I O Continuity Group July 23, 2008 Seminar

Simplifying, Virtualizing and Protecting your Data Center

1copyright I/O Continuity Group, LLC

PresentersDoug Theis, Lifeline Data CentersVP and Datacenter Security Specialist

Anne Achleman, I/O Continuity GroupVMware on SAN Specialist

David Paquette, Double-TakeSenior Technical Analyst

copyright I/O Continuity Group, LLC 2

Administrative information


• Maximum Uptime and Value• Facilities – New Eastgate Mall construction• Connectivity• Security• Environments• Managed Services• Hosting/Owning/Leasing• The Lifeline Difference

Lifeline Data Centers


Virtualization is revolutionizing IT

• It is changing how we do everything.• Offering much greater value- doing more with less.

• What do people want?

–To build and quickly deploy applications that are always available and always responsive, to drive their business non-disruptively.


Where does Virtualization live?

• Internal datacenters• Hosted services• Computing clouds

• It’s changing how we do everything.• Virtualization cuts across physical boundaries.

• It can be adopted in phases.


Audience

• Show of hands:– Understanding of basic SAN concepts?– Implemented a SAN already?

– Understanding of basic virtualization concepts?– Implemented virtualization already?


Agenda

• Storage Consolidation with SAN’s• Server Consolidation with Virtualization• Best practices and how we can help

• Please hold questions to the end• Please complete post-event survey


Einstein Quote:Explaining it to a 3 year old


Data Proliferation• IT organizations have been battling year-after-

year information growth rates of 50 to 100 percent.

• This trend will continue into the next decade.• Just storing more data is no longer an option. • Consolidating multiple application tiers into a

single common infrastructure will lower costs and improve service levels.


Data Explosion!!

I’m down and I can’t get up!

IT Challenge• Every new IT trend involves a:

• New vendor solution to integrate with current systems• New hardware requirements and software licensing• Need for special talent and integration strategies• More energy costs, more datacenter space, extra

cooling• Need to protect data without a lot of difficulty

• Data capacity doubles every 12-18 months (based on average business growth)

• Managing data becomes difficult and expensive• Backing up data takes longer as more data

accumulates


Phases of Consolidation

• Reduce the need for valuable resources:

• Phase 1: All servers share the storage array(s) on a Storage Area Network

• Phase 2: Many applications running as “Virtual Machines” on fewer servers


Top Three Questions• Why is storage important?

– 80% of most company’s capitalization– If you lose your data, corporate stability is lost– Revenues suffer when systems are down

• How can consolidation save $$$ ?– Less Hardware– Fewer IT staff– Reduced Energy Consumption

• How do you choose?– Storage Area Networks (Fibre Channel or iSCSI)– Virtualization (VMware, Virtual Iron, Hyper-V)


Storage Basics• Every operating system and application

NEEDS a DISK to hold data:• Web sites, e-mail servers, databases,

video recordings, etc

• What happens when data grows quickly or disks get full?

• Data keeps growing

• Adding more disks can lead to interruptions and downtime.

• Server becomes unmanageable when it is difficult to predict storage needs.

copyright I/O Continuity Group, LLC 14Consolidated

Not Consolidated

Pre-SAN=Direct-Attached Storage • One-to-one model leads to

“server sprawl” when simply more disks may be needed.

• Servers are each attached directly to dedicated storage.

• No disk sharing among servers means manual management.

• No dynamic scalability/growth• Difficult to know future server

capacity needs upfrontcopyright I/O Continuity Group, LLC 15

ServersNot sharing

storage

Storage Array holding disks


What is a Storage Area Network?• Storage Area Networks (SANs)

consolidate disks on their own high-speed dedicated network.

• Storage array allows addition of more disks on-the-fly.

• Servers can connect to more disk space without rebooting.

• Move more data faster and more efficiently.

• The “de facto” storage solution.


Servers

Switches


HBA’s HBA’s

SAN ReliabilityHardware

• All components are duplicated (two Server HBA’s, two Switches, two Storage Controllers) so if one fails the other part takes over seamlessly.

• Vendors receive automatic notification of the failure across the internet with rapid resplacement time.

• When a new server is added there need for an experienced IT technician.

Management

• Dynamic storage means anytime a server requires more capacity, the storage array can provide it instantly.

• The server operating system is able to rescan to add the new disk volume without rebooting.

• When adding disk capacity an experienced IT technician is needed.


DAS vs SAN FeaturesDAS

• Standalone disk enclosures• One-to-one model – no

switched network• Hardware intensive• Management intensive• No redundancy (expect

downtime)• Capacity , management and

disk allocation is not seamless• Average speed/bandwidth 200

MB/s (with overhead)

SAN• Consolidated disk enclosures• One-to-many model with

switched network• Hardware shared• Seamless management• No single point of failure (no

downtime) “Runs by itself”• SAN foundation is required for

virtualization• Average speed/bandwidth up to

800 MB/s (less overhead)


SAN Architecture• Current “de facto” storage design• Price has come down approx 80%

in 8 yrs• All devices must be compatible• Two connections to end devices–

no single point of failure• Dynamic scalability/growth

through plug-n-play disk shelves• Servers simply rescan for more disk

space


Servers

Switches


HBA’s HBA’s

Types of SAN SwitchesFibre Channel SAN

• Fast Optical switches • Bandwidth 200- 800 MB/s• Low latency (quick

response)• More expensive• Supports demanding

workloads• Mission-critical server

applications• Limited distances 500 km

IP SAN (iSCSI)• LAN/WAN Switches (GigE)• Bandwidth avg 100 MB/s• High latency (more processing

overhead in software)• Less expensive• Supports less complex

workloads• Second-tier server applications

( ¼ performance for ¼ price)• Max distance unlimited


SAN vs iSCSI Stacks


SAN is fast and robust with minimal network overhead.

iSCSI is “bloated” protocol with high network overhead.

• SCSI to IP packet• Software initiators

– Built-in NICs (teaming)– CPU overhead/latency

• Hardware HBA initiators– Offloads CPU processing– MPIO multipathing

Server Host Bus AdaptersFibre Channel HBA’s

• SCSI to Fibre Channel protocol• Hardware initiator• Requires server PCI slot• Speeds: 200/400/800 MB/s• Bus technology

– PCI Express- pt-to-pt• “Multipathing” load balancing.

iSCSI Initiators


Types of Disks and Arrays

• ATA/IDE – mostly desktops• Parallel SCSI – slower data transfer (200 MB/s)• SATA (Serial ATA) – low-cost FC drives• SAS (Serial attached SCSI) – point-to-point

• FC (fibre channel) – faster 400 MB/s– RPM speeds 10,000-15,000 – If a disk or hardware part fails, the vendor

automatically sends a replacement


Top-to-bottom approach• Evaluate your current server/storage

arrangement and data growth• Prioritize application importance• Measure server workloads and current

performance • Tailored storage design: assign each server to

the proper storage “tier” (see next slide)• Match current and future capacity needs to

vendor storage array options.


Tiered Storage StrategyTier 1

High end, Mission-critical

Tier 2

High-Mid rangeFibre Channel diskLocal replication

Tier 3

ATA Low-cost Fibre Channel

Tier 4

Static, Content-addressed storage

Tier 5

Archives and Tape

Availability

•Seconds to minutes •Minutes to hours •Hours •Hours •Hours to days

Performance•Dynamic workloads•Heavy transaction volume

•High performance•Constant workloads

•More read access than writes•Moderate performance

•More read access than writes•Internet performance

•Not applicable

Recovery Point•Seconds •Seconds to minutes •Minutes to hours •Up to 24 hours •Up to 72 hours


Questions to Ask• How much storage do I have now?• How quickly is it growing?• What are my business objectives?• Is my backup window shrinking?• How many vendor solutions are going into the

mix and can my vendor support them all?• Do all the products work together?• What is the payback period (ROI/TCO) and SLAs?• How much administrative support do I need?


Traditional Direct-attached Hosts

External SCSI Storage ArrayParallel SCSI connection

LAN

Each server is separately attached to a dedicated SCSI storage array requiring high storage maintenance with difficult scalability and provisioning.

Different vendor platforms cannot share the same external array.


FC SAN- attached Hosts

FC Storage Array

FC Switches200 to 400

MB/s

Tape Library

Servers with NICs and FC HBA’s

LAN

FC SAN’s offer a dedicated block-level infrastructure independent of the LAN.

Brocade


Why Virtualization?• Next level of consolidation running on top of

SAN for best performance and automation.• Consolidate multiple physical machines into

“Virtual Machines” on fewer physical servers.• Allows rapid deployment of new applications by

simple right click operation.• Less hardware means:

– Less energy consumption, heat-generated to be cooled, datacenter space occupied and IT staff.

– ROI and TCO are maximized copyright I/O Continuity Group, LLC 29

Server Consolidation• New virtualization solutions gaining popularity

– VMware – Fortune 100 market niche– Virtual Iron – SMB market niche– Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V – July RTM

• Must have “shared storage” SAN in place to optimize key virtualization features:– Live Server migration (move virtual machines on-

the-fly)– Load balancing workloads– High Availability for no downtime


Physical Servers represent the Before illustration.

“Converter” migrates the physical machines over to Virtual Machines running on ESX in the After illustration.


Virtualization-Value Proposition• Automation and management• Obtain much higher utilization out of your hardware

assets while building a more robust infrastructure at the same time– If a physical server fails, a “Virtual Machine” moves itself– Once installed, solution runs by itself*– Infrastructure become management-free

• **Requires a properly designed SAN foundation• Initial complexity can be simplified

– One-time migration of physical servers to virtual servers– One vendor organizing all the details.


Phases of Virtualization Adoption1. Separate software from hardware, with ability to have

multiple copies of a working software configuration that can be cloned.

2. Separate software from the server, with the ability to run more than one isolated application on a physical server (utilization levels).

3. Ability to run software in virtual machines and dynamically move across physical boundaries.

4. Service broken things without interruption of server & dynamic allocation of apps & new capacity.

5. Manage and automate how application goes through disaster recovery.


SAN + Virtualized Hosts

FC Storage Array

FC Switches200 to 400

MB/s

Tape Library

LAN

FC SAN’s offer a dedicated block-level infrastructure independent of the LAN.

Brocade


2 to 20 VM’s on each server

Virtualization server Virtualization server Virtualization server

SAN Extensions• FC SANs are limited in their connection

distance to around 500 km.• Disaster recovery sites may exceed FC

distance from your datacenter.• Data replication solutions can bridge the gap

moving data from the storage stack to the standard networking stack.


WAN connection

Datacenter

Co-Lo

Questions to ask

• How many servers do I currently have and how many do I add every year? (aka server sprawl)

• How much time do IT staff spend setting up new servers with operating system and applications?

• How often do my servers go down?• Is our IT budget shrinking?• How difficult is it to convert a physical machine

to a virtual machine with each option?• What hardware and guest OS’s are supported?


The Technical Expertise• We are vendor-certified on supported platforms and

hardware, including:


Vendor Neutral• There are four main benefits to designing SAN’s

independent of any single equipment vendor. • The relative importance of these benefits will change

depending on your priorities and which vendors you choose. The benefits in some cases* are:– Lower costs – Getting the best possible technology – Greater flexibility for future technology

improvements – Non-proprietary and non-exclusivity models– * DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL VENDORS


Trusted Advisor• I/O Continuity Group will help you:

– Integrate a “no downtime” solution– Demystify technology and jargon– Blend all technologies into one whole strategy– Save costs on equipment, energy and services– Increase your ROI while reducing your TCO

• Once SANs are setup, they run non-disruptively with minimal administration and scale (grow) dynamically.– The question is not IF but WHEN you should

adopt or expand a SAN.


I/O Continuity Group Process


Assess

Design

Implement

Train

Manage

1. Assess: New or existing SAN

2. Design: Follow vendor roadmaps

3. Implement: Apply best practices

4. Train: IT staff to provision storage and troubleshoot

5. Manage: Easy-of-use with seamlessly scalable solution

End-to-end Data Center Management

The Engagement Process• The transformation begins with our services

– From simple “starter” SAN solutions – To complex, scalable development and virtualization.

• We make the process easy to understand:– Free pre-assessment– Design based on business objectives– Deploy and integrate entire “best practices” solution – Train IT staff to “confidently” administer and monitor– Maintenance contract for dynamic storage provisioning

• Once deployed we will help you maintain and expand your capacity dynamically over time.


Visit www.iocontinuitygroup.com

Let us help you and your customers flip the switch!


David Paquette, Technical Analyst


I O Continuity Group July 23, 2008 Seminar

Technology

Transcript of I O Continuity Group July 23, 2008 Seminar