FEATURE: SDN
How VMware is using SDN
Network Virtualisation technology takes SDN
to the next level by truly decoupling network
resources from underlying hardware. In
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compute, memory, storage and networking
– needed by an application.
VMware’s Software-Defined Storage solutions
enhance today’s data centre by delivering:
SDN COMES DOWN TO ARMING
ORGANISATIONS WITH THE PLATFORM
TO PRO-ACTIVELY MANAGE ANY
POTENTIAL ISSUES ON THE NETWORK.
much the same way that server virtualisation
emulates a physical server within software,
network virtualisation emulates the
components of network and security services
in software. In this way, the virtualised
network is provisioned and managed
independent of your hardware. Physical
networking devices simply become vehicles
to forward packets.
• Per-application storage services: SDS
applies at the VM level, allowing storage
services to be tailored to the precise
requirements of an application and
adjusted as needed on a per-application
basis, without affecting neighbouring
applications. Administrators are in
complete control of which storage
services, and therefore costs, are
consumed by which application
• Rapid changes to storage infrastructure:
SDS uses a dynamic and non-disruptive
model, just as in compute virtualisation.
IT admins can precisely match
application demand and supply at the
exact time the resources are needed.
Storage services become fluid – a little
more for this application now, a little less
for that one later
• Heterogeneous storage support: SDS
lets you leverage existing storage
solutions, such as SAN and NAS, or
direct attached storage on x86 industry-
standard hardware. With industry
standard servers, the backbone of
Hyperconverged Infrastructure, IT
organisations can design low-cost and
scalable storage environments that
easily adjust to specific and ever-
changing storage needs. n
Smarter security with software-
first approach
In a traditional hardware-first approach,
application security is bolted on after
the fact. Networks must guess what the
application needs, which can lead to security
gaps. A software-led approach based on
VMware NSX builds security into your
network and applications from the start, and
positions you for a whatever comes next.
Software-Defined Storage (SDS)
VMware’s SDS strategy is to evolve storage
architectures through the pervasive
hypervisor, bringing to storage the simplicity,
efficiency and cost-savings that server
virtualisation brought to compute. SDS
abstracts the underlying storage through
a virtual data plane, making the VM, and
thus the application, the fundamental unit
of storage provisioning and management
across heterogeneous storage systems.
By creating a flexible separation between
applications and available resources, the
hypervisor can balance all IT resources –
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