Stove pipes or Services for Dynamic Data Centers
December 18th, 2007
Today, the majority of data centers are configured in stove pipes. These stove pipes consist of applications which run on a server which is attached to storage. While servers may be clustered and storage may be connected in a SAN, these stove pipes do not share information between applications, do not move applications between servers, and do not move data between storage systems. This is not a dynamic data center.
That is about to change with Services Oriented Architectures, Services Oriented Infrastructure, and Services Oriented Storage. What is required to turn stove pipe data centers in a dynamic data center is a services orientation by applications, infrastructure, and storage.
Services Oriented Architecture is probably the most well known services approach. While there is no definitive definition of SOA, It is a services oriented approach for applications. Here we build applications on an abstraction layer called XML. With this abstraction layer we are able to share information across applications, and common functions like billing can be implemented as a service, to be reused by multiple applications.
Services Oriented Infrastructure encompasses servers and networks. For servers we have an abstraction layer called server virtualization. With a server virtualization layer like VMware, we are able to move applications and operating systems across hardware platforms for load balancing and application availability. The same is true of networks. Network virtualization frees us from static routing paths, to optimize performance and availability.
While some may consider storage to be part of the infrastructure, storage is really the end point for the application’s data. Infrastructure is transient like electricity but storage is stateful. Once you place data on storage it must be protected until it is no longer needed. While storage is mainly a repository, it has come to provide many more functions for application data as the computing environment has increased in complexity. Common functions include RAID protection, caching, alternate pathing, mirroring, and replication for business continuance. Recently a number of new functions have been developed like, virtual tape, NAS, content archive and search, thin provisioning, deduplication, and virtualization.
Up to now, these functions have been built into stand alone control units that sit in front of captive disk arrays. Most vendors package their storage functions into proprietary bundles with control units and disk arrays in order to maximize their revenue and avoid the challenges of interoperability with other vendors. As a result, these functions become stove pipe storage applications that don’t work together.
In order to enable a Services Oriented Storage platform, the control unit must be separated from the disk array and virtualized so that storage functions in the control unit can be provided as a service across heterogeneous storage arrays. With this approach, storage functions like thin provisioning can be made available on any storage array that is virtualized behind the control unit and provided as a service to any application that connects to this control unit. Instead of having to buy a separate storage system that is specifically designed for thin provisioning, a Services Oriented Storage platform can provide this as a common service on existing storage. A Services Oriented Storage platform can also combine thin provisioning with other storage services like mirroring and replication.
With the addition of NAS, Active Archive, and Virtual Tape gateways, we can combine file, content, and virtual tape services with the block services provided by this platform and eliminate the need for separate, stove pipe, solutions. Hitachi is the first vendor to provide a comprehensive Services Oriented Storage platform through our USP, USP V, and USP VM, combined with our HNAS, HCAP, and VTF services for block, file, content, and virtual tape services. For the most part SOA, SOI, and SOS services coexist. However, there are opportunities for synergy. The USP’s virtual port and Host Storage Domains, add an extra level of connectivity and safe multi-tenancy for virtual machine instances. The USP is the first Services Oriented Storage platform that has been certified to work with VMware, a Services Oriented Infrastructure platform. This certification, which can be found on the VMware SAN Hardware Compatibility List website, shows that the USP’s internal and virtualized storage support basic compatibility, HBA fail over, Storage port fail over, Microsoft cluster, and boot from SAN.
The Dynamic Data center of the future will be a services oriented Data Center based on SOA, SOI, and SOS. Virtualization is the foundation for any services approach by enabling the sharing and mobility of information, application, and data across stove pipe infrastructures.
