Guest blog written by Tim Golden, Chief Technology Officer, HP ISS Americas
There is a documented famine impacting millions of servers across the globe. These servers are being suffocated and starved by an I/O (input/output) bottleneck.
Signs that your servers may be afflicted include:
- Slow response time and high I/O wait time
- Lackluster application performance
- Lost productivity
Causes of Starvation
The main contributing factor to the I/O famine is Moore’s law. The doubling the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit has led to great technological advancements, as well as inefficiencies. In the past, enterprises have simply added servers to their datacenters to meet increasing demands, instead of maximizing the potential of existing servers.
“(Moore’s law) means CPU’s are fast and getting faster, while disks are getting larger but are really only delivering data at the same lengths it has to the application for years,” said Jim Dawson, executive vice president of sales for Fusion-io. “Every time we add a new core, every time there is a new generation of CPUs that comes out, the gap in performance between CPU and I/O just grows.”
Dawson continues by saying the growing gap leads to the biggest area of waste in the enterprise data center—resource underutilization.
Bridge the Gap
IO accelerator cards provide a solution to increase speed and access your information easily. HP StorageWorks IO Accelerators are available as a mezzanine-style card for the Blade System c-Class servers and as a PCIe option for ProLiant Servers.
These IO accelerator cards were developed in conjunction with OEM partner Fusion-io, and utilize flash memory to provide increased speed and functionality.
The benefits of IO accelerators include:
- Contribute to ROI by cutting waste
- Drive utilization
- Increase data center efficiency
I/O acceleration works in database environments including: SQL servers and MySQL, virtualization and VDI environments. It also collaborates with Cloud systems and with classic Microsoft solutions like SharePoint and Exchange to improve operational capacity.
Cut waste and fulfill your I/O needs
Increasing I/O in your enterprise architecture doesn’t magically fix all your database issues. Without having a properly designed infrastructure and adequate CPU processing power and RAM levels—I/O acceleration won’t increase your IOPS (input output per second).
Increase the potential of your database and server system by exploring the option of increasing your I/O.
For more information on how you can combine cloud computing with your traditional IT Infrastructure to create an IT model that is best for you see HP Cloud Computing Solutions. To learn more on how you can make more efficient use of your server, storage and software assets see HP Virtual Solutions.
