THE!4TH!ERA!OF!IT! INFRASTRUCTURE! … · THE!4TH!ERA!OF!IT! INFRASTRUCTURE!...

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THE!4TH!ERA!OF!IT!INFRASTRUCTURE!SUPERCONVERGED!SYSTEMS!

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White!Paper!!

Dr.!Jai!Menon!Chief!Scientist,!Cloudistics!IBM!Fellow!and!Dell!CTO!Emeritus!!!

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Cloudistics!Ignite!|!The!4th!Era!of!IT!Infrastructure!Superconverged!Systems!|!2!

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Copyright!©!2016!Cloudistics,!Inc.!! 11600!Sunrise!Valley!Dr.!Suite!210!Reston,!VA!20191!161907!! ! +1.703.570.8880!|[email protected]!

Table&of&Contents&Introduction!.............................................................................................................!3&

IT&Infrastructure&Requirements!...............................................................................!4!

Workload!Diversity!..............................................................................................................!4!

Efficiency!and!Cost!..............................................................................................................!4!

Performance!........................................................................................................................!5!

Simple!to!Deploy,!Manage!and!Use!!...................................................................................!6!

Resiliency!and!Business!Continuity!!....................................................................................!8!

Open!and!FutureGReady!......................................................................................................!9!

Evolution&of&IT&Infrastructure&to&Meet&Business&Needs!........................................!10&

Best!of!Breed!Siloed!Infrastructure!....................................................................................!10!

Converged!Infrastructure!!..................................................................................................!10!

Hyperconverged!Infrastructure!!........................................................................................!11!

The&4th&Era&of&IT&Infrastructures&–&Superconverged&Systems&..............................&14&

Ignite&–&the&1st&Superconverged&Infrastructure&System&............................................&15&

How!Ignite!Supports!Workload!Diversity!...........................................................................!15!

How!Ignite!Supports!Efficiency!and!Cost!!..........................................................................!16!

How!Ignite!Supports!High!Performance!!...........................................................................!18!

How!Ignite!supports!Ease!of!Deploy,!Manage!and!Use!.....................................................!20!

How!Ignite!supports!Resiliency!and!Business!Continuity!!..................................................!21&

How!Ignite!is!Open!and!FutureGReady!!..............................................................................!23!

Conclusion!................................................................................................................................!24!


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1.# Introduction##This!paper!introduces!a!significant!new!approach!to!delivering!IT!infrastructure!to!data!centers!that!we!are!calling!Superconverged.#!!!The!first!generation!of!IT!infrastructures!were!“siloed”!architectures!where!compute,!storage!and!networking!were!selected!separately.!Starting!from!2007,!a!second!generation!of!converged#infrastructure#systems!emerged!that!bundled!existing!server,!storage!and!networking!products!together!with!management!software.!Hyperconverged#or#HCI#systems#emerged!in!2012!–!these!were!tightly!coupled!compute!and!storage!hardware!that!eschewed!the!need!for!a!SAN.!In!almost!all!cases,!networking!hardware!is!not!included!as!part!of!the!HCI!system!and!has!to!be!procured!separately.!!None!of!these!first!3!generations!of!IT!architecture!are!able!to!meet!all!the!needs!of!customers.!We!think!that!a!fourth!generation!of!superconverged!systems!will!emerge!that!will!make!it!extremely!easy!for!customers!to!consume!IT!and!meet!all!of!their!performance,!resiliency!and!cost!objectives.!Our!view!of!superconverged!systems!aligns!well!with!Gartner’s!view!of!a!3rd!phase!of!integrated!systems.1!!This!paper!is!organized!as!follows.!In!Section!2,!we!lay!out!the!requirements!that!modern!infrastructures!must!satisfy.!In!Section!3,!we!explain!why!the!first!3!generations!of!architectures!are!unable!to!fully!satisfy!all!of!these!requirements.!While!each!succeeding!generation!further!simplifies!deployment!and!management,!they!break!other!requirements!in!the!process.!In!Section!4,!we!more!formally!define!what!a!superconverged!infrastructure!is.!In!Section!5,!we!describe!Cloudistics!Ignite,!the!first!superconverged!system.!Others!will!undoubtedly!follow.!We!conclude!in!Section!6.!#

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1!http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3308017

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2.# IT#Infrastructure#Requirements#!

In!this!section,!we!specify!6!requirements!that!modern!infrastructures!must!support,!and!we!outline!how!infrastructures!can!be!built!to!meet!these!requirements.!!2.1.#Workload#Diversity#

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2.1.1.! Requirement!!If!IT!infrastructure!is!to!be!an!attractive!platform!for!customers,!it!must!support!all!types!of!applications,!including!the!business!critical!Tierd1!applications!of!today!such!as!Oracle,!Microsoft!SQL!Server,!Exchange,!SharePoint!and!also!the!emerging!applications!of!tomorrow!such!as!BI,!Hadoop,!NoSQL!and!predictive!analytics.!It!also!needs!to!support!new!styles!of!application!development!and!deployment,!like!Docker.!!

!2.1.2.# How#it#can#be#met#

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The!infrastructure!must!be!easily!scalable!as!needed,!so!there!is!no!need!to!overprovision!at!the!start,!nor!do!a!forkdlift!upgrade!later.!More!specifically,!to!support!a!wide!diversity!of!workloads!with!varying!requirements,!it!is!important!for!the!infrastructure!to!support!independent!scaling!of!compute,!storage!and!networking.!#!Since!multiple!workloads!may!be!running!on!the!same!infrastructure,!the!IT!infrastructure!should!allow!each!workload!to!specify!SLAs!and!for!the!infrastructure!to!be!able!to!enforce!these!SLAs,!so!each!workload!gets!predictable!performance.!!!

!2.2.#Efficiency#and#Cost#

#2.2.1.! Requirement!

!The!infrastructure!must!have!an!attractive!cost!point!and!an!efficient!physical!footprint.!The!need!for!operational!simplicity!is!dealt!with!as!part!of!a!separate!requirement!to!be!described!shortly.!


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!The!usage!of!the!infrastructure!must!be!optimized.!!!

2.2.2.! How#it#can#be#met#!Compute,!storage!and!networking!must!all!be!virtualized,!so!that!the!infrastructure!allocated!to!an!application!is!neither!under!or!overprovisioned.!!

!Storage!resiliency!must!be!provided!in!a!space!efficient!manner!–!by!using!RAID!instead!of!multiple!copies!of!data,!for!example.!While!some!in!the!industry!have!downplayed!use!of!RAID!recently,!the!truth!is!that!declustered!RAID!has!performance!and!rebuild!times!that!are!superior!to!other!touted!alternatives!such!as!erasure!coding.!!Storage!must!provide!data!reduction!services!such!as!deduplication,!compression,!snapshots!and!thin!provisioning.!This!is!particularly!important!for!Flash!storage.!!Advanced!data!services!such!as!snapshots!and!replication!must!be!space!and!bandwidth!efficient.!

!2.3.#Performance#

#2.3.1.# Requirement#

#To!support!Tierd1!applications,!the!infrastructure!must!support!highdperformance!and!lowdlatency.!High!performance!in!each!of!compute,!storage,!networking!and!virtualization!layers!are!important.!!!The!performance!must!also!be!predictable.!#

2.3.2.# How#it#can#be#met##The!infrastructure!must!use!the!latest!generation!of!servers,!all!Flash!storage,!high!performance!networks!and!modern!hypervisors!with!low!overheads.!!VMs!must!be!given!direct!access!to!block!storage!without!layers!of!translation.!!


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!Enough!compute!resources!must!be!dedicated!to!storage!controller!functionality!to!ensure!that!the!inherent!read/write!capability!of!the!storage!drives!is!not!inhibited.!!Lowdoverhead!implementations!of!network!and!storage!virtualization!must!be!used.#

!VM!level!network!microservices!such!as!routing!and!firewalls!must!be!provided!to!minimize!the!need!for!eastdwest!traffic!to!hairdpin!up!to!physical!hardware!and!back.!!Predictable!performance!must!be!supported!through!SLA!enforcement!and!use!of!all!flash!storage.#

!2.4.!Simple#to#Deploy,#Manage#and#Use#

!2.4.1.! Requirement#

#It!should!take!only!a!small!number!of!people!and!minimal!expertise!to!deploy,!manage!and!use!the!infrastructure.!!It!should!take!only!minutes!after!the!hardware!has!been!racked!and!powered,!to!set!up!and!get!running!everything!needed!to!run!the!first!application.!!!The!infrastructure!should!be!composable!–!it!should!be!easy!to!separately!carve!out!the!exact!compute,!storage!and!network!needs!of!each!user!or!tenant!of!the!infrastructure.!!It!should!be!simple!and!nonddisruptive!to!add!more!infrastructure!or!upgrade!it.!Agile,!dynamic!environments!need!independent!scaling!of!compute,!storage!and!networking.!!It!should!be!easy!to!know!if!an!application!is!meeting!its!SLA!and!to!remediate!if!it!is!not.!!!It!should!all!be!managed!from!a!single!portal!–!no!silos.!!


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It!should!be!easy!to!bring!in!the!infrastructure!and!have!it!sit!sidedbydside!with!existing!infrastructure!and!also!to!be!able!to!move!existing!applications!and!associated!data!to!the!new!infrastructure.!!

2.4.2.! How#it#can#be#met!!The!entire!infrastructure!must!be!softwareddefined,!meaning!that!it!can!be!easily!provisioned!using!an!API,!from!a!single!portal!–!no!need!to!resort!to!scripting,!CLIs,!terminals!and!keyboards.!

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Analytics!and!optimization!techniques!should!be!used!to!monitor!and!optimize!the!placement!of!applications!and!the!assignment!of!infrastructure!to!each!application.!!Virtualization!of!all!functions!(server,!storage!and!networking)!must!be!integrated!into!the!infrastructure!and!controlled!through!APIs!to!ensure!fast!and!automated!provisioning!of!the!infrastructure.!!Storage!and!networking!capability!must!be!VM!or!container!centric!rather!than!LUN!or!network!centric.!!!The!infrastructure!should!eliminate!unnecessary!choices!for!the!customer,!where!such!choices!add!to!complexity!without!providing!significant!value.!As!an!example,!Flash!storage!has!become!cheap!enough!relative!to!spinning!disks!(see!Figure!below)!that!All!Flash!storage!is!appropriate!for!most!application!needs!–!other!storage!requirements!such!as!for!archival!storage!can!be!satisfied!using!the!public!cloud.!This!simplifies!the!infrastructure!and!its!management,!reduces!unnecessary!customer!choice,!and!eliminates!use!of!failuredprone!mechanical!components!from!the!data!center.!!


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!2.5.#Resiliency#and#Business#Continuity#

#2.5.1.# Requirement#

#While!some!applications!may!not!need!this,!in!order!to!support!business!critical!Tierd1!applications,!the!infrastructure!should!be!capable!of!supporting!fivednines!of!reliability!(no!more!than!5!minutes!of!downtime!per!year).!!For!example,!all!flash!arrays!like!those!from!Pure!Storage!or!XtremIO!claim!to!be!5dnines,!which!is!now!the!standard!for!supporting!Tierd1!applications.!!!It!must!never!lose!data!or!return!the!wrong!data!to!an!application.!!The!infrastructure!must!also!support!natural!disasters!and!other!site!related!issues.!#

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2.5.2.# How#it#can#be#met#

Figure'1:'SSDs'vs.'7.2K'rpm'vs.'15K'rpm'spinning'magnetic'disk'drives'

Storage pricing trends


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To!support!fivednines,!the!infrastructure!must!provide!for!nonddisruptive!hardware!upgrades,!nonddisruptive!software!upgrades,!nonddisruptive!scaling,!fast!failover!and!recovery!times,!and!minimal!performance!loss!during!hardware!failures.!!To!ensure!data!loss!probability!is!vanishingly!small,!the!infrastructure!must!support!and!recover!from!multiple!simultaneous!storage!drive!failures.!

!Support!for!failover!between!sites!without!disruption!to!operations!must!be!provided.!Individual!applications!that!need!small!RTOs!(Recovery!Time!Objective)!and!RPOs!(Recovery!Point!Objective)!must!be!supported!and!application!consistent!replication!and!snapshots!should!be!provided.!

!2.6.!Open#and#FutureNReady!

#The!infrastructure!should!be!built!using!standard!hardware!components!such!as!standard!x86!servers!and!standard!switch!hardware.!It!should!use!open!standards.!!The!infrastructure!should!support!emerging!trends!and!directions!in!business!processes!and!technology!–!such!as!emerging!approaches!to!application!development!and!deployment!like!Docker!and!containers.!!Container!technology!is!rapidly!transforming!the!way!enterprises!develop!and!deliver!applications,!and!adoption!is!set!to!ramp!up!spectacularly!in!the!next!year.!!A!new!report!from!the!Cloud!Foundry!Foundation,!Hope#Versus#Reality:#Containers#in#2016,!shows!that!16!percent!of!all!organizations!are!already!using!containers!in!production,!and!another!64!percent![of!organizations]!are!expecting!to!move!into!production!in!the!next!year.2!Given!this,!it!is!important!for!IT!infrastructures!to!provide!firstdclass!support!for!containers!(such!as!Docker)!and!associated!container!orchestration!systems!(such!as!Docker!Swarm!or!Kubernetes).!!!IT!infrastructures!should!be!futuredready,!allowing!for!easy!incorporation!of!new!generations!of!technology.!For!example,!emerging!storage!technologies!like!

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2!http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/06/17/containersGareGonGfireGasGenterprisesGrampGupGadoption/!


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NVMe!fabrics!and!3D!Xpoint!memory!must!be!supported!as!and!when!they!become!available.!

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3.# Evolution#of#IT#Infrastructure#to#Meet#Business#Needs##3.1.#Best#of#Breed#Siloed#Infrastructure#

#IT!infrastructure!was!originally!(and!is!still)!purchased!using!bestNofNbreed#siloed#architectures!where!compute,!storage!and!networking!are!selected!and!customized!separately.!!!!These!solutions!often!can!meet!the!performance,!resiliency!and!business!continuity!requirements!of!customers.!#

!But!the!procurement,!deployment,!integration!and!management!for!each!infrastructure!component!is!sorely!inefficient!and!extremely!expensive.!!Furthermore,!such!infrastructures!often!use!proprietary!hardware,!rarely!include!network!virtualization!and!do!not!natively!include!Docker!support.!!As!a!result,!these!approaches!fail!to!meet!many!of!the!other!requirements!we!laid!out!in!Section!1,!such!as!ease!of!deployment,!ease!of!use,!openness,!workload!diversity,!low!cost!and!future!readiness.!!

!3.2.#Converged#Infrastructure#

#Starting!from!2007,!a!new!generation!of!converged#infrastructure#systems!emerged!from!companies!like!Cisco,!IBM,!HP!and!Dell.!Converged!systems!are!bundles!of!server,!storage!and!network!infrastructure!products,!sold!with!management!software!that!facilitates!the!provisioning!and!management!of!the!combined!unit.!Examples!include!VCE!Vblock,!HP!ConvergedSystem,!Dell!Active!Systems!and!Lenovo!Converged!System.!Converged!infrastructure!can!be!delivered!as!an!integrated!appliance!or!as!an!integrated!reference!architecture.!Reference!architectures!are!products!in!which!two!or!more!vendors!certify!a!specific!set!of!hardware!and!software!components!and!offer!a!common!source!of!service!and!support.!!These!systems!represent!a!first!step!in!simplification!of!deployment!and!management!of!infrastructure.!#

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However,!such!infrastructure!can!often!still!take!weeks!or!months!to!purchase,!prepare!and!deploy.!The!storage!used!is!often!proprietary!and!expensive.!These!systems!typically!do!not!include!network!virtualization!and!so!fail!the!efficiency!and!cost!requirement.!!Their!cost!can!be!further!driven!up!by!licensing!costs!for!hypervisors!and!other!software!components.!The!storage!used!is!usually!not!all!flash!storage!and!these!systems!are!typically!not!futuredready.!

!3.3.#Hyperconverged#Infrastructure#

#2012!saw!the!emergence!of!a!3rd!generation!of!infrastructure!systems!called!Hyperconverged#infrastructure#systems#or#HCI#systems.!These!are!tightly!coupled!compute!and!storage!hardware!that!dispenses!with!the!need!for!a!regular!storage!area!network!(SAN).!Storage!functions!—!plus!optional!capabilities!like!backup,!recovery,!replication,!deduplication!and!compression!—!are!delivered!via!software!in!the!server!nodes!and!use!direct!attached!storage!or!DAS.!Examples!include!Nutanix,!Simplivity,!Cisco!Hyperflex,!Gridstore,!Pivot3!and!Scale!Computing.!These!systems!are!cheaper!and!they!are!simpler!to!deploy!and!manage!than!1st!and!2nd!generation!infrastructures.#

!While!HCI!systems!are!becoming!increasingly!popular!due!to!their!low!cost!and!ease!of!deployment,!they!do!have!a!number!of!limitations.!!!1.! Most!HCI!systems,!except!Cisco!Hyperflex,!do!not!include!a!network!switch.!

This!means!they!solve!only!2/3rd!of!the!infrastructure!problem.!!!

2.! Most!HCI!systems!do!not!provide!network!virtualization.!One!exception!is!Cisco!Hyperflex!which!provides!Cisco!ACI!virtualization.!!Without!network!virtualization,!!

•! network!provisioning!is!slow!and!manual,!!•! workload!mobility!is!confined!to!individual!physical!subnets,!!•! there!is!increased!network!use!due!to!the!need!for!hairdpinning!and!multiple!hops!to!route!traffic!to!network!hardware!and!back!because!essential!services!like!firewalls!and!routers!are!not!pervasively!available,!and!!

•! there!could!be!security!blind!spots.!!


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Since!network!virtualization!is!not!typically!included!in!HCI!systems,!if!needed,!the!customer!has!to!separately!purchase!such!software!from!3rd!parties!–!examples!include!NSX!from!VMware!or!Midonet!from!Midokura.!!!

3.! They!generally!support!a!more!limited!set!of!workloads,!because!they!typically!scale!compute!and!storage!capability!together.!The!simultaneous!scaling!of!compute!and!storage!is!appropriate!for!VDI!workloads,!so!HCI!systems!were!initially!targeted!at!VDI.!!!A!second!generation!of!hyperconverged!architectures!that!permit!multiple!types!of!nodes,!each!with!a!different!ratio!of!compute!to!storage,!have!emerged.!The!customer!may!mix!and!match!node!types!to!get!the!appropriate!ratio!of!compute!to!storage!capacity!for!their!workload,!but!it’s!not!the!cleanest!approach!to!solving!the!problem!and!puts!the!onus!on!the!customer!to!choose!from!among!the!many!node!types!when!scaling!their!workload.!Furthermore,!the!storage!performance!may!not!necessarily!scale!with!storage!capacity!–!since!a!large!amount!of!storage!may!sit!inside!one!of!the!nodes!and!all!storage!traffic!for!all!of!that!storage!must!pass!through!that!one!node!which!becomes!a!chokepoint!for!storage!performance.!!

4.! HCI!systems!generally!suffer!from!high!overhead!in!accessing!storage.!This!is!because!they!typically!use!three!levels!of!translation.!For!example,!consider!HCI!systems!that!use!VMware!as!the!hypervisor.!VMware!has!a!shared!cluster!file!system!called!VMFS!that!is!mapped!on!top!of!LUNs!provided!by!the!storage!layer!and!is!used!to!store!VM!data.!With!other!hypervisors!such!as!AHV!from!Nutanix,!the!shared!file!system!might!be!NFS.!What!each!VM!sees!as!a!disk!is!not!the!LUN!provided!by!the!storage!layer,!but!a!file!in!the!shared!file!system!called!a!VMDK.!A!separate!file!system!inside!a!VM!then!places!files!on!VMDK.!!!!

5.! HCI!systems!provide!high!availability!storage!in!an!inefficient!way.!All!HCI!Systems!use!either!replication!(which!is!expensive!relative!to!RAID)!or!they!use!erasure!coding!(which!generally!has!performance!inferior!to!equivalently!implemented!declustered!RAID).!

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6.! HCI!Systems!generally!find!it!more!difficult!to!guarantee!application!performance,!since!compute!for!applications!must!compete!with!variable!storage!compute!needs!on!the!same!set!of!nodes.!


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7.! Finally,!HCI!systems!often!require!the!customer!to!purchase!additional!3rd!party!software!–!such!as!a!hypervisor!from!VMware!or!network!virtualization!software!from!Midokura!or!VMware.!Management!of!such!3rd!party!software!typically!requires!separate!management!software!such!as!VMware!vCenter!or!NSX!controller.!This!can!lead!to!additional!costs,!more!time!to!deploy,!multiple!management!portals!and!more!challenging!support!arrangements.!

!While!infrastructures!have!continued!to!evolve!to!meet!the!customer!needs!that!we!outlined!in!Section!1!of!this!paper,!we!conclude!from!this!section!that!there!is!still!much!room!for!improvement.!!!In!particular,!we!are!looking!for!infrastructures!that!meet!or!beat!HCI!systems!in!cost!and!ease!of!deploy!and!ease!of!use,!while!overcoming!the!7!limitations!outlined!above.!!The!current!state!of!IT!infrastructures!is!summarized!in!Table!1.!!!


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Table'1'

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4.# The#4th#Era#of#IT#Infrastructures#–#Superconverged#Systems##As!technology!has!continued!to!advance,!it!is!now!becoming!possible!to!provide!IT!infrastructures!that!

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1.! satisfy!the!requirements!we!laid!out!in!Section!1,!!2.! eliminate!the!7!limitations!of!HCI!systems!outlined!in!Section!3.3!above,!and!3.! match!or!exceed!the!cost!and!simplicity!of!HCI!systems!!We!call!this!next!generation!of!IT!infrastructure!Superconverged#infrastructure#systems.#Such!systems#!!

Comparing*IT*Infrastructures*Business'Need' Approach'Needed' Siloed' Converged' Hyperconverged'

Workload'Diversity'

•  Independent*scaling*• Predictable*performance*

•  Independent'scaling'• Yes'

•  Independent'scaling'• Yes'

• No'• No'

Efficiency,'Cost' • Low*cost*• Full*virtualiza<on*• Efficient*redundancy*• Addl*3rd*party*s/w*needed?*

• No'• No'network,'storage'• Efficient'redundancy'• Yes'

•  Intermediate'cost'• No'network,'storage'• Efficient'redundancy'• Yes'

• Low'cost'• No'network'• Somewhat'• Yes'

Performance' • High*performance*• Avoid*VM*storage*xla<on**• Network*uKservices*• Predictable*performance*

• High'performance'• No'• No'• Yes'

• High'performance'• No'• No'• Yes'

• High'performance'• No'• No'• No'

Simple'to'deploy,'manage,'use'

• Single*silo*management*• SoMware*defined*• Full*virtualiza<on*• Eliminate*many*choices*• VM*centric*vs*LUN*centric*• Composable*

• No'• No'• No'network,'storage'• No'• LUN'centric'• No'

• Yes'• No'• No'network,'storage'• No'• LUN'centric'• No'

• No'network'• Yes'• No'network'• No'• VM'centric'• No'

Resiliency,'Business'ConJnuity'

• NonKdisrup<ve*upgrades*• Site*failover*• Low*RPO,*RTO*• Efficient*storage*failure*

• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'


• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'• No'

Open'and'Future'Ready'

• Standard*h/w*• Open*standards*• Na<ve*Docker*support*

• No'• Open'standards'• No'

• No'• Open'standards'• No'

• Yes'• Open'standards'• No'

Green,'Strong;'Red,'weak;'Blue,'intermediate'


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•! Tightly!integrate!server,!storage,!networking,!virtualization,!VM/container!centric!management!and!an!application!marketplace!to!create!a!highdspeed!infrastructure!platform!that!includes!everything!needed!to!run!applications!out!of!the!box!–!a!single!silo!platform.!!!!

•! Include!native!virtualization!of!compute,!storage!and!networking!resources,!without!need!for!additional!3rd!party!software.!!

•! Allow!each!of!these!three!resources!to!scale!easily!and!independently!of!each!other,!making!it!possible!to!run!a!wide!diversity!of!workloads.!!!

•! Use!only!offdthedshelf!x86!server!nodes,!storage!drives!and!network!switches!–!it!is!entirely!software!defined.!!!

•! Employ!a!single!unified!management!portal!to!manage!the!entire!infrastructure!using!an!API.!

!Our!definition!of!superconverged!systems!aligns!well!with!Gartner’s!definition!of!the!3rd!phase!of!integrated!systems!from!2016d2025!(see!Footnote!1).!In!Gartner’s!view:!!“The'third'phase'of'integrated'systems'will'deliver'dynamic,'composable'and'fabricEbased'infrastructures'by'also'offering'modular'and'disaggregated'hardware'building'blocks,'driving'continuous'application'delivery'and'continuous'economic'optimization.”#

!#

5.# Ignite#–#the#1st#Superconverged#Infrastructure#System##Ignite!from!Cloudistics!is!the!first!superconverged!system!we!are!aware!of.!In!this!section,!we!describe!its!design!at!a!high!level.!We!revisit!the!6!requirements!we!laid!out!in!Section!1,!and!show!how!the!design!of!the!Ignite!superconverged!system!can!meet!those!requirements,!while!eliminating!the!shortcomings!of!HCI!systems.!!5.1.#How#Ignite#Supports#Workload#Diversity#

#Since!different!workloads!will!have!different!compute,!storage!and!networking!requirements,!a!key!requirement!is!to!be!able!to!scale!these!independently.!!!


!


Ignite!has!separate!compute,!storage!and!network!blocks,!with!any!to!any!connectivity!between!the!blocks.!Within!the!integrated!system,!any!one!of!these!three!blocks!can!be!added!to,!without!affecting!the!other!blocks.!This!makes!it!dead!simple!to!scale!compute,!storage!or!networking!as!needed!to!support!a!given!workload!or!set!of!workloads.!In!Ignite,!the!current!architecture!allows!compute!to!be!scaled!to!almost!700!nodes!(37,500!HT!cores),!storage!to!be!scaled!to!10s!of!PBs,!and!networking!to!be!scaled!to!10s!of!highdperformance!leaf!and!spine!switches.!Architectural!extensions!that!will!support!another!factor!of!10!in!scaling!are!in!the!works.!!Ignite!storage!blocks,!called!Elastic!Block!Flash!(EBF)!are!built!using!dedicated!x86!servers.!Storage!services!(such!as!thindprovisioning!and!deduplication)!are!provided!on!a!VM!or!container!basis,!not!on!a!LUN!basis.!All!the!complexities!of!SAN!management!are!eliminated!and!not!visible!to!the!administrator!or!user!of!the!system.!!!Ignite!uses!all!Flash!storage!in!EBF,!making!it!easier!to!support!guaranteed!performance!for!applications.!!!Ignite!is!being!certified!for!a!wide!range!of!applications!including!Big!Data!Hadoop!(Horton,!Cloudera,!MapR),!analytics!(Splunk),!NoSQL!(Cassandra,!MongoDB),!Relational!(PostGres),!Redhat!(RHEL),!Microsoft,!VDI!(Citrix,!Workspot,!Parallels)!and!Docker.!!Ignite!also!makes!it!possible!to!easily!import!existing!VMware!or!HyperV!workloads!to!the!platform!with!a!few!clicks.!!#

5.2.#How#Ignite#Supports#Efficiency#and#Cost##Ignite!provides!complete!virtualization!of!compute,!storage!and!networking!–!making!it!possible!to!allocate!exactly!the!resources!needed!–!no!more,!no!less!–!to!each!application.!A!lowdoverhead!hypervisor!integrates!both!compute!and!network!virtualization!and!runs!on!the!compute!nodes,!while!storage!is!implemented!on!a!separate!and!dedicated!set!of!nodes.!!!Storage!resiliency!is!provided!in!a!space!efficient!manner!–!by!using!RAID!instead!of!multiple!copies!of!data.!Each!drive!uses!erasure!coding!to!handle!uncorrectable!errors,!each!group!of!8!drives!is!organized!in!a!7+P!RAIDd5!


!


configuration,!and!RAIDd0!is!implemented!across!a!group!of!32!drives.!Hot!sparing!and!double!parity!is!coming!in!an!imminent!release.!!Ignite!uses!a!single!network!for!all!uses,!including!storage.!!Data!reduction!techniques!such!as!deduplication,!thin!provisioning!and!snapshots!are!included!in!Ignite.!!Ignite!data!services!like!snapshots!and!replication!are!space!and!bandwidth!efficient.!!Since!Ignite!includes!the!hypervisor!and!network!virtualization!software,!no!additional!licensing!costs!are!incurred,!unlike!most!other!systems.!!Ignite!footprint!and!cost!are!very!attractive!and!competitive.!Price!comparisons!show!Ignite!to!be!at!least!2X!cheaper!than!bestdofdbreed!HCI!systems!and!at!least!2X!cheaper!than!bestdofdbreed!public!cloud!systems.!!

!!

5.3.#How#Ignite#Supports#High#Performance##


!


Ignite!ensures!high!performance!for!each!of!its!components.!!!Servers!utilizing!the!latest!generation!of!Intel!Broadwell!cores!are!used!in!Ignite.!Dualdsocket!nodes!with!up!to!28!cores/node!(56!HT!cores/node)!and!up!to!512!GB!of!RAM!per!node!are!supported!in!Ignite.!!For!storage,!Ignite’s!integrated!Elastic!Block!Flash!(EBF)!storage!has!the!performance!of!a!bestdofdbreed!modern!all!flash!array!(such!as!Pure!or!XtremeIO)!and!utilizes!modern!4!TB!Samsung!Enterprise!SSDs!with!3D!VdNand!technology!and!drive!level!erasure!coding.!Furthermore,!the!blocks!from!the!EBF!are!made!directly!available!to!the!applications!in!the!VMs,!without!the!traditional!block!to!file!to!block!translations!of!hypervisors!(LUN!to!VMFS!to!VMDK!in!VMware).!The!dedicated!x86!server!nodes!implementing!storage!function!are!powerful!enough!that!they!can!support!the!full!read/write!performance!capability!of!the!Flash!drives!attached!to!them.!!For!switching,!high!performance!TOR!switches!with!48!10Gb!and!6!40!Gb!ports,!and!spine!switches!with!32!100Gb!ports!are!used.!Each!EBF!storage!controller!can!support!up!to!40!Gb/s!of!bandwidth!to!a!single!application,!which!matches!or!exceeds!the!capability!of!modern!alldflashdarrays!like!Pure!and!XtremIO.!!Ignite!also!uses!a!KVM!based!hypervisor!with!industrydleading!overheads!that!are!in!the!2%d3%!range.!!Ignite!implements!network!virtualization!in!Layer!3!using!an!innovative!new!technique!that!allows!for!line!rate!performance,!see!figure!below.!!


!


!VM!level!microservices!such!as!routing!and!firewalls!are!all!implemented!with!lowdoverheads!and!minimizes!consumption!of!compute!cores.!By!integrating!such!capabilities,!Ignite!minimizes!the!need!for!eastdwest!traffic!to!hairdpin!up!to!physical!hardware!and!back,!see!figure!below.!

!

Unique Virtual NetworkingThe only virtual network implemented in L3 to deliver line rate performance that scale to

support storage and the most demanding applications.

Line-rate performance Implemented at L3, doesn’t rely on packet encapsulation

Operational simplicity Micro-services include DHCP, NAT, Load Balancers

Built-in security

Software based firewalls and address isolation

Integrated with storage Fully integrated with infrastructure and applications

10 GbE networks are ubiquitous today moving rapidly toward 40GbE

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 2 3 4

Cloudistics

VxLAN

Net

wor

k P

erfo

rman

ce

(Gbp

s)

4 GbE Limit


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5.4.!How#Ignite#supports#Ease#of#Deploy,#Manage#and#Use!#Ignite!uses!a!single!SaaS!based!portal!to!manage!all!aspects!of!the!infrastructure!including!realdtime!monitoring!and!alerts.!The!portal!leverages!an!API!provided!by!the!hardware.!Since!all!functions!are!virtualized!in!Ignite,!automated!provisioning!of!exactly!what!an!application!needs!without!over!or!under!provisioning!is!easy.!There!is!no!need!to!resort!to!scripting,!CLIs,!terminals!and!keyboards.!!Once!the!hardware!has!been!racked,!the!time!to!be!in!a!position!to!run!your!first!application!is!as!low!as!12!minutes.!!!It!is!very!easy!in!Ignite!to!compose!or!carve!out!a!VDC!(Virtual!Data!Center)!that!meets!the!exact!and!specific!compute,!storage!and!networking!needs!of!an!individual!tenant!or!user!of!the!infrastructure.!!

VM#to#VM#Traffic#

VM1# VM2#Hypervisor#

TOR#Firewall#

VM1# VM2#Hypervisor#

TOR#Firewall#

No#Ignite#Microservices# With#Ignite#Microservices#

Embedded#firewall#


!


An!application!marketplace!that!allows!popular!enterprise!applications!to!be!downloaded!for!free,!and!a!portal!that!allows!one!click!importation!of!existing!apps!from!VMware!or!HyperV!to!Ignite!makes!application!deployment!simple.!!!In!Ignite,!all!storage!capabilities!such!as!replication,!snapshots!and!thin!provisioning!are!delivered!by!VM!or!container,!exactly!as!the!customer!would!want.!!Ignite!uses!all!flash,!elastic!block!flash!storage!(EBF),!eliminating!the!complexity!of!managing!multiple!storage!types!and!simplifying!SLA!enforcement.!!!Ignite!also!simplifies!customer!choice!by!eliminating!the!need!to!select!between!RAID!levels.!!Ignite!uses!a!single!network!for!all!needs,!including!storage.!!Ignite!runs!side!by!side!with!your!current!infrastructure!without!disruption—!network!connection!and!power!is!all!managed!internally!without!affecting!your!production!environment.!

!

!5.5.#How#Ignite#supports#Resiliency#and#Business#Continuity#

#There!is!no!single!point!of!failure!in!Ignite!–!there!is!redundancy!for!storage!controllers,!drives,!network!switches!and!hypervisors.!Recovery!times!are!minimized!for!failures.!##The!EBF!storage!controller!design!is!activedpassive,!and!any!one!controller!has!enough!capacity!to!support!uninhibited!IOs!to!all!the!drives!behind!the!pair!of!controllers.!When!a!controller!fails!and!the!system!recovers!to!use!the!previously!passive!controller,!there!is!no!loss!in!performance.!!Storage!drive!resiliency!is!provided!by!using!RAID!instead!of!multiple!copies!of!data.!Each!drive!uses!erasure!coding!to!handle!uncorrectable!errors!within!each!Flash!drive,!each!group!of!8!drives!is!organized!in!a!7+P!RAIDd5!configuration,!and!RAIDd0!is!implemented!across!the!group!of!32!drives.!Hot!sparing!and!double!parity!are!imminent!to!make!the!probability!of!data!loss!vanishingly!small.##


!


Ignite!supports!rolling!software!upgrades.!A!group!of!nodes!can!be!defined!to!be!a!migration!zone,!and!all!nodes!in!a!migration!zone!can!be!updated!to!the!new!release!of!software,!while!other!migration!zones!are!at!the!previous!release.!Up!to!3!releases!of!software!can!be!running!at!the!same!time!in!different!migration!zones.!Software!updates!do!not!require!a!reboot!of!a!node,!thus!making!software!updates!nonddisruptive.!##The!Ignite!hypervisor!has!HA!capability,!so!if!the!hypervisor!fails,!VMs!can!be!restarted!on!another!node.!No!maintenance!windows!are!needed!for!patching!software!–!a!running!kernel!can!be!patched.!!!!Ignite!also!supports!nonddisruptive!hardware!upgrades!and!nonddisruptive!scaling.!!An!imminent!release!of!Ignite!software!will!support!disaster!recovery!and!backup!to!Amazon!S3.!Ignite!supports!small!RTOs!(Recovery!Time!Objective)!and!RPOs!(Recovery!Point!Objective)!and!provides!for!application!consistent!replication!and!snapshots.#!

5.6.!How#Ignite#is#Open#and#FutureNReady##Ignite!uses!entirely!offdthedshelf!hardware!such!as!x86!server!nodes,!open!network!switches!and!SSD!drives.!Newer!versions!of!these!technologies!can!be!seamlessly!incorporated!into!the!design!in!the!future,!as!they!become!available.!Ignite’s!hypervisor!is!built!on!KVM!and!it!uses!the!industrydstandard!iSCSI!protocol!internally!to!connect!with!Elastic!Block!Flash!(EBF).!!EBF!is!built!on!Linux!and!uses!many!battledhardened!and!robust!subsystems!from!the!Linux!kernel.!Ignite!also!integrates!with!existing!data!center!networking!and!provides!redundant!network!switching!using!the!MLAG!open!Ethernet!standard.!!Ignite!natively!supports!Docker!containers!by!using!the!concept!of!a!Zone!VM!inside!which!all!the!containers!can!run.!Zone!VMs!run!a!very!stripped!down!Linux!Ubuntu!operating!system,!to!minimize!the!overhead!for!running!containers,!allowing!close!to!bare!metal!performance.!Once!a!Zone!VM!is!started,!individual!containers!inside!this!special!VM!can!be!created!and!removed!very!quickly,!much!faster!than!VMs!can!be!created!and!removed.!The!Zone!VM!approach!is,!therefore,!superior!to!the!alternative!approach!used!in!the!industry!where!each!container!runs!in!its!own!VM.!At!the!same!time,!unlike!running!containers!on!bare!metal,!the!Ignite!approach!preserves!the!advantages!of!


!


isolating!the!compute!node!from!container!failures!and!of!being!able!to!live!migrate!containers.!It!also!provides!persistent!on!demand!block!storage!for!containers,!and!supports!container!level!virtual!networks!and!micro!segmentation.!A!Zone!VM!can!be!the!only!VM!running!on!a!compute!node.!Alternatively,!other!application!VMs!can!also!be!run!alongside!the!Zone!VM,!thus!allowing!for!VMs!and!containers!to!be!run!simultaneously.!!Ignite!is!ready!to!support!NVMe!fabrics!as!they!become!available,!since!the!NICs!used!are!already!RDMA!capable!as!required!by!the!emerging!NVMe!fabric!standard,!and!it!can!leverage!nextdgeneration!3D!Xpoint!memory!when!it!becomes!available!from!Intel!and!Micron!in!2017.!

!

In!the!Table!below,!we!summarize!how!Ignite!meets!all!of!the!requirements!we!laid!out!in!Section!1!of!this!paper,!and!contrast!it!to!the!capabilities!of!HCI!systems.!

!

!!

6.# Conclusion##In!this!paper,!we!reviewed!the!first!three!generations!of!IT!infrastructure!–!siloed,!

Summary'of'Ignite'Superconverged'Capability'

Business'Need' Approach'Needed' Hyperconverged' Ignite'Superconverged'

Workload'Diversity'

•  Independent'scaling'• Predictable'performance'

• No'• No'

• Yes'• Yes'

Efficiency,'Cost' • Low'cost'• Full'virtualiza=on'• Efficient'redundancy'• Addl'3rd'party's/w'needed?'

• Low'cost'• No'network'• Somewhat'• Yes'

• Low'cost'• Yes'• Yes'• No'

Performance' • High'performance'• Avoid'VM'storage'xla=on''• Network'uKservices'• Predictable'performance'

• High'performance'• No'• No'• No'

• High'performance'• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'

Simple'to'deploy,'manage,'use'

• Single'silo'management'• SoLware'defined'• Full'virtualiza=on'• Eliminate'many'choices'• VM'centric'vs'LUN'centric'• Composable'

• No'network'• Yes'• No'network'• No'• VM'centric'• No'

• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'• VM'centric'• Yes'

Resiliency,'Business'ConInuity'

• NonKdisrup=ve'upgrades'• Site'failover'• Low'RPO,'RTO'• Efficient'storage'failure'

• Yes'• Yes'• Yes'• No'


Open'and'Future'Ready'

• Standard'h/w'• Open'standards'• Na=ve'Docker'support'

• Yes'• Open'standards'• No'

• Yes'• Open'standards'• Yes'

Green,'Strong;'Red,'weak;'Blue,'intermediate'


!


converged!and!hyperconverged!and!showed!they!were!all!unable!to!fully!satisfy!the!requirements!of!data!center!customers.!!##We!then!introduced!a!4th!generation!IT!infrastructure!architecture!called!!Superconverged.#!Such!systems#!!•! Tightly!integrate!server,!storage,!networking,!virtualization,!VM/container!centric!management!and!an!application!marketplace!to!create!a!highdspeed!infrastructure!platform!that!includes!everything!needed!to!run!applications!out!of!the!box!–!a!single!silo!platform.!!!!

•! Include!native!virtualization!of!compute,!storage!and!networking!resources,!without!need!for!additional!3rd!party!software.!!

•! Allow!each!of!these!three!resources!to!scale!easily!and!independently!of!each!other,!making!it!possible!to!run!a!wide!diversity!of!workloads.!!!

•! Use!only!offdthedshelf!x86!server!nodes,!storage!drives!and!network!switches!–!it!is!entirely!software!defined.!!!

•! Employ!a!single!unified!management!portal!to!manage!the!entire!infrastructure!using!an!API.!

!We!argued!that!superconverged!systems!will!make!it!extremely!easy!for!customers!to!consume!IT!and!meet!all!of!their!performance,!resiliency!and!cost!objectives.!!!We!believe!that!superconverged!systems!as!defined!here,!align!well!with!Gartner’s!definition!of!a!3rd!phase!of!integrated!systems!(see!footnote!1),!and,!in!our!view,!it!will!become!the!preferred!approach!for!infrastructure!IT!for!the!future.!!

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