Solution Overview March 2016 Cisco HyperFlex Systems Cisco HyperFlex™ Systems with Intel® Xeon® Processors
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 Contents The Challenge: Limitations of First-Generation Hyperconverged Systems........ 3 The Solution: Cisco HyperFlex Systems............................................................ 4 Complete End-to-End Solution.............................................................................. 4 Built on Cisco UCS Technology............................................................................. 5 Powered by Next-Generation Data Technology ..................
Cisco HyperFlex Systems Highlights Complete End-to-End Solution • Cisco HyperFlex™ Systems, powered by Intel® Xeon® processors, deliver a new generation of more flexible, scalable, enterprise-class hyperconverged solutions. They combine software-defined networking and software-defined computing from Cisco UCS® with Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform™ Software to provide a single distributed, multitier, objectbased data store with enterprise storage features.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 • Application support is narrow. Hyperconverged products typically support only virtualized environments and a limited number of hypervisors. The realworld range of applications requires broader support, including support for containerized, microservice application architectures that increasingly are being used. • New silos are created.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 computing environments. This new generation extends the ease of hyperconverged system deployment, management, and support beyond your central data center.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 More Agile From the moment it arrives on your loading dock, your Cisco HyperFlex System is ready to quickly deploy. It ships with software, including the VMware ESXi hypervisor and the data platform, preinstalled. Cisco UCS service profile templates are supplied on site to automatically configure your server identity, configuration, and connectivity to our exact specifications with no risk of configuration drift that can cause downtime.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 allowing you to scale resources up and out without having to adjust your software or your networking capabilities or interrupt cluster operations. This capability provides an environment in which you can pay as you grow, and you can grow in small increments that don’t break your budget. You can independently scale your computing, storage, and caching resources so that they adapt to fit your specific resource needs.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 Single Management Point for Hardware and Software Cisco UCS Management Plug-in Cisco HyperFlex Administration Plug-in Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis Cisco HyperFlex HX220c M4 Nodes Small-Footprint Cluster (Minimum of 3 Nodes) Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port Fabric Interconnects Cisco HyperFlex HX240c M4 Nodes Capacity-Intensive Cluster (Minimum of 3 Nodes) Cisco UCS B200 M4Blade Servers Cisco HyperFlex HX240c Nodes Compute-Intensive Hybrid Cluster (Minimum of 3 HX24
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 demand for data throughput grows in Cisco HyperFlex Systems, we have products ready to meet those needs. Integration with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure The built-in networking of Cisco HyperFlex Systems provides scalable infrastructure and secure, low-latency, high-bandwidth data movement. As your environment grows and begins to span your enterprise, you can use Cisco ACI to implement a software-defined network.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 • API-based data platform architecture that provides data virtualization flexibility to support existing and new cloud-native data types • Simplified approach that eliminates the need to configure LUNs or to require a storage administrator to configure SANs; storage and data services are managed completely through hypervisor tools such as VMware vCenter Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform Administration Plug-in The Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform is administered through a V
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 • VMware API for Array Integration (VAAI): This storage offload API allows vSphere to request advanced file system operations such as snapshots and cloning. The controller implements these operations through manipulation of metadata rather than actual data copying, providing rapid response, and thus rapid deployment of new application environments.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 there is no performance penalty for these operations. A small deduplication block size helps increase the deduplication rate. Compression further reduces the data footprint. Data is then moved to HDD storage as cache segments become free (Figure 4).
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 Enterprise-Class Storage Features The data platform has all the features that you would expect of an enterprise shared storage system, eliminating the need to configure and maintain complex Fibre Channel storage networks and devices. The platform simplifies operations and helps ensure data availability.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 Cisco HyperFlex HX240c M4 • Capacity-intensive cluster with Cisco HyperFlex HX240c M4 Nodes: This configuration contains a minimum of three nodes, up to twenty-three 1.2-TB SAS drives for that contribute to cluster storage, a single 120-GB SSD metadata drive, a single 1.6-TB SSD caching drive, and two FlexFlash SD cards that act as the boot drives.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 configuration is required. Cisco UCS service profiles prepare every aspect of a node’s identity, configuration, and connectivity, increasing efficiency and security and reducing deployment time. This approach increases compliance and accuracy and eliminates configuration drift that can cause downtime. Our management approach is particularly important in hyperconverged environments.
Cisco HyperFlex Systems March 2016 manage and deploy hyperconverged environments exactly like your other Cisco infrastructure, including your remote- and branch-office locations, enterprise computing, big data, and web-scale environments. Applications dictate architecture, and our range of offerings gives you the most advanced capabilities, delivering more agility, efficiency, and adaptability to your data center today.
