The journey to the hyperconvergedsolution from Cisco Systems

Jiří Cihlář

Team Leader – Data center

„I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. “

Wayne Gretzky

Technology

HighAvailability

StorageBackup

ComputeVirtualization

Network

Data Applications

Security

Business objectives

Operation Consumption model

DATA CENTER IS EVOLVINGApplications

OperationConsumption

IT

LOB

DEvOps

Bare Metal

Virtualized

Microservices

OnPrem

Public

Hybrid

The changes in all3 vectors have

impact on Infrastructure

VirtualizationCloudDevops

VirtualizationNumber of AppsNew technologiesHybrid environments

REASONS FOR TRANSITION FROM TRADITIONAL TO MODERN DC

Picture explaining basic

principles of evolution in

nature from Darwin’s book

What are the causes that we do not speak about traditional but evolution to modern data center?

VirtualizationMoor’s law

„The number of transistors

incorporated into a chip will

approximately double every

24 months… “

„Server virtualization allows to

run more operating systems

(virtual machines) on one

shared hardware.“

Cloud

„Applications and services are

provided automatically and in

standard way and accessible

remotely via internet (public

option)”

Compute

How the compute in data centers evolves

1990+

Rack servers were introduced 1995

Cubix-ERS: First attempt fo blade servers 2001 HP, Compaq, IBM, Dell, SUN entered the market withblade servers

Compaq introduced in 1994 the first rack-mountable server, the ProLiant Series.

2002

RLX Blade, first modern blade servers

• Density

• Cable Reduction

• Consolidated access to BMCs(iLO) –IntegratedMgmt

• Shared power & cooling

• Increased integration

• Removal of I/O slots

• Adoption of Ethernet & FC switches in enclosure

Design Goals of Bladeservers:

Achieved through:

BLADE SERVERS

2009

Cisco announced UCS

In March 2009 came the debut of Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS), aka Project California, which seeks to combine

• storage,

• server,

• virtualization

• networking

• management

capabilities in one integrated system, managed from the single point.

CISCO UCS HISTORY

TRADITIONAL VS CISCO UCS MODEL

• Fewer cables

• Fewer switches,

• Fewer adapters

• Less FC zoning

• Overall less power

• Interoperates with existing SAN’s

• FCoE is Industry Standard

• Each enclosure has 5-6 management points

• Lots of cabling

• Many IP addresses to manage

Mgmt Server

UNIFIED FABRIC – SIMPLIFIES THE DATACENTER

From ad hoc and inconsistent…

…to structured, but siloed, complicated

and costly…

…to simple, optimized and automated

UNIFIED FABRIC – SIMPLIFIES THE DATACENTER

• Wire once for bandwidth, not connectivity• Integrates as a single system into you data center

2x 4 Link80/320 Gbps per Chassis

2x 2 Link40/160 Gbps per Chassis

2x 1 Link20/80 Gbps per Chassis

UNIFIED FABRIC – SIMPLIFIES THE DATACENTER

Fabric Interconnect

UCS Blade

Heartbeat link (No Data)

Cisco

VIC

Fabric Extender

LOOKING FOR SIMPLIFICATION IN COMPUTE

Single point of management

CLOUD - CONSEQUENCE

• Big cloud providers are using commodity rack servers

• => Servers became the commodity

• => It was predicted that rack servers will be preferred option against blade servers

CISCO UCS – UNIFIED APROACH TO BLADE AND RACK SERVERS

CIMC

vNIC

vHBA

Mgmt

vHBA

vNIC

Fabric Interconnect

Fabric Extender

…OR USE IT AS COMMODITY SERVER…

VIRTUALIZATION - CONSEQUENCE

CPU RAM DiskNIC

Hypervisor

CPU RAM DiskNIC

OS

APP

CPU RAM DiskNIC

OS

APP

Service ProfileHW Identity & config

CPU RAM DiskNIC

OS

APP

Service ProfileHW Identity & config

• Virtualization separates OS from physical server and brings HW level abstractionfrom OS

• HW is not virtualized, HW configuration are tight coupled to HW

• => Solution that brings separation of HW and its configuration – stateless computing

• => Cisco comes with unique solution called service profile

UCS SERVICE PROFILES

LAN

SAN

•RAID settings•Disk scrub actions

•Number of vHBAs•HBA WWN assignments•FC Boot Parameters•HBA firmware

•FC Fabric assignments for HBAs

•QoS settings•Border port assignment per vNIC•NIC Transmit/Receive Rate Limiting

•VLAN assignments for NICs•VLAN tagging config for NICs

•Number of vNICs•PXE settings•NIC firmware•Advanced feature settings

•Remote KVM IP settings•Call Home behavior•Remote KVM firmware

•Server UUID•Serial over LAN settings•Boot order•IPMI settings•BIOS scrub actions•BIOS firmware

Deploying Servers in 4 Easy Steps

1. Create the pools and policies 2. Build a template 3. Create the logical servers

(Services Profiles) 4. Associate logical servers to

physical hardware

2012

Cisco completes acquisition of Meraki

2016 – ANOTHER STEP TO SIMPLIFICATION

NEW WAY OF COMPUTE MANAGEMENT

Use the CloudAnalyze theTelemetry

Combine the Management with Automation

CISCO INTERSIGHT – AKA STARSHIP

A NEW ERA OF ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Compute & Storage

VIRTUALIZATION – CONSEQUENCE• Virtualization introduced the abstraction of the server hardware for operating systems, enabled sharing the

compute power, enabled the live migration etc.

• Other positive conditions like

• Underutilized data centers of large service providers

• Mobility revolution and evolution of applications running out of the device using network communication

• Sufficient network bandwith and trustworthy Internet access

• => Buzzword cloud was created as a new model of using computing technologies

• => Cloud accelerated evolution of all mentioned and many other technologies used in data centers

CLOUD CHARACTERISTICS - CONSEQUENCE

Pay as you growSimple scalability and

growthSimple management

and operation

Looking for cloud like solutions but on premise

CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE

Storage

Compute

NetworkMgmt

Mgmt

Mgmt Storage

Compute

Network

Mgmt

Traditional infrastructure Converged infrastructure

• Application Silos• Components from different vendors• Separate management• Managed by different teams• Different renewal cycles• Complicated scalability

• Mostly Sales model• Professional services• Can be 1 part number• Single Management software• Validated design• Still complicated scalability

2012

Vmware aquired Nicira

SOFTWARE DEFINED STORAGE

• Simplified management with option for automation• Standard management interface (API)• Virtualized Data Path – Block, File and Object interfaces that support

applications written to these interfaces.• Seamless ability to scale the storage infrastructure without disruption to

the specified availability or performance Source:SNIA SDS White paper

+ Software =Proprietary HW x86 server SDS cluster

HYPERCONVERGED SYSTEMS

Hypervizor Hypervizor Hypervizor

Compute Storage

Management

SDS

Compute

Network

Mgmt

Mgmt

Hyperconvergedinfrastructure 1st. Gen.

• Software defined storage• Network is not part of the

solution• Still more management systems

for HW and SW

CONVERGED VS. HYPERCONVERGED SYSTEMS

HCI $5B by 2019 65%

CAGR

Both growing and will co-exist

Software-Defined (SDx)

Driving HCI0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

WW

Rev

enu

e, $

B

$7.2B 20165.2% CAGR

$1.9B 201665% CAGR

ConvergedSystems

Hyperconverged Systems

2016

Cisco announces Hyperconverged solution Hyperflex

NEW GENERATION OF HYPERCONVERGENCE

Simplicity in Deployment

Simplicity in Growing

Simplicity in Operation

Combinecompute,

storage and network intoone system

Independent compute and

storagescalability,

automatic node installation

Single management for

compute, storage and

network

HYPERFLEX – COMPLETED HYPERCONVERGENCE

SDS

Compute

Network

Mgmt

Next-Gen Hyperkonvergence

• Software defined storage• Network is part of the solution• One management system based

on policy and intent• Easy and automated installation

and adding new nodes• Multicloud

Networking

Compute Storage

Management

CISCO UCS – PERFECT FOUNDATION

SDS

• UCS is not server but platform• Modern solution for compute and

network• Single point of Management • LAN/SAN connectivity

Compute UCS blade or rack serversSTATELESS COMPUTING

LAN/SAN: Fabric Interconnect

UCS Manager: Fabric Interconnect Mgmt

Network

+

+

?

CISCO HX DATA PLATFORM

CISCO HX DATA PLATFORM

HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER HYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLER HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

HX NODE HX NODE HX NODE HX NODE

• Unique Log-structureddistributed file system, pointer-based file system

• Inline compression

• Inline deduplication

• Instant clones and snapshots

Storage capacity efficient

• Dynamic data distribution

• #1 Performing HCI

• Consistent performance

• No data locality

• Linear scalability with using wholecluster

• No RAIDs penalty

Performance

• Native data replication with factor2 or 3 within cluster

• Synchronous replication betweensites with Stretch cluster

• Asynchronous replication betweensites for distater recovery

• Logical availability zones

Data protection

Inside HX Data Platform

INSIDE HX DATA PLATFORM NODE

Data Services are

Offloaded

to HX Data Platform

HX Controller VM

Assumes Direct Access of

Local Storage

IOVisor Module Presents

Pooled Storage to HyperVisor

and Stripes IO

DATASTORE/VOLUME

HYPERVISORHX

CONTROLLERVM

IOVisor

VAAI

VM VM VM VM VM

HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORM

HYPERCONVERGED SCALE OUT AND DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM

Start with as Few

as Three Nodes

Hyperconverged

Data Platform

Installs in Minutes

Add Servers, One

or More at a Time

Network Fabric

Policy Configures

QoS Settings

Distribute and

Rebalance Data

Across Servers

Automatically

Retire Older

Servers

HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER

VM VM VM

HYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLER HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER

VM VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VM

HX DATA PLATFORM

DYNAMIC DATA DISTRIBUTION

HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER HYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLER HYPERVISOR CONTROLLER

Systems Built on Conventional File Systems Write

Locally, Then Replicate, Creating Performance Hotspots

HX Data Platform Stripes Data Across All

Nodes Simultaneously, Leveraging Cache

Across all SSDs for Fast Writes

Balanced Space Utilization: No Data Migration

Required Following a VM Migration

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

WHY DISTRIBUTED DATA

• Performance – Aggregate all resources into a unified pool• Pool of cache• Pool of capacity• Simultaneously leverage all controllers

• Reduce Hot Spots• No vMotion limitations or performance implications

• With locality, ownership of cache must be transferred to local node

• Compare network vs. store latencies• We have been using network based storage for decades;

the network is not a bottleneck!

CAPACITY AND NETWORK UTILISATION

Conventional file systems use their local filesystem…

leading to unbalanced utilisation

CAPACITY AND NETWORK UTILISATION

HX balances space utilisation: no data migration required following a VM migration

CONTINUOUS DATA OPTIMIZATION

BEFORE

Inline Deduplication

20–30% space savings

Inline Compression

30–50% space savings

No Special Hardware

No Performance Impact

No Config lock-in

No Additional License

Log-Structured File System Yields More Efficient Data Optimization

Lower Cost

STORAGE OPTIMISATION

• Deduplication/Compression always on and native to the filesystem• Deduplication is best effort• Has both local and global properties

• These features have minimal impact, unlike other bolt-on solutions• Perform Dedup/compression once – less CPU intensive• Log structured filesystem provides performance, efficiency and data

services• Low impact on incoming writes

C O N S I S T E N T

P E R F O R M A N C E

Flexible Performance Scaling Options

• Multiple VMs on each node of the cluster

• Ability to absorb VM perf hotspots

• Single large VM can drive cluster perf

• Perf scaling without moving around VMs

Each dot represents a Virtual Machine and its average IOPS over an hour of load

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

0 50 100 150

IOP

S

VM

Vendor B IOPS per VM

#1 in Performance and

consistency

0

200

400

600

800

1 000

1 200

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

IOP

S

VM

Cisco HyperFlex IOPS per VM

HIGH RESILIENCY, FAST RECOVERY

Platform can sustain

simultaneous 2 node failure

without data loss; replication

factor is tunable

If a node fails, the evacuated

VMs re-attach with no data

movement required

Replacement node automatically

configured via UCS Service Profile

DATASTORE DATASTORE

NON-DISRUPTIVE OPERATIONS

• Stripe blocks of a file across servers• Replicate one or two additional copies to

other servers• Handle entire server or disk failures

• Restore back to original number of copies

• Rebalance VMs and data post replacement

• Rolling software upgrades

CONTROLLERVMHYPERVISOR

VM VM VM

CONTROLLERVMHYPERVISOR

VM VM VM

CONTROLLERVMHYPERVISOR

VM VM VM

CONTROLLERVMHYPERVISOR

VM VM VM

File.vmdk

D1 E1A1 B1 C1B2 A2 A3C2 C3 D2D3 E2E3 D1E1 B3 B3

EDCBA

Hyperflex highlights

Disaster Avoidance Zero RPO Automated DR Maximum Uptime

HYPERFLEX STRETCHED CLUSTER CLOUD SCALE DATA PLATFORM

Power Mission Critical Apps with

Site-BSite-A

HX Data Platform

DBAPPAPPDB

Synchronous Replication

SSDSSDSSDSSDSSDSSD

HYPERFLEX DATA PROTECTIONBUILT-IN 1-CLICK DISASTER RECOVERY

DB

WebApp

Long Distance Replication

HX Data Platform

DB

App

HX Data Platform

Web

Test Recovery Planned Migration Unplanned Failover

• DR Readiness

• Customize DR Test parameters

• Move VMs across Data Centers / Clusters

• Re-Protect after Migration

• Recovery VMs after Disaster

• Re-Protect after Recovery

INDEPENDENT SCALING OF COMPUTE AND CAPACITY

Scale Cache or Capacity Within Nodes Add Nodes

Scale Compute-Only

Blades

Scale Compute-Only

Racks

Non-HyperFlex Hosts Connects to

Storage with IOVisor

No aditional license needed

H X D A T A P L A T F O R M

Hypervisor Controller Hypervisor Controller Hypervisor Controller

IOVisor IOVisorIOVisor

IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor

NODE SCALING OPTIONS IN HXDP

Support for up to 64 node clusters (32 HX converged, 32 compute-only)

Support for External Storage

HyperFlex

Node

AdaptiveInfrastructure

HyperFlex

Node

HyperFlex

Node

HyperFlex

Node

HyperFlex

Node

HyperFlex supports mounting external storage arrays via NFS, iSCSI, or FC

• VM migration and data transfer• Co-existence with existing SAN environment/data• Present RDM from SAN to VMs• Use VMware storage vMotion for migrations over

Ethernet• Use for backup and other application support

Example Use-Cases

HyperFlexUCS Domain

NAS

SAN

NFS, iSCSIor FC

Use Existing Fabric Interconnects• Leverage existing investment in UCS Fabric

Interconnects• Support multiple HyperFlex clusters, CI stacks,

Bare Metal Servers, etc.

HyperFlex HyperFlex ConvergedInfrastructure

Bare MetalServers

Supporting your Application Ecosystem

Hybrid/Multicloud

Intelligent Management (AI Ops)

AI/ML Apps

Containers / Cloud Native Apps

Core Cloud

Edge

Cisco Workload

Optimization Manger

Enterprise Apps

Cisco Container

Platform

Cisco Cloud Center

Centralized Cloud-Based Management of the Future

NextGeneration

Management

SaaSSimplicity

ActionableIntelligence

Intersight

Remotely Deploy & Manage

ConventionalInfrastructure

Ship People and Infra to

Sites

Stage

Connect toIntersight

HyperFlexwith Intersight

Deploy &manage remotely

Ship to sites

IT DeployOn-Site

Integrate and Configure

21

Ship from Factory

2 31 4 5

3

ConnectedTAC

Secure andCompliant

API Driven,DevOps Enabled

Policy BasedOrchestration

Telemetryand Analytics

Cisco Intersight

Compatibility(HCL) Check

Recommendations Engine

CISCO CONTAINER PLATFORM FOR HYPERFLEX

IaaS

HyperFlex

Compute/Storage

HyperFlex

Network ACI

Nexus 9k standalone

On-premises Kubernetes

Cisco Container Platform

Container NetworkingContiv / ACI CNI / Calico

Container StorageHyperFlex Flex driver

Turnkey Kubernetes• Simple & Seamless Day0 &

DayN K8S operations

integrated into HyperFlex

• HyperFlex IaaS

Enterprise Storage • Scale-out, HA Filesystem

• Data protection, efficiency

and resiliency

Enterprise Networking

and Security • Multi-tenant architecture,

Micro-segmentation,

Security policies

Common Platform for

Legacy and Modern Apps• Co-existence of VMs and

containers on same

platform

DevOps Ready IT • Enable developer agility

with IT & security policies

• Avoid Shadow IT

Turnkey Appliance for

Enterprise Kubernetes

Cisco Container Platform

Single Vendor Support• Fully supported by Cisco

Global TAC

• Single throat to choke for

entire stack

Hyperflex summary

Cloud based centralized management

Seamless integration of Converged & Hyperconverged

Independent Scaling of Compute & Capacity

HYPERFLEX PLATFORM DIFFERENTIATION

High Performance & Scalable Data Platform

#1 Performing HCI

platform

Enterprise Class Data Services & Storage

Optimization

Integrated Dedup &

Compression w/ no

performance penalty

Deployment Automation & Simplicity

Out-of-the-box service profiles,

install/upgrade automation,

automated cluster scaling

Integrated High Performance Network

Fabric

10G/40G VIC/Fabric

Factory installed, integrated

networking, fabric QoS

Data Protection, High Availability & Resiliency

Native replication, backup/DR,

Stretch Cluster, Availability

Zones, Fault tolerant HA

architecture

Broad Range

Of Supported

Workloads

ROBO

(Branch, IOT)

VSI

(app/web)

VDI

(Citrix, Horizon)

Databases

(Oracle, SQL)Mission Critical &

ERP

(SAP)

Analytics

(Splunk)

Cloud-Native Apps

(Docker,

Kubernetes)

Cost optimization through

Compute-only node support

Consistent , Low latency

performance

Investment protection of

existing storage and compute

investment

3X Lower TCO, 3X Higher VM

Density, 64 node scale, linear

scale out performance

Collaboration

(UC, HCS)

Intersight

Monitoring, Telemetry, Analytics,

Policy, Orchestration, Proactive

TAC, HX Cluster management

CONCLUSION

Case study

• Leading producer of agricultural machines in the Czech Republic

• Employing more than 2150 people (89 % of them working in the production area)

• 2017 turnover amount by over 260 million EUR

• Difficult projects, strict customers’ requirements and expanding production were the reasons for thorough modernisation of the existing machinery and purchase of new progressive technologies.

CASE STUDY: AGROSTROJ

How the story started…. (2017)

25 physical servers

How the story started….

25 physicalservers

3 IT specialists

How the story started….

Difficult operation, performance and capacity problems

Solution. Cisco Hyperflex

All-in-one system

Solution. Cisco Hyperflex

All-in-one systemSW defined

solution

Solution. Cisco Hyperflex

All-in-one systemSW defined

solutionInternal Cloud

Advantage of solution for customer

High availability, fasterdeployment of new VM, APP

Advantage of solution for customer

Easy scaling of performance with node adition

Advantage of solution for customer

Savings

1 IT employe, 3 active serversRack space and energy savings

Thank you for playing with us!

Team Datacenter