Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI, 1st edition
Published by Cisco Press (January 24, 2019) © 2019
- Sam Halabi
eTextbook
- Available for purchase from all major ebook resellers, including InformIT.com.
- To request a review copy, click on the "Request a Review Copy" button.
- A print text (hardcover or paperback)Â
- Free shipping
- Also available for purchase as an ebook from all major ebook resellers, including InformIT.com
- Easy reading with no marketing fluff or heavy technical jargon
- Progression through the chapters from easy to advanced
- First book to address storage, compute, virtualization, networking and automation in details and under one umbrella.
- Bridges the technology gap between the different IT departments (Storage, compute, networking and management)
- Coverage of latest HCI functionalityÂ
- Discusses Automation as it compares to Cloud offerings such as AWS
The full text downloaded to your computer
With eBooks you can:
- search for key concepts, words and phrases
- make highlights and notes as you study
- share your notes with friends
eBooks are downloaded to your computer and accessible either offline through the Bookshelf (available as a free download), available online and also via the iPad and Android apps.
Upon purchase, you'll gain instant access to this eBook.
PART I:Â BASICS OF DATA CENTER NETWORKING AND STORAGEÂ Â Â Â 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
RAIDÂ Â Â Â 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:Â EVOLUTION IN HOST HARDWARE AND SOFTWAREÂ Â Â Â 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:Â HYPERCONVERGED INFRASTRUCTUREÂ Â Â Â 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:Â CISCO HYPERFLEXÂ Â Â Â 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 UCSÂ Â Â Â 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:Â ALTERNATIVE HCI IMPLEMENTATIONSÂ Â Â Â 221
Chapter 12Â VMware vSANÂ Â Â Â 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 NASÂ Â Â Â 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    272
Nutanix Acropolis Block Services    272
Nutanix Acropolis File Services    273
Support for Hyper-VÂ Â Â Â 274
Docker Containers    275
Provisioning, Managing, and Monitoring    275
   Infrastructure Management    276
   Operational Insight    277
   Nutanix Tools    278
   Calm Orchestration Tool    278
The Nutanix Competitive Landscape    279
   Hardware Comparison    280
   Distributed Architecture    281
   Log-Structured Versus Write-in-Place File System    282
   Data Tiering    282
   Deduplication    283
   Data Locality    285
Chapter 14 Open Source–Compute and Storage    289
OpenStack    290
Nova    294
Cinder Block Storage    296
Swift    297
   Proxy Server    298
Ceph    300
PART VI:Â HYPERCONVERGED NETWORKINGÂ Â Â Â 305
Chapter 15 Software-Defined Networking and Open Source    307
The SDN Background    308
The Overlay and Microsegmentation Edge    309
   Host-Based Networking    310
   Switch-Based Networking    312
The Switching Fabric    313
The Underlay Network    315
The Overlay Network    315
Microsegmentation in the Data Center    319
Networking Open Source Initiatives    320
   Neutron    320
   OVS Architecture    322
OVN–The Open Source SDN    324
   Open vSwitch    325
   OVN    326
State of Vendors with Open Source    331
Chapter 16Â VMware NSXÂ Â Â Â 335
Setting and Enforcing Policies in NSXÂ Â Â Â 336
   Security Groups    336
   Security Policy    337
   Policy Enforcement    338
The NSX Manager and Controller Cluster    339
   NSX Manager    339
   The NSX Controller Cluster    340
Enhancements for vDSÂ Â Â Â 341
Flooding Avoidance    342
NSX L2 Switching and L3 Routing    343
   NSX L2 Switching    343
   NSX IP Routing    343
Handling of Multidestination Traffic    346
Chapter 17 Application-Centric Infrastructure    351
Cisco Application-Centric Infrastructure    352
ACI Microsegmentation Constructs    353
   The Endpoint Groups    353
   Application Network Profile    355
   Service Graphs    358
   ACI Tetration Model    360
Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller    360
ACI Domains    362
   Virtual Machine Manager Domain    362
   Physical and External Domains    364
The ACI Fabric Switching and Routing Constructs    365
   Tenant    366
   VRF    366
   Bridge Domain    366
   EPG    366
Virtual and Physical Connectivity to the ACI Fabric    367
   Virtual Connectivity to the Fabric    367
   Physical Connectivity to the Fabric    368
The ACI Switching and Routing Terminology    369
The ACI Underlay Network    371
   Handling External Routes    372
   ACI Fabric Load Balancing    373
The ACI Overlay and VXLANÂ Â Â Â 373
   The VXLAN Instance ID    376
   L2 Switching in the Overlay    378
   L3 Switching/Routing in the Overlay    380
Multicast in the Overlay Versus Multicast in the Underlay    383
ACI Multi-PoDÂ Â Â Â 383
ACI Multi-Site    384
ACI Anywhere    386
High-Level Comparison Between ACI and NSXÂ Â Â Â 386
   Policy Setting    387
   Policy Enforcement    388
   Performance Requirement for VXLAN    388
   Control Plane    389
   Performance of Data Forwarding    390
   Automation and Visibility in the Fabric    390
   Networking Learning Curve    391
PART VII:Â PUBLIC, PRIVATE, HYBRID, AND MULTICLOUDÂ Â Â Â 393
Chapter 18 The Public Cloud    395
The Cloud Services    395
   Infrastructure as a Service    396
   Platform as a Service    397
   Software as a Service    397
Amazon Web Services    398
   AWS Global Infrastructure with Regions and Availability Zones    399
   Networking    401
   Storage    404
Launching Multitier Applications in AWSÂ Â Â Â 409
   Compute Instances    409
   Amazon Machine Images    410
   Security Groups    410
   Identity and Access Management    411
   Launching an EC2 Instance    412
   Cloud Monitoring    416
Cloud Automation    416
   Infrastructure as a Code    417
   Software Development Kits    420
Chapter 19 The Private Cloud    423
What Is a Private Cloud?    423
   Convergence and Hyperconvergence    425
   Automation and Orchestration    425
Cisco UCS Director    427
   UCS Director Policies    427
   Virtual Data Center    429
   Orchestration Concepts    430
   Catalogs    431
Integration Between UCSD and HyperFlex    431
   UCSD Interfaces    433
   APIs and Infrastructure as a Code    434
Chapter 20 Hybrid Cloud and Multicloud    439
Why Hybrid Cloud?    440
Why Multicloud?    442
Cisco CloudCenter    446
Looking Ahead    450
Glossary    451
Index    475
Need help? Get in touch
![Video](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TCIok0KnHDc/hqdefault.jpg)
Pearson eTextbook: What’s on the inside just might surprise you
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. It’s the same with your students. Meet each one right where they are with an engaging, interactive, personalized learning experience that goes beyond the textbook to fit any schedule, any budget, and any lifestyle.Â
![](https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/global-store/global/plp-pdp/1600x800-GettyImages-1172587378.jpg)
Digital Learning NOW
Extend your professional development and meet your students where they are with free weekly Digital Learning NOW webinars. Attend live, watch on-demand, or listen at your leisure to expand your teaching strategies. Earn digital professional development badges for attending a live session.