Leaflet

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information. Page 10
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 VMware vSphere
web client plug-in. Through this centralized point of control for the cluster,
administrators can create volumes, monitor the data platform health, and manage
resource use. Administrators can also use this data to predict when the cluster will
need to be scaled.
Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform Controller
A Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform controller resides on each node and
implements the distributed file system (Figure 3). The controller runs in user
space within a virtual machine and intercepts and handles all I/O from guest virtual
machines.
In a VMware environment, the controller occupies a virtual machine with a
dedicated number of processor cores and memory, allowing it to deliver consistent
performance and not affect the performance of the other virtual machines in the
cluster. The controller can access all storage through the VMware VM_DIRECT_
PATH feature. It uses the node’s memory and SSD drives as part of a distributed
caching layer, and it uses the node’s HDDs for distributed storage. The controller
integrates the data platform into VMware software through the use of two
preinstalled VMware ESXi vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs):
• IO Visor: This VIB provides a network file system (NFS) mount point so that the
ESXi hypervisor can access the virtual disk drives that are attached to individual
virtual machines. From the hypervisor’s perspective, it is simply attached to a
network file system.
Figure 3. Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform Controller Plugs into the Hypervisor in Each Node
Network SSDHDDCPU/Memory
Data Platform
ESXi Hypervisor
VM VMVM
Data Platform
Controller
VAAI
iovisor
Cisco HX-Series Node