Initial hyperconverged solutions brought new levels of IT simplicity, as well as the associated speed. However, quickly increasing simplicity came at a price and design trade-offs were made limiting infrastructure agility, efficiency, and adaptability. Introducing Cisco HyperFlex Systems, complete hyperconvergence that unifies Cisco networking and computing technology with the next-generation Cisco HX Data Platform. Powered by the Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) platform, Cisco HyperFlex solutions deliver new levels of operational efficiency and adaptability to more workloads and applications. Cisco HyperFlex technology answers the operations requirements for agility, scalability, and pay-as-you-grow economics of the cloud—but with the benefits of on-premises infrastructure. Agenda: • New innovations to the Cisco data center portfolio • Introducing Cisco HyperFlex Systems powered by the Cisco UCS platform • Deep dive into the Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform • Preview early deployments of Cisco HyperFlex Systems

1. Cisco Confidential© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 1
Introducing Cisco HyperFlex
Systems: The Next
Generation in Complete
Hyperconvergence
2016 May 18th
In collaboration with
Sean Comrie
Technical Solutions Architect - DC

2. Agenda
• Cisco Innovation in the always Evolving Data Center
• HyperFlex Systems HX-Series
• HX Data Platform Overview
• Summary

3. Cisco Innovation in the always
Evolving Data Center

4. Customer Challenges
CFOs Expect
Cloud Economics
Traditional storage
burdened with features
for “high ceremony” IT
Data Growth
Continues
SAN and NAS designed for
terabytes, not petabytes
Data and
Infrastructure Silos
Proliferation of solutions
creating silos of workloads, apps,
people, and infrastructure
APPS

5. Cisco’s Storage Strategy
Comprehensive Array Storage Integration
Cisco Integrated Infrastructure Solutions
1
2
3
Optimization for Server-based Storage
UCS Hyperconverged Solutions
UCS Software-Defined Storage Solutions
Operational Simplicity
Applications
+
Mode 1Traditional
+
Emerging
+
Operations
Mode 2 Server-BasedArray-Based
Infrastructure
VM VM VM VM VM APP
Simplified Consumption
Cisco UCS Director Storage Orchestration
UCS Manager Storage Profiles

6. One System, One Management Model
UCS MINI SCALE OUT
Edge CloudCore Data Center
UCS M-Series
Modular Servers
UCS C3160
Fourth Generation UCS
UCS B-SERIES
Current offering Current offeringNew Offering
Hyperconverged is an immediate gap in establishing UCS as the common platform for
heterogeneous workloads in the Data Center
Cisco Portfolio Completion
HyperFlex Systems
HYPERCONVERGEDINTEGRATED
INFRASTRUCTURE

7. UCS Infrastructure Strategy
UCS Director
Policy Driven, Application Centric Infrastructure Management and
Orchestration
UCS Manager Domain
Centralized-Simple
Management Interface
One Button
Infrastructure
Deployment
Simple Scale
Bringing the
same simplicity
model to ANY
storage type
Big Data Analytics

8. Integrated Infrastructure HyperConverged
SIMPLICITY
SPEED
SCALE
(Increasing Overlap)

9. Introducing
Cisco HyperFlex Systems
HX-Series

10. The first Hyperconverged system to integrate
Compute, Storage and Networking
Big Data
and
Analytics
The Evolution of Infrastructure Architecture
Converged/Integrated
Infrastructure
First Generation
HyperConverged
Compute
(with
hypervisor)
+
Storage
DIY
networking
----------------------
Complete
HyperConverged
Architecture
Unified
Fabric
Compute
(with
hypervisor)
+
Storage
HyperFlex
Systems
Unified Fabric
Compute Storage

11. Hyperconvergence Meets Unified Computing
HyperFlex HX-Series
HCI Built on Cisco UCS
Unified
Fabric
Integrated
Compute
Centralized
Management
Optimized for
Virtualization
Scale Without
Complexity
Low Latency
Physical & Virtual
Data & Management
Proven Performance
Enterprise Reliability
Blades & Rack Mount
Complete HW Abstraction
Policy & Profile Driven
Optimized for Scale
Comprehensive Hypervisor
Integration
Native I/O Virtualization
Hypervisor Switching in HW
Maintains Single Point of
Management
Self-Integrating
Fewer Components

12. HyperFlex Components
>
HX Appliance HX Data Platform Software
+
Simple: Pre-Engineered with Delivery
and Support Services
Agile: On-demand provisioning and
scaling
Adaptable: Mix and match servers and
blades
Efficient: Optimized solution with
familiar management and operations
Compute & Storage
on servers
Fabric based
platform
Centralized UCS
management
Enterprise grade
data services
Flexible on-demand
scaling
Simplified vCenter
management
Cisco HyperFlex Systems
Datastore/Volume
Cisco HX Data
Platform
Controller
Hypervisor/Container
VMVMVMVMVM
SDD
SDD

13. HX Data Platform Overview

14. Hyperconverged Data Platform that allows companies to leverage
compute servers for storing and managing their data without
compromising on features or performance.
ENTERPRISE
GRADE
Robust Data Integrity
Continuous Availability
Proactive Auto-support
VM-level Snapshots for
Instant Backups
MAXIMUM
SIMPLICITY
Fast Installation and
Configuration
100% vCenter based
management
Rapid Cloning for VM
Provisioning
ECONOMICAL
SCALING
Inline De-duplication and
Inline Compression
Scale out just-in time
Scale Compute and
Storage independently
Annual Subscription
pricing
HX Data Platform Overview

15. Hyperconverged Scale Out and Distributed File System
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORM
Start with as few
as three nodes
Hyperconverged
Data Platform
installs in minutes
Add Servers, One
or More at a Time
Linearly Scale
Compute, Storage
Performance and
Capacity
Distribute and
rebalance data
across servers
automatically
Retire older
servers
HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM

16. Software Modules inside a Server
VAAI Plugin offloads
snapshots and clone
operations
Controller VM has
Direct access to drives
IOVisor Module Presents NFS
to ESX and Stripes IO
CONTROLLER
VM
HYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORM
CONTROLLER
VM
HYPERVISOR/
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VM
HYPERVISOR/
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
DATASTORE/VOLUME
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VMVMVMVMVM
HDD
HDD
SDD
SDD
IOVisor
VAAI

17. Independent Scaling of Compute and Capacity
Compute
Nodes
Hyper-Converged
Nodes
HYPERCONVERGED DATA PLATFORMHX DATA PLATFORM
Scale Compute
Scale Storage Capacity
IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor

18. VM VM VM
HYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
HYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
HYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
HYPERVISOR CONTROLLERCONTROLLER
Avoid controller hot spots
Leverage cache across all SSDs in the cluster
IOVisor
IOVisor IOVisor IOVisor
IOVisor Enables Uniform IO Distribution
DATASTORE
CONTROLLER CONTROLLER CONTROLLER

19. Balanced space utilization No data migration on
VM migration
Less stress on Network
HYPERVISOR
…And Efficient Capacity and Network Utilization
HYPERVISOR HYPERVISOR
VM VM
1 2 3
VM
DATASTORE
CONTROLLER CONTROLLER CONTROLLER

20. DATASTORE DATASTORE
Non-disruptive Operations
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
CONTROLLER
VMHYPERVISOR
VM VM VM
• Stripe blocks of a file across servers
• Replicate one or two additional copies
to other servers
• Handle entire server or disk failures
• Restore back to original number of copies
• Rebalance VM’s and data post replacement
• Rolling software upgrades
File.vmdk
D1 E1A1 B1 C1B2 A2 A3C2 C3 D2D3 E2E3 D1E1 B3 B3
EDCBA

21. Fast and Flexible Native Snapshots for backups
• Pointer-Based Snapshots
• Space Efficient
• Fast creations and deletions
• Fine-grained or coarse grained
• VM-Level or VM Folder Level
• VAAI integrated
• Quiesced and Crash-consistent
• Use vCenter Snapshot Manager
• Policy based
• Schedules, Retention period

22. • Pointer-Based Writeable Snapshots
• VM-level granularity
• VAAI integrated
• Batch creation GUI
• Apply unique names
• Use customization spec to apply IP
Native VM Clones for Rapid Provisioning

23. 2-5X Data Reduction without impacting performance
• Inline Deduplication
20-30% space savings
• Inline Compression
30–50% Space Savings
• No Special Hardware
• No Performance Impact

24. Management Built for Server Admin
• 100% VCenter Based Management
• Extends virtualization management seamlessly
• No switching between management consoles
• View storage alerts/alarms alongside with ESX alerts/alarms
• Command line interface for automation

25. • Cloud-based auto-support
• Daily reports
• Periodic heartbeats
• Instant alerts on critical events
• Cluster visibility
• Support Use Cases
• Real-time monitoring for critical events
• Proactive and advanced warning
• Preliminary troubleshooting & investigation
support cases
• Access currently limited to support
Insights: Cloud-based Monitoring and Analytics

26. Fast and Easy Installation
Step 0
• VMware and HX Data Platform Software installed on servers at
Factory/Reseller before shipping to customer
Step 1
• Rack up servers, power on and add to vCenter
• Drag and drop Configuration (jSon) File
• Create Cluster and Datastore
• Start Provisioning VMs60
Minutes
or less

27. Variety of Common Use Cases
• Agile
provisioning
• Frequent
iterations
• Instant cloning
and snapshots
TEST &
DEVELOPMENT
• Low upfront
costs
• Consistent
performance
• Predictable
scaling
VIRTUAL DESKTOP
INFRASTRUCTURE
• Reduce
operational
complexity
• Adaptive
Scaling
• Always-on
resiliency
SERVER
VIRTUALIZATION
• Simple
deployment
• Centralized
management
• No “fly-and-fix”
missions
LARGE REMOTE
/BRANCH OFFICE

28. Summary: Key Technology/Feature Differentiators in HCI
Capability Competition Cisco Hx Key Benefit
#1 Unified Fabric – brings
together Stateless Compute,
Network and Storage
DIY Networking Unified Fabric with
Service Profiles
Less complexity, higher performance,
easier to manage Network and HW
#2 Scaling Scale both compute
and storage
Independent scaling of
compute and storage
Leverage Blades
Economical Scaling
#3 Data locality Local to the server Striped across all servers
with IOVisor
Eliminates host/node performance hot
spots
#4 Local File System EXT4
(Open Source)
Log FS
(Native)
Compression with no performance
impact
#5 Management Fragmented between
vCenter and Prism
100% vCenter based
Management
Near-zero learning curve for vCenter
Admin
#6 Software and Support High cost for software
and support
All inclusive subscription
based licensing
Lower TCO and barrier to entry

29. Thank you.
In collaboration with