Issue link: https://insights.oneneck.com/i/1450344
26 Next-Generation Hyperconverged Infrastructure For Dummies, Nutanix Special Edition These materials are © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. to be spun up and down as demand increases and decreases. Addi- tionally, modern applications no longer run on a single server but instead run as a combination of components and microservices across many different VMs and environments, such as web, appli- cation middle tier, and database servers, as well as external Soft- ware as a Service (SaaS) components. Virtualization technology has also made it relatively easy to deploy new workloads in the datacenter or cloud, and this increased velocity has led to virtual machine (VM) sprawl in the datacenter and the cloud. Today, all you know is that the workload exists and it's nearly impossible to keep track of all your resources. Systems and applications are no longer cute, cuddly pets with adorable names. Instead, they've become a virtual flock with too many to count (even if you're an insufferable insomniac) and certainly too many to name (even Little Bo-Peep didn't bother to name her sheep). If you tried to task your IT Operations team with manually keeping track of all these systems and applications, you might just have a mutton-y on your hands! This change has created new needs and challenges in workload management, which is the subject of this chapter. Operating Workloads On-Premises and in the Cloud Workloads today run across many different environments. They may run in an on-premises datacenter or in multiple public, private, or hybrid cloud environments. Next-generation hyper- converged infrastructure (HCI) enables the enterprise cloud, so you don't have to settle on just one location to host your critical workloads. Even better, next-generation HCI can help you man- age the chaos that often ensues in the world of multi-cloud by providing centralized management for workloads and compo- nents that may reside in various locations. The enterprise cloud delivers the frictionless agility, simplicity, and fractional consumption of public cloud services while pro- viding control over performance, location of data and services, and choice of platforms. To learn more about the enterprise cloud, read Chapter 2 or download a free copy of Enterprise Cloud for Dummies at www.nutanix.com/go/what-is-the- enterprise-cloud-for-dummies.