The Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliances and Software-Defined Storage

Overview

A well-architected Hyper-Converged Architecture (HCI) solution can significantly boost productivity, get better flexibility, and decrease TCO all throughout the data center, without any tradeoffs on availability or performance because its resources are software-based and operated from a single management console.

Figure 1: Hyper-converged infrastructure | Source: http://www.frontier.in

Introduction

Hyper-converged infrastructure helps to deliver many of the proven benefits of early integrated systems, say, inefficiencies, reduced complexity, and risks, but should be done through a clustered, scale-out architecture built on extremely virtualized x86-based servers. Hyper-converged infrastructure can be purchased as a full appliance with all hardware and software components included or as a software-based solution. This software-based system can be deployed on present infrastructure or can be integrated with pre-certified hardware by a value-added integrator. The main features of a hyper-converged infrastructure that distinguish these solutions from traditional integrated infrastructure are their capability to deliver compute, networking functionalities, and storage via the same server-based resources.

Organizations have been devoting years and years optimizing their data centers in eliminating incompetence, maximizing service levels, and reduce threats to their business. Though organizations may have realized real profits from these investments, they have overly depended on silos of infrastructure and professionals who happen to be not well suited to the “wants” of a very dynamic application being deployed these days. Although the IT industry is going through an uncommon transformational phase that is making data centers inefficient and indefensible, the levels to which current organizations can become economically sound and in the long run lucrative have to turn out to be inseparably linked to judgments created within their data center.

All hyper-converged infrastructures depend on some virtualization configuration, so knowledge of the organization’s position to virtualization is essential.

The Hyper-converged infrastructure can significantly drive business, operational and financial benefits, such as the following;

1. Scalability – avoids expensive over-provisioning with direct scale-as-you-go methodology.

2. Operational Productivity –current costs reduction-related to managing virtual infrastructure.

3. Deployment Timetable – deploy infrastructure more quickly in support to business initiatives.

4. Capital Expenditure – less investment needed for technology refreshes and recent infrastructure ventures.

5. Data Security – increase operational and disaster recovery and streamline time spent on data protection tasks.

Three methodologies for outfitting the data center

1. Silo-based Traditional Infrastructure –

This approach which relies on proprietary, purpose-built hardware still exists today. It usually includes its own management software and works well once optimized and supervised by committed experts. Additionally, since performance is fixed at the hardware stratum, the resources are not appropriately optimized and over-provisioning frequently happens. It’s a costly solution to all-purpose IT needs, which often results in increased complexity, footprint, and staffing and technology specialization. And the worse of it, in the current’s dynamic applications and virtualized workloads that need provisioning flexibility, hardware-centric methodologies simply aren’t designed to deliver. Absolutely, it simply is the opposite of simple and streamlined. 

2. Converged Infrastructure –

Converged infrastructure improves the traditional model by bringing compute, networking, and storage into a single rack. These components are normally provided by different specialty vendors. While the administration could be integrated and optimized, management platforms, separate systems, and workflows nevertheless subsist. Additionally, the hardware is pre-configured to run particular workloads and thus cannot be simply changed, subsequently losing flexibility. The physical limitations could be removed, but operational challenges and provisioning will remain.

3. Hyper-Converged Software –

The hyper-converged solutions – the resource backbones are physically converged on a single industry-level x86 server, making a seamless, software-defined environment well-suited to the present’s IT challenges. The true source of the “hyper” in the hyper-convergence is the hypervisor where all the important data center functions, namely, compute, networking and storage are currently running software on the hypervisor, facilitating efficient operational functions, streamlined and fast provisioning, and profitable growth. For any IT decision-makers, the pick is clear, HCI presents the desired performance, flexibility, and efficiency that budget- aware, resource starving IT departments crave for.

Figure 2: Converged Infrastructure Evolution | Source: https://www.storageinfoworks.com

 The Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Architecture, Explain

1. The Software –

Chiefly, an HCI includes a hypervisor, a software- well-defined storage platform, and a typically the incorporated management console, however, some other HCI software solutions may well also include specific network virtualization characteristics. HCI solutions collapse the data center resource backbones on an industry-level x86 servers and utilize a hypervisor in managing and virtualizing those resources. The hypervisor shapes the foundation of HCI, so it’s key when making an intelligent choice. Readily available are several hypervisors alternatives, HCI-specific versions, including built-in, free, and customized. Obtaining the highest performance and operating benefits, the organization should pick a solution that will provide the maximum compatibility level and integration process across the data center. The right hypervisor choice will lead the organization to the networking and storage solutions for the HCI, as well as, dictate management decisions and upcoming expansion choices.

Choosing a hypervisor vendor is easier said than done because of so many options available, but when choosing one, keep on these qualifying parameters in mind;

● can the hypervisor vendor provide solid unconditional support to the system?

● is the vendor possesses an outstanding system of application and matching hardware compatibility?

● can the vendor prove its highest achievement of improvements?

A well-defined software storage level is constructed on a hypervisor foundation and is key in ensuring the availability of data, performance application, and scalability flexibility. HCI solutions could leverage diverse software-defined storage infrastructure. The right storage infrastructure could provide the same efficiency, cost-saving benefits, and simplicity to storage that a virtualized server has brought to compute. In minimizing trade-offs and make the most of the performance, choosing a solution in which the storage layer is firmly integrated with the hypervisor. This will thus lessen data latencies and remove needless resource operating expense, of which both can have a substantial influence on efficiency and cost. Additionally, a firmly integrated software stack will provide the simplest solution to learning and managing.

2. The Hardware –

Nevertheless, before choosing any solution, it is best that an organization should not make any hardware selection until after choosing software as several industry analysts advice, savvy buyers will often choose the most agnostic-hardware and portable software option possible. This will create problems in the future, for reasons that, if the organization need changes as IT often does, and it wants to move the HCI software licenses to a different server, or if a need is wanting to repurpose the HCI in order to satisfy a new requirement, the HCI solution has to be flexible. And, if the licenses are tightly tied to the hardware or if the hardware is overly customized to the HCI solution, it may find the organization trapped and incapable to repurpose the hardware or the software.

After the organization selected a software, the organization will be confronted with three basic hardware options, namely;

1. Turnkey Appliances –

An appliance that is completely integrated, pre-configured, and tested by a particular software to automate configuration and lifespan management is the easiest way to deploy HCI. It is packaged as a turnkey appliance to lessen hassle in deploying. However, to all this simplicity, there is an accompanying downside: very highly, a majority of the appliances cannot be reconfigured or altered after purchase, and options in configuration and hardware platform alternatives are very restricted, meaning the organization has less flexibility.

2. Configured Nodes –

Nodes from major x86 vendors have pre-certified the server and storage configured, gaining the organization too much flexibility with the ability to choose hardware that meets the precise needs of an organization, with wide-ranging alternatives and valuable price points. To simplify deployments further with these options, only purchase nodes “as configured” with factory- built-in software and licenses.

3. Personalized Solutions –

Configuring your own HCI allows you to choose from a list of certified components for the ultimate flexibility. However, these options require too much attention and proficiency, for example, you will have to authenticate OEM support for all preferred components, including its drivers. And the trade-off: promptness and ease for accurate tailored-fit solutions. 

Bottom-line Advantages of HCI

Figure 3: 1Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Benefits and Best Practices | Source: https://www.xenonstack.com/

Not one IT adopts a new strategy or chooses a new technology for its trending, because albeit the industry analysts hype a specific solution as the next big thing, this must support the organization, and deliver the clear, required benefits and returns. HCI delivers a variety of benefits to the organization, as outlined;

1. Economic benefits –

By simply considering the advantages of trade-standard components (servers and storage) as an alternative to trademarked hardware, HCI solutions provide the high-performance result by a fraction of the budget. And since the organization simultaneously reducing its hardware footprint, it saves on space, too.

2. Simplicity in Operation –

Since the entire operations are done from a single interface through policy-driven automation and control, it eliminates the need for dedicated staff to do customary provisioning and maintenance tasks. HCI facilitates very well-organized operations, influencing the hypervisor to automatically align and apportion resources where the need is high.

3. Scalability and Affordability –

Depending on the deployment model chosen, HCI solutions expand into a more granular form compared to traditional hardware purchases. In numerous cases, expanding storage capacity is just as easy as adding up additional flash to existing servers. When a need for both compute and storage capacity arise, just add another HCI nodes or appliances. With HCI, there’s no need to plan for cost-breaking capital outlays; an organization can grow as it goes.

Additionally, in building quantifiable advancements to the organization, an HCI solution likewise carries a compendium of additional rewards that can be noticed every day. Moreover, HCI betters performance by getting data close toward compute and influencing solid-state drives (SSDs) to enable huge quantities of IOPS (input/output operations per second, pronounced eye-ops) at very low latencies. Similarly, HCI provides high availability by duplicating data among nodes and facilitating failover to eradicate downtime. Within the HCI solution, the storage software which is being controlled by the hypervisor eradicates overprovisioning, thus the idle resources no longer stay in wait for infrequent high demand. In addition, the storage software decreases storage capacity through data efficiency qualities akin to compression and deduplication. Ultimately, the suitable storage solution within the HCI prepares the organization for the future, by way of the dynamic application-based provisioning meeting the needs of the 3rd platform, web-scale applications.

Conclusion

Organization around the world is turning to integrated systems to improve long-standing data center metrics such as deployment time, rates of utilization, operating costs, and amounts of risks. Now that application and server virtualization are part of the foundation in all data centers, it just makes sense that the next step is HCI. By choosing HCI, organization extends the benefits of virtualization to networking and storage, gaining the ability to manage to compute and storage from one central place, which streamlines data center operations and reduces complexity.

Hyper-converged solutions exemplify a new chapter in data center integration that is essentially diverse from early iterations and could overturn the external storage market. Organization who are primarily cost-conscious and flexible are finding that moving on the road to hyper-converged infrastructure does not necessitate a drastic shift in thinking, rather it’s part of the natural evolution of data center virtualization.