The use of Kubernetes technology in a datacenter infrastructure requires a sustained effort on the part of organizations. The reason is the lack of adequate tools to ensure centralized container management, optimal allocation of resources and updates. The Cisco HyperFlex Application Platform (HXAP) integrates hyperconvergent infrastructure and Container as a Service functionality and simplifies the operation of the Kubernetes solution, both in the Datacenter and in the cloud.

Companies are increasingly using Kubernetes, allowing containers to:

• modernize “legacy” systems, with monolithic architectures, by separating functionalities into micro-services;
• quickly develop and port applications, in the Cloud and on-premises infrastructures.

Last year, 45% of companies that already used containers used them in their own infrastructure, and 37% – in the Cloud (according to the “2019 Container Adoption Benchmark Survey“).

 

 

Kubernetes is not enough 

However, even if Kubernetes technology is mature, the use of containers also poses challenges. Especially for an organization that operates a datacenter infrastructure and faces:

• container management and resource allocation issues;
• difficulties in performing software updates.

In such cases, only Kubernetes is not enough, because the use of containers in production requires dedicated resources, monitoring, balancing the loading level, etc. Each requirement is covered by different Open Source or proprietary solutions, which must be installed, configured, and managed separately. And the effort increases in proportion to the number of applications used, which are poorly standardized and difficult to integrate into a unitary system, especially when it comes to a hyperconvergent infrastructure.

 

Hyperconvergent infrastructure makes the difference 

To overcome these challenges, Datanet Systems specialists recommend the Cisco HyperFlex Application Platform (HXAP), the new version of Cisco’s hyperconverged infrastructure solution. (More details about HyperFlex can be read here.)

HXAP meets three major requirements of companies that currently use containers in their production environments:

• Simplicity – to be easy to install, manage and monitor and to allow easy upgrades;
• Agility – to provide all the necessary support to developers, as well as increase the delivery speed of containerized applications;
• Economy – reduce operational effort and licensing costs.

HXAP addresses all these needs through an integrated approach, which meets both the requirements of the DevOps team and the ITOps. The Cisco approach eliminates complexity by including in one platform, in addition to Kubernetes, the entire container toolkit. HPAX natively integrates components of: • Container Networking; • Storage Container; • Ingress and L7 load balancer; • Logging; • Monitoring; • Container Registry and • Service Mesh.

In addition to these applications, Cisco has integrated the SaaS Intersight solution, which provides management of physical infrastructure and Kubernetes clusters. Intersight Workload Optimizer uses application performance metrics for optimal workload allocation and platform adaptation to critical business requirements.

 

Direct benefits of HXAP

The Cisco HyperFlex Application Platform includes a combination of proprietary and Open Source applications. For example, for the Container Network Interface (CNI), Cisco ACI and Calico are currently available on the platform. Cisco promises to expand the number of options available. Another major gain is that the entire Cisco “package” comes integrated, preconfigured and pre-tested, and can be up and running quickly with the help of Datanet specialists. This way you don’t struggle with the installation of VMware vSphere and Kubernetes, the process of allocating network and storage resources, ensuring security requirements, and installing all the necessary management tools. This results in significant savings in time and effort. Also in terms of savings, it should be noted that the Cisco platform eliminates the need to purchase a third-party hypervisor to run Kubernetes clusters. This also lowers your billing and support costs.

Last but not least, the hyperconvergent infrastructure solution benefits from full Cisco support – should you encounter any problem you have at your disposal a single technical support center at just a call away, not each vendor or Open Source developer communities.

Our specialists can help you achieve all these gains within your organization. Datanet Systems is the main Cisco partner in Romania, with numerous completed projects for implementing the data center infrastructure.

For more details, we invite you to contact us at sales@datanets.ro.