Tips

Tips

• Compare hyper-converged, converged infrastructure monitoring tools

  Better monitor your hyper-converged infrastructure systems with tools from Zenoss, Uila, eG Innovations and ManageEngine than with the proprietary tools of hyper-converged vendors.  Continue Reading

• What is Intel Rack Scale Design and how does it work?

  Find out what Intel's Rack Scale Design architecture is and how its reference code and APIs enable Intel-partner products to compose on-demand virtual servers for specific workloads.  Continue Reading

• AWS Outposts vs. Azure Stack vs. HCI

  See how AWS Outposts vs. Microsoft Azure Stack hybrid cloud offerings work and where they can and cannot take the place of traditional hyper-converged infrastructures.  Continue Reading

• How pay-as-you-go hyper-converged hardware pricing works

  With consumption-based pricing, vendors deploy an HCI on premises, while you pay a subscription fee. It promises to lower upfront costs and reduce headaches. But is it right for you?  Continue Reading

• Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct simplifies converged, HCI storage

  Storage Spaces Direct in Windows Server packages several different Microsoft technologies to lower TCO and simplify storage in converged and hyper-converged deployments.  Continue Reading

• Manage Windows Server HCI with Windows Admin Center

  Download and install Microsoft's free and easy-to-use Windows Admin Center to manage local and remote Windows Server-based hyper-converged infrastructure clusters.  Continue Reading

• How VCF on VxRail helps achieve hybrid cloud victory

  Virtual Cloud Foundation on VxRail combines VMware software-defined private cloud technology with Dell EMC hyper-converged hardware to create an extensive hybrid cloud platform.  Continue Reading

• Composable infrastructure techniques for the real world

  Automating your composable infrastructure engenders flexibility that enables enterprises to reshape the data center and keep pace with today's cultural and technological shifts.  Continue Reading

• Top tips for moving workloads to hyper-converged technology

  Take security and management seriously when migrating workloads to HCI. Closely evaluate supporting systems -- and the applications and hyper-converged system itself --- as well.  Continue Reading

• Selection criteria for converged data protection

  See if a converged backup product will meet your needs by exploring the features you should consider before investing in this relatively new kind of data protection platform.  Continue Reading

• How Cisco and Nexenta software defines storage for HyperFlex HCI

  See how Nexenta's virtual storage appliance software can extend Cisco HyperFlex HCI storage capabilities without additional hardware or complex system reconfigurations.  Continue Reading

• A close look at different types of hyper-converged architectures

  Learn more about the major kinds of hyper-converged infrastructure available as we explore the evolution of HCI from basic storage-compute nodes to newer disaggregated types.  Continue Reading

• Explore Robin hyper-converged Kubernetes for containerized apps

  Robin Systems new scalable and agile Kubernetes HCI platform aims to take the pain out of deploying and managing complex data-intensive systems in a containerized environment.  Continue Reading

• How to choose hyper-converged backup for data protection

  Data protection is essential for any hyper-converged infrastructure. How you back up data -- natively, agentless or using agents -- depends on your environment and other factors.  Continue Reading

• Deploying a hyper-converged cluster with mismatched hardware

  Software HCI implementations make it possible to build HCI clusters from mismatched hardware. Even so, see why matched hardware can make deployment easier to manage and maintain.  Continue Reading

• 3 ways to deploy hyper-converged infrastructure

  An HCI deployment can be done in one of three ways -- full replacement, side-by-side or per application -- each with pluses and minus, depending on requirements and resources.  Continue Reading

• 6 top hyper-converged infrastructure management tips

  These tips address specific aspects of HCI management and illustrate ways to better integrate these systems with third-party tools and overall IT infrastructure.  Continue Reading

• Know the risk of hyper-converged vendor lock-in, myths and facts

  The risk of HCI vendor lock-in is real. The reason why is different than you might think, however. See how it often comes down to financial, not technical, limitations in this article.  Continue Reading

• The vSAN stretched cluster type spreads HCI love for HA, DR

  VMware vSAN stretched clusters enable admins to spread hyper-converged infrastructures across two physical locations. Learn more about them and their benefits.  Continue Reading

• 3 hyper-converged cloud infrastructure benefits

  A hyper-converged cloud enables IT managers to overcome the challenges of managing compute, storage and network resources as separate tiers and move to the cloud in stages.  Continue Reading

• An introduction to Nutanix Flow software-defined networking for HCI

  Learn how Flow SDN brings network policy and management services to Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure through the automation and streamlining of common networking operations.  Continue Reading

• Yes, pertinent, cost-effective hyper-converged platforms for SMBs exist

  Why the simplicity and potential cost savings of a hyper-converged infrastructure from the likes of DataCore, Scale Computing and StarWind may be the way to go for some SMBs.  Continue Reading

• A guide to hyper-converged data resiliency options and requirements

  What you need to find out from HCI vendors to architect a resilient hyper-converged environment that will protect data against failure, error and attack.  Continue Reading

• 4 essential composable infrastructure questions answered

  Learn how composable IT works, and find out when this highly flexible, programmable infrastructure model makes sense for your servers, network, and storage and when it doesn't.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged integrated systems crucial to long-term HCI success

  No HCI platform exists in a silo. Learn why hyper-converged systems must communicate, interact and integrate with third-party management tools and the wider IT infrastructure.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged cloud key to private cloud success

  Granular scaling and rapid deployment help make hyper-converged infrastructure the ideal platform for building out, deploying and scaling out a private cloud.  Continue Reading

• Weighing open converged infrastructure against composable

  OCI and composable infrastructure are both touted as the latest in convergence, but it is important to know how they differ before making an IT buying decision.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged infrastructure use cases can be specific

  Customers of HCI are increasingly assigning it just one job in the IT environment, picking the role its scalability and management ease is best suited for.  Continue Reading

• Secondary storage structure is based on workload needs

  Using secondary storage can improve the performance of mission-critical applications, but deciding what data is secondary in importance isn't as easy as it seems.  Continue Reading

• Composable architecture options versus CI and HCI

  While converged, hyper-converged and composable infrastructures all share some degree of similarity in convergence, important differences can affect your IT architecture choices.  Continue Reading

• Datrium open converged infrastructure makes HCI flexible

  Datrium calls its less rigid form of converged infrastructure open convergence to highlight its greater scaling flexibility versus converged or hyper-converged infrastructures.  Continue Reading

• New vSAN 6.7 features boost failover, ease management

  The latest version of vSAN puts the hyper-converged storage software into a wider range of use cases with better support for failover and a smoother management user interface.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged infrastructure software aids IT flexibility

  Implementing a software-based hyper-converged platform can make it easier to scale components separately, but it has drawbacks as well, like multiple support sources.  Continue Reading

• Craft a converged secondary storage strategy with care

  Secondary storage vendors have been offering converged technologies and products for a few years now, and the systems have become more feature-rich and cloud-capable.  Continue Reading

• How to ensure hyper-converged infrastructure security

  To secure data in an HCI system, it requires tools and techniques that account for the unique features of hyper-convergence, such as shared resources and virtualized management.  Continue Reading

• Certain solid-state storage characteristics benefit HCI most

  Depending on the workload demands, there are features of solid-state storage that can greatly enhance the performance of your hyper-converged infrastructure system.  Continue Reading

• Inline deduplication fits well with hyper-converged IT

  Of the two main types of deduplication, most HCI vendors choose inline over post-process because of the performance benefits and lower levels of total storage required.  Continue Reading

• Composable architecture keeps hardware flexibility

  With composable systems, an IT admin can get more choice from the devices on the back end and more choice on the devices it delivers the virtualized resources to.  Continue Reading

• Use Windows Server deployment for feature-filled HCI

  Windows Server 2016 not only supports a hyper-converged infrastructure implementation, but brings with it a rich set of features for both performance and security.  Continue Reading

• Three solid-state storage advantages that boost HCI performance

  There are many advantages to including solid-state storage in your hyper-converged infrastructure plans, such as better performance and lower power costs.  Continue Reading

• Business needs define your hyper-convergence technology choices

  Base your HCI products of choice around the workloads you run, the architecture they run on and any present or future cloud plans you have for them.  Continue Reading

• How software-defined networking layers work with HCI

  The network function of a hyper-converged infrastructure has been the most difficult to virtualize, but adopting an SDN approach can make it easier for your organization.  Continue Reading

• Converged secondary storage for data protection carries risk

  Using converged infrastructure for the secondary storage in your data protection plan can be valuable, but you need to weigh the benefits and drawbacks before choosing that path.  Continue Reading

• Ten hyper-converged infrastructure architecture buying mistakes

  Buying hyper-converged infrastructure systems can be less stressful if you learn about and avoid these 10 common mistakes that trip up some HCI buyers.  Continue Reading

• Match your hyper-converged hardware pick with your workload

  Overall workload demands and growth projections, not just user applications, should be top of mind when you choose among the hardware options in hyper-converged appliances.  Continue Reading

• Windows Server 2016 hyper-converged options are here

  The latest edition of Windows Server from Microsoft includes options for implementing a hyper-converged infrastructure in a Microsoft-only IT operation.  Continue Reading

• Virtualization layer is HCI's secret sauce

  Knowing how virtualization software turns separate hardware components into pools of shared resources will help you plan and manage an HCI implementation.  Continue Reading

• Match your hyper-converged infrastructure appliance to your apps

  Planning a hyper-converged appliance purchase should start with determining which application it will run and which configuration options will meet apps' needs.  Continue Reading

• Build the right hyper-converged cloud for your apps

  Picking the right hyper-converged hardware and software for your application workload requires understanding how the elements of HCI can best be combined for your needs.  Continue Reading

• Spectre, Meltdown vulnerabilities put SDS, HCI at risk

  Spectre and Meltdown patches should be applied to hyper-converged and other software-defined storage products that run on hosts with user installed application processes.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged vs. converged labels don't apply to some products

  Converged and hyper-converged infrastructure labels are becoming less clear as vendors such as NetApp and Datrium introduce products that allow for scaling components separately.  Continue Reading

• How Red Hat assembled an open source hyper-converged platform

  By combining Gluster Storage with its Red Hat Virtualization software, Red Hat has thrown its own cap into the software-only HCI ring with an open source offering.  Continue Reading

• The role of HCI in the hyper-converged cloud

  HCI and the cloud have virtualization at their cores, which makes the two platforms a good combination for organizations planning a hybrid cloud IT architecture.  Continue Reading

• Why an edge computing platform benefits from HCI

  HCI's easy implementation and management help admins solve some of the challenges of edge computing, such as distributed endpoint management and a trend toward data silos.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged cloud benefits for service providers

  Cloud service providers can reap a longer, more profitable life from their cloud platforms by taking advantage of the benefits of hyper-converged infrastructure.  Continue Reading

• On hyper-converged products and device-specific hypervisors

  Many products from smaller hyper-converged players use proprietary hypervisors, which can save companies money on licenses and reduce management complexity.  Continue Reading

• Composable infrastructure may supplant HCI and CI

  With greater flexibility, lower costs and increased speed of modification to the IT system, programmable infrastructure could be the next big thing after CI and HCI.  Continue Reading

• A DIY hyper-converged environment starts with a plan

  Start with software when you plan a DIY hyper-converged platform. That will make it easier to match it with hardware that can give you the best performance results.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged integrated systems ease VDI rollout

  Without the easy scalability of hyper-converged systems, a VDI rollout could stall on a traditional storage array system if user demand creates I/O bottlenecks.  Continue Reading

• Planning your HCI storage needs is vital for VDI

  Accounting for storage and compute demands from both the IT infrastructure and the end users is vital when implementing any hyper-converged architecture for VDI.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-convergence improves VDI storage performance

  Hyper-converged infrastructure can help with VDI performance issues by bringing linear scalability to the deployment and reducing -- or even eliminating -- bottlenecks.  Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of building your own hyper-converged platform

  Building your own HCI platform can save money and headaches around vendor lock-in, but your IT department needs the hardware and manpower to make it work.  Continue Reading

• Reference architecture vs. converged infrastructure: Know the difference

  The terms converged infrastructure and reference architecture frequently appear together, but they're not interchangeable. One is the blueprint and the other is a structure.  Continue Reading

• Seven hyper-converged software options for DIY HCI

  If your company already has hardware that you want to turn into a hyper-converged infrastructure stack, you can do it with one of these software-only options.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged system: Should you build it or buy it?

  You can build your own hyper-converged infrastructure without purchasing an appliance from a vendor, and the DIY movement could have a ripple effect on the whole HCI market.  Continue Reading

• Converged vs. hyper-converged infrastructure: The bottom line

  Is your infrastructure more suited to a converged or hyper-converged system? Both approaches use virtualization, but software and hardware need to be factored in.  Continue Reading

• Improve your vendor independence in hyper-converged and CI systems

  Your best bet at avoiding vendor lock-in with hyper-converged and converged infrastructure systems may be a DIY approach. Explore offerings from several top vendors.  Continue Reading

• IT infrastructure costs can add up with hyper-converged systems

  On the surface, hyper-converged systems may seem budget-friendly. But watch out for pricey feature options that can increase overall costs as you build.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged infrastructure benefits vs. CI and public cloud

  Hyper-converged and converged systems are not the only choices for running enterprise workloads. Operating in the public cloud may prove to be a better fit for your organization.  Continue Reading

• Which workloads should you run on hyper-converged platforms?

  VDI, tier-one apps and ROBOs are solid choices to run on hyper-converged systems, but companies should find other resources to support some needy applications.  Continue Reading

• Prepare your environment for HCI platform installation

  Deploying an HCI stack is a transformation in IT infrastructure management. Admins must get VMs in order and plan the migration to get data centers ready for HCI.  Continue Reading

• How to land hyper-converged and converged infrastructure jobs

  If you have the technical skills to run a converged or hyper-converged architecture, reading the interviewer is the only thing standing between you and the job you want.  Continue Reading

• Selling hyper-converged computing to upper management

  If you want to use hyper-converged infrastructure in your company, getting approval -- and budget -- from higher-ups is the first step. Highlight simplicity, agility and TCO.  Continue Reading

• How HCI vendors threaten innovation opportunities

  Deploying HCI gives IT shops one throat to choke when something goes wrong. But when a new tech advancement comes about, admins must wait on HCI vendors to catch up.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged platform configuration key to success in SMBs

  Big companies that must support hundreds of VMs and scale quickly are prime HCI customers, but small companies can buy a smaller configuration and reap hyper-convergence benefits.  Continue Reading

• Hybrid cloud environments can use hyper-converged cloud systems

  Whether in a public, private or hybrid cloud environment, there are some things you need to be aware of when using hyper-converged systems in your cloud storage structure.  Continue Reading

• How to use hyper-converged products in an enterprise environment

  In a hyper-converged system, you get everything a vendor thinks you need in a single connected system package. But what if your enterprise doesn't need all those component parts?  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged storage vendors offer backup software replacement tools

  If you're going to rely on a hyper-converged infrastructure for your traditional backup needs, there are three vital capabilities you must consider first.  Continue Reading

• How hyper-converged software provides DRaaS

  When a hyper-converged platform is packaged on an appliance, disaster recovery can be difficult. However, hyper-converged users still have several options for DRaaS-like features.  Continue Reading

• Shorten your data storage problem list with hyper-convergence

  IT professionals have many hurdles to jump in traditional, virtualized storage environments. Luckily, hyper-converged infrastructure can eliminate some of those obstacles.  Continue Reading

• Use a software-defined storage vendor to avoid lock-in

  Vendor lock-in is one downside to buying a prepackaged hyper-converged infrastructure product. But selecting a software option could avoid the problem.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged architectures receive value from deduplication process

  As capacity becomes cheaper, some storage administrators might assume deduplication is less relevant. But in hyper-converged data centers, the technology is as important as ever.  Continue Reading

• How hyper-converged storage vendors tackle larger workloads

  Organizations need to approach hyper-converged storage options with performance requirements and workload sizes in mind. Otherwise they could end up facing latency and bottlenecks.  Continue Reading

• Common hyper-converged network concerns and how to solve them

  Hyper-convergence combines compute, storage and networking into one bundle, but the heavy I/O demands involved can cause network latency in organizations.  Continue Reading

• How to support resource-hungry VMs on hyper-converged infrastructure

  VMs that run big applications on hyper-converged infrastructures suck resources from the whole cluster, but splitting a demanding app among VMs can improve performance for all.  Continue Reading

• Are you ready for a hyper-converged data center?

  The promise of self-contained compute systems from one vendor may seem to be the answer to tight budgets, but problems still exist with hyper-convergence in the data center.  Continue Reading

• Going all in with a fully hyper-converged data center

  More organizations are incorporating hyper-convergence into their data center, but is 100% hyper-convergence realistic? George Crump explains where it might work.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged data center changes infrastructure upgrades

  Hyper-converged platforms allow customers to purchase more resources as their environments grow, eliminating the costly hardware refreshes of traditional environments.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged software requires special attention

  Software-only, hyper-convergence models provide more flexibility than an appliance approach -- but they also require more testing and validation on the part of the user.  Continue Reading

• Virtualization requirements met by hyper-convergence

  Changing virtualization needs make data center upgrades a necessity. Discover how hyper-convergence can help to solve storage needs in virtual environments.  Continue Reading

• Network infrastructure components critical to hyper-convergence

  Proper attention to networking components associated with hyper-converged architectures can not only ease deployment, but improve performance and flexibility.  Continue Reading

• Avoid VM resource contention in hyper-converged platforms

  With a high number of virtual machines competing for resources and consuming bandwidth, storage performance can suffer in hyper-converged environments.  Continue Reading

• Enhance hyper-converged platform performance with tuning

  A hyper-converged platform eliminates the need for most performance tuning with an integrated platform joined by one network. But tuning can still improve performance.  Continue Reading

• Pain-free hyper-converged platform integration

  Integrating existing hardware into a hyper-converged cluster is important for migration, but adding outside storage hardware can introduce unwanted complexity.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged architecture use cases expanding

  Hyper-converged infrastructure is living up to its potential as organizations of varying sizes realize new ways the technology can be used to increase efficiency.  Continue Reading

• Reasons to hyper-converge your architecture

  If you plan to kick off 2016 by hyper-converging your infrastructure, storage expert George Crump outlines the benefits of such a project, as well as some areas of concern.  Continue Reading

• Evaluate hyper-converged platform flash storage in four steps

  Many hyper-converged platforms today include a mix of flash and HDD, and flash might be a more cost-effective way to add performance to your environment than you think.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged software benefits include cost, flexibility

  Software-only hyper-converged architectures are popular for organizations looking to save money, but an adequate IT staff is necessary for installation and troubleshooting.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged architecture: Aggregation vs. replication

  Learn the benefits of aggregation in a hyper-converged environment, how to choose between aggregation and replication, and the compromise to each approach.  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery policies for hyper-converged infrastructures

  Disaster recovery plans for hyper-converged infrastructures have very different considerations than the approaches used in traditional environments. Discover areas to examine.  Continue Reading