ServerSan

We're seeing a great DevOps use case for HCI + Acropolis #ServerSAN

getting more infrastructure out of the way to deploy apps, simpler API provisioning rather than to multiple systems.

For those who don't know...Acropolis is the Nutanix platform that essentially allows you to connect clouds and move workloads where necessary

problem is HCI still expensive today so DevOps being prefered in public cloud with simpler API than internally

programmers are spending the majority of their time statistically developing for rest. That means a solution that supports rest API is going to be critical for easy development.

depends on what direction of DevOps you are coming from? Developer driven vs. infrastructure driving. I don't believe it's commonly a joint equal movement within orgs.

Acropolis received a lot of interest at .Next this year from practitioners that wanted to reduce reliance on vmware

simplifying the infrastructure (more consistent) definitely helps the automation elements of DevOps

ServerSan removes silos. DevOps is positioned to remove or lessen the impact of silos. Seem complimentary.

for example, you rarely hear DevOps discussions that involve separate SANs. in fact, most call them out as a major bottleneck

I personally haven't seen that per se as a driver, but rather a desire for greater simplicity, scalability & security

if you look at the 2015 State of DevOps Report, Ops is where most of the cost-savings & consistency comes from (API driven, automated, using config-mgmt)

What is the driver/reasoning behind that reliance?

if your platform doesnt have a strong API capability, it simply will not be relevant especially within true DevOps focused orgs.

It's still 10% of a $1Tr IT market

but your point underscores the shift in perception from one of infrastructure costs versus application value

So, I guess my question is does the high-end need to embrace ServerSan to reach a tipping point.

Yup, HCI is just the starting spot for revolutionizing IT. Value = simplicity, scalability, resilience, productivity, slashed downtime - & lower cost. #ServerSAN

I hear this downtime comment a bit. Where's that rationale.

are you saying infrastructure doesn't really matter?

Nutanix for example is a ~4 year old company. If I've received 5 9's uptime with my legacy environment how do I justify the perceived risk of HCI?

Check out hot-off-the-press IDC study showing ave 98% decline in unplanned downtime & 100% decline in planned downtime http://go.nutanix.co... #ServerSAN

The savings comes from rapid deployment. Being a post sales engineer myself in the past my experience has been when there is an issue with high-availability it's generally a human mistake and these solutions often mitigate that factor.

@Rich_A_Holmes that's a good argument. Worrying that a complex infra is setup as designed keeps me up a night. (Not really but I worry about it).

Not to mention the time it takes to test a solution. If you get a solution that fully integrate into the hypervisor's management systems from VMware and Microsoft then testing both destructive and nondestructive is quite simplistic. @CTOAdvisor

7 figure PO for Oracle & SAP isn't that big.

but it's good movement.

this is similar to early adoption in server virtualization

@CTOAdvisor :)

Depending on the criticality of the SAP environment I know Fortune 500's that spend mid-to-high 8 figures on SAP infrastructure.

I shudder at the thought of the licensing costs

people often overlook the fact that Microsoft does not support clustering on NFS based systems and hardware HA is only 1/2 the battle.

Yes. Hardware is a very small portion of the cost. Almost an after thought.

the demand is increasing for these solutions to offer true enterprise functionality

all inclusive licensing based on capacity is the answer to keeping licensing costs down. Particularly as we are using industry-standard servers for this technology and the amount of processors in Cores change rapidly

capacity is the only fair thing to measure because it is relatively within the customers control.

Discussion of HCI isn't about "cheaper" it is about "simpler" - want to get rid of undifferentiated heavy lifting and allow IT to focus on adding value to business

@floyer says storage spend is not a rounding error - rather it's an enabler of value creation

when the risk of changing is worth it. You have to prove that a shift in infrastructure is worth the cost (risk) of shifting. Is the reduction of latency offer that much more business value? I'm not saying yes or no. That's the consideration.

@stu companies care about simpler when there's tangible value. Application owners don't care about simple infrastructure unless it results in less downtime and agility. Does ServerSan bring these? If so, it will prosper.

No - companies need to stop accepting/designing needlessly complex solutions in this space and focus on normalizing it - and driving revenue-generating applications.

I would say the infrastructure can matter for example better hardware can mean things such as sensors that can relay proactive failure measures and feed of that information into VMware or Microsoft avoiding failures to begin with.

@Rich_A_Holmes apps determine the relevance and value of the infrastructure. IE Oracle/SAP vs Twitter. One of those requires validation, one requires engineering.

"Get some training!"

Learn networking (SDN) because no one is converging networking :)

just like platforms are converging many organizations are looking to converge storage and server teams. Choosing a solution that can be managed using a centralize solution such as VMware V Center means that learning curve is much easier.

Agree w/@dfloyer. Days of LUN carving and zoning are coming to an end

Stop trying to be a silo would be a good start. Storage needs to be a consultative role, work with business vs. black box

I've been telling "storage admins" to learn something else for years. Not a popular thing to hear at a storage conference, but its the truth. Collapsing silos and being part of a cross-functional team will become the norm eventually.

HCI is really only option converging the skills today. Storage teams should learn new skills to move up the stack.

@Bacon_Is_King Role Role will never die, just fewer slots for dedicated person/team. SW can do a better job for the most part at their role than a human can.

in fact the demand for smart people that know the environment will only increase as these solutions become prominent in remote office scenarios as well.