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9 Posts tagged with the virtualization tag
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Here is the video of me at Brocade Technology Day unveiling details of Brocade One, the new unifying networking vision and strategy. For more information, visit: www.brocade.com/brocadeone.

 

869 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: brocade, virtualization, data, networking, data_center, john_mchugh, brocade_one, smo
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In my last post, I talked about how we all – in our personal, and for those of us in technology, our professional lives – are trying to simplify and do more with less. This all sounds good in a data center unless it increases risk and/or lessens our actual visibility for control over our data and applications. We all get great offers and PowerPoint slides about how vendors A, B and C can easily simplify our data center and consolidate tier 1 and tier 2 applications down to virtualized servers.... but often, I am left wondering several things: Have these vendors done this before? Will they be around to support it? Will it really be cheaper when I calculate the OpEx required to manage all those virtual server sessions I can no longer see and touch?

 

Enter the HP StorageWorks P2000 G3 virtualization bundle!

 

Today Brocade and HP launched a solution that has been specifically developed and designed to help customers migrate their real tier 1 and tier 2 applications to the cost-optimized world of server virtualization. HP is utilizing specific technologies from Brocade (adaptive networking and server application optimization) to make sure, as you move those applications to a virtualized environment, you can truly identify, monitor and assign QoS to each virtual machine (VM) and application all the way through the network. By providing true application and VM-aware networking, Brocade and HP together have addressed the top two concerns of providing performance under load and manageability in deploying server virtualization.

 

In addition to developing a turnkey solution with application visibility and control to allow top-tier applications to enjoy the benefits of the virtualized world, Brocade and HP are providing the HP StorageWorks P2000 G3 virtualization bundle to the market with a starting list price of $25,000, with significant savings to the aggregated component pieces.

 

Now, you just may be wondering, have these two partners ever done this before? In addition to pioneering the SAN industry, HP and Brocade have led -- by a wide margin -- true enterprise SAN development and enterprise implementations. Recently, HP has crossed the seven million Brocade SAN switch and director port milestone, and is rapidly well on the way to eight million. If that’s not experience, I don't know what is.

 

Happy virtualizing!

811 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: brocade, virtualization, san, networking, data_center, hp, fibre_channel, virtual_machine, vm, charlie_leeming
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Here is the video of me at Brocade Technology Day discussing new innovations and technologies necessary for the migration to a fully virtualized data center. For more information, visit: www.brocade.com/brocadeone.

 

629 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: brocade, virtualization, networking, cto, dave_stevens, data_center, brocade_one
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In today’s environment of natural disasters, power outages, virus outbreaks and other IT interruptions that can bring business to a halt, it’s crucial for companies to have reliable IT solutions that give them always-on access to critical enterprise data. Some companies have learned the hard way – through life experience – that application downtime and data loss can be extremely costly, even to the point of decimating businesses altogether.

 

In addition, we are seeing companies depend more heavily on data centers that are remote and dispersed. It wasn’t too long ago that doing any type of data replication or migration “over distance” would have been an extremely novel, cutting-edge (and even scary) concept. Today, companies routinely manage systems across the world to gain efficiencies and scale for competitive advantages.

 

Given the importance of these trends, we are excited today to announce the Hyper-V Live Migration over Distance solution, which has been jointly architected and tested with our partners Hitachi Data Systems and Microsoft. Live Migration over Distance builds on the Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V to take virtual machine (VM) mobility to the next level. This solution provides technology and integration that help organizations to proactively migrate Hyper-V VMs and data across distance, without worrying about user interruption or data loss. This can provide reliable, high performance, predictable VM-mobility for disaster recovery, application workload balancing, routine maintenance, and decommissioning or integration of new data centers.

 

Brocade provides the virtualization-aware network infrastructure (Brocade Fibre Channel SAN and IP) – and the end-to-end network management capabilities that optimize the environment. There are three advantages to Brocade’s technology for this solution:

  1. The network reliability for this solution should not be underestimated. Brocade’s nonstop networking gives companies a reliable networking solution – without dragging down server performance.
  2. The virtualization-aware element of Brocade’s network means that the network knows when a VM is migrated across servers, and takes appropriate actions for the VM’s network profiles to follow the VM.
  3. Integrated with the toolset provided by Microsoft, Brocade’s management capabilities enable performance monitoring of virtualized workloads and policy-based migration of virtual machines for workload optimization.

 

Our partners are also supplying key aspects of this solution. Hitachi is providing the storage foundation as well as the storage clustering and synchronous replication software, which enables the movement of the VMs and associated data across distance. And of course, Microsoft’s piece is the Hyper-V virtualized environment, live migration functionality and management.

 

We think the Microsoft Tech∙Ed 2010 show, taking place this week in New Orleans, is an excellent venue to announce Hyper-V Live Migration over Distance. Brocade is a silver sponsor at the show. If you’re attending, come by and visit us at Booth #501. Also, Brocade is a finalist in the Best of TechEd Awards, so be sure to vote for the Brocade DCX-4S Backbone in the Hardware and Storage category for the Attendees’ Pick Award!

 

For more information on the Hyper-V Live Migration over Distance solution, please visit: www.hds.com/go/hyperv

753 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: virtualization, networking, data_center, microsoft, hds, virtual_machine_mobility, virtual_machine, vm, teched, bob_braham, hyper-v
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I was recently talking to a large retailer about how much IT infrastructure is wasted because they have to build to handle peak loads around the holidays. The percentages are staggering. Some retailers estimate that more than 50 percent of their infrastructure is built for these peak loads. Just imagine the cost savings if they could dynamically add resources during those peak periods.


While cloud bursting is often talked about in this context, I wonder if we will burst the cloud as every retailer vies for additional resources in the cloud at the same time. So, the question is “What can be done before enacting a full hybrid cloud model?”


A beginning step could be to redeploy resources in the data center to the production applications and away from the development during those peak loads. To support this type of resource redeployment, we will have to enable a broader range of virtual machine mobility than exists today. And, to do that, we will need to build larger, flatter Layer 2 networks than what currently technologies such as Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) will realistically allow.


Historically, data center networks have been deployed in an hierarchical, multitier fashion:
•    Layer 2 terminated at the edge or in the access layer, for good reasons (apropos of my previous blog)
•    Layer 3 at the distribution/aggregation layer
•    Core routing protocols in the next layers of network infrastructure


This hierarchical, multitier approach has been the most prevalent and widely accepted way of designing, deploying, and managing data center networks.


While this approach provides the benefits of not having to deal with STP (for the most part), it imposes different challenges for the engineering and administration teams. First, this can be an expensive architecture as you continue to grow your data center network. One of the main reasons for this is that routing ports are more expensive than Layer 2 switching ports. It costs vendors more to build them and therefore more for customers to purchase them.


More compelling than the additional capital cost, however, is the ongoing operational expenditure of introducing Layer 3 in the edge/access layer as it complicates network design, deployment, administration, and monitoring. Complexity equals ongoing administrative costs. For instance, each port in this hierarchical network can be running a number of finicky protocols, each with its own idiosyncrasies and associated best practices that have two negative impacts on modern data centers:

  1. First, this increases the number of management touch points, resulting in more administration required.
  2. Second, it makes adding on-demand capacity a non-trivial, very carefully planned and choreographed exercise. This limits the viability of building a truly dynamic data center, which is a cornerstone of private clouds and virtualized data centers.


The virtualized data center is one that requires an agile service delivery model, the ability to add network capacity and services on demand, and new levels of operational simplicity in network deployment, administration, and monitoring. It is no coincidence then that the notion of scaling out flatter Layer 2 networks resonates with network architects.


If IT organizations can create these flat Layer 2 networks with loop-free topologies, lightning-fast reconvergence times, and extremely efficient use of bandwidth, the virtualized workloads will have a much larger range of mobility in the data center (remember, server virtualization clusters terminate at Layer 2 boundaries). Additionally, since converged storage traffic such as FCoE is not routable over IP, a larger Layer 2 domain provides a larger domain for storage access—where hundreds if not thousands of physical machines can access shared storage in a reliable and efficient manner.


Brocade is striving to bring precisely these values to the virtualized data center. In my next blog, we will investigate the requirements posed by converged storage traffic and the value that these flat Layer 2 networks provide for shared storage access to servers in this new virtualized cloud data center.

2,908 Views 0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: virtualization, data_center, cloud_computing, doug_ingraham, spanning_tree_protocol, stp, flat_layer_2_networks, virtualized_data_center, virtual_machine_mobility, data_center_network, virtualized_cloud_data_center
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With more than 12 years in existence, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) isn’t a new technology, but it also isn’t a “table stakes” feature found in every network. MPLS was originally created for large service providers to speed up the flow of network traffic and ultimately simplify manageability. As with many new technologies, MPLS certainly wasn’t cheap when it was first introduced (in truth, MPLS prices were artificially inflated). And it was initially perceived as being complicated to set up and refine…ironic considering that it was designed to improve and simplify the network infrastructure. As with most technologies, MPLS eventually evolved into a solution that has become relatively inexpensive and straightforward to install. Even with all these improvements, however, there is still a lingering perception that MPLS is costly and that only large service providers have the need, know-how, and deep pockets to install it and achieve its full range of benefits.

The fact of the matter is that MPLS is flexible, fast, and cost-effective. It enables network segmentation and quality of service for latency-sensitive applications such as business-class voice and high-quality video. Today, Brocade has many enterprise customers that are taking advantage of these “service provider” capabilities and beginning their own corporate implementations, especially in distributed enterprises. Industry analysts predict double-digit growth for Carrier Ethernet in the coming years, and Brocade is dedicated to helping carriers transition to the advantages of the higher bandwidth and lower cost that Ethernet provides. Brocade Ethernet solutions have a proven track record in service provider networks—with more than 5000 Brocade routers deployed worldwide in carrier networks and Brocade solutions managing traffic in more than 70 MPLS deployments.

Bringing all this to reality, the Brocade NetIron CER 2000 Router, our newest router offering, provides high performance and scalable MPLS in an ultra-compact 1U form factor…a virtually unheard of combination until now. Demand for this new product has been startlingly high, especially for providers that are driving MPLS closer to the edge of their networks, delivering video over IP multicast and Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS).

From an industry perspective, the NetIron CER 2000 is the only router of its size that offers 10 Gigabit Ethernet and is priced at just a fraction of the cost of traditional cumbersome MPLS routers. In fact, it has twice the routing capacity, offers 33 percent space savings and 66 percent power savings, and provides almost three times better forwarding performance at half the price of comparable solutions—making it ideal for cost-effective cloud computing, for instance. These numbers equal not only CapEx and OpEx cost savings but also translate into the flexibility to innovate and deliver the types of services customers have been reading about for years but could never order. The result? An increasingly bright future for MPLS in both service provider and distributed enterprise environments.

1,554 Views 0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: brocade, dcx, emc, storage, virtualization, san, fibre, fcoe, ian, whiting, klayko, data, center, cee, networking, serveriron, cisco, ucs, channel, ken_cheng, data_center, multi-vendor, ethernet, ip
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Here are some of my comments on last week's announcement between Brocade and Dell on the expansion of our existing partnership with the goal of creating the Efficient Enterprise.


Mike

 

2,959 Views 0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: brocade, storage, virtualization, fibre, fcoe, data, center, networking, channel, oem, ethernet, ip, dell, partnership
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I recently presented our approach to virtualization to a roomful of (mostly financial) analysts at Brocade Tech Day, held in San Jose on June 2, 2009.

 

2,057 Views 0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: brocade, storage, virtualization, networking, dave_stevens, data_center
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Brocade is known for a couple of things – building Extraordinary Networks, and developing and maintaining close partnerships with other companies in ways that benefit customers  beyond the benefits that they would receive if Brocade “made it all here.” One of the areas in which we partner closely with other vendors to deliver a complete solution is campus wireless access, or WiFi.  Our focus on cross-compatibility not only among our own products but with many other vendors makes our combined offering here stronger and more flexible than single-vendor solutions.   With the increasingly distributed enterprise, the benefits of a combined WiFi offering are absolutely clear.


The driver for the growth in enterprise wireless   to this point is primarily due to convenience; the increased needs of a mobile enterprise. Moving forward, one of the major trends is that  wireless  is becoming an integral part of a networking infrastructure as opposed to something that is really built for convenience and casual use. This is particularly important as the new wireless standard built in 802.11n begin to emerge, as opposed to the past standards – 802.11a, and 802.11b/g. – 802.11n can now carry traffic comparable to your wired local area network speed, which is 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and above while enhancing the robustness and range of the wireless signal. So potentially users can actually leverage wireless access to access mission critical applications and access data which normally would be too bulky or too large to be downloaded through the legacy wireless technology. With 802.11n some organizations and enterprise may actually choose to bypass the wiring of the building and go completely wireless.


As this trend increases, we will continue to see customers source and fund the deployment of wired and wireless networks at the same time, vs. doing what they have traditionally done and  treating them separately. In this context, it would seem better for them to get the entire solution from a single vendor, preferably with unique value-added functionalities – It is. It might also seem that it would be better to have the entire solution developed by that vendor –  It’s not.


Vendors who would offer you their, and only their wares from end to end in the development of a local area network are not necessarily selling you the best products for your needs, but, potentially, products that meet the lowest requirements of the stated need at the highest margins for themselves.  The Brocade approach, on the other hand, is to continuously survey the landscape for the best available technology, regardless of the source, establish its interoperability with all of your various network components, build strong relationships with the vendors who supply it and deploy it at the best possible cost/performance ratio. This strategy is enabled by the fact that we do not need to subsidize other areas of the company by charging you more for portions of an end-to-end solution than the market demands, under the guise and per the assertion that, “If we make it all it must be the best.” In fact, we have an increasing number of customers who did buy into that, and who were greatly disappointed later, and who are now turning to us for a complete replacement of parts of, if not all of their network infrastructure.


While we are happy to help in that regard, we’d rather work with them to get it right the first time – selecting from best-of-breed vendors, working to ensure interoperability and availability in IP networks with the same intensive processes we always have in the data center, and extending our partnership beyond our technology partners and to the end users themselves.

2,485 Views 1 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: brocade, storage, virtualization, fcoe, data, center, cee, delivery, networking, datacenter, cisco, ucs, channel, data_center, best_of_breed, multi-vendor, unified_computing_system, ethernet, ip, extraordinary_networks, wifi, 802.11a


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