Private Cloud Tender - Part Three
In the third and final part, I will describe several aspects of the design of the FlexPod architectural complex, on which we worked closely with Cisco and NetApp. There are things worth paying attention to.
Part one , second .
The Cisco UCS B200-M3 server blade supports Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors, and the obvious question was which processor to choose, combining performance and price. The customer did not indicate what he means by 1 vcpu in physical equivalent - 1 core, 1 GHz, etc. Together with Cisco, we came to the next model. Based on the tests http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/ , we find a server with a processor of ~ 1GHz and one heart. The result of his test is ~ 8-10. We take this result for 1 vcpu. We find the test result for the blade server B200-M3 and compare. Example:
From the obtained, we find the ratio core / vcpu:
The difference in vcpu / core ratio is small, with a significant difference in price. The vcpu / core ratio of 4.5 is quite pessimistic today. You can raise it to 6 and get 96 vcpu for each blade.
The vcpu / core ratio is directly related to the cost of a virtual machine: the more machines spin on a single blade, the cheaper it is. Obviously, the cost of a virtual machine with a bronze level is cheaper than with a platinum one. In part, this is realized due to the software and hardware complex. Thus, depending on the service (bronze, silver, gold or platinum), different vcpu / core ratios can be offered. For example, for bronze to offer a high ratio and vice versa, lower for platinum.
Currently, the FlexPod-certified model is the 6248UP series with 48 ports. I will give once again the selected FlexPod architecture.
Let 8 ports at each FI go to uplink in the direction of Nexus and MDS. There are 40 ports left to connect the chassis.
The chassis can be installed 2 Fabric Extender 4 or 8 ports 10 GE. In general, we get 80 Gb / s or 160 Gb / s on the chassis.
Depending on the required number of Fex ports per chassis, the maximum FlexPod configuration is determined:
Given that there are 8 server blades on the chassis, we easily get the maximum number on FlexPod and the total number of vcpu.
Already released a new model of Fabric Interconnect 6296UP with 96 ports, which would allow to expand the capabilities, but so far it has not received FlexPod certification. True, we excluded this model, for financial reasons:
If you immediately buy an expensive model Fabric Interconnect 6296UP, then this will affect the price of the virtual machine, which will be unreasonably high. Especially if it doesn’t work beyond 1000 cars.
All of the above elements were taken into account in order to offer not only a technically interesting solution, but so that the final cost of the virtual machine was reasonable.
Part one , second .
Blade server
The Cisco UCS B200-M3 server blade supports Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors, and the obvious question was which processor to choose, combining performance and price. The customer did not indicate what he means by 1 vcpu in physical equivalent - 1 core, 1 GHz, etc. Together with Cisco, we came to the next model. Based on the tests http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/ , we find a server with a processor of ~ 1GHz and one heart. The result of his test is ~ 8-10. We take this result for 1 vcpu. We find the test result for the blade server B200-M3 and compare. Example:
- Cisco UCS B200 M3 (2 x Intel Xeon E5-2665, 2.40 GHz): 586 => 586/8 = 73.2 vcpu
- Cisco UCS B200 M3 (2 x Intel Xeon E5-2680, 2.70 GHz): 639 => 639/8 = 79.8 vcpu
From the obtained, we find the ratio core / vcpu:
- Intel Xeon E5-2665, 2.40 GHz: 73.2 / 16 = 4.5 vcpu per core
- Intel Xeon E5-2680, 2.70 GHz: 79.8 / 16 = 4.9 vcpu per core
The difference in vcpu / core ratio is small, with a significant difference in price. The vcpu / core ratio of 4.5 is quite pessimistic today. You can raise it to 6 and get 96 vcpu for each blade.
The vcpu / core ratio is directly related to the cost of a virtual machine: the more machines spin on a single blade, the cheaper it is. Obviously, the cost of a virtual machine with a bronze level is cheaper than with a platinum one. In part, this is realized due to the software and hardware complex. Thus, depending on the service (bronze, silver, gold or platinum), different vcpu / core ratios can be offered. For example, for bronze to offer a high ratio and vice versa, lower for platinum.
Fabric interconnect
Currently, the FlexPod-certified model is the 6248UP series with 48 ports. I will give once again the selected FlexPod architecture.
Let 8 ports at each FI go to uplink in the direction of Nexus and MDS. There are 40 ports left to connect the chassis.
The chassis can be installed 2 Fabric Extender 4 or 8 ports 10 GE. In general, we get 80 Gb / s or 160 Gb / s on the chassis.
Depending on the required number of Fex ports per chassis, the maximum FlexPod configuration is determined:
- 1 x 10 Gb / s: 40 chassis
- 2 x 10 Gb / s: 20 chassis
- 4 x 10 Gb / s: 10 chassis
- 8 x 10 Gb / s: 5 chassis
Given that there are 8 server blades on the chassis, we easily get the maximum number on FlexPod and the total number of vcpu.
Already released a new model of Fabric Interconnect 6296UP with 96 ports, which would allow to expand the capabilities, but so far it has not received FlexPod certification. True, we excluded this model, for financial reasons:
- a solid order was received for only 1000 virtual machines
- there could potentially be several thousand virtual machines
If you immediately buy an expensive model Fabric Interconnect 6296UP, then this will affect the price of the virtual machine, which will be unreasonably high. Especially if it doesn’t work beyond 1000 cars.
All of the above elements were taken into account in order to offer not only a technically interesting solution, but so that the final cost of the virtual machine was reasonable.