FlexPod Speaks Hybrid Cloud

FlexPod

Bruno Messina

October 19, 2020

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Language is an amazing tool. Humans leverage this tool in multiple settings as an efficient method to communicate and solve problems. It would be almost inconceivable to have our modern world without language. In fact, language really underpins almost all that humans do as they cooperate and move forward with other people. Another interesting point is when two people cannot communicate easily, for example, when they speak different languages, and they don't have a third language in common. In this instance, progress is slowed considerably, ideas cannot build on ideas.

A Different Look at FlexPod

FlexPod®, like two people who speak the same language, enables ideas to build on ideas. And FlexPod continues to grow and evolve to handle new workloads, innovations, solutions, and technologies (new ideas). FlexPod outsources customer complexity as a data center solution that is extensively verified across nearly all versions of enterprise workloads SAP HANA, Oracle, SQL Server, VMware, HyperV, VMware Horizon, Citrix XenDesktop) and modern workloads (OpenShift, Hybrid Cloud, AI/ML, clinical applications (electronic health records and medical imaging) and modern workflows (private and hybrid cloud). The result is FlexPod gives customers a robust platform for innovation that decreases time to value, increases uptime and evolves to meet the needs of modern applications and workflows.

NetApp and Cisco celebrate their 10 year FlexPod partnership.

FlexPod illustrates this differentiated advantage in a paper. A recent IDC survey of FlexPod customers found numerous benefits that accrued to FlexPod IT clients of all sizes. These survey benefits are proof from FlexPod customers of its unique overall value proposition and business value, including:

65% more time spent on innovation and new projects
61% improvement in application performance
60% decrease in number of unplanned downtime incidents
34% decrease in data center floor space
29% reduction in power and cooling
24% saved in software capex

FlexPod has spoken the customer’s language for years as this paper shows. Now, FlexPod also speaks cloud, and it enables customer to leverage hybrid cloud services. The benefits that customers say that have received with FlexPod extend to the hybrid cloud. Other converged infrastructures and data center architectures that don't have this same advantage (don’t naturally extend to the hybrid cloud) really are like two people who speak different languages and can't communicate.

FlexPod speaks cloud through its ONTAP® storage software that enables a consistent set of data services from edge to core to cloud. FlexPod ONTAP gives you a common set of enterprise-grade and proven features and data services, which simplifies administrative operations so that your IT team can focus on strategic business priorities. FlexPod ONTAP software unifies data management across a hybrid cloud that can span flash, disk, and cloud running SAN and NAS workloads. With FlexPod you can easily move your data within or between storage clusters, or to the cloud or edge—wherever it is most useful. FlexPod ONTAP is the foundation for a Data Fabric that gives you flexibility, choice, and control across your storage environment so that your IT team can focus on strategic business priorities.

Customers gain real and tangible benefit and advantage from FlexPod as it supports the customer wherever they are on their private or hybrid cloud journey. Other converged infrastructures don't offer these options or will only offer them in 4 or 5 years, rendering them less useful to a future customer’s strategic plans.

Learn More About FlexPod Other Onsite and Cloud Language

At the NetApp^® Insight™ conference, NetApp and Cisco will introduce some new solutions that extend the FlexPod portfolio of solutions. These cover many of IT challenges that customers currently face, including, solutions add new cloud-connected features and augment the current cloud-connected properties of a FlexPod. To find out more, please attend Insight sessions about the following topics or click on the solution:

NetApp ONTAP Software Integration into Cisco Intersight

FlexPod customers can now also leverage the Cisco Intersight management software to handle monitoring and orchestration of workloads on their FlexPod storage arrays. FlexPod ONTAP integration into Cisco Intersight affords customers many new benefits. Customers can run ONTAP tasks from Intersight:

Provision virtual machines using NFS and SAN datastores
Monitor datastores
Resize datastores and/or adjust igroups and export policies
Initiate custom workflows
Enable Intersight to initiate workflow orchestration on ONTAP storage
Please also take a look at this excellent video and superb technical blog that convey both a high-level overview and technical viewpoint at how the ONTAP integration into Cisco Intersight benefits customers.

Enterprise Databases with SQL Server 2019, SAP HANA, SAP with Oracle/SQL

Microsoft SQL 2019 on FlexPod: migrate to the latest version of SQL Server for greater innovation, performance, and security.
Latest SAP HANA software running on the most current FlexPod hardware (fibre channel connection) and software that accelerates data-driven, real-time decision-making and actions and supports all workloads with the broadest advanced analytics.
FlexPod verifies SAP applications on Oracle and SQL Server databases: FlexPod enables you to develop, provision, and manage your mission-critical SAP applications across a heterogeneous software environment of both Oracle and SQL Server combined with the SAPapplication server.

Hybrid Cloud with NetApp Cloud Insights and Red Hat OpenShift

FlexPod Monitoring with Cloud Insights offers customers the ability to monitor, troubleshoot and optimize ONTAP resources on-prem and in the cloud. It offers deep insights into FlexPod NetApp storage and is complementary to Cisco Intersight for FlexPod.
FlexPod running on Red Hat OpenShift delivers an enterprise-ready Kubernetes container platform with full-stack automated operations to manage private, hybrid cloud and multicloud deployments. Red Hat OpenShift on FlexPod is optimized to improve developer productivity and promote innovation.
SAP Data Hub with Cisco® Container Platform (CCP) on FlexPod increases the time to value of the deployment and operations for containerized workloads while maintaining data locality cost-effectively. The Cisco Container Platform (CCP) on FlexPod automates the repetitive things and simplifies the complex ones so everyone can just go back to enjoying the magic of containers.
FlexPod leverages NetApp data fabric to move data across locations along edge-to-core-to-cloud in any direction supporting private cloud and hybrid cloud scenarios
FlexPod hybrid cloud solutions support colocations connected to public clouds
FlexPod supports hybrid cloud scenarios including dynamic recovery, replication and backup, dev/test, capacity extension and cloud tiering using FlexPod ONTAP with FabricPool

Virtualization and Cloud: VMware/vSphere

FlexPod Express with UCS Mini delivers enterprise grade FlexPod testing and reliability for ROBO and edge applications.This latest FlexPod reference architectures further underscores FlexPod innovation and vision using Cisco UCS M5 servers with cascade lake processors, NetApp’s latest ONTAP 9.7, and VMware’s latest vSphere 7.0. FlexPod with vSphere 7.0 is another proof point that further shows FlexPod as the “go to standard” for hybrid cloud implementations.
FlexPod again increases customer options with the latest hardware and software solutions with the FlexPod Datacenter with ONTAP 9.7 and vSphere 7.0 running on AMD processors and the UCS C4200 chassis.

FlexPod for Healthcare: Medical Imaging

FlexPod for medical imaging gives an in-depth overview of why the FlexPod is the best platform for innovation for customers to run their imaging applications.By running an imaging application environment on the FlexPod architectural foundation, your healthcare organization can expect to see an improvement in staff productivity and a decrease in capital and operating expenses.

To learn more about these announcements and FlexPod in general, please visit FlexPod at NetApp Insight. Registration is free and FlexPod sessions can be viewed on-demand. The FlexPod session numbers are listed in below:

FlexPod sessions and resources

Register for INSIGHT here!

Speed Break Out Sessions (20 Minutes)
SPD-1147-2	Learn why FlexPod has the best integration with Cisco Intersight
SPD-1144-1	FlexPod Infrastructure Innovation and End-to-End NVMe
SPD-1470-1	FlexPod solutions for Private and Hybrid Multi Cloud use cases
SPD-1152-1	Learn Why FlexPod is Perfect for Private, Hybrid and Multi-cloud
SPD-1149-1	Enable Healthcare Digital Transformation with FlexPod
SPD-1150-2	Digital Transformation with SAP HANA and DATAHUB on FlexPod
SPD-1154-2	Why it is vital to move to SQL Server 2019 on FlexPod
SPD-1471-2	Migrate to Oracle RAC 19c on FlexPod, while you still have time!
SPD-1153-1	Work or Learn from Anywhere with FlexPod VDI
SPD-1446-2	Accelerate your AI Journey for the data driven enterprise with FlexPod AI

Short Presentation or Demonstration (10 Minutes)
DEM-1478-1	Protect Your IT Assets Against Ransomware Using FlexPod
DEM-1479-1	FlexPod for Medical Imaging in 10 Minutes
DEM-1481-1	FlexPod for OpenShift in 10 Minutes
DEM-1504-1	Improve FlexPod Management with Cisco Intersight (10 Minute Demo)
DEM-1542-1	Learn About the New and Innovative FlexPod Consumption Model

Customer Presented Sessions
BRK-1062-2	Support Real Time Mission Critical Oracle Workloads with FlexPod	Lawrence Livermore Labs
BRK-1469 -1	How LCMC Health delivers best patient carewith Epic on FlexPod	LCMC Health
BRK-1528-1	How Cannon Design drove collaboration & innovation globally	Cannon Design

To learn more about this announcement and experience how FlexPod speaks cloud, please read a wonderful Cisco blog written by Steve Cooke. At NetApp Insight, please take a look at the available FlexPod sessions to learn how FlexPod can become the datacenter model for your hybrid cloud.

For more information, please visit:

Bruno Messina

Bruno Messina joined NetApp in 2018 and works in product marketing for FlexPod. His previous experience includes a career in product marketing of UCS servers for Cisco Systems and Solaris server marketing and competitive analysis at both Oracle and Sun Microsystems, where he joined in 2000. Bruno spent ten years in various roles of competitive analysis and product management at Sun Microsystems, leading analysis in both the workgroup and enterprise servers. Prior to Sun Microsystems, Bruno spent time finishing his MBA education and worked for two years at Cadence working on product marketing for both board-level and board timing tools. Bruno holds both a BSEE and MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

View all Posts by Bruno Messina

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