Server Storage I/O Converged (CI) Hyper-converged (HCI) overview

This page provides insight in to Converged Infrastructure (CI), Cluster in box or Cloud in Box (CIB) along with Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) topics along with links to companion resources. CI, CIB and HCI can be complete data infrastructure for smaller environments, or component building blocks in larger organizations.

As a refresher data Infrastructures exists to support business cloud and information technology (IT) among other applications that transform data into information or services. Technologies that make up data infrastructures include hardware, software, cloud or managed services, servers,storage, I/O and networking along with people, processes, policies along with various tools spanning legacy, software-defined virtual, containers and cloud.

Whats The Best CI HCI or CIB?

A common question I get asked is what is the best CI, CIB or HCI solution, product or vendor to which if you know me, my answer is it depends on .

It depends on what you are trying, need or want to do, applications along with their current and future growth needs among other questions. I also turn the question around and ask people what are they looking for, or why do they want CI, CIB, HCI as well as what do they want or need as their point of convergence? For example are they looking to converge around hardware (e.g. servers, storage or networking), software (hypervisors, operating systems, data services), dashboards or other management tools, interfaces, data protection, some applications or perhaps a particular product or vendor?

What this all means, is that technology, product, protocol, file system, data services feature functions, aggregated, disaggregate, speeds feeds, slots and watts and software-defined aside, it comes down to what do you applications need, as well as the outcome or enablement benefit that a CI/HCI solution provides.

Different solutions for Various Environments

Just as everything is not the same across different environments ranging in size, scope, number as well a the type of applications or industry focus, there are many CI, CIB and HCI solutions along with packaging. Some of these solutions or products are targeted at smaller medium business (SMB), remote office branch office (ROBO), workgroup, departmental or specific workloads such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and workspaces. Other solutions are more flexible supporting not only VDI but also more traditional general purpose as well as demanding database among others on a large or small-scale.

What About Aggregate and Disaggregate

The following looks at disaggregate (CI) along with aggregated (HCI).

Learn more, Click here to view HCI/CI webinar (March 15, 2017) via SNIA ESF BrightTalk. Visit the SNIA ESF site here, download the PDF presentation here.

What Are Some Considerations

Considerations for CI, CIB and HCI include among others:

• Where or what are vendor, technology or solution lock-ins?
• Is lock in a concern or issue?
• What interoperability exists with your existing environment?
• Can you bring your own licenses, use your own equipment, reconfigure to meet your needs?
• Fast applications and fast servers need fast server storage I/O resources.
• Aggregations (consolidations) can cause aggravation (bottleneck headaches).
• Does a particular solution fit smaller SMB, ROBO, workgroup or departmental needs?
• Can a solution scale up and out with stability while not introducing complexity?

Is HCI just for small

That depends on in part on particular product solutions, some are focused on smaller environments which have also led to the perception by some customers that HCI is only for the small. On the other hand, there are approaches, solutions, and packaging that addresses the needs of those who need to scale up and out.

There are also solutions that focus on VDI and workspace, others on general purpose including mission critical with databases, while others on high performance compute (HPC), supercomputer (SC), big data analytics among others. In other words, look beyond products that try to define the market based on their abilities, as there are others that can meet added or broader market capabilities.

Who Are Some CI/HCI Vendors

Just as there are different aspects, variations, implementations as well as solutions for CI, HCI and CiB to meet different environment size, scope and type of applications, there are also various vendors or solution providers. Some of these are more focused on lower-end SOHO, others on Small Medium Business (SMB) mid-market, workgroup, departmental, Remote Office Branch Office (ROBO), while others on larger small medium enterprise (SME), commercial, larger enterprise, cloud and managed service providers.

Some vendors, solutions, services or products are focused on particular applications or verticals such VDI/workspace while others on more general purpose and primary business application workloads. A sampling of those who have solutions or enabling components across the different environments, as well as CI, HCI and CiB variations include Atlantis, Cisco, Citrix, Dell EMC, Fujitsu, HDS, Hedvig, HPE, Huawei, IBM (Versastack with Cisco), Lenovo, Maxta, Microsoft (Windows Server 2016 and S2D), NetApp (FlexPod), Nimble, Nutanix, OpenStack, Oracle, Pivot3, Quanta, Scale, Simplivity (being acquired by HPE), Supermicro, Tintri and VMware among others. If your company, client, supplier or who you are a fan of is not mentioned, feel free to respond via comments or drop me a note to get in on the conversation, however, go easy on the sales pitch and FUD, just saying.

Where To Learn More

The following are links to various articles, webinars, tips and commentary on CI, HCI, CiB along with related cloud, software-defined, management as well as data protection topics.

Via SNIA ESF Webinar (PDF): What Does Hyperconverged Mean To Storage
Networkworld: Whats a Data Infrastructure?
Networkworld: Ensure your data infrastructure remains available and resilient
StorageIOblog: Data Infrastructure Primer and Overview (Its Whats Inside The Data ...
Webinar: Software-Defined Data Infrastructures Enabling Software-Defined Dat...
Webinar: Data Infrastructure and Data Center Infrastructure Management Conve...
Webinar: Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) Decision Making
EnterpriseStorageForum: Storage Hyperconvergence: When Does It Make Sense?
EnterpriseStorageForum: Is Future Storage Converging Around Hyper-Converged?
EnterpriseStorageForum: Looking Beyond the Hype at Hyperconvergence in Storage
FutureReadyOEM: Q&A: StorageIO’s Greg Schulz on when to implement ultra-dense s...
SearchDataCenter: Life beyond Vblock: VCE repositions as EMC's new converged division
StorageIOblog: EMCworld 2016 EMC Hybrid and Converged Clouds Your Way
Webinar: What Does Hyperconverged Mean to Storage
Via CDW: Data Center Convergence Harnessing infrastructure for maximum benefit
StorageIOblog: Convergence: People, Processes, Policies and Products
StorageIOblog: VCE revisited, now & zen
StorageIOblog: VMware Cisco EMC VCE Zen and now server storage I/O convergence
Webinar: Cloud Storage Decision Making – Exploring your options
Webinar: Presenting What Does Hyperconverged Mean to (and for) Storage
Webinar: BCDR & Cloud Backup – Protect Preserve & Secure Your Data &...
StorageIOblog: Did you want a side of SLBS (server less BS) with your software or ...
Upcoming and recent related events at the Server StorageIO activities page here
StorageIO.com (events, news, tips, resources) and StorageIOblog.com

What This All Means

Hybrid (HCI) and converged (CI) are in your future in some shape or form. Watch for more to be added here soon.

Ok, nuff said, for now...

Cheers
Gs