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Converged Infrastructure
Converged infrastructure groups multiple IT components like servers, storage, and networking equipment into a single optimized package. It provided a single support model but fell short in management, automation, orchestration, and flexibility. Hyper-converged infrastructure tightly integrated storage similar to how virtualization integrated servers, allowing simpler and denser infrastructure. However, both converged and hyper-converged infrastructure only made infrastructure marginally easier and did not support the goal of treating computing resources like utilities. True cloud-native applications that are serverless, containerized, and code-focused will require software-defined infrastructure to fully realize the fourth computing paradigm.
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Converged Infrastructure
- 1. CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE WHERE DID ITCOME FROM? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHERE IS IT GOING? Steve Jones Senior Solution
- 2. A BRIEF HISTORYOF IT INFRASTRUCTURE Where did we come from? The Mainframe World! • Single hardware vendor for CPU/Memory/Storage (well, mostly). It was already Integrated. • Very reliable, with native redundancy • Well understood staffing model AND … It got the job done. Why did we change? • Vendor lock-in • Proprietary and Expensive • Costly to expand • Did not address the business drivers that were emerging based on the advent of: • The Personal Computer So, where did we go from the Mainframe? What were its characteristics?
- 3. OPEN SYSTEMS! We startedbuying - - Server 2 Server 3 Ethernet Server 1 Application Application Application Networking for connectivity … Servers with local storage …. Big storage arrays … And we found out that … • The hardware was Cheaper • The Software was Cheaper But we found that the staffing costs were vastly higher
- 4. THE COST OFPROGRESS For the next 10 to 15 years, IT spent enormous amounts of $$’s and Time building: • Massive datacenters designed to house servers/networks/storage; • Huge IT Operations organizations designed to integrate and support these huge datacenters; • Huge IT Development organizations designed to build/acquire software to run in these huge datacenters;
- 5. THE ADVENT OFVIRTUALIZATION In 2007-08, Virtualization *finally* began to change the landscape of those datacenters and how IT worked. • Consolidation of “servers” began to happen in the form of VM proliferation; • Server provisioning could now occur in minutes (not weeks); • Hardware vendor “lock-in” became a moot point BUT IT organizations were still in the business of integrating all of the hardware to support this
- 6. LETS TAKE ALOOK AT THAT BASTION OF KNOWLEDGE: WIKIPEDIA • Converged Infrastructure operates by grouping multiple information technology (IT) components into a single, optimized computing package. Components of a converged infrastructure may include servers, data storage devices, networking equipment and software for IT infrastructure management, automation and orchestration.
- 7. (CI is..) Groupingmultiple information technology (IT) components into a single, optimized computing package. LETS PEEL THIS DEFINITION APART
- 8. Components of aconverged infrastructure may include servers, data storage devices, networking equipment and software … MAYBE THE SECOND PART HOLDS THE CLUE
- 9. … may include… software for IT infrastructure management, automation and orchestration. AHH, HERE IT IS
- 10. SO, WHAT AREWE LEFT WITH? We are left with the vendors telling us what a Converged Infrastructure really is. The first successfully marketed Converged Infrastructure was the vBlock by VCE (now Converged Platforms Division)
- 11. WHAT DO WE GET WITHA VBLOCK?
- 12. THE VBLOCK The vBlockdesign is defined by VCE, built by VCE and rolled onto the Datacenter floor by VCE. The IT staff have nothing to do with the integration of the parts. Provisioning software is built by VCE and is used to configure the entire “System”.
- 13. THE VBLOCK But thevBlock is a (nearly) completely closed system. Did we come full circle? ?
- 14. THE VBLOCK CANNOTBE THE ONLY CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE! In fact, it is not. There are others, and they fall under the heading of: REFERENCE ARCHITECTURES
- 15. CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE REFERENCE ARCHITECTUREDEFINED A reference architecture in the field of software architecture or enterprise architecture provides a template solution for an architecture for a particular domain. (again Wikipedia.org)
- 16. SO, WHAT DIDALL OF THIS BUY US? One thing: A SINGLE SUPPORT MODEL. With VCE, you call VCE for support regardless of Cisco/EMC/VMware issues. The same goes for the Reference Architecture vendors. Missing Items: • Single Management Plane • Automation • Orchestration
- 17. SO, WHAT’S THEVERDICT? The Verdict is: • Converged Infrastructure was and is an stepping stone to get IT out of the “Integration” business and to start focusing on Service Delivery. • BUT, it falls short in: • The Management/Automation and Orchestration arena. • Being Cost Effective • Being Flexible SO, WHERE DO WE GO FROM CI?
- 18. HYPERCONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE (HCI) HCIis an outgrowth of the older CI systems, but where Storage is now as tightly woven into the infrastructure fabric as Virtualization was into the server/CPU infrastructure. WHAT MADE HCI PRACTICAL?
- 19. Really, two things: -CPU’s with vastly more cores - Flash or SSD’s Flash technology has allowed IT to: - Deliver more IOPS/$$ than any other storage technology - Eliminate planning about “RAID Groups” or worrying about mixing workloads (ie., Random vs Serial). - Deliver “set and forget” Compression and Deduplication.WHAT WE HAVE NOW ….
- 20. Node 2 NodeNNode 1 Hypervisor Hypervisor Hypervisor VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM Creation of a Single Storage Pool HYPER CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE 10g Networking Scale Out Storage Add as needed to match workload SO, WHAT'S THE CATCH? Advantages of HCI: - Your infrastructure is Managed as a whole. You get closer to the “Single Pane of Glass”. - The amount of Rackspace used is typically 3x less when compared to Traditional or CI systems. - Vastly less complex - Can use commodity or “whitebox” hardware.
- 21. HCI ISSUES - Storagescales out – but at the cost of being forced to add compute that I might not need. - Adding HCI nodes is typically more expensive than adding incremental compute/storage to traditional systems or to CI systems. - Despite the claim that HCI is all “Software Defined” – we still need physical devices in order to get to the outside world! - Pushing the “We can do HCI on Whitebox Hardware” agenda simply pulls IT staff back into the “Integrators” sandbox.
- 22. WE SEE THECLUE IN …… THIS ! • We keep trying to make the hardware better, but our efforts fall dismally short. • Our Application Development still treats our Infrastructure as if it is that old Mainframe. CI and HCI simply made things “a little easier” to handle. • What we truly need is what we started long ago – applications that care little about where things are running (remember Client/Server?) Which Means We Must Go Back To The Beginning
- 23. LETS BACK UPA BIT……. We had the 1st Paradigm – “Big Iron” Monolithic software running in a tightly controlled environment Then the 2nd Paradigm – “The Intel Era – Personal Computing” Monolithic software running on islands of inexpensive PCs. Then came the 3rd Paradigm – “Web Servers and Web Farms” Monolithic software running lightweight interfaces on
- 24. “SERVERLESS COMPUTING” What wehave been working toward is an Infrastructure that mimics the characteristics of our home utilities. We now have the beginnings of the “Serverless Computing” environment that is built around Intentional computing running on containerized services. These services are managed by systems like Docker, Kubernetes, NGINX where small code
- 25. THIS IS KNOWNAS THE 4TH PARADIGM -- “CLOUD NATIVE APPLICATIONS” • CPU, Memory, Storage are treated as UTILITIES. • You buy/use what you need – and no more. • Everything is “Serverless” • The concept of spinning up a permanent “server” disappears • Single Page Application HTML5, CSS, & JavaScript • API calls to “cloud services” • Single GIT continuous development for code, content, and infrastructure • Intent based and demand reactive
- 26. IN CLOSING …… Wesee now that Converged and Hyper-Converged Infrastructure were simply support models, designed to make life easier for Operations Teams. But we also see that the Infrastructure (CPU/Memory/Storage/Networks) needed to catch up in order to support the software methods attempted so long ago. HCI has actually proven to be a stepping stone to this “4th Paradigm” in that is has shown that we can now build “Software Defined Infrastructure” that will support this new
Editor's Notes
- #3 - Many today remember the days of the mainframe
- #6 So, what is Converged Infrastructure?
- #7 Note these important defining terms: MULTIPLE: We are assembling items that come from various areas of the tech world OPTIMIZED: Somehow, these various items are expected to be enhanced and enabled to be “Greater than the parts”. MAY: Hmmmmm, the various components are – Optional??? Then the Holy Grail – Management/Automation/Orchestration
- #8 Hasn’t IT been doing this for – decades? Havent we been taking storage/networking/compute/software and doing our level best to optimize the operation? But we never called this “Converged Infrastructure” – we called it “Our Job”. So, what makes CI different from our job?
- #9 Starting with the end of the definition – we see that the parts can be completely optional as noted by the term “MAY”. So does this mean we can remove any of these items and still have a CI? No, not really. So, what is optional?
- #10 What we find is the software that performs these wonderful features – Management, Automation, Orchestration are completely optional. What are we left with? Our job. IT organizations, again, have been doing this work for ages. The vendors have simply tried to make it easier by pre-packaging the infrastructure. What generally happens with pre-packaging? It becomes more expensive, with, in many cases, less bang for the buck.
- #11 VCE took EMC storage, Cisco Switches and Compute and VMware and built a preconfigured rack.
- #13 The vBlock/VxBock is built, installed, maintained, updated by VCE
- #14 This type of system is a closed architecture – meaning that the IT staff CANNOT make changes to the vBlock without approval by VCE. Versions of BIOS/VMware ESXi, etc are all encased in CONCRETE. This means that the underlying system is untouchable by the IT staff. The Vblock is designed to be fully self enclosed, with connections for outside power and networking. Adding capacity means adding another vBlock, and again, and again. Sounds strangely familiar …….. Unless you don’t remember these …….
- #15 All of these vendors created what are called “Validated Reference Architectures” – basically, whitepapers that listed the parts, how to plug the parts together and how to obtain support. But, these are just “suggestions” -- there is no proscription and in fact IT is placed into being integrators once again. In the end – we get one “Throat to Choke” – maybe.
- #17 We did this in an effort to remove the task of IT staff being integrators – to allow IT staff to better focus on the delivery of IT services rather than the task of figuring out how to make gear from different vendors work together. But we forgot – being an integrator is what made IT fun – in the beginning.
- #21 A software centric architecture that combines two or more components into a single unit that is easily scalable Namely the combination of the compute and storage modules Datasets become localized to the node that is performing the processing
- #22 Storage does truly scale out ---- BUT, requires the addition of Compute as well. If all I need is storage then I am stuck once again adding stuff I don’t need We haven’t solved the need to have externally managed networking, regardless of the hype from software vendors that “The Network is Irrelevant” Still relies on outside networking, UNLESS the nodes are contained in a larger chassis (ie., original Nutanix on SuperMicro) This becomes a tradeoff – do we sacrifice incremental increases in favor of less complexity and builtin integration? This places IT staff back into the role of being an integrator. Fine, if that is what you want your IT staff doing. Not fine if you are wanting to deliver business outcomes/results
- #23 Our infrastructure failed us – we demanded too much of the CPU’s, the networks and the storage. So we spent the last couple of decades making the infrastructure better, capable of handling
- #25 Water, electricity, gas – all sitting there posed to perform work, but for which we pay nothing until our INTENT is expressed in the form of flipping a switch or turning a knob. There is no real “Server” – and no real need to even know where the computing is taking place. The computing platform can be anywhere and datasets are automatically copied to the locality, reduced, and data sets returned.