Hyper-Converged Platforms: A Fully Integrated System
What is Hyper-Converged?
For those who are new to this platform type, a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) solution is a scaled-down appliance-level system that includes compute, virtualization, and storage in as small as a single 2-U appliance. It can also include All Flash models which provide even small and medium sized customers the ability to get top-notch performance and data protection with very low application response times. Bundling the VMware virtualization platform, customers can scale out and deploy as new workloads are required. This platform is a bundled solution which means it ships with a standard configuration and code level across the board. This alone saves customers days of install and implementation tasks and streamlines the deployment process.
In today’s world, there is not a single company out there that is not leveraging technology to get an edge over the competition. Everyone from new companies like Tesla to monolithic companies like Ford Motor Company are leveraging technology to change the game. With disruption comes opportunity and with opportunity comes change and the ability to do something better than before. It also brings enhancements to the process of building something that not only benefits the consumer but also brings down the costs of development and operational maintenance. Hyper-converged systems leverage the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model to allow customers to get the whole solution in one offering. This includes virtualization capabilities, hybrid cloud enablement to the public cloud, local data protection, remote replication, and advanced security features. One thing you could say is that the technology market is listening and developing a platform that simplifies the architecture so customers can get back to the business of consuming technology rather than building and managing it. Here is a high-level diagram of a HCI solution leveraging VMware virtualization.
What is Hyper-Converged Bringing to the Table?
Rapid Deployment
Because these systems come pre-configured from the factory, the implementation and install times are dramatically reduced. There is no longer a need to deploy individual stacks and ensure they can all operate correctly together. Hyper-converged gets rid of those problems to make the deployment much simpler to execute. You can also leverage the integrated VMware software capabilities like vRealize Automation (vRA) for identical and repeatable deployments of your virtual machines.
Simplicity
As I stated above, these systems are bundled covering every aspect of a customer’s requirement for a total hybrid cloud solution. No longer is there a need to deploy an individual physical storage, compute, replication or backup component as all these systems are wrapped into one. In addition to these enhancements, the upgrade process comes bundled as well which typically involves just a simple download of the software, readiness check, update, and then post-validation.
Scale-Out System
One great feature of a typical Hyper-converged platform is that it can scale from a couple nodes to dozens for a single cluster. There are also no downtime requirements to expand and add more capacity. You simply add a new node to an existing cluster and grow the platform to support your new project and workload demands.
Better TCO Experience
Because this solution is bundled together, the overall cost of the platform is a lot less than you would traditionally pay for individual systems such as storage or compute and then implementing them together. Because everything is built into software, customers will notice operational savings including reduction in cable management, rack space, power, and cooling. Data storage efficiency savings such as deduplication and compression are also included, reducing your overall data footprint, storage capacity, and cost per GB. The result is a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
Key Offerings with Hyper-Converged
Software Defined Storage
This feature gets customers out of the business of managing complex SAN storage platforms and integrates it with the software stack. For VMware deployments, VSAN technology is used to integrate that storage component right into the virtualization stack. This alone is a huge time saver and complexity eliminator for customers. It also merges the role of a traditional virtualization engineer and storage engineer into one. HCI platforms can also provide advanced networking features leveraging VMware NSX technology to provide network micro-segmentation and additional data security features and protections.
No Migrations
Customers are tired of having to spend every few years migrating their data onto a new platform which involves downtime and costs. The hyper-converged offering gets customers out of that painful cycle and allows them to use the virtualization layer to non-disruptively migrate their data to a new platform.
Balance and Flexibility
Most Hyper-converged systems provide customers with the on-demand flexibility of being able to deploy and scale out as needed. Many vendors allow customers to have mixed configurations, node counts, and types within the same cluster. This is a key win as it gives customers the ability to pick and choose as they grow and as new project requirements come up. Many would say this capability alone is a major improvement over traditional converged solutions and offerings out there. From an application perspective, almost any application type is supported from VDI solutions to Exchange to traditional workload types like MS SQL or Oracle. OpenStack and Pivotal Cloud Foundry are also supported for fast agile application development. It is also a good place for Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) locations.
Cloud Enablement
Let’s be realistic here — almost every customer is either implementing a cloud solution or talking about it. Based on a recent report from 2015 to 2020 cloud workloads will more than triple. By 2020, 68% of cloud workloads will be in public cloud data centers and 32% of that data will be in private cloud data centers which means almost all customers will have some form of either private or public cloud capability. Hyper-converged solutions with integrated software provide a hook into the public cloud space so customers can move data to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and many others.
What Hyper-Converged is Not
Typically, Hyper-converged systems are not really meant for a customer who needs to consume very large quantities of storage. Because hyper-converged systems consume and grow at a node level, typically your compute and storage requirements will fall in line as you scale out. If very large quantities of storage are required, it is best to go with either a traditional SAN or a traditional converged system that can support large deployments.
Hyper-converged is also not meant for high impact and demanding application workloads such as SAP or EPIC. Applications that have thousands or potentially tens of thousands of users with very low response time requirements are again better-suited for the larger vendor systems.
Hyper-converged does not include a networking component so a top of rack (TOR) switch and supporting core network is still required. There is software networking provided within the virtualization layer of the HCI solution but external switching would still be needed. Again, if a total integrated system with advanced networking is required, then a traditional converged platform option would be best.
How to Get There
CDI has a fully certified team that can help you get onto a Hyper-converged platform in the data center. There are some differentiators between multiple vendor offerings which is where CDI can work with you to figure out which solution is best. CDI Managed Services also has a converged platform offering for customers who need either a full or partial off-premise solution while still tapping into a converged platform offering and its benefits.
With all this in mind, now is the time to include hyper-converged platforms in your data center. HCI platforms are that tool to reduce TCO in the Data Center while enabling the application layer to satisfy tomorrow’s user demands.