Incorporating Big Metal Components into a Hybrid Cloud

Perhaps you have been thinking about leveraging cloud-based, managed-as-a-service solutions for your infrastructure, but your organization uses technology based on Big Metal (IBM AS/400, iSeries, HPUX, etc.) components that cannot be easily virtualized. You have relatively few choices. You can keep all your work infrastructure on-premise, which ensures that all your systems can connect with no latency. Or you can move your equipment into a colocation facility and, likely, face hardware refreshes every few years. In either situation, you will need to do continuous three and five year capacity planning exercises, hoping that when the time comes to refresh, you can make the correct guess and secure the incredible capital outlay to your CFO. This article provides new ideas and options to gain a best-of-both-worlds approach.

The Good and Bad of Big Metal

Companies stand by Big Metal solutions for a good reason…they are solid. They keep businesses running efficiently. And, with proper maintenance and support, will handle needs for years to come. However, they are extremely difficult to migrate away from. Because of the dependency on them, they are constantly in use. Any migration to a new platform will potentially involve hundreds of hours of planning and technical work, making a move to a virtualized “as-a-service” environment (i.e. Windows or Linux systems) extremely time-consuming and/or cost prohibitive. 

This can make migrating data from these Big Metal components into the cloud seem like an impossible feat. The time and costs advantages of cloud can justify the ROI. Cloud utilization can reduce workloads on overworked IT teams, freeing up time to develop new workflows or implement new technologies. Cloud utilization can help minimize costs by removing the fixed costs of a capitalized model and switching to a consumption based operational model. Therefore, the real question is not “why” you should make this change. Instead, it becomes “how” you make this migration when you are chained to those Big Metal components deployed in your infrastructure? 

The Importance of the Provider

The answer is working with a cloud service provider (CSP) that knows how to design and integrate a managed-as-a-service virtualized space for your Windows/Linux hosts with a colocation service that can house your Big Metal components. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast. 

• Colocation providers typically do not employ the right expertise to offer cloud services. 
• Cloud service providers typically do not offer colocation or have the expertise to understand the unique requirements to host hardware like Big Metal components. 
• Providers that can check both boxes typically do not know how (or are unwilling) to integrate Big Metal components into a single hybrid cloud solution.

All hope is not lost. Steadfast has a proven approach, validated by clients who have already went through a successful migration. Our approach includes collocating Big Metal mainframes in our Tier 3 data center, hosting bare metal Windows/Linux systems on a private dedicated cloud model, and then virtualizing the remaining systems on either Hyper-V or VMWare dedicated hosts. These different components are logically linked together on a customized network backbone to minimize network latency and maximize system performance. 

Furthermore, these customers get the added benefits of additional available SAN (as an add-on to their environment), backup using Veeam Enterprise, as well as enhanced security features, such as advanced firewalls with intrusion detection and prevention services (IDS/IPS), distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection and a meshed, redundant 40gb/sec network.

Two Examples of a Cloud Implementation of Big Metal

Let’s break down how these types of environments are constructed. 

This may be how your environment looks if you are doing hybrid cloud with different providers that can only provide a single service you need:

In this image, there are three distinct locations. 

• Customer On-Premise location
• Public Cloud Provider (who is hosting resources that are turned into virtual machines) 
• Colo Provider that keeps the Big Metal server(s).  

The challenge is figuring out how to knit the environment together securely. You will need to obtain a new firewall for the collocated equipment to tie it into your wide area network (WAN.) You then need either an on-staff expertise or a paid consultant capable of connecting all three locations through the Internet securely, in a logical way that allows your equipment to keep talking to each other without issue. Once this work is completed, there are still concerns that will need to be addressed, including:

• What is the uptime guarantee from each provider in the chain?
• How are providers routing their networks to reduce latency?  
• Is backup included in this design? If so, where will the backup elements be located?

 Now, let’s look further into how Steadfast designs this solution for its customers:

Notice how things look a lot simpler when it comes to connecting on-premise equipment to all collocated and managed resources. All traffic moving through the Internet will be secured between your on-premise environment and the Steadfast data center via IPSec tunnels. Once that traffic enters the Steadfast network (through a dedicated managed firewall), it will be carried on dedicated network VLANs built for you and carrying only your traffic. If you have traffic that requires people to access it directly from the Internet (such as an e-commerce site), Steadfast can build in IDS/IPS and DDoS functionality to help protect your data. These custom built VLANs will connect your network on a manageable, high speed backplane that will be transparent to all your computing components. This ensures that your Big Metal server can connect to your virtual machines with millisecond speeds. 

Additionally, backup is integrated directly into your architecture. Because Veeam® Enterprise does not have compatibility with most Big Metal systems, Steadfast also provides CommVault™ backup services that can integrate with almost all equipment and software environments. Best of all, when it comes to support for your network, it is a single call to us. We manage everything from the Internet in, including the firewall and any other security components. All you need to do is reach out (anytime, BTW) and we’re here to help.

The Tangible Benefits of Moving a Big Metal Environment to the Cloud

• Earn Points with the CFO – Whether you’re currently looking down the barrel of a major hardware refresh, or just trying to lower premiums on InfoSec insurance by moving into a secure facility, most CFOs get very excited when it comes to turning large capital expenses out into monthly operational expenses.  Particularly in these questionable times, most organizations are pivoting to keep their cash liquid so they can capitalize on opportunities right around the corner.
• Enhance Physical Security – Unless you are working in a federal building, a Tier 3 data center is going to be far more physically secure than the data room or closet in your office. Enhanced physical security helps on several levels. First, it helps you sleep at night. Second, it can serve to lower insurance premiums at many levels (InfoSec; Property Insurance; etc.) 
• Increased Availability – Again, no matter how impressive your office is, it cannot compete with a Tier 3 data center when it comes to power and network availability and redundancy. Steadfast’s flagship data center at 350 E. Cermak Rd in Chicago, IL has fully redundant power with spare batteries and long-term power generation capacity in the event of the loss of the grid. Additionally, our network connectivity is a 40gb/sec Internet connection spread across four different providers. 

Conclusion

Having Big Metal infrastructure components in your environment can be both your strongest asset and greatest weakness. It is usually at the absolute center of businesses that utilize them. But keeping those systems safe, secure, and accessible, which should be everyone’s number one priority, can be challenging. Now you can move that system into a Steadfast Simplicity Cloud environment to minimize risk, relieving headaches and fears.

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