SDI’s infrastructure team shares the benefits of hyperconverged infrastructure, with SDI’s Tim Portokalis providing the following analysis:
Converged infrastructure integrates computers, network and local storage for easier administration and economies of scale – but still leaves the complexity of managing virtualization, storage area networks, and high-availability configurations up to the system administrator.
Hypercoverged infrastructure (HCI) simplifies this complexity by unifying storage, computing, networking, and virtualization resources into a powerful, easy-to-deploy solution that reduces costs and organizational risk. Through the combination of software-defined storage, flexible scale-out, flash architectures, and Dynamic Quality of Service (QoS); organizations of all sizes can realize the potential of the software-defined data center.
The diagram below depicts how capacity can be expanded as needed. Each node is typically either a 2U box or an additional blade in a chassis adding CPUs, memory, and storage. All CPUs and storage are shared in the HCI architecture:
HCI Nodes
Benefits of HCI include:[/caption]
- DISTRIBUTED SCALE-OUT ARCHITECTURE
HCI nodes can be added and CPU power can be shared between nodes. Common applications for HCI include video management systems where disk access and CPU is at a premium, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (“VDI”) where uptime and processing are critical.
- DYNAMIC QoS
Policy-based quality of service engine ensures predictable, guaranteed performance and protection for applications based on business priority. For example, a reporting server could be given a high priority during month-end and lower priorities to Development or Test systems.
- SIMPLIFIED MANAGEMENT
Based on VMware vSphere, management is made easy via a vCenter Plug-in for single-pane-of-glass management of HCI and flash arrays from one console.
- SOFTWARE DEFINED STORAGE AND SAN
Storage resources from all nodes in an array are aggregated into a shared pool that all related applications can access, regardless of which physical server they reside on. This eliminates islands of stranded capacity, delivers highly-efficient storage utilization, and ensures that all data stored remains protected and accessible even during major failures. SAN features include:
SAN features include:
- - Snapshot and Clone
- - Data reduction through compression
- EXTREME RESILIENCY
Watch eliminates downtime and ensures data is protected and always available. Patented Scalar Erasure Coding technology protects data against the simultaneous failure of up to five disk,s or one node + two disks. Automatic failover restarts virtual servers on another node with no user intervention. Server redundancy is built into the HCI stack without the need for redundant software or additional licensing.
"Smarter Hyperconverged Infrastructure." Pivot3. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2017. <http://pivot3.com/hyperconverged-infrastructure/>.
ABOUT SDI GUEST BLOGGER: TIM PORTOKALIS
Tim serves as a Solutions Architect at SDI Presence. Tim has experience specialized in Infrastructure solutions, including designing and managing large-scale network implementations, network management, and cloud-based solutions. Tim has contributed to several notable projects at SDI including the Illinois Tollway Contact Center, U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Education Wide Area Network, Infrastructure upgrades for City Colleges of Chicago, and Chicago Public Schools Network Management System.
SDI’s team of experienced IT professionals possess an in-depth understanding of IT infrastructure and offer a comprehensive perspective on the latest industry trends including cloud computing, virtualization, consolidation, and next generation networks. As an accomplished mission-critical systems integrator, SDI is adept at the integration of next generation technologies with legacy infrastructure, providing cost-effective solutions to your organization’s operational and IT challenges.
Contact SDI to learn how SDI’s IT infrastructure experts can drive the performance of your organization’s networks and IT infrastructure.
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