TechWiseTV Workshop: Cisco HyperFlex Systems

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Cisco Hyperflex Systems

Jeff MacTavish and Chris Nichols

April 27, 2016

Jeff MacTavish

Global Sales BDM Hyperconverged solutions at Cisco

Chris Nichols

Americas Technical lead for Hyperconverged solutions at Cisco

Cisco HyperFlex Systems


Customer Challenges

CFOs Expect a Cloud Economics On-

Premise

Expectation of pay-as-you-go economics with

scaling on-demand

Moving at the Speed of Business

Consumption of infrastructure adds time,

cost and inefficiency

Operationalizing Speed and Simplicity

Proliferation of solutions creating silos that complicates

operations

APPS


First Generation Hyperconvergence

Fast Time to MarketSimplicityFirst Gen HCI


First Generation Hyperconvergence

Gaps

Fast Time to MarketSimplicity

New management silos Inefficient scaling and data optimization DIY Networking

First Gen HCI


Next Generation Hyperconvergence

Next Gen HCI

Gaps

Fast Time to MarketSimplicity

New management silos Inefficient scaling and data optimization DIY Networking

CompleteNetwork/UCS HW

+Integration with

Existing Data Center

Independent scaling and scale out architecture

First Gen HCI

Next Gen File System Industries best TCO

Leverage existing environments and Maximize TCO at

every level





1 Complete HyperconvergenceUnified Compute and Network Infrastructure Wide Array of Rack and Blade Form Factors

Integrated, High Performance

Network Fabric

Automated Management of all

Hardware

Virtualization Aware

Cisco UCS: The Ideal System for Hyperconvergence



1 Complete HyperconvergenceUnified Compute and Network Infrastructure

Cisco HyperFlex

Cisco HX Data Platform

Data Services and Storage Optimization

2 Next Gen Data PlatformDesigned for Distributed Storage



1

3

Complete HyperconvergenceUnified Compute and Network Infrastructure

Part of a Complete Data Center StrategyElastic and Secure at Enterprise Scale

Cisco HyperFlex

Cisco HX Data Platform

Data Services and Storage Optimization

2 Next Gen Data PlatformDesigned for Distributed Storage

Cisco One Enterprise Cloud Suite

Cisco ACI

Cisco Security


Traditional Storage

SAN/NAS Hardware Abstraction

Data Center Architecture:Systems + ASICs + Software

First Gen Hyperconverged

Appliance Model

Compute + Storage

Generic x86 +Software Defined

Storage

Storage Virtualization

SAN/NAS Resource pooling

Hybrid Cloud Enabled

Secure Workload Placement

Application Aware Network Services

Software Defined End-to-End

Always-on Data Optimization

Flexible, Efficient Scaling

High Performance Distributed Storage

Compute + Storage + Network

Enterprise ReadyHyperconvergence

Enterprise Cloud Suite

ACI

HyperFlex


HX240c Nodes

Capacity-heavy 3–8 Node Cluster(VSI: IT/Biz Apps, Test/Dev)

Per-Node1x1.6TB Cache SSDup to 23x1.2TB HDDs

SD Card/120GB Back SSD (Boot/Housekeeping)

HX240c + B200 for HF Hybrid Nodes

Compute-heavy Hybrid(Compute Bound Apps/VDI)

Up to 4 BladesSD Card or SAN (Boot)

3-8 Node HX240c Cluster

HX220c Nodes

Smallest Footprint 3–8 Node Cluster (VDI, ROBO)

Per-Node1x480 GB Cache SSD

6x1.2TB HDDs SD Card/120GB SSD (Boot/Housekeeping)

Bundles and Configure to Order

Annual Subscription Software Model

Integrated with vSphere

Hyperconvergence Meets Unified ComputingHyperFlex HX-Series


Cisco HX Data Platform Overview


Next Generation Data PlatformCustom Built, Log Structured File System with Flash, Dedup and Compression as Foundational Elements

Independent Scaling andScale Out Architecture Predictable, Pay-as-You-Grow Efficiency

Enterprise Storage FeaturesPointer-Based Snapshot

Near Instant ClonesInline dedup and compression

Enterprise Data Protection

Highly Available/Self-Healing Single Button Non-Disruptive Rolling UpgradesCall Home and Onsite 24x7 Support Available

Single Point of Management

Integrated into vCenterRobust Reporting and Analytics


Hyperconverged Scale Out and Distributed File System

CONTROLLERVMHYPERVISOR

VM VM VM

HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORM

Start With as Few as Three Nodes

Hyperconverged Data Platform

Installs in Minutes

Add Servers, One or More at a Time

Linearly Scale Compute, Storage

Performance, and Capacity

Distribute and Rebalance Data Across Servers Automatically

Retire Older Servers

HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORM


VM VM VM


VM VM VM


VM VM VM


VM VM VM


CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR

VM VMVM

Simplified Scaling

CONTROLLERHYPERVISORHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR

VM VMVM VM VMVMVM VMVM

CONTROLLER

PhysicalView

ApplicationView

HX Data PlatformCisco HyperFlex

Virtual Controller Cache Capacity

Creating Virtual Pools of Shared Resources

SSD HDDMemoryCPU


Independent Scaling of Compute and Capacity

Scale Compute

HX Data Platform

Add NodesScale Cache or Capacity Within Nodes

HX Data Platform

CONTROLLERHYPERVISORCONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR

IOVisorIOVisor

IOVisorIOVisor

IOVisorIOVisor

IOVisorIOVisor

VM VM VM VM

Non-HyperFlex Hosts Can Connect to

Storage with IOVisor

VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VMVM


HyperFlex Technical Overview


Fast and Easy Installation

STEP 0

STEP 1

60 MINUTES OR LESS

VMware and HX Data Performance Software Installed on Servers at Factory/Reseller Before Shipping to Customer

Rack Up Servers, Power on, and Add to vCenter

Drag and Drop Configuration (JSON) File

Create, Cluster, and Datastore

Start Provisioning VMs


UCS: Embedded AutomationRapid Deployment of HyperFlex with Service Profiles

Uplink port configuration, VLAN, VSAN, QoS, and EtherChannels

Server port configuration including LAN and SAN settingsNetwork interface card (NIC) configuration: MAC address,VLAN, and QoS settings;host bus adapter HBA configuration: worldwide names (WWNs), VSANs, and bandwidth constraints;and firmware revisions

Unique user ID (UUID), firmware revisions,and RAID controller settings

Service profile assigned to server, chassis slot, or pool

configuration: MAC address,VLAN, and QoS settings;host bus adapter HBA configuration: worldwide names (WWNs), VSANs,

configuration: MAC address,VLAN, and QoS settings;host bus adapter HBA configuration: worldwide names (WWNs), VSANs,

configuration: MAC addressVLAN, and QoS settings;host bus adapter HBA configuration: worldwide names (WWNs), VSANs,

Application Profiles

Virtualization Policy

Network Policy

Storage Policy

Server Policy

Storage SMENetwork SMEServer SME

1 Subject Matter Expert Define Policies 2 Policies Used to Create

Service Profile Templates 3 Service Profile Templates Create Service Profiles 4

Associating Service Profiles with Hardware Configures Servers Automatically

ServiceProfile TemplatesPre-Defined at theFactory for Quick

Deployment


The HX Data Platform Node

VAAI Plugin offloads snapshots and clone

operations

Controller VM has Direct access to drives

IOVisor Module Presents NFS to ESX and Stripes IO

DATASTORE/VOLUME


VMVMVMVMVM

HDD

HDD

SDD

SDD

IOVisor

VAAI


Dynamic Data Distribution• 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

Systems Built on Conventional File Systems Write Locally, Then Replicate, Creating Performance Hotspots

CONTROLLERHYPERVISORHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR

VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VMVM

HX Data Platform

VM VMVM

CONTROLLERCONTROLLER


HYPERVISOR

…and Efficient Capacity and Network Utilization

HYPERVISOR HYPERVISOR

VM VM

1 2 3

VM

DATASTORE

CONTROLLER CONTROLLER CONTROLLER

Balanced Space Utilization No Data Migration on VM Migration

Less Stress on Network


High Resiliency, Fast RecoveryPlatform 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

HX Data Platform Automatically Re-Distributes Data to Node

CONTROLLERHYPERVISORCONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR CONTROLLERHYPERVISOR

VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VMVM VM VMVM

HX Data PlatformHX Data Platform


Data VirtualizationWrite Back Caching to SSDs with Mirroring

Distributed Objects

All writes to cache go to a Write log on SSD

Synchronously mirror one or two copies for HA

Acknowledge after mirror writes are complete

Log FS Log FS Log FS

DATA OPTIMIZATION

DATA VIRTUALIZATIONCaches

Log FS

Write Ack

M1 M2WriteLog P


DATA VIRTUALIZATION

Data VirtualizationUniform Space Utilization

Utilize free capacity when new nodes are added

Faster rebuilds

DATA VIRTUALIZATION

D D D DD D

D D D DD D

D D

D D

D DD D


DATASTORE DATASTORE

• 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

Non-Disruptive OperationsCONTROLLER

VMHYPERVISOR

VM VM VM


VM VM VM


VM VM VM


VM VM VM

File.vmdk

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

EDCBA


Data Protection and High AvailabilityData Protected by Replication of Data Across the Cluster Nodes

VM

Replicate

Write IO

Replication Factor = 3 Replication Factor = 2Default Is Replication Factor = 3 Set at Cluster Creation Time

Every Block Is Written to 3 Different Nodes in the Cluster Every Block Is Written to Min of 2 Different Nodes in the Cluster

Higher Availability to Survive Multi-Point Failures; Higher Device Protection Can Survive a Single Node/Device Failure

Reduces Raw Disk Capacity to 33% More Usable Capacity; Uses 50% of Raw Disk Capacity

Access Policy Is Strict (Default); Can Be Modified Via CLI Access Policy Is Lenient


Continuous Data Optimization

BEFORE

Inline Deduplication

20–30% space savings

Inline Compression

30–50% space savings

No Special HardwareNo Performance Impact

Log-Structured File System Yields More Efficient Data Optimization


• Extends virtualization management seamlessly

• No switching between management consoles

• View storage alerts/alarms alongside with ESX alerts/alarms

• Command line interface for automation

Management Built for Server Admin100% vCenter-Based Management


Integrated Management and Data Services

• Clones and snapshots are pointer-based and space-efficient

• Creation and deletion do not impact performance

• Instant provisioning, cloning and snapshotting of virtual machines from within vCenter

• No separate console, no learning curve

• UCS Manager familiar to 50,000 customers WW

• Server and network deployment settings in pre-configured Service Profiles


vCenter Plug-in: HX Data Platform Summary


vCenter Plug-in: Datastore Provisioning


Capacity Reporting in UI

• Capacity: Total formatted with RF• Free: unused capacity• Total Savings:

Combined % savings of dedup+comp• Compression: % recovered from compression• Deduplication: % recovered from

deduplication• Provisioned Capacity:

Amount of space allocated in DS• Thin provisioned

• Used Capacity: Total of physical space consumed in DS

• Available Capacity: Provisioned minus Used


Your System Is Below the Alert Threshold

Normal

If Your System Exceeds the Allocated Capacity by 76%

Warning

If Your System Exceeds the Allocated Capacity by 92%

Critical

(Read-only). If Your System Exceeds the Allocated Capacity by 100%

Offline

Capacity Thresholds and Alerts

Cluster StatusStatus Online

Health State Healthy

Policy Compliance Compliant

Space Status Normal

Replication Factor 3

Access Policy Strict

Reason Storage cluster is healthy

The Summary tab, Cluster Status information ( ) popup, Space Status field displays the following messages that correspond to you cluster capacity.

i


• Pointer-based snapshots• Space-efficient• Fast creations and deletions

• Fine-grained or coarse-grained• VM-level or VM folder-level

• VAAI-integrated• Quiesced and crash-consistent

• Use vCenter Snapshot Manager• Policy-based

• Schedules, retention period

Fast and Flexible Native Snapshots for Backups


• Pointer-Based Writeable Snapshots (Instantaneous Clones)

• VAAI integrated

• VM-level granularity

Native VM Clones for Rapid Provisioning

• Batch creation GUI• Apply unique names • Use customization spec

to apply IP• Powerful tool to rapidly

setup a large set of VMs using just VC (without scripting or View composer); Up to 256 clones in parallel per job

• Golden/Base VM can be a template, powered on or powered off


Cisco HyperFlexBusiness Value


Solving Key Customer Challenges

CFOs Expect a Cloud Economics On-

Premise

Purchasing model and independent scaling allow to pay as you grow

Moving at the Speed of Business

Deployment of computing,

networking and storage resources in less than 1 hour

Operationalizing Speed and Simplicity

Single management plane for converged and hyperconverged

solutions

APPS


Primary HyperFlex Use Cases

• Agile provisioning

• Frequent iterations

• Instant cloning and snapshots

Test and Development

• Low upfront costs

• Consistent performance

• Predictable scaling

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

• Reduce operational complexity

• Adaptive scaling

• Always-on resiliency

Server Virtualization

• Simple deployment

• Centralized management

• No “fly-and-fix” missions

Large RemoteBranch Office


Early Customer Success

Desktop virtualization, test, and development

Health Care

Virtual machine farms, desktop virtualization

High Tech / Industrial Mfg.

Remote services, desktop virtualization

Retail

Infrastructure management,

co-location/remote services, video

surveillance, virtual machine farms

Online Services / Social Media

Desktop virtualization

Travel and Hotel Services


Mainstream Computing Scale Out

UCS M-Series Modular Servers

UCS C3160

Fourth Generation UCS

Cisco UCS – One Platform for All Architectures

HyperFlex Systems

HyperconvergedInfrastructure

Converged Infrastructure

Core Data CenterEdge Cloud

Cisco ONE – Single Infrastructure Management Model

UCS Mini

UCS Manager UCS DirectorEnterprise Cloud

Suite


HyperFlex Key Customer Benefits

• Complete Hyperconvergence: All 3 layers of Network, Compute & Storage intelligently integrated into a single solution for <30 minute deployment

• Intuitive management: Eliminate infrastructure silos and use existing management tools to manage & automate operations

• Cloud Speed: Instantly provision, clone or snapshot applications

• Built on the UCS Platform: unified management using existing skillsets in the organization

• Flexible Deployment: variety of configurations to handle diversified set of workloads

• Always-on data optimization: inline dedupe & compression ensuring hyper-efficient resource utilization

• Scale-as-you-grow: Add resources non-disruptively and scale performance linearly in small increments

• Adaptive Scaling: Scale Compute or Capacity to match application needs

• Non-Stop Infrastructure: self-healing fabric based hyperconvergence with cloud monitoring

Complete

2nd generation HCI

Best TCO


Infrastructure for Next Generation Hyperconvergence

HCI Solutions Combine Computing, Networking, Storage for rapid deployment

Elimination of management silos within and between data centers and remote sites simplify operations

Unique capacity scaling and pricing models allow you to scale as you grow


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TechWiseTV Workshop: Cisco HyperFlex Systems