Traditionally, datacenters consisted of physical servers, networking and storage, each dedicated to specific tasks. This approach created silos of resources that were often greatly underutilized. At the core, virtualization involves decoupling physical resources from the requirements and functions of the organization. This is achieved by creating virtual representations of the three main infrastructure components: network, compute, and storage. The deployment of virtual infrastructure enables organizations to achieve increased utilization of the underlying physical resources through these logical constructs.

Virtualization is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts through automation, policy-driven workflows and scalability. By improving efficiency, flexibility and while lowering TCO of IT Infrastructure, virtualization empowers organizations to optimize their technological resources to a greater extent. A virtual infrastructure powered by NetApp inherits key benefits of ONTAP:

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Network virtualization refers to the abstraction of the physical network components (switches, routers, firewalls, interfaces, etc.) into logical constructs. These logical constructs, operating independently of the underlying physical infrastructure, deliver secure communication between clients, storage and other components in the network. Network virtualization is key to running the business as it allows for the sharing of resources while simultaneously allowing for the restriction of network traffic according to policies.

Network virtualization can combine multiple physical networks into one virtual fabric, or it can facilitate dividing a physical network into separate, discreet virtual networks. Multiples networks can be created and customized to meet specific IT requirements. Often network virtualization refers to Ethernet-based use cases but in many instances virtual fabrics can be configured dependent upon the switch manufacture’s capabilities. Whether employing virtual LANs or virtual SANs, organizations achieve greater operational efficiency and overall improved network performance through network virtualization.

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Compute or server virtualization is perhaps the most well-known form of virtualization. With compute virtualization, hypervisors mimic the functions of physical servers allowing, operation teams to run multiple virtual machines on a single physical node. With compute virtualization, resources such as sever memory and CPU are shared. This sharing allows for an oversubscription of the underlying resources to the degree that is acceptable for the workloads and applications deployed.

With compute virtualization, each virtual machine has its own operating system and installed applications and resources; functioning independently of each other. Among the numerous advantages with compute virtualization include increased server utilization, reduced hardware expenditures, simplified management using the hypervisor’s user interface (UI), and improved disaster recovery functionality. Additionally, with hypervisor plug-ins, storage administration, backups and protection relationships can be configured to further simplify operational tasks.

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Much like the network and compute virtualization, storage virtualization is important to a modern datacenter. NetApp ONTAP facilitates storage virtualization through Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) which serve data to clients and hosts. SVMs are logical entities that allow for storage resources to not be tied to physical media. SVMs can be deployed based on workload type, application needs and organization groups for access.

There are multiple types of SVMs which aide in data access, administration and cluster and system level tasks. Data SVMs serve data to clients and hosts from one or more volumes, through one or more network logical interfaces (LIFs). These volumes and LIFs are logical constructs and are mapped through to storage aggregates and physical or logical network ports. This logical data access allows for the mobility of volumes or LIFs during maintenance scenarios or resource rebalancing much like compute virtual machines.

For more information on storage virtualization, see the following:

The components of virtual infrastructure described here: network, compute and storage provide same the same functionality as typical physical resources but through software. The allocation of virtual resources over physical resources accelerates time to value and allows for policy-driven configuration of resources. Pairing ONTAP with compute and network virtualization allows for clients and hosts to access resources through a software-defined virtual infrastructure.