HCI Layers vs. UCI Integration

Hyperconverged infrastructures (HCI) don’t really converge compute, storage, and networking. They layer it onto each node within the cluster. HCI is essentially a pre-packaged bundle of what already exists separately. An ultraconverged infrastructure (UCI) integrates the three tiers into a fluid, cohesive operating environment. It is a single piece of software unavailable in its components.

What are the problems with legacy HCI?

1. Lack of Efficiency

You are being asked to do more with less, and only the most efficient solution can help you achieve these goals. The layered convergence approach means storage and networking capabilities run as virtual machines (VM) within the hypervisor and are subject to the same virtualization tax as any other VM. They are not equal citizens. HCI’s layered approach means you must buy high-end computing and storage to attempt to overcome the virtualization tax.

2. Feature Compromised

Layered inefficiency means using features like deduplication, snapshots, and replication to their fullest extent will impact performance significantly. Most HCI solutions' deduplication features significantly impact performance as the capacity requirements of the environment increase. They also tend to limit how many snapshots you can maintain and how often you can take them. Replication is often missing from legacy HCI solutions or can't leverage deduplication to lower transfer times and costs.

3. Lack of Flexibility

A layered approach to convergence means that your nodes must be nearly identical. HCI Nodes are tightly coupled, which means you still buy all resources, even if you need capacity-only or performance-only. The tight coupling of nodes also means that if you want the latest generation CPUs or storage in year four or five, you must start all over and replace the current HCI cluster.

Integration Solves The Problems that Layering Creates

You can solve these problems with a UCI solution. The A, B, and Cs of how UCI simplifies IT.

A. Efficient

With UCI, the hypervisor, storage, and networking are equal citizens. UCI delivers more consistent performance and scales further than HCI on less expensive, mid-range servers.

B. Full Featured

UCI enables you to tap into the full capabilities of features like snapshots, deduplication, and replication. Take snapshots continuously and use clones to create not just new virtual machines but entire data centers in seconds. With UCI, deduplication is integrated, inline and global for maximum data efficiency and the lowest storage costs.

C. Flexible

UCI’s integrated approach completely abstracts hardware. You can mix nodes of different types (compute, high-performance, high-capacity storage) and manufacturers (Intel, AMD, GPUs) and allocate those resources to specific workloads. The design of UCI enables it to run for decades, not years. As next-generation hardware becomes available, integrate it into the infrastructure for immediate use.

VergeOS unifies physical resources, compute, storage, and networking from commodity, mid-range servers into a global pool and enables IT to allocate them to specific virtual data centers (VDC) or share resources between them. VDCs can consolidate all workloads (even bare metal) while maintaining workload integrity and simplifying IT operations.

You can convert to UCI gradually at your pace, saving money and simplifying your life with each workload you consolidate. Follow Verge.IO on LinkedIn to continue learning about UCI.