EMC INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR VMWARE ENABLED BY EMC VNXe3100

Transcription

1 White Paper EMC INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR VMWARE ENABLED BY EMC VNXe3100 AND VMWARE vsphere 4.1 EMC GLOBAL SOLUTIONS Abstract The solution enabled by EMC VNXe3100 and VMware vsphere 4.1 is a rapid deployment model for a virtualized data center. This solution greatly reduces configuration time by up to 66 percent and reduces deployment time of the virtualized data center by up to 50 percent. February 2011

2 Copyright 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. VMware, ESX, VMware vcenter, and VMware vsphere are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. Part Number h8162 2

3 Contents Executive summary... 5 Introduction to the VNX family of unified storage platforms... 5 Software suites available... 6 Software packs available... 6 Business case... 6 Solution overview... 7 Key results... 7 Introduction... 8 Purpose... 8 Scope... 8 Audience... 8 Terminology... 9 Technology overview Physical architecture Logical architecture Solution details Virtual infrastructure details Physical environment Hardware resources Software resources Key components Introduction EMC VNXe High-performance pool Balanced-performance pool VMware vsphere EMC Avamar deduplication EMC Unisphere for VNXe Iometer test tool Test methodology Introduction Workloads I/O-based workloads Application-based workloads Mixed all-in-one workload Performance metrics Test tools

4 Storage pool details High-performance storage pool Balanced-performance storage pool Test results Introduction I/O-based workload Application-based workload Mixed all-in-one workload Conclusion Summary Findings Next steps

5 Executive summary Introduction to the VNX family of unified storage platforms The EMC VNX family delivers industry-leading innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage platform combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today s enterprises. All of this is available in a choice of systems ranging from affordable entry-level solutions to high-performance, petabyte-capacity configurations servicing the most demanding application requirements. The VNX family includes the VNXe series, purpose-built for the IT manager in entry-level environments, and the VNX series designed to meet the highperformance, high-scalability requirements of midsize and large enterprises. The VNX family includes two platform series: The VNX series, delivering leadership performance, efficiency, and simplicity for demanding virtual application environments that includes VNX7500, VNX5700, VNX5500, VNX5300, and VNX5100 The VNXe (entry) series with breakthrough simplicity for small and medium businesses that includes VNXe3300 and VNXe3100 Customers can benefit from new VNX features as follows: Feature VNX series VNXe series Next-generation unified storage, optimized for virtualized applications Capacity optimization features including compression, deduplication, thin provisioning, and application-centric copies High availability, designed to deliver five 9s availability Automated tiering with FAST VP (Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools) and FAST Cache that can be optimized for the highest system performance and lowest storage cost simultaneously Multiprotocol support for file and block protocols Object access through Atmos Virtual Edition (Atmos VE) Simplified management with EMC Unisphere for a single management framework for all NAS, SAN, and replication needs Up to three times improvement in performance with the latest Intel multicore CPUs, optimized for Flash Note: VNXe does not support block compression. 5

6 EMC provides a single, unified storage plug-in to view, provision, and manage storage resources from VMware vsphere across EMC Symmetrix, VNX family, CLARiiON, and Celerra storage systems, helping users to simplify and speed up VMware storage management tasks. The VNX family includes five new software suites and three new software packs, making it easier and simpler to attain the maximum overall benefits. Software suites available FAST Suite Automatically optimizes for the highest system performance and the lowest storage cost simultaneously (not available for the VNXe series or the VNX5100). Local Protection Suite Practices safe data protection and repurposing (not applicable to the VNXe3100 as this functionality is provided at no additional cost as part of the base software). Remote Protection Suite Protects data against localized failures, outages, and disasters. Application Protection Suite Automates application copies and proves compliance. Security and Compliance Suite Keeps data safe from changes, deletions, and malicious activity. Software packs available Total Efficiency Pack Includes all five software suites (not available for the VNX5100 and VNXe series). Total Protection Pack Includes local, remote, and application protection suites (not applicable to the VNXe3100). Total Value Pack Includes all three protection software suites and the Security and Compliance Suite (the VNX5100 and VNXe3100 exclusively support this package). Business case Organizations of all sizes are being asked to deliver better data center performance and scalability while reducing costs. Virtualization is an essential technology to consider because it maximizes the use of physical assets, increasing the return on investment in hardware and software. Many customers have more than one data center to manage, including smaller, remote branch locations. Maximizing IT investments while delivering a consistent level of service across all locations can be very difficult. Disparate locations increase maintenance and service costs, since infrastructures can vary across locations. To meet these challenges, organizations need a validated hardware and software solution to simplify the procurement, assembly, deployment, and management of their data centers. The is designed to address these requirements by providing a blueprint for a standardized configuration that can be deployed in the data center and in remote branches. A standardized, proven infrastructure enables the consistent delivery of data center services and ensures application and data availability, even across multiple locations. 6

7 Solution overview enabled by EMC VNXe series and VMware vsphere 4.1 uses an integrated VMware ESX Server cluster design that includes: Dual quad-core Xeon servers EMC VNXe3100 platform Gigabit enterprise-class switches EMC Avamar Data Store deduplication appliance VMware vsphere 4.1 for simplicity and efficiency In addition, the solution incorporates operational best practices for: Using the integrated infrastructure Managing system performance Performing backup and recovery Key results The solution enabled by EMC VNXe3100 and VMware vsphere 4.1 is a rapid deployment model for a virtualized data center. This solution greatly reduces the time spent configuring and deploying the infrastructure: Reduce configuration time by up to 66 percent Reduce deployment time by up to 50 percent With such a dramatic reduction in test and development for the infrastructure, you can quickly deploy business-critical applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. This capability accelerates the return on your hardware and software investments. 7

8 Introduction Purpose The purpose of this solution is to present a solution environment that provides a general purpose, virtualized data center built on a consolidated platform. The architecture is a standalone virtualized data center in a rack that provides: A rapid deployment model for virtual infrastructure Accelerated business application availability Consistent infrastructure for remote offices, reducing management and maintenance costs The is ideally suited to support applications and business needs, including remote offices. It enables the deployment of a consistent, virtualized infrastructure across all remote locations. This significantly reduces support and management costs with a consistent infrastructure while simplifying the support of servicelevel agreements. The allows organizations to quickly deploy business-critical applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. This greatly reduces the test and development time required, and helps to quickly realize the return on hardware and software investments. Scope Throughout this white paper we assume that you have some familiarity with the concepts and operations related to virtualization technologies and their use in information infrastructure. This white paper discusses multiple EMC products as well as those from other vendors. Some general configuration and operational procedures are outlined. However, for detailed product installation information, please refer to the user documentation for those products. Audience This white paper is intended for EMC employees, partners, and customers including IT planners, virtualization architects and administrators, and any other IT professionals involved in evaluating, acquiring, managing, operating, or designing a virtual desktop infrastructure leveraging EMC technologies. 8

9 Terminology Table 1 defines terms used in this document. Table 1. Terminology Term Definition Datastore Storage pool Virtual disk Virtual machine Virtual provisioning VMFS A VNXe storage resource that provides storage for one or more VMware hosts. The datastore represents a specific quantity of storage that is made available from a particular VNXe Storage Server and storage pool. The datastore is accessible through either the VMFS or NFS storage protocol. A storage pool is an aggregation of storage disks configured with a particular storage profile. The storage profile defines the type of disks used to provide storage, as well as the type of RAID configured on the component disks. The storage pool configuration defines the number of disks and quantity of storage associated with the pool. When multiple pools are configured, you can choose which pool to use when you create new storage resources. If only one storage pool is available, the available pool is automatically assigned to any new storage resources. A quantity of virtual storage allocated for a VMware virtual machine (defined by the virtual machine's local VMDK file). When the host is associated with a VMware datastore, VM hard drive size represents a quantity consumed from the datastore capacity. A virtualized instance of an operating system along with one or more applications running in an isolated partition within a computer. This enables multiple operating systems to run on a single physical device while preventing separate applications from interfering with each other. Virtual provisioning enables you to reduce the quantity of storage associated with a storage resource after you create it. For example, if you decide that the amount of storage required is less than you anticipated, and virtual provisioning is enabled, you can reduce the allocated storage amount to a more appropriate level. When virtual provisioning is disabled, you can add to the quantity of storage resources for a particular storage resource, but you cannot reduce it. A high-performance storage control and transmission protocol optimized for the management and transmission of VMware virtualized storage resources 9

10 Technology overview The validated solution is built in a VMware vsphere 4.1 environment on an EMC VNXe series storage platform. The key components of the physical architecture are as follows: A three-node VMware vsphere 4.1 cluster to host virtual desktops An EMC VNXe3100 storage platform Physical architecture Figure 1 illustrates the physical architecture of the solution. Figure 1. Physical solution architecture 10

11 Logical architecture Figure 2 illustrates the logical architecture of the solution. Figure 2. Logical solution architecture 11

12 Solution details Virtual infrastructure details The details of the virtual infrastructure are as follows: VMware vsphere 4.1 cluster built on three dual-quad-core Xeon servers with HA and DRS enabled Six Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Server virtual machines configured to simulate various workloads Storage for database logging is provided by a VNXe performance pool with a RAID 10 (3+3) SAS disk configuration Storage pools with the VNXe balanced performance pool feature and a RAID 5 (4+1) SAS disk configuration are used for application data An EMC VNXe storage system stores all virtual machine files (VMDK, VMX, and logs) Physical environment The physical environment used to validate the solution included the following elements: A VNXe platform running software version 2.0 and configured with SAS drives as detailed in the following Hardware Resources table Three physical servers running vsphere 4.1 deployed in one VMware cluster Two Gigabit enterprise network switches for iscsi and the VM network Hardware resources Table 2 describes the hardware resources used in this solution. Table 2. Hardware resources Equipment Quantity Configuration Rack servers 3 2 x quad-core Intel 5640 Xeon CPU GHz, 96 GB RAM 2 x 10 GB Emulex CNA adapters EMC VNXe3100 storage platform 1 30 SAS 6 Gb/s disks Gigabit enterprise network switch 2 1 GB network switch 12

13 Software resources Table 3 describes the software resources used to validate the solution. Table 3. Software resources Software Version EMC Unisphere VMware vsphere VMware vcenter Windows Server 2008 R2 x GA B GA B Enterprise Edition Iometer RC2 (6/22/2008) 13

14 Key components Introduction This section briefly describes the components used in this solution, including: EMC VNXe3100 VMware vsphere 4.1 EMC Avamar deduplication Iometer load-generation test tool EMC VNXe3100 High-performance pool RAID 10 (3+3) provides the enhanced performance for frequent storage read and write operations (especially for databases and general purpose use) but allows fewer total bytes of storage. For example, high-performance pool storage may be appropriate for database resources that need to provide quick read/write access times. Balanced-performance pool RAID 5 (4+1) provides storage that maximizes the amount of available storage capacity but does not provide the same read/write performance as a high-performance pool. For example, balanced pool storage may be more appropriate for storing large amounts of data that is primarily static (such as video files, audio files, images, and other types of data) for users and applications that do not have strict performance requirements. Note: For data that changes or is accessed frequently, the balanced performance pool can significantly lower performance, support fewer simultaneous read/operations, and fewer overall users than high-performance pool storage. VMware vsphere 4.1 VMware vsphere is the industry s most complete, scalable, and powerful virtualization platform, delivering the infrastructure and application services that organizations need to transform their information technology and deliver IT as a service. VMware vsphere provides agility, control, and efficiency while fully preserving customer choice. 14

15 EMC Avamar deduplication EMC Avamar backup and recovery solutions use patented global data deduplication technology to identify redundant data at the source, minimizing backup data before it is sent over the network. With Avamar, you can achieve new levels of data reduction and enable fast, secure backup for your VMware environments, remote offices, and data center LANs. In the process, you will: reduce backup time reduce the growth of secondary storage, and reduce network utilization. Avamar deduplicated backups function like full backups and can be recovered in just one step, without restoring full backups and subsequent incrementals. In addition, Avamar verifies backup data recoverability and encrypts data for secure electronic backups. EMC Unisphere for VNXe EMC Unisphere for VNXe is a web-based management environment for creating storage resources, configuring and scheduling protection for stored data, and managing and monitoring other storage operations. Unisphere provides tools for: Creating, configuring, and managing storage resources for data for Microsoft Exchange servers, VMware servers, databases, and network hosts and users who use shared folders and shares Setting up access to storage resources for users, applications, and hosts, using Active Directory, NFS, and iscsi controls Monitoring storage operations and system status through detailed graphical reporting services Protecting files and data by setting up automated schedules for recording point-in-time snapshots of stored data Recovering lost or unavailable data quickly and easily from recorded snapshot images Iometer test tool Iometer is an open-source input/output measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered systems. Iometer provides benchmarking and troubleshooting, and can be configured to replicate the behavior of many popular client-server applications. One key measurement provided by the tool is Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) for computer storage devices. 15

16 Test methodology Introduction This section describes the methodology use to test the solution. Testing consisted of the following phases: Install ESX 4.1 on three servers Provision storage pools on VNXe and create datastores for an ESX 4.1 host cluster using EMC Unisphere Deploy six Windows 2008 R2 enterprise server virtual machines Validate the environment performance using Iometer We conducted multiple tests to achieve a steady state load, and performance and utilization metrics were captured during all testing. Workloads We used three types of performance workloads: I/O-based workloads Application-based workloads Mixed all-in-one workloads The advantage of these workloads is that they are neutral to operating systems and underlying storage platforms. This makes it easier to compare performance between the VNXe3100 balanced-performance storage pool and the high-performance storage pool. I/O-based workloads The workloads here consist of a single type of I/O. We have been using these monolithic types of I/O workloads since they are relatively simple and quick to configure and run, and give a good baseline figure to easily identify the impact of changes during the test cycle. Both sequential and random read/write I/O block size are tested using 64 KB, 256 KB, and 1,024 KB. 16

17 Application-based workloads To simulate enterprise customer scenarios, we configured the Iometer profiles to match some of the most commonly used server workloads. Table 4 lists the application workloads we used in our testing. They are designed to match standard workloads as recognized by the storage community and adopted by the industry. Table 4. Application workloads Workload category I/O block size Read/write ratio Randomness Decision Support System DB 1 MB 100% Read / 0% Write Random Media Streaming 64 KB 98% Read / 2% Write Sequential SQL Server Log 64 KB 0% Read / 100% Write Sequential Web Server Log 8 KB 0% Read / 100% Write Sequential OLTP DB 8 KB 70% Read / 30% Write Random Exchange Server 4 KB 67% Read / 33% Write Random Mixed all-in-one workload This workload has a mixed I/O with different block sizes, ratios of sequential/random, and ratios of write/read. It is pre-configured by the I/O benchmarking test tool and is used to push heavy workload on VNXe3100 storage to make sure it performs within design specification. Performance metrics The performance metrics considered is throughput in terms of IOPS. Higher throughput means better performance in this test. Test tools Iometer is a widely used I/O benchmarking tool in the storage community. Here are the major Iometer settings being used in this report: Version: RC2(x64) Test runtime: 2 minutes for I/O-based and application-based testing 15 minutes for a mixed all-in-one workload Number of Iometer workers: 1 Number of outstanding I/Os: 16 17

18 Storage pool details A storage pool is an aggregation of storage disks configured with a particular storage profile. The storage profile defines the type of disks used to provide storage, as well as the type of RAID configured on the component disks. The storage pool configuration defines the number of disks and quantity of storage associated with the pool. When multiple pools are configured, you can choose which pool to use when you create new storage resources. If only one storage pool is available, the available pool is automatically assigned to any new storage resources. Before you create VNXe storage resources, you must configure at least one storage pool and allocate at least one storage disk pack to the pool. Storage pools generally provide optimized storage for a particular set of applications or conditions. When you create a VNXe storage resource for hosts or applications to use, you must choose a storage pool with which to associate the storage resource. The storage that the storage resource uses is drawn from the specified pool. In our testing we used two types of storage pools: High-performance storage pools Balanced-performance storage pools High-performance storage pool The high-performance storage pool provides the enhanced performance for frequent storage read and write operations (especially for databases and general purpose use) but allows fewer total bytes of storage. For example, performance pool storage may be appropriate for database resources that need to provide quick read/write access times (see Figure 3). Figure 3. High-performance storage pool 18

19 Balanced-performance storage pool The balanced-performance storage pool provides storage that maximizes the amount of available storage capacity, but does not provide the same read/write performance as the performance pool. For example, capacity pool storage may be more appropriate for storing large amounts of data that is primarily static (such as video files, audio files, images, and other types of data) for users and applications that do not have strict performance requirements (see Figure 4). Figure 4. Balanced-performance storage pool 19

20 IOPS Test results Introduction This section shows the results of our solution testing, including: I/O-based workload test results Application-based workload test results All-in-one mixed workload test results I/O-based workload Windows 2008 R2 sequential test results are listed in Figure 5. For the sequential I/O at different block sizes, there is not a significant performance difference between RAID 5 (4+1) from the balanced storage pool and RAID 10 (3+3) from the high-performance storage pool on VNXe3100. Windows 2008R2 Sequential I/Os Throughput Raid5 (4+1) 600 Raid10(3+3) K 256K 1MB 64K 256K 1MB Sequential Sequentail Sequential Sequential Sequentail Sequential Read Read Read Write Write Write Figure 5. Sequential I/O throughput Window 2008 R2 random I/O test results are listed in Figure 6. As indicated, RAID 10 (3+3) disk from the high-performance storage pool outperforms RAID 5 (4+1) disk from the balanced storage pool in both random read and write scenarios. 20

21 IOPS IOPS Windows 2008R2 Random I/Os Throughput 64KB Random Read 256KB Random Read 1MB Random Read 64KB Random Write 256KB Random Write 1MB Random Write Raid5(4+1) Raid10(3+3) Figure 6. Random I/O throughput Application-based workload Windows 2008 R2 real application workload throughputs are listed in Figure Windows 2008R2 Real Application Workload Throughput SQL Server Log 64K Exchange Server 4K Web Server Log 8K Media Streaming 64K OLTP-DB 8K DSS-DB 1M Figure 7. Real application workload throughput 21

22 As indicated, the VNXe3100 storage platform is able to handle an I/O workload from major mission-critical applications to web/file applications. The performance is comparable with other storage system platforms. Mixed all-in-one workload Figure 8 shows the ESX host CPU utilization during the Iometer all-in-one workload stress test. Figure 8. Mixed all-in-one workload host utilization The VNXe3100 disk activities during the test are shown in Figure 9. Figure 9. Mixed all-in-one disk activity 22

23 The host I/O activities are shown in Figure 10. Figure 10. Host I/O activities Figure 11 shows that on VNXe3100 storage, the CPU utilization for both storage processors (SPs) is less than 80 percent, which is within the design specification. Figure 11. Storage processor CPU utilization 23

24 Conclusion Summary Building an infrastructure environment that integrates the EMC VNXe storage platform with VMware vsphere 4.1 enables you to: Centralize management of the entire infrastructure environment Deploy virtual desktops in a fast and efficient way Use more of your available capacity for storage and servers Integrate application best practices Automate and simplify storage provisioning Findings Testing of a virtual desktop test environment that integrates EMC VNXe storage provisioning and VMware vsphere 4.1 yielded the following conclusions: Configuration time was reduced by up to 66 percent. Deployment time was reduced by up to 50 percent. System performance was in line with the expected performance of high-end storage platforms. Storage was easily provisioned from the VNXe to the ESX hosts. VNXe storage processor CPU utilization remained constant and within specifications during the boot storm and VSI tests. Next steps To learn more about this and other solutions, contact an EMC representative or visit 24