Emulex Blog: Market Mantras

Emulex and Endace: Solving the challenges of increased network performance and scalability

Posted March 25th, 2013 by Shaun Walsh

As we integrate Endace into the Emulex product portfolio, I wanted to share with you what our combined solutions will solve in today’s data center.
Emulex and Endace: True end-to-end Network Performance Management solution
Emulex and Endace are both leaders in the 10/40/100Gb Ethernet (100GbE) markets, and with this experience we are finding and solving the challenges of increased network performance and scalability sooner and better than others in the market, because we are there first to encounter the new challenges facing cloud and enterprise data centers at these network speeds. Together, we will be able to provide the only true end-to-end Network Performance Management (NPM) solution because we are the only company to combine and integrate Ethernet end points and network path visibility into a single NPM infrastructure. Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) provided by Emulex enable visibility into the application-level that was previously unavailable to the Endace NPM appliances, and in turn, the Endace NPM appliances provide visibility into the network path that was not visible to the CNA end points, this gap prohibited true end-to-end application performance visibility and acceleration. Together we can now see the source, path and delivery of applications at every level of the network for cloud, telco and enterprise data centers.

This will help IT shops in four ways:

  1. Improved Application Performance – We can now use our end points and network performance management appliances to show where the network is affecting delivery of applications and use our end point drivers to provide the only true application-level insight that will optimize configuration and transport of data over networks.
  2. Faster Execution for High Performance Computing (HPC), Big Data and Server Virtualization – By combining the Endace NPM appliances with Emulex’s next generation of CNA technology, which includes embedded virtual switching support, we can help accelerate next generation applications that heavily depend on east-west traffic between servers in the same rack or cluster. Our flexible driver model and NPM traffic monitoring provide the ability to optimize the traffic inside racks and clusters to improve low latency application delivery for HPC (such as High Frequency Trading), faster sorting of big data for analytics and improved service level agreements (SLAs) by reducing transfer time of virtual machines across physical servers.
  3. Open Dock Appliance – The Endace appliance has the ability to host third party applications, enabling IT managers work continue to work with their preferred software partner, but gain the benefits of 100 percent network monitoring. The open architecture and integration model of Endace appliances and industry standard drivers of CNAs provided by Emulexcreate a flexible and adaptable model for IT managers.
  4. Integration with SDN (Software Defined Networking) – Both Endace and Emulex have been active participants in the SDN and OpenStack management markets and we will use our combined software and management tools to deliver integrated and flexible solutions for software defined data centers.

Paradigm shifts are often solved by companies with a new perspective and we believe we have the right solutions to meet the changing needs and demands of the networking market today and in the future.

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Security Shouldn’t Be Scary. It’s Like Going to the Dentist.

Posted August 25th, 2009 by Shaun Walsh

Almost all blogs, articles and papers on security start with fear mongering. They typically ramble off a list of the bad things that could or will happen if you do not have the right security. Yes, we all know that there are a lot of regulatory, legal, financial and business reasons for securing your data. At Emulex, we do not even have to make the business case for security, as others will do that for us, including the media, the U.S. Congress, state assemblies, the European Union, the Securities and Exchange Commission and a long list of other alphabet soup administrations. The key question is not whether you will secure your data, but how you will secure your data with minimum time, money and fuss.

As you may have noticed, the title of this blog is “Security Shouldn’t Be Scary. It’s like Going to the Dentist.” It sounds contradictory, but it isn’t really. If you brush your teeth, floss and see the dentist on a regular basis, the visits are usually simple and painless. It is only when you ignore these simple rules that these trips to the chair become unpleasant. The same is true of security. If you have a plan, educate the users and are consistent in your security model, it will be simple and painless. You may be thinking, “That’s all well and good, but how do I make storage security simple and painless?” Here are eight major ways:

    1. Have an Audit Plan in Place before You Start – You cannot make security simple and painless unless you know what is being secured, how it needs to be accessed, how it needs to be reported, who needs access and who needs to validate the integrity of the data. You need to have your audit plan in place before you start the security process, as it will make sure you have the right tools, reporting, tracking and access control mechanisms in place.2. Reach Across the Aisle – Every book that explains how to be a good IT leader talks about involving the business side of the house in planning projects. This is never more relevant than when you are implementing security. As I mentioned, I don’t want to discuss the typical scare tactics in this blog, but security affects the entire organization. Just like with e-mail, everyone needs to use it, everyone will be affected and everyone needs to know the rules.

    3. Keep the Cost Down – When it comes to storage security, there are three basic implementation models: host-based (host bus adapters [HBAs] and software), network-based (switch blades or appliances) or at-rest device-based encryption (disk or tape). When it comes to keeping the cost of storage encryption down, host-based encryption has proven to be the most cost-effective and has the added benefit of supporting the best practice of ding encryption at the host. For more details, check out our Security Cost Calculator here: http://bit.ly/2VqHQt


    4. Offload Encryption from the Host CPU     – When it comes to encryption, IT managers do not want to impact service-level agreements (SLAs) and application performance. This is why using a technology, such as an encryption HBA with hardware-based encryption, to remove the encryption overhead off the CPU is vital to a solid security plan. This typically rules out software-based encryption since it will use up CPU resources and impact application performance.

    5. Perform Encryption at the Source – One of the most often quoted best practices of security is to do it at the source. Why? So the data in question is always encrypted. This is one of the reasons that software-based encryption has been popular, but the overhead and cost do not make it painless and simple.

    6. Use a Proven Key Management System, Like RSA – Key management may be the most important element of making security simple and painless. The management of keys is complex and requires a well-conceived plan for dealing policies, mobility and access control. RSA is our partner for this task, and they help make implementing storage security a low-impact process for your organization.

    7. Make Sure It Works with Your Virtual Machines     – Server virtualization adds a new level of security challenge to the process. You need to ensure that your key management and storage infrastructure are able to support the right access and key management functions to make virtual machines (VMs) and their data secure and safe with minimal overhead.

    8. Trust…but Verify     – We started this list with the need for an audit plan, but now it is time to test the plan and make sure your security plan will pass muster and keep you in line with the requirements of your business.

    Some of these points are obvious and are common sense, but some will provoke further thought and discussion. Over the next year, we will delve into each of these areas in future blogs. So, what can we do to help you eliminate your fears?

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