Converged and Hyper Converged System

What is converged infrastructure?

Convergent infrastructure combines computing devices, storage, network devices and server virtualization tools in one chassis so that they can be managed from one place. Management capabilities may include the management of virtual desktop infrastructure, depending on the selected configuration and manufacturer.

The hardware included in the bundled converged infrastructure is pre-configured to support any targets: virtual desktop infrastructures, databases, special applications, and so on. But in fact, you do not have enough freedom to change the selected configuration.

Regardless of the method chosen for extending the virtual desktop infrastructure environment, you should understand that subsequent vertical scaling will be costly and time-consuming. Adding individual components is becoming complex and depriving you of the many benefits of a converged infrastructure. Adding workstations and expanding storage capacity in a corporate infrastructure can be just as expensive, which suggests the need for proper planning for any virtual desktop infrastructure deployment.

On the other hand, all components of a converged infrastructure can work for a long time. For example, a complete server of such infrastructure works well even without the rest of the infrastructure components.

What is a hyper-convergent infrastructure?

The hyper-converged infrastructure was built on the basis of converged infrastructure and the concept of a software-defined data center. It combines all the components of the usual data center in one system. All four key components of the converged infrastructure are in place, but sometimes it also includes additional components, such as backup software, snapshot capabilities, data deduplication functionality, intermediate compression, global network optimization (WAN), and much more. Convergent infrastructure relies primarily on hardware, and software-defined data center often adapts to any hardware. In the hyper-convergent infrastructure, these two possibilities are combined.

Hyper-converged infrastructure is supported by one supplier. It can be managed as a single system with a single set of tools. To expand the infrastructure, you just need to install blocks of necessary devices and resources (for example, storage) into the main system block. And this is done literally on the fly.

Since the hyper-convergent infrastructure is software-defined (that is, the operation of the infrastructure is logically separated from the physical equipment), the mutual integration of components is denser than in a conventional converged infrastructure, and the components themselves must be nearby to work correctly. This makes it possible to use a hyper-convergent infrastructure to support even more workloads than in the case of conventional converged infrastructure. This is explained by the fact that it has the possibility of changing the principle of definition and adjustment at the program level. In addition, you can make it work with specialized applications and workloads, which pre-configured converged infrastructures do not allow.

Hyper-converged infrastructure is especially valuable for working with a virtual desktop infrastructure because it allows you to scale up quickly without additional costs. Often, in the case of the classic virtual desktops infrastructure, things are completely different - companies need to buy more resources before scaling or wait for virtual desktops to use the allocated space and network resources, and then, in fact, add new infrastructure.

Both scenarios require significant time and money. But, in the case of hyperconvergent infrastructure, if you need to expand the storage, you can simply install the required devices in the existing stack. Scaling can be done quickly — for the time required to deliver the equipment. In this case, you do not have to go through the full procedure of re-evaluation and reconfiguration of the corporate infrastructure.

In addition, when moving from physical PCs to virtual workstations, you will need devices to perform all the computational tasks that laptops and PCs typically perform. Hyper-converged infrastructure will greatly help with this, as it often comes bundled with a large amount of flash memory, which has a positive effect on the performance of virtual desktops. This increases the speed of I / O operations, smoothes work under high loads, and allows you to perform scanning for viruses and other types of monitoring in the background (without distracting users).

The flexibility of the hyper-converged infrastructure makes it more scalable and cost-effective compared to the convergent infrastructure since it has the ability to add computing and storage devices as needed. The cost of the initial investment for both infrastructures is high, but in the long term, the value of the investment should pay off.