On: What is a cloud server?

In 2007, after the concept of cloud computing appeared, almost all products that can be related to cloud computing were covered with "cloud", cloud storage, cloud security and cloud servers... just like people Just as there is no such thing as a cloud storage product, the emergence of cloud servers has also caused controversy. What is a cloud server? What is the difference between a cloud server and a blade server and a rack-optimized service? Will the emergence of a cloud server replace an existing server? Is the highly customized cloud server violating the cloud computing? Advocating the original intention of openness and standardization? With this series of questions, the reporter communicated with the mainstream server vendors in the industry, trying to clarify the development of customized servers for the "cloud".

cloud born

reporter has learned, so far, the industry does not define a unified cloud server. Before 2011, in the server product classification of IDC statistics, the closest thing to the cloud server is the rack-optimized server. According to several vendors that have launched cloud server products, cloud servers are servers that are customized for cloud computing applications. Cloud servers pursue high-density, low-power, low-cost, cloud-oriented applications for large-scale deployment. Large Internet companies and operators first accepted cloud servers.

"What server can meet the needs of cloud computing, can be called cloud servers. HP's full line of server products can support cloud services, HP's full line of products can be called cloud server." China Hewlett-Packard The company's enterprise business group industry standard server product department product manager Anyuan explained the cloud server definition very directly. "The implementation of cloud service puts more requirements on management, including application automation deployment, automatic resource allocation, billing management. , process management and other key issues addressing these core software and services. in some large cloud services, the server to be customized secondary development based on customer demand. "

world super cloud deputy President Dong Wei believes that: "Rack-optimized servers are a subset of cloud servers. From the physical architecture, the two are similar. We started with rack-optimized servers and introduced different IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, etc. server cloud application scenarios. cloud server is still in the exploratory stage. "

"The cloud server should be listed as a single product. The cloud server is like a corporate DIY server. It is based on customized, scale-out hardware and pre-installed with relevant software, while removing some of the features of traditional servers, like Users like Internet companies can use it directly.” You Feng, founder and general manager of Beijing Meidisen Technology Co., Ltd., said, “If you compare a standardized general-purpose server to a rough house, then the cloud server is a well-decorated house. "

Dell's new micro server PowerEdgeC series is a cloud server. RoyS.Guillen, vice president and general manager of data center solutions, said: "Microserver services are aimed at users who are expanding rapidly in a short period of time. These users are pursuing high density and low power consumption of servers. Some management functions of traditional servers are not very important. Therefore, Dell has abandoned some of the functions of traditional servers in the design of micro-servers, enabling micro-servers to better utilize their advantages in high density, low power consumption and ease of use. . "

Oracle believes cloud server hardware and software that provide services for the cloud combined with one machine. With pre-integrated, pre-regulated systems and standardized hardware and software products, organizations can get full service of hardware, software and operating systems as they deploy cloud applications. Oracle Exadata Database Machine and Oracle Exalogic Middleware Cloud Server are representative products.

Client /Server is prevalent era tower server, Browse /Server is the era of the prevalence of rack-mounted servers, cloud computing era is also bound to have a server form part of this technological age.

wave believes that the server is now basically along miniaturization, intelligent and integrated three trend from birth, the result is the server smaller, more intelligent, more integration The higher it is. There is also an important development trend in which servers are broken down by application type. The design of the server is more and more closely integrated with the specific application, and there are storage servers, managed servers, and high-density integrated servers.

access cloud computing cloud edges and public applications, users will pursue high efficiency, high density and low cost calculations. This type of user primarily purchases high-density integrated servers or entry-level blade servers and even uses container data center solutions. In this regard, Inspur has launched the Smartrack high-density rack-mount integrated server and the cloud-sea container data center.

second half of 2010, Intel released the 2015 three key elements of cloud vision, namely interoperability, automation, and client-aware. This is not only a guide to the innovation of server products for cloud computing, but also the innovation and optimization of other devices in the cloud computing architecture or platform, such as storage, networking and software. Cloud servers should at least meet the requirements of being efficient, secure, and simplifying the IT infrastructure.

alternative or complementary

then the blade server from a tower server to a rack server, the server conforms to the needs of innovative high-density data center development. A market analyst firm predicts that global tower server revenue will continue to shrink by 2015, but it will still account for 5% of the server market; from the perspective of shipments, the market share of tower servers will remain at 13 %.

Due to the diversification of user needs and applications of various types of server has its own most suitable application scenarios. Although the blade server market is growing rapidly, it is still too early to say that blade servers will completely replace tower servers and rack servers. ? The emergence of cloud server server will not change the existing market structure it

RoyS.Guillen categorically said: "Cloud Server will not replace the existing server, the server is the coexistence between the various types of relationship. "

cloud server and traditional server, in essence, there is no difference between them? for that matter, the attitude of manufacturers can be divided into two groups. HP believes that cloud servers are essentially the same as traditional servers. "An ideal cloud service should be able to accommodate servers in various forms and vendors." Anyuan said, "The concept of cloud services is maturing. The future establishment of cloud services will rely more on servers with higher density. Therefore, the blade server is usually the preferred choice when deploying cloud services "

think the main point there is a difference between the cloud server and traditional server vendors are: compared with traditional servers, cloud server with high capacity High density, high performance and low energy consumption, and high cost performance, and can support various application requirements with high performance.

"essential difference between the server and traditional server-oriented cloud is that the cloud is the first to consider the application server product production, while traditional servers Mr. output products and then add applications." NEC server and storage product manager Li Zhexian Further analysis said, "The establishment of this new business model of cloud completely overturns the management mode of traditional server design, production, sales and other stages. The demand for cloud servers is no longer only from the user side, but also includes ISVs, ISPs, vendors. , carriers, etc. for server hardware, the diversified needs of users led to the diversification of product design, but also requires more closely tied to the network, services, software and hardware. "

traditional servers The design idea is to design a product that can take on a wider variety of applications, which solidifies the form of the server. For example, the mainstream products are only single, two-way and four-way, and the form is mainly a rack. Inspur believes that the advantage of this design idea is that it can guarantee the universal applicability of the manufacturer's products, thus reducing the cost of research and development. Therefore, this is a vendor-led model rather than a customer-driven model. The matching between traditional servers and applications is not high, and the cost of post-management and operation and maintenance investment is too high, so the total cost of ownership is not optimized. .