HP Scales Networking Tech for Cloud Scale

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Cloud computing relies on the ability of networks to scale effectively. HP is now expanding its network scalability efforts in a series of new efforts announced today.

The new HP Ethernet Virtual Interconnect (EVI) is a technology that enables up to eight different data centers located in different geographical locations to easily be interconnected. The EVI technology is a software upgrade for HP FlexFabric core switches.

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In contrast with simply moving virtual machines from one data center to another with a software-based solution like VMware’s vMotion, the EVI approach is somewhat different.

“EVI delivers layer 2 routing-based extension to enable virtual machine migration, workload mobility, disaster recovery across data center without any changes on the networking infrastructure,” Kash Shaikh, director of marketing for networking at HP, told Datamation.

The EVI solution is able to scale up to 4,000 VLANs and works with HP’s IRF (Intelligent Resilient Framework). IRF is a technology that enables the virtualization of multiple switches. With IRF, multiple physical switches can be abstracted so they can all be managed as one logical switch.

“EVI automatically works with IRF to achieve HA and resilience without any extra provisioning,” Shaikh said.

From a management perspective, HP’s Intelligent Management Center (IMC) software is used to manage data center interconnect as a single-pane-of glass management platform across virtual and physical networking environments.

The other benefit of EVI is that it’s not just a point-in-time solution for snapshotting purposes. Shaikh noted that EVI could be used for both real-time or non-real time purposes.

Multitenant Device Context (MDC)

Cloud scalability isn’t just about scaling out network switches; there are management and operational challenges, which is where the new HP Multitenant Device Context technology comes into play.

“HP Multitenant Device Context (MDC) enables a single-cloud network to support multiple enterprise departments,” Shaikh explained. “HP MDC partitions a single physical switch into multiple logical devices, each allocated its own resources and configurations.”

Shaikh added that MDC delivers the programmability needed for Software Defined Networking (SDN). MDC is supported on HP’s 12500 series of modular switches.

Storage

The last piece of HP’s new networking cloud expansion is the area of storage. The new HP StoreVirtual VSA is a software-based virtual storage appliance. StoreVirtual VSA can run on any x86 server and supports both Microsoft Hyper-V as well VMware vSphere.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.