Hyper-converged infrastructure

A hyper-converged infrastructure (aka HCI or hyperconverged integrated system / HCIS) is an IT infrastructure framework for integrating storage and virtualization computing in a data center.[1] In a hyperconvergence environment all elements of the storage and compute components are optimized to work together on a single commodity appliance from a single vendor.[2][3][4] The term is a neologism of converged infrastructure.[5][6] Unlike converged infrastructure, packages typically do not include network switches to connect multiple systems.

Features

At a high level, hyper-convergence can support common data center availability and reliability requirements, infrastructure is managed and workloads are deployed through a single interface to the underlying operating hardware.[7] The difference between converged and hyper-converged infrastructures is that the building blocks of each of the subsystems in converged infrastructures are discrete; the server is separate and used as a server, just as the storage subsystem is separate and used as functional storage.[8][9][10]

Hyperconvergence moves away from multiple discrete systems that are packaged together and evolve into software-defined intelligent environments that all run in commodity, off-the-shelf x86 rack servers.[11][12][13] Its infrastructures are made up of conforming x86 server systems equipped with direct-attached storage.[14][15] It includes the ability to plug and play into a data center pool of like systems.[16][17] All physical data center resources reside on a single administrative platform for both hardware and software layers.[18] Unifying all platform types to one, together with single vendor management, eliminates traditional data center inefficiencies and reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) for data centers.[19][20][21][22]

HCI is the most popular method for acquiring the best-understood version of software defined storage (SDS). It is a fully packaged system expression of SDS. The terms should not be seen as synonyms., but they are closely related. The most well known SDS packages offer the software building blocks for integrating and deploying an HCI system. Some HCI systems also offer their software a la carte as SDS, but typically only for a limited range of chosen server vendors and configurations.

Potential impact

The potential of the hyper-converged infrastructure is that companies will no longer need to rely [23] on different compute and storage systems, though it is still too early to prove that it can replace storage arrays in all market segments. It is likely to further simplify management and increase resource-utilization rates where it does apply.[24][25][26]

While hyperscale web services also use original design manufacturer x86 systems with software in custom ways, a model that is clearly scalable, they do so with a variety of optimized server types (some of which have no durable capacity) and storage approaches, not with one. See e.g. the variety of approaches in the Open Compute Project. Hyperconvergence is consistent in some key ways with this model, but it is simplified for smaller deployments by most vendors through focusing on one type of system and storage infrastructure, and this is believed to limit its success to date in mixed use, low latency and Tier 1 deployments at scale.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Trevor Pott (4 May 2015). "Hyper-convergence? I believe – just not like this". The Register. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  2. ↑ Scott Lowe (2015). The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies. ActualTech Marketing, LLC. ISBN 1943952000.
  3. ↑ David Davis, Scott Lowe (2015). Hyperconvergence Fundamentals and the Maxta Advantage. ISBN 1943952019.
  4. ↑ Maia Heymann. "Guest commentary: The next big tech trend in 2016? Hyperconvergence". Bizjournals. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Jeff Kato. "The hyper-converged infrastructure bandwagon picks up speed". TechTarget. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  6. ↑ Arun Taneja. "Convergence reaches a new level". TechTarget. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  7. ↑ Steve Kaplan. "The Tesla Effect – How Hyperconvergence Solves Enterprise Storage Challenges". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  8. ↑ Christian Perry, Stanley Stevens. Data center revolution The growing impact of software defined infrastructure.
  9. ↑ Chris Preimesberger. "HDS, Pentaho Join for Hyper-Converged Data Center System". eWeek. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Enrico Signoretti (3 July 2015). "It's not for everyone, but hyperconvergence is still a valuable solution". The Register. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Benoit Hudzia (8 April 2015). "The Private Cloud. A Balancing Act". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  12. ↑ Yevgeniy Sverdlik. "Why Hyperconverged Infrastructure is so Hot". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  13. ↑ Jon William Toigo. "Hyperconvergence: Hype and Promise". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Jim Duffy. "Containers, hyperconvergence and disaggregation are hot". Network World. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  15. ↑ Danny Bradbury (14 December 2015). "Stratoscale expands hyperconvergence market". IT World Canada. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  16. ↑ Troy K. Schneider. "Lenovo to launch hyperconverged infrastructure line". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  17. ↑ George J. Weiss (6 February 2015). "Plan Now for the Future of Converged Infrastructure". Gartner. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Evaluating Data Protection for Hyperconverged Infrastructure". Infostor. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  19. ↑ John Moore. "Selling hyper-converged architecture: A channel primer". TechTarget. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  20. ↑ Joseph F. Kovar (4 November 2014). "Cisco, Intel Invest In Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Player Stratoscale". The Channel Company. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  21. ↑ David Vellante (10 December 2012). "Converged Infrastructure Moves from Infant to Adolescent". Wikibon. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Adrian Bridgwater (10 June 2015). "Nutanix: Why Cloud Was Never Really Flexible, Until Hyperconvergence". Forbes. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  23. ↑ Patrick Hubbard. "Hyper-converged infrastructure forcing new thinking for networks". Techtarget. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  24. ↑ Arthur Cole. "IT Turns to Hyperconvergence, But Is It Right for All Occasions?". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  25. ↑ Chloe Green. "Why hyperconvergence and robots are the CIO's innovation starting blocks". Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  26. ↑ Darryl K. Taft. "IBM Sees Flash, Hyper-convergence Among Top 2016 Storage Trends". Eweek. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
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