Building a Modern Data Center: Principles and Strategies of Design

312 Pages·2016·3.86 MB·English

by  Lowe

Building a Modern Data Center
Principles & Strategies of Design
Written by
Scott D. Lowe, James Green, & David Davis
Partners, ActualTech Media
Building a Modern Data Center
Principles & Strategies of Design
Author:
Scott D. Lowe, ActualTech Media, James Green, ActualTech Media,
David Davis, ActualTech Media Editor:
Hilary Kirchner, Dream Write Creative Cover Design:
Atlantis Computing
Layout:
Braeden Black, Avalon Media Productions Project Manager: Geordie
Carswell, ActualTech Media Ebook Conversion: Mark D'Antoni, eBook
DesignWorks
Copyright © 2016 by Atlantis Computing All rights reserved. This book or any
portion there of may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of
brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2016
ISBN 978-1-943952-07-6
ActualTech Media Okatie Village Ste 103-157
Bluffton, SC 29909
USA
www.actualtechmedia.com
Table of Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1 — Introduction
IT Is Changing . . . and It Must
Simplification Is the New Black
Focus on Cost Reduction
Focus on Customer Service and the Business
Adapt or Die
Flattening of the IT Organization
IT as an Operational Expense
What’s Next?
Chapter 2 — Data Center Evolution
A History of the Modern Data Center
The Rise of the Monolithic Storage Array
Snapshots
The Virtualization of Compute — Software Defined Servers
Consolidation Ratios
The No-Spin Zone: The Move from Disk to Flash
The Fall of the Monolithic Storage Array
The Emergence of Convergence
The Role of Cloud
Cloud Types
Cloud Drivers
Chapter Recap
Chapter 3 — Emerging Data Center Trends
The Emergence of SDDC
Commoditization of Hardware
Shift to Software Defined Compute
Shift to Software Defined Storage
Shift to Software Defined Networking
Shift to Software Defined Security
The Parallel Paths of SDS and Hyperconvergence
The Details of SDS
Abstraction
Policy-Based
Programmability
Scalability
What Is Hyperconverged Infrastructure?
One Platform, Many Services
Simplicity
Software or Hardware?
The Relationship Between SDS and HCI
The Role of Flash in Hyperconvergence
Where Are We Now?
Chapter Recap
Chapter 4 — Modern IT Business Requirements
The Business Requirement Challenge
Risk
Assurance, Business Continuity, and Disaster Recovery
The Regulatory Landscape
Avoiding Lock-In (Hypervisor, Storage, Server)
Changing the Perception of IT
Cost
Changing Budgetary Landscape
The Changing Career Landscape
Complexity
Agility and Performance
Automation and Orchestration
Self-Service
The Data Growth Challenge
Resiliency and Availability
Chapter Recap
Chapter 5 — Making Your Data Center Agile:Principles & Strategies
Think Big
Start Small
Move Fast
Chapter Recap
Chapter 6 — Transforming Your Data Center
Align the Data Center and Business Needs
Where to Address the Low-Hanging Fruit
Test/Dev
Remote/Branch Offices
Server Virtualization
Big Data/Analytics
Disaster Recovery
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
How to Adopt SDDC
Software Defined Compute
Software Defined Storage
Software Defined Networking
Simplification
Eliminate Monolithic Storage Systems
Implement Opportunistic Hyperconvergence
Management
Full Stack Management
Key Features
Chapter Recap
Chapter 7 — Software Defined Storage
The SDS Landscape
What Is Software Defined Storage?
What Isn’t Software Defined Storage?
SDS Compared to Traditional Storage
SDS Requirements
Abstraction, Pooling, and Storage Virtualization
Advanced Data Services
Resilience/Data Protection
SDS Checklist
Chapter Recap
Chapter 8 — Hyperconverged Infrastructure
Hyperconvergence Defined
Hyperconvergence Implementation Options
SDS in Hyperconvergence
The Hyperconvergence Design Model
Virtual Storage Appliances
Appliance vs. Software/Reference Architecture
Hypervisor Choice
Server Hardware Choice
The Question of Scale
Scale Up Defined
Scale Out (Linear Scalability) Defined
Do You Have Scale Up and Scale Out Options?
Chapter Recap
Chapter 9 — From the Field: Software Defined Storage &
Hyperconverged Infrastructure 2016
Technology Domain Knowledge
Virtualization Penetration
Hypervisor Usage
Storage Capacity
Data Growth
Storage Performance
Current Storage Systems
The Form Factor Debate
Business Workload Support
Remote Office and Branch Office Support
Flash Storage Deployment
Software Defined Storage and Hyperconverged Infrastructure Deployment Intent
Software Defined Storage and Hyperconverged Infrastructure Deployment Experience
Hyperconverged Infrastructure or Software Defined Storage Deployment Timeframe
Software Defined Storage and Hyperconverged Infrastructure Decision Criteria
Chapter Recap
Chapter 10 — IT Transformation
The Challenge
The Solutions
Automation
Orchestration
DevOps
Industry Needs
Open Standards and Interoperability
Transparency on Pricing and Cost
Performance Benchmarking Standards
Chapter Recap
Chapter 11 — The Future of the Data Center
Future Trends
Containers Instead of Virtual Machines
Open Source Tools
Flash Capacity
Non-Volatile Memory Express
Beyond Today’s Flash
Pooling of Resources
The Cloud
Chapter Recap
About the Authors