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HYPER-CONVERGEDINFRASTRUCTURE 101:HOW TO GET STARTEDMove Your Business Forward with aSoftware-Defined Approach

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DData Center InfrastructureIs on the Cusp of ChangeBusiness demands are shifting. The pace of technology is speedingup. The ability to deliver applications faster while building a solidcloud strategy is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have formodern businesses looking to stay competitive while meetingcustomer needs.The fast pace of digital business spurred organizations aroundthe world to embrace compute virtualization, which transformedthe data center over the past decade.But that transformation isn’t complete. Many IT teams still rely onhardware-centric approaches to storage and networking, whichare expensive and time-consuming to manage and maintain, anddon’t provide the flexibility and agility that today’s users demand.In an era where speed and performance are critical, moving to asoftware-centric approach in every area of the data center is theonly way to get ahead.That’s why so many organizations are turning tohyper-converged infrastructure.2

3H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DWhat Is Hyper-Converged Infrastructure?Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) collapses compute, management, and storage onto industry-standard x86 servers,enabling a building-block approach to the Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). With HCI, all key data center functionsrun as software on the hypervisor in a tightly integrated software layer.HCI makes it easy to transition from physical storage solutions into virtualized storage–and realize big improvements fast.Hardware-centric storage solutions are costly to scale, which means most organizations rely on overprovisioning–anexpensive and inefficient way to meet changing demands. Not only are these solutions hard on the budget; they alsoslow teams down. It takes days, even weeks, to scale up storage using hardware, which puts IT at risk of losing ordisappointing users and falling behind the competition.On average, businesses are seeing: 1.2M 1.2M typical storage cost15 WEEKS73%PSAP73% of apps underperform2Takes 5 weeks to deploy storage3Virtualizing storage through HCI not only saves time and money, it also allows IT to differentiate the business byresponding to user needs fast.And the advantages of HCI don’t stop there.1. Hybrid Array Cost Source: 120TB high-end Hybrid SAN. Hardware is 462K and Software is 709k. Quote based on Gartner Competitive Profiles storage database.2. Ent Poor Performance Source: Network World, Don’t let app performance problems drag you down: get proactive, August 20133. Storage Deployment Time Source: Richard L. Villars, Jed Scaramella, Randy Perry - IDC - Converging the Data Center Infrastructure: Why, How, So What?, May 2012

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DWhy HCI Adoption Is GrowingThanks to its economical building-block approach, organizations across industries are adoptingHCI as a fundamental part of their journey toward the SDDC.64%projected growth in hyper-convergedsystems between 2015 and 20194HCI is leading data center transformation because: It’s a simple, highly efficient solution that’s flexible enough to adapt to technology changes It removes silos that keep functions separated in hardware-centric infrastructure It provides the ability to deliver storage on-demand, without overprovisioning It creates a foundation that lets you evolve toward the SDDC at your own paceSo how can you choose an HCI solution that positions you for the future? Let’s find out.4. IDC Hyper-converged Systems 2015-2019 Forecast, February 20164

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DFour Characteristics of a Future-ReadyHCI SolutionHCI can make your IT organization more agile and responsive, helping you succeed in the digitalera. But not all HCI solutions are created equal.Look for these four characteristics:A proven hypervisor. The hypervisor is the “hyper” in hyper-converged, and it runs allkey data center functions—compute, storage, storage networking, and management—assoftware. The result is more efficient operations, streamlined and speedy provisioning,and cost-effective growth.Software-defined storage. In a good hyper-converged solution, storage and storagenetworking are collapsed into the server and virtualized. This streamlines operations, costs,and overall physical footprint.A unified management platform. A unified platform that allows you to manage theentire software stack from one interface and seamlessly integrates all your workflows isa key element of a good HCI solution.Flexible deployment choices. The ability to use low-cost industry-standard hardware isa huge advantage of HCI. With it, you no longer have to deploy expensive servers, storagenetworking, and external storage solutions. With an HCI platform that gives you a broadchoice of hardware options, you can build an environment that matches your needsand preferences.5

6H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DThe VMware Approach to HCIAs the leader in virtualization technology, VMware provides a flexible, scalable,cost-efficient HCI solution that can run on industry-standard hardware.VMIt is made up of three best-in-class solutions:wareVMVMVMware also provides the broadest set of deployment options, from turnkeyappliances to Ready Nodes, so that you can take the HCI approach that alignsbest with your business needs.tervSwareSeUn phere aaMndardanM-duStaeaginetrkEstrydeifirver IntenmvCenware VMware vSAN : Software-defined storage that reduces TCO, enablesyou to respond to business needs faster, when and how you need it. VMware vCenter Server : A centralized platform featuring simpledeployment, centralized control and visibility, proactive optimization,and powerful management tools.VMVM VMware vSphere : The market-leading hypervisor that helps you achievethe best performance, availability, and efficiency from infrastructureand applications.

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DVMware Stands Out From the RestWhy do organizations around the world choose VMware?Because HCI powered by vSAN enables you to:Evolve Without RiskSeamlessly extend virtualization to storage with an integrated hyper-converged solution thatsimply works with your overall VMware environment. Existing tools, skill sets, and solutionsreduce your risk, while VMware’s large, proven ecosystem of partners eliminates hardwarelock-in and provides access to the broadest choice of server vendors.Reduce TCOLower total cost of ownership by 50% or more. Software-defined storage leverages server-sideeconomics and affordable flash to lower CapEx. On-demand, grow-as-you-go storage deliverspredictable performance and reduces costs. Rapid deployment and simplified day-to-daymanagement reduce OpEx and accelerate responsiveness.Scale to TomorrowPrepare for tomorrow’s dynamic business in the multi-cloud era with a solution that usesthe latest storage and server technologies and supports a wide range of applications, frombusiness-critical apps to next-gen apps using containers. A common storage platform foron- and off-premises applications provides a steppingstone to the cloud.7

8H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DPut HCI to Work for Your BusinessMany organizations choose to implement HCI during a server refresh or when they need to make a significant investmentin storage. Others move to HCI to meet the needs of a particular use case. Whatever your goals, HCI powered by vSANcan help you reach them faster.Top use cases for HCI:Business-CriticalApplications (BCAs)Cloud-Native Applicationsand ContainersVirtual DesktopInfrastructure (VDI)DR Sites/SecondaryData CentersTest/Dev/StagingManaged HostingPlatformsManagement ClustersRemote Office/Branch Office (ROBO)

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DSynergent is an IT services bureau for the credit union industry. They struggled with managingmultiple storage vendors, and needed security they could count on. Now that Synergent hasHCI powered by VMware vSAN, they’re able to accommodate changing storage demands whileensuring greater security.BEFOREAFTERProducts from multiple storage vendorsmade scaling unnecessarily complicatedSingle vendor makes scaling and provisioningstorage easyLearning new technologies took time andresourcesStaff is already familiar with VMwaretechnology, so there’s nothing new to learnLocally attached storage was very risky incase of failurevSAN handles failure easily and smoothly,simply switching to another disk“With vSAN, the big thing is flexibility . If you have a host failure, traditionally, if you were on a SAN or ifyou were using locally attached storage, you were dead in the water. With vSAN, you’re allowed to havea host failure, and since everything is kind of nicely chunked, it just uses another disk.”STEVEN HAJNYINFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT SPECIALISTSYNERGENT9

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DCoop is a large retail enterprise with more than 1,200 supermarkets in Denmark. To stay relevantin a highly competitive retail sector, Coop needed to lower costs and simplify IT operations. Itsprocesses were complicated and time-consuming, and provisioning took far too long. With HCIpowered by VMware vSAN, it was able to eliminate storage bottlenecks and respond tobusiness needs faster.BEFOREAFTERExisting storage solution was needlesslycomplicatedSimpler provisioning and managementimproved day-to-day operationsPerformance bottlenecks occurred whenbandwidth was constrainedScaling out is now a much faster, easiertemplated processTCO was too high with multiple specializedfunctions operating concurrentlyTotal cost of ownership (TCO) is nowmuch lower“We feel that the retail business is due for a lot of changes in the upcoming years, but we feel certainthat vSAN will be of great support for us as we handle those changes in the future.”SOREN VENDLERIT ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT MANAGERCOOP DENMARK10

H Y P E R - C O N V E R G E D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E 1 0 1 : H O W T O G E T S TA R T E DAs a leader in the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IAAS) industry, Zettagrid needed a cutting-edgesolution that would enable them to provide the best possible infrastructure and services to theircustomers. Before it implemented HCI powered by VMware vSAN, it was struggling to keep pacewith rapid growth. Now it has the infrastructure needed to continue growing the business.BEFOREAFTERCo-joined customer and managementworkloads caused downtimeSeparate management platform providesmore controlFrequent storage outages caused byexisting SANData can be recovered without any lossSAN management was complex andtime-consumingManagement is simple and allows for greatervisibility with just a few clicks“The simplicity of the setup has been a huge productivity booster for us. Thanks to [vSAN’s] integrationwith vCenter, I can see everything, and with a couple of clicks, I can create a couple of disk groups,provision virtual machines, assign SLAs, and then you have your storage presented.”ANTHONY SPITERILEAD ARCHITECTZETTAGRID11