CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Continuity of Business Operations 1
An Expensive Proposition 2
High Availability Made Easy 2
What is Virtualization? 2
What is Unstoppable computing? 3
How Does It Work? 4
Flexible and Scalable 4
UNSTOPPABLE COMPUTING
INTRODUCTION
Regardless of the size of your business, you require an IT infrastructure that is continuously available. You rely on your network servers to share your business-critical files, applications, and data, as well as to host your email and Web environments. In other words, your network is the backbone of your entire operation. Any problem with server hardware or a critical application means unplanned downtime and a loss of productivity costing you time and money.
Server failures that occur during working hours can bring productivity to a complete standstill, and often prompt business owners to send employees home for the remainder of the day. On the other hand, failures that occur outside of business hours require somebody to drive to the office on a weekend, or in the middle of the night, to investigate and attempt to resolve the problem. Either way, downtime has a negative impact on your organization, with significant direct and indirect costs.
CONTINUITY OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS
High availability refers to a system that continuously functions, providing uninterrupted access to the company’s business- critical data and network resources. Achieving high availability requires
multiple redundant servers, which are configured in such a way that a secondary server takes over all functionality in the event that the primary server fails. For example, a physical server may host your office productivity tools, customer relationship management application, accounting software, and other software applications you require to effectively run your business. A separate, identical server would be configured to host the same applications, and would be updated throughout the day, to reflect any and all changes from the first server. Therefore, if the primary server were to experience a failure, the second server could take over its duties, quickly and efficiently, with minimal impact to normal business operations.
This redundant configuration would be repeated for every server in your network, to ensure that no server failure would cause a significant business interruption. The ideal goal for high availability is to reduce or altogether eliminate downtime for all critical business functions. With a highly available network, businesses can avoid fatal crashes, and keep their businesses running
AN EXPENSIVE PROPOSITION
Whether you are a small business without dedicated IT resources, or a medium-sized business with a small IT staff that is already stretched thin, continuously managing your corporate network can be a difficult, expensive proposition. For businesses with multiple sites, the task is even more daunting, since the equipment is typically physically separated from those who are required to manage it effectively.
In addition to the IT resource constraints, the hardware and software required to achieve and
maintain a highly available infrastructure can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars well out of reach for small-and medium-sized businesses.
And with as many as 10 physical servers comprising the core infrastructure of most businesses, the expertise and bandwidth required to configure, manage, and maintain the environment seems unrealistic for all but the largest of enterprises. As a result, most small- and medium-sized
businesses simply make do with what they have, and deal reactively with outages when they occur putting their network assets at extraordinary risk for a catastrophic failure
UNSTOPPABLE COMPUTING: HIGH AVAILABILITY MADE EASY
Lenovo and VMware® have partnered to develop the ideal solution to this quandary, making it easy and affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses to build and manage a highly available IT environment. Unlike a traditional highly available infrastructure, which requires a duplicate of each server in the environment and enterprise-grade routers and switches to effectively manage all network traffic, the two technology leaders have developed a solution called Unstoppable
Computing, which provides the same type of functionality for a small business environment, using as few as two servers.
With Unstoppable Computing, you can:
1. Have a highly available infrastructure, for increased server and application uptime
2. Employ leading virtualization technology, which enables your entire network infrastructure to be run on one physical server
3. Protect your business-critical data with proven storage technology
4. Benefit from automatic failover, for a “no touch” solution to get your business back up and running
WHAT IS VIRTUALIZATION?
Simply stated, virtualization is a technology that partitions a section of a computer or server, and then controls that section separately from the rest of the device. Often referred to as a computer within a computer, the partition executes programs as if it were its own physical machine. In fact, the partition, also known as a “virtual machine”, or “VM”, is capable of running its own applications, processes, and even a separate operating system from the rest of the computer.
Virtualization is becoming an increasingly popular technology; due to the many benefits it provides organizations of all sizes. Most businesses utilize a dedicated server model, in which each network server is utilized exclusively for one purpose such as file sharing, or hosting a database or shared application. While this exclusivity is frequently necessary to ensure proper performance of the non-virtualized device, it also leads to a significant underutilization of computing resources. In contrast, virtualization dramatically improves the efficiency of these network resources, enabling the same physical piece of hardware to simultaneously function as multiple computing devices. As a result, more can be accomplished with the same physical server device. Therefore, organizations
power and cooling over the life of the device, and commands less physical space, freeing up valuable real estate.
WHAT IS UNSTOPPABLE COMPUTING?
Unstoppable Computing provides the ideal solution for small- and medium-sized businesses to ensure business continuity and high availability of their business-critical infrastructure, at an affordable price. Combining their best-of-breed solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses, VMware and Lenovo can help small businesses minimize their downtime and recover quickly from unplanned outages. Comprised of two physical servers, virtualization software, and a network storage device, Unstoppable Computing completely automates network failover, in the event of an outage.
VMware High Availability (HA) automatically shifts the workload to the secondary server, in the event of a primary server failure. The secondary server then fetches the most recent snapshot from the storage device, from which it restarts the affected server or application. This all occurs
automatically, with no human intervention required. This means outages that occur in the middle of the night can be rectified while you sleep, with your environment up and running normally by the time you arrive in the office – during normal working hours. Likewise, a failure in a remote office will not affect the business operation, without the need for IT staff to travel to the location, or to
experience the frustration of walking an office manager or salesperson through technically complex recovery steps. There’s also no need to send employees home for the day while you work on a recovery solution. The system will be bring itself back up, quickly and efficiently, so your employees can get back to work
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Using VMware vSphere™ Essentials Plus, you can host your entire network application servers, file servers, and database servers, as well as Web and Email servers on a single physical hardware device. Simply install vSphere and create the virtual machines on both physical servers, then tie the two servers together in just a few clicks, using failover technology. Next, install the operating environment and applications on the primary server, as usual. When the primary physical server has been completely configured, vSphere creates the VM files, which are then stored on the Lenovo network storage device, and are accessible by both physical servers.
Using VMware snapshot backups throughout the day, the server environment is saved to the StorCenter device for continuous data protection. If the primary server fails, vSphere retrieves the VM file from the StorCenter and then “replays” it on the secondary server. The secondary server then contacts the StorCenter to access the most recent snapshot, for maximum business continuity. Best of all, this process happens automatically, with no human intervention required. Your network can be up and running quickly. You don’t have to lose sleep, or send anybody home. In contrast, without a high availability solution in place, you would be forced to reinstall the operating system and each of your applications – bit by bit, one-by-one.
FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE
Unstoppable Computing is a flexible solution that scales up or down, to fit the specific needs of your environment. Utilizing vSphere, you can produce virtual machines, enabling your entire environment to be hosted on a single physical server. And any StorCenter network storage device can be
employed in the Unstoppable Computing infrastructure, providing you with the ability to scale between 1TB and 48TB of storage capacity. You choose the number of VMs and the storage capacity that best fits your needs – and your budget.
Comprised of best-of-breed solutions from VMware and Lenovo, Unstoppable Computing provides small- and medium-sized businesses with a high availability network at an SMB price. With
Unstoppable Computing, you can sleep better knowing your network is protected by a robust business continuity solution.
www.lenovo.com
Unstoppable Computing helps small businesses reduce network downtime, the number of servers required to run the network, and initial and ongoing costs – all while increasing stability, reliability, and productivity.
