vmworld 2013: software-defined storage: the vcdx way

Software-Defined Storage: The VCDX Way

Wade Holmes VCDX, VMware

Rawlinson Rivera VCDX, VMware

STO4798

#STO4798

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Session Objectives

3

2

1 Provide an overview of software-defined storage

capabilities

Articulate the potential business impact of a

software-defined storage architecture through

the VCDX approach

Provide an example design scenario of how to

leverage software-defined storage to meet the

needs of your datacenter

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Agenda

Overview Solution Areas Q/A Design

Scenario

4 4

Customer Pain Points With Storage

Too much guesswork

Too many silos

Operational mismatch between virtualization and

storage

Performance degrades with time

Lack of end-to-end visibility

Trouble shooting is hard

Overprovisioning for performance

Management inefficiencies

Missed opportunities with DAS

How do we break silos?

How do we align application

requirements to storage capabilites?

How do we increase efficiency?

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Software-Defined Storage - A New Approach to Storage

SAN

HDD SSD

DAS NAS

Software-Defined

Storage

Hypervisor

Virtual

Software-defined Storage

SAN NAS

Hypervisor

SAN NAS

Physical

App App App

• VAAI

• VASA

• S-VMotion

• SDRS

• vSphere

Replication

• vSphere Storage

Appliance

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The VCDX Way

Methodology to enable efficient technology solution design,

implementation and adoption, meeting YOUR business

requirements.

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The VCDX Way

Business requirements drive solution architecture

Business Requirements

Solution Architecture

Engineering Specifications

Availability Manageability Performance Recoverability Security

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Software-Defined Storage

Automation with policy-driven storage provisioning - with SLAs

replacing technology details

Virtual volumes - transparent mapping between large volumes and

the VM disk images within them, to enable performance and data

management optimizations

Commodity hardware with storage logic abstracted into a software

layer and scale-out architecture

Programmability - management interfaces that span traditional

storage array products, separating "control plane" from "data plane”

9 9


Automation with policy-driven storage

provisioning - SLAs replacing technology details

Virtual volumes - transparent mapping between large

volumes and the VM disk images within them, to allow better

performance and data management optimizations

Commodity hardware with storage logic abstracted into

a software layer and scale-out architecture

Programmability - management interfaces that span traditional

storage array products, separating "control plane"

from "data plane”

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Virtualized Data Plane

App-centric Data Services

Policy-Driven Control Plane

VMware Approach to Software-Defined Storage

Extensible framework

leveraged by ecosystem

to deliver VM-centric

snapshots, clones,

replication, backup, etc.

Common management

model based on VM-level

policies for automated

placement, balancing,

data services provisioning

Hypervisor-based pooling

of heterogeneous storage

resources optimized for

VM consumption

SAN /

NAS

All SSD

Array

Object /

BLOB DAS

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Converged Infrastructure

VMware Path to Software-Defined Storage

Hypervisor

Policy-Driven Management Policy-driven

Control Plane

Virtual Data

Plane

Ecosystem of

App-Centric Data

Services

Backup

…

App-centric Data

Services

External Storage Pool

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Agenda


Scenario

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Solution Impact


Virtualized Data Plane

App-centric Data Services

Policy-Driven Control Plane

Hypervisor

Virtual Pools

SAN

HDD SSD

DAS NAS

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Scale-Out Architecture


HDD SSD HDD SSD HDD SSD HDD SSD HDD SSD HDD SSD HDD SSD HDD SSD

Virtual Pools

15 15

Scale-Out Architecture



VSAN

10GigE

VSAN VASA

Provider

VC VASA

Client SMS

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Tolerating Component Failures


VSAN

✗

✗

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Scaling Out VSAN

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Storage Policy-Based Management


Compute

Compute-centric Storage Tier

Data-centric Storage Tier

Data

Plane

Policy-Based Management Control

Plane

Data Services

External

Storage

Scale out

storage

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Storage Management Pre-SDS

Datastore

Datastore

Datastore

Datastore

Datastore

Cluster Cluster Cluster Cluster

Physical storage management with proprietary vendor tools

VMs inherit

properties of

datastore

VM Management

Hypervisor UI

Which LUNs

have the right

performance

and

availability for

each VM?

Here are

your LUNs.

vSphere

Admin

Storage

Admin

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VM Storage Provisioning Pre-SDS…

Day 1 Day N Day N++

Setting up storage requires:

1. Spreadsheet black-magic

to determine right

configuration

2. Several additional steps:

• Build disk pools

• Assign RAID levels

• Create LUN/volumes

• Zone and map LUNs

• Format LUN/Volumes

• Assign data services

(Replication, etc.)

vSphere

Admin

Storage

Admin

I need more

storage for

my VMs.

Exactly what

performance do

you need?

Which LUNs

have the right

performance and

availability for

each VM?

Here are

your LUNs.

It should just

be fast.

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Da

ta S

erv

ice

s A

nd

Po

licy

Inte

gr

atio

n

Da

ta M

ob

ility

Existing Capabilities Help, But…..

Storage vMotion: zero downtime

migration of virtual disks between

datastores

VAAI: APIs for storage array integration

to offload native storage data services

like cloning/snapshots

Storage DRS: automated virtual disk

initial placement and ongoing balancing

Profile Driven Storage: VMs and

datastores tagging for provisioning

based on SLA profiles

vSphere data services: snapshots,

cloning, replication, data protection, thin

provisioning

vSphere 5.1 Storage Features

Storage I/O Control: access

prioritization to storage based on

established business rules

VA

AI

Compute

External Storage

FC FC FC

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Storage Management with SDS

Tomorrow

Compute


Data-centric Storage Tier Data

Plane

Policy-based Management Control

Plane

Data Services

External

Storage

Scale out

storage

Cloud Service Provisioning

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Storage Management with SDS

VI Web Client

Storage Policy-Based Management Service vCenter

External Tier

1 Storage

VSAN Enabled Cluster

Scale-Out

Storage

Aggregated

Capabilities

External Tier 1

Storage

vVOL vVOL vVOL

Virtual Volumes

vVOL

Capabilities

(VASA 2.0)

VSAN

Capabilities

(VASA 1.5)

System

Labels

(VASA 1.0)

Tags

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Storage Policy-Based Management

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VM Storage Provisioning with SDS

Provision VM

storage using simple

policies

vSphere

Hard disks SSD

VSAN

Hard disks SSD

…………….

Hard disks SSD Hard disks SSD

Distributed VSAN Datastore

Each VM maintains

its unique policy in

the clustered VSAN

datastore

Storage capacity

and performance

scale dynamically

with your cluster

Hard disks SSD Hard disks SSD

VSAN

vSphere

Distributed VSAN Datastore

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What about the OpenStack Framework?

Nova (compute)

vSphere driver

Cinder (block storage)

VMDK driver

Neutron (network)

NSX driver

vSphere

NSX vSwitch

vSAN

CPU 1

CPU n …

vCenter

NSX Controller

Scale-Out

Storage External Tier 1

Storage

vVOL vVOL vVOL

OpenStack API

AMQP Message

Bus

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Policy-Based Management Futures

Nova (compute)

vSphere

driver

Cinder (block storage)

VMDK

driver

Neutron (network)

NSX

driver

AMQP

Message

Bus

vCloud Automation

Center

Business Policy

Entitlements

Permissions

Policy

vSphere

NSX vSwitch

vSAN

CPU 1

CPU n …

vCenter

NSX Controller

Scale-Out

Storage External Tier 1

Storage

vVOL vVOL vVOL

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Scaling Out for Performance



Virtual Pools

10GigE

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Number of Disk Stripes

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VMware Virsto IO Acceleration


Tiered vSpace vLog (one per host)

De-stages to vSpace

Writes to vLog are sequential

Reads from vSpace

vDisk vDisk vDisk vDisk

Hypervisor

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VMware Flash Read Cache


Virtual Flash Resource

vSphere Flash Read Cache

vSphere

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Disaster Recovery


VMware

vCenter Server

Site Recovery

Manager

VMware

vCenter Server

Site Recovery

Manager

VMware vSphere

Site A (Primary) Site B (Recovery)

Servers Servers

VMware vSphere

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Local Backup and Recovery


VMware vSphere

Data deduplicated

VDP

From

Powered by

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Trusted Storage Platform



TPM Boot

Instantiation

Policy-Based Management


VSAN

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Agenda


Scenario

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Design Scenario

You have been asked to plan a storage design for the rapidly growing

software development company, PunchingClouds Inc.

PunchingClouds Inc. is currently in discussions with their storage

vendor on pricing for new storage arrays to accommodate a variety of

workloads, but want to assess all options in moving towards a SDDC

Performance is critical for some application tiers, but not others

The need to maintain manageability as the organization grows, as no

additional staff will be hired in the short-term future

Regulatory compliance is critical for a subset of applications

Currently a single storage admin handles operations for the

enterprise

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Current Storage Design

Storage Pool

Fabric Switch A Fabric Switch B

SP / FA A SP / FA B

HBA 1 HBA 2

VMFS Datastore

for APP Tier VMFS Datastore

for MGMT Tier

Storage Pool

VMFS Datastore

For DMZ

VMFS Datastore

For APP Tier

Physical Tier 1 Storage Array

HBA 1 HBA 2

Hypervisor

HBA 1 HBA 2

VMFS Datastore

for DMZ VMFS Datastore

for MGMT Tier

Hypervisor Hypervisor

PunchingClouds

Storage Admin

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Step 1: Assess

Current State

Average storage capacity for typical workloads?

What are the application I/O profiles?

Are multiple tiers of storage needed?

Are there existing SLAs for storage performance?

Project budget?

Preferred storage vendor?

Preferred storage protocol?

Can existing storage be used?

DEFINE DESIGN ASSESS

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Business Requirements

Provide differentiated storage tiers to match application profiles

Different tiers can be charged at different rates

Allow end-user to choose the right storage tier/cost for type of

workload

Flexible way to control or ensure storage performance

Minimize the capacity and cost of storage

Constraints

Existing storage vendor

Minimal storage staff

Re-use existing storage infrastructure

Step 2: Define DEFINE DESIGN ASSESS

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Step 3: SDS Solution Design

PunchingClouds

Storage Admin

Storage Pool App Tier

Fabric Fabric

SP SP

HBA 1 HBA 2

Storage Pool App Tier

Physical Tier 1 Storage Array

HBA 1 HBA 2

Hypervisor

HBA 1 HBA

Hypervisor Hypervisor

vVOL vVOL vVOL vVOL vVOL vVOL

Policy-Based Management

DMZ Tier


VSAN

Management Tier


VSAN

App Tier

PunchingClouds

Virtualization Admin

DEFINE DESIGN ASSESS

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Key Takeaways

3

2

1

Software-Defined storage can enable

efficiencies across multiple solution pillars within

your datacenter

Using an architectural methodology (i.e. “The

VCDX Way”) can help ensure successful

adoption of the right solution for your datacenter

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VMware enables Software-defined storage

through both native solutions and eco-system

partnering

Software-Defined storage solutions can provide

both capex and opex savings as your

datacenter grows

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• It’s free

• It’s as easy as installing vSphere

• It gives you the chance to win an iPad!

Register for Virtual SAN Beta Now!

46 46

Questions???


Scenario

Wade Holmes

@wholmes

Rawlinson Rivera

@PunchingClouds

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Other VMware Activities Related to This Session

HOL:

HOL-SDC-1308

Virtual Storage Solutions

STO4798

THANK YOU

Software-Defined Storage: The VCDX Way

Wade Holmes, VMware

Rawlinson Rivera, VMware

STO4798

#STO4798

vmworld 2013: software-defined storage: the vcdx way

Technology

storage performance

storage logic

storage capabilites

defined storage capabilities

vm storage provisioning

vsphere admin storage

overview of software

software layer