Almost every organization that adopts converged architecture has an existing workload in place. This is because converged architecture tends to be adopted for mature workloads rather than prototype or development workloads. These kinds of workloads are more typically housed on commodity hardware, until they have proven their value to the business. For example, an organization doesn’t decide to purchase a converged architecture system that is suitable for SharePoint to host its first SharePoint deployment. It’s far more likely that an organization will look toward converged architecture after it has had SharePoint in place for some time and the workload has proven its value to the business.
Indeed, converged architecture is eminently suitable for mature workloads--where an organization knows what it wants to do with the hardware and how it wants to do it. Converged architecture is much less suitable when an organization is testing the waters with a workload because the benefits of scale and performance are less critical when utilization of a workload is in its infancy.
One big challenge with converged architecture becoming the host for mature workloads is that it is necessary to shift those workloads from their original host to the new converged infrastructure host.
Migrating important workloads is always fraught with difficulty—there’s a lot at stake. Some organizations back up the workloads on their original servers and then restore them on the new host. Others use tools like failover replicas or vendor migration tools to move from an original host to a new host.
When considering converged architecture, you need to plan for the sort of hardware that will ensure that your workload runs exquisitely on the new host, but you also need to figure out how to move the workload in the first place. And, when it comes to mission-critical applications, that move has to be nothing short of seamless.
When evaluating converged architecture built for specific workloads, look into what sort of help you can get for migrating from your existing hosts to the new converged architecture hardware. A converged architecture vendor that provides effective advice on migrating to the new hardware is almost as valuable as the converged architecture hardware itself.
Underwritten by HPE
Part of HPE’s Power of One strategy, HPE Converged Architecture 700 delivers infrastructure as one integrated stack. HPE Converged Architecture 700 delivers proven, repeatable building blocks of infrastructure maintained by one management platform (HPE OneView), built and delivered exclusively by qualified HPE Channel Partners. This methodology saves considerable time and resources, compared to the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach.
Based on a complete HPE stack consisting of HPE BladeSystem with Intel® Xeon® E5 v3-based HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen9 blades, HPE 3PAR StoreServ all-flash storage, HPE Networking, and HPE OneView infrastructure management software, the HPE Converged Architecture 700 can be easily modified to fit within your existing IT environment.
