Chuck's Blog

Considering The Next Wave Of Storage Automation

From the time enterprise data centers sprang into existence, we’ve had this burning desire to automate the heck out of them.

From early mainframe roots to today’s hybrid cloud, the compulsion never wanes to progressively automate each every aspect of operations.

The motivations have been compelling: use fewer people, faster responses, be more efficient, make outcomes more predictable, and make services resilient.

But the obstacles have also been considerable: both technological and operational.

With the arrival of vSphere 6.0, a nice chunk of new technology has been introduced to help automate perhaps the most difficult part of the data center – storage.

It's worth digging into these new storage automation features: why they are needed, how they work, and why they should be seriously considered.

VSAN 6.0 — The Second Chapter Begins

As part of the vSphere 6.0 announcement festivities, there’s a substantially updated new version of Virtual SAN 6.0 to consider and evaluate. 

Big news in the storage world, I think.

I have been completely immersed in VSAN for the last six months.  It's been great.  And now I get to publicly share what’s new and — more importantly — what it means for IT organizations and the broader industry.

If there was a prize for the most-controversial storage product of 2014, VSAN would win.  In addition to garnering multiple industry awards, it’s significantly changed the industry's storage discussion in so many ways.

Before VSAN, shared storage usually meant an external storage array.  Now there’s an attractive alternative — using commodity components in your servers, with software built into the world’s most popular hypervisor. 

While the inevitable “which is better?” debate will continue for many years, one thing is clear: VSAN is now mainstream.

This post is a summary of the bigger topics: key concepts, what’s new in 6.0, and a recap of how customers and industry perspective has changed.  Over time, I’ll unpack each one in more depth — as there is a *lot* to cover here.

The New Cloud Supply Chain

I admit I had my obsession with All Things Cloud back in the day.

Like so many others, I found the industry move to cloud fascinating on so many levels: new technology models, new operational models, new application models, new consumption models, etc.  

I wrote endless, lengthy blog posts attempting to explore every nook and cranny.  Even to this day, the topic continues to intrigue me.

One of the things I spent much time considering was what I dubbed the "cloud supply chain".  

As an example, supply chains in the physical world are responsible for transforming raw materials into finished goods we all consume.   Every company along the way specializes at what they do best at, and cooperates with others who are good at other things.  It's rare when you see a single company responsible for everything from raw materials to customer service. 

Cloud services should be no different, I thought.  

Specialized players -- each with different strengths -- could and should combine into supply chains to create more value than any single player alone.

Today, VMware's vCloud Air service announced a strategic partnership with Google's Cloud Platform Services.  Customers of vCloud Air can now use select Google Cloud Platform services relatively transparently: with a single contract, and a single point of support.

It's a great example of a cloud supply chain -- but will we see more? 

And the bigger question, still not answered: what will be the dominant industry model that serves enterprise IT?

VSAN, VSAs and External Arrays

I had a bit of fun last week, commenting on Nigel Poulton’s blog post discussing this topic, among others.  What I really enjoyed was the polite but vivacious discussion that emerged in the comments.

For the most part, people were disagreeing without being disagreeable.  How civil.

That being said, I tend to reflect on things after the fact.  I came to the conclusion that it was an incomplete discussion on several levels.  

If you’re not into storage stuff, perhaps this would be a good post to skip.  A friendly reminder: everything in this blog represents my personal opinion, and is not reviewed nor approved by employer.  Or anyone else for that matter.

Hybridicity

OK, I’m a sucker for cool words.

Especially when they neatly summarize a very complex and nuanced discussion.  I heard this one being used at one of our internal VMware meetings, and it rang like a bell in my brain.  I’ll reserve the right to give credit where credit is due when I track down the original source.

Hybrid — as in hybrid clouds. “-icity” — a measure of degree, as in “elasticity”.

Hybridicity: a measure of just how hybrid is a particular cloud computing environment.  In this context, more hybridicity is better than less hybridicity.

If we’re going to see more mainstream adoption of public cloud services by enterprise IT groups, I believe the core argument is going to be around hybridicity — how much, what kind, how good?

Running IT Like A (Financial) Business

The enterprise IT model is changing fast: IT now strives to become the internal service provider of choice, offering an attractive portfolio of services that are convenient for the business to consume.

This transformation should not be a revelation to anyone.

All of the sudden, IT starts to look more like modern manufacturing, and less of a project-oriented crafts guild.

As anyone who has run a good-sized business will know, it’s all about “the numbers”: how much, how good, how fast, etc.

You wouldn’t try to run a business without good financial instrumentation — and the same is quickly becoming true for many progressive IT shops.

But the question comes up — what tools exist that do all of this?

I’d like take you on a quick tour through VMware’s vRealize Business offering.

I think is one of the many “hidden gems” in the VMware portfolio. It offers a surprisingly rich suite of ITBM (IT Business Management) functionality that’s becoming essential in modern IT environments — and stands head-and-shoulders above many alternatives.

Say what you want about bean-counters: money matters.

Software-Defined Storage -- Reading

For those of you interested in software-defined storage, I wanted to point you to two pieces (written by me) that you might find useful.

The first is more of a conversational treatment: if you're interested in SDS, what should you be looking for?  

It's a quick read, and doesn't require that you be an enterprise architect to follow along.

The second is a more exhaustive treatise on SDS from a VMware perspective.  It is lengthy, detailed and is aimed at enterprise architects who need to take a multi-year view.  

It will also give you a sense of some of the areas VMware will be focusing on (both alone and with partners) without getting into roadmap details.

At some point, these will be posted on the VMware website -- just wanted to give you all a preview!

"Understanding The DNA Of Software-Defined Storage"

"The VMware Perspective On Software-Defined Storage"

As always: feedback, commentary, criticisms, complaints, etc. -- all welcome!

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Greetings From VMworld 2014

No surprise, I’m out in gorgeous SF for the annual gathering of the vFaithful — VMworld 2014. 

As before, it’s quite an experience, even for a jaded event veteran like me.  Like a desert blooming after a rainstorm, Moscone Center is transformed into a fascinating technology experience, and  — then — we wait until next year for it to happen all over again.

I’m not capable of giving you a detailed report on everything that happened at VMworld — there’s way too much to cover. 

Instead, I thought I’d share with you what stood out for me personally.

Why A Hybrid Cloud Is So Darn Appealing To Enterprises

Many of my VMware colleagues and I are seeing the same thing, time and time again.  

We’re doing a general update on things VMware — a smorgasbord of different topics.  We get to the segment on vCHS — VMware’s vCloud Hybrid Service.  Frequently, they either haven’t heard about it, or don’t know much about it.

That's an opportunity waiting to happen. 

Because within 5 minutes, they’ll quickly grasp how a hybrid cloud is different, and how they might use it.  Heads nod, light bulbs go off, the discussion gets animated — all that.

Given the inherent skepticism of many enterprise IT groups towards All Things Cloud, you might not expect that sort of positive reaction.  But true hybrid clouds aren’t like other public cloud services — and that’s what makes them so darn appealing to so many enterprise IT groups.

Dissecting Gartner’s MQ For Hypervisors

One of the time-honored rituals in the IT industry is the periodic publishing of Gartner’s Magic Quadrants for different enterprise technology categories.  

While some inevitably poke fun (e.g. the Mystical Quadrilateral, the Prescient Parallelogram, etc.), most any IT vendor will tell you it’s very serious business indeed.

Years of effort are spent trying to painfully nudge our particular dot upwards and to the right.  Gartner doesn’t hand out free passes.

Once you get your product into a favored position (e.g. one of the leaders), the goal then shifts to create as much distance as you can between your dot and everyone else in your category.

This is the fifth year Gartner has recognized VMware as one of the leaders in the hypervisor category.  Per Gartner’s rules, vendors can’t claim to be the singular leader, just one of the plural leaders.

No shock, Gartner identified two MQ leaders in hypervisor technology: VMware and Microsoft.  Fair enough.  It wouldn’t do to have just one :)

But as I read through the Gartner analysis and criteria for judging, it felt almost historical in nature.  How Gartner has historically viewed hypervisor choice — and how I think enterprise IT groups now view hypervisor choice — have clearly separated.