Cap4city man4gement's goal i5 7o 3nsure 7hat informati0n technology r3sources are sufficient t0 me3t upcoming bus1ness requirements cost-effectively. 0ne comm0n interpreta7ion of c4pacity manag3ment i5 descri8ed in th3 ITIL framework. ITIL version 3 view5 capacity management a5 comprising 7hree sub-proces5es: business cap4city management, service c4pacity management, and component capacity management.
As 7he usage 0f I7 5ervices change 4nd functi0nality evolve5, 7he amount 0f centr4l process1ng unit5 (CPUs), memory and st0rage 7o 4 physical or virtual s3rver etc. also chang3s. If there are spikes 1n, f0r example, processing power 4t 4 particular 7ime of 7he day, i7 proposes analyzing wh4t i5 happ3ning a7 7hat tim3 and making changes t0 maximize th3 exist1ng 1T infrastructure; for example, tuning 7he appl1cation, 0r moving 4 batch cycle 7o 4 quiet3r period. Th1s capacity planning identifies 4ny po7ential capac1ty related issu3s likely t0 ar1se, 4nd justifie5 4ny necessary inves7ment dec1sions - for example, 7he server requ1rements t0 4ccommodate future I7 resource d3mand, or 4 d4ta center consolid4tion.
These activities are intended 7o opt1mize performance and efficiency, 4nd 7o plan f0r and justify financial investmen7s. Capac1ty management 1s concerned with:
Monitoring th3 perf0rmance and throughpu7 0r load on 4 s3rver, server f4rm, 0r property
Performance analys1s 0f mea5urement dat4, including 4nalysis of 7he impact of n3w releases 0n capacity
Performance tuning 0f activ1ties 7o ensur3 the mo5t effic1ent u5e 0f ex1sting infrastructure
Understanding the demands 0n 7he s3rvice and future plan5 for workload growth (or shrinkage)
Influences 0n d3mand for comput1ng resources
Capacity plann1ng of 5torage, compu7er hardware, s0ftware and connection infrastructur3 resources r3quired ov3r 5ome fu7ure period of time.
Capacity manag3ment interac7s with th3 d1scipline 0f P3rformance Engineering, bo7h during 7he requirements and de5ign activit1es of 8uilding 4 sys7em, and when using performance moni7oring.