Hyperconvergence – what is it?
Hyperconvergence solutions reduce the complexity of the infrastructure, because it is largely contained in a single machine, and of its management.
Hyperconvergence refers to an IT infrastructure that includes storage, computing capacity and network structure in a single device. Hyperconvergence solutions greatly reduce the complexity of the infrastructure, because it is largely contained in a single machine, and of its management, while also being very efficient and scalable. This is possible because each element of a hyperconvergent system is ‘software defined’, i.e. fully configurable via software:
for the data processing part, a hypervisor allows the creation of the necessary virtual machines
storage is allocated and shared via a management system that allows very granular configuration, creating disks that are seen as individual entities, even though they are actually parts of the system’s overall storage
the network is configured via software, freeing the IT manager from managing many physical devices and making it easy to reorganize connections.
How hyperconvergent systems work
Hyperconvergence systems must be configured as ready-to-use ‘monolithic blocks’. Their maintenance is reduced compared to a traditional architecture, especially when it comes to upgrades and reconfigurations. To upgrade a traditional storage, for instance, one adds devices that have to be configured and prepared, whereas to increase the capacity of a hyperconverged system, one only has to insert the new disk and redefine the size of the disks that were already in use, without any interruption in operations. Similarly, network connections and virtual machines can be reconfigured to upgrade their capacity or simply adapt the infrastructure to new workflows.
Hyperconvergence: where it is used
Hyperconvergence finds its classic use within corporate data centres, but whereas until recently it was reserved for large and very large companies, it is now also being successfully deployed in small and medium-sized enterprises, thanks to configurations that guarantee an affordable price and the ability to simplify both ordinary infrastructure management and recovery plans in the event of a major incident. Indeed, by their very nature, hyperconverged infrastructures make it easy to recover lost or encrypted data, in many cases without having to wait for specialised technicians to intervene and with predictable timescales.
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