When single servers ran single applications attached to dedicated resources, managing the performance and availability of the environment was relatively simple, although inefficient from an infrastructure-utilization standpoint. Server, network and storage consolidation improved efficiency factors. This led to the need for domain-specific tools for application, server, network, and storage administration. The dynamic nature of virtualized environments demands a more-consolidated view of the impact of changes to the environment across the entire infrastructure and application stack. Without such a view, it is extremely difficult to determine the effect on the overall environment.
Even now that we have many monitoring solutions integrated with virtualization platforms, critical data around, for instance, storage performance is still only captured on a per server level. This makes it impossible to get a holistic view. CloudPhysics has integrated information across the entire stack using well-established APIs as well as custom integration with VMware to give deep insight into performance and availability metrics.
By collecting configuration and performance data from a large number of environments, CloudPhysics will be able to analyze a wide variety of environments and determine best practices for end-users, consultants, and suppliers. This big data approach will enable the creation of simulation engines and advanced models. Simulations and advanced modeling enable the end-user, consultant, or architect to test hardware and/or software changes without any risks.
Correlation of settings and configurations and understanding the impact each setting has on a complex environment, such as a virtual infrastructure, is time consuming and, above all, very difficult. This correlation of metrics allows you to save time, but it also helps you understand the behavior of your environment and pro-actively improve it where required.
Action Item: Big data is helping every industry to make data-driven decisions using advanced simulations and modeling methods. Integrated solution stacks require big data analytics to decrease the operational expenditure associated with these environments. CloudPhysics brings this to the world of IT, and enables the users to contribute to the platform enabling an organic growth of the platform, but, more importantly, to gain unlimited insights into your datacenter.
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