MODERNIZING IT WITH BULLION

Transcription

1 h MODERNIZING IT WITH BULLION JULY 2014 Increasing the evolutivity of applications while guaranteeing the same quality of service: that s the real challenge of IT modernization. A challenge that can be met by bullion, Bull s mainframe class x86 server. Start EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 2 THE VITAL TRIO: RELIABILITY, INNOVATION, COSTS... 3 BULLION: THE x86 ALTERNATIVE... 4 OPENING THE DOOR TO INNOVATION... 5 NEW-FOUND FREEDOM... 6 BULL: WORKING ALONGSIDE YOU... 7

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Mainframe and Unix environments owe their success and their longevity, above all, to their remarkable reliability, availability and maintainability, which allow them to deliver the levels of service required by mission-critical applications. So if you are to offer a real alternative to legacy environments, you have to provide the same levels of reliability (with hardware features to ensure continuity of service in case of failure) and the same level of maintainability (to minimize the impact of maintenance operations). By migrating critical applications to open and reliable solutions, IT modernization gives you new freedom, both technically and financially. This kind of migration significantly enhances application evolution capabilities while optimizing operational efficiency, with no need to abandon assets that may have involved significant investment. With its extensive experience of large-scale systems, Bull has created bullion: an open and scalable x86 server with mainframe class performance characteristics and robustness, especially thanks to its innovative RAS features. Not just powerful but also cost-effective and convenient to operate, bullion is the ideal platform for IT modernization. 2 Modernizing IT with bullion

3 THE VITAL TRIO: RELIABILITY, INNOVATION, COSTS Critical applications are often hosted on mainframes or large Unix servers. These platforms offer a guarantee of performance and reliability that ensure an excellent level of service. But nowadays, pressure from the business is pushing IT Departments to improve information systems under extremely tight deadlines. Legacy environments not known for their agility are under huge stress when you need to move quickly with limited resources. But it s not necessarily about sacrificing applications that work and are often the result of significant investment. In order to combine performance and agility but also reduce costs, the challenge is to modernize the information system and evolve legacy systems to open and standard environments. Reliability, but at what cost? Legacy systems are typically robust and reliable, unfailingly delivering for many years. But the skills to maintain and operate them are increasingly hard to find, and transaction costs are high. What s more, Gartner notes that some Unix systems, such as HP-UX and Solaris, are suffering from a lack of new investment from their publishers and part of their ecosystem, which is casting doubt among customers. Besides software, very often legacy systems also involve hardware, processes and business rules. Gartner defines IT Debt as the cost required to bring an application portfolio up to a current, fully supported state. Gartner estimates that the IT Debt accumulated by the insurance sector alone in the past decade to be over $80 billion. New expectations from the business Today, the demands that organizations are placing on IT are changing. These new requirements can be broken down into three main areas: - Improving the service being provided (through innovation) - Reducing time to market - Improving operational efficiency. Increasingly, innovation is being initiated by the business and IT is ordered to implement it. Mobility, for example, is a more and more common requirement because people want to work on tablets, have mobile access... But it requires significant infrastructure changes. Legacy environments are not flexible and agile enough to support rapid innovation. And they re more expensive. Cutting costs. Is that all? By 2016, more than 50% of application modernization efforts will address business demand for enhanced functionality to legacy applications not cost reduction (Gartner, 2013) and financial pressure A significant proportion of IT budgets is now spent on running costs. Under pressure to identify new scope for financing innovation and supporting the business, IT Departments are looking to reduce both their operating costs (OPEX) and their capital investment (CAPEX). Against this backdrop, legacy environments with their combination of high costs and lack of skills are rightly under threat, especially now as an x86 alternative exists. 3 Modernizing IT with bullion

4 tart BULLION: THE x86 ALTERNATIVE Thanks to their RAS features (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) and their ability to operate with minimal disruption and downtime, mainframes have long been the platform of choice for mission-critical applications. Now, bullion has shown that a x86 server can compete with them. In critical environments, bullion offers unique levels of reliability and availability, along with early warning features that anticipate potential breakdowns. The new Intel Xeon E7v2 processors provide many RAS features, including Run Sure technology a raft of methods to protect the RAM and the platform. Combined with a wide range of diagnostic resources, this allows you to anticipate problems and react appropriately. Bull has added up to several thousand control points per rack, to continuously monitor all key server components such as drives, fans and power supplies so as to reduce failures and the risk of system shutdowns. 100% memory reliability Bull has included a whole series of innovations, for 100% memory reliability. For example, Bull has developed and patented hot-plug RAM blades based on standard memory components. Depending on the hypervisor or OS being used, adding a new blade may even correspond to hot-adding memory at system level. bullion also has memory protection and migration features (RAS) implemented by Bull. For example, the Machine Check Architecture (MCA) Recovery Execution Path prevents a server crash in case of a fatal memory error, limiting the impact just to the virtual machine using the faulty block. In the same way, if several consecutive errors are detected on a memory bank (even if there is a correction on the fly), bullion will automatically migrate it to enable the faulty blade to be replaced, and the hypervisor and OS will be advised not to use the corresponding address ranges. Once the memory has been migrated, the blade can be replaced without interrupting production, and with no need to double up capacity to create a mirror. 4 Modernizing IT with bullion

5 OPENING THE DOOR TO INNOVATION TO DOOR INNOVATION Modernizing information systems is essential, to ensure that they have the openness and agility needed for innovation, without any decline in service levels. The challenge is to develop a reliable and efficient environment while keeping costs under control, but one that is flexible enough to provide additional capacity when dictated by demand. Reconciling these two extremes, bullion is establishing itself as the platform of choice for a managed innovation. Outstanding performance The introduction of the new Intel Xeon E7v2 processors is a major leap forward in the x86 world, as Intel has almost doubled the computing power of its processors and increased the cache by 25%. In addition, 15 cores and 30 threads per socket are now available for a massive boost in performance. bullion which has already been shown to be the world s fastest x86 server in the SPECint benchmark and SPECvirt tests (16 socket bullion) will especially benefit from the contribution of these new processors. bullion still offers up to 16 processors (compared with eight for the so-called glueless models), i.e. up to 240 cores in a single server. In addition, bullion offers up to 24TB of RAM: enough to satisfy the most demanding applications and overcome the limitations of glueless architectures. The range also includes a model featuring high-frequency processors, optimized for sequential processing (for example, batch jobs)....and unrivalled elasticity Scaling from 2 CPU/48GB RAM up to 16 CPU/24TB RAM, bullion is the only x86 server capable of delivering a reliable, flexible and cost-effective response to all types of data processing. Adding more computing power is now just a formality, thanks to the latest generation of the Bull Coherence Switch (BCS) for simple interconnection of up to 16 processors and the Connecting Box, a column that allows you to connect the different modules easily and without cables. Static partitioning also lets you change configurations and reallocate resources. For example, an eight-socket server can be reconfigured into four dual-socket servers using the configuration menu. By its nature, bullion is already Software Defined Hardware. RAM blades also allow for hot-add memory. This means you always have a suitable configuration and can spread your investment. With bullion, there s nothing to fear and no need to take precautions: no matter how your memory requirements change, you will always be able to adjust capacity quickly and easily. The bullion approach to elasticity: - Adjust resources to match needs - Add resources on the fly - Reallocate resources I/O elements can also be added in the form of blades, based on standardized components to minimize costs and ensure greater compatibility. Administration and maintenance are much easier with this blade system, patented by Bull. With bullion, your resources can change dynamically in line with your business and your needs. All you have to do is to: - Add memory blades to enlarge your memory footprint - Add I/O blades to boost exchange performance - Add complete modules to increase system performance. 5 Modernizing IT with bullion

6 NEW-FOUND FREEDOM To provide the resources they need to support innovation, IT Departments are looking to reduce the burden of operations, and modernizing their legacy portfolios is a great opportunity to adopt more cost-efficient technologies and methods. The x86 platform, and the use of blades based on standard memory components, delivers a clear price advantage compared with legacy environments. But this is not the only consideration. Indeed, bullion can facilitate significant direct and indirect savings throughout its lifecycle. Thanks to Bull's expertise in designing efficient platforms, bullion offers outstanding energy efficiency. An active-passive power supply cuts power consumption, and coupled with a patented Ultra Capacity Module (UCM) allows the passive power supply to start up without a break. Better still, with Bull s power supply solution, the server is protected against micro-outages, which further increases its availability. Of course, all power supplies are 80+ Platinum level certified. And lower power consumption not only means a smaller electricity bill but also contributes to the organization s Corporate Social Responsibility targets (CSR). The ability to change memory or I/O blades is not just a plus when it comes to elasticity, it also simplifies maintenance and boosts productivity in the Data Center. More generally, everything has been done to streamline operations. The components most susceptible to failure including power components, fans and disks are easily replaceable by the customer (Customer Replaceable Units). The integration into hypervisors monitoring (such as VCOPS) enables you to predict the failure of a component through the software layer. Indicators are transmitted for more effective monitoring and proactive analysis, which results in easier administration as well as simpler and more streamlined maintenance. 6 Modernizing IT with bullion

7 BULL: WORKING ALONGSIDE YOU Because IT modernization is not just a hardware issue, Bull also offers a comprehensive range of tools and services to support its customers according to their needs and circumstances. Bull Liber: for smooth, controlled migrations Migration can be a stumbling block when you re considering IT modernization. Bull has launched its Liber initiative to facilitate the porting of legacy environments. At the heart of Liber, the Migration Factory has already been used successfully on many projects, managed from start to finish in even the most sensitive environments. For example, the migration of a legacy database to PostgreSQL on the same hardware, while avoiding the limitations of the existing database. Or migrating Tuxedo to a platform that gives access to COBOL, C and C++ applications in a Java environment. One last example: carrying out a flash audit on a database environment, to determine how to gain greater freedom while reducing costs. Bull has the tools, experience and experts to make firm commitments in terms of the quality, timescales and cost of migration. Bull Service Assurance To guarantee service levels and ensure that they continually adapt to the needs of the business, Bull Service Assurance supports operational activities with end-to-end unified monitoring services and proactive support, based on a dedicated structure and industrial-scale services centers. Bull offers a catalogue of packaged and modular services, structured around three areas: unified monitoring of IT services and Data Center management; change and compatibility management; and high availability. Recognized expertise Bull has a long and rich history of experience in mainframes, Unix servers and critical systems. This rare expertise enables Bull to fully understand existing infrastructures and constraints before considering how best to modernize them. Bull offers consultancy and expert intervention to help customers map their path towards modernization. The Group s specialists can also support bullion implementations, to help customers make the most of its many advantages. Welcome to our Demo Centers If you want to form an opinion about a particular solution, nothing beats seeing it in action. That s why Bull has designed its Customer Briefing Center: to provide a welcoming environment where customers and experts can meet and exchange ideas. As well as bullion servers, the Customer Briefing Center plays host to hardware from various suppliers. Every year, it welcomes hundreds of visitors, whether for technology briefings, Proofs of Concept or benchmarking exercises. 7 Modernizing IT with bullion

8 W-bullionS-ModernisationIT-en1 Bull SAS RCS Versailles All trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Bull reserves the right to modify this document at any time without prior notice. Some offers or parts of offers described in this document may not be available locally. Please contact your local Bull correspondent to know which offers are available in your country. This document has no contractual significance. UK: Bull Maxted Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 7DZ USA: Bull, 285 Billerica Road, Chelmsford, MA Bull - Rue Jean Jaurès Les Clayes-sous-Bois - France This flyer is printed on paper containing 40% eco-certifed fibers originating from sustainably managed forests and 60% recycled fibers, in conformity with environmental regulations (ISO 14001). 8 Modernizing IT with bullion