Data Center Network
sponsored by Dell Force10
A New Approach to Virtualization Optimizes the Data Center Network
By There is currently a push toward fully dynamic data centers. Embarking on this journey comes with some issues, including adopting new technologies, which can be a pain for data center network administrators in a growing company.
The headaches are well worth it, according to this Force10 Networks (News - Alert) piece. A dynamic data center network creates a certain ease of management and better response than the traditional data center network.
A dynamic data center network starts with server virtualization, which has been around for decades. But the old way of putting one application per server is now seen as extremely inefficient.
New VMWare introduced in 1999 turned the page on those inefficiencies by boosting utilization rates by 80 percent in some cases. And now, all but about 20 percent of large data centers have implemented server virtualization that has led to the boom of software as a service (SaaS (News 
- Alert)) applications and cloud computing.
Today's virtual servers are able to achieve flexibility, which makes introducing new applications much easier. Storage virtualization in data center networks has made it easy to avoid the costs of acquiring new infrastructure to accommodate more data for storage. This type of virtualization implements techniques like caching, snapshots, data migration, and thin provisioning.
Linking storage and servers creates the network, which is also is also being virtualized. And while data center networks have been virtualized for some time, new technologies tied to VLAN and VPN are giving administrators the ability to fashion virtual networks in physical networks.
These professional are finding new areas of automation while managing security and network connectivity. Automation is becoming a requirement because virtual data center networks are seeing greater traffic loads. Greater traffic loads leads to more dramatic spikes, which can be better managed through automation.
Interoperization also plays a role in a virtual network as it is essential in the communication between storage and server. Interoperization involves communication between multiple servers and the various virtualization technologies available today. This becomes particularly useful when networks support hypervisors are available from a variety of vendors.
Instead of having your IT staff locked into one vendor and its exclusive architecture, there are multiple virtualization management tools that can support multiple management connectivity.
Automated, dynamic network layers in the data stack is a fresh idea, but some vendors are finding success with the idea by using automated switches, which help move VLANs and port profiles, a job that would otherwise fall on the network administrators.
Virtualization is necessitating organizational changes that bringing server and storage together with a virtualized network. The changes might be hard to swallow, but the outcomes are worth the effort.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Tammy Wolf
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