Reaching the Summit, The Next Chapter of VxBlock History
You stand atop a great mountain looking over all you have done to reach the summit. The air is thin and only a few have ever attempted to join you at these hallowed heights of success. This is the reality of VxBlock and indeed the converged infrastructure market.
As it has ascended to these heights over the last 13 years, the enterprise IT space has changed and morphed continually reinventing itself. We have seen the rise of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), cloud computing, containers, and software defined anything and everything. All these technologies have sprung to life during the decades long journey of VxBlock.
And like many of you, I have been there for this journey to the mountain top, this extraordinary adventure to do something new and unheard of in the marketplace. Today, the journey changes, today we start the next chapter of VxBlock history.
We are turning the page on VxBlock, we are creating a 3-Tier reference architecture to allow anyone to build a 3-Tier architecture. You can scale the mountain and embrace 3-Tier in your data center, but you don’t have to do it alone.
A traditional reference architecture is merely a map to follow. We all know to scale the high peaks of enterprise IT you need more than a map, more than a single document as your guide. We realize this and provide four essential documents to guide you on you 3-Tier journey. There is a design guide that helps you plan your journey. There is also an implementation guide to help assemble the right parts for your converged architecture journey. And there are the Release Certification Matrix (RCM) and Logical Configuration Survey (LCS) materials to help you avoid both common and uncommon pitfalls that you may come across. This is shown in the overview below.
These last two pieces of knowledge, the RCM and LCS, allow you to take advantage of some of the same revolutionary items that are used with VxBlock systems. VxBlock users tend to be familiar with both, but for those new to the 3-Tier space, let us explain them in a little more detail.
The LCS or logical configuration survey, is a document that has been refined over a decade to capture all the points of integration for a new 3-Tier deployment. There is no need to guess what information you might need to have a successful build, as those details are captured in the LCS before you even begin to deploy a 3-Tier architecture. This includes the obvious things such as domain credentials as well as the not so obvious things like rack power requirements. This survey makes it much easier to attain a successful deployment.
The RCM or release certification matrix has been a staple of 3-Tier architectures for a long time and has made its way into many other architectures. What the RCM provides is a list of interoperable systems. This may not sound like much, after all, most RAs tell you the components that were tested in the design. The RCM is different, in that it’s not just about a single set of components. For example, a single server model. The RCM is comprised of several different components that can be incorporated into a 3-Tier architecture. Plus, it is even more detailed than that. It looks at code level interoperability. Can the firmware of a switch, a server, and an OS function together? The RCM can help answer that question. If you will, would you rather climb a mountain in a one-size-fits-all climbing shoe, or a pair of tailor made shoes that fit to you?
This has been a core feature of VxBlock since its inception and can now be utilized as a for interoperability as part of the 3-Tier reference architecture. The RCM provides a reference point as organizations continue the normal life of their VxBlocks. Then as VxBlock systems reach the end of their operational life, the RCM also provides a pathway to migrate to a 3-Tier reference architecture. If you will, a path for any organization to reach the summit of their IT aspirations.
You are probably wondering, how these documents result in a complete 3-teir architecture in your data center. Let’s look at how all the parts come together with all the documents that make up the 3-Teir Reference Architecture. You can see how they logically come together in the following graphic.
Start by preparing a plan for your environment. The 3-Tier Design Guide can help you with this along with a trusted advisor, such as Dell or another partner or VAR. Once you have a plan in place, you will need to order the infrastructure for your design. That includes the standard items you see in the diagram above like storage, switching, and compute. It also includes things you may not have thought of like racks and cables. No one climbs a mountain without first having a plan.
Something worth noting at this point is, you’ll need to purchase maintenance on each piece of equipment purchased. Similar to how one wouldn’t expect climbing gear and tents to be covered by the same warranty.
Now comes the exciting decision, who’s going to assemble your powerful 3-Tier reference architecture? There are three pathways to choose from. You can have all the gear land on your dock, and you can assemble it yourself by following the Implementation Guide. Of course, that is spending a lot of time just keeping the data center humming. There are other options that might yield a better return on investment for your organization.
You could have someone who is skilled at assembly assemble it for you, following the Implementation Guide, RCM, and LCS. There are many partners who can help you design and build a tailored 3-Tier architecture using the four documents discussed above. Additionally, Dell offers Enterprise Integration Services where a Dell team will work with you to integrate components into a 3-Tier architecture using a build methodology based on the documents above.
Whichever way you choose to assemble the design, the result is a 3-Tier platform for your datacenter. The process could look something like the diagram below. Where the individual components are purchased, then assembled according to the documentation, and finally consumed as a single operational system.
Having a structured architecture like this makes the journey to an operational state much easier. Much like climbing a mountain, a well-tested path is a quicker way to the summit.
Dell has made this journey an open process for anyone looking to deploy a 3-Tier architecture in their environment. The team has created more than a typical reference architecture, they have provided access to design guidance, implementation guidance, a release certification matrix (RCM), and a logical configuration survey (LCS).
Having all of these resources, is not only like having a map to the summit, but a trained guide with a full understanding of the mountain and a support system every step of the way until you reach the summit. If you’re interested in finding out more about using 3-Tier architectures in your environment, reach out to your Dell representative.