Visibility in the Modern Data Center // Solution Overview

Transcription

1 Introduction The past two decades have seen dramatic shifts in data center design. As application complexity grew, server sprawl pushed out the walls of the data center, expanding both the physical square footage as well as consumption of the most expensive part of the data center energy. So the focus turned to high density computing, virtualization of servers, networking and storage, and more efficient cooling technologies. Technology advancements led to continued efforts to consolidate data center resources. Today, data center transformation efforts are concentrated on the services offered from the data center and data center analytics that lead to the streamlining of service delivery. Automation and orchestration are the key components of today s transformation efforts. By turning to converged infrastructure solutions that combine computing, networking, storage, software, and orchestration products in a single package, organizations have been able to make huge strides toward highly efficient and optimized service delivery from their data center. But a major gap exists across all vendors of converged infrastructure solutions, which is real-time visibility into the traffic and transaction flows where these infrastructure stacks have become physically separated and logically isolated from the tools used to monitor, analyze, and secure the computing environment. These technologies have driven advancements in reliability, as well as helped to create a modular and scalable standard reference data center architecture. But this architecture that has been widely adopted remains absent of a critical layer a visibility layer. Pervasive Visibility is Needed More Than Ever in Today s Data Center The IT infrastructure tools industry has grown into a multibillion-dollar marketplace. But as the data center has become transformed and virtualized, a majority of these tools remain provisioned and implemented with limited visibility to the information required to accurately report on activity and adequately secure the data center. The evolution of the following technologies has been a key to the genesis of the next generation data center: High density and highly power-efficient computing Server and network virtualization Increase of speed and port density of networking devices Figure 1: Limited visibility for tools The technologies listed above have made that missing layer even more apparent. Without a visibility solution layer in place, network monitoring, security, and analysis tools are unable to see inside the virtualized network, encapsulated protocols, and virtual switches. Nor are they able to see inside isolated silos of IT. This lack of visibility is depicted in Figure 1. In addition, as the converged infrastructure becomes more popular, implementation is often associated with network upgrades from 1Gb to 10Gb and higher. The tools in use are often an 1

2 afterthought, and a forgotten expense. Ten gigabit networks transport 50 times more traffic than 1Gb networks, and the cost to upgrade a 1Gb tool to 10Gb is often five or more times the original cost of the 1Gb tool itself. These and other challenges clearly indicate a visibility layer solution is needed to act as a centralized fabric that delivers the relevant data from various networks under an administrative domain, including campus networks, branch/remote office networks, private cloud, or SDN islands that an enterprise or service provider may have, to a centralized set of tools that are connected to the Unified Visibility Fabric. The Gigamon Unified Visibility Fabric architecture has become an enterprise platform of choice for a more efficient, reliable, and scalable use of the monitoring, analytics, and security tools in the data center. The Unified Visibility Fabric architecture and its associated products are leveraged in data centers worldwide to provide reliable transport of network and server traffic to industry-leading tools used by the enterprise for critical systems monitoring and business decision making. At the center of the Unified Visibility Fabric architecture are Gigamon s Flow Mapping technology and GigaSMART applications running on carrier-class, purpose-built fabric nodes. Gigamon s fabric nodes are designed on the principles of port density, high volume packet processing, and scalability to fit any size of data center infrastructure. From complete visibility in a box solutions to top-of-rack and end-of-row product choices, Gigamon s solutions lead the market by delivering traffic to connected tools at one, 10, 40, and 100 gigabits per second with zero packet loss through Gigamon s patented Flow Mapping engine. Server and network virtualization technologies are at the heart of converged infrastructure solution stacks. As more and more applications are delivered from within the virtualized infrastructure, visibility is required across the entire virtual fabric and converged platforms. Some converged infrastructure solution vendors void their warranties if their racked and shipped solutions are modified by the end user in any way. The Gigamon Visibility Fabric architecture extends visibility into these solutions without Figure 2: Gigamon Visibility Fabric embedded in converged infrastructure 2

3 requiring physical changes of these solutions, including the internal cabling. By using the GigaVUE-VM virtual fabric nodes, Gigamon s Unified Visibility Fabric architecture extends visibility into the virtual network and virtual server fabric for converged infrastructure solutions and virtual networks. Simplified Approach to Pervasive Visibility in Modern IT Infrastructure Extending visibility throughout the data center, across all islands of IT including the virtual server and virtual network, is a simple matter of deploying right-sized Gigamon components, such as the high-density GigaVUE-HD4 or GigaVUE-HD8 fabric node as a central aggregation point for SPAN and/or TAP ports. Aggregation can be further optimized, based on the scale required, with the GigaVUE-TA1 as a top-of-rack or mid/end-of-row concentrator. Using network TAPs is the most reliable method of accessing 100 percent of the data flowing across the wire, and Gigamon s passive TAP technology provides data access at line rate for 1Gb, 10Gb, 40Gb, and 100Gb network links. This simplified approach to delivering tool visibility in the converged infrastructure stack is illustrated in Figure 2. When traffic is delivered via SPAN or TAP to the GigaVUE node, the traffic is processed through the patented Flow Mapping engine at wire speed and can be optimized to meet the specific needs of the various tools being used to monitor, analyze, and secure the data center. See the list of specific features in the Architecture Advantages section. Gaining Visibility in the Virtual Server and Network Fabric Gigamon s Flow Mapping and packet filtering technologies have been extended into the virtual infrastructure with the GigaVUE-VM, a native virtual machine that provides a virtual switch TAP for the vsphere Distributed Switch and the Cisco 1000v virtual switch. With the GigaVUE-VM deployed, network administrators and their counterparts on the server administration team are able to easily direct copies of real-time virtual network traffic to the same tools being used to monitor and analyze the physical data center elements. All copied traffic is encapsulated and delivered to an associated GigaVUE hardware fabric node over a network tunnel, where further traffic optimization can be performed prior to final delivery of the traffic to specific tools. Deployment of the GigaVUE-VM is referenced in Figure 3 below and in Figure 4. Existing capabilities within GigaVUE devices include features for decapsulating MPLS and VXLAN traffic, filtering based on VN-Tag ID, and tunneling of captured traffic from within the virtual infrastructure or from remote data centers to the centralized tool environment. Figure 3: GigaVUE VM extends visibility into virtual network Infrastructure 3

4 Figure 4: Visibility in Cisco Nexus 1000v deployments with GigaVUE-VM Visibility Fabric nodes Simplification Through Tool Consolidation and Centralized Management As mentioned earlier, automation and orchestration of the data center are core architecture principles in any modern data center design. The legacy approach to tool deployment defies efforts of the enterprise to centralize and consolidate management and administration of in- or out-of-band tools. Gigamon s data center solutions include the latest technology for centralized management of all GigaVUE fabric nodes, the GigaVUE FM Fabric Manager. GigaVUE-FM is a central point for managing each of the GigaVUE Visibility Fabric nodes both physical and virtual. GigaVUE-FM is also integrated to VMware vsphere server v5.x. As visibility rules are defined and mapped to specific virtual machine network ports, those rules and maps follow the virtual machine and remain in effect even after a vmotion event occurs. Simplified management also enables the bridging of gaps that may exist between administration teams. For instance, the GigaVUE-FM enables network administrators to configure visibility into the virtual switch without disrupting workflows of the server administration team, resulting in faster turn-around times for change requests. Architecture Advantages Volume: From 10Gb and 40Gb to 100Gb, Gigamon solutions address the rising volume of data Port Density: Highly port-dense 1Gb, 10Gb, 40Gb, and 100Gb appliance and chassis-based solutions Scale: Carrier-grade, GigaVUE H Series chassisbased solutions with a modular design and interconnecting nodes create a Visibility Fabric architecture that can offer considerable ROI savings and a platform on which to build a monitoring infrastructure that can address today s and tomorrow s needs Feature Advantages Flow Mapping : Reduce the total amount of traffic going into each tool, as well as load balance across tools to avoid oversubscription and extend the life of your tools GigaSMART : Modify, manipulate and transform monitored data packets such that it is exactly what your tools need to see. No more wasted parsing or hand formatting just data suited to each connected tool Breakthrough Traffic Control: Gigamon has announced the development of an advancement that transforms Big Data into Manageable Data for the enterprise. Monitor data on big pipes, but on a smaller scale, and deliver it to the tools retaining its stateful condition with session awareness 4

5 Figure 5: Visibility Fabric as the 4th Layer of the Standard Reference Network Architecture Big Data Requires Big Visibility Mobility, video, and the proliferation of smart devices and applications are just a few factors that are driving the growth of East/West traffic in the enterprise data center. Many data center managers have already scaled to 10Gb core networks and are now scaling those links to 40Gb and 100Gb. And the upgrades in interface speeds do not equate to a 1:1 increase in traffic, but commonly are considered to represent growth of about 50 times the interface speed due to improvement in bus designs and multi-channel adapters. The features and benefits of Gigamon s solutions enable tools that are unable to meet these increasing link speeds to maintain visibility of the infrastructure in spite of increasing speeds and volumes of data. Standard Reference Architecture Requires a 4th Layer Visibility Network architects have been following a playbook that specified three network layers core, aggregation and access. With mass market adoption of virtualization and converged infrastructure solutions, this playbook model leaves data center, application, and data analytics in the dark. A critical fourth layer is required. Gigamon provides the solution for enterprise data center architects to create this fourth layer the Visibility Fabric layer that extends visibility for the monitoring tools to see inside the virtual spaces, and scale and transform monitoring solutions as the network is upgraded and applications move to the hypervisor. The Visibility Fabric layer is designed for the new world of Big Data, providing pervasive visibility, awareness, and control from the converged edge to the private cloud. Delivering Visibility as a Service to Departments Within the Enterprise VaaS As the volume of data in the enterprise increases, IT infrastructure complexity increases. More and more tools are required to monitor performance and security. The IT department faces new challenges from its business stakeholders to deliver a larger variety of services on-demand through end-user portals, with minimal disruptions and IT delivery staff. In order to meet these demands, the Gigamon Visibility Fabric can deliver to IT sub-teams and internal organizations Visibility as a Service. 5

6 Figure 6: Visibility as a Service Overview IT Operations is often organized into groups that support specific business functions, such as finance, supply-chain management, marketing, and sales, or various IT teams such as the network security, desktop server, or application performance team. A Visibility Fabric architecture enables each of these sub-teams the capability to deliver analytics and reporting to their specific business stakeholders. For example, the Finance IT group may be tasked with reporting on database transaction performance, while the Marketing IT group has a need to analyze customer experience monitoring on the company s public website. With the Gigamon Visibility Fabric solution deployed, a single platform exists for the IT Operations team to allocate credentials to each business-it group, whereby each may obtain visibility into the infrastructure according to their unique business needs. As IT Operations units deploy Visibility as a Service and take advantage of Flow Mapping features, map rules operate independently of other departments map rules, and ensure that each business unit only receives data pertinent to their business needs, helping to increase efficiencies and protect against compliance and privacy issues. 6

7 Figure 7: The Gigamon Unified Visibility Fabric architecture Visibility Fabric For Today, Prepared for the Future The Gigamon Unified Visibility Fabric architecture has been created by the experts at Gigamon for the experts in the Data Center. The four-layer reference architecture follows the concepts of Data Center standard reference architectures, which today direct all paths of Data Center evolution towards the transformation of data center servers, networks, and storage into services offered to meet the needs of each business function within the enterprise. The Unified Visibility Fabric architecture is built on the following framework: Services Layer Aggregation, filtering, replication, and intelligent packet modification which are the core functions of the GigaVUE fabric nodes Management Layer GigaVUE-FM delivers a central provisioning point across physical, virtual and other elements in today s Software Defined Data Center architecture Orchestration Layer Offers programmability, automation, and tool integration for future advancements in data center technology Applications Layer Monitoring tools can perform more efficiently with applications like de-duplication, and in the future with intelligent flow-based sampling enabled by FlowVUE About Gigamon Gigamon solutions have been deployed globally across enterprise, data centers, and service providers, including over half of the Fortune 100 and many government and federal agencies. A Gigamon Unified Visibility Fabric architecture has become a data center platform of choice providing visibility throughout the core, distribution, and access layers for more efficient, reliable, and scalable use of the monitoring, analytics, and security tools. By building in a visibility layer into the data center standard reference architecture, organizations are able to provide reliable transport of network and server traffic to industry-leading tools used for critical systems monitoring and business decision making. Learn more: Gigamon and the Gigamon logo are trademarks of Gigamon in the United States and/or other countries. Gigamon trademarks can be found at All other trademarks are the trademarks of their respective owners. Gigamon reserves the right to change, modify, transfer, or otherwise revise this publication without notice. Gigamon 598 Gibraltar Drive Milpitas, CA PH /13