SOLUTION BRIEF NexGen N5 for Microsoft SQL Server: Performance, Control and Consolidation Database/OLTP applications today are typically a mission critical component of an organization and outages or delays equate to a loss of revenue. Many organizations are looking towards flash technology to alleviate application performance issues. According to a recent survey by Enterprise Strategy Group, 52% of respondents indicated that Database/OLTP was the business application driving flash storage deployment. When architecting a storage subsystem to meet the challenges of a Tier-1 SQL environment, it is important to consider the unique storage requirements of SQL Server. SQL 1. Performance: High throughput and low latency are key to a successful SQL deployment. SQL best practices require the segregation of database, log and tempdb files while at the same time handling the unique I/O requirements of each. 2. High Availability and Clustering: For any organization with a Tier-1 SQL application, the need to design and implement HA and DR is critical. To minimize downtime and maximize availability, SQL Instance Failover Clustering is still the best choice and shared storage is a critical component of this solution. The combination of Failover Clustering for HA and SQL Availability Groups for DR is a very powerful solution that allows organizations to meet their RTO and RPO objectives. 3. Cost: Flash storage can solve the performance requirements of SQL, but cost can put the project out of reach. The right hybrid flash array can be an affordable solution. 4. Flexible Scalability: Confidence that your storage system can scale to meet SQL demands is reassuring. Being able to scale performance and capacity independently allows your storage system to grow in the dimension needed without having to incur unnecessary costs. Furthermore, the ability to scale performance without swapping out controllers and scale capacity without adding flash makes scaling less cumbersome and less costly. 5. Storage Sprawl: While not an obvious consideration, the ability to run SQL alongside other applications on the same storage platform would be a desirable capability for most companies, especially mid-sized or smallto-medium enterprises. Consolidation reduces the costs and management complexity associated with storage sprawl across the organization. Solution Brief: NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array for Microsoft SQL Server January 2015 1
Why Choose the NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array for SQL The NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array makes performance affordable by combining high performance PCIe flash and disk capacity. With storage Quality of Service (QoS), customers can granularly prioritize and control application performance. Figure 1. NexGen N5 in a Clustered SQL Environment 1. Deliver Consistent SQL Application Experience: Storage QoS and service levels guarantee performance even in the event of competing application IOPS or component failure. 2. Ensure Accurate Storage Performance Provisioning: The NexGen N5 utilizes thin provisioning and real-time data placement which equates to hot data placement in flash and cold data placement in disk. This results in more granular performance and capacity provisioning as well as lowering the cost per GB & IOPS. 3. Increase Application and Data Availability: Dual-active controllers along with built-in array redundancy guarantee data availability and application performance. Fusion-io utilizes chip level Adaptive Flashback Protection; this patent-pending technology eliminates the need for traditional RAID protection at flash tier, resulting in a massive performance gain along with improved fault tolerance. 4. Scale Performance and Capacity: Volumes can be moved between performance policies on the fly to address priority changes or unexpected workloads. The NexGen N5 array can be upgraded via performance packs and disk shelves, along with receiving software upgrades without application downtime. 5. Reduce Costs: Storage QoS allows the NexGen N5 array to guarantee performance to heterogeneous applications, enabling greater data center consolidation and reduced storage costs. Mission critical applications can be serviced alongside less critical applications without compromising performance or availability. Solution Brief: NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array for Microsoft SQL Server January 2015 2
Why Choose the NexGen N5 SPX Hybrid Flash Array for SQL NexGen N5 Server Performance Extensions (SPX) is an end-to-end flash storage solution combining the NexGen N5 hybrid array with server-based PCIe flash and server-side caching software (Fusion ioturbine). The integrated solution combines intelligent PCIe flash and server cache for maximum application performance and minimal latency with NexGen N5 s flash-first architecture, ensuring that both reads and writes gain the benefits of flash performance. Figure 2. NexGen N5-SPX Direct Figure 3. NexGen N5-SPX Virtual Solution Brief: NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array for Microsoft SQL Server January 2015 3
1. Optimize SQL Response Time: Combining server-side flash along with the high performance of the NexGen N5 array dramatically reduces SQL Server response times. 2. Achieve Significant Consolidation: As documented during independent testing with Enterprise Strategy Group 1, the addition of server-side flash resulted in a 30% SQL performance gain while array IOPS were reduced by up to 90%. The end to end benefit of this is the ability to improve application performance while simultaneously increasing application density and extending storage QoS to more applications across data centers Figure 4: NexGen N5 dashboard presents meaningful performance data in real-time 1 http://get.fusionio.com/esg Solution Brief: NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array for Microsoft SQL Server January 2015 4
Total OLTP Application IOPS The NexGen N5 SPX Advantage 90,000 80,000 70,000 N5 30% more application IOPS N5 SPX 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 90% less array IOPS Array IOPS available for servicing additional SQL workloads or other applications 0 2 24 48 84 108 144 180 216 2 24 48 84 108 144 180 216 Concurrent User Count Array IOPS Figure 5: NexGen N5 SPX End-to-End Flash Performance Advantage based on independent testing with Enterprise Strategy Group, 30,000 aggregate user database. NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array: The Right Solution for SQL Environments The combination of end-to-end flash technology along with SQL provides a demonstrated highly robust and scalable environment for the most demanding enterprise SQL deployments. NexGen offers three N5 appliances and two SPX offerings. Both NexGen N5 and NexGen N5 SPX utilize PCIe flash to address the high performance needs of Tier-1 SQL environments. Solution Brief: NexGen N5 Hybrid Flash Array for Microsoft SQL Server January 2015 5