Running a business involves being prepared for many unfavorable circumstances and being able to quickly put out fires that break out when you least expect it. Without it – boom, you’re done! And it applies to any sector. Business owners can brace themselves for this by, for example, using services that provide several layers of security or a hardware/software-agnostic approach. Take, for example, virtualization. What if the problem is sudden increased costs associated with data virtualization management? A prime and frightening example of this would be the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom in November 2023, which resulted in a drastic price increase for the service, with some customers reporting a 1200% price increase! The question at this point is, “What if we are dependent on a one and only provider for a service”?
Hypervisor Landscape: An Overview of Leading Solutions
Virtualization is a technology offered by different vendors in different formats. These solutions are designed for various environments and are available in multiple models, from open-source to proprietary enterprise solutions. Let’s briefly examine their features with instances that underscore their variety, multi-layered structure, and pros and cons for implementation in different environments.
- KVM is an open-source virtualization technology built into Linux. Despite its complexity in setting up, managing, and maintaining a virtualized environment and virtual machines, it is an inexpensive solution that offers the flexibility of adapting to specific needs. However, configuration and management require a highly technical person. The rich community around it provides a platform for seeking solutions on forums, making it a valuable resource despite its challenges.
- XEN is a less complex, open-source system with competitive pricing backed by well-developed communities. It provides easy installation via ISO files and is operating system agnostic, meaning it runs with Linux but is not limited to it. Xen provides users with a graphical user interface and a broader community offering third-party availability, backup, storage handling, capacity planning, performance supervision, process control, and other management strategies.
In the corporate world, both Proxmox and Citrix are highly valued for their open-source platforms, which offer a degree of transparency and community support. They both provide intuitive, web-based interfaces for managing virtual machines and containers, making it easy for IT teams to monitor and manage their virtual environments. Furthermore, both platforms allow for easy integration with existing networking and data storage infrastructures, providing flexibility and ease of use. However, each has its own set of challenges.
- Proxmox, while offering a robust solution, has limited support and may be difficult for beginners, especially those unfamiliar with Linux. Its ZFS support management is also limited, particularly regarding replication and snapshots.
- On the other hand, Citrix hypervisor can have a high implementation cost, and some graphics might not display correctly, which could impact the user experience. Despite these challenges, both platforms remain popular in the corporate world for their robust features and user-friendly interfaces.
Microsoft Hyper-V, or VMware, are all user-friendly platforms offering a wide range of features ready to start. These platforms are backed by extensive corporate support models, ensuring users can access many resources, including knowledge bases and documentation. However, these platforms do have their limitations. One of the most significant is the need for more compatibility. While they work well within their ecosystems, they may play less nicely with systems from other vendors. It can limit the flexibility of IT infrastructures and make it more challenging to integrate with other systems.
Another limitation is the user’s dependence on the vendor’s decisions. Users are subject to the vendors’ licensing models and corporate strategies. This means that changes in vendor policy offerings can directly impact the user’s options. For instance, if a vendor discontinues a product or changes its licensing model, the user may need to make significant adjustments to their IT infrastructure. Such a situation arose recently after the VMware acquisition by Broadcom, which changed the licensing to a subscription model.
Therefore, users must understand these limitations when choosing a corporate support model. They need to consider their IT needs and how these platforms can meet those needs within the constraints of their limitations. It’s also important for users to stay informed about the vendor’s product updates, as these can directly impact their operations.
Hypervisor-Agnosticism – What You Get and What You Risk
In this context, the hyper-agnostic approach emerges as a potential solution to the variety of hypervisor options. Not being limited to a specific operating system or vendor offers users the flexibility to choose the best virtualization technology that suits their needs without being overly dependent on a single vendor’s decisions or facing compatibility issues. This approach allows users to leverage the strengths of different platforms while mitigating their limitations. Therefore, understanding these dynamics is crucial when choosing the best data storage system to answer your business needs.
Hypervisor-Agnosticism – Flexibility and Resilience Provider
A hypervisor-agnostic system offers two main advantages vendor-locked-in solutions fail to provide.
A hypervisor-agnostic approach allows for the selection of software best suited to the business’s needs. It means that the customer isn’t limited to a particular vendor’s offerings and can choose the software that provides the features and capabilities that they require. This flexibility leads to more efficient and effective operations, as the software can be tailored to the business’s unique requirements.
With a hypervisor-agnostic approach, the business relies on the data storage system that can be adjusted to match as the business grows and evolves. This freedom of choice allows companies to adapt their IT infrastructure to support their strategic goals rather than being constrained by the limitations of a specific vendor or product. It can lead to improved agility and competitiveness in the marketplace. The hypervisor-agnostic approach offers significant resilience advantages, particularly in coping with unforeseen market changes.
For instance, consider the example of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. Such a change significantly impacted businesses that heavily rely on VMware’s products. They found themselves needing to adjust their budgets or even reconsider their IT infrastructure. Without this kind of vendor lock-in, businesses can mitigate such risks by switching to different hypervisor. If a vendor makes a decision that doesn’t align with the business needs or budget, the company can choose another vendor that better suits its requirements. Of course, it’s still a complex process, but it’s much easier if a hypervisor-agnostic system is being used. It ensures they are not overly dependent on a single vendor and can maintain operational continuity, even when faced with unexpected market changes. This resilience is a significant advantage in today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape.
Challenges and Their Solutions of The Hypervisor-Agnostic Approach
However, some downsides of hypervisor agnosticism may but don’t have to arise. Below, you can find these challenges compiled with solutions to overcome them:
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CHALLENGES |
SOLUTIONS |
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Managing dependencies between different modules and components may be challenging, especially when they come from various vendors or the open-source community. Updates in one area of the system can lead to incompatibilities or failures in others |
Use dependency management tools to control component versions and establish a precise testing and update process to prevent service interruptions |
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Navigating regulations, which can vary by region or sector, presents its own set of challenges. |
Consult them with compliance experts to understand the specific legal requirements. |
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Maintaining compliance when using proprietary and open-source technologies can be complicated |
Ensure that contracts with vendors and technology partners address compliance and intellectual property issues. |
Open-E JovianDSS – Hypervisor-Agnostic Solution for Resilient Data Storage
Fortunately, there’s a software-defined data storage system offering not only a hypervisor-agnostic but also a hardware-agnostic approach with all its benefits – Open-E JovianDSS. Open-source-, Linux- and ZFS-based solution that combines ease of use and high compatibility with different business models and markets. Its features, such as the authorial Open-E On- and Off-site Data Protection or High-availability Clustering, which companies increasingly use, will help if data storage infrastructure fails at some point. Other safeguards in this area include a wide range of data redundancy possibilities and multi-level backup with retention plan, disaster recovery, and system rollbacks, using snapshots to ensure business continuity with minimal downtime. It supports a wide range of protocols, such as iSCSI, FC, NFS, and SMB (CIFS). Open-E JovianDSS allows you to operate independently of specific hardware and utilize readily available commodity hardware. Nonetheless, Open-E JovianDSS Certified Servers provided by technological partners (Toshiba, Seagate, AIC, ATTO, amongst others), tested, benchmarked, and certified by Open-E ensure even more secure options.
Open-E JovianDSS can also be a data storage base for hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) that is flexible regarding the hypervisor to be used. When planning an infrastructure, it is worth considering this kind of architecture, as it is software-defined, and all its components — network, storage, and computing — are managed virtually. It additionally gives you a wide choice of infrastructure elements that do not limit your potential.
The rapidly evolving IT landscape necessitates a proactive and flexible approach to managing business operations. The importance of adopting a hypervisor-agnostic approach must be considered. This approach enhances operational efficiency and fosters resilience in the face of unexpected events, such as sudden price hikes or service disruptions. Ultimately, the choice of hypervisor should align with the business’s strategic objectives, technical requirements, and budgetary considerations, ensuring a harmonious integration of technology and business strategy. However, a company should be aware of these dynamics and should definitely be taken into account when designing and maintaining the data storage infrastructure of any business.