Well…. while there I had a quick Twitter exchange with Scott Lowe and Amnon Izhar about fabrics.  This is another topic that gets the old juices flowing.

Cisco UCS Kicking Some @rse

Not that long ago I recorded a podcast on the topic of Cisco UCS.  At the beginning of the podcast, Rick and I did a goofy intro making fun of former HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s apparent comment that if Cisco were selling UCS they must be selling it on planet Zircon, because HP weren’t coming up against it in the real world. 

Well…since then I know of loads of people taking up Cisco UCS, whether it be straight UCS or as part of a Vblock.  So it’s pretty clear that Cisco have really taken the game to HP in the compute market.  And clearly, in some people’s opinions, it has advantages over and above HP’s offerings.

Yes, UCS scores points on management, but they also score technical points too.  UCS has good tech.

HP have traditionally taken a steady approach to pushing server based technologies forward.  Things like Virtual Connect FlexFabric are ….. well….. OK.  Kind of average.  But with Cisco in this market, average won’t cut it any more!

Software

No doubt that HP has to improve their software.  Now that is a task that I do not envy.  If describing HP’s software I’d have to use words like clunky, bloated, slow, cumbersome, flaky…  Making significant strides in this area will be long a hard.  Good luck HP.

The Cool Stuff – Fabrics

It’s my opinion that HP need to up their game on the server technology front.  They need to be bolder and more innovative (even if via acquisition).  HP needs to get back to being best of breed and not rely on the fact that they are HP.

One way to do this, and at the same time take the game right back to Cisco, would be to buy Xsigo Systems.

NOTE: I am in no way suggesting HP are even remotely thinking of buying Xsigo – how the hell would I know! I'm just saying I think it's a cracking technology and they would make a cracking combo!

Xsigo’s Server Fabric would really cloud enable HP solutions and put them ahead of the 10Gbps curve, as well as simplify and add flexibility to HP solutions.  And all of this to an extent not possible with average technologies like VC FlexFabric.

One of the things I like about Xsigo solutions is similar to what VMware have been doing with vMotion technology.  VM movement operations (using the fs3dm datamover with hardware offload) can now be done within the storage controller without the data ever having travel up the stack from the array, through the fabric to the ESXi host and then back down again.  As a result not only are storage vMotions faster but the load is taken off the fabric and ESXi hosts.  It just makes good sense to do things this way!

Similarly, Xsigo allows us to do things in networking and server-to-server or VM-to-VM connectivity that just make sense.  Things like server to server traffic not having to travel up and over the network -

Now I’m no stupid, yes I expect the network guys to come out with their pitchforks and tell me how this doesn’t fit with their legacy backwards current models and I expect the network security card to be played.  But hey, the best technologies are always disruptive and force us to rethink the way we have traditionally done things.  And that’s only one of the advantages Xsigo brings.     

In a nutshell Xsigo would leapfrog HP servers past Cisco UCS (yes I think UCS is probably ahead o HP on a technology front right now).

What About A PCIe Fabric

So I like the idea of that and yes I know that the number of PCIe nodes deployed makes Ethernet look niche, but when I looked into this in the past (~2 years ago) PCIe wasn;t so scalable lacked a lot of networking capability and scalability.  Server fabrics dont necessarily have have all of the features of networks, but when I looked in to it back then I didn't feel that PCIe was a great fit.  Mental note: Go and revisit this.

Anyway, may be a blog and a podcast on Xsigo is required…

This week I’m in Vegas for HP’s premier showcase event.

Why have I bothered to travel half way around the world in coach class, messed up my body clock and had my luggage go missing……?

I’m not a gambler, so it certainly isn’t to try and make a penny or two on the tables.

Storage

If I thought I was coming for deep technical storage sessions I’d be disappointed.  Of the million sessions available there is not a single session that meets the search criteria of “Storage + Technical Advanced” :-S  A bit gutted, but I’ll live.

From a storage perspective I’m here to find out what is different NOW about HP and HP StoreageWorks that means they will be more than a storage “also ran”.

I want tot know what has changed that means they won’t do what they did to the EVA with technologies like 3PAR, IBRIX and LeftHand.

In my personal opinion, EVA was years ahead of its time.  Native disk pooling and wide-striping.  Advanced core virtual RAID engine.  Native backend re-balancing…..  HP should have wiped the floor with the competition, but clearly did not.  Damn shame, but hopefully lessons have been learned.

In my heart of hearts I’d like to see HP turn up the heat in the storage space like they have in the networking space!  We’ll see.

So just a few questions:

What the heck do HP have to do to be leader in storage?  Is it people, is it technology, is it focus, is it price, is it services, is it integration….?  Or….. do they have no hope?  I'm interested in your thoughts, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Networking

That brings me nicely on to networking.

I have to say I’m impressed with how HP are shifting through the gears in the networking space.  The networking market has needed some genuine competition for a long time and HP are starting to provide that.

I’m hear to learn HP’s vision and goals for networking and how they are going to be a significant player in the future. 

I’m specifically interested in things like HP FlexFabric and network convergence.

Servers

HP pretty much own the server market, both rack mounts and blades. That’s all well and good, but that’s a hard position to maintain.  I want to know what HP are innovating in this space to maintain that market share and to keep ahead of the competition.

Other Stuff

To be honest, the above are that major reasons I’m here.  Anything else is a bonus.

I will say that one thing I have zero interest in is their webOS and mobile device story.  I open to being convinced, but I have registered zero interest in any webOS related sessions.

Anything technical and interesting, I will post about.  Everything else will be zeroed out and the extents in my head reclaimed and added back to the free space pool.  So……. will I come back from HP DISCOVER with a lot more cool stuff in my head, or will my background cleanup process that runs in the background while I’m sleeping on the flight home just clear out a load of rubbish?????

Oh and finally a little bit of HP storage porn to feast your eyes on -

And I wonder which array is missing in action here?  Is it a late arrival, or has it been shifted to the stage for a big announcement?

Earlier this week Dell wrecked my day when they announced their intention to acquire 3PAR, the company that – in my personal opinion – has the best storage array architecture on the market.

Why did this wreck my day? 

Personally I felt that 3PAR, and their top-notch architecture, deserved somebody better than Dell – no offence Dell.  Let’s face it though, Dell isn’t exactly synonymous with great enterprise storage…  If Id had my pick, I would have preferred HP pick up 3PAR. But hey, life goes on.

Best of Breed

However, now that I've had a chance to think, I’ve made an about-turn and changed my opinion.  Here’s why -

Dell already have a quality iSCSI array in guise of the Dell EqualLogic line, and I think that iSCSI has a great future in the SMB space.  Big tick in that box for Dell.

Now they have a best of breed FC block storage array that can compete with the Symmetrix and USP gorillas of the storage world!  And let’s face it, while it might not be growing at a huge pace, block storage shows no signs of going away in the enterprise space.  And even if FCoE eventually gets its act together and gobbles up the FC market, the 3PAR technology will adapt to that as easily as any other FC block storage array out there.  So, big tick in the Enterprise storage box for Dell too.

In fact, Dell now look better positioned than HP at the high end.  HP currently still OEM the Hitachi enterprise line of products in the enterprise block storage space.  These days companies are scrambling to own the stack, and Dell owning the 3PAR technology looks better than HP OEM’ing the Hitachi technology – emphasis on “owning”.

Let’s also remember that a few weeks ago Dell announced their intention to acquire Ocarina Networks.  I’ve been to Ocarina HQ, talked with some of their guys and know a little about their technology.  Smarts like those provided by the likes of Ocarina that allow for compression, de-dupe and other means of storing our data more efficiently have a great future in my opinion.  If Dell are able to integrate the Ocarina IP into the EqualLogic and 3PAR lines then they will have a really compelling story.  So that’s another big tick in the box for Dell.

With the above in mind, the Dell storage portfolio looks to be at serious risk of becoming synonymous with “Best of Breed”.  Surely not! :-S

What’s missing

With so many ticks in boxes, what is still missing for Dell?

Well, a line-up that includes a top-notch block array (3PAR), a top-notch iSCSI array (EqualLogic) and some top-notch storage optimisation technologies (Ocarina) deserves a top-notch NAS device. 

I’m not convinced that Exanet fits the top “top-notch” moniker in today’s ultra-cometetive scale-out NAS world

Looking at what is potentially available on the market, Isilon Systems must be in the potential line of fire.  They recently became a Billion dollar company so they won’t be cheap, but heck, you get what you pay for right! 

I remember hearing rumours that HP’s first choice scale-out NAS acquisition might have been Isilon when they went shopping for scale-out NAS and ended up buying IBRIX.  So, what better way to land a heavy kick to the cahoonas of one of your most fierce rivals than to go out and land something they supposedly weren’t able to land.  Of course I am only speculating that HP would have preferred to buy Isilon!  Let me just add that I personally like the looks of IBRIX, or the X9000 range as HP now call it.

Anyway, adding Isilon to the Dell storage portfolio would pretty much give Dell a store line-up to be reckoned with.  Granted, a million miles away from being integrated with each other, but nonetheless really cool and compelling technologies.

Without any doubt though, if Dell are to complete the acquisition of 3PAR and then went on to pick up someone like Isilon, then we would be waking up to a world with a new storage superpower called “Dell”.

All that would then remain in order to truly compete with the likes of Cisco, HP and IBM would be a networking platform – may be something innovative and different like Xsigo might be in order?

Oh and of course they would need to go out there and invest in acquiring a decent server platform

PS. You can join in the real-time tech talk by following me on Twitter – @nigelpoulton

While eating out recently with a group of top industry techies* in Tokyo Japan, we had a short light-hearted discussed of the above.  There was a definite difference of opinion; some of the people involved felt it made absolutely no difference at all, whereas others (including me)

think it may make a difference, albeit my be small….  May be we are all wrong and it makes a big diference!?

* Top industry techies included: Greg Knieriemen, Chris Evans, Michael Hay, Devang Panchigar, Robin Harris and the Rickatron himslef Mr. Rick Vanoever.  The Ghelfster was also there, and although she is top notch, strictly speaking Carli is not a techie.

While I do think it makes a difference, I’m not suggesting it makes a huge difference – its certainly nowhere near as important as it is with consumer goods – but I’m open to being wrong.  After all, I’m a techie and not in marketing.

Let me just throw together a quick list of some of the reasons I think it makes a difference -

1. It’s a conversation point for techies.  Having folks talk about your company and your kit is almost always a good thing.
2. It helps in marketing.  And we all know that effective marketing is often more important than technical merit or technical superiority.
3. Things that are aesthetically pleasing on the eye leave us with positive thoughts and feelings about the object. And that doesn’t just apply to good-looking girls!

While on the topic, I’m also one of those that thinks getting your product on poplar TV shows and films is a good idea.  An example that immediately comes to mind is the frequent and positive appearances of Cisco and Apple kit on the popular TV show 24.  In one episode, Chloe O’brien (renowned for being able to hack though any IT security system) makes a statement along the lines of “they have the new Cisco proprietary firewall system, its impossible to hack”.  Corny, I know, but its sewing information and impressions to people.

And then there’s the recent appearance of an EMC VMAX on the same show.  While some point out that one of the VMAX arrays had smoke coming out of it, the important thing was that it powered back up and still worked

WARNING: Don’t test burning your own VMAX in your own Data Center.  The above was performed by professionals with all required safety equipment at hand

And let’s face it, Apple, Cisco and EMC know how to market a product!

If names are important then surely…..

Also, there is no doubt that companies (including vendors of Data Center hardware) think product names are important.  So if something as seemingly unimportant as a product name (when compared to security or data availability etc) is important, then surely physical product aesthetics are also important?  Both are part of product image and branding.

TIP: Go hire an ex-Apple dude to design the front doors and front bezels to your Data Center kit.  It won’t break the bank or introduce bugs to your code, but it might have a positive impact on branding and and may be even sales.

Just my thoughts.  Please take a minute to register your opiion in the poll below -

Feel free to chime in with your own opinions, as well as images of the good the bad and the ugly of Data Center products.  Here’s quick image that I’ll leave you to make your own mind up on -

Nigel

Recently, I've even talked to industry experts as well as HDS folks about the fact that they only have two of the major three components that make up the increasingly popular vertical stack – with networking being the missing link.

NOTE: I define the three major components as Compute, network, and storage.  I know there’s more to it than that, but they suffice for this short article.

I don't know if it's just me, but the fact that Hitachi has its own networking kit – from Ethernet switches to MPLS – puts a whole different spin on their planned vertically integrated stack.

We already know they do storage, they recently announced that they will soon start shipping their BladeSymphony server platform (which has been around for a while in ASIA/Japan) to the rest of the world as part of their Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP). But Hitachi built networking was notably missing from the announcement.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I am in no way suggesting Hitachi have any plans of pushing this networking kit out with their Unified Computing Platform (UCP) solution when it finally ships. In fact as far as Im aware, they have no intention of doing this (yet).  This post is merely pointing out to others that Hitachi does have its own networking kit and there are some obvious synergies for the future….

Anyway, the whole thing came to light today while attending the Hitachi uValue convention in Tokyo Japan.  First up, Chris Evans pointed the following poster out to me -

Then we walked around the corner only to be presented with a boatload of the actual kit on display.  Feast your eyes on these -

Note: The booth guys (Japanese) tell me that Alaxala is a joint venture between Hitachi and NEC. Seems to be true from a quick search on Google.

Granted…… In true Hitachi style, they are not the prettiest things in the data centre – no doubt the old "form over function" thing – but appearance is far from the most important thing when choosing a product.

Other than the above, I literally know nothing about the kit – the booth guys spoke very little English, and in true British style I speak about 0.8 words of Japanese.  So all I know is that the Ethernet switches that do 1Gbps and 10Gbps.  There is nor Fibre Channel. But when I asked the booth guys (the ulitmate source of all truth and knowledge) about competing with other vertical stacks such as VCE/vBlock, I got the impression they were suggesting they might be working on FC.  Of course these are just booth guys and we understood a grand total of about 25 words between us

Although they apparently sell a fair amount in Japan (and potentially ASIA but Im not sure about the last part sue to language barriers), I know full well that you don’t just break in to the networking space.  However, apparently the switching technology in the back of the Hitachi BladeSymphony kit is Alaxala.  So that’s a potential toe in the door of the Data Centre (assuming HDS manage to make a good go of selling Hitachi BladeSymphony blade servers and their Unified Computing Platform, UCP).

Just thought Id let people know that in the background Hitachi does actually have in-house networking skills and kit.

Courteous comments welcome.

Nigel

DISCLAIMER: Hitachi picked up the bill for this trip to the Hitachi uValue convention in Tokyo (flights, food and hotel). For the record I will have an airport parking charge of ~£75GBP to pick up myself when I land tomorrow.

In this inaugural episode of the Technical Deep Dive Podcast I'm joined by Greg Ferro from Etherealmind.com and Camden Ford from Xsigo Systems.  Cam talks to us about Xsigo Systems and the technologies and solutions they offer.

This is available as a two-parter due to length.  Part 1 is about 30 minutes long and Part 2 is about 40.  What can I say, you cant dive deep in 20 minutes!

Comments welcome!

The term, as well as the concept, of Rack Area Networking is one I’m hearing more and more often.  As a result of this, as well as the fact that I’m convinced this is going to be one of the most interesting and important areas of Data Center computing over the next few years, I’ve decided to write a mini-series on the topic. 

This post is instalment number 1 and is intended to introduce the concept and get the ball rolling.  The whole thing is a bit of me thinking out-loud and attempting to generate some awareness and conversation around the topic, as .  So please pitch in!

Rack Area Network – the concept

For me, Rack Area Networking, or RAN for short, is an umbrella term for most of the clever networking and I/O virtualization stuff that goes on within a rack – a 42u rack. 

With it being “Rack Area”, it is a close proximity network and as a result operates over very high-speed low-latency interconnects.  

Physically, RAN technologies include a new generation of at least the following: I/O adapters, cabling, Top of Rack (ToR), and may be even End of Row (EoR), switches.  However, for reasons which will become clear, the emphasis is heavily on the clever – technologies that enable the flexible, the dynamic and the virtual aspects.

For example, the I/O Adapters driving the RAN evolution are not just faster than the legacy adapters they are replacing, they have built-in cleverness – hardware virtualization and huge flexibility! 

Some of the other technologies that define and operate within the RAN include – SR-IOV, MR-IOV, vNIC, vHBA, CNA, FCoE, Hairpin-turns, switching in the adapter, VNTag, VN-Link…. just to name a few.  In future posts we will discuss most of them.

As well as the above new hardware and technologies, the RAN also requires and includes a new generation of management software and functionality.  True value is often in the software – the glue that holds it all together and makes it all happen.

The best part being, there are early RAN technologies already out there in the wild.  And they are already delivering real-world tangible benefits.

Some technologies driving the evolution…

It’s really important to note that while technologies in the RAN are experiencing a period of accelerated evolution, it is most definitely an evolution.  The changes are happening fast, but they are not huge disruptive changes.  For the most part, they are improvements and enhancements, albeit major, on what we already know and are comfortable with.  E.g. take PCIe adapters and create multiple virtual adapters (vNIC and vHBA) in hardware….

Just a few of the currently shipping RAN technologies include -

• HP Virtual Connect Flex-10
• IBM Virtual Fabric Solution w/ Emulex UCNA
• Cisco UCS w/ Palo adapter
• Xsigo I/O Director
• Virtensys VIO switches

NOTE: Let me know if I’ve missed any major RAN technologies off the list

Some of the above technologies are very much generation 1 and only a small step towards the RAN, bringing only small benefits.  Whereas others are a major step with huge benefits.  All vendors are scrambling to take the lead in this evolving area.  In later posts we’ll dig deep into most of them.

Blurring the Lines and Causing Havoc

Naturally, many of these technologies are challenging and threatening the traditional server/network edge configurations we are used to. 

Hairpin turns, switching in the adapter and avoiding edge switches are just some of the paradigm shifts that RAN technologies might force us to consider.  Such topics are the subject of intense and engaging debate.  All very interesting and some of the concepts are very cool!

In upcoming posts we’ll talk about the likes of – SR-IOV MR-IOV Hairpin-turns VirtenSys Flex-10 VEB Xsigo VNTag NextIO VNLink InfiniBand PCIe

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to throw in your penny’s worth.

Nigel

I am available as an independant freelance consultant and can be reached via the Contact Me page.

If you're thinking that I might just bemaking some of this stuff up or inventing buzwords, then you need to check out my follow-on RAN and IOV related posts listed below -

IOV vNICs and vHBAs

IOV and introducing hairpin turns

The way that I see it, Xsigo (pronounced “see-go”) are of particular interest for two reasons -

Firstly, they are playing in the steaming hotbed that is the I/O consolidation and virtualisation space.  This area of Data Center computing is probably experiencing its biggest period of change and upheaval since the birth of Local Area Networking.  Also, the I/O subsystems of modern servers and blades are becoming increasingly important in modern data centers.

In a nutshell, just about everything is changing in the Data Center I/O space!

RupturedMonkey advice to vendors: Now is not a time to stand still or try and defend your traditional core competencies. Move with the times or risk falling behind!

RupturedMonkey advice to consultants and architects: Now is not a good time to take a professional snooze. If you do, you might find that you dont recognise the world you wake up to. Stay awake!

The second reason Xsigo Systems are of interest is because they have an absolutely kick-ass product – the Xsigo VP780 I/O Director.  So lets talk about it……

The Xsigo VP780 I/O Director

Before digging in to the specs and architecture, I should point out that the VP780 I/O Director is the only offering from Xsigo!  Also, as well as being the only product they currently offer, it is also pitched squarely at enterprise customers.  I suppose one of their responses to that would be that it allows them to be laser focussed, but for me, my initial reaction was that this makes them a bit of a one trick pony……  Compare their I/O consolidation portfolio to the likes of Brocade, and especially Cisco, and you will see what I mean.

During their presentation at the recent GestaltIT Tech Field Day they did say that they are working on similar but scaled down offerings for the SMB, but nothing to announce at the moment.

However, despite being the only noteworthy member of the Xsigo family, the VP780 is no wimp!  On the contrary, in a one-on-one it would probably fancy its chances against any of its competitors.  I certainly wouldn’t bet against it from a technology point of view! 

Specs and Techs

The VP780 is a 4RU high-speed low-latency 780Gbps I/O consolidation platform that was over two and a half years in the making.  It provides PXE boot and boot from SAN across 20Gbps connections to your servers and makes cable once and do the rest in software a reality!

Below is a picture of the front panel of the one on display at GestaltIT Tech Field Day -

From a high level architecture point of view the VP780 has -

• Server-side connectivity via 20Gbps Infiniband XFP ports
• Network-side connectivity via 15 hot-plug slots that can be loaded with 1Gbps Ethernet, 10Gbps Ethernet and 4Gbps FC.
• Passive midplane
• High-speed low-latency internal switching fabric

Hopefully the scribble below will be helpful as I attempt to dig deeper and explain some of the main components. Later in the week I will record a whiteboard session and upload as a complimentary post.

What does it do – in a nutshell

In a nutshell, the Xsigo I/O Director does for I/O what VMware does for CPUs.  Only it has an added benefit that it removes the physical limits of the server chassis –> instead of installing your NICs and HBAs in your servers and then carving them into virtual adapters that can only be used by that server, you install your NICs and HBAs in the Xsigo VP780 chassis so that they can be carved up and dynamically allocated to any connected server.  In doing this, you are effectively moving the edge of the network out of the server, enabling servers to be entirely stateless from an I/O perspective. Cool.

Connections to your servers… the hardware stuff

The VP780 has 24 x 20Gbps Infiniband ports for connections to your servers (server-side in the above diagram). They utilise copper or optical CX4 cables and XFP interfaces and are terminated at the server side on Host Channel Adapters (HCA in Infiniband parlance and yes each connected server needs an HCA). These HCAs are not used directly by the OS, instead, host-side drivers work together with the Xsigo I/O Director to ensure that the appropriate vNIC and vHBA devices are available to the OS.  Of critical importance is that thes vNIC and vHBA devices work exactly as physical NICs and HBAs and the OS is none the wiser.

Some quick comments on these physical aspects –

1. The 20Gbps XFP interfaces are not hot swappable and not upgradeable to 40Gbps QDR Infiniband.  These Infiniband HCA and switch ports are more energy efficient, lower-latency and higher-throughput than their 10GigE counterpoarts.  They also support longer distances over copper meaning that copper is an option more than it is for 10GigE which currently has practical limits between 5-10 meters.

2. As these are CX4 Infiniband connections, you will need Infiniband Host Channel Adapters (HCA) in your servers.

3. XFP and copper CX4 is more power hungry than SFP+ and copper commonly used with 10Gbps CEE. However, XFP optical is not more power hungry than SFP+ optical.

On point 1 from above – this should not be seen as a major issue. 20Gbps to your servers is lightning fast by todays server standards, and with the current wave of PCIe 2.0, you’re unlikely to be pushing beyond 20bps anyway. 40Gbps models are planned, as well as faster HCA cards, although this will be down to Mellanox as the silicon is 3^rd partied form Mellanox.

Also, in reality,  how many people are racing to crack open servers and blades to upgrade I/O cards? Most people seem to be opting to buy newer servers and blades when higher bandwidth I/O is required – may be Nehalem-EX…  20Gbps is more than fast enough for the vast majority of todays applications and servers.

On point 2. Don’t be put off by the word Infiniband!

FUD watch: Infiniband is not a disease, nor is it dead!  It is actually a rock solid ultra high performance low-latency channel interconnect designed for data center use and high performance computing. In fact many of the worlds fastest supercomputers use and are built around Infiniband.  So its definitely alive and well.

You don’t have to learn a boat-load of new Infiniband skills. You will run a copper CX4 cable from the HCAs in your servers to the Xsigo director and that is about as much Infiniband as you will ever see or need to configure in the solution. The rest is normal Ethernet and FC.

Connections to your servers… the clever stuff

So, if all of this talk about Infiniband hasn’t scared you off, well done.

The Xsigo VP780 I/O Director allows you to carve its NIC and HBA resources in to virtual NICs (vNIC) and virtual HBAs (vHBA). Each of these virtual vNICs and vHBAs acts exactly like a normal physical NIC or HBA and thanks to some clever work in the server side drivers, Operating Systems (ESX, Windows, Linux etc) see just like they would physical NICs and HBAs.

Another thing not to be underestimated is that fact that the physical NIC and HBA hardware sits outside of the physical server or blade chassis.  This enables the physical servers to be stateless from and I/O point of view, and for virtual resources to be moved around from physical server to physical server with great ease.  The VP780 owns the server profiles which include MAC addresses and WWPNs etc and allows up to 16 vHBAs and 32 vNICs to be assigned to a single physical server, all of which can be created and deployed in literally seconds with no reboots.   Ideal for VMware and the c c cl cll cllllll clllllll cloud!?  Think thats the first time Ive said the “c” word in a blog.

In my opinion, the previous paragraph is of huge importance.  If you don’t think this is huge, then I suggest that you re-read it and take a minute or two to think about it.  This is flexibility like no other solution I know of.

Is it just me, or does this look and feel very much like MR-IOV (PCI-SIG Multi-Root I/O Virtualisation)? 

Does anybody else do anything like this?

NOTE: I’ll post on this in the near future, but I personally think that MR-IOV has huge potential to rock the I/O consolidation world, and I’m not alone in thinking that! However, there is a case for Infiniband being a better Rack Area Networking (RAN?) interconnect than PCIe. One for a future post if people are interested.

Connecting to existing backbones

On the network side of the VP780, there are 15 slots that can be populated with various modules.  Currently 3 module types are available -

1. 1 x 10Gbps Ethernet module
2. 10 x 1Gbps Ethernet module
3. 2 x 4Gbps HBA module

This gives you traditional LAN And SAN Connectivity, with FCoE and iSCSI offload being on the map.  So ,connecting to your existing LAN and SAN is “as easy as organising a tweet-up at TechFieldDay”   Your up-stream LAN and SAN is oblivious to the fact that the I/O is not initiated at the server chassis and just hums away as normal (NPIV is implemented on the SAN side of the HBAs).  The diagram below shows native FC connections coming out of the network side of the VP780 at the demo lab at VMware. 

At the moment, the VP780 has no support for FCoE.  Not a huge drawback as the standard and shipping products are still young, however, if they drag their heels over this they will fall behind in an important new and emerging market.  Something like the Emulex UCNA with its 10Gbps Ethernet, FCoE and iSCSI offload all on a single module would be like the cherry on the cake for this.

FUD Watch:  Be careful to note that the VP780 is not a switch.  True, it can switch frames between servers without passing traffic to the upstream network switch, but it does not HAVE to. It can forward the frames to the upstream switch if the switch supports hairpin switching.  So it does not have to alter existing network management models. However, there are several scenarios such as HPC or RDMA where performing hairpin switching over the internal IB fabric is beneficial for performance reasons. Choice is a good thing!

Nice Management GUI

While visiting with Xsigo at GestaltIT Tech Field Day I got my hands on some Xsigo kit including the management interface.  I was able to present vNIC’s and vHBA’s to ESX servers and have them picked and recognised on the fly by virtual machines. I was also able to play a little with some simple QOS features – increasing and decreasing bandwidth is very simple and also dynamic.  All simple stuff and worked a treat.  Oh and it has a CLI.

There is a ton more I could say, but this is already pretty long so I’ll wrap up with some final thoughts…..

Conclusion

The VP780 does some interesting stuff and in some respects is ahead of the curve. For instance –

• Performance to the server is 20Gbps over Infiniband
• Flexibility. Removing the physical NICs and HBAs from the server or blade chassis makes this a hugely flexible solution.
• Number of vNIC and vHBA devices that can be carved per physical card and presented to each host is more than most of the competition. E.g. HP VC Flex-10 and IBM Virtual Fabric can only create 4 virtual functions per port. This offer superior utilisation as a result.

As always though there is no perfect solution.  There is currently no FCoE, and both the Infiniband and the 10Gbps Ethernet options use XFP transceivers which are not as good as SFP+ when it comes to the likes of size, cost and power consumption.

There is also the fact that Xsigo are a relatively small and new company pitching to the enterprise.  From a technology point of view they are brilliant, but one has to wonder if they will still be around in 10 years time supporting and developing their products?

However, when all is said and done, I really like what they are offering. My final question for Camden Ford after his presentation was “can I have one for my garage”.  Says it all really.

If you are looking in to I/O consolidation and virtualization then you should definitely at least check out Xsigo… unless you’re too chicken!

Thoughts and comments welcome.

Nigel

You can follow me on Twitter where I talk about storage technologies (@nigelpoulton)

I am also available for hire as a free-lance consultant.

Enjoy the video and then feel free to comment on my thoughts below –

First up, Arista is start-up networking company, and like all networking companies…….. they have Cisco in their crosshairs.

Although low cost seems to be their trump card, to be fair to Arista they are also touting performance as another key advantage.  Better performance, literally at a fraction of the Cisco price – if the guys at the booth are to be believed.  However, as I mention in a previous post, there is more to value than price.  It may turn out to be very short sighted to jump all over short term cap-ex savings at the true expense of the long term good.

However, the current down economy is probably creating ‘too good to pass-up’ opportunities for companies like Arista, who come in at a value price-point- most companies being forced to think more and more about cost, thus creating windows of opportunity for those coming in at significantly lower price-points.

However, when at the booth, the Arista guys did a great job ensuring that their products didn’t have that ‘value’ feel.  Despite the fact that they are apparently way cheaper than Cisco, they weren’t over-stressing that point and wanted to talk a lot about performance.

Technology and performance overview

So a quick overview of what Arista have on the table from a product and performance point of view….

Basically they are offering high-speed low latency 10Gbps Ethernet products.  Oh and apparently they are cheap…cheap enough for my garage??.

However, if you listened closely to the video, they only have DCB/CEE “on the roadmap”.  This, in my opinion is a huge shortfall in the current shipping products.  As each day goes by I am becoming more and more of the opinion that to be a true data center switch, you need CEE and FCoE.  Yes, 10Gbps without the goodness of CEE and FCoE might suffice for now, however, it will be found wanting in the very near future.  More on this later though….

I am impressed at the published latencies and port count as well as the dual hot-swap power supplies and reversible airflow (to change the airflow from front-to-rear, to rear-to-front requires swapping out the fans).  However, my gut reaction is that this is almost a gimmick in comparison to features like CEE and FCoE. Sorry that I keep coming back to this but I can’t stress it enough.
 

NOTE:  In the interest of fairness, should point out that when at HP Colorado Springs recently I was knocked back when I was told that one of the hardest things to engineer for new servers and blade chassis is the power supply units (PSU).  So I am careful not to totally dismiss the reversible airflow and redundant hot plug PSUs as totally insignificant.

7100 Series Data Center Switches

The 10Gbps 7100 series SFP+ based switches come in either 24 or 48 port-count models and you can choose between a non-oversubscribed and oversubscribed models.  You can also buy similar 10GBASE-T models which take standard RJ45 connectors and work with existing Cat 5/6/… cables.

When first at the booth (without my camera) I raised my eyebrows when introduced to the 10GBASE-T model.  As I raised my eyebrows the guy giving me the tour (different guy to the one on the video) pre-empted me and said “your are going to say ‘Wow’ aren’t you. But I had to admit that I was actually going to say “Why”…..

My initial reaction was why would anybody want to do that from a power cooling and latency standpoint.  Essentially SFP+ up to 10 metres has people talking about ~0.1W nominal power draw whereas 10GBASE-T RJ45 cables are closer to 4W at approx 10metres, but obviously offers greater distances at the expense of more power.  And that’s not to mention the inferior transceiver based latency that 10GBASE-T has compared to SFP+. 

Obviously a 10GBASE-T model may make the jump to 10Gbps Ethernet simpler for some people, I personally believe this approach is a false economy of sorts and hedges up the route to the full benefits of 10Gbps, and greater, based on CEE. 

Pass-Through module

They also had a 10Gbps Pass-through module on display.  This pass-through module has 14 internal and 14 external linespeed connection, with no oversubscription and is designed for the IBM BladeCenter H.  The module only has 4 physical ports on the external faceplate and achieves the 14 external port count via 10GBASE-CR QuadSFP to SFP+ splitter cables.  This is the copper twinax 4-way splitter cable seen in the video.  The module and is apparently very competitively priced compared to competitive offerings from the likes of BLADE Network Technologies.  Although features and functionality might be less than that of the BLADE Networks offering, apparently performance is not.

Nice, but no game changers

So, a lot of talk about feds and speeds.  Interesting for some, but talking feeds and speeds, so Im told, is sooooo last year.  EMC and HDS used to do it all the time until analysts and customers told them they didn’t care.  Feeds and speeds are fine, but not everything (at least not to the vast majority).

So for feeds and speeds the Arista kit seems to be very good and very competitively priced. If latency and performance are critical for you then Arista are definitely worth a look.

However, away from feeds and speeds was where there were signs of weakness. 

In my opinion, for a networking product to be a true Data Center product it has to play in the converged networking space (IP, FC, RDMA..).  At the moment, Arista products do not.

First, there is no Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE/DCB).  For me this is vital to the future of Data Center networking.  I know they guy on the video said that Arista doesn’t do anything that is not standards based, alluding to DCB/CEE standards not yet being fully ratified.  However, Im willing to bet they do jumbo frames, and I’d like to see them produce the IEEE 802 standards documents for jumbo frames

Sorry, that was a cheap shot, but I think comments like these are poor and will not help you out in the future when you are playing catch up.

Second, these are pure Ethernet products.  No Fibre Channel ports.  This is understandable as they have no FC legacy or expertise. 

In the very short term, while people use the edge in approach for implementing a unified fabric, this means that Arista products will not be an option.  But more importantly, beyond this, once end-to-end FCoE becomes mainstream, where will this leave Arista?  Having no FC expertise that I’m aware of will make implementing FCoE (FCF and all the other FCoE related functions) in their products very time consuming and difficult.  They will likely have to acquire a company that has FCoE or hire some engineers who know it, and hire them fast!

Although Data Center networking is converging on Ethernet, it is not converging on the Ethernet that is widely deployed today.  In fact, the Ethernet that it is converging on (CEE) bares less resemblance to todays 1Gbps lossy Ethernet than most realise.  So just because you are an Ethernet company today, and Data Center networking is convergi ng on Ethernet, does NOT automatically mean you are well placed for the future.

Looking to the future

So…….. normally, it is the large companies, those with the large market share and legacy architectures that struggle to change with the times (think Cisco).  The newer and more agile companies (think Arista) often beat them out of the blocks and are tearing away around the first bend before the likes of Cisco are even out of the blocks.  Not so this time! 

Cisco are actually heading around the first corner with early deployments of CEE and FCoE on the new and expanding Nexus platform and NX-OS.

Far from being caught flat-footed or even found trying to protect their existing markets, Cisco have made bold moves into the Blade Server market with UCS as well coming to market with the new and ever expanding Nexus platform and NX-OS.  If anything Cisco are already heading around the first bend with early deployments of CEE and FCoE.

Its one thing to make a better or faster “switch” than Cisco.  Buts altogether another thing to build better solutions.  Right now Hypervisors are driving change and shaping the future.  Addressing the challenges that Hyperviors bring are vital.  From my perspective Im not seeing a lot from Arista to help here

Management Big Hitters

Before finishing, it is worth quickly mentioning the very impressive list of networking legends that is heading up the Arista management team.  A quick scan of the management team listed on the Arista website reads like a who’s who of Data Center networking and is nicely capped off with Andy Bechtolsheim who has pedigree when it comes to picking winners.  These guys know their networking, oh ……. and they know the competition   So don’t write them off just because of what I say :-S

Finally

With the lack of a networking group at IBM, it would be remiss of me not to suggest that Arista may be a future acquisition target for Big Blue   I had to say it.

I'd love to have been more impressed with Arista.  Who knows, may be they have a game changer up their sleeve.

Nigel

You can follow me on Twitter where I talk about storage technologies (@nigelpoulton) and I am also available for hire as a consultant.

In my opinion the show was a real success with over 1,500 attendees, of which over 1,100 were end users and reseller delegates and the remainder made up of general riff-raff such as vendors, press and the likes….

One of the things I like to see at shows like these is hardware.  What can I say, Im just the kind of guy that gets a kick out of seeing hardware.  So for the rest of you out there like me – sit back and enjoy……..

First up, I was impressed to see a Symmetrix V-Max, blue strip light ablaze.  The only disappointment was that whenever I popped by to have a chat, somebody else was always being given an overview

Next up the IBM HS22 BladeCenter that was used to demo the new IBM Virtual Fabric, which is based on technology from IBM, BLADE Networks and Emulex.  A much needed addition to the IBM portfolio in my opinion.

Oh and while on the theme of IBM, here is another rack of IBM kit

As the IBM Virtual Fabric solution has an Emulex CNA in it, next up is Shawn Walsh from Emulex showing us that the Emulex UCNA is real and not a myth.

And a close up on a desk with a pen for lined up to give an idea of size

Then if you followed the girls with “Thin” written on their T-shirts you couldn’t miss the 3PAR InServe kit on show.  I plan on writing about 3PAR RAID MP and Persistent Cache, both of which are potentially very interesting technologies.  But seeing as 3PAR are attending the upcoming GestaltIT Field Day I might wait and see if I can glean some deep tech info from them.

Brocade also turned up with a rack load of kit, although hugely disappointing for me was the lack of an FCoE 10-24 blade in the DCX director.  Not to worry though, there was a B8000 top of the rack CEE/FCoE switch to keep me happy.

And a Brocade dual port CNA

I have some video footage from the Brocade booth that I will post some time next week.  So stay tuned.

Even the internet connected laptops were also of decent spec.  Below is a smart little HP laptop alongside my personal 11.1” Sony job – check out the grease marks on my trackpad and spacebar

And last but not least, the quality of freebies was good.  Aside from the standard pens and stress balls, I was particularly impressed with –

iPod Shuffle
Solio solar powered USB charger
3-in-1 pen/laser pen/1GB memory stick (James Bond style)
2GB micro SD with standard SD adapter 

The economy must be recovering!

As well as the above mentioned video footage from the Brocade booth, I also got some video footage from the Arista networks booth.  Keep an eye out for that as I plan to post them in the following week…

Nigel

You can follow me on Twitter where I talk about storage technologies (@nigelpoulton) and I am also available for hire as a consultant.