ISPT Isilon Fundamentals_SRG

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RevisionDate:November2013RevisionNumber:MR7WPISPTISIF_1.0

1ISPT Isilon Fundamentals


This coursecoversEMCIsilons ScaleoutStoragePlatformpoweredbytheOneFSoperatingsystem. ItalsocoversEMCIsilons productlinesand broadrangeofoptionsandsoftwareapplications.ThiscourseisintendedforanyoneseekingtoestablishabasicunderstandingoftheEMCIsilonplatform.



This moduledescribesEMC Isilons scaleoutsolution.BusinessrequirementsbyindustryarealsopresentedalongwithinformationonhowEMCIsilonmeets theserequirements.

ISPT Isilon Fundamentals 3


LetsstartwithLifeSciencesresearch.Capacityandperformancearetwokeyconsiderations.Researchersplanforhundredsofterabytestopetabytes.Storagesystemscanbecomearesearchbottleneckwithouttherightlevelofperformance.Theabilitytodeliverhighperformancedataaccessinparalleltoalargeaggregateofclientsistypicallythedeterminingfactorfortotalprocessingtime.Mostresearchfacilitiessimplydonthavethestafftomanagecomplexstoragesolutions.Themanagementofanidealstoragesystemshouldnotrequireanyadditionalordedicatedworkers.Thesurveillanceindustryisinterestedindatasecurity,inadditiontomassivestoragecapacityrequirements.Protectingvideosurveillancedatafromaccidentalormaliciousalterationordeletionisamust.Videostreams,especiallyhigherresolutionandwithlongerretentionperiods,canconsumestoragerapidly,whichmeansstorageAdministratorsmustbeabletoscaletheirstorageinfrastructurequicklyandnondisruptively.Avideosurveillancestoragesystemcanquicklybecomeoverloadedasmorecamerasarebroughtonline.Systemsthatcannotkeepupwithagrowingsurveillanceworkloadwillcausedatatobedropped.



Whenitcomestofinancialinstitutions,speedanddepthforperformingquantitativeanalysisisvitalingainingacompetitiveedge.Theseanalysisrequirehighperformanceandscalability.Companiesoftencantaffordworkstoppagesorslowdownstoupgradeequipment.Themediaandentertainmentindustryismadeupofavarietyoforganizationsandworkflows.Broadcastorganizationsneedtoreducecapitalandoperationalexpensesforstorageequipment.Postproductioncompaniesneedtostorevideoandaudiomodelswiththousandsofframesresultinginhundredsofterabytesofdata.Thereisconstantpressuretomeetaggressivetimetoproductiondeadlines,whichaddscomplexitytomanagement.Today,mediafilesizescontinuetoincreaseasresolutionsgrowfromHDto2K,4K,and8K,makingscalabilityanimportantissuetoconsider.



WiththetechnologicaladvancesinHealthcareapplications,thedatabeinggeneratedisgrowingatanunprecedentedrate.Applicationsareincreasinglydensewithmillionsofslidesand3Drendering.Havingastoragesystemthatcangrowlargeenoughtosupporttheseapplicationsischallenging.ThedifferentrequirementsforstoragewithintheHealthcareenvironmentareoftensolvedbycreatingmultiple"silos"ofstorage.Datawithdifferentretentionguidelinesorperformanceneedscannotexistwithinthesamestoragesystemintraditionalenvironments.Managingmultiple,differentiatedstoragesolutionsfordifferentdepartmentsrequiresalargeITworkforceandisbecomingincreasinglydifficulttomanage.ThereisahugeamountofdatagrowthintheOilandGasindustryasdemandforenergyhasneverbeenhigher.Inordertomakethemassiveamountsofdatauseful,therearetwokeychallenges;processingthedatainanadequate,timelymannerandenablingmoredetaileddatatobeavailableandcorrelatedwhennecessary.Thesearetechnical,algorithmicandorganizationchallengesandleadtolargeexpendituresofcompute,storage,andnetworkpower.



In ordertomeetallthepreviousbusinessrequirements,asolutionshouldbedesignedwith thecapabilitytoscalecapacity,memory,CPUsandnetworkingbysimplyaddingnodestoacluster.Nodescanbeaddedtotheclusterwhenevermoreperformance,connectivity,orcapacityisneeded.Theresourcesofallnodesarepooledtocreateapowerfulaggregatesystem.



EMCIsilonprovideshighlyscalable,ultrahighperformance,modularstoragesystems.Instoragesystemswithlimitedprocessingcapabilities,thereisacleartradeoffintermsofIOPSorthroughput.InascaleoutsystemsuchasIsilon,atradeoffisnotnecessary;filesanddirectorieswhichrequirehighIOPScanbeoptimizedforsuch,whereasotherswhichrequirehighthroughputcanbeoptimizedforthroughput.EMCIsiloncancontrolperformanceandlayoutcharacteristicsonaperfile,perdirectorybasisaswellasscaleoutbothCPU,cachememory,anddiskinasinglevolume.EMCIsilonscaleoutstoragesolutionsprovidesignificantvalueintheareasofsimplicity,scalability,performance,efficiency,dataprotectionandsecurity.Pleasetakeamomenttoreviewtheseareasdisplayedontheslide.



EMCIsilonwillmeetanyofthebusinessandtechnicalrequirements.Scalability Manyorganizations faceunpredictable storage and capacityrequirements. EMCIsilon scaleout NASsolutionsprovidenondisruptivescaleperformanceandcapacityintherightcombination,dependingontheusageaccesspatternorcontenttype.Availability EMCIsilonofferstheindustry'shighestlevelofendtoenddataprotection.Byofferinguptoquadruplefailureprotection,EMCIsilonensuresthatevenifuptofournodesordrivesfailsimultaneously,100%ofyourdataisstillavailable.Automaticreplicationofdatatoremotesitescanbeperformedwithoutimpactonothernetworkresources.ComplexityoftheEnvironment EMCIsilonissimpletobuy,build,maintain,andgrow.ItseasytomanagescaleoutNASsignificantlyreducesTCO.AdministrationoftheEnvironment WithEMCIsilonscaleoutNASyoudon'tneedtoaddstorageadministratorsasyourstoragegrows.Onepersoncanmanagepetabytesofdata,minimizingoperatingexpendituresandkeepingtheITstafffocusedonmanagingtheirdata,andnottheirstorage.



ScaleupNetworkAttachedStorageisthetraditionalfilebasedstorageplatform.InaScaleuptechnology,scalabilityisachievedbyaddingmoredisks.ThereisaphysicallimitationtonumberofdisksthatonecanaddtoScaleupNASplatform.ThereperformanceofascaleupNASplatformcanbeimprovedonlybyreplacingtheprocessingsytems (NAShead/filer).EMCofferstwoscaleupNASdevices.TheEMCVNXesystemisaunifiedblockandfileplatform,specificallyIPstorage,i.e.iSCSIandtheNASprotocols.EMCVNXconfigurationsmaybefileonly,blockonly,orunified.CoreITapplicationswithtransactionalworkloads,suchasOracle,SQL,Exchange,orSharePointareagoodfit.AnothergoodfitforVNXistier1or2servervirtualization&endusercomputing/VDI.EMCIsilonfallsintolargescalefileonlyenvironments,startingatgreaterthan50terabytesorsupportinggreaterthanonehundredterabytehomedirectories.Wheneverafilesystemlargerthan16terabytesisneeded,EMCIsilonwouldbethecorrectoption.EMCIsilonisveryeffectiveasalargeNASarchiveorsupportingbigdataneeds.



ThismodulecoveredthebenefitsandusesofanEMCIsilonsolution.



ThismoduledescribesEMCIsilons networkarchitecture andprovidesanintroductionoftheOneFSoperating system.



Thislessoncovers anoverviewofeachlayeroftheEMCIsilonclusteringarchitecture,includingEMCIsilons networktopology.



EMCIsilon's distributedscaleoutstoragesolutioncontainsclusterednodesencapsulatedinaprivatenetwork.Inatruescaleoutarchitecture,thetasksaredistributeduniformlyacrossallnodes enhancingscalability,accesstodata,performance,andavailability.TheEMCIsilonclusteringarchitectureconsistsoffourlayers:theclient/applicationlayer,theexternalnetworklayer,thestoragelayer,andtheinternalnetworklayer.Inthefollowingslideswewillrevieweachlayer.



EMCIsilonsupportsseveralclientaccessprotocolsenablinguseraccesstothefilesstoredonacluster.Multipleaccessprotocolscanbeconfiguredifanetworksupportsmanytypesofclients.EMCIsilonprovidesoperationalflexibilitythat includesintegratedsupportforawiderangeofindustrystandardprotocolssuchasNFS,SMB,HTTP,FTP,andHDFS.Theoperationalflexibilityalsoallowsforflexibleclientconnectioncapabilitieswithoutclientsidedrivers.VMware integration,includingVASAandVAAIAPIstosimplifystoragemanagementinyourvirtualizedinfrastructureenvironmentisalsopartoftheflexibility.Asis,aPlatformRESTAPItoenableintegrationwithawiderangeofthirdpartyapplications.



TheExternalNetworklayer,alsoknownasthefrontendnetwork,providescommunicationbetweenclientsandclusternodes.EMCIsilon nodessupport1GigabitEthernetand10GigabitEthernetconnectionstothecluster.TheInternalNetworkLayer,alsoknownasthebackendnetwork,enablescommunicationbetweennodesinacluster.CommunicationovertheinternalnetworkoccursthroughInfiniBandconnections.InfiniBand isacopperbased,pointtopoint,interconnectavailablein10gigabitspersecond,20gigabitspersecond,and40gigabitspersecond.InfiniBand deliverstheextremelylowlatencythatenablesthenodestoseamlesslyfunctioninasinglechassis.Usingaswitchedstartopology,eachnodeintheclusterisonlyonehopawayfromanyothernode.WhiletheclustercanoperateononeInfiniBand switch,twoswitchesarerecommendedforhighavailability.



Theinternalnetworkactsasthebackplaneofthecluster,enablingeachnodetobepartofthecluster.Theexternalnetworkenablesclientstoaccessanode.OneFSsupportsnetworksubnets,IPaddresspools,andnetworkprovisioningrulestofacilitatetheexternalnetworkconfigurationprocess.OneFSsupportsbothIPv4andIPv6addressschemes.However,therearesomeexternalservicessuchasActiveDirectoryauthenticationandtheinternalInfiniBand networkthatstillsupportonlyIPv4.Redundantinternalandexternalnetworksshouldbeusedforhighavailability.TheprimaryinternalInfiniBand networkusesasecondInfiniBand switchasastandby.Failovertothestandbyinternalnetworktakesplaceintheeventofprimaryinternalnetworkfailureoranytimeapartona nodeisdisconnected.



EMCIsilonStorageincludesallIsilonseriesnodesinacluster.Eachnodeinanclusterisapeertoeveryothernodeinthecluster.Aseachnodeisaddedtoacluster,itincreasestheaggregatedisk,RAM,CPU,andnetworkcapacityofthecluster.Thenodesaddressfilerequestsfromclients.ThekeytoEMCIsilon's storageclustersolutionisthearchitectureofOneFS,whichisadistributedclusteredfilesystem.Asinglefilesystemspansacrosseverynodeinastorageclusterand,asnoesareadded,thatfilesystemautomaticallyredistributescontentacrosstheentirecluster.Thereisnosinglemasterdevicethatcontrolsthecluster.Asthesystemwritesdata,italsoprotectsthedataatthespecifiedprotectionlevel.Thesystemcontinuouslyrebalancesdatabetweenthenodeswhichmakestoragespacemoreefficient.



ThislessoncoversthebasicsofEMCIsilons OneFSdistributedfilesystem.



InscaleupNASsystems,thefilesystem,volumemanager,andtheimplementationofRAIDareallseparateentities.Thefilesystemisresponsibleforthehigherlevelfunctionsofauthenticationandauthorization.ThevolumemanagercontrolsthelayoutofthedatawhileRAIDcontrolsprotectionofthedata.OneFScreatesasinglefilesystemfortheclusterthatalsoperformsthedutiesofthevolumemanagerandappliesprotectiontothedata.EMCIsilonusessoftwarebaseprotectionalgorithmsinsteadofhardwarebasedRAID.Thereisnopartitioning,andnoseparatevolumes.Theentirefilesystemisaccessiblebyclientsconnectingtoanynodeinthecluster.Bycombiningthefilesystem,volumemanagement,dataprotection,intooneunifiedsoftwarelayer,managementoftheNASenvironmentissimplified.Sincethesinglefilesystemspanstheentirecluster,managementofasinglenamespacealsosimplifiesadministrativetaskslikemanuallymigrating datatorebalancecontent.



Therearetwowaystoaccessthecluster.Thefirstisthewebadministrationinterface andthesecondistheCLI.Bothallowtheadministratortomonitorandmanagethecluster.Ifusingthewebadministrationinterface,allanadministratormustdoisentertheIPaddressofoneofthenodesintoawebbrowser.ThenameoftheclustercanalsobeusedinsteadoftheIPaddress.Onceinthewebadministrationinterface,theadministratorisablethemonitor,configure,andmanagetheentireclusterfromasingleinterface.Throughthecommandlineinterface,anadmininstrator hasaccesstothesuiteofisicommandsusedtomonitorandconfigurethecluster.TheOneFSsystemisafreeBSDbasedUnixoperatingsystem.



TraditionalRAIDsystemsareaggregatedforscaleup,theycompromiseondataprotectionbynotbeingabletoscaleavailabilityalongwithcapacitygrowth.EMCIsilonusesaproprietarysystemjobcalledFlexProtect,whichdetectsandrepairsfilesanddirectoriesthatareinadegradedstate.Protectionisappliedatthefilelevel,nottheblocklevel.FlexProtect distributesalldataandprotectioninformationacrosstheentireclusterandensuresthatalldataremainsintactandaccessibleevenintheeventofoneormoresimultaneousdrivefailures.Protectionsettingscanbechangedwithouttakingtheclusterorfilesystemoffline.OneFSallowsdifferentprotectionlevelsonfiles,directoriesandnodepools.Ifadrivefailuredoesoccur,FlexProtect willonlyreprotect theactualdataondiskandnotthediskitself.Thissignificantlyimprovesrecoverytime.OneFSoffersN+1throughN+4dataprotection.AnN+4schememeansthatupto4drivesornodesoracombinationofbothcanfailwithoutdataloss.



DataandmetadatainOneFSarestripedormirroredacrossallnodesinaclusterornodepool,whichprovidesredundancy,availability,andinsomecasesperformancebenefits.TherearetwotypesofprotectionthatcomeswithFlexProtect.DatamaybeprotectedusingFEC(ForwardErrorCorrection)ormirroring.FECissimilartohowparityisusedintraditionalstorageenvironmentsbutisdifferent.FECinformationisdistributedacrossnodesandacrossdrives.Intheeventofadriveornodefailure,themissingdataisrebuiltfromthemirrororcalculatedusingtheFECandtheremainingdata.Mirroringcopiesdatato multiplelocationsthereforecreating redundancy. Withmirroring,youcanhaveupto8copiesofdatainasinglecluster,comparedtoonly1withthetraditionalRAID1.BothmirroringandFECprotectiongenerateadditionalstorageoverhead.ThepercentageofFECoverheadcandeclineastheclusterbecomeslarger,especiallyforlargerfiles.EMCIsilonallowsyoutodefineprotectiononanodepool(groupofsimilarnodes),adirectoryorevenanindividualfile,aswellashavemultipleprotectionlevelsconfiguredthroughoutthecluster.Thisfeaturemakesitpossibletomatchtheprotectionleveltothevalueofthedatathatisbeingprotected.



OneFSusesthebackendInfiniBand networktoautomaticallyallocateandstripedataverticallyacrossallnodesinthecluster.Asthesystemwritesthedata,itisalsoprotectingthedataatthespecifiedlevel.Noseparateactionisnecessarytoprotectthedata.Thesystembreaksfilesintosmallerlogicalchunkscalledstripesunitsbeforewritingthemtodisk.EachOneFSblockis8KBandastripeunitconsistsof16blocksforatotalof128KBperstripeunit.Asthesystemwritesdataacrossthecluster,itfillsthestripeunitsuntilthemaximumwidthoftheclusterisreachedandaprotectionstripeunitiscreated.Thestripewidthisdeterminedbythenumberofnodesandtheprotectionsetting.Withsmallfiles,duetothewaythatOneFSappliesprotectioninaclusterwithN+1protection,filesthatare128KBorsmalleraremirrored;inaclusterwithN+2protection,filesaretriplemirrored;andsoon.



Theprocessofstripingspreadsallwritesfromaclientacrossthenodesofacluster.Eventhoughaclientisconnectedtoonlyonenode,whenthatclientwritesdatatothecluster,thewriteoperationtakes place onmultiplenodes.Thewriteprocessfollowsacertainflow: First,theClientsendsfiledataasawrite,whichisreceivedbythewritecoalescer ontheclient

connectednode. Then,thenodebreaksthefileinupto128KBstripeunits anda writeplandetermineshowto

aggregatethedatastripeunitsandcalculatesprotectionstripeunits. Finally,stripeunitsaresenttoparticipantnodesovertheInfiniBand networktodistributethe

stripeandawriteoccur oneachnode.TheexampleonthisslidedemonstrateshowafileisbrokendownintostripeunitsafterwhichitisstripedacrossdisksintheclusteralongwithFECalsoknownasprotection.



Whenafilereadisinitiatedbyaclient,thepiecesofthefilesarefetchedfromthenodeswheretheyarestored.Aclientisconnectedtoonlyonenodeatatime;howeverthedataisdistributedacrossnodesonthecluster.Theclient'snoderetrievesandrebuildsthefileacrossthebackendInfiniBand network.Thereassembledfiledataisthensentfromtheclientsnodetotherequestingclientthroughtheexternalnetwork.



TheOneFSAutoBalance featureenablesadministratorstoaddcapacityorperformancenodestoanexistingclusterwhilethesystemisonlineandinproduction.IncreasingthecapacityorperformanceofaclusterisasimplethreestepprocessFirst,InstallthenewnodeintherackSecond,AttachtheInfiniBand networkcableconnectingthenodesLastly,EnteracommandforOneFStoaddthenewnodetotheclusterTheAutobalance featurethenautomaticallybalancesthenodecapacityacrosstheInfiniBand network.Nointerruptionofserviceorperfromance isexperiencedbytheuser.



EMCIsilonsystemscanbeaccessedbyuserson differentplatforms,withWindowsandUNIX/Linuxbeingthemostcommon.EachOShasitsownmechanismforassigninguseridentities,andassigningrightsandpermissionstousers.Asystemcapableofmultiprotocolaccessmustbeabletoallowsimultaneousaccesstofilesfromdifferentplatforms,andcorrectlydeterminewhichactionsindividualusersarepermittedtoperform.OneFSisoptimizedforamixedenvironmentinwhichanyfileordirectorycanbegovernedbyeitheraWindowsaccesscontrollist(ACL)orUNIXpermissions.Regardlessofthesecuritymodel,accessrightsareenforcedconsistentlyacrossaccessprotocols;thatis,auserisgranted(ordenied)thesamerightstoafilewhenusingSMB(Windowsfilesharing)astheywouldwhenusingNFS(POSIXfilesharing).OneFScanconfigurebothUNIXandWindowspermissionsontheclusteratthesametimeforthesamedatabystoringWindowsACLsandPOSIXmodebitsnatively.



ThismodulecoveredtheEMCIsilonclusteringarchitectureincludingthenetworktopologyandtheOneFSoperatingsystem.



This moduledescribesEMCIsilons hardware,whichincludesstoragenodesandacceleratornodes.



Thearethree differenttypesofstoragenodes:theSSeries,theXSeries,andtheNLSeries.SSeriesnodesareultraperformanceprimarystorageforhightransactionalandIOPsintensiveapplicationsthatarefortier0andtier1workflows.XSeriesnodesmakeabalancebetweenlargecapacityandhighperformancestorage.Thesenodesarebestforhighthroughputandhighconcurrencyapplicationsfortier1andtier2workflows.NLSeriesnodesaredesignedtoprovideacosteffectivehighdensitystoragesolutionfortier3workflowsthatareaccessedinfrequently,butstillmustbestoredandprotected.Inadditiontothestoragenodes,EMCIsilonofferstwoacceleratornodes:PerformanceandBackupAcceleratornodes.TheformeraddsCPU,memoryandnetworkresourcestothecluster,whilethelatteraddsCPU,memory,andFibreChannelconnectivityforconnectiontotapebackupdevices.



Storagesolutionscanbeexpensive.Tiering classifiesdatasothatitcanbestoredintheappropriatecostefficientmanner. Inatieredsystem,timelydatathatneedshighertiersneedsfaster,andmoreexpensive,storage.Inasimple3tieredsystem,tier1dataisaccessedoftenandismissioncritical.Tier2datamaybeusedlessfrequentlyormayhavefewerusers,butitisstillimportantdatathatusersneedinatimelymanner.Tier3dataisdefinedasseldomaccesseddatathatisarchivedforhistoricalorregulationpurposes.Additionally,astheuseofsolidstatedrives,orSSDs,increasesthereisalsoatypeofdatathatissotimesensitiveandcriticaltothebusinessthatitneedsthemostefficientstoragetype.InanEMCIsilonstoragecluster,youcancombineSSDandSASorSSDandSATAdrivesinonechassistomeetspecificstoragerequirements.YoucanconfigureaclustertokeepmetadataordataonSSDs,andeventouseSSDsinonepartoftheclustertostoremetadatafornodesthathavenoSSDdrives.



TheSSeriesispurposebuiltforIOPSintensiveapplications.Itprovidesfastprimarystorageformissioncritical,hightransactionalandrandomaccessfilebasedapplications.SSeriesnodescanuseSSDstostorefilesystemmetadata,whichimprovesperformanceformetadataintensiveoperations,andtostorelatencysensitivefiledata.YoucancombineSSDandSASdrivesinonechassistomeetspecificstoragerequirementsandcreateatier0fordatatiering.EMCIsilonSSeriesnodesaresuitablefordigitalmediacompaniesand financialinstitutionsthatneedhightransactionalIOPsforeditingandpostproduction,aswellascalculationsforbusinessanalysis.EnergyandsurveillanceorganizationswouldalsobenefitfromtheSseriesbyusingnodesforperformanceapplicationsthatneedtier0and1storage.



TheEMCIsilonXSeriesisaflexibleandcomprehensiveseriesthatstrikestherightbalancebetweenlargecapacityandhighperformancestorage.TheEMCIsilonXSeriesaccelerateshighconcurrentandsequentialthroughputapplications,speedingaccesstomassiveamountsofcriticaldata,dramaticallyreducingthecostandcomplexityofmanagingandstoringdata.Therearetwotypesavailable; the4UX400andthe2UX200platforms.The X400 providesmorecapacityatagivenperformancelevel.Thisnodewouldbeidealforsomeonewhoneedsmorecapacitythenperformanceaccordingtotherequirementstheyhaveprovided. IntheX200space,thisnodeispurchasedbecausethere aremoreperformancerequirementsthancapacity.WiththeX200thereisalsoupgradability,SSDscanbeaddedafterthefact,andmemorycanbeupgradedaswell.TheX400cannotbeupgraded orusedwithSSDs.TheEMCIsilonXSeriessuitableforhomedirectoriesandhealthcareenvironmentsthathavelargefiles.XSeriesnodesarewellsuitedforcompaniesthatproducedigitalmediaordelivervideo,audio,andimageservices.XSeriesnodesarebestusedfororganizationsthatperformheavycomputationsuchaslifesciencecompaniesorenergyorganizations.



TheNLSeriesispurposebuiltforlargecapacitystorage,enablingnearlinestorageperformanceatneartapestoragecosts.Highdensity,massivecapacityandmaximumcostperTBarethestrengthsoftheNLseries.NoSSDsaresupportedonthisplatform.TheEMCIsilonNLSeriesisidealforcomplementingandimprovingacompanysexistingtapebackup,archiving,dataprotectionstrategies,andprovideseconomicalstorage.ThisseriesuseslowcostSATAdrives.NLSeriesproductshavetheflexibilitytoconfiguredifferentdrivesizes,memory,andnetworkinterfacesgivingcustomerstheabilitytocustomizetheEMCIsilonproductbasedontheenvironment.



PerformanceAcceleratorsaredisklessnodeswhichincreaseoverallthroughput,CPUmemory,andnetworkingsupportthroughputworkflows.ByseamlesslyaddingaPerformanceAcceleratortoanexistingEMCIsilonSSeriesorXSeriescluster,youcanaddmorethan400MB/sofsinglestreamthroughoutandupto700MB/sofconcurrentthroughput.Typically,onePerformanceAcceleratorperstoragenodeisrecommendedforsupportingwriteintensiveapplications.Forreadintensiveapplications,uptothreeAcceleratorsperstoragenodeisrecommended.BackupAcceleratorsenablehighspeedbackupoffilesystemdatatolocallyattachedtapelibrariesormediachangerdevices.TheBackupAcceleratorcanbeseamlesslyaddedtoanyexistingEMCIsilonclustertodeliverupto480MB/sofperformanceacrossfourconcurrentstreams,speedingbackupoperationsandreducingtheriskofbusinesscriticaldataloss.ItisusedtoprefetchdatafromthefilesystemandacrosstheInfiniBand networkefficientlypushthedatatotape.EachBackupAcceleratorcansupportuptofourpathsviaFiberChannelports.WhileEMCIsilonsupportstheuseofNetworkDataManagementProtocol(NDMP)forbackups,theuseofaBackupAcceleratorenablessignificantlyfasterbackups.



Withgreatercapacity,usuallycomesgreaterperformancerequirementsacrossallstorage.Forunstructuredanddynamicdata,EMCIsilons clusteredstorageprovidespredictablegrowthwithpredictableperformance.TheSseriesplatformistheanswerforultraperformanceprimarystorage,purposebuiltforhighIOPSintensiverandomaccessfilebasedapplications.TheEMCIsilonXSeries,isthemostflexibleandcomprehensivestorageproductline,strikingtherightbalancebetweenlargecapacityandhighperformancestorage.TheNLseriesfocusesoncostandcapacitywithmuchlessattentionpaidtoperformance.TheNLSeriescombineshighdensityandefficiency,withmassivecapacitycapabilities.



ThismodulecoveredEMCIsilonstorageandacceleratornodes.Nodetypesmaybemixedinacluster,andoftenwillbeinordertoachievethedesiredbalanceofperformanceandcapacity.PerformancemayalsobeimprovedthroughtheuseofSSDsinsomenodes.



This modulefocusesonEMCIsilons OneFSsoftwaremoduleswhichprovidearobustsuiteofmanagementapplications.



SmartPoolsisasoftwaremodulethatenablesadministratorstodefinesubgroupsofnodeswithinaOneFScluster.UsingSmartPools,multipletiersofEMCIsilonstoragenodescanallcoexistwithinasinglefilesystem,withasinglepointofmanagement.ByusingSmartPools,administratorscanspecifyexactlywhichfilestheywanttoliveonwhichparticularnodesanddisks.SmartPools maincomponentsarenodepoolsandfilepools.Nodepoolsareasetofnodesthatyoucangroupintoasinglepoolofstorage.Filepoolsenableyoutofilterfilesanddirectoriesintospecificnodepools.Filepoolpoliciesalloweasyandpowerfulfiledistributionamongthetiers,costalignmentwithagingorinfrequentlyusedcontent,andeliminatetheneedfordatamigrations.



SmartPoolsisrecommendedfororganizationswhohavemultiplestoragetierswhowishtoachievecostefficiencyintheirstoragesystem.Also,companieswithmultiplestorageperformancerequirementsandwhowanttheabilitytohaveindividualfilesorsetsofdataonaspecificstoragetier.Forexample,clientsthatwanttohaveolderfilesoncheaper,slower,storageandnewer,frequentlyaccessedfilesonfaststorage.



SnapshotIQisalicenseddataprotectionsoftwaremoduleforEMCIsilon's OneFSoperatingsystem.Asnapshotrecordsapointintimesnapshotofthedata.Unlikearegularcopyofdatawhichtakessignificantspace,snapshotsonlykeeptrackofchangeddatablocks.Inaddition,SnapshotIQhasunlimitednumberofsnapshotsgivingadministratorsanotheroptiontomeettheirorganization'srecoverypointandrecoverytimeobjectives.SnapshotIQ allowsforthedeletionofoutofordersnapshotsandhasbeenintegratedwithSmartPoolsgivingtheadministratortheabilitytostoresnapdataonlowercosttiersofstorage.WindowsusersmayalsousetheShadowCopy servicetorecoverdeletedfilesordirectories.



SnapshotIQallowsuserstoeasilyrecoverfilesthemselves. Wealsofindusecaseswherecustomershavestringentdatarecoveryrequirementsandwantlowimpactdataprotection.SnapshotIQisacomplementtoatapeorarchivesolution,butshouldnotbeconsideredasubstitute.



SyncIQisasimpletomanagefileasynchronousreplicationtoolthatenablesadministratorstosynchronize missioncriticaldatathroughoutagloballydistributednetwork.SyncIQdeliversreplicationoffilesacrossmultipleEMCIsilonclustersovertheWANorLAN.SyncIQ istheindustry'sonlypolicybasedfilereplicationsystemdesignedexclusivelyforscaleoutstorage,combiningarichsetofpoliciesforcreatingandschedulingstoragereplicationjobswithbandwidththrottlingandclusterutilizationcapabilities.Replicationpoliciescanbesetatthecluster,directory,orfilelevels.



SyncIQusecasesincludedisasterrecover,orDR,wherewehaveahighspeedbackupgoingacrossaWANlink,andavailabilitywheretwoormorecopiesofdataarerequiredacrosssites.Thisisoftenusedforarchivingwheretheproductiondataisreplicatedtoanoffsitelocation,andtieredtotapefromthere.Anotherusecaseiscontentdistributionwheredataissharedbetweensites.



SmartConnectisaclientconnectionmanagementmodulethatenablesclientconnectionstobebalancedacrossallnodeswithinanEMCIsilonclusteroracrossselectednodesforsecurityorperformancereasons.Itprovidesasinglevirtualhostnameforclientstoconnect.SmartConnects roundrobinmethodworksonarotatingbasis.AsonenodeIPaddressishandedout,itmovestotheendofthelist;thenextnodeIPaddressistheused,andsoon.TheadvancedversionofSmartConnectallowsmultiplenetworkpoolswithinonesubnet.ItsupportsDynamicIPallocationandNFSfailover.ItallowsforpolicydrivenconnectionandfailoverbasedonmetricssuchasCPUutilization,throughput,andconnectioncount.



Inthisexample,allnodesareofonetype.Wellconfiguredifferentaccesszones,andcreateaperformancezonesimplybycreatingapoolwiththeinterfacesfromthefirstsetofnodesandgivingitadifferentname.Thehighperformanceclientsthenconnecttoanameassociatedwiththatpool,sayperformance.isilon.com.Wethencreateanotherpoolassociatingtheinterfacesfromthenodesonthebottom,andcallthatdesktop.isilon.com,whichwillbeusedforgeneralclients.Wenowhavetheabilitytosegmenttheloadfromdifferenttypesofclients;theideabeingtonotallowdesktopusagetoimpedeanyperformancetothehighperformanceclients.



SmartQuotas isafeaturethatcanprovision,monitor,andreportdiskstorageusageattheuser,group,anddirectorylevels.Administratorscommonlyusefilesystemquotasasamethodoftracking,andsometimeslimiting,theamountofstoragethatauser,group,oraprojectisallowedtoconsume.SmartQuotas cansendautomatednotificationswhenstoragelimitsareexceededorapproached.SmartQuotas allowsforthinprovisioning(alsoknownasoverprovisioning),enablingadministratorstoassignquotasabovetheactualclustersize.Withthinprovisioning,theclustercanbefullwhilesomeusersordirectoriesarewellundertheirquotalimit.



Quotasareausefulwaytoensurethatauserordepartmentdoesnotinfringeontheamountofstoragethatisallocatedtootherusersordepartments.Quotasareusefulinenforcinganinternalchargebacksystem,whichisoftenfoundinthegovernmentandeducationindustries.SmartQuotas containflexiblereportingoptionsthatcanhelpadministratorsanalyzedatausagestatisticsfortheircluster.Bothenforcementandaccountingquotasaresupported,andavarietyofnotificationmethodsareavailable.



SmartLockprovidespolicybasedretentionandprotectionagainstaccidentaldeletions.Manybanksandfinancialinstitutionsusethisfeature.BecauseSmartLockisasoftwarebasedapproachtoanenterprisefilelevelretentionsolution,youcanstoreSmartLockprotecteddataalongsideotherdatatypeswithnoeffectonperformanceoravailability,andwithouttheaddedcostofpurchasingandmaintainingspecialtyfilelevelretentioncapablehardware.SmartLockisstoredatthedirectorylevelandsetsdefaultretentiontimesonce.



TheusecasesforSmartLockarewhenorganizationsneeddatatoremainavailablebutunchangedoverextendedperiodsoftime.Examplesincludecorerevenueproducingworkflows,productdesigns,softwareschemas,andproductcomponentelementssuchasimagefiles,digitalmasters,legaldocuments,andcriticalcommunications.Legislationmayalsorequirethatdatabekeptunchangedforaspecifictimeperiod.



InsightIQprovidesperformanceandfilesystemanalyticstooptimizeapplications,correlateworkflowandnetworkevents,andaccuratelyforecastfuturestorageneeds.Itelaboratesondrilldownsandbreakoutsandprovidesbothhistoricalandneartimedata.ItisastandalonevirtualapplicationthatisnotpartofOneFSbutsellsasaseparateproduct.



InsightIQisusefulfororganizationswhowantaneasytouse,yetpowerfulanalyticstool.CompanieswhowanttooptimizetheirEMCIsilonstorageclustersandtheapplicationsthatusethemwithoutrequiringprofessionalservices,andwhowanttooffloadprocessingofanalyticsfromthestoragesystemtoavirtualappliance.



ThismodulecoveredtheadditionalsoftwaremodulessupportedbyOneFSandtheirvarioususes.



ThiscoursecoveredtheEMCIsilonscaleoutStoragePlatformpoweredbytheOneFSoperatingsystem.ItintroducedtheEMCIsilonproductlinesanddescribedthebroadrangeofEMCIsilonoptionsandsoftwareapplications.Thisconcludesthetraining.


Documents

ISPT Isilon Fundamentals_SRG