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VNX HYBRID FLASH BEST PRACTICES FOR PERFORMANCE JEFF MAYNARD, CORPORATE SYSTEMS ENGINEER 2
ROADMAP INFORMATION DISCLAIMER EMC makes no representation and undertakes no obligations with regard to product planning information, anticipated product characteristics, performance specifications, or anticipated release dates (collectively, Roadmap Information ). Roadmap Information is provided by EMC as an accommodation to the recipient solely for purposes of discussion and without intending to be bound thereby. Roadmap information is EMC Restricted Confidential and is provided under the terms, conditions and restrictions defined in the EMC Non- Disclosure Agreement in place with your organization. 3
WHERE TO START? Performance Hybrid flash Looking into the Storage Benchmarking Storage Considerations Pools Port utilization Advanced Data Services Analysis Summary 4
PERFORMANCE 5
VNX UNIFIED HYBRID FLASH! All Workloads No need for Workload Segregation Unified Storage File and Block Cloud Ready Private or Hybrid Cloud Hybrid Flash Performance of Flash with the Cost of Disk 6
LOOKING INTO THE STORAGE BENCHMARK OR PROOF OF CONCEPT 7
STORAGE BENCHMARKING What is a Storage Benchmark? A tool that generates a synthetic workload in attempt to represent application I/O in order to measure the throughput (IOPS) and/or bandwidth (MB/s) of an application storage environment Storage benchmarking may initially seem simple; yet interpretation, expectations, and test criteria vary widely Challenges Expectations, improper test environment, lack of time, sales pressure, variable manipulation, politics, etc Consult account SE Are expectations appropriate? 8
PREPARATION Rule #1 Before you start testing, define business requirements and success criteria Don t simply fire up a benchmark to see how fast it will go Understand the needs of the workload and environment Secure stable environment Is the storage configured and zero d? Eliminate external factors Understand the Limits Know the upper bounds of the storage hardware Be aware of client limitations (OS, number of clients, old H/W, etc.) Set realistic expectations A 20-drive system will not set a new database land-speed record! Document, document, document! Detailed info of configuration of each run, including begin/end timestamps Collect stats to validate the benchmark results or troubleshoot if needed 9
PRE-TEST AVOID BACKGROUND VERIFY It is recommended to leave the verify to run for LUNs that are expected to be put into production; only use this option for testing For Classic LUNs select the No Initial Verify option in the Advanced tab during LUN creation from a RAID Group For storage pools you can skip the background verify during pool creation at the bottom of the General Tab *VNX2 only 10
BENCHMARK WORKLOADS The best workload to use for a benchmark is one that mimics the production workload; use I/O collection utilities to inspect existing workloads VNX Block - Unisphere Analyzer VNX File - server_stats VNXe Unisphere Metrics Network traces Mitrend reports DO NOT run the default workload supplied with any of the benchmarks The defaults are usually based on single-client, single-thread, single-test area, with a very small dataset In other words, the defaults are nothing like the workload that would be expected on a shared storage array If exact workload is unknown, use a mix that approximates the application Refer to SE to provide workloads if need be from the Benchmarking Guide 11
Thin LUN Considerations With Thin LUN s, always sequentially write to the test area before benchmarking If the first I/O test you run is random read, the reads will not come from the drives, because MCx knows the data is null and responds to read request with null Initial access pattern to a Thin LUN is important to understand, especially when benchmarking Thin LUN s add slices on-demand and create mapping table entries based on 8 KB granularity Thin performs much better with FLASH in the pool Metadata takes priority to be placed in the highest tier, so metadata paging will have a lower impact on large working test sets that touch HDD 12
ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITS Module Single Port All Ports (Single Card) Block 8 Gb FC 760 MB/s 3000 MB/s 10 Gb iscsi 1200 MB/s 2400 MB/s 10 Gb FCoE 920 MB/s 1300 MB/s File 1 GbE 110 MB/s 440 MB/s 10 GbE Optical 1200 MB/s 2400 MB/s 10 GbE Copper 1200 MB/s 2400 MB/s Technology ROT IOPS ROT BW WAN Peak IOPS Peak BW VNX SSD 5,000 (Flash) 3,500 (Flash VP) 100MB/sec ~25,000+ Read ~5,000+ Write ~520 MB/s Desktop/Laptop SAS 180 15K 150 10K 30MB/sec NL-SAS 90 20MB/sec* ~600 Random ~ 2,000+ Sequential* ~250 Random ~2,000+ Sequential* ~ 100 MB/s ~ 90 MB/s Desktop/Laptop 13
SKEW CONSIDERATIONS Skew address range of active data in a tiered environment LUN Skew Sub-LUN Skew Application Skew Typically stated in the form of X% of IO being serviced by Y% of capacity For performance, the smaller the skew the better Example: 90% of IO is being serviced by 10% of capacity: 10% 20% 70% SSD SAS NL-SAS Tier capacity distribution FLASH tier is fully servicing IO towards total IOPS Part of SAS is fully servicing IO towards total IOPS NL-SAS tier is servicing IO at a factor of 10% towards total IOPS 90% 10% Tier IO distribution (skew) 14
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FAST CACHE FOR VNX FILE Configure FAST Cache before using FAST VP with file FAST Cache granularity is more beneficial for File environments When using FAST VP, the top tier capacity should be large enough to contain the active dataset Use Thin Enabled file systems for increased benefit from FAST VP multi-tiering Conforms to wet edge theory 16
THIN FILE SYSTEM ALLOCATION 1 TB MAX SIZE; 5 PERCENT CONSUMED AFTER 1 WEEK Standard File System Thin - Enabled File System Blue = Capacity allocated to the file system Gray = Max capacity (not allocated if Thin-Enabled) Red = New hot files 17
THIN FILE SYSTEM ALLOCATION 1 TB MAX SIZE; 10 PERCENT CONSUMED AFTER 1 MONTH Standard File System Thin - Enabled File System Blue = Capacity allocated to the file system Gray = Max capacity (not allocated if Thin-Enabled) Red = New hot files Yellow = Files that are cooling in activity 18
STORAGE CONSIDERATIONS THINK REQUIREMENTS Drive counts per pool IO module configuration Pool layout Skew of workload Protocol Advanced Data Services 19
PRIOR TO GETTING IN THE POOL Think workload Specialized pools for each workload? Drive counts required? Required IO module for certain protocols / performance iscsi, Fibre, FCoE Would your workload benefit from FAST VP / FAST Cache Hybrid flash pool taking advantage of SSD drives Skew and locality of the workload Do you require advanced data services? Performance is a requirement How to maximize port utilization 20
PORT UTILIZATION MAXIMIZE THE EFFICIENCY MCx takes advantages of all the cores in the system Load balance Maximize system potential More efficient multicore operations Port-to-core affinity Use the maximum number of front end ports possible VNX2 MCx will use a pull model (buddy system) where cores assist each other with the balance 21
PORT UTILIZATION Static Core Utilization Dynamic Multicore Optimization 100% 100% 90% 90% 80% 80% Core Utilization 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% Core Utilization 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 20% 10% 10% 0% 0 1 2 3 4 5 0% 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Core Number Core Number RAID I/O DRAM Cache FAST Cache Data Services Management Available 22
ADVANCED DATA SERVICES Features FAST VP Things to think about Workload skew FAST Cache Workload skew and locality Thin LUNs What is the need for Thin LUNs VNX Snapshots / Snapview Snapshots* Delete schedule Compression* How frequently data access is required VNX2 Block Deduplication* Deduplication Container owning SP *Requires Thin LUNs Recommendation: Add top tier SSD for metadata handling 23
ANALYZE VNX Block - Unisphere Analyzer VNX File - server_stats 24
AFTER SWIMMING IN YOUR POOL Was the performance what you expected? Use Hybrid Flash array taking advantage of SSD Is your pool layout correct Active workload fitting in top tier SSD Top tier with Thin LUNs Disk contention SP ownership, Port utilization Overhead to add more workload to the system Are you balanced across ports / using all the ports you can Be aware of relocation After relocation of a slice, a zero will be performed on the source slice Can be a concern with a lot of migration after testing baseline with skew 25
M&R LUN UTILIZATION 26
M&R PORT THROUGHPUT 27
M&R SP UTILIZATION 28
M&R DISK UTILIZATION 29
M&R TIER CONSUMED CAPACITY 30
MITREND - BACK END IOPS BY DRIVE TYPE Drive Type RAID Type # Disks Usable (TB) % of IOPS Total IOPS - avg Read IOPS - avg Write IOPS - avg Response Time (ms) - avg FAST Cache 10 27 3,139 749 2,389 0 FLASH 100 Unknown 25 2 48 5,606 4,206 1,400 1 10K 600 Unknown 118 48 22 2,582 1,411 1,171 5 7K 1000 Unknown 55 37 3 394 287 107 7 20,000 10K 7K FLASH Disk IOPS 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 0:30 12:30 0:30 12:30 0:30 12:30 0:30 12:30 Back End IOPS are shown here. RAID-5/6 devices will show higher relative values than RAID-1 devices. 31
MITREND - FRONT END IOPS SKEW FASTVP_POOL Cumulative % 2,500 120 2,000 100 Total IOPS - avg 1,500 1,000 80 60 40 Cumulative % 500 20 0 0 2 5 162 4 7 18 170 142 137 171 80 135 147 143 195 53 93 61 92 191 44 77 39 141 192 50 190 22 189 124 122 42 121 153 129 125 46 117 106 33 104 126 85 86 43 69 203 163 202 144 9 72 73 167 LUN Index 90% of IOs are processed by 10% of LUNs. 32
MITREND - SP PORT BANDWIDTH 33
CONTINUOUS MONITORING FOR FILE SERVER_STATS FOR FILE ANALYSIS Alert SNMP SMTP Threshold Statistics Collection Persistence Interval Monitor: CPU, Memory, & NFS Latency Alert & Collect Statistics Based on Policy Maintain SLOs & Determine Root Cause 34
SUMMARY Benchmarking Production workload Realistic results Document everything Skew Storage considerations Plan accordingly Disks IO Modules Port utilization Advanced data services Analyze Port utilization Continuous monitoring Top talkers Balance SP LUN Ports Refer to best practices guides on support.emc.com for VNX and VNXe 35
VISIT THE EMC TRANSPARENT DATA CENTER IT S INSPIRING. INNOVATIVE. INTERACTIVE. Conversation Stations Flash, Big Data, Cloud Converged Infrastructure virtual VNX Product Demos More Flash Performance Calculator Theater Presentations POWERED ON, OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS Talk & Chalk with SMEs Systems Showcase VNX/VNXe VMAX3 XtremIO ScaleIO Isilon Data Protection 36
QUESTIONS? 37
Session Name Date Time VNX & VNXe Disaster Recovery Strategies (On-Array, Off-Array & DR to the Cloud) VNX: Effectively Monitoring & Reporting On Your VNX Family Systems Best Practices For Deploying VNX In The Hybrid Cloud VNX Family For Virtualized Environments: New Features, Solutions, & Future Directions Virtual VNX: Overview, Architecture & Use Cases VNX Family: Systems, Architecture & Solutions VNX Hybrid Flash File Deep Dive VNX Data Mobility Strategies, Tools, & Considerations VNX Best Practices For Efficiencies: Flash, Deduplication & Compression VNX Hybrid Flash: Designing For FAST Cache & FAST VP On Unified Storage VNX & VNXe Security Best Practices VNX Best Practices For Running Microsoft Applications 5/5 (Tuesday) 5/7 (Thursday) 8:30AM 9:30 AM 11:30 AM 12:30 PM 5/4 (Monday) 3:00PM 4:00 PM 5/6 (Wednesday) 8:30AM 9:30 AM 5/5 (Tuesday) 3:00PM 4:00 PM 5/6 (Wednesday) 3:00PM 4:00 PM 5/4 (Monday) 4:30PM 5:30PM 5/7 (Thursday) 8:30AM 9:30 AM 5/5 (Tuesday) 12:00PM 1:00PM 5/6 (Wednesday) 4:30PM 5:30PM 5/4 (Monday) 12:00PM 1:00PM 5/6 (Wednesday) 12:00PM 1:00PM 5/4 (Monday) 1:30PM 2:30PM 5/7 (Thursday) 10:00AM 11:00AM 5/5 (Tuesday) 3:00PM 4:00 PM 5/7 (Thursday) 11:30 AM 12:30 PM 5/6 (Wednesday) 12:00PM 1:00PM 5/7 (Thursday) 8:30AM 9:30 AM 5/4 (Monday) 12:00PM 1:00PM 5/6 (Wednesday) 3:00PM 4:00 PM 5/4 (Monday) 8:30AM 9:30 AM 5/7 (Thursday) 1:00PM 2:00PM 5/5 (Tuesday) 4:30PM 5:30PM 5/7 (Thursday) 1:00PM 2:00PM 38