Huawei OceanStor V3 Converged Storage Systems Using SSDs to … · 2015-12-20 · Huawei OceanStor V3 Converged Storage Systems — Using SSDs to Improve VMware Performance 1.4 Customer

Huawei OceanStor V3 Converged Storage

Systems — Using SSDs to Improve VMware

Performance

This document describes how Huawei OceanStor V3 converged storage systems use SSDs to improve the performance of

VMware virtual desktops. The document introduces the technologies used by OceanStor V3 converged storage systems and

VMware virtual desktops, verifies the performance acceleration function of SSDs in typical scenarios, and provides best

practices, helping users select appropriate storage media for VMware virtual desktop deployment.

Tang Xiaojuan

Storage Solutions, IT, Huawei Enterprise BG

2015-10-28 V1.1

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

mailto:[email protected]

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential Copyright © Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 2

Huawei OceanStor V3 Converged Storage Systems — Using SSDs to Improve VMware Performance

Contents

1 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Purpose ................................................................................................................................................................. 4

1.3 Intended Audience ................................................................................................................................................. 4

1.4 Customer Benefits ................................................................................................................................................. 5

1.5 Key Components ................................................................................................................................................... 5

1.6 Workload Model .................................................................................................................................................... 5

2 Products and Technologies ..................................................................................................... 6

2.1 OceanStor V3 Converged Storage Systems ............................................................................................................ 6

2.1.1 OceanStor OS ..................................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.2 New-Generation Hardware ................................................................................................................................. 7

2.1.3 Convergence Design ........................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.4 Virtualization, Intelligence, and Efficiency .......................................................................................................... 8

2.2 VMware Horizon View .......................................................................................................................................... 9

2.2.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................................................ 9

2.2.2 Linked Clone ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

2.2.3 View Storage Accelerator .................................................................................................................................... 9

3 Using SSDs to Improve VMware Performance .................................................................. 10

3.1 Challenges............................................................................................................................................................10

3.2 Huawei Solution ...................................................................................................................................................10

3.2.1 Solution Architecture .........................................................................................................................................10

3.2.2 Solution Configuration....................................................................................................................................... 11

3.3 Verification Procedure ..........................................................................................................................................12

3.3.1 Verification Network..........................................................................................................................................12

3.3.2 Deploying the Environment ...............................................................................................................................12

3.3.3 Starting a Boot Storm Test .................................................................................................................................15

3.3.4 Starting a Medium-level Workload Test ..............................................................................................................15

3.4 Environment Deployment .....................................................................................................................................16

3.5 Test Procedure and Conclusion .............................................................................................................................16

3.5.1 Boot Storm Test Procedure.................................................................................................................................16

3.5.2 Boot Storm Test Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................18

3.5.3 Medium-level Workload Test Procedure .............................................................................................................18



3.5.4 Medium-level Workload Test Conclusion ...........................................................................................................20

4 Best Practices ........................................................................................................................... 22

4.1 Storage Configuration ...........................................................................................................................................22

4.1.1 Disk Domain Configuration ...............................................................................................................................23

4.1.2 Storage Pool Configuration ................................................................................................................................23

4.1.3 LUN Configuration ............................................................................................................................................24

4.1.4 Host and Host Group Configuration ...................................................................................................................24

4.2 Application Configuration.....................................................................................................................................24

4.2.1 Multipathing Configuration ................................................................................................................................25

4.2.2 Cluster Configuration ........................................................................................................................................25

4.2.3 VM Template Configuration ..............................................................................................................................25

4.2.4 Desktop Configuration .......................................................................................................................................25

5 Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 26



1 Overview

1.1 Introduction

VMware Horizon View 6.0 is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution that simplifies

desktop management and provides on-demand services. It expands VMware server

deployments to bring VDI advantages to desktops.

Huawei verified the usage of SSDs in OceanStor V3 converged storage systems for VMware

VDI, providing a reference for enterprise customers to deploy VMware VDI.

This document includes the following content:

Technologies and features of OceanStor V3 converged storage systems

Working principles of VMware virtual desktops

Solution overview

Solution implementation

Verification results

1.2 Purpose The purpose of this document is to describe how solid state disks (SSDs) are used to improve

the performance of VMware VDI. It is provided as a reference to Huawei partners and

customers for IT system planning, VMware virtual desktop performance acceleration, and

investment reduction.

1.3 Intended Audience This document is intended for Huawei employees, partners, and customers. It is assumed that

the readers are familiar with the following products and technologies:

OceanStor V3 converged storage systems

VMware vSphere virtualization platform

VMware Horizon View 6.0

E9000 blade server

Login Virtual Session Indexer (LoginVSI) test tool



1.4 Customer Benefits To compare the performance of VMware VDI between using five SSDs and 25 SAS disks in

OceanStor V3 converged storage systems, Huawei performed a verification test on 250

VMware virtual desktops of small-and medium-sized enterprises. The test result proves that

by using SSDs, the desktop latency can be reduced from 1.5 ms to 1 ms, disk usage from 35%

to 8%, the number of required disks is down by 80%, the number of required disk enclosures

by 80% (at most), and the required disk space down by 80% (at most).

1.5 Key Components

This solution uses the following hardware and software:

VMware vSphere virtual layer operating system: VMware ESXi 5.5

VM operating system: Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 32-bit with SP1

Storage array: OceanStor V3 Converged Storage 5500 V300R003

Server: Huawei Tecal RH2288 V2 server

Blade server: Huawei E9000 CH140 blade server

HBA: 10 Gbit/s ETH interface card

Switch: 10GE switch

1.6 Workload Model Login VSI mentioned in this document is an industrial-standard test tool that tests the

performance and scalability of various virtual desktop environments including VMware

Horizon View.

Login VSI usually performs a test under medium-level workload by simulating Office,

Internet Explorer, and PDF user operations. When the workload is higher or lower, reduce or

add workload before the test.



2 Products and Technologies

2.1 OceanStor V3 Converged Storage Systems

Huawei OceanStor V3 converged storage systems are next-generation storage products

intended for enterprise customers. Leveraging a storage operating system oriented to cloud

architecture, a powerful new-generation hardware platform, and a full range of intelligent

management software, OceanStor V3 converged storage systems deliver industry-leading

functionality, performance, efficiency, reliability, and ease-of-use. They provide data storage

for applications such as large-scale database OLTP/OLAP, file sharing, and cloud computing,

and can be used in industries ranging from government, finance, telecommunications, energy,

to media and entertainment (M&E). Meanwhile, OceanStor V3 converged storage systems

can provide a wide range of efficient and flexible backup and disaster recovery solutions to

ensure business continuity and data security, delivering excellent storage services.

For more details about OceanStor V3 converged storage systems, click the following link:

http://e.huawei.com/us/products/cloud-computing-dc/storage/unified-storage/mid-range

Figure 2-1 OceanStor V3 converged storage systems

http://e.huawei.com/us/products/cloud-computing-dc/storage/unified-storage/mid-range



2.1.1 OceanStor OS

OceanStor OS employing a cloud-oriented architecture is the core of OceanStor V3 converged

storage systems.

Figure 2-2 Storage operating system employing a cloud-oriented architecture

2.1.2 New-Generation Hardware

OceanStor V3 converged storage systems employ next-generation Intel multi-core processors,

PCIe 3.0 buses, 12 Gbit/s SAS 3.0 high-speed disk ports, and a variety of host ports such as

16 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10 Gbit/s FCoE, and 56 Gbit/s InfiniBand host ports.

The storage systems provide up to 28 GB/s of system bandwidth to meet the requirements of

bandwidth-intensive application scenarios. They also offer million-level IOPS performance,

outshining products from other vendors.

OceanStor V3 converged storage systems are equipped with exclusive SmartI/O cards.

A SmartI/O card supports 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 16 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10 Gbit/s iSCSI,

and 10 Gbit/s FCoE. Users can specify the protocols that a SmartI/O card is required to

support.

The deduplication/compression cards used by OceanStor V3 support lossless data

deduplication and compression, efficiently reducing data storage cost.

In addition, the storage systems can implement data encryption to secure data.

2.1.3 Convergence Design

Convergence of SAN and NAS storage: SAN and NAS services are converged to

provide elastic storage, simplify service deployment, improve storage resource

utilization, and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO). Underlying storage resource pools



directly provide both block and file services, thereby shortening storage resource access

paths to ensure that the two services are equally efficient.

Convergence of heterogeneous devices: Based on the built-in heterogeneous

virtualization function, OceanStor V3 converged storage systems can efficiently manage

storage systems from other mainstream vendors and unify resource pools for central and

flexible resource allocation.

Convergence of entry-level, mid-range, and high-end storage systems: OceanStor V3

converged storage systems are the only storage systems in the industry that enable

entry-level, mid-range, and high-end storage systems to interwork seamlessly with one

another. Data can freely flow among storage products of different models without the

assistance of third-party systems.

Convergence of SSDs and HDDs: The advantages of traditional and solid-state storage

media are combined, bringing the performance of different types of storage media into full play and striking an optimal balance between performance and cost.

Convergence of primary and backup storage: The built-in backup function enables

data to be efficiently backed up without additional backup software, simplifying backup solution management.

2.1.4 Virtualization, Intelligence, and Efficiency

RAID 2.0+ underlying virtualization: OceanStor V3 converged storage systems use the

RAID 2.0+ block virtualization technology. RAID 2.0+ block virtualization of the

OceanStor V3 implements virtualization for underlying disk management and

upper-layer resource management. Inside the system, the storage space of each disk is

divided into fine-grained data blocks, which comprise RAID groups. In doing so, data is

evenly distributed to all disks in the storage pool. In addition, data blocks–based resource

management largely improves the resource management efficiency.

SmartTier (intelligent storage tiering): SmartTier automatically analyzes data access

frequencies per unit time and migrates data to disks of different performance levels

based on the analysis result. (High-performance disks store most frequently accessed

data, performance disks store less frequently accessed data, and large-capacity disks

store seldom accessed data.) In this way, the optimal overall performance is achieved, and the IOPS cost is reduced.

SmartQoS (intelligent service quality control): SmartQoS categorizes service data based

on data characteristics (each category represents a type of application) and sets a priority

and performance objective for each category. In this way, resources are allocated to services properly, fully utilizing system resources.

SmartThin (thin provisioning): SmartThin allocates storage space on demand rather than

pre-allocating all storage space at the initial stage. It is more cost-effective because

customers can start business with a few disks and add disks based on site requirements. In this way, the initial purchase cost and TCO are reduced.

SmartCache (intelligent cache): SmartCache enables storage systems to use SSDs as

cache resources to improve system read performance in scenarios where read operations outnumber write operations and hotspot data exists.



2.2 VMware Horizon View

2.2.1 Overview

VMware Horizon View (previously called VMware View) is a new desktop virtualization

product. It provides virtual workspaces to make desktop services elastic, enterprise desktop

management more reliable and secure, and hardware more independent and convenient. It

expands VMware server deployments to bring VDI advantages to desktops.

Figure 2-3 VMware Horizon View architecture

2.2.2 Linked Clone

View Composer can create linked clone pools for the specified parent VMs. Every linked

clone is like an independent desktop with a unique host name and IP address. A linked clone

desktop, however, shares one base image with its parent VM, thereby reducing the storage

requirement.

Moreover, programs can be deployed, updated, and patched only by performing operations on

the parent VM, without affecting end user configurations, data, and applications.

2.2.3 View Storage Accelerator

View Storage Accelerator allows hosts in the ESXi 5.0 version or later to cache frequently

accessed VM disk data, improving performance and reducing the requirement for extra

storage I/O bandwidth to manage boot storms and anti-virus scanning I/O storms. To use this

function, every ESXi host must have 1 GB random access memory (RAM).



3 Using SSDs to Improve VMware Performance

3.1 Challenges

In the IT industry, enterprises and administration departments are faced with challenges

concerning capacity, performance, and prices in data storage. Traditional data centers are

characterized by inefficient resource utilization and high investments. Virtual data centers are

becoming the development trend. In the future, selecting storage systems and storage media

that meet critical service requirements to build or re-deploy virtual data centers is an

inevitable choice for enterprise IT to improve service efficiency and reduce TCO.

3.2 Huawei Solution

3.2.1 Solution Architecture

The solution employs Huawei OceanStor V3 converged storage systems using SSDs to

balance the performance and cost requirements when services grow or data changes within the

life cycle.

This solution is verified in two scenarios:

Boot Storm Test

When virtual desktops are being started, the operating systems and applications need to read

massive data from disks. A large number of I/Os are produced in a short period, requiring the

storage system to have the capability of processing such intensive I/Os. The test is performed

in the following procedure: 1. Ensure that all virtual desktops are shut down. 2. Use View

Administrator to batch power on VMs. 3. Compare how long it takes for virtual desktops

deployed on SAS disks and on SSDs to be started, and the disk usage, CPU usage, and IOPS

on the storage systems during the startup.

Medium-level Workload Test

This test is performed when daily office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, and 7-Zip are running. The disk usage, CPU usage, IOPS, and latency of

the storage systems using SAS disks and SSDs are compared when there are 250 users.



3.2.2 Solution Configuration

Table 3-1 Hardware configuration

Hardware Component Quantity

Server Huawei Tecal RH2288 V2 each with:

256 GB memory

16 – Intel Xeon E5-2660 CPUs

1 – Intel 10Gbit/s Ethernet HBA

1 – QLogic 8Gbit/s Fibre Channel HBA

6

Huawei E9000, one blade each with (total 12

blades):

96 GB memory

12- Intel Xeon E5-2620 CPUs

1 – Intel 10Gbit/s Ethernet HBA

1 – QLogic 8Gbit/s Fibre Channel HBA

1

10GE switch Huawei S6324 2

Storage device Huawei OceanStor 5500 V3 with:

2 – controllers each with 24 GB cache

2 – 2 U 25 slots disk enclosures

25 – 600 GB SAS disks

5 – 600 GB SSDs

2 – 10 Gbit/s Ethernet I/O modules (2 ports)

2 – 24 Gbit/s SAS I/O modules (4 ports)

1

Table 3-2 Software configuration

Item Software

ESXi VMware vSphere 5.5

VMware Horizon

View

VMware View Connection Server 6.0.1

VMware View Composer 6.0.1

VMware View Agent 6.0.1

vCenter Server VMware vCenter Server 5.5

Storage device OceanStor V3 V300R003C00

Test tool Login VSI 3.7



3.3 Verification Procedure

3.3.1 Verification Network

Figure 3-1 Network diagram

[1] OceanStor 5500 V3 configuration: 1 x controller enclosure, 24 GB cache, 2 x 10 Gbit/s ETH module, 2 x disk enclosure, 25 x 600 GB SAS disks, 5 x 600 GB SSDs, 1 x disk domain (contains all SAS disks and SSDs, with a total capacity of 15.432 TB and free capacity of 1.301 TB), 1 x storage pool (RAID 5-9 and a capacity of 10 TB at the SAS disk layer; RAID 5-5 and a capacity of 1.6 TB at the SSD layer), 4x1 TB thick LUNs (as the operating system disks of desktop VMs)

[2]E9000 CH140 configuration: 96 GB memory, 12 x E5-2620 CPU, 1 x QLogic 8 Gbit/s HBA, 1x10 Gbit/s Ethernet HBA

[3] RH2288 V2 configuration: 256 GB memory, 16 x E5-2660 CPU, 1 x QLogic 8Gbit/s HBA, 1x10 Gbit/s Ethernet HBA

3.3.2 Deploying the Environment

Table 3-3 Environment deployment procedure

Step Sub-step Operation

1 Prepare the physical environment (hardware and networks).

2 Install and configure operating systems.

2.1 Install VMware vSphere on three RH2288 servers and the 12 blades

of one E9000 server.

2.2 Configure an IP address for each ESXi host.

3 Prepare the Login VSI test environment.




3.1 Create 14 VMs on the RH2288 servers and install Windows Server

2008 R2 on the VMs.

3.2 Install the Login VSI master on one of the VMs.

3.3 Install Login VSI Analyze on the master.

3.4 Install Login VSI launchers on other VMs.

4 Prepare the VMware VDI.

3.1 Create 7 VMs on the RH2288 servers and install Windows Server

2008 R2 on the VMs.

3.2 Install AD, DNS and DHCP servers on two of the VMs.

3.3 Install SQLServer, vCenter Server, Connection Server, View

Composer, and vSphere Client on the other five VMs respectively.

3.4 Create a VM template and install the Windows 7 32-bit operating

system.

3.5 Add the VM vSphere virtualization architecture and test hosts into

the domain.

3.6 Install View Agent on the VM template.

3.7 Install Login VSI target on the VM template.

3.8 Set the VM template to obtain an IP address automatically.

3.9 Take a snapshot after the VM template is shut down.

4 Configure a storage subsystem.

4.1 Configure storage resources (disk domains, storage pools, LUNs, and

LUN groups).

4.2 Create hosts, host groups, and mapping views.

4.3 Add LUNs to LUN groups and add LUN groups and host groups to

mapping views.

5 Configure datastores on vCenter.

5.1 Re-scan all datastores.

5.2 Add new datastores and select LUNs to which the datastores are

mapped.

6 Deploy virtual desktops.

6.1 Create two clusters on vCenter. Each of the cluster contains six

blades.

6.2 Create two resource pools for each cluster.

6.3 Create desktop pools on VMware Connection Server.



Table 3-4 IP address configuration table

Item Subitem IP Address

AD/DNS/DHCP 10.1.0.7/8

ESXi host Cluster 1 (VDI_Cluster1) 100.199.20.20

100.199.20.21

100.199.20.22

100.199.20.23

100.199.20.24

100.199.20.25

Cluster 2 (VDI_Cluster2) 100.199.20.26

100.199.20.27

100.199.20.28

100.199.20.29

100.199.20.30

100.199.20.31

Login VSI Master 10.1.0.253

Launcher1 10.1.0.201









Launcher10 10.1.0.210

Launcher11 10.1.0.211

Launcher12 10.1.0.212

Launcher13 10.1.0.213

VMware VDI vCenter server 10.1.1.42

View Composer 10.1.1.27

VMware Connection Server 10.1.1.29



Item Subitem IP Address

SQL Server 10.1.1.41

vSphere Client 10.1.1.30/100.199.20.130

Storage system 5500V3 controller A 100.199.20.251

5500V3 controller B 100.199.20.252

10GE service port A 172.168.11.7

10GE service port B 172.168.11.8

3.3.3 Starting a Boot Storm Test

Table 3-5 Boot storm test procedure


1 Perform the test on SAS disks.

1.1 Shut down all the virtual desktops deployed on SAS disks.

1.2 Use View Administrator to batch power on VMs.

1.3 Record the disk usage and CPU usage during the startup, and the time

the startup takes.

2 Perform the test on SSDs.

2.1 Shut down all the virtual desktops deployed on SSDs.

2.2 Use View Administrator to batch power on VMs.

2.3 Record the disk usage and CPU usage during the startup, and the time

the startup takes.

3.3.4 Starting a Medium-level Workload Test

Table 3-6 Medium-level workload test procedure


1 Perform the test on SAS disks.

1.1 Power on all the VMs deployed on SAS disks.

1.2 Start 13 Login VSI launchers.

1.3 Configure a CSV file that contains 250 virtual desktop IP addresses.

1.4 Start Login VSI Master.

1.5 Set the test duration to 7000s.




1.6 Start the test.

1.7 Record the IOPS, latency, disk usage, and CPU usage of LUNs

during the test.

2 Perform the test on SSDs.

1.1 Power on all the VMs deployed on SSDs.

1.2 Start 13 Login VSI launchers.

1.3 Configure a CSV file that contains 250 virtual desktop IP addresses.

1.4 Start Login VSI Master.

1.5 Set the test duration to 7000s.

1.6 Start the test.

1.7 Record the IOPS, latency, disk usage, and CPU usage of LUNs

during the test.

3.4 Environment Deployment For details about environment deployment, see Huawei OceanStor V3 Converged Storage —

Using SSDs to Improve the Performance of VMware (Implementation Guide).

3.5 Test Procedure and Conclusion

3.5.1 Boot Storm Test Procedure

Before performing a boot storm test, all the VMs need to be shut down. During the test,

enable performance monitoring on DeviceManager to monitor the IOPS and latency of disk

domains.

Step 1 Shut down VMs.

On the vCenter, select Resource Pool. On the page that is displayed, select Virtual Machines

on the right. Select all the VMs by pressing the Shift button. Right-click the selected VMs and

choose Power > Power Off.

Step 2 Enable performance monitoring.

Log in to DeviceManager at the storage side. Click Monitor to enable performance

monitoring. Set Query Method to Multi-graph, Object Type to Disk domain, and

Statistical Items to Total IOPS.

Open a new DeviceManager window and click Monitor to enable performance monitoring.

Set Query Method to Single-graph, Object Type to Disk domain, and Data Type to

Advanced items. On the listed items, select Avg. I/O response time.



Step 3 Start VMs.

On the vCenter, select Resource Pool. On the page that is displayed, select Virtual Machines

on the right. Select all the VMs by pressing the Shift button. Right-click the selected VMs and

choose Power > Power On.

Step 4 Monitor performance indicators.

In the window in step 2, the IOPS and latency of disk domains during the VM startup jump

and drop abruptly before staying at stable values.

Figure 3-2 IOPS comparison between 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs in a boot storm test

Data in the figure above is collected by System Reporter. One record is made every two minutes.

Figure 3-3 Latency comparison between 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs in a boot storm test

0

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6000

7000

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SAS

SSD

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Data in the preceding figure is collected by System Reporter. One record is made every two minutes.

----End

3.5.2 Boot Storm Test Conclusion

As shown in the previous figures, five SSDs carry more IOPS than 25 SAS disks. Therefore,

when SSDs are used, the large number of I/Os produced during batch VM startup can be

processed quickly, resulting in low latency (only 1 ms) and fast startup (25% faster than that

when SAS disks are used).

3.5.3 Medium-level Workload Test Procedure

The test is performed in two scenarios: 1. 250 VDI users are deployed on 25 SAS disks. 2.

250 VDI users are deployed on 5 SSDs.

Step 1 Start VMs.

Ensure that all the VMs are started and are not logged in to using any tool.

Step 2 Start Login VSI Launcher.

Log in to the server where Login VSI Launcher resides and start all launcher Agents.

Step 3 Configure Login VSI Master.

Log in to the server where Login VSI Master resides. Open Management Console. Set the test

duration to 7000s, Session to 250s, Timeframe to 500s, and Launch Delay to 30s. Save the

configuration and start the test.

Step 4 Collect performance statistics.

Use System Reporter to export performance data including disk latency, IOPS, and usage, and

LUN latency and IOPS, and controller CPU usage.



Figure 3-4 Utilization rate comparison between 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs

Figure 3-5 Latency comparison between 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs

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1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 61 66 71 76

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SSD



Figure 3-6 Controller CPU usage comparison between 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs

Figure 3-7 LUN IOPS comparison between 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs

----End

3.5.4 Medium-level Workload Test Conclusion

Based on the preceding analysis and figures, we can conclude that in the two scenarios, LUN

IOPS and CPU usage are almost the same because upper-layer applications are the same, but

5 SSDs outshine 25 SAS disks in terms of disk usage and I/O latency.

Therefore, SSDs can improve VMware performance with less cost.

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Figure 3-8 Test result when 250 VDI users are deployed on 25 SAS disks

Figure 3-9 Test result when 250 VDI users are deployed on 5 SSDs



4 Best Practices

This chapter describes recommended configurations for deploying VMware VDI based on

Huawei OceanStor V3 converged storage systems, including storage, host, and VM template

configurations.

4.1 Storage Configuration

Figure 4-1 Resource allocation flowchart

Figure 4-2 Storage configuration



[1] Disk configuration: scenarios 1: 25 SAS disks; scenario 2: 25 SAS disks and 5 SSDs

[2] Disk domain configuration: scenario 1: Add all SAS disks to one disk domain and set its hot spare policy to High (default); scenario 2: Add 5 SSDs to the existing disk domain.

[3] Storage pool configuration: create a storage pool, set the RAID policy of the SAS layer to RAID 5-9, Usage to Block Storage Service (default), add an SSD layer and set its RAID policy to RAID 5-5.

[4] LUN configuration: Evenly distribute LUNs to controllers A and B. In Advanced area of the LUNs, set Initial Capacity Allocation Policy to Allocate from the high-performance tier first. Retain the default values of other parameters.

[5] VM configuration: operating system disk: 25 GB, 2 GB memory, 1 x 2-core CPU

4.1.1 Disk Domain Configuration

A disk domain is a combination of multiple disks. After disks are consolidated and a certain

amount of hot spare capacity is reserved, a disk domain provides storage resources for storage

pools in a unified manner.

One or more disk domains can be created in the OceanStor V3.

Multiple storage pools can be created in a disk domain.

A disk domain can consist of SSDs, SAS disks, and/or NL-SAS disks.

Disk domains are isolated from each other in terms of performance, storage resources, and

faults.

The best practices use 2.5-inch 600 GB SAS disks and 2.5-inch 600 GB SSDs to provide

storage space for virtual desktops. As user data storage requires modest performance and

large capacity, NL-SAS disks are recommended.

Based on VMware View, you are advised to:

Use different disk domains to provide storage space for system disks and data disks to

facilitate management and maintenance.

Deploy not more than 100 disks on each layer of a disk domain to ensure performance and

reliability.

Retain the default (high) hot spare policy of the disk domain for the sake of reliability.

4.1.2 Storage Pool Configuration

A storage pool, a container that stores storage space resources, is created in a disk domain. A

storage pool can dynamically allocate resources from a disk domain and define the RAID

level of each storage tier.

A storage tier is a collection of storage media providing the same performance level in a

storage pool. Different storage tiers manage storage media with different performance levels

and provide different storage spaces for applications whose performance requirements vary.

Storage tiers are classified into three types: high-performance tier composed of SSDs,

performance tier consisting of SAS disks, and capacity tier made of NL-SAS disks.

OceanStor V3 supports six RAID levels: RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 5, RAID 3, RAID 50, and

RAID 1. The most commonly used RAID levels are RAID 6, RAID 10, and RAID 5. From

the perspective of disk usage, RAID 6 and RAID 5 are classified into RAID 6-4 (2D+2P),

RAID 6-6 (4D+2P), RAID 6-10 (8D+2P), RAID 5-3 (2D+1P), RAID 5-5 (4D+1P), and RAID

5-9 (8D+1P).



In VDI scenarios, the best practices for creating storage pools for storing system disks of

virtual desktops are as follows:

RAID 10 is strongly recommended because it can provide high performance using the

minimum number of disks.

If reliability takes precedence over performance, RAID 6 is recommended.

If capacity takes precedence over reliability, RAID 5 is recommended.

In VDI scenarios, the best practices for creating storage pools for storing data disks of virtual

desktops are as follows:

RAID 5 is strongly recommended because this RAID level can provide largest available

capacity using the minimum number of disks.

If reliability takes precedence over performance, RAID 6 is recommended.

If performance takes precedence over reliability, RAID 10 is recommended.

When creating a storage pool, you can set an alarm threshold for the capacity allocation ratio.

The default threshold is 80%. Capacity alarming is particularly important in scenarios where

value-added features such as thin LUN, snapshot, remote replication, and clone are used. You

can set a proper alarm threshold based on the speed of application data growth to prevent

insufficient capacity of the storage pool from causing application interruption.

4.1.3 LUN Configuration

A LUN is a storage unit that can be directly mapped to a host for data reads and writes.

In VDI scenarios, the best practices for creating LUNs for system disks of virtual desktops are

as follows:

Create an even number of LUNs so that they can be evenly distributed to controllers for load

balancing.

When creating LUNs, do not enable SmartThin for performance improvement.

Assign not more than 128 VMs for each LUN.

Do not enable SmartThin for the LUNs used by system disks because the system disks occupy

only a small amount of space but have demanding performance requirements. You are

advised to enable SmartThin for user data disks to improve storage flexibility.

4.1.4 Host and Host Group Configuration

You can create and manage hosts so that the hosts can obtain and use the storage resources

allocated by the storage system. You can also create host groups for easily managing multiple

hosts. This management mode adapts to the VMware cluster management mode.

When creating a host group, match it with a VMware cluster and name the host group after

the cluster name for easy management and maintenance.

4.2 Application Configuration The configuration involves multipathing, VMware clusters, datastores, and VM templates.



4.2.1 Multipathing Configuration

The best practices use redundant switches to provide multiple paths between the host and

storage system. Therefore, the multipathing software must be used to choose the optimum

path.

You are advised to install UltraPath for VMware that can automatically discover and select

the best path.

4.2.2 Cluster Configuration

Add 12 blade servers to two clusters for easy management and maintenance. Note the

following during the cluster configuration:

If HA is enabled, ensure that the cluster has sufficient VM resources and provide at least

one more host for switchover.

If DRS is enabled, provide a dedicated channel for vMotion.

Create two resource pools for each cluster to store VM desktops later.

4.2.3 VM Template Configuration

A VM template uses the Windows 7 32-bit operating system, 2 GB memory, and one virtual

socket with two cores for CPU.

Note the following when deploying a VM template:

Deploy the VM template on local disks.

Install VMware Tools on the VM to facilitate mouse pointer switchover between the VM and local computer.

After adding the VM to a domain, set the VM to obtain an IP address automatically.

Take snapshots when the VM is shut down.

4.2.4 Desktop Configuration

Note the following during desktop configuration:

The number of desktop pools should be the same as that of LUNs. Select one data store

for one desktop pool.

Use View Composer linked clones for vCenter Server configuration.

The value of Storage OverCommit is calculated based on the sizes of datastores and template VMs. It can be set to Moderate or Aggressive.

Select View Storage Accelerator for operating system disks.



5 Appendix

Glossary

Abbreviation Full Name

AD Active Directory

DNS Domain name server

IOPS I/O per second

LUN Logical unit number

LVM Logical volume manager

RAID Redundant arrays of independent disks

SAN Storage area network

SAS Serial attached SCSI

VM Virtual machine

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