Introduction xxiv
PART I: BASICS OF DATA CENTER NETWORKING AND STORAGE 1
Chapter 1 Data Networks: Existing Designs 3
Information Technology Equipment of a Data Center 4
Network Equipment 4
Networking Services 4
Multitier Data Networking Architecture 6
Logical Server Grouping 8
Challenges of Existing Designs 9
Oversubscription Between the Tiers 9
Large Flat L2 Networks with Stretched VLANs 10
Traffic Hopping Between Tiers, Inducing Latency 11
Complexity of Mechanisms Used for IPv4 Address Scarcity 12
Flooding of Broadcast, Unknown Unicast, and Multicast (BUM) Traffic 15
Loop Prevention Via Spanning Tree 16
Firewall Overload 17
Chapter 2 Storage Networks: Existing Designs 19
The Storage View of Multitier Designs 20
Types of Disk Drives 21
Hard Disk Drives 22
Solid-State Drives 23
Disk Performance 23
Throughput or Transfer Speed 24
Access Time 24
Latency and IOPS 24
RAID 26
RAID 0 26
RAID 1 26
RAID 1+0 26
RAID 0+1 27
RAID 5 28
RAID 6 29
Storage Controllers 30
Logical Unit Numbers 31
Logical Volume Manager 33
Block-, File-, and Object-Level Storage 35
Block-Level Storage 35
File-Level Storage 35
Object-Based Storage 36
Storage-to-Server Connectivity 37
Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) 38
Network-Attached Storage 39
Storage Area Networks 40
iSCSI SANs 46
Fibre Channel over Ethernet SANs 49
Storage Efficiency Technologies 50
Thin Provisioning 50
Snapshots 51
Cloning 55
Replication 55
Deduplication 55
Data Compression 58
Disk Encryption 59
Storage Tiering 59
Caching Storage Arrays 60

PART II: EVOLUTION IN HOST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE 63
Chapter 3 Host Hardware Evolution 65
Advancements in Compute 65
x86 Standard Architecture 66
Single-, Multi-, and Many-Cores CPUs 66
Physical Cores Versus Virtual Cores Versus Logical Cores 67
Virtual CPU 68
Evolution in Host Bus Interconnect 70
Non-Volatile Memory Express 71
Emergence of Flash-Based Products 72
Enhancement in Flash Technology 73
New Breed of Storage Arrays Falls Short 73
Chapter 4 Server Virtualization 77
The Virtualization Layer 78
Type 1 Hypervisor 79
Type 2 Hypervisor 80
Docker Containers 80
Datastores 82
Virtual Machine Creation 84
Virtualization Services 86
Clusters of Servers or Nodes 86
VM Migration 87
High Availability 88
Fault Tolerance 89
Compute Load Balancing 89
Storage Migration 90
Storage Load Balancing 90
Provisioning and Management 90
Virtual Switching 90
Chapter 5 Software-Defined Storage 95
SDS Objectives 96
Preserving the Legacy and Offering New Features 97
vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) and VVols 99
Creating More Granular Volumes with VVols 100
Learning Storage Array Capabilities Through VASA 102
Integration with Storage Policy-Based Management 103

PART III: HYPERCONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE 105
Chapter 6 Converged Infrastructure 107
Cisco UCS–The First Step in Convergence 108
The Converged Systems 112
Pros of Converged Systems 114
Converged Systems Cons 114
Chapter 7 HCI Functionality 117
Distributed DAS Architecture 118
Distributed Controllers 119
Scale-Out Architecture 120
HCI Performance 120
Resiliency Against Hardware Failures via Replication 121
File Systems 122
Change in the Provisioning Model 124
Hardware Acceleration 125
Networking Integration 125
Advanced Data Storage Functionality 127
Deduplication and Compression 128
Erasure Coding 128
Replication and Backup for Disaster Recovery 129
HCI Security 130
HCI Provisioning, Management, and Monitoring 131
Chapter 8 HCI Business Benefits and Use Cases 135
HCI Business Benefits 136
Fast Deployment 136
Easier-to-Scale Infrastructure 136
Enhanced IT Operational Model 137
Easier System Management 138
Public Cloud Agility in a Private Cloud 138
Higher Availability at Lower Costs 139
Low-Entry Cost Structure 139
Reduced Total Cost of Ownership 140
HCI Use Cases 140
Server Virtualization 140
DevOps 141
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 141
Remote Office Business Office (ROBO) 144
Edge Computing 146
Tier-1 Enterprise Class Applications 146
Data Protection and Disaster Recovery 148

PART IV: CISCO HYPERFLEX 151
Chapter 9 Cisco HyperFlex 153
HyperFlex Physical Components 154
Cisco HyperFlex Hybrid Nodes 156
Cisco HyperFlex All-Flash Nodes 156
Cisco HyperFlex Edge Nodes 157
Cisco HyperFlex Compute-Only Nodes 157
Cisco UCS 6200 and 6300 Fabric Interconnect 158
Cisco C220/C240 M4/M5 Rack Servers 158
Cisco VIC MLOM Interface Card 159
Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Chassis 159
HyperFlex Performance Benchmarks 160
Integration with UCS 162
Logical Network Design 162
Service Templates and Profiles 164
vNIC Templates 166
HyperFlex Integration with External Storage 167
Cisco’s HX Data Platform 168
HX Data Platform Controller 169
HyperFlex in VMware ESXi Environment 170
HyperFlex in Hyper-V Environment 171
Docker Containers Support and Volume Driver 172
HyperFlex Data Distribution 174
Details of Read and Write Operations 181
Advanced Data Services 187
Deduplication and Compression 187
Snapshots 188
Cloning 189
Asynchronous Native Replication for DR with Remote Clusters 189
Synchronous Native Replication for DR with Stretched Clusters 190
Integration with Third-Party Backup Tools 191
HyperFlex Security 192
Chapter 10 Deploying, Provisioning, and Managing HyperFlex 197
Installation Phase 197
HyperFlex Workload Profiler 199
HyperFlex Sizer 199
Management Provisioning and Monitoring 199
Cisco HyperFlex Connect HTML5 Management 200
VMware vSphere Management Plug-In 203
Cisco Intersight 204
Chapter 11 HyperFlex Workload Optimization and Efficiency 211
Enterprise Workload Issues 211
HyperFlex with Cisco Tetration 212
Data Collection 214
Tetration Analytics Cluster 214
Open Access 215
Using the Data 215
Cisco Workload Optimizer 216
Cisco AppDynamics 217

PART V: ALTERNATIVE HCI IMPLEMENTATIONS 221
Chapter 12 VMware vSAN 223
vSAN Physical Components 224
vSAN Hyperconvergence Software 225
The Object File System 226
vSAN Datastore 228
vSAN Storage Policies 228
Caching 232
I/O Operation Details 232
vSAN Advanced Functionality 233
Data Integrity 234
Data Encryption 234
Deduplication and Compression 235
Erasure Coding 236
Snapshots 236
Cloning 236
vSAN Replication for Disaster Recovery via Stretched Clusters 238
vSAN Backup for Disaster Recovery 241
Integration with Legacy SAN and NAS 243
vSAN iSCSI Target 243
vSAN and VVols 243
SMB and NFS Support 244
Persistent Storage for Containers 244
vSAN Management 244
Graphical Interfaces 244
Ease of Installation 245
Cloud-Connected Health Checks 245
Performance Diagnostics 245
VMware Update Manager 245
vSAN vRealize Operations and Log Insight 245
Thoughts on vSAN Versus HyperFlex 246
Hardware Comparison 247
Scaling Up 247
vSAN In-Kernel Versus Controller-Based Solutions 248
Distributed Versus Not-So-Distributed File System 249
One-to-One Versus Many-to-Many Rebuild 250
Implementations of Compute-Only Nodes 250
Advanced Data Services 251
Management Software 252
Networking 252
Chapter 13 Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform 255
Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform 256
ECP Hyperconvergence Software 257
Distributed Storage Fabric 257
Nutanix Cluster Components 258
Physical Drive Breakdown 260
I/O Path 261
Write I/O 261
Read I/O 262
Data Protection 262
Metadata 263
Availability Domains 263
Data Path Resiliency 264
Nutanix Advanced Functionality 264
Deduplication 264
Data Compression 265
Erasure Coding 266
Disk Balancing 266
Storage Tiering 267
Snapshots and Clones 268
Shadow Clones 269
Era Database Services 269
Backup and Restore, Replication, and Disaster Recovery 270
Metro Availability: Stretch Clustering 271
Data At Rest Encryption...