Solution Overview
VersaStack Solution for Microsoft SQL Server Database Acceleration
ChallengesMicrosoft SQL Server databases form the core of many applications involving mission-critical, online transaction
processing (OLTP), data warehousing, batch processing, business intelligence, complex queries for report
generation, and online analytical processing (OLAP). The challenge for IT and database administrators is to
meet business objectives while providing greater performance to meet the needs of growing amounts of data
at a lower cost.
Microsoft stopped supporting a major database version, SQL Server 2005 in April 2016. Microsoft no longer
provides automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance for this version. Without Microsoft support,
customers will no longer receive security updates that protect their servers from harmful viruses, spyware, and
other malicious software. This change will affect those Microsoft customers who have deployed SQL Server
2005 in their data centers. Customers will likely need to migrate to a new platform and new version of SQL
Server or face the risk of operating without support.
VersaStack™ Solutionby Cisco and IBM
2
The VersaStack™ Solution is an integrated system platform that brings
together Cisco UCS® Integrated Infrastructure (Cisco Unified Computing
System™ [Cisco UCS] servers, Cisco Nexus® switches, and Cisco UCS
Director management and orchestration software) and IBM storage
systems built with IBM Spectrum Virtualize. VersaStack forms integrated
infrastructure building blocks to host your SQL Server workloads. It
provides faster delivery of solution applications, greater reliability, easier
management, simplified installation, and lower IT infrastructure costs.
VersaStack is a pretested, validated, and optimized integrated infrastructure
solution for SQL Server database environments (See Figure 1). Backed
by industry-leading Cisco® Validated Designs and IBM Redbooks, it
accelerates the deployment of SQL Server databases, whether they are
running on a single node or on one or more replicas. VersaStack—with
Cisco UCS Director and Cisco UCS Manager automating and orchestrating
hardware deployment—is well suited for nearly all SQL Server workloads.
Whether you are running new or existing SQL Server workloads,
VersaStack for Microsoft SQL Server with VMware provides a prevalidated
end-to-end tested and documented reference architecture to meet
your needs from the data center to the edge (see Figure 2). The entire
infrastructure, including computing, networking, and storage resources, is
tested using a VMware vSphere virtualization environment. Your initial and
ongoing SQL Server deployments will proceed faster and more smoothly
because all steps are detailed in Cisco Validated Designs blueprints. In
addition, ongoing automation and deployment with Cisco UCS Manager
and Cisco Director software help ensure consistent server provisioning and
deployment, eliminating configuration drift and bringing up new nodes in
minutes, not days.
Figure 1: VersaStack Solution by
Cisco and IBM
VersaStack Solution Is Your Best Choice for Microsoft SQL Server Workloads
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Figure 2: VersaStack for Edge or Data Center SQL Server Workloads
Cisco UCS management and revolutionary service profiles
enable you to easily, quickly, and accurately scale infrastructure
to handle workload fluctuations, eliminating configuration drift
and allowing you to deploy new nodes in minutes, not days. As
an example, in a VersaStack SQL Server deployment, a duplicate
node can be brought up in minutes, not hours or days.
For instance, in a traditional data center, if a SQL Server (physical
server or virtualized server) node fails, normally a long process
is required to deploy and provision a new server and bring that
node up again. In some data centers, bringing up new server
node may take days.
Cisco UCS is innovative server architecture with record-
breaking SQL Server database performance. Cisco UCS holds
five world performance records on SQL Server applications
and workloads and more than 100 overall world-record
performance benchmarks. In addition, Cisco UCS servers,
powered by Intel® Xeon® processors, stretch your SQL Server
database budget even further because machines that have
four or more processors have full-core multipliers. Cisco UCS
offers numerous configurations above four cores, allowing you
to choose and optimize your SQL Server costs while increasing
overall performance.
VersaStack Solution Includes Cisco UCS Servers for the Entire Range of Microsoft SQL Server Workloads
With VersaStack, however, you can easily re-create an exact copy
of a failed SQL Server node in minutes. The service profile of the
failed node (rack or blade) is instantiated on a new, spare node.
In moments, an exact copy of the failed node (with the same
Universally Unique Identifier [UUID], MAC address, World Wide
Name [WWN], World Wide Port Name [WWPN], BIOS, firmware,
etc.) is deployed. SQL Server identifies that the failed node is
now back in the cluster, because all of its hardware attributes are
identical to those of the failed node.
VersaStack Solution Offers a Choice of IBM SQL Server Storage Options Because of the versatility and price flexibility of IBM storage
systems such as IBM FlashSystem V9000, IBM Storwize
V7000, and IBM Storwize V5000, VersaStack can address high-
performance, high-capacity, high-growth, and cost-sensitive
storage requirements. FlashSystem V9000 offers the highest
levels of performance with robust software-defined storage
capabilities for database acceleration, analytics, and other
business applications running on the SQL Server database.
Storwize V7000 is best suited for medium-size to large
enterprises seeking a hybrid storage technology (hard disk and
solid-state disk [SSD]). For smaller environments, the Storwize
V5000 hybrid storage system offers an attractive entry-level
solution, especially when paired with Cisco UCS Mini.
With VersaStack, you don’t need to make any trade-offs in the
way that you deploy applications. You can run mixed workloads,
enable data center consolidation, accelerate applications, and
reduce costs. VersaStack configured with IBM FlashSystem
V9000 can achieve extremely fast response times for SQL Server
database read and write operations, providing nearly real-time
access to critical data with predictable, sustained performance
for OLTP and fast batch processing. IBM Storwize V7000 and
V5000 with hybrid storage options provide compelling solutions
well suited for cost-sensitive Microsoft SQL workloads.
For More Informationwww.cisco.com/go/versastack
www.ibm.com/versastack
VersaStack SQL Server Redbook:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg248301.html?Open
Cisco Systems, Inc.170 West Tasman DriveSan Jose, CA 95134-1706www.cisco.com/go/ibm
IBM CorporationSystems & Technology Group Route 100, Somers, NY 10589www.ibm.com/cisco
Produced in the United States of America
June 2016
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other
countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does
not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2016. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, PureApplication, WebSphere, DB2, Storwize, Storwize V7000, and IBM Spectrum Virtualize, are trademarks of International Business Machines
Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright
and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. VersaStack is a trademark of Cisco Systems. This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at
any time. The performance data and client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual performance results may vary depending on specific configurations and operating conditions
LW/BM-19679 06/2016
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