Transcript ITM 8.3: Hyper Converged Infrastructure: Its Impact on Storage

ITM 8.3: Hyper Converged
Infrastructure: Its Impact on
Storage
Bill Quigley
Deputy CTO, Riverbed
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Hyper Converged Infrastructure: Its Impact on
Storage
Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) is in the news
frequently today. This session will briefly define HCI,
and examine the impact HCI is having on
“traditional” SAN and NAS storage in the data
center.
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Von Neumann Architecture
Computer has:
Processor
Memory
Input
Output
Still in use today
Laptops
Cell phones
Cars
Thermostats
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Von Neumann Architecture
Input and Output are done by the
same device (except for printers)
Today, the input and output
devices are Von Neumann
computers on their own
Especially true for storage i/o
devices
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“Split” Von Neumann Architecture
• I/O devices/computers may
not even be in the same
box or rack
• May be connected by a
network
• NAS (CIFS/NFS)
• SAN (iSCSI/FC)
• Still I/O devices
• Why?
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Advantages of Split Architecture
• Independent Scalability
• Grow storage
• Grow compute
• Grow both
• Storage and compute
requirements seldom grow in
lockstep
• Reduce cost:
• No excess compute capacity
• No excess storage
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Disadvantages of Split Architecture
• SANs are complex
• NAS isn’t rocket science, but
it’s more complex than JBOD
• Too many players involved in
provisioning
• Many server/app-driven
buyers are like new car
buyers, not aircraft buyers:
they don’t want too many
choices
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Converged Infrastructure
• Storage, networking, and compute all in the
same rack
• Sometimes with a management layer
• Sold as a complete unit
• Gartner: “Integrated Systems” market
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Why Converged Infrastructure?
VIRTUAL
APP 1
VIRTUAL
APP 2
VIRTUAL
APP 3
VIRTUALIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
SERVER
STORAGE
• Pre-integrated, pre-configured
•TODAY’S
Server + Storage + Networking +
Virtualization
MODERN
IT
•INFRASTRUCTURE
Workload-optimizedSTACK
NETWORK
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Benefits of Converged Infrastructure
•
•
•
•
•
One number to call
•
•
•
•
But not necessarily more reliable (CI)
And perhaps more bleeding edge (HCI)
Risks “provider lock-in”
Not necessarily best of breed
•
But not as flexible
Potentially cheaper storage component than SAN/NAS
Server/application buyers achieve independence from storage and
network admins
Performance predictability for specific workloads
Discipline: no more one-offs
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Early CI Players
VCE VBlock: Cisco, EMC, VMware
FlexPod: NetApp, Cisco
IBM Flex System/PureFlex
Groundbreaking marketing innovation: single SKU
for three products
• But also a lot of testing and integration work
• By far the bulk of the current CI market
•
•
•
•
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Hyper Converged Infrastructure
Definition by comparison:
• CI: bundled, large scale
• HCI: integrated, larger scale*
• BCI: integrated, branch scale
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Hyper Converged Infrastructure
“The N* Virtual Computing Platform is a converged infrastructure solution that
consolidates the compute (server) tier and the storage tier into a single, integrated
appliance.”
S*: “OmniCube is a powerful data center building block that assimilates the core
functions of server, storage and networking.”
S* C*: “…deliver a fully integrated platform that includes server, storage and
virtualization, all in one appliance.”
Translation: our architecture was developed in 1945*
For VDI and specific, well-understood workloads, not a bad idea!
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HCI Inside the Box
•
•
•
•
Cores are cores
RAM is RAM
Disks are disks
So what’s different?
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HCI Internal Storage
• HCI uses horizontally scalable file systems to
aggregate SSD and HDD into a cluster-wide
resource
• All compute nodes access a single data store,
regardless of the size of the cluster
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VSAN: special case
VMware: “Virtual SAN introduces a new high
performance storage tier optimized for virtual
environments that is simple, resilient and efficient
and reduces the total cost of ownership.”
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Where CI Fits
For VDI, and for specific virtualized workloads,
compute, memory, and storage requirements
typically grow in lock step
VDI: each user gets 2GB RAM, 1x2GHz core, 500GB
storage. End of story.
x lots of users (hundreds/thousands)
For compute virtualization, each server gets X, Y, Z…
E.g., web servers, Exchange, Sharepoint
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Nutanix, Simplivity, Scale Computing
Scale-out Virtualization/VDI storage
No RAID—intra-cluster replication
No hot swap(?)
Fixed disk/CPU per shelf
3-node minimum
Google FS (Nutanix)
SSD
Built-in hypervisor
Sometimes dedupe (Simplivity)
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HCI Marketing
“Eliminate the SAN!”
Marketing hyperbole
Reality check: ~10% of enterprise data is encompassed
by virtualization containers
It does not make sense to put everything on your C:
drive
What happens if I need more compute?
What happens if I need more storage?
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Flavors of Deduplication
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Dedupe and the “Legacy Stack”
• Hypervisor guest dedupe is a special case
• It’s a lot easier than the general case
• Does this mean the general case goes away?
No.
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HCI and “Legacy” Storage Coexistence
• Legacy storage: not going away any time soon
• Virtualization container encapsulation vs.
external storage
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What Goes Where?
HCI storage:
• Local information
• Static
• Easily reproducible, so you don’t need backups
SAN/NAS storage:
• Critical data
• Dynamic, changing data
• Data sets whose scope does not align with compute
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Coexistence: Not a New Concept
“Conceptually, it’s straightforward: the most critical data
stores that demand rich data services (e.g. highperformance snaps, advanced replication, data-at-rest
encryption, compliance auditing, etc.) go on the
external storage array.
And most everything else is a candidate to go on
VSAN.”
-- Chuck Hollis blog
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3 Key Things You Have Learned During this Session
1. HCI is a good idea. Embrace it where appropriate.
2. As always, take vendor claims with a dose of skepticism.
3. Use this information to find out what’s best for your
organization: what to place within HCI and what should
stay outside.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not
simpler.”
(Probably not Albert Einstein).
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Thank you
Bill Quigley
[email protected]
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