The Enterprise Network of the Future Will Be...
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The Enterprise Network of the Future Will Be Hyperconverged Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00208637, Bjarne Munch, David A. Willis, 18 November 2010, RA9 05012011 In the enterprise network, we are entering the era of hyperconvergence, where all services are delivered by a common Internet Protocol (IP) network — not only for voice, video and data, but also for wired and wireless, and for storage and computing. We propose a new set of design and collaboration principles. Key Findings • Application traffic has become more unpredictable and more difficult to model. • Key vendors, such as Cisco, HP and Oracle, are pursuing a fully integrated stack approach, spanning areas including networking, storage and servers. Taking advantage of these offerings requires a collaborative effort, with clear lines of decision making regarding the architecture. • Standard hierarchical network designs inhibit consistently good performance. Recommendations • Network designers should focus their designs around end-to-end solutions for (1) broad infrastructure domains, such as the data center and the WAN, and (2) the workplace environment, such as the campus or branch office. Traditional, technology-centric domains, like voice, data, WAN, etc., only serve as barriers. • Managers must also change the organization and collaborative structure by, at minimum, opening up the lines of communication between teams, led by cross-disciplinary leaders. Cost-effective support is achieved via a tightly integrated third-level planning team that is supported by teams of versatilists (that is, engineers who span multiple disciplines). • Integrate all network domains and user access control mechanisms to enable seamless user connectivity at the network access and application traffic flow within the network by removing centralized control and connectivity hubs. Apply security policy at the first touchpoint to the network, at multiple layers within it.
Transcript of The Enterprise Network of the Future Will Be...
The Enterprise Network of the Future Will Be Hyperconverged
Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00208637, Bjarne Munch, David A. Willis, 18 November 2010, RA9 05012011
In the enterprise network, we are entering the era of hyperconvergence, where all services are delivered by a common Internet Protocol (IP) network — not only for voice, video and data, but also for wired and wireless, and for storage and computing. We propose a new set of design and collaboration principles.
Key Findings
• Applicationtraffichasbecomemoreunpredictableandmoredifficulttomodel.
• Keyvendors,suchasCisco,HPandOracle,arepursuingafullyintegratedstackapproach,spanningareasincludingnetworking,storageandservers.Takingadvantageoftheseofferingsrequiresacollaborativeeffort,withclearlinesofdecisionmakingregardingthe architecture.
• Standardhierarchicalnetworkdesignsinhibitconsistentlygoodperformance.
Recommendations
• Networkdesignersshouldfocustheirdesignsaroundend-to-endsolutionsfor(1)broadinfrastructuredomains,suchasthedatacenterandtheWAN,and(2)theworkplaceenvironment,suchasthecampusorbranchoffice.Traditional,technology-centricdomains,likevoice,data,WAN,etc.,onlyserveasbarriers.
• Managersmustalsochangetheorganizationandcollaborativestructureby,atminimum,openingupthelinesofcommunicationbetweenteams,ledbycross-disciplinaryleaders.Cost-effectivesupportisachievedviaatightlyintegratedthird-levelplanningteamthatissupportedbyteamsofversatilists(thatis,engineerswhospanmultipledisciplines).
• Integrateallnetworkdomainsanduseraccesscontrolmechanismstoenableseamlessuserconnectivityatthenetworkaccessandapplicationtrafficflowwithinthenetworkbyremovingcentralizedcontrolandconnectivityhubs.Applysecuritypolicyatthefirsttouchpointtothenetwork,atmultiplelayerswithinit.
2WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOWAscloudcomputing,virtualization,mobility,unifiedcommunicationsandvideodrivemoreapplicationtraffictothenetwork,traditionalnetworkdesignpracticeswillbecomeincreasinglysignificantconstraintsonthefunctioningofthebusiness.Traditionalsilosofserver,storageandnetworkarebeingcombinedasvendorssellintegratedstacksolutions.Securitypolicymanagementcapabilitieshavetoexistateverytouchpointtothenetwork.Anewapproachthatbringstogetherthesedisciplinesenablesorganizationstomaketherightdecisionsaboutarchitecture,ratherthanbeingledbyasingleinfrastructureview.
ANALYSISDrivenbytheCIO’stopprioritiesincloudcomputing,mobility,unifiedcommunicationsandvideo,plannersmustthinkaheadtohownetworksaredesigned,howtheyarebuiltandhowtheyarerun.“Dumbpipe”networkswillnotsupportthelevelsofscale,reliabilityorsecuritythatbusinessleadersneed.Therefore,thesilosbetweennetworkinfrastructureandapplicationsarebreakingdown,asevidencedbymajortrendssuchascontext-awarecomputing,application-fluentnetworkingandidentity-awarenetworking.Meanwhile,cloudcomputingandvirtualizationarecollapsingtheboundariesbetweenserver,storageandnetwork.Theuserenvironmentisalsomovingtoamixofwirelessandwiredcapabilities.
Weseethesechangescollectivelyinthehyperconvergednetwork—anapproachinwhichcompute,storage,contentmanagement,communicationandapplicationservicesareconsumedoveranintegratednetwork,enabledbyvirtualization,withintegratedsecurity,independentofthenetworkaccessmethod,definedbypolicy,andcraftedtothespecificdeviceandsituationalneed.
Corporateandgovernmentnetworksarehittinganinflectionpoint.Afteryearsofmerelyevolvingcommunicationsystemsinaslowreactiontochangingneeds,afundamentalchangeinapproachisnecessary.Thisisnotmerelyamovetoaconsolidatednetwork,ortoacommonsetofprotocols.Instead,itisamultidisciplinaryapproachthatanticipateschangesintheworkenvironment,leveragesamixofconsumerizedandcommoditizedtechnologies,takesadvantageofcloud-servicecapabilities,andmaximizestheefficiencyofthecorebackbone.
Itiseasytoseewhythischangemustoccursoon;end-userdemandsarerapidlychanging.Collaborationsystemswillallowuserstomoveseamlesslyfromtraditionalphonecallingintoaudioconferencing,sharedworkspacesandvideoconferencing—notasseparatesystems,butasanintegratedexperience.Voice,videoanddatacannolongerbeseparatedomains.Deliverycannotjustbeon-premises,thusrestrictingaccesstointernalemployees,
butalsomustintegratetopubliccloud-basedsolutionsthatspanmultipleorganizations—onceagain,withaminimumofuserhassle.Theresultingtrafficflowswillbemorepeertopeerinnatureand less hierarchical.
Anotherreasonwhythischangemustoccursoonisthemessynatureoflegacynetworksystemsthatcomprisethetypicalnetwork,evenasmoremodernsystemsarethrownintothemixtactically.Itiscommontomanydifferentmodelsofswitchesandrouters,andmultiplePBXorkeysystemswithlittletonointegration,allrunningdozensofdifferentsoftwareversions.Manytraditionalequipmentsuppliershavegoneoutofbusinessormovedontonewproductportfolios.Maintenancecostsareontherise.Complexityisthebarriertoloweringcost,improvingreliabilityandenhancingsecurity.Oldnetworkdesignsbasedonoldandinvalidassumptionsarecommon.
Costisanotheraspect.Evenasthecostofbandwidthfromcarriershasdeclined,theoperationalcostsassociatedwithmaintainingnetworkshaverisen.Networksystemsanddatacommunicationsanalystsareprojectedtobethesecond-fastest-growingoccupationintheU.S.(Source:U.S.BureauofLaborStatisticsOccupationalOutlookHandbook,2010-11).Totalnetworkcosts,asapercentageofITspending,currentlymeasures15%atminimum,apercentagethatislikelytoincreasetomorethan20%by2014,drivenbymorewirelessserviceconsolidationintoITandtherapidriseofvideo.
Toadapt,plannersshouldfocusonremovingbottlenecksandcomplexityinthenetworksothattheyareabletoadapttothechangingwaysthatbusinessusersaccesstheirapplications,andtothechanging,andevenchaotic,trafficflowsintheirnetworks.Thismeansthatenterprisenetworkdesignmustmovebeyondthetraditionalnetworkconnectivityfocustoincludehowtoconnectuserstoapplications,andessentiallyadapttheirnetworksolutionstochangingapplicationdeploymentsandthechangingbusinessneedsoftheseapplications.
Enterprisesneedtoplantheirnetworkdesignaroundtheongoingbreakdownoftraditionaltechnologyboundariesandtraditionalnetworkconstraints,whereusuallyseparatesolutionareasconvergeintothehyperconvergedenterprise,suchas:
• Convergenceinthedatacenterofnetworking,serversandstorage,enablingamorecost-effectivenetworkdesigninsupportofservervirtualization
• ConvergenceoftheLANandWAN,insupportofchangingapplicationdeploymentarchitectures(inparticular,cloudcomputing,voice,videoandcollaboration)
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3• Convergenceofthewiredandwirelessnetwork,enablingthe
wirelessoffice
The Evolution in Network DesignCriticalnetworkdesignfactorshavechangedinthreemajorwavessincethe1980s,asillustratedinFigure1.Often,thesedesignsremaininusetoday,despitetheirinefficiencyandcomplexity.
Inthe1980s,hierarchicalsystemsruled,wherealluserservicescamefromthenextupstreamneighbor,andallconnectionswerewired.TherewaslittleconvergencebeyondSystemsNetworkArchitecture(SNA)hostemulationontheLAN.Wide-areapricingwasdrivenbypoint-to-pointlinksanddistance-sensitivecharging.Meanwhile,distributeddepartmentalsystemsproliferated,settingthestageforthenextwave.
Inthe1990s,distributedsystemsbecamemoreinterconnected,butinahighlystaticway.Distancestillmattered,sonetworkdesignerscreatedtraffichubsthatwouldaggregatetraffictotakeadvantageofcapacitypricing.Fixedtimedivisionmultiplexing(TDM)voicenetworksremainedbasedonthe1980smodel,butdataservicesbegantoconvergearoundacommonprotocol(IP).LANsbecamefullyintegrated.Meanwhile,mobile(cellular)servicesrampedup,butwerecenteredonvoice.
The2000ssawthefirstwaveoftrueconvergenceofvoiceanddataaroundIP.Distancebecameimmaterialin-countryovertheWANasservice-specificpricingappeared,andglobalregionalhubsbecamethecommondesignformultinationalenterprises.Internetservicesbecameanimportantelementofthecorporatenetwork,butusagewastightlycontrolledandlimited.Meanwhile,themobileenterpriseexpandedrapidly,andWi-Figrewfromaverticalmarketdatacollectiontechnologytobecomeacommonconnectionmethodforcarpeted-spacedeploymentsintheenterprise.
Theseolddesignsarestillfoundinoperationalnetworkstoday,leadingtoaneedtomodernizethem.
Hyperconvergence: The Fourth Wave in Network DesignThenatureofthebusinessenvironmentandtheapplicationenvironmentisbecominghighlydistributed,andapplicationtrafficistakingonanalmostchaoticnature,movingbetweenalloffices,externalandinternal,andwithendusersconnectedviawired,wirelessandmobilemethods.Thisisdrivingconvergenceinseveralareasofthenetworkintoahyperconvergedinfrastructure,wherenew,distributednetworkdesignscenteronthefollowingfactors.
Figure 1. The Evolution in Network Design Is Changing Network Topology From Hub and Spoke to Meshed
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Source:Gartner(November2010)
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Figure 2. The Enterprise Network Typically Consists of Several Network Clouds (e.g., MPLS and Internet in the WAN)
Source:Gartner(November2010)
Cloud computing —Enterpriseapplicationswillincreasinglymoveintovarioustypesofprivateandpubliccloudservices,oftenwithlimitedconsiderationofthenetworkimpact.Traditionalcentralizedhub-and-spokearchitecturesdonothandletheseapplicationdeploymentsverywell,andhybridMultiprotocolLabelSwitching(MPLS)andInternetnetworksareoftenstillcentralizingtrafficflowsforsecurityreasons,thusintroducingsimilarissuesasforhub-and-spokearchitectures(seeFigure2).
Enterprisesneedtoremovethesebottlenecksbyflatteningthenetwork(i.e.,addingadditionaltouchpointsbetweenallnetworks,anddistributingmore-secureInternetaccesspointsaroundthenetwork).Thiswillimproveefficiency,eliminatebottlenecksandsinglepointsoffailure,andprovideabetterexperiencefortheuser.ThismaybeimplementedthroughtechnologiesthatcansupportdistributedInternetaccesswithcentralizedsecuritypolicyadministration,andserviceprovidersthatcanoffloadthisadministrative burden.
IP communication for all data types —EnterprisecommunicationismigratingtoIP-basedplatformsandbeingintegratedwithunifiedcommunicationsandcollaboration(UCC),whichwillincreasinglybedeployedbothinternally(withintheenterprise)andexternally(intheproviders’clouds;seeFigure3).Thesewillnotbedeployedasseparatesolutions,butwillbebasedonintegratedhybriddesigns.IPtelephonyandUCCsystemsbasedonSessionInitiationProtocol(SIP)willallowUCCfunctionstobedistributedaroundthenetwork,whilestillremainingfunctionallyintegrated.Inaddition,thiswillenablehighlychangeableapplicationstoleverageelementsinthevoicenetworkthatchangeverylittle.
Enterprisesshouldbuildarchitecturesthatenablethedistributionofcommunicationsandcollaborationfunctionsacrossseparatesystems.Forexample,inUCC,standardizearoundatechnologystack(andvendor)fortelephony,messaging,conferencingandcollaborationsystems—bothin-houseandinthepubliccloud—andsocial-networking-basedsolutions.Thefurtherupthetechnologystack,themorediversityshouldbeexpectedandallowed.
Data center virtualization—Theimpactofservervirtualizationondatacenternetworkinghasalreadybeenprofound,andwillcontinuetodrivesignificantchangesindatacenternetworkdesign.VendorslikeCisco,HP,OracleandIBMwanttoownthestackfromtoptobottom.Fromadesignperspective,datacenternetworkingwillflattenandvirtualizetoenableafreeandrapidmovementofvirtualmachinesandserverloadwithinthedatacenter,andthiswillcontinuetoevolvewithdistributedvirtualizationbetweendatacenters.Today,itistechnicallypossibletomovevirtualserverinstancesbetweenremotedatacentersattheclickofamouse,asdemonstratedbycompaniessuchasF5andVMware.Thiscanmovegigabytesquickly,butwilldriveaneedforhigh-capacitynetworkcore,whereEthernetWAN-basedinterconnecteddatacenterswillbethepreferredsolutionduetotheirsupportofhighlyscalablebandwidthandlowlatency(seeFigure4).
Enterprisesneedtodeterminewhethertheirstrategiesallowforafullyintegratedstacksolutionfromasinglevendor.Also,theyshouldanticipateaneedforbest-of-breedsolutionsininfrastructureareaslikeapplicationdeliverycontrollers,whereindividualvendorsstillhaveasignificantinnovativelead.
2010s — WAN and Cloud
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Figure 3. Communication and Collaboration Is Being Integrated and Deployed Internally and Externally
Source:Gartner(November2010)
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5Figure 4. Data Centers Will Be Directly Interconnected to Support Low-Latency and High-Bandwidth Needs
DC:datacenter Source:Gartner(November2010)
2010s — Data Center Interconnect
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Data center Ethernet —Servervirtualizationisalsoadriverbehindtheongoingdiscussionaboutconvergenceofdatanetworkingandstoragenetworkingwithinthedatacenter.Theevolutionincomputinghardwareanditsvirtualizationhasledtoanexplosionofrequiredinterfacesandcablingwithineachserverrack,whichisthekeyreasonforthetrendtowardconvergenceofstoragenetworkingontoEthernet(seeFigure5),FibreChanneloverEthernetandConvergedEnhancedEthernet.Thisevolutionisbeingsupportedbytop-of-rackswitchingandnewunifiedswitchesthatsupportboth standards.
Wireless-first access—Aswirelesscapacity,affordabilityandubiquityareincreasing,userswillbesatisfied—and,indeed,happier—withwireless-onlyaccessformostworkloads.DrivenbyInstituteofElectricalandElectronicsEngineers(IEEE)802.11ntodayand802.11acinthecomingyearsincreasingwirelessLAN(WLAN)bandwidthcapacity,enterpriseswillevolvetheWLANfromjustbeingconnectivityforconvenienceintoacompleteofficeconnectivitysolution.Theall-wirelessofficeisemerging,inwhichcompanieswillblankettheirorganizationswithWi-Fi,whichwillbecomethedefaultconnectionforallservicesinsidethefirewall,andthecommonconnectionmodelformobileworkers(seeFigure6).LANdesignswillbegreatlysimplified,movingtoasimpletwo-tierapproach.
Figure 5. There Is Emerging Convergence of Compute and Storage Networking in the Data Center
Source:Gartner(November2010)
2010s — Data Center Networking
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2010s — Data Center Networking
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Designprincipleswillchange.Thenewnetworkdesignneedstofocusonenablingapplicationtrafficflowacrosstheentirenetwork,whereenduserswillexpectconsistentlygoodperformancelevels,irrespectiveoftheirmethodofconnectivity,andwhereapplicationprocessingcanbemovedtoavailableprocessingcapacity,whereveritislocated,forcostoptimization.Securitymechanismsneedtobeembeddedanddistributedwithinthenetworktoavoidabottleneckdesign.Remotemonitoringandnetworktrafficcontrol,andproactivenetworkchangesbasedonnetworkpolicies,becomeindispensableasmoreandmoreapplicationtrafficwillexistoutsidethetraditionalenterprise’sboundaries,andincreasinglywillconsistofHTTPandvirtualdesktoptraffic,whicharebothnotoriouslydifficultapplicationtraffictypesinthenetwork.
Managersmustalsochangetheorganizationandcollaborativestructure,atminimumopeningupthelinesofcommunicationbetweenteamsledbycross-disciplinaryleaders.Someleadingorganizationshavealreadymovedtoanorganizationalstructurethatseparatesfoundationalnetworking(i.e.,transport,switchingandrouting)versusapplications(unifiedcommunications,mobility,messaging,endpointsandapplicationservers)versuslogicalnetworking(directoryandaddressing,includingDomainNameSystem[DNS],DynamicHostConfigurationProtocol[DHCP]andActiveDirectory).Multiplelevelsofthedeliveryandsupportchainarealsochanging;cost-effectivesupportisachievedviaatightlyintegratedthird-levelplanningteamthatissupportedbyteamsofversatilists.
6Tactical Guidelines
• Integrateplanningofnetwork,storage,serveranddesktopinfrastructureviaacross-disciplinaryplanningteam.
• Separatedesignsintocoreinfrastructuredomains:datacenterinfrastructure,wideareainfrastructure,campus,remoteoffice,etc.
• Examinewhetheryourcurrentnetworkdesignenablestrafficflowbetweenallusersandtheirapplications(e.g.,byregionorcountry)sothatperformanceisacceptable.Thisisespeciallycriticalwhenhandlinghighvolumesofcollaborationtraffic,whichisoftenbetweenpeers,andinadoptingpubliccloud-computingmodels,whichrequirehighlydistributed(butstillsecured)connectionstotheInternet.
Figure 6. Wireless Network Access Is Becoming Pervasive
Source:Gartner(November2010)
2010s — Campus Networking
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2010s — Campus Networking
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