solution, Starbucks will be able to reduce its number of domain controllers in half—from 55 to only 20—resulting in not only reduced hardware costs but also reduced support costs for administration. “By reducing the number of domain controllers we will have a much smaller physical footprint, and that will bring us significant savings,” says Ali.

In addition, the company expects to reduce its energy consumption as a result of consolidating servers—keeping with the environmentally-conscious spirit of the coffee company. Concludes Ali, “It is important to factor in the energy costs—and this upgrade will reflect savings there.”

Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008, with built-in web and virtualization technologies, enables you to increase the reliability and flexibility of your server infrastructure. New virtualization tools, web resources, and security enhancements help you save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and optimized datacenter. Powerful new tools like IIS 7.0, Server Manager, and Windows PowerShell, allow you to have more control over your servers and streamline web, configuration, and management tasks.  Advanced security and reliability enhancements like Network Access Protection and the Read-Only Domain Controller option for Active Directory Domain Services harden the operating system and protect your server environment to ensure you have a solid foundation on which to build your business.

For more information, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008