Leaders of midsize businesses face a broad range of challenges, from delivery of expense control to top-notch customer service to service innovation. Sought-after growth can also bring challenges by stretching the organization's existing infrastructure.
Cisco® has long advocated the use of IT to address these challenges, employing it as tool to improve efficiency, facilitate the movement of information within the organization, and provide a platform for innovation.
To make these benefits more broadly available, Cisco has developed a data center IT framework specifically suited to the needs of midsize businesses. This flexible architecture can be adapted to an organization's specific needs. In recognition of the unique business challenges that midsize businesses face, the framework is designed to allow incremental investment as business needs grow and at the same time offer long-term investment protection.
The Cisco solution offers a number of tangible benefits to organizations:
• Helps ensure that business-critical applications and operations are not adversely affected by slow network performance, poor reliability, and downtime
• Reduces costs by enabling consolidation of costly branch-office servers and storage and backup infrastructure in a centrally managed location (the data center) while maintaining LAN-like performance for applications and data access
• Simplifies data protection and regulatory compliance by enabling centralization of storage management, backup, retention, and recovery procedures
• Reduces network operating expenses and the overall total cost of ownership (TCO) for the network
Cisco Data Center Network Architecture
The data center is the place where your business-critical applications are located. Every organization has a data center; however, the scope and complexity of the data center changes as the business grows and evolves. Effective planning and design can help ensure that the data center continues to provide the performance, resiliency, and scalability that the business requires.
Cisco advocates a strategy of incremental investment in the data center: Begin by addressing current problem areas and add capabilities and capacity as the business grows. An effective strategy addresses tactical challenges and also encompasses long-term considerations.
For instance, flexibility is a crucial aspect of data center design, because it underlies the capability to quickly deploy and support new applications. A flexible architecture that can easily support new applications and services can produce a significant competitive advantage. Designing a flexible architecture requires thoughtful consideration of such factors as port density, uplink bandwidth, true server capacity, and oversubscription.
A data center that can grow and scale with the business is another primary design objective. Migrating from a handful of servers and network devices to hundreds or even thousands of devices while maintaining business operations requires both a well-designed network architecture and a solid implementation plan.
The data center network framework outlined in this document provides the foundation for such a strategy that is modular and extensible. It establishes a solid infrastructure foundation, which can then be augmented as needs for capacity and capabilities evolve.
The proposed network growth and implementation strategy helps ensure the availability of business-critical network functions and services while recognizing the cost-sensitive nature of an emerging data center facility. Because investment protection is also a design criteria, the recommended the network and service equipment is used throughout the growth cycle of the data center.
The evolution of the data center network is divided into three stages:
• Foundation stage
– The initial stage focuses on creation of the core data center infrastructure. It is often defined by physical consolidation of resources and the implementation of basic services such as security.
– The objective of this phase is to deliver baseline functions in areas such as security, availability, and performance.
– The design in this stage is built upon fixed-configuration IP and semi-modular Fibre Channel switching with security, load-balancing, and application optimization services.
• Growth stage
– This stage focuses on support for the growth of a thriving business.
– The objective of this stage is to support expanding infrastructure (storage servers) as well as a growing number of applications and servers.
– Design in this stage is built upon fully modular IP and fully modular Fibre Channel switching with choices of form factor for security, load-balancing, and application optimization services.
• Innovation stage
– This stage focuses on support for innovation to produce new revenue streams and reduce costs.
– The objective of this phase is to make the data center infrastructure a platform for launching new services, reducing costs, and supporting innovation.
– Design in this phase involves fully modular IP and fully modular Fibre Channel switching with choices of form factor for security, load-balancing, and application optimization services, as well as the design option to split the IP switching tier into a core and aggregation tier and an access tier.
Stage 1: Foundation Stage (Figure 1)
Fixed-Configuration Layer 2 and 3 Switching with Services
This model is a low-cost entry-level topology for relatively few servers and applications (50 to 200 servers). It offers nonblocking, wire-speed processing on all Gigabit Ethernet ports with either Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks for IP networking and a semi-modular storage area network (SAN) switch for Fibre Channel networking. A combined firewall and load-balancing appliance along with WAN optimization to remote-office sites make this the ideal entry point for building the first true data center for your business.
Figure 1. Topology for a Small to Medium-Sized Data Center
Stage 2: Growth Stage (Figure 2)
Modular Layer 2 and 3 Switching with Services
This logical next step allows for greater numbers of servers and applications (100 to 500 servers) as well as integrated firewall and load-balancing services. It uses a fully modular and fully redundant SAN switch offering multiprotocol support of Fibre Channel, Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI), and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) protocols. These features combined with WAN bandwidth savings approaching 90 percent, achievable using Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), make this model a powerful step toward a world-class, highly available data center.
Figure 2. Topology for a Large Data Center
Stage 3: Innovation Stage (Figure 3)
Pinnacle Data Center
As growing IT demands and increasing numbers of applications dictate larger-scale data center networks, a tiered network model provides the scalable means to provide nonstop networking. The pinnacle data center model divides the IP network into two tiers; an access layer, and a combined core and aggregation layer. By making use of both the equipment already purchased (Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series Switches, Cisco Catalyst 4948 Switch, Cisco MDS 9500 Multilayer Director, and associated service equipment) and the staff expertise already in house, this model provides a smart and efficient way to quickly expand the network infrastructure to support application growth.
Figure 3. Topology with Access Layer for a Large Commercial Data Center
Cisco Data Center Product Portfolio
Data Center Switching
The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series is the Cisco flagship switching platform. Although usually associated with enterprise-class data centers, the smaller chassis is especially well suited to the midsize data center framework. Because of its modular nature, this platform enables businesses to easily add capacity as needs grow. Because the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series offers a full portfolio of service modules, it also simplifies the task of implementing network services in a flexible, cost-effective manner.
Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series Switches are designed and optimized for the data center and top-of-rack aggregation. They are ideal for data center deployments requiring wire-speed, top-of-rack aggregation for servers and for customers who expect resiliency, security, and scalability. The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch is ideal for data centers where the switch can aggregate connections from many servers and send traffic over a 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone. This switch also provides outstanding security features.
Data Center Storage Networking
Cisco storage networking solutions range from cost-effective, low-end fabric switches that offer a pay-as-you-grow model, to high-end director-class switches. The Cisco storage networking family offers a consistent and rich set of intelligent services, including virtual SAN (VSAN) for virtual fabrics, inter-VSAN routing, and multiprotocol support (FCIP, iSCSI, and so on), designed to meet the challenges of the rapid growth in data.
Faced with increasing data growth and the need to better protect and manage shared information assets, IT managers are increasingly turning to a shared storage approach using SAN technology. A November 2006 ESG Research survey of 202 IT managers in companies with 1000 or fewer employees revealed that moving from direct-attached storage to a shared SAN approach delivered significant benefits.
Of special value to midsize data centers are SAN management tools for the Cisco MDS 9000 family. Tools such as Cisco Fabric Manager and Cisco Quick Configuration Wizard enable fast and easy SAN configuration, operations, and support, allowing IT staff to handle SAN operations and management without the need to bring in outside SAN expertise and thereby lowering TCO.
"Traditional SAN deployment and administration can be time consuming and requires significant levels of expertise that administrators at small or medium-sized businesses simply don't have... The Cisco Quick Configuration Wizard enables fast and easy initial SAN configuration that connects servers to storage in minutes, allowing IT staff to complete the task without the need to bring in outside SAN expertise"
-ESG Lab Validation Report, Enterprise Strategy Group, November 2006
The Cisco MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors provide industry-leading availability, scalability, security, and management. Layering a rich set of intelligent features onto a high-performance, protocol-independent switch fabric, the Cisco MDS 9500 Series addresses the stringent requirements of data center storage environments: uncompromising high availability, security, scalability, ease of management, and transparent integration of new technologies for extremely flexible data center SAN solutions.
Cisco introduced the Cisco MDS 9000 SAN-OS Software based Cisco MDS 9124 Multilayer Fabric Switch as an entry-level, easy-to-use fabric switch with enterprise-class capabilities at an affordable price. The Cisco MDS 9124 combines the field-tested and reliable operating system used in the Cisco MDS 9500 Series directors with a new wizard for simplified configuration and a pay-as-you-grow licensing model supporting up to 24 line-rate ports of affordable 4-Gbps throughput.
The Cisco MDS 9124 is competitively priced and supports enterprise-class features such as VSANs, PortChannels, nondisruptive code upgrade, redundant power supplies, security (authentication, authorization, and accounting [AAA], role-based access control [RBAC], etc.), and extensive troubleshooting and diagnostic functions. By offering advanced storage networking capabilities at affordable price points, the Cisco MDS 9124 enables organizations of all sizes to achieve the benefits of intelligent SANs. The Cisco MDS 9124 can serve as the foundation for small, standalone SANs or as an edge switch in larger core-edge SAN infrastructures.
Application Networking Services
Because business processes and application architectures are becoming more networkcentric and networks are handling a greater variety of applications (Web 2.0, service-oriented architecture [SOA], etc.) and network-based services (IP telephony, video, collaboration, etc.), Cisco has developed a portfolio application networking services to help ensure optimal interaction between the network and the applications and services that employees and customers depend upon.
Cisco Wide Area Application Services
Cisco WAAS offers ideal tool for medium-sized companies that want to reduce operational expenses while also increasing security and business resilience. Cisco WAAS provides employees in branch offices with near-LAN-speed access to centrally hosted applications, storage, and rich media. Centralizing these resources reduces costs, promoting higher resource utilization, simplifying backup and other management functions, and eliminating the need for local devices and IT staff in the branch office. The centralized resources are also easier to secure and to back up and restore.
Cisco WAAS applications are delivered through a Cisco Wide Area Application Engine (WAE). Although the Cisco WAE is available as a standalone appliance, the ideal solution is to deploy the Cisco WAE as a network module in a Cisco Integrated Services Router.
Figure 4. Example of the Cisco WAAS Solution in Action
The Cisco Integrated Services Router approach offers a number of benefits:
• WAN optimization closely integrated with the WAN router
• Consolidated Cisco Integrated Services Router platform for Cisco WAAS, security, and voice in addition to routing and switching, providing a single-box branch solution
• Investment protection on the Cisco Integrated Services Router
• Available network module slots that can be filled with Cisco WAAS network modules
• Lower cost of deployment, training, support, and maintenance
• Reduced resource demands on costly rack space and power and cooling systems
Cisco WAAS is a powerful application delivery, acceleration, and WAN optimization solution. Unlike traditional WAN optimization technologies, it also integrates transparently within customers' networks, preserving TCP information to maintain functions such as security, quality of service (QoS), visibility, and monitoring end to end. For more information about Cisco WAAS Software, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/waas.
Cisco Application Control Engine Appliances
Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) Appliances family was created to give IT departments more control over the application infrastructure so they can more easily manage, secure, and improve application service across the extended enterprise.
Companies are currently facing a number of business trends and challenges:
• Increasing business pressure to improve the reliability and quality of applications while also reducing costs
• The need to deploy and manage applications with differing operational needs
• The use of multiple point products to address the worst challenges, increasing data center complexity
• Security and compliance issues that place more stringent constraints on how IT can respond
Cisco ACE delivers scalability, availability, application acceleration, breakthrough application security, and a way to simplify the application infrastructure overall at a single point in the network:
• Centralized control for IT over the deployment and management of application service while allowing individual groups to administer their own application instances: The capability to manage 250 virtual partitions, which incorporate Layer 2 to 7 services, within a single physical device plus RBAC, workflow management, and rollback capability help simplify management and reduce costs.
• Industry-leading application and device performance: 16-Gbps throughput and 345,000 sustained connection setups per second to handle large-scale operations plus unique WAN latency and bandwidth reduction capabilities facilitate optimal end-user response times across the network.
• Rich levels of application and network security: Bidirectional support for content inspection, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and decryption, and transaction logging for application security forensics help ensure security.
Conclusion
Cisco delivers comprehensive data center architectures designed to meet the specific needs of midsize businesses, building on the experience gained in building networks for the biggest and most demanding customers.
This flexible, extensible framework is calibrated to match the functional and business needs of today's medium-sized businesses. The architecture is designed to grow incrementally to meet increased demands for capacity and capability without needlessly tying up capital. With its proven history of investment protection, the Cisco data center architecture also helps ensure that organizations continue to earn a solid return on their investments.
