top ten reasons to implement xsigo virtual i/o

SOLUTION NOTE
TOPTENREASONS
TOIMPLEMENT
XSIGOVIRTUALI/O
ThebenefitsofdeployingXsigovirtualizedI/O
in the data center
performance of the highest-end databasemachinesat1/10ofthecost.
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3. 50% LESS CAPITAL COST
Fewer parts means lower overall cost.
Ina120-serverinstallation,thecapital
cost savings amount to hundreds of
thousands of dollars, or about half of
theoverallI/Oinfrastructurecost.Ifyou
include the cost of installing and maintaining the infrastructure, Xsigo savings
go even higher.
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2. 70% FEWER CABLES, CARDS,
SWITCH PORTS
XsigoconsolidatesserverI/O.Inthe
datacenter,complexitycanbehardto
avoid with the multitude of networks
and devices, but Xsigo reduces the
number of parts involved. Cabling can
bescaledbacktojustoneI/Ocableper
server,andphysicalI/Ocardsineach
serverarereplacedbyvirtualcards.
The end result is 70% fewer cards and
cables,andsignificantlyfewerswitch
ports.
Without Xsigo
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1. FASTER PERFORMANCE
With Xsigo, servers are connected to a
fabric that delivers up to 40 Gbps bandwidth per server connection. Ethernet
throughput up to 40 Gbps server-toserver, 4X faster than 10G Ethernet, is
available with the Xsigo Server Fabric
option. Examples of where this can help
include:
• 30X faster backup applications:
Compared with conventional Ethernet
connections, the Xsigo fabric provides a 4X to 40X faster link between
application servers and the backup
server. This high-speed fabric ensures
optimal streaming performance,
which keeps the backup device runningatpeakefficiencytogetthejob
done on time.
• 19X faster virtual machine migration: VMmigrationisahighlyI/O-intensive process. The high-bandwidth
ofXsigovirtualI/Oallowsmigrations
tocompleteupto19Xmorequickly.
• 12X faster database performance:
Database queries get done faster
thanks to the Xsigo fabric’s low-latencyand40Gbpsthroughput.Getthe
HOW IT WORKS
SOLUTION NOTE
ThebenefitsofdeployingXsigovirtualizedI/Ointhedatacenter
4. 100X GREATER AGILITY
Datacenteragilityandincreasedserver
utilizationhelpyousavecostandmore
quicklydeliverservicesinalignmentwith
businessobjectives.Xsigoboostsagility
bylettingyouadaptyourinfrastructureon
thefly,inrealtime,withoutserverreboots
orresourceremapping.Byeliminatingthe
managementconstraintsofphysicalconnectivity,XsigomakesserversI/Opersonalityindependent.Oneservercanquickly
adopttheidentityofanother(WWN,MAC
andIPaddresses),soit’ssimplerand
faster to move applications among servers,
addservers,andchangeconfigurations.
• Application migration / failover:
Move applications without remapping
networksandstorage.Connectivityis
re-deployedinasimpledraganddrop
operation.
• New deployments: Youcanpre-configure storage and network resources, so
whennewserversareaddedtheycanbe
deployedquickly.
• Disaster Recovery: Create needed connectivityatafailoversiteinseconds.By
replicatingconnectivityfromtheprimary
site,DRissimplified.
5. CENTRALIZED AND REMOTE
CONTROL OF I/O RESOURCES
XsigoletsyoumanageI/Ofromanywhere.
Because there is no need to move cables or
to enter the data center, I/O can be managed from across the campus or across the
globe. This can save steps or even trips.
6. ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT I/O
GettheI/Oyouneedinminutes.Ifyouare
adding another network, or switching Fibre
ChannelstoragetoiSCSI,XsigoletsyoudeploytheneededI/Oinseconds.Thatcould
save hours per server when compared with
conventionalre-configuration.
7. THE SERVER CONNECTION OF YOUR
CHOICE
OnlyXsigoletsyouchoosetheserverconnectionthatbestmeetsyourneeds:
• Standard Ethernet: For the simplest,
lowestcostdeployment,onlyXsigolets
youdeployvirtualI/Ooverstandard1G
and 10G Ethernet ports.
• InfiniBand: For the greatest performance,chooseInfiniBand.Choose
20Gbpsor40Gbpsserverlinksto
achieve up to 4X the performance of
legacynetworking.
8. ENHANCE VIRTUAL MACHINE
DEPLOYMENTS
Virtualizationdelivershugemanagement
benefitsbutcancreateperformance
bottlenecksandsecurityexposures.Xsigo
can help.
• Performance issues with VMs: Ina
recent article, Enterprise Management
Associatesnotedthatmultipleworkloads
sharingasingleNIC“resultinproblems
withbandwidthavailabilityandthroughput.”Xsigohelpsbydeliveringupto
80Gbps of bandwidth to each server—
bandwidththatcanbedynamically
shared among all requirements.
• Security issues with VMs: To facilitate
virtualmachinemigrationitisnecessary
to deviate from the traditional controls
onI/Omappingswhichcancompromise
security.Xsigohelpswithindividual
vNICsandvHBAsthatcanbeassigned
tospecificvirtualmachines.Connectivity
canbeseamlesslymovedbetweenmachines when the application is migrated.
9. GUARANTEE PERFORMANCE TO
CRITICAL APPLICATIONS
Get end-to-end performance control with
Xsigo’s integrated QoS features. Both
storage and network bandwidth can be
controlledviafinegrainedtrafficpolicing,
ensuring that critical applications deliver
the required performance.
10. FUTURE-PROOF YOUR
INFRASTRUCTURE
Change is inevitable in data center infrastructure. Whether it’s a new network, a
different interconnect standard, or a new
connectivityrequirement,Xsigomakesit
easytoadapt.WithXsigo’smodularhardwarearchitectureyoucanquicklyaddnew
serverconnectivity.
Furthermore, Xsigo’s commitment to open
standards means that Xsigo is interoperable with the server, switch, and storage of
yourchoice,bothnowanddowntheroad.
VP560 I/O DIRECTOR
The Xsigo I/O Director consolidates server
I/Obyreplacingaserver’smultipleEthernet
and Fibre Channel interfaces with a single
link.
It is the industry’s only virtual I/O solution
that lets you connect servers via standard
Ethernet portsforadapter-freedeployment,
andconnectviaInfiniBandforbandwidthup
to 80 Gbps per server.
70WestPlumeriaDrive,SanJose,CA95134Tel:408-329-5600Fax:[email protected]
©2011XsigoSystems,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Specificationsaresubjecttochangewithoutnotice.Xsigo,I/ODirector,IS24ExpansionSwitch,andtheXsigologoare
trademarksofXsigoSystems,Inc.intheU.S.andothercountries. SNTT-0811