Storage Area Network (SAN)

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Outline

Direct Access Storage (DAS)

Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Storage Area Network (SAN)
Fiber Channel Switch

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The SNIA storage model

A layered view

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Three Basic Forms of Network Storage

Direct access storage (DAS)
Network attached storage (NAS)
Storage area network (SAN)

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DAS

NAS

FC-SAN

clien
ts
servers
FC
Switch

storage
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SCSI Distribution Architecture

SCSI is a client/server architecture.
The client is called the initiator and issues request to the
server. The client is I/O subsystem under the typical OS
control.
The server is called the target, which is the SCSI controller
inside the storage device. It receives, process, and responds
to the requests from the initiator.
SCSI commands support block I/O, transferring large
amount of data in blocks.

Client
(Initiator)

request
response
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Storage Dev
(Target)

SCSI Client/Server Architecture

Server

Client
(Host)

(Storage
Device)

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Redundant Array of Independent Disks

(RAID)
A group of hard disks is called a disk array
RAID combines a disk array into a single virtual device
called RAID drive

Provide fault tolerance for shared data and applications

Different implementations: Level 0-5
Characteristics:
Storage Capacity
Speed: Fast Read and/or Fast Write
Resilience in the face of device failure

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RAID Types
RAID 0
Stripe with no parity (see next slide for figure)

RAID 1
Mirror two or more disks

RAID 0+1 (or 1+0)

Stripe and Mirrors

RAID 3
Synchronous, Subdivided Block Access; Dedicated
Parity Drive

RAID 5
Like RAID 4, but parity striped across multiple drives
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RAID 0

RAID 1

Disk Striping (no redundancy)

Disk Mirror
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RAID 0+1
(or 1+0)

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RAID 3

RAID 5

Disk striping with Dedicated Parity

Drive
Disk
striping with Distributed Par

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Striping (parity) data is duplicate.

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Network Attached Storage (NAS)

NAS is adedicated storage device, and it operates
in a client/server mode.
NAS is connected to the file server via LAN.
Protocol: NFS (or CIFS) over an IP Network
Network File System (NFS) UNIX/Linux
Common Internet File System (CIFS) Windows Remote file
system (drives) mounted on the local system (drives)
SAMBA: SMB on Linux (Making Linux a Windows File Server)

Advantage: no distance limitation

Disadvantage: Speed and Latency
Weakness: Security
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Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Specialized storage device or group of storage devices providing

centralized fault-tolerant data storage for a network

Clients

Servers

Storage Devic

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Storage Area Network (SAN)

A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a specialized,

dedicated high speed network joining servers and
storage, including disks, disk arrays, tapes, etc.
Storage (data store) is separated from the
processors (and separated processing).
High capacity, high availability, high scalability,
ease of configuration, ease of reconfiguration.
Fiber Channel is the de facto SAN networking
architecture, although other network standards
could be used.
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SAN Benefits

Storage consolidation
Data sharing
Non-disruptive scalability for growth
Improved backup and recovery
High performance
High availability server clustering
Data integrity
Disaster tolerance
Ease of data migration
Cost-effectives (total cost of ownership)

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NAS vs. SAN ?

Traditionally:
NAS is used for low-volume access to a large amount
of storage by many users
SAN is the solution for terabytes (1012) of storage and
multiple, simultaneous access to files, such as
streaming audio/video.
The lines are becoming blurred between the two
technologies now, and while the SAN-versus-NAS
debate continues, the fact is that both technologies
complement each another.

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SAN Topologies
Fibre Channel based networks support three types of
topologies:
Point-to-point
Loop (arbitrated) shared media
Switched

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Switched FC SAN
Fibre Channel-switches function in a manner similar to
traditional network switches to provide increased
bandwidth, scalable performance, an increased number
of devices, and, in some cases, increased redundancy.
Fibre Channel-switches vary in the number of ports and
media types they support.
Multiple switches can be connected to form a switch
fabric capable of supporting a large number of host
servers and storage subsystems

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FC Switched SAN

Servers

Fiber Chann
Switch
Clients
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Fiber C
Stores

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3PAR Hardware Overview

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3PAR

3PAR InServ Storage Servers

Scalability
F200

F400

T400

T800

24

24

28

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

0 12
08
2

0 24
0 16
24

0 64
0 16
24

0 128
0 32
28

8
12

8-16
12-24

8-16
24-48

8-32
24-96

Disk Drives

16 - 192

16 - 384

16 640

16 1,280

Drive Types

146GB, 300GB, 400GB

FC and/or 1TB NL

146GB, 300GB,
400GB FC and/or
1TB NL

146GB, 300GB,
400GB FC and/or
750GB, 1TB NL

146GB, 300GB,
400GB FC and/or
750GB, 1TB NL

125TB

250TB

300TB

600TB

1,300 (MB/s) /
46,800

2,600 (MB/s) /
93,600

3,200 (MB/s) /
156,000

6,400 (MB/s) /
312,000

Controller Nodes
3PAR Gen3 ASIC
Fibre Channel Host Ports
Optional iSCSI Host Ports
Built-in Remote Copy Ports
GBs Control Cache
GBs Data Cache

Max Capacity
Throughput/
IOPS (from disk)
SPC-1 Benchmark
Results

SPC-1 TBD

224,990
SPC-1 IOPS

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3PAR InSpire architecture: Cabinet

Redundant Power
Supplies (Drive Cage)

Cabinet
Standard 19 rack footprint
40 EIA units
Built-in cable management
No Need to reserve for expansion

Drive Chassis (4U)

Redundant
Power Supplies

Drive Magazine

Backplane
Controller Node
(4U)

Redundant Batteries
Redundant PDUs

Service Processor

Cabinet

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3PAR F-Class Architecture Basics

Same underlined architecture as the TClass tailored for the midrange

Cache coherent & massively load
balanced
Mixed workload & Fast RAID
Thin Built In

Same advanced 3PAR software as in

the T-Class

InForm OS
Thin Provisioning & Virtual Copy
Dynamic Optimization
Virtual Domains
Remote Copy (connect to other InServ
models)

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25

3PAR InServ F-Class Storage Server Specifications

F-Class Controllers (Rearview)

4U

Integrated
Power
Supply &
Battery

Optional
Adapter
Slots

Integrated
Power
Supply &
Battery

Built-in GigE port for

Remote Copy

Built-in Fibre Channel

(4Gb/s) ports

F-Class Drive Chassis (frontview)

3U

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

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3PAR InServ F-Class Storage Server Specifications

F-Class Controllers (Rearview)

4U

Integrated
Power
Supply &
Battery

Optional
Adapter
Slots

Integrated
Power
Supply &
Battery

Built-in GigE port for

Remote Copy

Built-in Fibre Channel

(4Gb/s) ports

F-Class Drive Chassis (frontview)

3U

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

HDD

One Xeon Quad-Core 2.33GHz CPU per node

One 3PAR Gen3 ASIC per node
4GB Control & 6GB Data Cache per node
Built-in I/O ports per node
4 FC (4Gb/s) ports (host or backend
connectivity)
Gigabit Ethernet port for Remote Copy
Optional I/O adapter slots per node
Up to 2 slots per node (or up to 4 more FC
and/or iSCSI ports per node
4U Form Factor
Cabinet Options: 2M Cabinet or 3 rd party rack
mountable

4Gb/sec internally switched FC Drive Chassis

16 drives in 3U
Up to 384 drives across 24 Drive Chassis
Mixable FC and Nearline drives
Cabinet Options: 2M Cabinet or 3 rd party rack
mountable

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Serving Information. Simply.

3PAR Virtual Volume (VV) Concepts

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3PAR

Objectives:

Understand InForm OS RAID concepts

Understand concepts of InServ Chunklets

Understand InForm OS Logical Disks (LDs)

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InServ Concepts for Volume Management

Section Content covers:

InServ Chunklet/Physical disk

InServ RAID 1
InServ RAID 5
InServ RAID MP (RAID 6)
Virtual Volumes, VLUNS (LUNS)
Logical disks (LDs)

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Physical Disk Chunklets (256 MB)

Physical Disk
C = 256 MB Data Chunklet
SC

= 256 MB Spare Chunklet

C
C

Each InServ Physical

disk is initialized with
data chunklets and
spare chunklets.

SC

C
C

SC

SC

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3PAR RAID 1 Concepts

RAID 1 is mirrored data
Data is written as paired chunklets
Each chunklet on the RAID set is on a different physical
disk
Setsize = 2
Default size (RAID 1)

Usable space = 256

MB

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3PAR RAID 5 Concepts

RAID 5 uses parity to reconstruct data
RAID 5 uses a setsize of 4 by default
Setsize = 4 (3+1)
C

Default size (RAID 5)

Usable space = 768 MB
(3*256)

Setsize = 6 (5+1)
C

Usable space = 1280 MB

(5*256)

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3PAR RAID 5 Concepts Contd

Setsize = 9 (8+1)
What is the usable space for this setsize?

Usable space = 2048 MB (8*256)

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3PAR RAID Multi Parity (MP) Concepts

RAID MP uses parity (double parity can deliver data in a double disk failure) to reconstruct data and performed in the ASIC XOR engine
RAID MP only supports two setsizes ( 8 and 16)
The default set size of 8 has the same data to parity ratio as the default RAID-5 set size of 4 -- 3:1 in both cases.

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Usage Meaning of -ha cage For RAID MP

The system defines "-ha cage" as "will tolerate the failure of ONE
cage. This means:
Up to two chunklets are allowed to share the same cage.
The default R6 -ha cage set size 8 requires 4 cages per nodepair, just like the default R5 set size 4.
If 8 cages are available, the layout will use one chunklet per cage.
The same rules apply to -ha mag up to two chunklets are
allowed per mag but the system will place only one chunklet per
mag if possible.

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36

3PAR Volume Management View

Physical Disks

Chunklets

Logical disks

Virtual Volumes

OLTP

D.W.

The

3PAR InForm OS manages the above automatically

3PAR VM manages
and presents
volumes to server
farms

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3PAR InServ Virtual Volume

The only storage component visible to Hosts

Virtual
Volume

Host Sees
Virtual
Volume as a
LUN

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Building a Virtual Volume

Starts with
Physical
drives

Chunklets

Physical Drive

Divided into
Chunklets

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39

Chunklets: Foundation of Virtual Volume

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40

Start with a Raid Set as the Building Block

Raid 5 (4+1)
Raid Set

Chunklets:
Selected from
separate physical
drives
Selected from
separate chassis

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41

Logical Disk
A collection of physical disk chunklets (256 MB)
Arranged as rows of RAID sets
Each RAID set is made up of chunklets from different
physical disks
A chunklet can only be assigned to one logical disk

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InServ Virtual Volume For RAID 5

Virtual Volume

6 GB VV

C = 256 MB Chunklet
3072 MB per
Node/LD

Node

Node

Logical
Disk

Logical
Disk

3072 MB per
Node/LD

4 RAID Sets * 768 MB usable

data = 3072 MB

RAID Set

RAID Set

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Default InServ Layout of 2 Node 6 GB Logical Disk

InServ will place chunklets on separate physical disks

InServ will insure physical disks are on separate drive

magazines

InServ will try to have each drive magazine on a separate

drive chassis

InServ will try to make each Logical Disk owned by each

node the same size

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Serving Information. Simply.

3PAR Virtual Copy

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3PAR Virtual Copy

A snapshot of another Virtual Volume (a base

volume or another Virtual Copy) created using
copy-on-write techniques available only with a
3PAR Virtual Copy license.

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Virtual Copy Relationships

Virtual Copy can be read-only or read/write
The rules that enforce relationships between a base
volume and its Virtual Copy revolve around read-only or
read/write
Read-only and read/write (up to 256) Can make as many
R/W VCs per R/O as needed. Base volumes are always
read/write

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Virtual Copy Relationships Contd

A read-only copy can have up to 256 read/write Virtual
Copys
A read/write Virtual Copy can have many read-only copies

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Virtual Copy Relationships Contd

The following shows a more complex relationship scenario

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Virtual Copy Copy-on-Write Function (Data Written)

Snapshot Admin (SA) Space Timestamp 5/25/06 14:35

1.

Pointer to data

2.

3.

4.

Base Volume
1. A
2. B
3. C

4. D

4. D
D
Copy-on-write to SD

New
Write Data

4. D

5. E
6. F

Snapshot Data (SD) Space

Stores Original Base Volume
changes

7. G

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3PAR Dynamic Optimization

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3PAR

Objectives

Explain the benefits of Dynamic Optimization (DO)

Change Volume RAID level
Change Volume Availability level
Change Volume Service level
Reclaim Unused LD Space

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3PAR Dynamic Optimization

An optional InForm OS feature that enables you to

dynamically tune volumes by changing volume
parameters. 3PAR Dynamic Optimization (DO)
requires the use of the InForm CLI and also
requires a 3PAR Dynamic Optimization license

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3PAR Dynamic Optimization

A Software Solution that offers:

A Single-command for online and nondisruptive service level optimization

A cost-effective approach to manage a
massive scalable tiered storage array
Flexibility for all stages of the disk-based
data lifecycle
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Dynamic Optimization - Data Service Level Control

RAID Type
RAID 10
RAID 50
(2 to 8+1)

System
Resource
Application

Massive versus
restricted use of:
drives
processors

Radial
Placement
Selection of
inner versus
outer tracks
on disk
platters

Drive Type
Various sizes
and speeds of
FC or Nearline

ports / loops
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3PAR Dynamic Optimization Benefit For Storage Administration

Allows for a non-disruptive re-layout of Virtual Volumes on

the 3PAR InServ (move volumes to different physical disks
to accommodate new user demands)

Promotes system optimization through improved utilization

of all physical resources for the current configuration (Take
advantage of a H/W upgrade)

Allows for altering of service levels associated to a

Virtual Volume (change RAID levels, set sizes, spare
chunklets)
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Dynamic Optimization Potential Uses

1. Proactively ensure data service levels during expected peak demand
periods (Quarter End, Holiday Shopping Season, High volume trading days)
Unused Buffer

App A
(RAID 5)

App B
(RAID 5)

Unused Buffer

App A
(RAID 10)

App C
(RAID 5)

Normal Period

App B
(RAID 5)

Unused Buffer

App A
(RAID 5)

App C
(RAID 5)

Peak Period

App B
(RAID 5)

App C
(RAID 5)

Normal Period

2. Meet service level or SLA change orders on demand.

Silver

Gold
Greater
Revenue

Performance, Port
Resources

Platinum
Greater
Revenue

Spindle, Loop
Resources

RAID 50 (7+1)
Restricted resources

RAID 50 (3+1)
Greater resources

RAID 10
Striped massively

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Dynamic Optimization Potential Uses

3. Deliver the required service levels for the lowest possible cost
throughout the data lifecycle
50%
Savings

10TB
Useable

RAID 10
147GB FC Drives

80%
Savings*

RAID 50 (3+1)
300GB FC Drives

RAID 50 (7+1)
500GB ATA-Class Drives

4. Accommodate rapid or unexpected, application growth on demand

by freeing raw capacity
+ 7.5 Useable TBs
10 Useable TBs
20 Raw TBs, RAID 10

10 Useable TBs

Create 7.5 TBs of

useable capacity on
demand !

20 Raw TBs, RAID 50

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3PAR Dynamic Optimization at a Customer

Free

Before Dynamic Optimization

Used
600

Data layout
after a series
of capacity
upgrades

500

Chunklets

400
300
200

Free

After Dynamic Optimization

100

Used
600

0
1

20

39

58

77

500

96

Physical Disks

Data layout
after Dynamic
Optimization
(non-disruptive)

Chunklets

400
300
200
100
0
1

20

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39

58

77

Physical Disks
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96

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Thank You

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