The new flashy solution has arrived. All your consultants are advising you to upgrade your virtual infrastructure to a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). They tell you it is faster, easy to implement, operate and manage. They tell you: it is virtualization in a box, the software-defined datacenter with servers, storage and networking abstraction; it is the new building block of infrastructure. With all that information you are bit skeptical… You want to be sure all they are promising is true, that the investment is justified?
Well this article will help you understand what is hyper-converged, whether it is really a break-through in datacenter infrastructure and if it is a good fit for your organization.
If you are reading this article, chances are you already understand what setting up a traditional infrastructure is about: you set up a bunch of servers as hypervisors (or hosts) cluster them and give them shared access to a storage system. The shared storage system provides a way for the Virtual Machines (VM) to be accessible no matter the host and the cluster provides high availability. Then you go on and set additional services such as backup and dedupe, replication, networking, WAN optimization, Cloud gateway, etc.
Now this is intensive! It requires many technologies, many vendors, and most importantly many system administrators that will set up countless meetings to agree on the parameters to use. After all that you run multiple maintenance contracts with multiple vendors and when an issue arises across vendor systems you require to connect one support team to another, etc… (you see where am going?).
Some of you may be thinking even though it is complex, you are well-trained and most importantly the solutions work. Yeah you are right. But the fact that it works does not mean it cannot be improved upon and it certainly does not mean it is the best way to accomplish it.
So, let pause for a second, no matter how fast your SAN network is (FC or iSCSI), and no matter how fast the disks in your storage array are, information access to the SAN storage cannot be faster than those disks directly inserted in the server and directly plugged into the motherboard. Another thing, do you realize that anytime you purchase a server, it includes a storage controller to RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) your internal drives? Well in reality storage array (or system) is just a server with many drives and a more powerful (or sometimes similar) storage controller. Besides, with the performance of today’s systems most vendors started releasing virtual appliances that will perform the same functions using a server as their custom appliances to enable DIY (Do It Yourself) storage appliances.
I guess now the question is, why can’t we merge the servers and the storage then? Because it certainly looks as if a storage appliance nowadays is just a server with many disks and a good storage controller. Yes! This is exactly what HCI is about.
HCI will take your traditional server, insert some SD cards to hold the operating system (in this case a hypervisor) and dedicate the internal storage controller to manage all the disks and allow you to configure them as if it was a storage array. This is usually achieved by providing a virtual appliance that will take control of the Storage Controller (SC) and run the same software as your typical storage array. Then you would wonder what happens to all the inherently built redundancy and high availability assurances that we had when using traditional storage arrays? Well the answer is called RF (Replication Factor); it will determine how many times your data must be copied to other locations to ensure High Availability (HA). i.e. if RF=2, every data exists twice, meaning you only have access to half the total storage capacity (so make sure you plan well). Your RAID caters for disk failures and RF caters for virtual storage controllers’ failures.
The HCI vendor gives you a software to orchestrate and manage all that from a single pane of glass, and really make it easy to set up. Now that the storage and the servers are merged and that we have increased performance and a single system to manage it, we can now build services on top of it to reduce the complexity. Simply put, you get virtual WAN optimization, integrated backup software, inherent cloud connection to public cloud, replication between systems and much more. Check some of the pros and cons below.
Depending on the size of your company you may want to go HCI or Traditional. The word traditional here does not mean outdated especially when you consider that HCI is still at its early stages and is quite expensive. If you run less than a 100 VMs over less than 4 hypervisors, I believe a traditional infrastructure may be your best fit. Unless your purpose is VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) or VMs that need extremely high performance, you can still get away with managing servers, storage, SAN as separate individuals of a big machinery. That said, HCI is beautiful and works flawlessly; having worked with it (Hyperflex, VxRail) I believe it is indeed the future of all data centers.
We provide free consulting on how to prepare for your first migration to virtual environment or migration from traditional to HCI. Our pre-sales engineers are always ready to help you prepare your strategy and help you meet your business needs.
Our solutions portfolio includes Cisco Hyperflex, Dell EMC VxRail and VxRack, HPE Simplivity, Nutanix, and even your do-it-yourself HCI based on VMware software only. To discuss this or other data center infrastructure needs, call us on +233.54.431.5710 or write to sales@apotica.net.
Apotica, headquartered in Accra, Ghana brings together the best information and communications technologies to help clients grow, compete and serve their customers better.
Matilda, a Chartered Accountant, joined Apotica in May 2023. With over 12 years of experience in banking, insurance, pensions, accounting and finance, she is responsible for the company’s financial control, strategic planning, management reporting, and overall financial performance.
She holds a BSc degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Ghana Business School and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the same institution. Matilda is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Matilda has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management at the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars around the world.
Peniel Korley is Head of Marketing for Apotica, designing and implementing comprehensive marketing strategies to create awareness of the company’s business activities.
Peniel joined Apotica in April 2019 and has helped build our market presence through an adept combination of traditional marketing and digital marketing techniques, executing and monitoring corporate promotion campaigns, and conducting market research to help us stay abreast of trends.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Ghana Business School. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
As Head of Projects, Sylvester Kyeremeh is responsible for coordinating people and processes to ensure that our client projects are delivered on time and produce the desired results. He leads this function within the confines of our quality management and information security management systems.
Sylvester joined Apotica in 2017 as a Systems Engineer, before moving on to join our project management practice a year later. His calm and collected approach to interpersonal engagements, impressive sense of planning, and excellent communication skills continue to receive the plaudits of our customers.
Sylvester received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s a Certified Information Systems Auditor, a Cisco-certified professional, an ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, and a member of the Project Management Institute with PMP and Scrum Master qualifications.
At 25, Millicent is currently the youngest head of department at Apotica, taking up this role in August 2020. She’s responsible for managing all aspects of risk to the organization, employees, clients, assets, reputation, and interests of stakeholders. Millicent also works with the leadership of the organization to embed and maintain a risk-aware culture in the organization.
Before joining Apotica, she worked as a broadcast journalist at Radio Universe – a popular media house in Accra. Millicent holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has attended the Executive Education course in Personal Leadership at the Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands.
She’s a Certified Governance, Risk, and Compliance Professional (GRCP) and a qualified ISO 9001 Lead Implementer.
Elom Kutsienyo is the Chief Technology Officer at Apotica. A technology enthusiast and Apple nerd, he is responsible for the development and maintenance of our excellent technical services capabilities and enabling our engineering teams to become adept at industry best practices relating to enterprise solutions design, deployments, and support.
Since taking up the CTO role in August 2019, he has strategically grown our product offerings through strong channel partnerships with leading ICT vendors. Elom’s extensive experience in product sales, project management, service delivery, and field engineering also helps as he oversees company webinars, product demos, proof-of-value activities, and technical proposals for clients.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Engineering from Ghana Technology University College and has attained several professional qualifications including the coveted Cisco CCIE certification as well as certifications from Microsoft, VMware, NetApp, HPE, and Nutanix.
Clifford leads the Customer Experience practice at Apotica which encompasses our consulting, technology, support, and learning services.
Prior to his position at Apotica, Clifford was the senior manager of IT Infrastructure at Stanbic, a leading commercial bank in Ghana. He has also previously held roles in field engineering, service delivery, and customer support at organizations including Huawei, IBM, Tech Mahindra, and Zenith Bank.
Clifford is PMP-certified and holds a Bachelor’s in Information Technology, as well as several industry certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon.
Dzigbodi Amekoudi oversees company business in Benin and the countries in French West Africa. As Country Manager, his primary responsibility is business development, which involves helping to define and introduce the right go-to-market strategies and making sure our business operates profitably in the territory. He’s also responsible for establishing operating budgets and managing company employees in his region.
During his tenure, Dzigbodi has led Apotica’s expansion into other countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, and Niger. Additionally, he works with our technical services leads to ensure successful post-sales delivery of customer projects.
Dzigbodi started his career in engineering and project management, before joining Apotica as a key accounts manager in January 2020.
He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Telecommunications from Ghana Technology University College and a Master of Science degree in International Management from Franklin University Switzerland. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Emmanuel Nketia is responsible for managing all sales functions at Apotica and oversees other departments, including marketing, operations, and client renewals. An excellent salesman and negotiator, he brings with him 20 years of experience in logistics, accounting, business development, and customer relationship management.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and an MBA Marketing candidate at the University of Ghana Business School.
Emmanuel has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars in the USA.
At Apotica, we are on a mission to help clients grow and serve their customers better. As CEO, Felix Nkansah works closely with our Sales, Services, and Operations leadership to identify customer and industry transitions and determine our strategies to address them.
Felix joined Apotica in January 2017 and brings more than 18 years of experience across executive leadership, systems engineering, customer support, and sales functions with some regional conglomerates and information technology companies.
He has a background in computer science and holds expert-level professional certifications in networking, security, and systems design.