virtual san vs good old sans: can't they just get along?

Copyright © 2014 DataCore Software Corp. – All Rights Reserved.


1

VIRTUAL SAN vs. “Good Old” SANs:Can’t we just get along?

Jim Bagley Senior Analyst SSG-NOW

Augie Gonzalez Storage Virtualization Expert DataCore Software


Topics of Intrigue

2

2015: The Rise of DAS

Social / Political Factors

Technical Rationale

Are Central SANs on way out?

DAS + SAN = ?


Renewed interest in direct-attached storage (DAS) Pooling internal storage across servers

► in place of separate external SAN

3

DAS: Making a Comeback

Copyright © 2014 DataCore Software Corp. – All Rights Reserved. 4

WHAT CAN YOU DO NEXT WITH DATACORE?

1. GET INFORMED 2. GET STARTED

http://datacore.com/resources/30-Day-Trial.aspx

http://datacore.com/resources/free-virtual-san

https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/11531/147665


Storage systems can be built from commodity hardware for less cost

Compute workloads can exist on the same physical machine as DAS

Storage aggregation software layer provides same functionality as SAN for sharing data across workloads

5

Why DAS?


Centralized vs. Distributed

Servers

External storage

Servers with Internal storage


Central SAN

Central Storage Pool

Cache

Network Access

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

ComputeStorage


Shared Storage Pool

Network access to other’s virtual disks

Virtual SAN

Hypervisor

VM VM VM S/W

Hypervisor

VM VM VM S/W

Hypervisor

VM VM VM S/W

Hypervisor

VM VM VM S/W

Hypervisor

VM VM VM S/W

InternalAccess

Compute / Storage


Why some Prefer DAS in app servers

Hypervisor

VM VM VM

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

Cache

Network Access

Controller FirmwareCo

Cache

Fast local cached reads► No network latency

No external hardware Lower cost internal

storage devices Managed from server Scale by adding servers

Virtual SAN

vs.

Central SAN


“Virtual SAN”

“Server SAN”

“Server-side Storage”

“Integrated Systems”

“Converged Systems”

10

Compute / Networking / Storage Combined

Special Software “Sauce”

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

Cache

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

Cache

S/W S/W


http://www.datacore.com/


Top Reason You’re Considering Virtual SANs► I/O bottlenecks slowing down virtualized apps► External shared storage for cluster of servers is

too expensive► Current shared storage system creates a

single point of failure► Other

12

POLL #1


How does it relate toSoftware-Defined Storage?


Server-bias Generalist Manage from host Self-provision

Social / Political Factors

Storage-centric Special Ops Control all capacity Services-orientation

Different vendor-affinity


Virtual SAN Leverage server DAS Avoid the network Distribute resources

Central SAN Offload servers Network access Concentrate resources Add storage as needed

Contrasting Objectives

Shave Costs


Scale Differently

Servers

Storage

Servers with storage


Which type of scenario are you evaluatingvirtual SANs for?

► VDI (virtual desktops)► Latency-sensitive database apps► Large clusters (>32 nodes) for Big Data► Small, remote office / branch office► Other

Poll #2


http://www.datacore.com/


Have you thought of using Both?

Together?


Site-Specific Choices

Major Data Centers[Central SANs]

Branch Office[Virtual SAN]

Cloud Storage

DisasterRecovery Site[Virtual SAN]

Branch Office[Virtual SAN]


Complement Each Other

N E W Y O R K

N E W J E R S E Y

Synchronous-mirroring between central SANs

Asynchronous-replication to remote virtual SANs

Any Application

Any Hypervisor

Any Storage Hardware

Up to 100 Kmapart


Expand beyond limits of application servers

Fast internal primary storage & secondary external pool

Same set of services across both topologies

Leverage central storage resources and services

► Replication, backups, etc.,

Managed from same console

Federate Virtual SAN with Central SANVirtual SAN

High-endArrays

MidrangeAppliances

CloudStorage

Flash Arrays

Existing External SAN

CentralStorage Pool


Auto-tier to Optimize Resources

Below average moves down a tier

Tier 2 Tier 3Tier 1 Tier n

Hot ColdWarm Archive

Above average moves up a tier

Internal External


10th generation product

Runs on standard x86 servers

Most comprehensive hardware agnostic storage stack in the industry

25,000+ deployments worldwide

Define Your Storage

Common Storage Services

Auto-tiering

Async Replication

Storage Pooling

Storage Load Balancing

Centralized Management

Analysis & Reporting

Sync Mirroring

Adaptive Caching

Thin Provisioning

Data Migration

Snapshots

Continuous Data Protection

NAS/SAN (Unified Storage)

Virtual SAN

Virtual or Central SAN: Same Stack


From Tiny to Huge

26

1

2

3 …

… 32

Scale out from2 to 32 nodes

Scale up to32 PB

Accelerate up to50 million IOPS

Disk Pool

AppServers


RAM Cache for Fastest Response

Shared Storage Pool

Hypervisor

VM VM VM

RAM Cache

Mirror Path

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

RAM Cache

Hypervisor

VMVMVM

RAM Cache

Network Access

Internal Access

Cluster


Cache internal storage for fastest primary access

Mirror to external storage for added safeguard

Replicate remotely from mirror copies

Alternative: Mirror to Central Server

Virtual SAN

External Storage System

DRSite


Benefits at a Glance

75% 10x 4x 100% 90%reduction in storage

costs

performance increase

capacity utilization

reduction in storage-related

downtime

decrease in time spent on routine

storage tasks

Surveyed DataCore™ Customers Report Up To:

www.techvalidate.com

http://www.techvalidate.com/


When to get started with DataCore

Before your next major

storage decision

Using or considering flash/SSDs

Expanding Server/Desktop Virtualization

Developing yourBusiness

Continuity Plan


Which of the following would you rate as most important in choosing a virtual SAN solution?

► Supports multiple hypervisors (VMware, Hyper-V, etc)

► Can provide high-availability even for a cluster of only 2 servers

► Does not require flash to speed up performance► Taps into existing external SAN for extra capacity

and additional disaster recovery services31

Poll #3


One Storage Services Platformacross your entire infrastructure

10th generation product 16 Years of R&D 25,000+ deployments worldwide Most comprehensive hardware-agnostic

storage stack in the industry

Common Set of Storage Services

Auto-tiering

Async Replication

Virtual SAN

Storage Pooling

Storage Load Balancing

Centralized Management

Analysis & Reporting

Sync Mirroring

Adaptive Caching

Thin Provisioning

Data Migration

Snapshots

Continuous Data Protection

NAS/SAN (Unified Storage)


Thank YouContact: [email protected]@datacore.com

© 2014 DataCore Software Corporation. All Rights Reserved. DataCore, the DataCore logo and SANsymphony are trademarks or registered trademarksof DataCore Software Corporation. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

http://datacore.com/products/features/virtual-san

For more on Virtual SANs:

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http://datacore.com/products/features/virtual-san

virtual san vs good old sans: can't they just get along?

Software

softwaredefined storage

storage systems

das san

servers virtual san

virtual san server san

compute networking storage

place of separate external

cluster of servers