© 2008 IBM Corporation
Data Center Transformation
Grant Sauls CCDA Data Center Design Specialist
© 2008 IBM Corporation
agenda
1 New Enterprise Data Center
2 The Network’s Role - Consolidation
3 The Network’s Role - Virtualization
4 Converged Data Center Networks
5 Conclusion
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Traditional data center costs are rising
IDC, "Preparing for Change: Architecture and Infrastructure Considerations for the Data Center of the Future," Doc # DCFW2008_02, April 2008
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Multiple forces are driving a transformation of the data center
Accelerated pace of business and technology innovations
Operational issues have IT at a break point
Costs & Service Delivery
Business Resiliency and Security
Energy Requirements
Exponential Network Traffic Growth
Mobility
Software as a Service
SOA
Consolidation/Virtualization
© 2008 IBM Corporation
CEOs are looking for new ways to leverage information
Source: IBM 2008 Global CEO Survey
CEOs are looking ahead . . .Expecting significant change but are having trouble keeping up with the paceInvesting heavily in engaging more demanding customersMoving aggressively toward global business designsSeeing a greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility as an opportunity to differentiate
The enterprise of the future is …
© 2008 IBM Corporation
The New Enterprise Data Center: An evolutionary new model for efficient IT delivery . . .
New economics: Virtualization with optimized systems and networks to break the lock between IT resources and business services
Rapid service delivery: Service management enables visibility, control and automation to deliver quality service at any scale
Aligned with business goals: Real-time integration of transactions, information and analytics - and delivery of IT as a service
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Enterprise Data Center Evolution
Past
Centralized –Mainframe centric
Shared
Limited applications
Limited access
Unresponsive
Industry standard HW
Client / Server
e-business
Current
DistributedDedicated infrastructureExplosion of applicationsUbiquitous accessFragmented islands of computingInefficient
Virtualization
Web 2.0
Network
New
Re-centralizationShared infrastructureTransparent delivery of servicesUbiquitous access with high bandwidth, low latencyEfficient, dynamic, and responsive
© 2008 IBM Corporation
NEDC Stages of Adoption
Physical consolidation and optimizationVirtualization of individual systems
Systems, network, and energy management
Drives IT efficiency
Rapid deployment of new infrastructure and services
Highly virtualized resource pools –“ensembles”
Integrated IT service managementGreen by design
Highly responsive and business goal driven
Virtualization of IT service Business-driven service management
Service oriented delivery of IT
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Themes of consolidation, centralization, security, and management comprise the new enterprise data center
Consolidation and virtualization– Increase device utilization
– Improve system performance
– Reduce power requirements
Applications and storage centralized– Decrease device sprawl
– Meet regulatory compliance
User access blurs the enterprise edge– Specific services based
– Defined community groups (employees, partners, suppliers, customers, guests)
An enterprise IT management system– Based on open standards
– Support cross platform, multi-vendor technologies
– Support dynamic provisioning
© 2008 IBM Corporation
agenda
1 New Enterprise Data Center
2 The Network’s Role - Consolidation
3 The Network’s Role - Virtualization
4 Converged Data Center Networks
5 Conclusion
© 2008 IBM Corporation
The network must respond to the changing Data Center
Consolidation and Virtualization– Network consolidation
– Server / Data Center consolidation
– Network virtualization
– Server / Storage Virtualization
– Unified Transport
Security– Remote and mobile application access
– Drives the need for login and client side device screening prior to providing network and systems access
Management– Based on a common management view that will drive the
need for dynamic network response and provisioning
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Network consolidation involves two patterns
Network Consolidation combines like networks– Long driven by costs, enabled by standards
– Simplifies the network (capex, opex)• Reduction of physical inventory of nodes and links
• Reduction in the number of physical networks
– Introduces new traffic profiles
– Increases operational demands • Shared resources impact to security
• Combined maintenance windows
• Outages have larger impact
Network Convergence uses innovation to combine disparate networks
– Convergence of telephony, video to IP-based communications
– Network and storage convergence onto a new unified transport
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Data Center consolidation increases the demands
Data Center consolidation is a major pattern, typically new facilities– Larger, green facilities to avoid costly upgrades to existing data centers– Regulatory compliance for data security and resilience
Consolidated Data Center networks increase in scale and complexity– Larger scale network: hosting more infrastructure, applications, services – More complex forwarding plane: supports more and disparate traffic profiles
• ERP – moderate bandwidth, high availability• Voice – low bandwidth, low jitter and latency, very high availability• Video – high bandwidth, low jitter• Productivity – highly variable bandwidth, best effort delivery
– Larger service domains: faults and service problems affect a larger population
Remote access to the Data Center needs to provide higher service levels– More resilience required to maintain application availability – “LAN-like” performance is needed to support users that are now remote from their applications
and services
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Server consolidation increases network traffic and port density
Consolidation increases traffic volumes per server increase– Oversubscription ratios – Network QoS within the Data Center– Server NIC hardware performance
Smaller server platforms increase the number of servers per rack/row
Density favors a distributed access switches– Top-of-Rack, BladeCenter switches– Topology management– Cabling, power, cooling approaches may need to be revalidated
Server virtualization features add complexity to the network– Increased traffic– Virtual networking within the system/hypervisor– Increased addressing per port
© 2008 IBM Corporation
agenda
1 New Enterprise Data Center
2 The Network’s Role - Consolidation
3 The Network’s Role - Virtualization
4 Converged Data Center Networks
5 Conclusion
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Network Virtualization encompasses four domains - at four levels of abstraction
Enterprise Network – LAN/WAN connectivity to the Data Center
Data Center Edge
Data Center LAN environment
Server network connectivity
End NodesEnterpriseNetwork DC Edge DC LAN Server IO Server Server IO SAN Storage
LAN
VLAN
SAN
VSAN
NIC
vNIC
Vswitch
VPN
WAN
Tape
LoadBalancer
Optimizer
HBA
vHBA
LAN MultiLayer
Switching
Future LAN/SAN Convergence
Disk
LPAR
Server
VM
VSAN
Forwarding Plane – traffic path
Control Plane – topology
Services Plane - enhancements
Management Plane - administration
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Network virtualization is driven by the need to differentiate services and address unmet requirements
The New Enterprise Data Center is a multi-service head end for the enterprise– Serves data applications as well as voice, video, storage, etc.– Supports disparate traffic profiles that have disparate service level requirements – A single logical network becomes overly complex with a single forwarding plane
• Multiple QoS settings + security policies + resilience attributes
Network consolidation has left unmet requirements– Economic pressures encouraged solutions with “acceptable risk”– Complexity of solutions outweighed the benefit
Network virtualization provides a better wayto meet these requirements
– Network consolidation without compromise – Simplification of the environment – Agility to provision additional logical networking – Straightforward segmentation for security – Multiple, separate service level domains
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Enterprises are increasingly leveraging MPLS features to provide multiple logical backbones
Virtualized NetworkSingle Logical Network
Multi-VPN WAN from service providerVLANs at the edgeSegmentation mappings
– vrf-lite– virtual routers / devices– physical separation– tunnels / trunks
Public and/or private MPLS– into the Data Center / Campus
VLANs at the edgeSegmentation mappings
– vrf-lite– virtual routers / devices
© 2008 IBM Corporation
The network must support virtual switches as a new access layerServer virtualization’s virtual switch presents some challenges
– Represents a loss of control – security, QoS– How well does the logical switch interact with the physical access switch?– Can the logical switch support network virtualization (e.g., 802.1q) for segmentation?– Which operational domain “owns” the virtual switch – the server or network team?– How well does the virtual switch handle the traditional functions delivered by the an
access switch (e.g., multicast, port mirroring, Layer2 security features)?– How extensive a topology should exist within the hypervisor/server?
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Dynamic provisioning solutions may add design constraints
There is tension in the logical design for the Data Center Network
Layer 3
IPLayer 2
802.1*
NetworkPerformance
Availability
ServerAvailabilityVirtualization
VM mobility or dynamic provisioning anywhere in the data center– A change to larger, less stable VLANs– Other Layer 2 extension solutions, such as Virtual Private LAN Services– Location-dependency for physical and logical servers– Vendor enhancements to the server provisioning process to support Layer 3 identity
Physical repurposing a different security zone, there are likely to be impacts on the boundaries themselves
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Network Node Virtualization provides two new design solutions
One-to-Many– Single physical entity logically partitioned into
multiple virtual entities– Analogous to server virtualization– Fundamental to VLAN and MPLS virtualization– Key to services plane virtualization– Cost effectiveness, responsive and flexible
provisioning, needs low-latency network for location independence
Many-to-One– Multiple physical entities represent one virtual entity– Analogous to server clustering– Replaces Layer 2 topologies with alternative
extended backplane, simplifies logical topologies and management, improves scalability
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Virtual Node solutions simplify the logical topologies
Virtual nodes are augmenting multi-layer switching (Layer 2/Layer 3) – Replacees Spanning Tree with extended backplane– Proprietary control plane
Simplifies the logical topologies and management– Fewer logical nodes to monitor and manage– Fewer Spanning Tree nodes reduces complexity, risk– Multi-switch link aggregation – Hub-and-spoke topology
Reduces aggregation port capacity requirements– Enables the refactoring of capacity and oversubscription – May enables the elimination of the aggregation layer
May eventually reduce to a single logical switch– A very large switch– Eliminates Spanning Tree and related scalability issues,
replacing them with the extended backplane and virtualized control plane
Juniper Virtual Chassis
Cisco Virtual Switching System
Virtual Data Center Switch
© 2008 IBM Corporation
agenda
1 New Enterprise Data Center
2 The Network’s Role - Consolidation
3 The Network’s Role - Virtualization
4 Converged Data Center Networks
5 Conclusion
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Today’s Fabric Convergence options include InfiniBand and iSCSI
High performance clusters– IB: 2 24 Gbps
150 <100 ns
– Lack native storage andlow performing gateways
SMB and Mid-tier Storage– Low $/Gbps (GE)
– Growing and maturing,considering 10 GE
iSCSI/NAS storage for middle tier servers
SMBstorage
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Converged Enhanced Ethernet provides a new option for Data Center fabric convergence.
Enables Fiber Channel over Ethernet– Encapsulate FC frames directly onto Ethernet
– Requires FC-equivalent no-drop behavior
Ethernet needs enhancements for FC– Provide no-drop behavior in face of congestion
– Manage traffic interference
EthernetFrame
FCoEEncapsulation
FCPacket
© 2008 IBM Corporation26
The primary driver for a Unified Transport is the elimination of the redundant LAN and SAN infrastructures
1. Access connectivity at the network edge – Converge Fiber Channel and Ethernet server I/O (a.k.a, NIC, HBA), reducing cost,
power
– Leverage Top-of-Rack switches for both fabrics (reduced cable distance, physical planning, power)
– Reduces cabling, access switch inventory
2. Infrastructure aggregation for the infrastructure fabric– Single backbone transport (inter-connecting access switches) for both types (SAN,
LAN)
– Converged switching fabric – eliminates or reduces redundant switches, along with a corresponding consumption of resource (space, power, cooling)
– Gateway functions providing access to non-converged LAN, SAN
© 2008 IBM Corporation27
Improves edge connectivity between the server and access switch
Convergence in the access switch– Requires Converged Enhanced Ethernet
standards – switches and NICs
– Fewer interface cards and cabling
– May address InfiniBand or KVM in the future?
Separate backbone fabrics remain intact for both LAN and SAN Well-suited for Top-of-Rack switch deployment
– Enables rack-level deployment (e.g., iDataPlex)
– End-of-Row switches ideal as well for lower density rows
© 2008 IBM Corporation28
Improves infrastructure aggregation over backbone switches
Access-to-access switching backbone, converged for both types of network (SAN, LAN)
Reduces redundant switches, with a corresponding reduction in the consumption of resource (space, power, cooling)
Unified Physical Infrastructure One Set of Switches
Logical Local Area NetworksLayer 2 / Layer 3 Logical Storage Area Network
© 2008 IBM Corporation29
A Unified Transport is needed for the full NEDC vision
The NEDC Dynamic phase requires an improved Data Center Networking infrastructure
Richly connected servers, storage, services, edge devices– Any-to-any connectivity to enable mobility, flexibility
– Large scale (10,000s of servers)
– Low latency (nn λs) to avoid location dependencies
– Drop-less and/or non-blocking
– No single point of failure
– Computer bus-like connectivity among• Virtualized nodes - server, services
• Virtualized IO – VLAN, VSAN, VPN, storage, memory
© 2008 IBM Corporation30
Unified Transport Conclusion
Separate data and storage networks will remain an option
No single solution satisfies all requirements – InfiniBand fits when performance is critical
– NAS and iSCSI fit well in SMB and middle-tier servers
– As FCoCEE matures it will play well in FC-based enterprises seeking convergence
© 2008 IBM Corporation
agenda
1 New Enterprise Data Center
2 The Network’s Role - Consolidation
3 The Network’s Role - Virtualization
4 Converged Data Center Networks
5 Conclusion
© 2008 IBM Corporation
Understand the strategy that is driving changes to your data center
Determine your networking requirements
Compare the your current networking environment and support structure to your new requirements
Develop a new or updated network architecture and design to meet your business and technical requirements
Select vendors and components and prepare a detailed design
Create a roadmap for migration, carry out procurement, logistics and site preparation, configure, install and test
StrategizeAssessArchitectDesign Implement
Run
Your New Enterprise Data Center strategy takes careful planning, design, and integration
… while continuing to run your day-to-day operations
Designing changes to your data center network includes the following challenges:
© 2008 IBM Corporation
A comprehensive approach is needed to understand your data center strategy and design the right network to support it
Assess the existing network and compare to projected server, storage, and application network traffic patterns to determine gaps and re-design options
Understand the projected services and security requirements to help ensure the network design includes the capabilities to respond
Integrate network management into the overall IT system management to create a unified view
Choose the best fit networking technologies to support the future networking requirements
Develop a plan to upgrade the network and to implement with minimal impact to the day to day business
© 2008 IBM Corporation