Scalability: The Server Evolution
Scale Up (The 1990s)
Monolithic servers:
§
Large number of CPUs
§
Proprietary platforms
§
Proprietary Operating System
§
Many apps per server
§
High cost
§
Large failure domain
Scale Out (Early
2000s)
Commodity
servers:
§
Few CPUs
§
X86 platform
§
Commoditized Operating System
§
One application per server
§
Under-utilized servers
§
Power and cooling issues
Scale In (Now)
Blade servers:
§
Multi-core CPUs
§
X86 platform
§
Commoditized Operating System
§
Virtualization
§
Blade servers:
§
Multi-core CPUs
§
X86 platform
§
Commoditized Operating System
§
Virtualization
The first
servers were designed as large, monolithic enclosures. At that time, the
components were very expensive, so a single large system could service a large
number of users more cost effectively than many smaller servers.
The next
change in servers came with commoditized servers. These were smaller servers that
cost less than the monolithic server, but they also had fewer processing
resources, typically limiting them to a single service or application per
physical server. In addition,
reliability concerns further drove a one-to-one server to application architecture.
Today, the
push for servers is to reduce costs by increasing efficiency. Servers are being
designed into smaller form factors and utilizing shared resources.
Additionally, with the introduction of virtualization software, many services
are being consolidated onto single physical computing resources. While this
aids in many of the challenges faced by the data center, other challenges are
created.
Server Evolution—Scalability
1990s
Scale Up
Monolithic servers:
§ Large number of CPUs
§ Proprietary platforms
§ Proprietary operating system
§ Many applications per server
§ High cost
§ Large failure domain
The server scalability model through the 1990s. At that
time, compute resources were typically scaled by adding more compute power to a
small number of servers. The result was higher total cost of ownership (TCO)
and large failure domains.
Server Evolution—Scalability
(Cont.)
Early 2000s
Scale Out
Commodity servers:
§ Few CPUs
§ X86 platform
§ Commoditized operating system
§ 1 App / server
§ Under-utilized servers
§ High power and cooling costs
The server scalability model during the early 2000s. During this time, the scalability model
shifted away from fewer, larger servers to more numerous, smaller servers.
This transition was primarily driven by three factors:
•
A shift from centralized IT control of assets
to decentralized, departmental control
•
The development of clustering technologies
that allowed applications to scale more efficiently across multiple servers
•
Increasing standardization on the Intel x86
platform to reduce cost of ownership
Server Evolution—Scalability
(Cont.)
Now
Scale In
Blade servers:
§ Multi-core CPUs
§ X86 platform
§ Commoditized operating system
§ Virtualization
§ Management complexity
§ Limited scale
Since the early 2000s, IT has begun to move away from
traditional tower or rack-mounted servers in favor of blade servers. Larger
servers required more space and needed to have their own power supply,
networking, and SAN cables. For smaller data centers, these infrastructure
requirements are not problematic, but in a large data center these requirements
result in increasing complexity and cost of ownership.
By putting the computing resources of a server in a blade
form factor within an enclosure, administrators gain the following advantages:
•
Maximum use of physical space
•
Shared power distribution
•
Shared networking and storage access
•
More efficient power and cooling
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