These 8 IT infrastructure terms IT practitioners should know

IT infrastructure is changing rapidly. Specifically, it is being virtualized. "Software defined" is one of the biggest trends in IT infrastructure, not only for computing, but also for storage and networking.

Developers should understand these concepts so they understand the environment their applications run in. Being familiar with these terms will also help avoid confusion when talking to IT operations staff.

Here are some common terms.

Composable infrastructure - allows individuals to "compose" infrastructure through APIs to meet their needs. For example, developers can compose application-specific infrastructure to accommodate mobile or IoT development. Composable infrastructure pools contain computing, network, and storage resources and make them available as services, whether these resources are physical or virtual. Because composable infrastructure is software-defined, it can be quickly configured, saving days, weeks, or even months of time, without having to spend a lot of time waiting for resources. Flexibility, rapid configuration, and scaling capabilities help organizations deliver modern, high-quality applications faster, consistent with DevOps, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. Composable infrastructure is also used to optimize data center performance and ROI.

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Converged infrastructure - Provides a complete hardware, storage, network and virtual machine solution in a single chassis that has been configured and tested, meaning IT can get it working "out of the box."

Hyperconverged infrastructure – Based on the converged infrastructure concept, it adds more software components to it, such as backup. Hyperconverged infrastructure is software-defined, so it provides more flexibility than converged infrastructure. For example, hyperconverged infrastructure can create a unified local and external storage pool instead of being limited to local storage.

Immutable infrastructure - It replaces rather than changes. The advantage of immutable infrastructure is stability, because changes are implemented through replacement. Replacements can be tested and verified before swapping, compared to changing live equipment, which may cause unforeseen consequences. Another benefit is security. Given the number of vulnerabilities in increasingly complex software stacks, immutable infrastructure provides an elegant way to replace software with known vulnerabilities, or software that has patches.

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) – Virtualizing network functions, separating functionality from the underlying hardware such as caching, Directory Name Service (DNS), firewalls, intrusion detection, etc. Multiple functions can be chained together to create a service. Similarly, multiple services can be chained together to provide more complex services.

Software Defined Access Network (SDAN) – Provides virtual access network control and management capabilities. Broadband service providers such as AT&T use SDAN to accelerate service provisioning, improve operational efficiency, and enhance their competitiveness.

Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) – Virtualized data center infrastructure available as a service. While virtual machines have been used in data centers for some time, software defined data centers take virtualization to the next level by making the entire environment software defined. They offer better ROI than traditional data centers because, like virtual machines, they optimize resource usage, providing a better ROI on equipment. Plus, because management of the SDDC is automated, the need for data center personnel is reduced. Additionally, not all organizations are moving to the cloud at the same pace. While some modern businesses were born in the cloud, older organizations may keep data in their own data centers for security purposes or adopt a partial (hybrid) cloud strategy. SDDC makes sense for both.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) - A general term for specific types of software defined networks, including access networks (SDAN), wide area networks (SD- WAN), and data centers (SDDC). They allow administrators to change, initialize, or manage network behavior through a software interface. SDN is becoming increasingly important to enterprises that must keep up with the pace of business. Although there is still hardware underneath the software-defined layer, the layer itself provides greater flexibility and agility than using physical devices alone.