通过Azure Stack HCI实现数据中心现代化指南

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI1

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI2

Tableof

contents

01

Introduction.........................................................3

02

Thepowerofmodernization.......................4

03

HybridcloudandHCI.....................................6

04

WhyAzureStackHCI?....................................9

05

Usecases............................................................18

06

Priceandbusinessmodel..........................24

07

Gettingstarted................................................27

08

Conclusion.........................................................28

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI3

01

Introduction

Businessesareseeingrealbenefitsfromthelatestcloudtechnology,andinturn,migratingmoreresourcesandcomputepowertocloud-basedenvironments.However,notallworkloadscanliveinpublicclouds.That’swhyMicrosoftandIntelhavedevelopedhybridcomputingsolutionsforbothon-premisesandthecloud.

IntroducingAzureStackHCI:anewhyperconvergedinfrastructure(HCI)hostoperatingsystemdeliveredasanAzureservicethatprovidesthelatestsecurity,performance,andfeatureupdates.

AzureStackHCIdeliversthetechnologyinfrastructuretomodernizedatacenters,simplifymanagementofon-premandcloudresources,integrateedgeandremotebranchesintothecoreinfrastructure,andenablebettercontroloverusers’hardware,scalability,andcloudenvironment.

AsaHyper-Vuser,youunderstandthepowerandvalueoftop-tiervirtualization.MicrosoftiscommittedtogivingHyper-Vuserstheongoingsupportandfunctionalitytheyneedtostayonthecuttingedgeofvirtualcomputing.AzureStackHCIisthemostinnovativestepforwardforHyper-Vanditsusers.

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI4

02

Thepowerofmodernization

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI5

Hyper-Vremainsanelitehypervisor—itwasnotinitiallydesignedasa

full-servicesolutionforamoderndatacenter.

Overthepastfewyears,manythingshavechanged:solidstatedrives(SSDs)dramaticallyoutperformingharddiskdrives,theexponentiallyincreasednumberofcoresandrandom-accessmemoryrequiredbymodernhosting,anincreaseinremotework,andtheadventofcloud,edge,andclustercomputing.WhileHyper-Vhasincreasinglyadaptedtothesechanges,today’sneedsforamoderncomputingecosystemrequireamorecompletesolution.

Therealityisthatmanybusinessesarealsoleavinglegacysystemsbehindiftheyhaven’tdonesoalready.Modernizingolder,Hyper-VbasedsystemstoAzureStackHCIcanprovideaninvaluablecompetitiveadvantage.Hyper-Vremainscrucial,butitcanbecomemuchmorepowerfulwithanHCIinfrastructureontopofit,poweredbyIntel®technologies.

There’sacosttowaitingtoolongtomodernize.AzureStackHCIprovidesgreatercomputedensity,reducedcarbonfootprint,andloweroverallcoststhatcanberealizedimmediatelyuponmigrating.Consideringsomehardwareproductshaveathree-yearwarranty,whichforcesregularupgradesorreplacements,itmakessensetoupgradetoAzureStackHCItosaveon-premspacenow,andout-of-pocketupgradeandreplacementcostsfortheforeseeablefuture.

Therearenumerousbenefitstomodernizingolderdatacenterandimplementingastable,newinfrastructure—suchasimprovednuts-and-boltsfunctionality,computepower,andtimesavedthankstostreamlinedsystemmanagementandaunifiedtoolchain.Reducebothcostandcomplexitywhilerampingupefficiency,maximizingvirtualization,andbenefitingfromAzureintegrationsandnativedisasterrecovery.

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03

HybridcloudandHCI

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI7

Hybridcomputingcombinesthebestof

bothworlds

Hybridcomputingallowsyoutoconnectyouron-premandcloudresources.However,thissolutioncanproveproblematicsincetheresourcesarestilldiscretedespitebeingconnected.Enablingvirtualmachines(VMs)tosimultaneouslyliveon-premwhilestillconnectedtothecloudcanimposecompute,storage,andnetworkinglimitationsfortheon-premsideofthesystem.Alternately,upscalingtomeethigherdemandonthecloudsideofthesystemcanlikewisebecomeuntenablyexpensive.Often,theselimitationsnecessitateadditionalproducts,fixes,orworkaroundsthatcanincreasecost,complexity,andpotentialforerror.

Forexample,ahybridsystemmaysufferfromlacklusterat-scalemanagement.ThebestsolutionistouseMicrosoftSystemCentertomanagemultipleVMsatatime.Ifyou’vealreadyinvestedinSystemCenterformanagement,itwillworkinconcertwithAzureStackHCI,andyoucanfurtheraugmentthatcombinationwithAzure-basedhybridtoolingsuchasAzureSiteRecoveryandAzureMonitor.

AzureStackHCIoffersvaluablescalingfeatures,suchasgranularauditingandfleetmanagement,whileAzure’smonitoringandmanagementtoolsgrantyoutheelusive“singlepaneofglass”interface(throughintegrationwithAzureArc)tomanageeverythinginoneplace.Belowisanexampleofimprovementsthatthisnewofferingcanhandle.Microsofthasoptimizedpreviousaspectsofthesolutiontobemoreefficientonthisnewhyperconvergedhost.

ResyncdurationforStorageSpacesDirect(shorterisbetter)

Figure1.Averageresultsfrominternaltesting,measuredbyapplyingatypicalmonthlyOSpatchundermoderate-intensityinput/outputacrossseveralrepresentativestorageaccesspatterns

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI8

Hyperconvergedinfrastructureisthenext

evolutionofhybridcomputing

HyperconvergenceisanITframeworkthatcombinesvirtualizedstorage,virtualizedcomputing,andnetworkingintoasingleoptimizedcomputingpackagetoreducedatacentercomplexityandincreasescalability.Hyperconvergedplatformsincludeahypervisorforvirtualizedcomputing,software-definedstorage(SDS),andsoftware-definednetworking(SDN).

Withahyperconvergedinfrastructure,youbenefitfromgreatersimplicityandflexibilitythanwithlegacysolutions.Theintegratedstoragesystems,servers,andnetworkingfabricaredesignedtobemanagedasasinglesystem,acrossallinstancesofahyperconvergedinfrastructure.

Ahyperconvergedinfrastructurepoolsallyourcompute,storage,andnetworkresourcesinoneplace,sotheycanbeleveragedbythepartsofyoursystemthatneedthemmost.Italsobringsthemalltogetherunderonemanagementumbrella,soyoucancontrolandmanageeverything—uptoandincludingyouredgeandremoteoffices—fromoneunifiedinterfaceasdepictedinFigure2.Thishelpsstreamlinemanagementandshortensthelearningcurvefornewadminsbyreducingthenumberoftoolstheyneedtomaster.Ifyou’realreadyaHyper-Vexpert,thenyou’realreadyonyourwaytobecominganAzureStackHCIexpertaswell.

AzureHybrid:InnovationanywherewithAzure

Figure2.Azureoffersuniquehybridcapabilitiesthatgiveyoutheflexibilitytoinnovateanywhereinyourenvironment

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI9

04

WhyAzureStackHCI?

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI10

AzureStackHCIutilizesthevirtualizationcapabilityofHyper-Vandaugmentsitwiththepowerandversatilityofhyperconvergedinfrastructuretechnology,givingyoufamiliartoolspairedwithenhancedperformance.ItalsoutilizestheefficiencyofanHCIsystemtoreduceyourtotalcostofownership(TCO)byunifyingresourcemanagement,leveragingAzureresources,andreducingrelianceonexpensivelegacyon-preminfrastructuresuchasstorage-areanetwork(SAN)hardware.

ThediagrambelowshowsthatAzureStackHCIoffersgreatinfrastructureasaservicewitheasy-to-use-and-managecapabilitiesforITadmindailyoperations,andintegrationtoAzurethroughAzureArc.

AzureStackHCI:Thebestinfrastructureforhybridenvironments

Figure3.AzureStackHCIconnectstoAzureHybridservicesthroughAzureArc

Azurehybridbydesign

AzureStackHCIisbuilttoworknativelywithexistingAzureproductsandintegrationssuchasAzureArcandAzurePortal.ItcanalsoconnecttoAzurehybridserviceslikeAzureSecurityCenter,AzureBackup,AzureMonitor,andAzureSiteRecovery,amongothers.YourexistingAzureSupportcontractcoversAzureStackHCIthroughyourAzuresubscription.ThisalsomeansthatasfutureAzureStackHCIcapabilitiesareintroducedthroughAzure,youcanimmediatelyutilizethemforyouron-premclusters.

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI11

NativelyintegratewithAzure

•AzureResourceManager(ARM)representseachon-premisesAzureStackHCIcluster.

•GainvisibilityintotheAzureportalandafoundationforhybridmanagement.

•Noneedtofusswithagentsorscripts–they’rebuiltin.

Figure4.Manageyourcloudandon-premconnectedclustersfromAzureportal

ThehybriddesignofAzureStackHCIallowsyoutomonitorandmanageyourclustersatscalefromtheAzureportal,enablingyoutobenefitfromfleetmanagementforhostsandVMs.ThisfoldsinnicelywithyourexistingAzureworkflows,allowingyoutocontroltheentireworkflow—includingapps,databases,VMs,networks,storage,andindividualprojects—fromasingleinterface.YoucanalsoviewallofyourAzureStackHCIdeploymentsatonce,fromNewYorktoTokyotoParisandback,soyourentireoperationisnowoneunifiedsystem.

HardwarepartnersandsolutionbuilderscanplugintoWindowsAdminCenteranddevelopextensionstokeepfirmware,drivers,andserverBIOSuptodateandconsistentacrossallclusternodes.IntelandotherMicrosoftpartnersprovideawidevarietyofsolutions,includingbothvalidatedhardwarenodesandpre-rackedintegratedsystems.CustomerswhopurchaseanintegratedsystemwithAzureStackHCIalreadyinstalledcaneasilyupgradetonewcapabilitiesusingthenewfull-stackupdatefeature.Customerswhosimplypurchasevalidatedhardwarenodescaneasilyperformanyneededupdatesseparatelyinaccordancewiththehardwarevendor’srecommendations.

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI12

AzureStackHCIasanAzureService

WithAzureStackHCI,youpayperphysicalcorepermonth(asopposedtopersocket)throughyourAzuresubscription.Useofhyperthreadingdoesnotimpactlicensecost.Therearenoup-frontsoftwarelicensingcosts.Asasubscription-basedmodel,AzureStackHCIstaysuptodate,andyoureceivenewfeaturesasthey’rereleased.

AsanAzureservice,customerscanseeandmanageAzureStackHCIusingARM.

Plus,youcanextendrole-basedaccesscontrol(RBAC)fromAzuretoyouron-premisesinfrastructurewiththehelpofAzureArc.

AzureStackHCIoffersasimplesupportmodel.CustomersusingAzureStackHCIcanleveragetheAzuresupportcapabilitythatcomeswithbuilt-inproductexpertiseandadirect-ticketprocess.Thismodeloffersamuchsimpler,moredirectandlessexpensivesupportexperiencethanisavailableforcompetitivesolutions.

AspartoftheAzurehybridtechnologiessuite,yourHCIasaservicebenefitsfromconsistentfeatureandsecurityupdates.CustomerslikewisebenefitfromtheExtendedSecurityUpdate(ESU)programatnoextracostforworkloadscurrentlybasedonWindowsServer2008/R2.Essentially,you’realwaysuptodate,notjustwithyourcoreAzureStackHCIservice,butwithallyournativeAzureintegrations.WithactivationoftheclusterandintegrationthroughAzure,you’llbenefitfromunifiedAzurebillingandbeabletoleverageAzuresupportplans.

ConvertingyoursystemtooneunifiedAzureexperienceultimatelycreatesapowerfulsystemthattakeslessefforttomanage,backedbyoneofthemostrobustandcomprehensivedevelopmentandsupportenvironmentsintheworld.

Enterprisescale

AzureStackHCIwasdesignedtobeascalablesolution:fromasimple,two-nodesystemtoenterprise-leveldeploymentswith16nodesrunninghundredsorthousandsofVMsforasinglesite.Youcanattainscalabilitybyconsolidatingyourhardwarewithincreasedserverdensityandreducedoverhead,asAzurecanmanagemanyservicesthatoncerequiredlocalresources.Byreducingthosehardwareneeds,limitingyouron-premfootprint,andvirtualizingyoursystem,AzureStackHCIallowsforagilescaling,whilereducingyourcostspernode.

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI13

AzureStackHCIgeneratessavingsbyeliminatingtheneedforSANstorage,whichcanbecomplex,expensive,hardtomanage,andlimitedinscalability.AzureStackHCIalsobringsyourstorageandcomputeclosertogether,whilereducingthecomplexityandphysicalon-premrequirementsofaSAN.Thisequatestosignificantsavings—payingasimple$10percorepermonth—andwithAzureStackHCI,youcanmanageoneintuitivesysteminsteadofdozensofcomplicatedones.UnlikeSANsystems,whichtypicallychargeforstoragecapacitybythegibibyte,AzureStackHCIdoesnotpenalizeyouforaddingstoragecapacity.

ThedigitizationofyourdatacenterisanelementofAzureStackHCI’swidertheme:integratingmoreandmoreofyoursystemintothecloud.OnefacetofthisdevelopmentisthewayinwhichAzureStackHCIcanvirtualizeyourtried-and-trueenterpriseappslikeExchange,SharePoint,andSQLServer.AnotherisitscapacitytovirtualizeWindowsServerroleslikeFileServer,DNS,DHCP,IIS,andAD.AllofthiscomeswhileretainingunrestrictedaccesstoallofHyper-V'sbestfeatures,suchasShieldedVMs.

Migratingthemajorityofyoursystemtothecloudnaturallytranslatestoon-prembenefits—specifically,lessrelianceandupkeeponphysicalspaceandhardware.

Figure5.Physicalspaceandhardware:legacyinfrastructurev.hyperconvergedinfrastructure(HCI)

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI14

Lessphysicalhardwarerequireslessspace,whichmeanslowerrent,lowerpropertytax,andultimately,fewerdollarsspent.

Additionally,AzureStackHCIrequireslessmaintenance—especiallywiththeAzureSupportsubscription—whichpresentsanotherformofsavings,eitherinthecostofstafforbyfreeingupmoreoftheirtimetobeusedelsewhere.

There’sanecologicalbenefittoHCIaswell;fewermachinesmeanreducedproduction,reducedwaste,andultimately,carbonfootprintreductionashighas67percent.1

Whenitcomestoenterprisescale,thelinearscalabilityofperformancewithAzureStackHCIisyetanotherbenefit.Asyouaddmorenodestoyourclusters,performancewillgrownearlylinearly,makingitmucheasiertodocapacityplanningandmanagement.OtherpopularHCIsolutionsinthemarketarenotoriouslynonlinearinperformanceasyouaddnodes,makingcapacityplanningaguessworkexercise.

Linearscalingasyourusers’needsgrow

PoweredbyIntel®Xeon®Scalableprocessors

Figure6.Performancescalesnearlylinearlyasyouaddmorenodestoyourclusters

1“HyperconvergedSolutionHelpsASMImprovePerformanceandReachfortheCloud,”July2016,sponsoredby

Nutanix

/viewer?type=pdf&lpurl=/go/idc-buyer-case-study-enterprise-apps-asm

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI15

Simplifyoperations

We’vealreadytouchedonexamplesofsimplification,butitreallyisoneofthecorebenefits

ofAzureStackHCI.Onekeyelementofthatsimplificationishowvaluableitistohaveasingle-sourcesoftwarevendor.MicrosoftprovidesHyper-VandalltheSDDfeaturesinAzureStackHCI,whilealsomodernizingthecloudwithAzure,SQLServer,andcountlessotherproductsandservicesthatallbusinessesuse.ThatmeansMicrosoftisuniquelyqualifiedtosupport,improve,andtroubleshoottheinteractionsbetweenallthosecriticalelements.

AzureStackHCIoffersyouasinglesoftwarevendor,integratedexperienceacrossyouredge,remoteofficebranchoffice(ROBO)datacenter,hybrid,andclouddeployments.

You’relikelyalreadyusingMicrosoftserversoftware,andtheadoptionofAzureStackHCIlimitstheneedforadditionaltrainingorsupport.

FamiliarmanagementtoolssuchasAzurePortal,WindowAdminCenter,andPowerShellarestillpresent,incorporatedintoasingle-managementconsoleandcontrolplanethatcoversyourentiresystem,fromcomputetostoragetonetworkingtoclustering.

Withasingle-softwarevendorsolution,youhaveonepointofcontactforeverythingsoftwarerelated.WiththatvendorbeingMicrosoft,youkeepallyourcoreprogramsandfunctionality,andreduceadoptioncomplexity.

Deploymentflexibility

VersatilityisanotheradvantageofAzureStackHCI.Unlikeothersolutionsthatcanrequireextremelyspecific,andoftenexpensive,hardware,AzureStackHCIoffersflexibility.AzureStackHCIworksonover200validatedsolutionsfromover25Microsoftpartners,manyofthembasedonIntel®technologies,soyoucanchoosethepartnerwhooffersthebestsupportandselectionforyourspecificneeds.Ifyouhavevariousneedsandenvironments,nearlyallthesolutionscanbeconfiguredbyvaryingtheprocessor,memory,storage,andnetworkspeed.Allthemostpopular2Urackmountserverstodayarevalidated,astopvendorsincludingDellTechnologies,HewlettPackardEnterprise,Lenovo,andFujitsusupportAzureStackHCI.

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI16

Whileeveryconfigurationisdifferent,there’sagoodchanceyourexistinghardwarecanrunAzureStackHCI,asit’ssupportedbyoneofthelargestcomputingecosystemsintheworld.ThebroadMicrosoftecosystemwillsupportawiderangeofhardwareinnovations,suchasremotedirectmemoryaccess(RDMA),NVMe,andpersistentmemory.OnenotablechangefrompreviousofferingsisthatMicrosoftnowsupportsrepurposedhardware,whichrepresentsanothergoodopportunityforsavings.Formanycompanies,usingexistinghardwaremaypresentabudgetaryadvantage,astheassociatedexpenseswillthenfallunderoperationalexpensesratherthancapitalexpenses.

Ifyourexistinghardwareisunabletotakeadvantageofrecentinnovationsordeliveradequateperformance,youcandeployAzureStackHCIeitherviavalidatednodesorintegratedsystems.OfferedbyMicrosoftpartners,validatednodesaremulti-partsolutionsthathavealreadypassedvalidationtests.AzureStackHCIisavailableina

widevarietyofconfigurations,sowhateverfunctionalityyou’relookingfor,it’slikely

the

AzureStackHCIcatalog

hastherightsolution.

Integratedsystemscomepre-wired,pre-racked,andpre-configured.They’realreadyoptimizedandreadytogo,actingasaplug-and-playdeploymentoption.Intel®SelectSolutionsandAzureStackHCIcombinetoeasemigrationbyprovidinganout-of-the-boxsolutionpre-loadedwithfamiliartoolsandfunctionality.IntelSelectSolutionsarebasedonextensivetestingtodeterminethebestpriceandperformanceconfigurationstomeettherequirementsofarangeofworkloads.Eachconfigurationisverifiedtomeetorexceedaspecificperformancethreshold,providingconfidencethatthesolutioncanmeetyourneedswithoutextensiveadditionaltestingorproofsofconcept.Multipleoriginalequipmentmanufacturersdelivertheseintegratedsystemstomarket.

Stretchclustering

AzureStackHCIbrings,forthefirsttime,astretchedclustersolutionforbusinesscontinuityanddisasterrecoverytoHyper-Vusers.

StorageReplicaandstretchedclustersworkintandem.StorageReplicaprovidesthereplicationofvolumesacrosssitesfordisasterrecovery,withallserversstayinginsync,whilestretchclusteringprovidesautomaticfailovertorestoreproductionquickly,withouttheneedformanualintervention.

StorageReplicasupportsbothsynchronousandasynchronousreplication.Synchronousreplicationmirrorsdataacrosssitesinalow-latencynetworkwithcrash-consistentvolumestoensurezerodatalossatthefile-systemlevelduringafailure.Asynchronousreplication

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI17

mirrorsdataacrosssitesbeyondmetropolitanrangesovernetworklinkswithhigherlatencies,butwithoutaguaranteethatbothsiteshaveidenticalcopiesofthedataatthetimeofafailure.

Stretchedclustersoccurintwotypes:active-passiveandactive-active.Active-passivesitereplicationiswherethere’sapreferredsiteanddirectionforreplication.Active-activereplicationiswherereplicationcanhappenbi-directionallyfromeithersite.

Anactivesitehasresourcesandprovidesrolesandworkloadsforclientstoconnectto.Apassivesitedoesnotprovideanyrolesorworkloadsforclientsandiswaitingforafailoverfromtheactivesitefordisasterrecovery.

Sitescanbeintwodifferentstates,cities,floors,orrooms.Stretchedclustersusingtwositesprovidesdisasterrecoveryandbusinesscontinuityshouldasitesufferanoutageorfailure.Ifyou’relocallyreplicating(withinalowlatencyzone),youcanuseactive-activereplication,whileifyourdatacentersarefarfromoneanother,youcanuseactive-passivereplication.Eitherway,you’recoveredagainstcatastropheincaseoneofyourdatacentersunexpectedlygoesdown.

SinceAzureStackHCI’sstretchclusteringisbuiltinattheplatformlevel,it’smucheasierandlessexpensivetodeploythannon-HCIoptionsoralternatives.

AzureStackHCIoffersbuilt-inencryption,aswellasclustervalidationto

protectagainstpotentialhardwareorconfigurationproblemsbeforeaclustergoesintoproduction.

ClustervalidationhelpstoensurethattheAzureStackHCIsolutionthatyou'reabouttodeployistrulydependable.Youcanalsouseclustervalidationasadiagnostictoolonconfiguredfailoverclusters.

Stretchclusteringnotonlyprotectsyourdataandprogress,itpresentsopportunitiesforgreatersynchronicityacrossyoursystem.Onevaluableexamplemightbeoperatingasingledevenvironmentsimultaneouslyintwodatacenters.Functionally,AzureStackHCI’sstretchclusteringcreatesanon-premisescloudenvironmentwithintegralbenefits:security,agility,andredundancy.

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05

Usecases

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI19

Datacentermodernization

Digitaltransformationinanenterprisestartswithrefreshingthedatacenterinfrastructure.ByreplacingmonolithicandlegacySAN-basedstoragewithAzureStackHCI,you’lldramaticallyreducethefootprintofyourdatacenterfrom30percenttoasmuchas

60percent.2

Thisreducedfootprintisshownbelowinanexampleofacustomerwhohasbeenabletoreducetheirfootprintwhileachievingahigherlevelofperformance.Thereducedrackspacealsoprovidespowerandcoolingsavings.

Figure7.Datacenterfootprint–BeforeandAfterAzureStackHCIimplementation.Intel®Xeon®Scalableprocessor-poweredclusters

2MicrosoftInternalCaseStudy

GuidetoDatacenterModernizationthroughAzureStackHCI20

AzureStackHCItransformsyourdatacenterbyenablingyoutovirtualizeandconsolidateagingphysicalserversontoamodern,moresecureplatform.YoucanbettersecureolderVMswithno-costESUsforWindowsServer2008andWindowsServer2008R2,andyoucanimprovesecurityforthehostwithSecureBoot,TrustedPlatformModule2.0,BitLockerencryption,andbuilt-inmitigationsforhardwareandfirmware-basedattacks.

TheintegrationwithAzureandAzureArcfurtherenhancesthemodernizationbenefitsavailablethroughAzureStackHCI.Thankstothisintegration,AzureStackHCIon-premi