Demystifying Hyperconverged Infrastructure: What It Is and How It Works

A new way of approaching data center infrastructure has emerged. We are talking about hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI).

22:46 31 March 2023

Managing an organizational data center has been very challenging for the longest time. One had to hire experts to operate and maintain the system. But recently, things have changed. A new way of approaching data center infrastructure has emerged. That has made things a lot simpler than ever before. We are talking about hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI).

HCI has a bright future ahead. In fact, a recent study reveals that by 2026, HCI products will hit $33 billion, increasing by $27 billion from 2018. Furthermore, 70% of companies implementing a hybrid cloud use HCI as part of their strategy.

So, what is hyper converged infrastructure, what is it all about, and how does it work?

Read on to find out!

• What is Hyperconverged Infrastructure?

Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is a software-defined IT infrastructure that integrates compute, storage, networking, and virtualization resources into one unified system. It helps organizations simplify their data center operations, reduce costs, and improve agility.

At its core, HCI consists of a cluster of nodes, each with its own processing power, storage capacity, and networking capabilities. These nodes are connected through high-speed interconnects, such as 10GbE or InfiniBand, and are managed by a central management platform that provides a unified view of the entire system.

• So, How Does HCI Work?

At a high level, HCI integrates compute, storage, and networking resources into a single, virtualized pool of resources. What does this mean? Instead of having separate servers for running applications, separate storage devices for storing data, and separate network devices for connecting them, all these resources are consolidated into a single system.

The compute component of HCI is provided by a hypervisor. A hypervisor is a software layer that allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to run on a single physical server. The hypervisor abstracts the underlying hardware resources of the server, such as CPU, memory, and storage, and presents them as virtual resources to the VMs.

The storage component of HCI is provided by a software-defined storage (SDS) platform. SDS allows the storage capacity of all nodes in the cluster to be aggregated into a single pool, which can be dynamically allocated to VMs as needed. SDS also provides advanced data services such as, data deduplication, compression, and replication. These can further reduce the storage footprint and improve data protection.

The networking component of HCI is provided by a software-defined networking (SDN) platform. SDN allows the network to be virtualized. That separates the physical network hardware from the logical network functions. Subsequently, administrators can create, modify, and manage network services from a centralized management platform. And that simplifies network operations.

All these components are managed by a centralized management platform, which provides a unified view of the entire HCI system. This platform allows administrators to provision and manage VMs, configure storage and networking resources, and monitor the performance and health of the system.

• Benefits of HCI

As the world becomes increasingly digitized and data-intensive, businesses are looking for ways to streamline their operations and reduce IT complexity. Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is a technology that has emerged as a solution to these challenges. By consolidating storage, computing, and networking into a single system, HCI offers several benefits which can help businesses improve their performance, reduce costs, and increase agility.

• Simplified IT Management

Traditional IT infrastructures involve a complex mix of hardware, software, and networking components. These components must be managed separately. That creates a significant burden on IT staff, who must spend valuable time on maintenance, troubleshooting, and upgrades. But with HCI, all the components are integrated into a single system. This makes it much easier to manage and allows IT staff to focus on more strategic tasks.

• Scalability.

As businesses grow, they need a technology infrastructure which can keep up with their changing needs. With traditional IT systems, scaling up or down involves adding or removing components from the infrastructure. This can be both time-consuming and expensive. With HCI, this process is much simpler. All the components integrate into a single system, so scaling up or down is much easier and quicker. This allows businesses to respond more quickly to changing market conditions and customer demands.

• Improved performance.

By consolidating storage, computing, and networking into a single system, HCI can reduce latency and improve response times. This comes handy for businesses that rely on real-time data processing and analytics. With HCI, they can better analyze their data and make faster decisions which can give them a competitive edge.

• Reduced Costs

Another advantage of HCI is its cost-effectiveness. Traditional IT systems need separate investments in storage, computing, and networking components. This can be expensive, especially for smaller businesses that have limited budgets. Again with HCI, all the components integrate into a single system. That makes it more cost-effective in the long run. Additionally, HCI is easier to manage. As such, it can reduce staffing costs reducing overall IT expenses even further.

• Improved Agility

Finally, HCI can help businesses increase agility. Traditional IT systems can take weeks or even months to deploy new applications or services. This is because each component must be configured and tested one at a time. But with HCI, deploying new applications can be done much more quickly. Since all the components integrate into a single system deployment can be automated. This significantly reduces the time and effort involved. Intrinsically, businesses can be more responsive to customer needs. They can also adapt much faster to changing market conditions.

Conclusion

When most people hear about hyperconverged infrastructure, they are hesitant. They always think that it is so complicated. But this cannot be further from the truth.

Hyperconverged infrastructure is easy to understand, and implement and is very beneficial to businesses.

It can help them improve performance, reduce costs, and increase agility. By simplifying management, improving scalability, increasing performance, reducing costs, and increasing agility, HCI can help businesses stay competitive in today's fast-paced digital economy.

Whether you're a small business looking to reduce IT complexity or a large enterprise looking to improve your IT infrastructure, HCI is a technology worth considering.