Vblock System Foundations

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

Introduction
Introduction to Vblock System Compute
Welcome to the Introduction to
Vblock System Compute section of
the Vblock Foundations course.

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.
Page 1

Vblock System Components

Recall that Vblock Systems contain
Compute, Network, Storage,
Virtualization, and Management
technologies. In this section youll
learn about the basics of the Vblock
System Compute technology.

Learning Objectives
The objectives for this section are
listed on this page. Upon completion
of this training you will be able to
explain the function of the Compute
technology within the Vblock System.
List and explain the purpose of each
of the components of the Vblock
System Compute. And describe how
the components of the Vblock System
Compute are connected.

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Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Function of the Vblock System Computing

Function of the Vblock System Computing
In this section you will learn about the
functions performed by the Vblock
System Compute technology. But
lets begin with some interesting
computer facts!

Trivia Question: Computers

Computers continue to evolve and
they are very different today then they
were even 5 years ago. These
changes are having a dramatic affect
on companies and how they manage
theyre IT capabilities. Take a
moment and see if you can answer
this trivia question correctly.
This is an important trend in the
computer industry. The increase in
mobile computing challenges data
centers by demanding greater
technology flexibility, ability to react to
faster to changing trends, and
requiring secure data management.
As you will learn in this training,
Vblock Systems address all these
current data center demands!

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Page 3

Computers Run Software Applications

The primary function of a computer is
to run applications that perform
specific tasks and activities that are
valuable to an individual user or to an
organization. Without application
software, computers dont offer much
benefit. Software helps people
perform lots of tasks and activities
including communicating and
collaborating, managing customer
relationships, transacting or
processing business activities,
managing data and information,
performing accounting and finance,
managing projects, managing human
resources, automating tasks and
activities, and managing
manufacturing operations.

Computers You May Use

Youve probably used at least one of
these types of computersmore
likely, you probably rely on more than
one of these in your work and
personal life every day. You may not
realize it, but you have probably used
server computers as well. Unlike the
other types of computers, typical
users dont sit at or hold a server to
interact with it like a desktop, laptop,
tablet, or smart phone. Servers are
accessed through a network usually
from another computer or device.
They are made for high capacity
computing, performance and speed,
and for reliability. A server can be as
small as a laptop computer or as
large as building. The Vblock
Systems Compute technology uses server computers exclusively.

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Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Computers - Hardware and Software

Computers consist of hardware and
software. The hardware components
include a central processing unit
(CPU), memory, storage, and various
input/output devices used to
communicate with the computer.
Software includes the computer
operating system and application
software.
If youre unsure what any of these
hardware or software components
are, click on the links in blue
underlined type for more information.

Vblock System Compute

The purpose of the Vblock System
Compute is to run the applications
that a customer needs. Think of the
applications that your organization
depends on. Things like email, file
sharing, operations management,
accounting and finance systems,
enterprise management applications,
and others. These applications and
more are representative of the types
of applications that run on Vblock
Systems.
Vblock Systems contain multiple
servers, and some contain manymany servers. Each server consists
of hardware and software mentioned
on the previous slide. However, a
distinction between a regular desktop
or laptop computer, and servers in a Vblock Systems is that the servers are network based. All user
interaction with the Vblock System servers occurs over a network. You dont sit at and interact directly
with the Vblock System like you do with a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smart phone. Users access the
Vblock Systems through another computer (i.e. desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.) that is
connected to the same network.

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Page 5

Components of the Vblock System Compute

Components of the Vblock System Compute
Having discussed the basics about
the Vblock System Compute function,
lets go deeper and discuss Compute
components and the roles that each
plays.

Trivia Question
Lets start with another trivia question.
You have already learned what a
server Computer is, and that a Vblock
System can contain multiple servers.
How many servers do you think a
single Vblock System can contain?

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Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Compute Components
Now lets talk about the components
of the Vblock System Compute.
Vblock Systems utilize the Cisco
Unified Computing System (UCS) in
the Compute technology. Its
components provide all that is
necessary to load and run
applications, and connect to the other
parts of the Vblock System.
Vblock System that utilize blade
technology compute components
include compute servers, server
chasses, and Fabric interconnects (or
FIs). Rack mount servers are
singular units and do not use a
chasses, fabric extenders, of fabric
interconnects.
Click on and review the content of each box to the left to learn more about each of the components of the
Cisco UCS.

There are two categories of Cisco

UCS servers used in the Vblock
System models. They include blade
servers and rack mount servers.
Cisco UCS Blade Servers are use in
Vblock System 320 (and soon to be
released Vblock System 340) and
Vblock System 720 which are the two
more powerful higher capacity Vblock
Systems. A blade server connects to
a power supply and network when it
is inserted into a blade server
chassis. Power cords and network
cables are attached to the blade
chassis, not the individual blade
servers. Connections are made to a
blade server when it is appropriately
inserted into the chassis slot. Blade
servers in the Vblock Systems are stateless servers, which will be define in a moment.

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Page 7

Cisco UCS rack mounted servers are

used in Vblock System 100 and
Vblock System 200 which are the two
lower capacity lower budget Vblock
System alternatives. Rack mounted
servers are secured with screws in a
computer system rack and require a
power cord and network cables, and
therefore are more labor intensive to
install and maintain than blade
servers. And while the blade servers
are stateless servers, the rack
mounted servers are statefull servers.
Lets discuss what these are and why
they are significant.

Each of the Cisco UCS blades used

in a Vblock System has a Virtual
Interface Card or VIC. Some people
refer to these as a mezzanine card.
The VIC is a network interface device
which is used to connect the server to
a LAN or SAN. The VIC provides the
connectivity so that the blade can
communicate with other components
of the Vblock System as well as with
networks outside of the Vblock
System. Later, youll learn more
about the features of the VIC that are
specifically designed for virtualization.
Generally speaking, stateless blade
servers are easier to configure and
maintain, while statefull rack mounted
servers are less expense. Stateless
blade servers do not have a Media Access Control (MAC) addresses or World Wide Names (WWN)
assigned to their VICs or network interface devices. MAC addresses and WWNs are used to identify
network interface devices on LANs (Ethernet networks) and SANs respectively. Typically, MAC
addresses and WWNs have to be manually assigned during the process of configuring a device. But with
blades servers, the MAC addresses and WWNs are assigned to the blade automatically when it is
inserted into a blade chassis. Another factor that makes these servers easier to manage is that all of the
blades that reside in a blade chassis are managed by the same instance of the UCS manager. Also,
replacing a blade is as easy as sliding out the old blade and inserting the replacement into the blade
chassis. No power cord or network cables are required.
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Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Statefull rack mounted servers have the MAC addresses and WWNs burned onto the VIC network
interface cards on each server. Because of this, network configuration is required when the server is
added. While these servers are less expensive, they are more labor intensive to configure and maintain.
Each statefull server is managed by its own instance of the UCS Manager which means they are
managed one at a time. Finally, installation and maintenance requires unscrewing the server from the
computer rack and un-cabling the server, which is time consuming.

Vblock System servers contain both

CPUs and memory just like the
servers you learned about earlier.
Depending on the requirements of the
applications it will run, a server in a
Vblock System can be customized.
The number of CPUs, the CPU speed,
and the amount of memory can all be
customized within parameters
established for Vblock Systems.
Vblock System servers DO NOT
contain storage drives. Youll learn
later that the storage drives in Vblock
Systems are contained in the storage
component of the system. Because
these servers contain no storage, their
operating systems reside in the
Vblock Systems storage. When
servers are turned on (or when they boot), they do so using the operating system loaded in Vblock
System storage. As you will learn later, this process is called booting from SAN because the operating
system is accessed over a Storage Area Network or SAN. The blade servers come in two different
widths, half width and full width. Half Width blades consume half a chassis row, while full width blades
consume a full row. Youll learn more about blade server chasses in a moment.
Rack mount servers come in one standard width that fits in a standard sized compute rack. The height of
a computer rack varies and each level in a rack is called a rack unit, or RU. The height of a computer
rack is measured in RUs. For example a computer rack with 42 levels is said to have a height of 42 RUs.

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Page 9

The Vblock System solutions utilizes

the Cisco UCS blade server chassis.
The chassis itself has eight blade
slots that can contain eight half with
blades, four full width blades, or a
combination of both half width and full
width blades. Each chassis includes
two fabric extenders, or FEXs. The
fabric extenders provide network
connectivity between the VIC on the
blade server and the UCS fabric
interconnect which you will learn
more about next.
The chassis contains multiple power
supplies which power the blade
servers, as well as cooling
components to keep them from
overheating. The chassis is designed with a number of intentional redundancies, meaning there are
several power supplies, cooling fans and data paths, so if one of these breaks down others provide
uninterrupted functionality. Because of this, the Vblock UCS compute is described as having no single
point of failure.
The Vblock Systems 320 and 720 can be configured with a variety of chassis configurations with some
models having 2. The number of chassis a Vblock System can support depends on the configuration of
Fabric Interconnects it contains. You will learn about Fabric Interconnects next.

Two Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects

are included as part of the Vblock
System compute. These provide
connectivity from the compute to
other parts of the Vblock System and
to the customers networks. They are
configured in pairs for performance
and load balancing as well as to
provide high availability.
There are two models used in Vblock
Systems. They differ by the number
of ports they contain and by the
expansion modules available. Ports
are outlets where you plug in cabling
from other devices like the Blade
Server Chassis Fabric Extenders.
Expansion modules are separate
devices that can attached to a Fabric Interconnect to provide additional ports.
Note that UCS fabric interconnects are only used in the Vblock System with blade servers. Vblock
Systems that use rack mount servers have no fabric interconnects.

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Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Vblock System Compute Connectivity

Vblock System Compute Layer Connectivity
You should now have a pretty good
concept now about the Vblock
System components and what they
do. So lets go deeper and learn
about how these component connect
to each other to form the Vblock
System Compute.

Blade Server Connectivity

Well start by looking at a Cisco UCS
blade server chassis with four full
width blade servers. As you learned
earlier, these can also configured with
eight half width blade servers, or if a
customer prefers, they can mix and
match narrow blade and wide blade
servers. Each Cisco UCS blade
chassis includes two FEX cards or
fabric extenders. The fabric extenders
provide an internal connection directly
and to the virtual interface cards on
each one of the blade servers.
Extending out from the fabric
extenders we connect directly to the
fabric interconnects. Notice in this
diagram that each connects to both
fabric extenders, and each fabric
extender connects directly to one
fabric interconnect. Therefore, each blade is connected to both fabric interconnects for redundancy.
From the fabric interconnects we connect directly to the Vblock System network technology which
provides the ability to communicate with the customers network as well as to the Vblock System storage
components.

Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.

Page 11

Rack Mount Server Connectivity

Rack mount servers are used in
smaller Vblock Systems. As youll
learn later, these systems are
designed and engineered for data
centers with smaller budgets that do
not require the highest levels of
compute, network, and storage
capacity. These systems do not
have fabric interconnects, fabric
extenders, blade servers, or blade
server chassis. Instead, these
systems contain rack mount servers
which are connected directly to
network switches in the Vblock
System network.
For now, thats all you need to know
about connectivity. Later when we
talk about the network and storage
technologies you will learn more about how all the Vblock System components are connected.

Summary
Congratulations! Youve finished this
section of the training. In this section
you learned about the purpose and
function of the Compute technology in
a Vblock System. You also learned
about the components that constitute
the Compute components as well as
the purpose and function of each.
And finally you learned about the
Compute connectivity.
In the next section youll be
introduced to the Vblock System
network technology.

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Introduction to Vblock Systems Compute

2014 VCE Company LLC, All rights reserved.