评价企业hci的关键标准

DEVOPSAUTOMATION

HYPERCONVERGED

REPORT

KeyCriteriaforEvaluatingEnterpriseHCI

ENRICOSIGNORETTI

TOPICS:CLOUDSTORAGECONVERGEDDATAANALYTICS

DATACENTERINFRASTRUCTUREDATALAKEDATAPROTECTIONDATAVIRTUALIZATION

MULTICLOUDANDHYBRIDCLOUD

OBJECTSTORAGE

CREDIT:METAMORWORKS

KeyCriteriaforEvaluatingEnterpriseHCI2

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KeyCriteriaforEvaluatingEnterpriseHCI

TABLEOFCONTENTS

1Summary

2KeyCriteriaReportMethodology

3ConsiderationsAbouttheEvaluationCriteria

4TableStakes

5KeyCriteria

6CriticalFeatures:ImpactAnalysis

7Near-TermGame-ChangingTechnology

8Conclusion

9AboutEnricoSignoretti

10AboutGigaOm

11Copyright

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1.Summary

ITorganizationsofallsizesarefacingseveralinfrastructurechallenges.Ononehand,theyrepeatedlyreceivepressingrequirementscomingfromthebusinesstokeeptheircompanyswiftandproactive,whiletakingonnewdigitaltransformationinitiatives.Ontheotherhand,theystruggletokeeptheirbudgetundercontrol,provisionnewresourcesquickly,andmanagetheincreasingcomplexitywhilemaintainingefficiencyatreasonablelevels.

Acloud-onlyITstrategyisnotaviableoptionformanyorganizations,nowmoreareinterestedinhybridscenariosfromwhichtheycangetthebestofbothworlds.Unfortunately,bymixingcloudandtraditionalITinfrastructuresthereisatangibleriskofcreatingsilos,goingexactlytowardsthewrongdirection,andcomplicatingtheoverallinfrastructureevenmore,introducinginefficiencies.Unliketraditionalinfrastructures,hyper-convergedinfrastructures(HCI)areastepforwardinsimplicityandflexibility.HCIenablesorganizationstohideITinfrastructurecomplexitywhilerealizingthebenefitsofacloud-likeenvironment.HCIsimplifiesoperationsandmakesthetransitionofdataandapplicationsbetweenon-premisesandcloudeasier.

UsuallybasedoncommodityX86-basedhardwareandvirtualizationsoftware,HCIisasoftware-definedsolutionthatabstractsCPU,memory,networking,andstoragedevices,organizingtheminresourcepools.HCIallowstheadministratortocombineandprovisiontheseresourcesquicklyintheformofvirtualmachines(VMs)and,morerecently,asindependentstorageresourceslikenetworkattachedstorage(NAS)filersorobjectstores(seeFigure1).Managementoperationsarealsosimplified,allowinganincreaseinproductivitylevelsoftheinfrastructurewhilereducingthenumberofoperatorsandsysadminspervirtualmachines(VMs)undermanagement.

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HCI,originallychosenbysmall-andmedium-sizedenterprisesasanalternativetotheirtraditionalvirtualizedinfrastructuresforitssimplicityandaverylimitedsetofworkloads,likeVDIforexample,isquicklyexpandingitsreachtolargerorganizationswhilecoveringanincreasingnumberofworkloads,includingalltypesofvirtualizedworkloads,aswellasbigdataanalytics,edgecomputingusecases,andmore.Infact,forthemostadvancedsolutions,thetrade-offsonefficiencyimposedbysimplicityarebecominglessrelevantandtheirfeaturesetallowstoaddressaverylargesetofapplicationsnow.SeeFigure2belowforfurtherreference.

HCIisamaturemarketnowandsolutionscanbedividedintothreecategories:

•Enterprisesolutions.Withafocusonlargeorganizations’needs,theyarecharacterizedbyanextensivefeatureset,highscalability,core-to-cloudintegrations,andtoolsthatgobeyondtraditionalvirtualizationplatformmanagementandupintheapplicationstack.

•Small/MediumEnterprisesolutions.Similartothepreviouscategory,butsimplerandlessexpensive.ThefocusremainsthesimplificationoftheITinfrastructureforvirtualizedenvironments,withlimitedcore-to-cloudintegrationsandsolutionsecosystem.

•Verticalsolutions.Designedforspecificusecasesorverticalmarkets,theyareverycompetitiveinedge-cloudoredge-coredeployments,butusually,withalimitedsolutionsecosystem.Oftennotveryscalable,butefficientfromtheresourceconsumptionpointofview,thesesolutionsintegrateopen-sourcehypervisors,suchasKVMforexample,toofferend-to-endsupportandbetterprices.

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Ahyper-convergedsolutionaimedatservingoneofthecategoriesdescribedaboveshouldinclude:

•Scalability:HCIinfrastructuresarebasedonascale-outdesign.Eventhoughmodernhypervisorsdon’thavethelimitationstheyoncehad,scalabilitylimitscanstillbefoundonthedistributedstoragelayer(orvirtualsharedstorage)andinthetoolsaimedatmanagingtheclusterandadditionalservices.ScalableHCIsystemsallowtheorganizationtomanagefewerclustersandorganizeresourcesinlargerpools,minimizingfailuredomainswhileimprovinginfrastructureavailabilityandoverallsystemefficiency.AfundamentalaspecttotakeintoconsiderationwhenevaluatingHCIinfrastructuresistheflexibilityofthesolutionintermsofinitialconfiguration,expansion,andadditionaldatastorageservices.Infact,theabilitytoconfigurenodesofdifferentsizes,HWgeneration,andpurposesincreasesthesystemlifespanwhileenablingtheendusertorespondquicklytohisorganization’sbusinessneedswiththerightamountofresourcesandbudgetallocation.

•FeatureSet:HCIfeaturesincludethedistributedstoragelayerandmanagementtoolswiththird-partyintegrations,commonacrosstheboard.Then,dependingonthemainfocusofthesolutionandreflectingthecategorizationdefinedabove,additionalfeaturesareavailableonpracticallyeveryproductinthemarket.Enterprise-focusedsolutionshaveawiderrangeoffunctionalitieswiththegoaltoprovideanend-to-endinfrastructurestackforenterprises.Theyexpandtheirreachtodataprotection,secondarystorage,analytics,cloudservices,containersupport,andmore.Alargefeaturesetisbetterforsimplificationoflargedatacenterinfrastructureandoveralltotalcostofownership(TCO)butisusuallymoreexpensive.Ontheotherhand,HCIsolutionsdesignedforsmall/mediumenterprises(SME),cloudserviceproviders,andedge-core/edge-cloudusecasesareusuallylessexpensiveandaredesignedtoprovidethebestcombinationintermsofefficiencyandcostsfortheusecaseswheretheyexcel.

•Easeofuseandusability:Oneofthemainintentsofhyper-convergenceistoreduceinfrastructurefrictionandcomplexity.Todoso,HCIproductsshouldprovidetightintegrationbetweenallthecomponentsinvolved(hypervisor,virtualmachines,storage,network,andhardware),leveragingtoolsanduserinterfacesthatareeasytouse,andaimedatreducingthetimenecessarytoperformsysadmintasksandhidingthecomplexitybehindthescenes.CommercialhypervisorsusuallyofferallthenecessaryAPIsforthistypeofintegrationandtheirmanagementconsolecanbeextendedwithspecificplug-insandUIelementstomanageothercomponentsofthestack.AdifferentapproachistomakethemanagementconsoleoftheHCIsolutionmorecentral,managingallthecomponentsfromthere,includingthehypervisor.Thereareadvantagesanddisadvantagesforbothapproachesbutespeciallywithopensourcehypervisorsormulti-hypervisorsupport,thelatteristhemostcommon.AnotheraspectofusabilitycomesfromthesophisticationoftheentireHCIsolutionforhandlingupgrades,systemreconfigurations,nodedecommissioningorrepurposing,andsoon.

•Flexibility:Reducinginfrastructurecomplexityshouldn’tcomeattheexpenseofflexibilityandefficiency.Inthebeginning,HCIwasasolutionforalimitednumberofworkloadsandapplicationsbutnow,withtherightsolution,itispossibletocoveralmostallenterpriseneeds.HCIflexibilitydependsonarchitecturedesignandhowitcantakeadvantageofdifferentresourcesatitsdisposal.Theabilitytomanagenodesofdifferenttypesandsizes,mixhardwareofdifferentgenerationsandvendors,takingadvantageofadvancedloadbalancingmechanismsforIOoperations,areatthebaseofit.Evenmoreso,theabilitytointegrateexternalstoragesystemsor

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exposeresourcesviablock,file,orobjectinterfacestotherestoftheinfrastructurecanbeofgreathelptolimittheinitialinvestment,improvethereturnoninvestment(ROI)onHCI,simplifyitsadoptioninheterogeneousenvironments,aswellascreateasmoothmigrationpathfromtraditionaltoahyper-convergedinfrastructure.

•Solutionandpartnerecosystem:TheHCIstackisonlyapartoftheentireITinfrastructure.Itusuallytakesadvantageofstandardhypervisors,andintegrationwiththirdpartiescanalwaysbedoneatthislevel,butitisalsotruethatthedeeperthelevelofintegrations,thebetterfortheend-users.Infact,byleveragingplug-insorAPIs,atighterintegrationcancontributetoabetterexperiencefortheend-user.ThisiswhymanyHCIvendorsworkwithpartnerstobuildanecosystemofsolutionsaimingatextendingandimprovingthefunctionalityoftheirHCIstack.Somevendorstakeadvantageoftheexistinglargeproductportfolioinareaslikenetworkingorstorage,whileothersarebuildingthisecosystembasedoncollaborationswithothervendors.Areasofparticularinterestrangefromdataprotectiontosecurityandcloud.

•TotalCostofOwnership:AlbeitHCIsolutionsarealldesignedtoreducecomplexityandthereforeimproveoverallinfrastructureTCO,somearemorecompletethanothersorwithabetterfocusonspecificusecases,allowingthemtoaddressTCOissuesmoreefficiently.Ingeneralterms,TCOisverydifficulttocomputebutwhenitcomestohyper-convergencesolutions,theparametersdescribedinthepreviouspointsallhaveanimpactonTCO.Evenmoreso,lookingatthecategoriesdefinedatthebeginningofthischapter,theTCOofanHCIsolutionalsodependsonthearchitectureanditsefficiencyinrunningtheworkloadsforwhichithasbeendesigned.

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Followingtheclassificationpresentedearlierinthischapter,thekeymetricsfortheevaluation,andtheirimpactwewillanalyzeinthisreport,GigaOmhasawardedGoAwardstomostnoteworthysolutionsinthemarket.Thatsaid,inmanycases,theevaluationofanHCIsolutionreallydependsonthespecificuser’sneedsandrequiresathoroughanalysisoftheusecase.Forthisreasonweorganizedtheentirereporttogiveinformationtothereadertohelpfacilitatedecisionmaking.

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2.KeyCriteriaReportMethodology

InaKeyCriteriaReport,weanalyzeseveralimportantfeaturesofatechnologytobetterunderstandhowtheyimpactvariousparametersinrelationtotheneedsofeachITorganization.Thegoalistogroupproductfeaturesintothreecategoriestoexplainthevariouscharacteristicsanddifferentiatorsinmoderntechnology.Thegoalistohelptheenduserunderstandthevalueofeachcapabilitypresentedbyvendors,eventhosenotmentionedinthedocument,helpingtobuildmidtolongterminfrastructurestrategy.

Technologysolutionscanbedividedintothreecategories:

1.Enterprisesolutions

2.Small/MediumEnterprisesolutions

3.Verticalsolutions

Evenwhenamarkethasreachedaverymaturelevel,availabletechnologysolutionsdifferintheircharacteristicsdependingonseveralfactorsandhowtheycanbeintegratedwithexistinginfrastructures.Somevendorsaremorefocusedonmediumtolargeenterpriseswhileothersareabetterfitforsmallerorganizationsornicheusecases.Thatsaid,inmanycases,theevaluationofatechnologyismoredependentonthespecificuser’sneedsandnotonthetypeoforganization.

Themostimportantmetricsfortheevaluationofatechnologysolution,aimedatservingoneofthecategoriesdescribedabove,shouldinclude:

•Scalability

•Featureset

•Easeofuseandusability

•Flexibility

•Solutionandpartnerecosystem

•Totalcostofownership(TCO)

Considerationsabouttheevaluationcriteria:Selectingtherighttechnologyforanorganizationisnotaneasytask,andthisiswhyweorganizedthisdocumentinthreemainsections:

•TableStakes

•KeyCriteria

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•Near-termgame-changingtechnologyandfeatures

TableStakes

Inthiscategory,wepulltogetheraseriesofsystemcharacteristicsandfeaturesthatareimportantwhenchoosingtherightsolution.Inmostcases,thesearejustarchitecturalchoicesthatdependonthesizeoftheorganization,thefeaturesrequired,expectedgrowthovertime,andthetypeofworkloads.Consideringtheirmaturity,theimplementationofthesefeatureswillnotaddanybusinessadvantagenorsignificantlychangetheTCOorROIoftheinfrastructure.

KeyCriteria

Inthissection,wediscussthefeaturesandthetechnologythatreallydifferentiateonesystemfromanother.Inmostcases,dependingonrealuserneeds,thesefunctionalitiescanbebeneficialandhaveadeepimpactononeormoreoftheparametersmentioned.Therefore,detailsontheimplementationareessentialforunderstandingthebenefitsandhowtheyapplytotheinfrastructure,processes,orbusiness.

Assoonaswemovefromwhatcanbeconsideredtablestakestocriticalanddifferentiatingcapabilities,aspectslikearchitecturedesignandimplementationregainimportanceandneedtobeanalyzedingreatdetail.Insomecases,thefeaturesdescribedintheKeyCriteriachapterarethesolutioncorewiththerestofthesystemisdesignedaroundthem.Thiscouldbeanimportantbenefitforthoseorganizationsthatseearealpracticaladvantageinthem,butitalsoposessomerisksinthelongterm.

Overtime,thedifferentiationintroducedbyaparticularfeaturebecomeslessrelevantandfallsinthegroupof“tablestakes,”whilenewsystemcapabilitiesintroducenewbenefitsoraddressnewneeds,withapositiveimpactonTCO,performance,flexibilityandsoon.

Thesystemcapabilitiesdescribedinthissectioncanbringseveralbenefitstoorganizationsofallsizesandwithdifferentbusinessneeds.Thissectionisorganizedtogivethereaderabriefdescriptionofthespecificfunctionalityortechnology,itsbenefitsingeneralterms,andwhattoexpectfromagoodimplementation.Inordertogiveacompletepicture,wealsoincludeexamplesofthemostinterestingimplementationcurrentlyavailableinthemarket.

CriticalFeatures

Weprovideindicationsabouttheimpactoffeaturesdescribedintheprevioussectionsonthemetricsdefinedatthebeginningofthisreport:

•Theimpactthateachfeatureorcapabilityhasoneachmetric;

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•Thesolutionsinthemarketwiththebestimpactonaspecificmetricatthemomentofwriting;

•Theimplementationwhichhasthebestimpactonaspecificfeatureorsystemcapability.

Theimpactofthefeaturesontheselectedmetricsisnotinabsolutetermsandshouldalwaysbeverifiedwiththeorganization’srequirementsandusecase.Infact,theweightweprovideinthetablesfortheimpactofthefeaturesonthemetricsisformostcommonusecasesinenterpriseenvironments.

Near-termgame-changingtechnologyandfeatures

Inthissectionofthereport,weanalyzesomeofthemostinterestingproductsthataretobeimplementedinthistechnologyinthenexttwelvetoeighteenmonths.Somearealreadypresentinsomeformbutusuallyaspartofnicheproductsortosolveveryspecificusecases.Ineithercase,atthisstage,implementationsalreadyavailablearenotmatureenoughtobeincludedinthegroupofthecriticalfeatures.Atthesametime,whenimplementedcorrectlyandefficiently,featuresbasedonthistechnologycanreallymakeadifferentiationinthesamemetricsidentifiedinthisreport.

Thegoalofthistypeofreportistogroupfeaturesinthreecategoriestogivethereaderthepossibilityofbetterunderstandingthevariouscharacteristicsanddifferentiators.

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3.ConsiderationsAbouttheEvaluationCriteria

Selectingahyper-convergedinfrastructureforanorganizationisnotaneasytask,andthisiswhyweorganizedthisreportinthreemainsections:

1.TableStakes:Theminimumfeaturesetthatistakenforgrantedinanenterprise-gradehyper-convergedinfrastructuresystem.Eventhoughtherearestilldifferencesamongapproachesandimplementationsofsinglefeatures,mostofthesolutionshavebeenmaturingforyearsthroughmultipleiterationsandinmostcases,theyarearchitecturaldesignchoicesthatarewellknownanddemonstratedwhereandwhentheybestfit.

2.KeyCriteria:Inthissection,wediscussthefeaturesandthetechnologythatreallydifferentiateonesystemfromanother.Inmostcases,dependingonrealuserneeds,thesefunctionalitiescanbebeneficialandhaveadeepimpactononeormoreoftheparametersmentioned.Therefore,detailsontheimplementationareessentialtounderstandingthebenefitsandhowtheyapplytotheinfrastructure,processes,orbusiness.

3.Near-termgame-changingtechnologyandfeatures:MostHCIsystemshavealifespanrangeofaboutthreetofiveyears,andthisisamarketsegmentthatevolvesquickly.Lookingathowtechnology,protocols,andsystemdesignareevolvingwillgiveorganizationsmoreinformationinordertofindthebestsolution.Takingalookatthetechnologythatisnowinitsearlyadoptionphase,butexpectedtohitthemarketmoreaggressivelyin12to18months,willalsoenabletheusertolookatvendorroadmapswithadifferentandmorecriticaleye.

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Itisimportanttonotethattablestakestechnologiesandcapabilitiesbecomelessrelevantandpartofthefeaturesetthateverybodytakesforgrantedinarelativelyshorttimeperiod.Thesamecyclecontinuesforwhatitisnowconsideredgame-changingandinnovativeinHCI.Therefore,togetthebestROIfromthehyper-convergedinfrastructureandincreaseitslifespan,itisimportanttoalwayscheckwhatvendorscanoffertodayandwhattheyplantoreleaseinthenearfuture.

Systemsthatalreadyhavematurefunctionalitieslistedinthe“KeyCriteria”categorycanreallymakeadifferenceinoverallTCO,butitisalsoimportanttotakeintoaccountallthespecificneedsoftheenduser,forwhichsomeofthesefeaturescouldbelessrelevant,hencelessimpactful.Muchdependsonthesizeofinfrastructureandhowcriticaltheapplicationsarethatrunonthosesystems.

Adoptingnewtechnologyearlierisverybeneficial,givinganedgeoverthecompetition,butthiscanalsobearisk,dependingonthematurityoftheimplementation.Evenmoreso,somesystemsentirelydesignedaroundtheseinnovativetechnologiescouldmisssomeofthefeatureslistedinothercategories,reducingthenumberofusecasesandcompromisingitsusabilityforcommonworkloadsandscenarios.

Technology,functionality,andarchitecturedesignsthathavedemonstratedtheirvalueandsometimesmadeafortuneforavendorarealwaysadoptedbyothersandtheyslowlylosetheirstatusofdifferentiatorandcompetitiveadvantage.Inthebeginning,thedesignandimplementationofthesefeatureswereveryimportantandatthebaseoftechnicaldiscussionstounderstandtherealvalueand

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thetrade-offs.Butovertime,withthematurationandevolutionofthesefeatures,thedifferencesbecomesmaller,architecturedesignstendtostandardize,andtheybecomepartofthestandardfeaturesetoftheHCIsystem.

AnexampletoillustratethisprocesscouldcomefrombasicdataservicessuchasVMcloningthroughsnapshotsatthestoragelevel,apowerfultooltomakecopiesofVMsquicklyandefficiently.Introducedbyasinglevendor,inthebeginningitwasahugedifferentiator,afeaturethatquicklyfoundseveralusecasesandmakingsomeapplicationsmuchmoreefficient,forexample,virtualdesktopinfrastructure(VDI).Othervendorsrushedtobuildsimilarfeaturesandtherewasalwaysadebateonlimitations,constraints,orusabilitywhenthedifferentimplementationswerecompared.Afterseveralyears,snapshotsbecamejustacheckboxinthefeatureslist.Infact,everybodyagreesonwhatisreallyimportantintheirimplementationandhowitshouldwork.Somemightbebetterthanothers,buttheydon’treallymakeadifferenceexceptforveryspecificusecases.

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4.TableStakes

Scale-out

Scale-out(horizontalscaling)isaspecifictypeofarchitecturedesignforwhichsystemscalabilityisobtainedbyaddingadditionalunits(nodes)withasimilaramountofresourcesthatareinterconnectedonasharednetwork.AlmostalloftheHCIsolutionsavailableinthemarketarebasedonthistypeofarchitecture,usuallyalignedwithhypervisorrequirementsandbestpractices.

Modernhypervisorscanscaletolargeclusterconfigurationsandthelimitationsareusuallyfoundinthedistributedstoragelayer.Typicalconfigurationsbeginwithaminimumofthreenodes(twoinparticularconfigurationsforedgeusecases),withsomesolutionsthatcannowmanagedozensofnodesandcapacitiesinthemulti-petabyterange.

Thecomplexityusuallyassociatedwithscale-outinfrastructuresisabstractedbythehypervisoranditsmanagementconsole.InitialdeploymentofHCI-basedsolutionstakeslesstimethantraditionalvirtualizedinfrastructures.

Software-onlyorAppliances

Hyper-convergedinfrastructuresaresoftware-definedsolutionsthatrunonstandardx86servers.SomevendorsleverageproprietaryPCIcardstooptimizededuplicationoperationsbutinmanycases,thisisanoptionandthiscardcouldbetheoreticallyinstalledinanyserverwithaPCIslot.

Organizationsusuallyhavetwooptions:

1.ReferenceArchitecture,software-only:Thevendorprovidesthesoftwareandacompatibility

matrixandtheusercanpurchasehardwarefromthehardwarevendorofchoice.Thismethodgivesmorefreedomofchoiceandisusuallypreferredbyverylargeorganizationsthatalreadyhaveframeworkagreementswithhardwarevendors,cloudproviders,orforspecificedgeusecaseswheretherearedemandinghardwarerequirementsintermsofpowerconsumption,space,security,cost,andsoon.

2.Pre-configuredappliances:Manyorganizations,especiallysmallerones,stillpreferthispurchasingmodality.Itsimplifiesthepurchaseprocess,installation,andsupportaswell.ManyHCIvendorspartneredwithseveralhardwarevendors,whichcannowoffertheend-to-endsolutionfromtheirproductcatalogthroughcertifiedresellers.

Licensingandsubscriptionmodelsreflectwhatishappeningintherestoftheindustry.Standardperpe