Software-Defined Data Center

What exactly is a software-defined data center (SDDC)? Organizations have realized the advantages of pooling infrastructure resources since the debut of server virtualization years ago. Server virtualization accelerates provisioning, improves system usage, and lowers hardware costs by abstracting computational resources from physical servers.

The SDDC is the outcome of years of server virtualization advancement. It extends virtualization to storage and networking resources and provides a unified software toolset for managing those virtualized resources. Furthermore, the outlook for SDDC offers policy-driven automation of provisioning and management, which speeds up resource delivery and improves efficiency.

Key Components of SDDC

The SDDC links virtualized storage, compute, and networking resources with a common management platform for the complete integrated system.

Many firms are familiar with compute virtualization, often known as server virtualization. Compute virtualization isolates operating systems and applications from physical servers using a hypervisor. As a result, managers may run several independent applications and operating systems on a single server using virtual machines (VMs). Organizations have utilized compute virtualization for more than a decade to decrease server sprawl and increase resource usage.

See "Virtualization: A Complete Guide" for additional information about virtualization. Storage virtualization, like pool resources, and server virtualization, removes isolated islands of storage systems. Because you may provide storage from the pool rather than purchasing additional capacity, virtualized storage enhances flexibility and scalability. You may also assign storage dynamically with virtualized storage, providing each application the capacity it requires on demand.

Network virtualization allows you to provision and administers networks without regard for actual hardware. This resource abstraction reduces provisioning time and increases flexibility, allowing you to shift workloads more readily across data centers without physical limits. The best network virtualization solution will also include security features to protect networks and separate workloads.

Regardless of whether the SDDC is installed in a private, public, or hybrid cloud environment, the SDDC unifies various virtualization layers to create a single, hyper-converged environment that supports the delivery of IT resources as a service. A unified management platform standardizes administration across virtualization layers and allows for policy-based automation, simplifying operations.