EMC VPLEX FAMILY Continuous Availability and data Mobility Within and Across Data Centers DELIVERING CONTINUOUS AVAILABILITY AND DATA MOBILITY FOR MISSION CRITICAL APPLICATIONS Storage infrastructure is evolving to deliver new methods of making data mobile, freeing it from physical device limitations. Virtualizing storage extends the benefits of server virtualization, providing automation, integration with existing infrastructure and growth on demand. In the past, application data was tied to a single array. Providing Availability/mobility was challenging and doing so without application interruption was impossible. BENEFITS Continuous Availability - Deliver application and data availability within the data center and over distance with active-active infrastructure utilization, eliminating planned and unplanned downtime. Data Mobility - Move applications, virtual machines and data within and across data centers and over distance without impacting users Automate sharing, balancing, and I/O failover Migrate and relocate virtual machines, applications, and data non-disruptively Eliminate planned and unplanned application outages Stretch clusters such as VMware and Oracle RAC outside the data center and across distance The EMC VPLEX family delivers data availability and mobility across arrays in a single data center and across arrays in data centers separated by distance. VPLEX is a continuous availability and data mobility platform that enables mission-critical applications to remain up and running during a variety of planned and unplanned downtime scenarios, even in the event of a data center site failure. VPLEX enables non-disruptive data mobility, leveraging technologies like VMware and other clusters that were built assuming a single storage instance and enabling them to function across arrays in a single data center and across distance. So, how does VPLEX work? VPLEX enables the exact same data to be read/write accessible across two arrays at the same time. The arrays can be in a single data center, or separated by distance. The way this is accomplished is via VPLEX's unique implementation of distributed cache coherency. This enables transparent load sharing DATA SHEET
between multiple arrays while providing the flexibility of relocating workloads between arrays in anticipation of planned events. VPLEX completely changes the way IT is managed and delivered - particularly when deployed with server virtualization. The VPLEX family breaks down technology silos and enables IT to be delivered as a service by enabling new models for operating and managing IT, with the ability to dynamically move applications and data across sites. The ability to read and write data to multiple locations simultaneously delivers new capabilities under a number of use cases: Stretch cluster hosts and applications across distance including Oracle RAC, VMware ESX, Microsoft Failover Cluster and Linux Cluster Non-disruptively move virtual server and storage resources within and across data centers including VMware vmotion and Microsoft Hyper-V Live Migration Maintain a single cache consistent image of federated storage at multiple sites Create a single point of control for a consolidated pool of federated resources Turn a diverse heterogeneous storage infrastructure into a centrally managed storage pool Transparently balance and relocate workloads in anticipation of planned events and maintenance Provide high availability for mission critical applications Perform data migrations to new arrays without scheduled downtime, during working hours, by the customer, without migration services Enable the use of resources at a passive site by creating an active/active environment between two data centers Deliver unmatched continuous availability and disaster recovery through EMC RecoverPoint native splitter technology for VPLEX Local and VPLEX Metro
CONTINUOUS AVAILABILITY FOR MORE OF YOUR WORKLOADS The EMC VPLEX family has expanded its implementation options to include a set of virtual appliance working together as a vapp to protect your VMware workloads. Now you can achieve the same levels of availability and mobility that you get from VPLEX on a simple, affordable, and virtual appliance that leverages your existing VMware infrastructure and iscsi storage. EMC VPLEX Virtual Edition takes the revolutionary VPLEX technology and implements it as a set of virtual appliances in a VMware vapp implemented on your existing ESX infrastructure. VPLEX Virtual Edition creates a storage cluster across two sites that can be in the same building or up to synchronous distance apart. This new deployment model stretches your ESX infrastructure between sites and provides unique capabilities to your VMware applications and VMs CONTINUOUS AVAILABILITY VMware High Availability (HA) and VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) solutions require a single source of data to operate. VPLEX Virtual Edition overcomes the single source limitation by making two identical copies of the same data read and write accessible from two locations simultaneously. This can be in a single data center or spread across two datacenters at synchronous distances (for VMware HA). Now VMware VMs protected by VPLEX Virtual Edition can recover from even a full site failure in a matter of seconds with VMware HA at the second site. And with VMware FT, workloads can continue to operate without interruption after an array or site failure by continuing to access application data made continuously available at the second site by VPLEX Virtual Edition. INSTANT VM MOVES BETWEEN SITES Traditional tools such as Storage vmotion only copy data from the old location to the new location when the vmotion request is made. This results in delayed VM moves that require pre-planning to ensure existing VM workloads aren t impacted by the burst in host resource use caused by the VM data replication activities. By mirroring data between sites and allowing ESX hosts to access the VM and application data at
both sites simultaneously, VPLEX Virtual Edition allows instant VM moves across array boundaries and over distance without additional impact to ESX host CPU allowing for instant moves without host impact and without a need for extensive pre-planning. INSTANT LOAD BALANCING BETWEEN SITES As with vmotion and Storage vmotion, automated load balancing through VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) relies on Storage DRS to move VMs and application data when a VM move is requested due to DRS load balancing. The VM moves are always delayed by the VM data copy process, which also puts a burden on the ESX host as it reads and transfers the VM and application data to the new location. By maintaining a constant mirror of VM and application data, VPLEX Virtual Edition enables VMware DRS to load balance across arrays and over distance instantly and without additional impact on the ESXi host. A SCALABLE ARCHITECTURE TO MEET FUTURE REQUIREMENTS EMC VPLEX introduces a scalable architecture, which incorporates lessons learned from more than 20 years of expertise in designing, implementing, and perfecting enterprise-class intelligent cache and distributed data protection solutions. Built on a foundation of scalable and highly available processor engines, EMC VPLEX is designed to seamlessly scale from small to large configurations. VPLEX is an appliance that resides between the servers and heterogeneous storage assets and uses unique clustering architecture that enables servers at multiple data centers to have read/write access to shared block storage devices. Unique characteristics of this architecture include: Scale-out clustering hardware which lets you start small and grow big with predictable service levels Advance data caching utilizes large-scale SDRAM cache to improve performance and reduce I/O latency and array contention Distributed cache coherence for automatic sharing, balancing, and failover of I/O across the cluster Distributed cache coherence for automatic sharing, balancing, and failover of I/O across the cluster An active-active infrastructure fully utilizing all resources Resource pooling from multiple data centers, separated either by a few feet within a data center or across synchronous or asynchronous distances, enabling new models of continuous availability and workload relocation With its unique scale-up and scale-out architecture, VPLEX advanced data caching and distributed cache coherency provides workload resiliency, automatic sharing, balancing, and failover of storage domains and enable both local and remote data access with predictable service levels.
A SOLUTION FOR ONE OR MULTIPLE DATA CENTERS The VPLEX family consists of two products: EMC VPLEX Local and EMC VPLEX Metro EMC VPLEX Local delivers data mobility and availability across arrays. VPLEX is a unique virtual storage technology that enables mission critical applications to remain up and running during any of a variety of planned and unplanned downtime scenarios. VPLEX permits painless, non-disruptive data movement, taking technologies like VMware and other clusters that were built assuming a single storage instance and enabling them to function across arrays EMC VPLEX Metro delivers data mobility and availability across sites. VPLEX is a unique virtual storage technology that enables mission critical applications to remain up and running during any of a variety of planned and unplanned downtime scenarios. VPLEX permits painless, non-disruptive data movement, taking technologies like VMware and other clusters that were built assuming a single storage instance and enabling them to function across synchronous distance A VPLEX Local configuration is defined by up to four VPLEX engines, which are integrated into a single cluster image through their fully redundant inter-engine fabric interconnections. The cluster interconnect functionality enables the online addition of VPLEX engines, providing exceptional scalability for all three VPLEX product configurations. All connectivity between VPLEX cluster nodes and across VPLEX Metro configuration is fully redundant, ensuring protection against single points of failure. A VPLEX cluster can scale up through the addition of more engines, and scale out by connecting two VPLEX clusters within synchronous metro distances for a Metro configuration. VPLEX Metro helps transparently move and share workloads - including entire virtual machines - consolidate data centers, and optimize resource utilization across data centers. In addition, it provides non-disruptive data mobility, heterogeneous storage management, and continuous application availability. VPLEX Metro supports up to two clusters, which can be in the same data center or at two different sites within synchronous distances. At a single site or across sites, the VPLEX family improves data and storage resiliency. VPLEX enables you to mirror volumes within and across locations, providing continuous application availability in the event of a disaster. This capability can
increase protection and availability for critical applications while leveraging your existing storage resources - without requiring host resources. VPLEX Metro, in combination with VMware, provides a unique capability that enables you to extend VMware HA, FT and DRS across distance and move application data without taking CPU cycles of the hosts. Combined with vmotion, enables transparent movement and relocation of virtual machines and their corresponding data over distance. As EMC helps customers build and implement their private clouds, VPLEX will provide the flexibility, availability, and automation to increase data access while simultaneously reducing cost and increasing efficiencies. CONTACT US To learn more about how EMC products, services, and solutions can help solve your business and IT challenges, contact your local representative or authorized reseller, visit www.emc.com, or explore and compare products in the EMC Store. EMC 2, EMC, the EMC logo, RecoverPoint, VMAX, VNX, VPLEX are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc., in the United States and other jurisdictions. Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA. 08/15 Data Sheet H7070.3 EMC believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.