ORACLE ROLLS OUT THE BIG GUNS: Provides Enterprises a New Choice in Flash Storage Arrays

Transcription

1 Special Report February 2015 ORACLE ROLLS OUT THE BIG GUNS: Provides Enterprises a New Choice in Flash Storage Arrays By Jerome M Wendt EMPOWERING THE IT INDUSTRY WITH ACTIONABLE ANALYSIS

2 Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 2 The Battle for Flash Storage Array Dominance Has Only Just Begun 2 The Enterprise Reticence to Adopt Flash 3 Kicking Flash s Tires 3 Make the Proverbial Flash Tire-Kicking Count 3 Flash: The Next Enterprise Data Center Shock Wave 5 Oracles Rolls Out the FS1 Flash Storage System to Meet Enterprise Flash Storage Array Demands 5 New Hardware Architecture 5 The Raw Power of the Oracle FS1 6 Industry Proven Software 6 The FS1 Custom-Made for Oracle Database 7 Hybrid Columnar Compression 7 Application Profiles 7 Bends to the Needs of the Enterprise 8 Flash and HDDs 8 QoS Plus: I/Os of Priority Apps Get VIP Treatment 9 Efficient, Effective Automated Storage Tiering 10 Oracle FS1 Cloud Ready with Storage Domains 11 Accelerates VMs in Converged Infrastructures 11 In-box Software Licensing Included 12 Oracle Defines Enterprise Support and Service 12 Oracle Rolls out the Big Guns: Provides Enterprises a New Choice in Flash Storage Arrays i

3 Executive Summary Any enterprise that is looking seriously at the future of its data center infrastructure already knows that flash storage arrays are part of it. Not surprisingly, a little over half of enterprises have already deployed flash in some way (on the server, in existing storage arrays or in allflash arrays) to kick flash s proverbial tires and verify its performance and stability claims. Most results already show that nearly every flash storage array shipping today from almost any provider outperforms any HDD-based array. Further, most of these flash storage arrays are sufficiently stable such that enterprises may confidently host one or even a few of their performance-intensive applications on them. Yet looking only at a flash storage array s performance and stability claims is a myopic way to examine a technology that stands poised to replace existing production HDD storage arrays in the coming years. While these claims should certainly be verified, it is equally if not more important that enterprises examine flash storage arrays in the context of how well they can host dozens, hundreds or even thousands of applications with varying workload requirements and business value as well as meet data center SLAs for the near- and long-term. These requirements make it critical for all-flash storage arrays to possess these features: A hardware architecture that scales horizontally in performance and capacity Self-optimized performance and cost for varied application workloads and priorities A broad set of mature, proven data management services Integration with high performance applications such as Oracle Database Integration with hypervisors widely used in virtualized environments Controlling allocation of available resources The Oracle FS1 Flash Storage System provides the flash SAN storage solution that enterprises are looking for to meet their data center SLAs in the near- and long-term. Oracle FS1 offers a hardware architecture that exceeds the performance and capacity of newcomers to this space as well as established storage players. Further, it brings forward its extensive, proven data management services to provide the stability and reliability that enterprises also want. Maybe most notably, it is co-engineered with Oracle Database and applications and offers unique features such as storage domains, Quality of Service with automated storage tiering and Priority-In-Priority-Out I/O queuing that provides the system with a deep understanding of the application layer that makes it ideal for deployment at the core of enterprise data centers. With these enterprise-grade features, Oracle FS1 breaks new ground in the flash storage array SAN battleground by delivering more than just high levels of performance. Using the Oracle FS1, enterprises can finally move ahead with their plans to bring flash storage arrays into the core of their infrastructure knowing that they can run multiple applications and workloads and meet data center SLAs with confidence. 1

4 The Battle for Flash Storage Array Dominance Has Only Just Begun Flash is widely predicted to be the future of enterprise production storage. Flash storage arrays deliver performance that far exceeds conventional storage systems architected for hard disk drives (HDDs), providing up to 20x greater performance for read I/Os and 3x greater performance for write I/Os while consuming only about onetwentieth of the power of HDDs. Despite flash s strengths, many enterprises still only use flash in a limited capacity if at all. A recent IDC study of more than 1,000 storage administrators revealed that many still view flash as too expensive or not suited for their infrastructure. IDC s research director for storage systems, Natalya Yezhokova, says, There are still plenty of end users who believe they do not have the workload demands or budgetary appetites for flash-based storage systems. 1 These findings by IDC corroborate the results of a separate independent survey of IT professionals in medium and large organizations released by 451 Research which revealed that: A little over half have only deployed flash in some capacity 37% have deployed hybrid flash arrays (arrays that contain both disk and flash) 18% have deployed server-side flash 6% have deployed all flash arrays 2 This reticence to adopt and deploy flash enterprise-wide stems from concerns such as broad market confusion, different types of flash and multiple flash deployment options among others. (See Side Bar The Enterprise Reticence to Adopt Flash.) As a result, enterprises have tended to initially deploy flash in controlled test environments or only to solve their most pressing applicationspecific performance challenges such as those associated with Oracle Database and other applications. Regardless of how they deploy flash now, most enterprises anticipate a day in the not too distant future when they will use flash arrays much more broadly within their data centers. In anticipation of that day, enterprises need to do more than just test flash arrays. They need to identify The Enterprise Reticence to Adopt Flash The enterprise reticence to adopt flash stems from a number of factors which include: Market confusion. The DCIG Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer s Guide identified more than 40 different all-flash array models from 20 different storage providers while the DCIG 2014 Hybrid Storage Array Buyer s Guide identified another 40-plus models from 17 different providers. Different types of flash. All-flash and hybrid storage arrays offer one or more types of flash memory available which may include MLC (multi-level cell), cmlc (consumer MLC), emlc (enterprise MLC) and SLC (single level cell). Each of these flash memory types has characteristics that influence their cost, endurance, power consumption, total capacity and read and write performance. Multiple deployment options. Flash memory may be placed on the server, in the network and in the storage array. No clear market leader. Enterprises tend to prefer storage technologies from clear market leaders. However, a definitive market leader has yet to emerge for all-flash and hybrid storage arrays. Many storage array models shipping today are either from start-ups or, if the model is available from an established storage provider, it is a net new model in their product lineup that they have internally developed, retro-fitted an old model for flash, or is available as a result of an acquisition of a flash start-up, such as Cisco, EMC and IBM have done. Immaturity of data management services. Enterprises want a high degree of certainty when it comes to the stability of their production storage arrays. Since many all-flash and hybrid storage array models are either available from start-ups or are net new models from established providers, the maturity of the data management software and services on these arrays is often a question mark. They offer few proof points and little is known about how well the data management services on these arrays actually work. Adding flash into existing HDD-based arrays. To address these enterprise concerns about the immaturity of data management services, established vendors are putting flash into existing HDD-based arrays. This approach does address concerns about the maturity of the array s data management services. However, these arrays were architected and optimized for HDDs, not flash, so they may not include the functionality needed to manage flash nor fully deliver on the potential performance improvements that flash offers. In some cases this is analogous to retrofitting a 1981 Chevy Malibu with a HP Corvette ZR1 engine if you try hard you can get the engine to fit under the hood but the chassis cannot handle all that power and was never designed to work with it in the first place. 1. IDC. Flash-Based Storage System Adoption Is on the Rise in Enterprises, According to IDC. IDC Corporate USA, 14 Aug Web. 27 Nov Robinson, Simon, and Tim Stammers. 451 Survey Finds Enterprise Flash Storage Adoption Real, and Growing. TechTarget, Inc., 12 Nov Web. 19 Nov All of these factors contribute to the difficulty that enterprises have in confidently identifying and then deploying the most appropriate flash storage array in their production environments DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. Licensed to Oracle with unlimited and unrestricted distribution rights. 2

5 one flash array that provides the levels of performance, maturity of data management services and overall stability at an affordable price that will give them the confidence to deploy it now with the goal of becoming the core of their data center s production environment, potentially hosting hundreds of applications. A key in this process is to start with a robust, high performance building block that may scale horizontally to support petabytes of flash as opposed to a point product that becomes unmanageable as a result of data center sprawl. Kicking Flash s Tires Enterprises making their initial foray into flash typically use flash arrays with the following characteristics in controlled environments: Application-specific deployments High levels of performance required Nominal amounts of flash capacity needed (10 TB or less) Deploying a flash array into these controlled environments provides enterprises the opportunity to kick the proverbial tires to document its improved performance and establish baselines on product stability. The problem with this limited, controlled approach is that flash arrays from nearly all providers have matured significantly in the last few years and can meet or exceed the application or applications capacity and performance requirements. Further, flash arrays have matured to the point where their stability in these small environments is less of an issue than even a few years ago. However, for enterprises looking to deploy all-flash storage arrays at the core of their production environments, this limited testing approach is not sufficient. Rather than simply trying to confirm if a flash array performs well and its software is stable, enterprises need to conduct a meaningful flash storage array evaluation that produces results pertinent to their near- and long-term objectives. Make the Proverbial Flash Tire-Kicking Count While enterprises still need to validate and test a flash storage array s performance and stability, the time has arrived for them to broaden their evaluation to ensure that the flash storage array offers the other capabilities that Flash: The Next Enterprise Data Center Shock Wave Enterprise data centers are experiencing a new shock wave as a result of wide-scale virtualization. The shift from hosting applications on virtual as opposed to physical machines is already well known and underway in most enterprises. However, this shift from physical to virtual is causing shock waves throughout the data center that are every bit as impactful as virtualization itself. As enterprises virtualize, they typically expect that the same or fewer number of IT staff to better support a consolidated, virtualized environment than a physical environment. This puts the onus on enterprise data center managers to identify backend solutions that can handle the increased number of virtual machines (VMs) while still delivering the performance that this mix of physical and virtualized applications requires. This is prompting the need for enterprises to begin their shift from HDD to flash storage arrays to meet these increased demands for performance. The increased density of VMs on physical ESX servers coupled with the requirement to continuously deliver high levels of performance for applications such as Oracle Database necessitate they introduce flash to satisfy these high application performance demands. Flash storage arrays offer write performance of up to 3x or more than HDDs and read performance that is up to 20x or more than HDDs. Coupling these increases in performance with flash s reduced operating costs (flash only consumes a fraction of the power of HDDs,) lower cooling costs (no moving mechanical parts so they generate less heat), and longer life (some vendors now warranty flash for up to five years) make flash storage arrays both compelling and disruptive. Enterprises may accelerate application performance, consolidate more servers and further simplify the management of their data center infrastructures just by introducing a flash storage array into their infrastructure. they will need to fully deploy it across their production environments. This evaluation should include: Application integration. Every enterprise uses databases, with 97 percent of Global Fortune 500 companies using Oracle Database in some fashion. While enterprises can certainly place an Oracle Database on any flash storage array, only Oracle s flash storage arrays can leverage the native data storage and data optimization features that have been available since the release of Oracle Database 11gR2. VMware ESX integration. Even more prevalent than Oracle Database among Fortune 500 companies is the VMware ESX hypervisor which is used by 100 percent. 3 This makes it incumbent for the flash storage array to 3. VMware. Choose a Customer-Proven Solution. Customer-Proven Virtualization Technology from VMware. virtualization-customers. VMware, n.d. Web. 21 Nov

6 support VMware APIs for both array management and data protection. Since the software on many of these flash storage arrays is still relatively immature, the level of integration with the VMware APIs can vary significantly. HDD and flash storage tiering. HDDs may no longer be the future of storage media but they are not going away any time soon either. The upfront cost of HDDs is still a fraction of flash and provides adequate levels of performance for many applications. This makes having HDDs available as a storage tier desirable, especially for infrequently accessed or archived data that does not need the high performance of flash. Even all flash memory is not created equal. For example, SLC is the most expensive tier of flash and is best suited for applications that generate large amounts of write I/Os but do not need as much storage capacity. Others such as cmlc and emlc offer higher capacities than SLC and similar performance in terms of read I/Os but are not as well suited for write I/O. One emerging form of flash even offers ultra-high levels of capacity (over 20TB) in a very small form factor at a low cost per GB but only supports very few writes to each cell. These different tiers of flash and HDDs and their respective application use cases make it almost a necessity that a flash storage array intended for broad enterprise use support and manage these different tiers of flash and disk. Array controller architecture. The superior read/write performance and low latency that flash offers over HDDs is well known and documented. However, the controllers, and indeed the whole system, needs to be re-architected to achieve the high levels of read and write performance and low latency improvements expected of flash arrays. Flash completely flips the equation in terms of where the performance bottleneck resides on storage arrays. In the past, HDDs were the performance bottleneck as storage array controllers waited on responses from the HDDs before they could continue processing data. With flash the storage array controllers often become the bottleneck as the flash media is now waiting on read and write requests. Overcoming this bottleneck requires that the hardware and software on the controllers along with the interface between the controllers and backend flash be properly architected to fully harness and deliver on the full potential of flash s performance characteristics. Servicing mixed application workloads. Aggregating the data and corresponding workloads of applications puts a demand on the flash storage array to appropriately service their collective I/Os. Even though enterprises prioritize applications differently, many arrays manage all application I/O in the same way by servicing them in the order in which they arrive. A better way to handle this task is to prioritize I/Os from mission and business critical applications and service those with a higher priority first before I/Os designated as business internal or development/test. Segregating applications and workloads. As enterprises consolidate and virtualize applications, they also want the flexibility to segregate the applications and their associated workloads by business unit, department, user, or company. By using partitioning, each of these entities may be assigned dedicated storage resources, grant its administrators secure logins to access and manage their data, and keep application data and their workloads separate so they do not impact nor are impacted by other application data and workloads running on the same array. Scalability. The first flash storage array that many enterprises bring in-house rarely has more than 10TB of flash storage capacity. However, longer term very few enterprises want to cap flash capacity at 10TB. So far, very few flash storage arrays have demonstrated their ability to scale beyond 10TB and still deliver the same levels of performance that can be achieved at that capacity. As enterprises evaluate flash storage arrays, they should identify models that give them the flexibility to scale up and scale out both capacity and performance to meet their longer term requirements. Product road map and viability. In cases where an emerging or an existing storage provider is shipping a new flash storage array, there are always questions regarding the long term roadmap and viability of the product itself as well as of the vendor. If offered by an emerging flash provider, questions that immediately surface include Will the provider stay in business? ; What proof points are available to demonstrate its flash storage array works as claimed? ; and, if working as designed, Will the provider eventually be acquired and, if so, by whom? Net new flash storage array models from existing storage providers are not immune from scrutiny either. While they may now offer a flash storage array, their level of commitment to it may be commensurate with 4

7 how well it sells. Even assuming it does well, if a smaller flash competitor starts to do well and achieves a market leading position, it is conceivable they may abandon their existing product in favor of acquiring one that puts them in a position of market leadership. By way of example, EMC is already in this unenviable position of having to try to figure out which of its three product lines VMAX, VNX and XtremIO it is going to support as an all-flash configuration and for how long? Will all three lines survive or just one or two? If the latter, which one(s) will survive? Oracles Rolls Out the FS1 Flash Storage System to Meet Enterprise Flash Storage Array Demands The Oracle FS1 Flash Storage System addresses these key concerns that enterprises have when choosing the right flash storage array. Oracle FS1 delivers the performance and stability that enterprises expect when deploying a flash storage array for the first time. However, it also positions enterprises to meet their longer term needs by giving enterprises the flexibility to scale it and use it in the multiple different ways that they will need to satisfy the broader demands of their production environment. New Hardware Architecture Oracle did more than simply stuff flash drives into an existing HDD-architected system. Instead Oracle designed and built a whole new hardware architecture specifically for flash, with advancements including: PCI Express (PCIe). Moving to a PCIe interface eliminates the performance bottlenecks potentially caused by PCI-X. With PCIe every connected device gets its own dedicated connection so it does not have to share bandwidth with other devices enabling Oracle to increase it I/O bandwidth by up to 20x over its previous generation of storage arrays. RAID functionality in the controller head. FS1 controllers leverage multicore processors to efficiently handle the load associated with managing and processing RAID. To improve the performance of the controllers, Oracle increased the number of compute cores by 6x and the amount of memory by 9x which contribute to increasing the number supported active threads that can run in parallel by up to 12x. 6Gb SAS for backend flash connectivity. FC and 6Gb SAS are about equal in terms of throughput. However, 6Gb SAS delivers on the performance of flash at a price point that is about half of FC while also giving enterprises more flexibility to connect SATA and SAS HDDs to this interface. In this way enterprises can more economically scale the FS1 over time with the most appropriate media for their environment. The Raw Power of the Oracle FS1 A flash storage array is first and foremost measured by its ability to perform. The Oracle FS1 delivers on this key metric by, in most cases, vastly outperforming comparable leading flash storage arrays. Published benchmarks reveal that the FS1 provides the top notch performance that enterprises expect a flash storage array to deliver. An FS1 with up to 16 HA Nodes offers up to 2 million read-write IOPs and can achieve up to 80GB/second of throughput and move data at up 5TB per minute with performance numbers that far outpace claims published by competitive models. Consider: EMC XtremIO in its largest configuration could only achieve about 400,000 IOPS when only write I/Os were sent to it; 600,000 IOPs when subjected to a mix of read and write I/Os; and, about 1 million IOPs when only read I/Os were used. 4 Pure Storage, an emerging provider of flash storage arrays, achieved 200,000 IOPS and 7GB/second of throughput though it used a larger block size (32K) than industry norms when benchmarking performance on its array. 5 SolidFire, still another emerging provider of flash storage arrays, claims to have achieved 7.5 million IOPS. However, to achieve that number it had to use 100 nodes and it is unclear how those numbers were achieved (presumably using read I/Os.) 6 Further, the base unit from SolidFire is a 5-node cluster whereas a base FS1 unit is 2 nodes which demonstrates the FS1 s efficiency and performance. Admittedly every storage provider s performance claims should be viewed with caution as all performance benchmarks are, by their very nature, subjective. Further, performance benchmarks are usually conducted in optimal conditions using the most robust hardware and software with vendors varying significantly in how much performance 4. Xpect More Performance EMC XtremIO. EMC, n.d. Web. 2 Dec Tech Specifications for Independent Scaling. Pure Storage, Inc., n.d. Web. 02 Dec SolidFire. Start Where You Are. Scale to Where You Need to Go. SolidFire Blog RSS. SolidFire, n.d. Web. 02 Dec

8 data they publish. As such there is no guarantee that enterprises will achieve the same results when deploying the solution in their environments. That said, the FS1 outperforms many of these new allflash storage systems based upon performance numbers published to date. Making these performance numbers even more impressive is that the FS1 may also be configured with HDD tiers, a configuration not currently available on any of the aforementioned competitive all flash arrays. When viewed in this light and then comparing the FS1 s performance to other arrays that started out as HDD arrays and are now available in all-flash configurations, the FS1 s performance exceeds them. The FS1 provides up to 4x better performance than these arrays based upon some of their published performance numbers. Consider: Recently published performance numbers for the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 were in the 900,000 IOPS range, about half of what a fully configured FS1 could deliver. 7 The IBM XIV Storage System delivered 613,000 IOPS, 9.7GB/s read throughput, and 7.2GB/s write throughput. 8 These published performance numbers are respectively one-third or less of what a fully configured Oracle FS1 system can achieve. The EMC VNX8000 achieved more than 730,000 IOPS in a recently published benchmark. 9 This is again only about one-third or less of what a fully configured Oracle FS1 system can achieve. These performance numbers demonstrate the advantages of FS1 s purpose-built, flash-first design over HDD-centric architectures populated with flash trays. In fact, the FS1 has distinct, dedicated paths for flash media and separate, dedicated paths for HDDs and is not using HDD paths to access flash. Industry Proven Software While the latest hardware was certainly needed for the FS1 to fully deliver on the performance potential of flash, the FS1 stands apart from many other flash storage arrays as it brings forward the proven data management software previously used on the Pillar Axiom 600 enterprise SAN storage system. Here again, Oracle made updates to key data management features that storage arrays must possess to gain an enterprise s trust prior to deployment. Two key features of the FS1 software include: Data management features preserved. Not every feature on a flash storage array operating system is needed to optimize and accelerate flash s performance. While operating system software enhancements are certainly needed, many more features such as application and operating system integration, storage management and performance monitoring and optimization will be used by enterprises on a day-to-day basis. The FS1 software has been deployed and used in hundreds of customer accounts on thousands of storage systems for well over a decade. This period of time and large number of deployments has provided ample time for these features to mature and be proven. New 64-bit operating system. To take full advantage of the updated hardware on the FS1 and optimize its flash performance, the FS1 operating system is now 64-bit Oracle Enterprise Linux. Using this 64-bit architecture, the FS1 OS better leverages the more powerful multicore processors in the FS1 s controllers and better addresses the larger amounts of cache and capacity available within the FS1. The FS1 Custom-Made for Oracle Database More, faster multicore processors, improved hardware interconnects, a 64-bit operating system and the availability of flash in the FS1 in and of themselves contribute to accelerating Oracle Database performance. However, these are features that other flash storage arrays may already possess or will shortly as these are requirements to remaining a viable player in the flash storage array game. A big differentiator for FS1 over all of its flash storage array competitors is its co-engineering with the Oracle Database. As such, the FS1 functions as an extension of Oracle Database to optimize the available flash capacity and further boost its flash performance. The FS1 flash storage array takes advantage of advanced storage features of Oracle Database which are not available to non-oracle storage arrays. 7. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Array: Performance without Compromise Data Sheet (2013): 1-8. Hewlett-Packard Company, L.P., Dec Web. 2 Dec Urquidi, Julio. IBM Storwize V3700 & XIV Storage System Hybrid Storage Vendors and Comparison Guide. Tom's IT Pro. A Purch Company, 16 Apr Web. 02 Dec Martin, Dennis. Evaluation of EMC VNX8000 and EMC XtremS W Cache. (2013): 1-9. Print. 6

9 Hybrid Columnar Compression Many flash vendors are quick to point out that they offer deduplication or that they accelerate Oracle Database performance. However they fail to mention or simply do not know that every header in Oracle Database is unique and nearly every data block associated with each header is unique as well, making deduplication ineffective. Oracle Database essentially has its own internal compression engine which is Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC). This technology has proven to be far more effective than deduplication when looking to optimize storage capacity for Oracle Database.This is why this feature is available on all Oracle storage systems which include Oracle Exadata, FS1, and ZFS Storage Appliance. storage array offloads the task of decompressing data to the database server while saving network bandwidth. Application Profiles Oracle FS1 comes with predefined Application Profiles that provide tuned and tested out-of-the-box storage optimization for Oracle Database and key enterprise applications. Application Profiles enable one-click provisioning so that enterprises may optimize flash performance which serves to expedite setup and deployment while minimizing human error and ongoing administration. HCC was introduced with Oracle Database 11gR2. It combines both row and columnar compression methods with the benefits of both formats. Storing column data together with the same data type and similar characteristics significantly improves the storage efficiencies achieved with compression. Using this technology has resulted in 10x to 50x compression rates and a 40% reduction in storage capacity requirements. Figure 1: One-click Oracle Database Provisioning Source: Oracle In addition, compressed tables stored on the FS1 flash storage array can be cloned without decompression overhead and then be immediately made available for use in the compressed format for development, test, quality assurance, reporting, and more. HCC technology also accelerates the performance of Oracle Database stored on the FS1 flash storage array in the following two ways: First, when a compressed Oracle Database is modified, the FS1 flash storage array does NOT need to decompress the data before modifying it. As a result, the FS1 storage array is not bogged down with decompressing, modifying and then again compressing modified data in Oracle databases as would occur on other storage arrays that do not integrate with HCC. Second, when an Oracle database performs a query, the FS1 sends compressed data results back to the database server. This accelerates Oracle Database reads since less data is sent over the network plus the FS1 For example, as shown in Figure 1, FS1 Oracle Database storage profiles can disaggregate database components such as index files, database tables, archive logs, redo logs, control files and temp files so provisioning automatically optimizes Oracle Database performance without requiring detailed knowledge of the database components. Application Profiles are currently available for Oracle Database and a wide number of Oracle and third-party applications, including E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Siebel, SAP and Microsoft Exchange. New application profiles can be added to the FS1, existing ones modified, and all profiles may be exported from an existing FS1 system to other FS1 systems to standardize storage provisioning across global datacenters. Bends to the Needs of the Enterprise Despite the benefits that flash offers and how well the Oracle FS1 integrates with Oracle Database, enterprise 7

10 resource planning (ERP), online transaction processing (OLTP) and Oracle Database applications will often be the only applications that can justify the business investment in flash. Enterprise applications used for data mining, development/ test or in support of file and print applications will do just fine with a mix of flash and HDDs. Still other applications such as those used for archive, backup and video streaming will perform well solely on HDDs. Yet, for enterprises that want to consolidate these application types that use HDDs onto a single storage platform, they will need to choose an array that supports both flash and HDDs. This requirement makes many flash storage array models too pricey for broader enterprise use as they do not support HDDs. They would have to buy an HDD array or use an existing one. Oracle FS1 eliminates this dilemma as it is the only storage array purpose-built for flash that offers enterprises the option of exploiting the economics of HHDs using flash and HDD tiers. Flash and HDDs The FS1 supports multiple tiers of flash and HDDs. On the flash side, it offers two tiers of flash performance and capacity. The first tier, referred to as Performance SSDs, is the faster 400GB flash drives used for mixed read and write intensive applications. The second tier is a capacity tier that uses 1.6TB flash drives which are best suited for applications that generate high levels of reads and fewer writes. On the HDD side the FS1 also supports two tiers of HDDs that are available in both performance and capacity drives. The performance HDDs are either 300GB or 900GB SAS drives while the capacity HDDs are 4TB SAS drives. The FS1 s support of this mix of flash and HDDs gives enterprises the flexibility to configure the FS1 in the most appropriate way for their environment, or let QoS Plus automatically tier data to match the application s requirements and business priority. performance controllers and the backend storage to deliver the level of performance that enterprises expect from their production flash storage array. Having separate, distinct performance and storage controllers provides enterprises the flexibility to then add and independently scale the resources that they need exactly when and where they need them. QoS Plus: I/Os of Priority Apps Get VIP Treatment Features such as automated storage tiering and storage domains go a long way toward making it feasible for enterprises to successfully host multiple applications with different performance and priority requirements on the FS1. Auto-tiering and I/O prioritization are intelligently managed by the Quality of Service (QoS) Plus feature which may be the crown jewel of the features available on the FS1. QoS Plus provides the brains behind auto-tiering but also re-prioritizes and re-orders application I/O according to each application s business value to the enterprise. Storage arrays by default treat incoming read and write I/Os from all applications the same (Figures 2 and 3.) Whether I/Os are issued by an Oracle Database or an application retrieving archival data, storage arrays ingest these I/Os in the order in which they arrive and then process and service them in the same order, just like IBM s RAMAC did over 50 years ago. The issue that this First-In-First-Out process potentially creates in consolidated environments is that I/O from an application doing archiving is handled in the same manner as I/O from an OLTP application trying to access an Oracle Database. This puts I/O processing out of alignment with business priorities. To then optimize the performance and capacity of both the flash and HDDs, the FS1 leverages its 64-bit OS, new high speed communication links with a SAS backend and multicore processors that perform parallel processing between the Figure 2: Conventional Storage Arrays' "First-In-First-Out" I/O Input Source: Oracle 8

11 The difference is that the FS1 recognizes each application s respective I/O, correlates it to its profile and then responds to each application's I/O based upon how it is prioritized as Figure 5 illustrates. Figure 3: Conventional Storage Arrays' "First-In-First-Out" I/O Output Source: Oracle The FS1 s QoS Plus addresses this misalignment between available technical resources and business priorities with Application Profiles that have Archive, Low, Medium, High and Premium priorities. Enterprises may use pre-tuned and tested Application Profiles for Oracle Database and key Oracle and third-party applications that come with the FS1 to expedite storage provisioning with just one click or create their own. These profiles are associated with each application accessing the FS1 and serve two purposes: 1. Data associated with each application is placed on the tier or tiers of storage associated with its FS1 application profile. 2. Read and write I/Os from each application are then ingested and prioritized according to its application profile to create a Priority-In-Priority-Out means of handling I/O. Using Priority-In-Priority-Out, the FS1 services I/Os associated with the highest priority applications first and then services I/Os from other, lower priority apps according to how they are categorized. As Figure 4 illustrates, I/Os still come into the FS1 the same way as before the order in which they were sent. Figure 5: FS1's "Priority-In-Priority-Out" I/O Output Source: Oracle This gives enterprises more flexibility to mix and match applications of different priorities on the same FS1 array or within FS1 Storage Domains without worrying that I/O from Archive or Low priority applications will affect their Premium or High Priority applications. QoS Plus ensures that I/Os from Premium and High priority applications are serviced before I/Os from lower priority applications. However it also ensures that I/Os from lower priority applications are queued up so that their I/Os are serviced in a timely manner to meet their respective service level agreements (SLAs). Efficient, Effective Automated Storage Tiering The flexibility to add the right flash and HDD resources only makes sense if enterprises have the flexibility to easily, efficiently and effectively use them once deployed. This is where FS1 s automated storage tiering comes into play. The FS1 is certainly not the only storage array that provides multiple tiers of storage and then automates the process of tiering data across these storage tiers. However it is the only storage array that stores and moves data in 640K chunks which empirical evidence suggests may be the optimal chunk size to most efficiently and effectively implement automated storage tiering. Figure 4: FS1's "Priority-In-Priority-Out" I/O Input Source: Oracle Some storage arrays (Table 1) store data in small 4K chunks. Storing data in chunks of this size uses available storage capacity in a very efficient, effective manner. However, as more data is stored the amount of overhead associated with managing all of these chunks of data eventually reaches a tipping point. 9

12 The storage system must track where each individual 4K chunk of data is stored; create and store heat maps that track how frequently or infrequently the data on that chunk is accessed; and, then, if the frequency of access exceeds or falls below a certain threshold, move that chunk of data to a more appropriate tier of storage. The issue over time becomes the metadata that is stored in the index. As the amount of data under management grows so does the size of the index which gradually slows its performance. The size of the index becomes particularly problematic if it should ever grow to the point where it cannot be entirely stored in memory. At that point, the performance of the index as well as the entire storage array will begin to degrade substantially. Further, tracking and moving so many small blocks of data between different tiers of storage will also create metadata overhead on the system as it moves the blocks of data. To mitigate this indexing issue that small chunks of data can create, a number of storage systems (Table 1) store data in larger chunks such as 256MB, 1GB or, in some cases, even larger. Storing data in these larger chunk sizes reduces the size of the index as there are fewer blocks with a smaller heat map to track and manage. However, storing data in larger chunks results in the available capacity within that chunk not being used efficiently and effectively as well as having a mix of data of different heat levels stored within the chunk. Further, moving this large chunk of data may impact either application or storage system performance and may have to occur during off-hours if it can be done at all. The 640K chunk size used by the FS1 strikes an appropriate balance between these two extremes. Oracle has analyzed the years of data that it has accumulated on the activity and performance of data stored and accessed on its arrays. This research has led Oracle to conclude that a 640K chunk size is best suited to balance and optimize available storage capacity, performance, data movement and index size for the purposes of doing automated storage tiering. Oracle FS1 Cloud Ready with Storage Domains Consolidating and hosting multiple different applications physical or virtual on a single, centralized storage always tends to be attractive from a financial perspective. In an ideal world, existing storage capacity (flash or HDD) is 10, 11 Table 1 Storage Tiering Chunk Sizes Flash Storage Array NetApp FAS Series EMC XtremIO Oracle FS1 HDS HUS VM EMC VNX2 HP 3PAR StoreServ EMC VNX1 IBM XIV better managed and utilized, less data center floor space and power is needed and upfront capital and ongoing operating expenses are lower as they are spread out among all of the applications accessing the array. There are three issues with consolidating to a single array: Limited flexibility. Different business units, departments and companies often have their own respective requirements. As such they need the flexibility to access and configure the storage to meet their needs. Once consolidated, this flexibility may become much more limited. Competition for dedicated resources. Connecting all applications to a flash storage array (all-flash or hybrid) almost inevitably leads to every application owner wanting access to the highest performing resource in this case flash storage. While storage tiering partially helps to mitigate this issue, there will always be some applications that should have first dibs on the available flash capacity while other applications have no business storing any of their data on this tier. Security. Consolidating multiple tenants in a single physical entity can raise concerns about the security of data between one tenant versus another. Co-mingling data across a large storage system or in cloud environments accomplishes cost objectives but raises security and privacy concerns. Storage Tiering Chunk Size The FS1 s Storage Domains feature gives enterprises with different business units, departments, or users the flexibility they need to manage their data while also controlling 4K 4K 640K 42MB 256MB 256MB 1GB 1GB 10. Burgess, Mark. Comparing EMC, HDS and NetApp Storage Arrays Part 1 (Block Features). The SNS Tech Team Blog. N.p., 11 Mar Web. 07 Dec Lucchesi, Ray. IBM Easy Tier Automated Storage Tiering. Slideshare. Silverton Consulting, 2 July Web. 8 Dec < 10

13 access to the tier or tiers of storage capacity that their specific applications require. Using FS1 s Storage Domains feature, enterprises may create up to 512 domains in a fully scaled out FS1, each with its own dedicated resources and QoS Plus settings. In this way, enterprises have the flexibility to create: All-flash domains for their premium and high priority applications that need access to flash and the highest levels of performance Mixed media domains for their low to high priority applications that need some mix of flash and HDDs to deliver moderate to high levels of performance All-HDD domains for their archival applications that only need acceptable levels of performance. Figure 6: FS1's Storage Domains Source: Oracle Using the FS1 s Storage Domains enterprises may securely separate the workloads associated with each application as each domain has its own dedicated resources that may only be accessed and used by the applications in that domain without negatively impacting other domains. Further, each domain also has its own secure login so each business unit or department retains the flexibility to configure the storage resources assigned to it without being subject to broader, more restrictive change control processes. Conversely, it also gives specific business units and departments the option to put in place the more restrictive change control policies that they may need to manage their applications. The other upside of assigning specific applications to their own storage domains is that they get access to the specific storage resources that they need without having to compete or contend for them. By assigning high and premium priority applications to domains that contain only flash and separating them from mid and low priority applications that do not need access to flash, high and premium priority applications such as Oracle Database get the performance that they need while other applications may only access HDDs or limited amounts of flash capacity. These extreme levels of security and granular SLA management within each of the Oracle FS1 s storage domains position it very well for cloud deployments and make it very suitable for cloud and managed service providers to use as their preferred platform to create private, hybrid and public clouds. Accelerates VMs in Converged Infrastructures Virtual machines (VMs) that reside on converged infrastructures consisting of ever more powerful servers are well on their way to becoming the norm in enterprises today. Many of these VMs run on VMware ESX with VMware used by more than 500,000 customers and found in 99% of Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies. 12 This combination of convergence and virtualization puts a great deal of pressure on the backend storage array to scale both in capacity and performance to handle the workload associated with the dozens or even hundreds of VMs that each of these powerful servers can potentially host. The FS1 can scale both its performance and capacity to meet these demands. The FS1 starts in a configuration as little as two controllers and approximately 1TB of flash capacity to give enterprises the small footprint they often desire to initially test drive its performance and stability. The FS1 may then scale to as high as 16 controllers backed by 7 petabytes flash or nearly double that amount of capacity if both disk and flash are used. As it can deliver up to 2 million IOPs in its largest configuration, it is positioned to meet even the most demanding enterprise data center capacity and performance requirements associated with running hypervisors such as VMware ESXi, Oracle VM or Microsoft Hyper-V. In-box Software Licensing Included The FS1 flash storage array possibly possesses all of the features that an enterprise could want. However, possessing these features is insufficient. Enterprises must actually be able to use them in order to realize their value. Using 12. VMware, Inc. How a Hypervisor-Converged Software-Defined Data Center Enables a Better Private Cloud (2014): June Web. 2 Dec

14 them often comes down to licensing individual features which can cause many enterprises to balk. Oracle creates no such obstacles. All of the FS1 s in-box software features are included with the system purchase price in other words there are no separate charges or the need to negotiate software discounts. This includes features such as: QoS Plus with automated storage tiering and Priority-In-Priority-Out I/O management Application Profiles Storage Domains Copy services: snaps and clones End-to-end data integrity checking Thin provisioning Native integration with Oracle Database features such as HCC and Enterprise Manager Single-pane, multi-system management with mobile access options (iphone or Android) By including all of the software licenses needed to power the FS1, enterprises get all of the capabilities they need to realize the maximum value out of their purchase without incurring additional costs. In contrast, similar, but individually licensed capabilities in competitive offerings could cost up to $250,000. Oracle Defines Enterprise Support and Service Finally, one cannot talk about using a flash storage array in an enterprise production data center environment without examining how it will be supported and maintained. This requirement alone can lead enterprises to dismiss flash storage arrays from providers such as Pure Storage and SolidFire. While they offer flash storage arrays, they may fail to meet the standards for financial stability, long-term viability, and capability to provide the high level (and often global) service and support that enterprises expect. It is nearly impossible for enterprises to so easily dismiss a storage provider like Oracle. Unlike smaller providers, Oracle s position in the enterprise coupled with its ability to support and deliver on enterprise requirements is nearly indisputable. Consider: Oracle is a $37 billion company with over 120,000 employees around the globe, and some 400,000 customers worldwide 13 Over 60,000 people attended Oracle World in fall Over 2.1 million attended Oracle World online 97% of Global Fortune 500 companies use Oracle software 15 Over 50,000 IT professionals become certified in Oracle software each year 16 While arguably best known for its database software and business applications, Oracle has also emerged as an enterprise storage player having acquired several storage companies since 2010, including: Front Porch Digital Greenbytes Sun Microsystems (including StorageTek) Pillar Data Systems Through its acquisition of these various storage companies, Oracle storage systems deployed in enterprise accounts of all sizes for which it offers 24x7 support from IT staff available by phone, on the web and in the field to assist in the implementation and ongoing support of its FS1 flash storage arrays. Oracle Rolls out the Big Guns: Provides Enterprises a New Choice in Flash Storage Arrays Enterprises need flash more than ever to meet the needs of their performance hungry mission-critical production applications. To do this, enterprises must identify and implement a flash storage array that is more than a single application point product. Instead, they need to choose an enterprisegrade flash storage array with the battle-proven features and functionality that can meet their broader infrastructure requirements while cost-effectively supporting a wide variety of application workloads. The Oracle FS1 Flash Storage System provides enterprises with a highly available and scalable flash storage array that has the features and functionality to meet the enterprises' near and long-term needs. The Oracle FS1 is in a class by itself with an architecture specifically designed to exploit 13. Oracle Fact Sheet 14. Wang, R. Ray. Event Report: Oracle Open World 2014 Day 1 #OOW14 - Enterprise Irregulars. Enterprise Irregulars. Cloud Avenue, LLC., 28 Sept Web. 19 Nov Oracle. 16. ibid. 12

15 the power of flash for extreme performance with predictable latency and deliver leading economics through Quality of Service-driven automated tiering of flash and disk media coupled with its Priority-In-Priority-Out I/O queuing based on business priorities. Enterprises may start with an FS1 in a configuration as small as two nodes with performance that is as much as 9x higher than EMC XtremIO at half the price and scale out to host petabytes of flash capacity in a single logical configuration. In its largest 16 node configuration, internal Oracle tests have already shown that the FS1 can deliver up to 80GBps of throughput and 2 million IOPs, more than enough to meet the performance needs of the most demanding set of applications. Further, with FS1's support for up to 64 storage domains per dual node system, or 512 in a 16-node configuration, enterprises may confidently consolidate their applications onto a single storage platform knowing that they have access to the resources they need to meet their SLAs without contention. Oracle FS1 breaks new ground in the flash storage array SAN battleground by delivering more than just outstanding performance which is often where other flash storage arrays start and stop. The Oracle FS1 stands apart by providing a highly available and scalable architecture backed by a mature and proven suite of data management services that are included in the base system that enterprises want and need to justify deploying and broadly using a flash storage array in their production SAN environment. This stands in contract to many flash storage arrays that have minimal, immature or unproven data management services as well as those that make these services available as separately licensed options. Further, Oracle FS1 s co-engineering with Oracle Database provides significant business value to organizations and gives it unique advantages over competitive storage systems which do not offer this level of integration. Using the Oracle FS1, enterprises can finally move ahead with their plans to bring flash storage arrays into the core of their SAN infrastructure to run multiple production applications and workloads as opposed to creating hard to manage silos with all-flash point products for single application deployments. About DCIG DCIG empowers the IT industry with actionable analysis that equips individuals within organizations to conduct technology assessments. DCIG delivers informed, insightful, third party analysis and commentary on IT technology. DCIG independently develops and licenses access to DCIG Buyer s Guides and the DCIG Analysis Suite. It also develops sponsored content in the form of blog entries, competitive advantage reports, customer validations, executive white papers, special reports and white papers. More information is available at DCIG, LLC // 7511 MADISON STREET // OMAHA NE // dcig.com 2015 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. The information, product recommendations and opinions made by DCIG LLC are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG LLC believes to be accurate and reliable. However since market conditions change, the information and recommendations are made without warranty of any kind. All product names used and mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. DCIG LLC assumes no responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever (including incidental, consequential or otherwise) caused by one s use or reliance of this information or the recommendations presented or for any inadvertent errors which this document may contain. Any questions please call DCIG LLC at (402)