Software-defined infrastructure definition
Software-defined infrastructure (SDI) is where the setup and management of networks, storage, and servers are controlled by software without human involvement.
See also: software-defined networking, network infrastructure
Benefits of software-defined infrastructure
- Flexibility. Organizations can adapt their infrastructure based on their needs.
- Cost savings. SDI allows saving expenses on manual work and physical hardware.
- Automation. Tasks like setup, scaling, and maintenance become automated, reducing errors.
- Simplified management. Administrators can oversee the entire infrastructure through a central software platform.
- Disaster recovery. SDI allows automatically shifting resources and rerouting data if there's a problem.
Use cases of software-defined infrastructure
- Data centers. SDI can dynamically allocate resources (like computing power and storage) in data centers. That helps adjust to changing workloads and ensure optimal performance without manual intervention.
- Cloud integration. SDI simplifies working with multi-cloud environments. It helps distribute workloads across private, public, and hybrid clouds.
- Networking. Software-defined networking (SDN) is a subset of SDI that allows dynamic management of network resources. It can take care of load balancing, routing, and bandwidth allocation.
- Storage management. Software-defined storage (SDS), another aspect of SDI, allows scaling storage resources up or down. This helps optimize storage costs and performance.
- Edge computing. For businesses that process data where it's created (like on phones or security cameras), SDI helps allocate resources more efficiently.
