The footprint of data center equipment continues shrinking. We no longer need to see rows upon rows of switches, routers, or servers in their entirety. Slowly, the IT community is adopting a software defined and software-driven approach for information technology architecture.
The industry’s newest solution to making IT more scalable is hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). HCI users can virtualize servers, storage, network devices, and other IT infrastructures. Windows Server 2019 makes it easy for IT professionals to do this efficiently.
How does Hyperconverged Infrastructure work?
Hyperconverged infrastructure is a system that combines compute, network, storage, and storage in one piece of equipment. These once-siloed functionalities are now integrated seamlessly and share resources in a unified system.
HCI is housed in COTS servers and is a software-based replacement for the many devices that support traditi support.
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Get started trainingWhy you’ll like HCI on Server 2019
Server 2016 was the first server to offer HCI support. It was later improved for Server 2019. In the early days, virtualization was all about the hypervisor, which abstracted IT functionality and IT equipment. Hypervisors are now commonplace, and the focus is now on how virtual IT environments are replacing the entire data center. Microsoft’s hardware virtualization product, Hyper-V, is available from Microsoft.
Microsoft isn’t as protective as it once was. It allows guest operating systems and virtual machine to run on its virtual platforms. Hosting Linux or FreeBSD within a virtual environment is now possible. Hyper-V can be used to run containers. Microsoft is an active member in the global open-source movement.
Azure Stack HCI enables hybrid HCI capabilities. It allows you to run virtualized compute and storage on-premises as well as networking in the cloud. It can be managed by Windows Admin Center or command line interface (CLI), and operates as a cluster on Windows Server 2019.
You’ll love how Server 2019 uses hyperconverged infrastructure to enable you to deploy applications on virtual machines and in containers, regardless of whether you’re moving to the cloud or to the data center. Microsoft continues to improve the technology to make it more efficient and easier.
Storage Spaces Direct (SDS), replaces SAN
Who would have predicted that a few years back, we would be using software-defined storage (SDS), to make data management more flexible, scalable and efficient? Everything is moving to software, even data storage. SDS automation allows organizations to separate their storage resources from the hardware. SDS automation can make your storage environment programable.
Storage Spaces Direct is available in Server 2019 as well as Server 2016. It is a great way to save money on storage area networks (SAN), or network attached storage. Storage Spaces Direct is easy to use and allows you to scale up to 16 servers or more than 400 drives. It is part of the technology that enabled Microsoft to set a new industry record of 13.7 input/output operations per second (IOPS) in 2019.
You can also watch a video on Storage Spaces Direct in Windows Server 2019 filmed at Microsoft Ignite 2018. Adi Agashe and Cosmos Darwin discuss the technical details of the technology. Storage Spaces Direct is a storage technology that increases performance by manyfold over other storage technologies.
Server 2019 Software-Defined Networking
Windows Server 2019 includes the ability to configure and manage virtual and physical network devices via Software Defined Networking. This virtualization allows you to replace traditional networking equipment by using Hyper-V.