EVO:RAIL is the only Hyper-Converged solution that ships Pre-Built with VMware software and is ready to deploy VM’s when it arrives. There, that’s it.
OK, maybe you want more detail than that.
This analogy has been used before but it’s worth repeating for those who haven’t heard it before. This comes from my days as a vSpecialist at EMC. If you want a cake, you have 3 primary options.
The first way to get a cake is you Build your own. You purchase the ingredients (flour, eggs, milk, etc.), you measure the quantities you think you need, mix them together, and make a cake. The second time you make one it might be a bit better based on some lessons learned. Eventually, if you do it enough, you’ll probably get pretty good at it.
The second way to get a cake is to buy a Reference Architecture. This is a specific set of pre-measured ingredients that you buy, but you still have to make it. You open the box, add eggs and water to the mix and the end result is a cake. If you make another, it’ll probably be pretty similar to the last one.
The third option is you go to a bakery and buy a cake. It’s professionally made and ready to eat. And if you want another one just like it, your favorite bakery can reproduce it and get it to you pretty quickly.
Lets now shift this analogy to data center infrastructure. The first way to get data center infrastructure is to build your own (i.e. bake a cake). Purchase your favorite servers, network switches, and storage system, connect them together, configure them, install VMware software, and eventually you’ll have a place to provision virtual machines. The next time you need to build out infrastructure you’ll likely be able to do it a bit faster, with less configuration errors, and have it run more optimally based on some lessons learned. Eventually, if you do it enough you’ll get pretty good at it.
The second way to get data center infrastructure is to purchase a prepackaged reference architecture solution, but you still have to make it (i.e. cake mix). You get the hardware, connect it to the network, install VMware software, and you have infrastructure. The performance is fairly predictable since the hardware was chosen to meet a certain workload profile.
The third option to get data center infrastructure is to purchase a pre-built solution (i.e. bakery). And this is where EVO:RAIL is different. There are only 3 ways I know of to purchase infrastructure pre-built with VMware software that is ready to provision VM’s when they arrive. The first way that emerged several years ago is VCE Vblock or VxBlock. The second way now available is the Hyper-converged EVO:RAIL from an Qualified EVO:RAIL Partner (Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi, inspur, NetApp, netone, and SuperMicro). Receive the system, power it on, and start provisioning VM’s since its already running the VMware software you need to do so. The third way is EVO:RACK which is currently available as a tech-preview from a few Qualified EVO:RACK Partners. More information is available here: EVO: RACK Tech Preview at VMworld 2014
That’s it, no one else, without a specific agreement to do so, can ship hardware pre-built with VMware software, just VCE and Qualified EVO:RAIL and EVO:RACK Partners. All other “converged infrastructure” solutions, require you to obtain the hardware (either by picking and choosing components yourself, or by going with a reference architecture). None of them are able to arrive with VMware software already installed. Once the hardware arrives the VMware software must be installed first. And in the case of all other “converged” infrastructure solutions other than VMware Virtual SAN, you must install the storage software on top of vSphere. VI wrote about this here: What Makes VSAN Different?
OK, lets review with a diagram I put together based on EMC’s recent definition of Blocks, Racks, and Appliances. See the Virtual Geek blog here for more info: EMC World Day 1: BLOCKS, RACKS, APPLIANCES.
Notice that the concept of Build your own converged infrastructure combining compute and storage on the same host is not unique. There are approximately 15 companies with this solution including VMware. It’s a crowded space. VMware Virtual SAN is unique here in that it’s the only one that is built into the hypervisor.
Next notice that the concept of Reference Architecture converged infrastructure is not unique. There are approximately 5 companies with this solution including VMware. VMware Virtual SAN is unique here in that it’s the only one that is built into the hypervisor.
Finally, notice that there is only 1 way to obtain Pre-Built converged infrastructure and that’s EVO:RAIL which uses the VMware Virtual SAN storage that is built into the hypervisor. All you need to do is rack it, cable it, power it on, and start consuming VM’s. Kind of like buying a cake from the bakery, getting a fork, and start eating it.
OK, one last analogy… today, if you need a Virtual Machine and even EVO:RAIL isn’t a quick enough way to get it, it’s possible to simply provision one on demand from a service provider like vCloud Air. Now, wouldn’t it be great if you could get a piece of cake on demand? How long until this becomes a reality?
Live Virtually 