Storage Networking Concepts -- Foundations - Infinity I/O

Accessing, Managing, Securing Your Distributed Stored Data Assets

Storage Networking Concepts -- Foundations

SNC-F v6 2012 Edition

APPRO V E D Q U A L I T Y C O N TEN

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Course materials in preparation for CompTIA Storage + Powered by SNIA Certi�cation Exam

and much much more!

Mastering Storage Networkingfor the Storage Professional

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NOTICE

© 1998-2012 FMJO, LLC dba Infinity I/O All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without written permission of Infinity I/O.

This is Storage Networking- Concepts – Foundations Version 6

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Forward

Storage Networking has been in use for over twenty years in enterprise data centers. Mastery of the field has become essential for large organizations and especially those applying Enterprise Architecture and Management for organizational expanded benefit. The Storage Networking Industry Association sponsors vendor neutral education through its Education Committee. These activities support industry recognized certification programs.

This updated version (V6) incorporates new storage networking concepts since the last update. As well, it incorporates the topics on the Storage + by CompTIA Powered by SNIA Certification Exam.

The purpose of this publication is to train Storage Professionals to be able to master the concepts and is prepared to provided professional services to their employer or client. It covers but is NOT just a checklist for passing the Storage+ by CompTIA Powered by SNIA certification exam.

Prerequisites:

A copy of the 2012 SNIA Dictionary: http://www.snia.org/education/dictionary

A working knowledge of enterprise level computer systems.

A BS in Information or Computer Science or equivalent experience is highly recommended or 12 months hands-on storage systems related experience. See Appendix B for a brief listing of expected experimental skills.

With special thanks for development to Sam Samuel and Peter Coleman. The professional organizations, ANSI T11 and the SNIA, have been very central to the development of this Storage Networking technology.

This course is dedicated to my late colleague and Managiung Director of IIO, Deborah Johnson, whose dedicated work fostered the excellent programs that SNIA has.

Edward M. Frymoyer Editor FMJO, LLC dba Infinity I/O May 2012

SNIA Certification Program

Storage Networking Concepts - Foundation

Storage Networking Concepts - Foundation

Storage Networking Concepts

Foundation

IStorage Networking Concepts - Foundation

I-‐8

Storage Networking Concepts – Foundation

Introduction Objectives – The objective of this programmed eLearning Course is to provide the Storage Networking professional with a vendor neutral deep understanding and competency in Storage Networking. The course is intended to outfit the student with the expertise to provide value to their employer or client in their enterprise level storage systems. Storage Networking contains Systems Level topics including management, optimization of systems and disaster recovery including protocols, techniques, and components. This is much more than simply a teaching to the test document. Todays storage systems encompass every increasing oceans of data, often in a cloud that is physical somewhere. The goal is to train the professional in Accessing, Managing, and Securing your distributed stored data assets for the benefit of the organization or enterprise. The course is arranged in a logical manner to enhance total storage networking topic mastery. The course prepares the student to be able to pass the CompTIA Storage + Powered by SNIA exam plus gain a thorough understanding that will enable enhanced professional business level results for their enterprise employer or client. This course has been tested and improved continuously for over 15 years and many thousands of students. The Storage + be CompTIA Powered by SNIA exam objectives are shown in Appendix A. These objectives can occur in multiple sections of the course. For the convenience of the reader, the mapping of the exam objectives covered section by section are noted in the page(s) following the title page of each section. This is a vendor neutral descriptive and theory systems level course. Any operational systems level Storage Networking installation will involve a large set of vendor related equipment. For those with the requisite equipment, a list of suggested independently run hands-on exercises are covered in Appendix C, both self run and step by step exercises are included.

Contents

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The teaching methodology is to group the topics logically from a systems perspective section by section. The major items covered are listed each section, followed by a sub-section grouping.

Pre-tests, Section Tests and Post Tests - As a result of these broader objectives, this eLearning course provides tests section by section. If the reader wishes, they can use the section tests (separate document) as a pre-test to provide some indication of areas on which they need to focus. A comprehensive set of questions is covered by the Post Tests of Appendix D. These questions also contain an extensive set of real life storage networking examples at the systems level.

Index – The Table of Contents is a brief Index. A more through index can be found using the Find Command -- CNTRL F on a PC or CMD F on a Mac. Any topic of Storage Networking covered in this document can be discovered this way. This employs the more useful thorough features of Adobe Reader in searching. Mapping to specific exam topics is shown in Appendix A.

Glossary - Please see the reference document 2012 SNIA Dictionary referenced as a pre-requisite for a very thorough glossary of terms. This is especially pertinent in that the topic is Storage Networking.

This course has been approved by the CompTIA CAQC PROGRAM for the CompTIA Storage + Powered by SNIA Exam Content Instruction


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Contents

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Storage Networking Concepts – Foundation Table of Contents

CONTENTS Page

• Introduction to Storage Networking ……………………………. 1-1 o What is Storage Networking About? …………………… 1-3 o Evolution or Revolution? ………………………………… 1-6 o Business Needs ………………………………………….. 1-14 o The New Datacenter …………………………………….. 1-19 o Storage Consolidation …………………………………… 1-24 o Server Clustering ………………………………………… 1-29 o Storage Networking Applications ………………………. 1-32

• Storage Networking Architectures ……………………………… 2-1 o Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) …………………………. 2-3 o Network-Attached Storage (NAS) ………………………. 2-7 o Storage Area Network (SAN) …………………………… 2-11 o Comparing Solutions ……………………………………. 2-15 o Storage Transport Protocols …………………………….. 2-25 o Network Metrics …………………………………………… 2-38

• Storage Components …………………………………………….. 3-1 o Disk Physical Characteristics ……………………………. 3-3 o Tape Physical Characteristics …………………………… 3-11 o Optical Media …………………………………………….. 3-29

• Data Storage Techniques……………………………………….. 4-1

o De-duplication. ………………………………………......... 4-3

Contents

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CONTENTS Page

• I/O Interfaces ……………………………………………………… 5-1

o Overview ………………………………………………….. 5-3 o Parallel ATA ………………………………………………. 5-6 o Serial ATA ………………………………………………… 5-11 o Parallel SCSI ……………………………………………… 5-13 o Serial Attached SCSI ……………………………………. 5-23 o Interface Comparisons ………………………………….. 5-31

• RAID and Subsystem Architectures ……………………………. 6-1 o Subsystem Architectures ………………………………… 6-4 o RAID Configurations ……………………………………… 6-13 o Configuring Logical Units ………………………………… 6-31 o Assigning Hosts to Storage ……………………………… 6-36

• Host Architectures ……………………………………………….. 7-1 o Moving Data ……………………………………………… 7-4 o Bus Metrics ………………………………………………. 7-11 o Fibre Channel HBA Feature Sets ……………………… 7-21 o Converged network Adapter ………………………....... 7-27 o Fibre Channel HBA Multipathing ………………………. 7-30 o iSCSI Host Implementations …………………………… 7-35 o File Systems and File System Protocols ……………… 7-46

• NAS Concepts …………………………………………………… 8-1

o NAS Concepts …………………………………………… 8-3 o NAS Architecture ………………………………………… 8-13 o NAS Protocols …………………………………………… 8-15 o NAS Backup Issues …………………………………….. 8-21

Contents

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CONTENTS Page

• FC Components ………………………………………………… 9-1 o Fibre Channel Terminology ……………………………. 9-2 o Infrastructure Devices ………………………………….. 9-21

• FC Protocol and Ethernet Architecture .…………………….. 10-1 o Fibre Channel Layered Model …………………………. 10-3 o ULP Mapping …………………………………………….. 10-12 o Ethernet Primer …………………………………………. 10-16 o FCoE ............…………………………………………...... 10-25

• Cables and Connectors……………………………………….. 11-1 o Media Types ……………………………………………… 11-3 o Connectors ……………………………………………….. 11-14 o Transceivers ……………………………………………… 11-19

• FC SAN Topologies ……………………………………………… 12-1 o Point-to-Point ……………………………………………. 12-3 o Arbitrated Loop …………………………………………… 12-6 o Switched Fabric ………………………………………….. 12-13

• Fabric Services …………………………………………………… 13-1 o Fabric Services …………………………………………… 13-4 o Zoning …………………………………………………….. 13-16 o LUN Masking and Mapping …………………………….. 13-30

Contents

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CONTENTS Page

• FC SAN Extension over IP ……………………………………… 14-1 o FCIP Concepts …………………………………………… 14-3 o iFCP Concepts …………………………………………… 14-7 o FCIP and iFCP Comparison ……………………………. 14-10 o IP Transport Architectures ……………………………… 14-13

• FC SAN Extension over Optical ……………………………….. 15-1 o SONET/SDH Concepts …………………………………. 15-3 o DWDM Concepts ………………………………………… 15-6 o CWDM …………………………………………………….. 15-11 o WAN Design Metrics …………………………………….. 15-14

• iSCSI Protocol Architecture …………………………………….. 16-1 o The iSCSI Standard ……………………………………… 16-4 o iSCSI Applications ……………………………………….. 16-11 o The iSCSI Protocol ………………………………………. 16-20

• Storage Resource Management ……………………………….. 17-1

o Storage Resource Management ………………………. 17-4 o Information Lifecycle Management …………………….. 17-7 o Archiving and Compliance………………………………. 17-12 o Tiers of Storage ………………………………………….. 17-18 o ILM Enabling Technologies …………………………….. 17-24 o SRM Applications ……………………………………...... 17-27 o Usage Management …………………………………….. 17-29 o Automating Storage Management …………………….. 17-33 o Content Addressed Storage ……………………………. 17-43

Contents

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CONTENTS Page

• Storage Virtualization …………………………………………… 18-1 o Defining Storage Virtualization ………………………… 18-3 o Storage Virtualization Architectures …………………… 18-15 o Subsystem-Based Virtualization ………………………. 18-21 o Host-Based Virtualization ………………………………. 18-23 o Network-Based Virtualization ………………………….. 18-27 o SAN Virtualization ………………………....................... 18-31

• Data Protection ………………………………………………….. 19-1 o Terminology ……………………………………………… 19-5 o Traditional Backup ………………………………………. 19-21 o LAN-Free Backup ……………………………………….. 19-31 o Serverless Backup ………………………………………. 19-37 o Tape Virtualization ………………………………………. 19-43 o When is Tape Not Enough? ……………………………. 19-47 o Snapshots ………………………………………………… 19-55 o Split Mirrors ………………………………………………. 19-68 o Remote Mirroring ………………………………………… 19-74 o Access Controls ………………………………………..… 19-80 o Encrypting Data ............................................................ 19-83

• Data Center Environment …………………………………….. 20-1 o Heating and Cooling …………………………………… 20-3 o Power ……………………………..................…………. 20-10 o Loading …………………………………...............…….. 20-13 o Fire …………………………………….......................... 20-16 o Safety Techniques …………………………………….... 20-22

• Troubleshooting ………………………………………………… 21-1

o LAN Troubleshooting Insights…………………………… 21-3 o SAN Troubleshooting Insights…………………………… 21-18

Contents

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CONTENTS Page

• SAN Monitoring and Reporting………………………………..22-1

o Monitoring and Reporting Methodology……………….22-3 o Capacity Planning ………………………………………22-12

• Appendix A CompTIA Storage + Exam Objectives ……………………………………….A-1 to 16

• Appendix B Basic Skill Sets expected of person taking this course B-1

• Appendix C

Suggested Hands-On Exercises……………………………..C1 IOmeter Exercise ……………………………………………1 – 6

• Appendix D

Comprehensive Post Test……………………………………D-1 Answer Sheet ………………………………………….D-40

• Review Pre Test and Section Questions and Answers………… See separate document: IIO_SNC-F_v601Review_Question_Answers

Contents

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Introduction to Storage Networking

Storage Networking Concepts – Foundation © 2012 FMJO, LLC dba Infinity I/O

1-1

Introduction toStorage Networking

Introduction to Storage Networking What is Storage Networking About?


1-2

MAPPING To CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA EXAM OBJECTIVES

Section Topic Page Number(s)

1.1 Fibre Channel 1-‐38 to 1-‐40

2.3 Fail Over 1-‐30

3.3 File System 1-‐28

4.1 High Availability 1-‐28, 1-‐30, 1-‐41

4.1 Single Point of Failure 1-‐16, 1-‐30

4.4 Data Security 1-‐6



1-3

In this module we are going to look at some of the drivers that have taken us on the path to implement storage area networks and network attached storage architectures.

We will look at the evolution of both the business drivers, and the technology advances, and how they help craft the different solutions available.

Some of this will be a history lesson, but it is always important to see how things have come to be, as it helps us to understand why architectures have developed to the way they are today.

Outline

• What is Storage Networking About?• Evolution or Revolution?• Business Needs• The New Datacenter• Storage Consolidation• Server Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



1-4

Effective storage networking solutions focus on information: Not just storing information, but also accessing that information reliably and securely Not just high-speed interconnects, but flexible, extensible, and highly scalable infrastructures Not just securing information, but effectively managing information resources to derive value

What is Storage Networking About?

Information storage• Storing information reliably and securely• Accessing information reliably and securely

Information logistics§ Managing information flow§ Deriving value from information

Information interconnect§ Creating a flexible, extensible

infrastructure§ Enabling just-in-time scalability

Information



1-5

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a non-profit trade association dedicated to "ensuring that storage networks become complete and trusted solutions across the IT community” by:

Sponsoring technical work groups Co-producing the Storage Networking World conference series Maintaining a vendor-neutral Technology Centre in Colorado Springs Promoting activities that expand the breadth and quality of the storage networking market

SNIAs definition of a SAN addresses information storage, information interconnects, and information logistics.

What is a SAN?

“A network whose primary purpose is the transfer of data between computer systems and storage elements and among storage elements …. A SAN consists of a communication infrastructure, which provides physical connections, and a management layer, which organizes the connections, storage elements, and computer systems so that data transfer is secure and robust.”

SNIA definition



1-6

To make a SAN which is actually useful, you need an integrated set of elements that includes:

Device management tools to manage the hardware infrastructure SAN system management tools to manage higher-level functionality such as storage allocation and data security, and to integrate SAN management functions into the broader enterprise resource management schema

Like a jigsaw puzzle, the separate pieces must fit together. Unlike a puzzle, however, a SAN has significant overlap between the parts.

Solving the SAN Puzzle

A SAN is more than just a physical network.

A SAN is made up of:§ Storage Devices§ High-speed Connectivity§ SAN Device Management§ SAN System Management

Storage Devices

High-Speed Connectivity

SAN Device Management

Storage Resource

Management

Storage Devices High-Speed

Connectivity

SAN Device Management

SAN System Management

Introduction to Storage Networking Evolution or Revolution?


1-7

Outline

üWhat is Storage Networking About?• Evolution or Revolution?• Business Needs• The New Datacenter• Storage Consolidation• Server Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



1-8

Comparing the proprietary mainframe model to an open systems model shows that:

Mainframe systems consist of monolithic components that can be difficult to scale and limit flexibility. The system uses proprietary technologies that were designed by the same vendor. These proprietary technologies can be relatively easy to manage because the management tools do not have to contend with distributed, open systems, but ease of management comes at the cost of scalability and flexibility.

Limited CPU scalabilityProprietary closed system

Evolution or Revolution?

Mainframe

Mainframe model

Limited storage scalabilityOpen system

Departmental computing model

LAN



1-9

The advent of the departmental computing model scattered computing and storage resources across the enterprise:

The open-systems approach does provide more flexibility in terms of faster and more flexible deployment options, and it avoids vendor lock. However, this model still suffers from scalability issues, in terms of both computing power and storage, because it relies on smaller, distributed, heterogeneous components.



1-10

The system architectures enabled by SANs start to resemble the mainframe architecture:

Storage virtualization can create a unified storage pool, just like mainframe storage cabinets. Tightly integrated server clusters and blade architectures integrate microcomputer CPUs into a unified computing resource. The user sees a “single system image” of both servers and storage.

The basic conceptual model of a computing system has not changed, but the implementation of that model has evolved:

Monolithic systems simplify system management but have limited flexibility. Today’s SAN-enabled computing architectures consist of smaller, easily re-deployable components that can be used as “building blocks” to create highly scalable systems. This provides much more flexibility for the IT organization, but integrating and managing multi-vendor environments creates new challenges.

User interface Storage

Limited CPU scalabilityProprietary closed system

Proprietary environment simplifies system management

Open systems environment creates greater flexibility and scalability but

presents new management challenges

Compute powerStorage

Compute powerUser interface

System concepts remain the same—implementation evolves

Evolution or Revolution?Unlimited CPU scalability

Unlimited Storage scalabilityOpen system

Mainframe

LAN SAN



1-11

Data storage requirements: Exponentially increasing since the first business-critical application hit the market Rapid growth of the Internet has added fuel to the fire E-mail messages sent daily

1995: 400,000,000 2000: 9,700,000,000 2005: 35,000,000,000

E-mail is just the tip of the iceberg: Digital audio and video require massive amounts of storage space. Some customer relationship management (CRM) applications record every click that a user makes on a website.

But storage networking is not just about providing more space for data—it is about leveraging the value of that data.

70’s

WirelessVoice/data integration

Video-on-demand

WebB2C, B2BMultimedia90’s

Data AnalysisMining business-critical information

80’s

Enterprise Applications

Managing assets and processes

AccountingAutomating manual bookkeeping tasks

Today

Ongoing

The advent of the Internet dramatically increased the need for information storage……and it started a major paradigm shift in the way we use information

The Value of Information

WirelessVoice/data integration

Video-on-demand

WebB2C, B2BMultimedia

00’sIncreased

sharing and increased

uptime

Ongoing

Internet



1-12

In the past, the storage paradigm focused on data: Businesses accumulated and warehoused data. Data was viewed as a competitive asset; businesses guarded it. Data was stored in isolated, independent systems.

The Old Paradigm: Data

§ Traditional storage is server-centric§ There might be hundreds or even thousands of Disk

Subsystems throughout the enterprise§ like separate libraries of information.

§ This makes it more difficult to manage the data

(NOTE: Paradigm = something serving as an example of how things should be done)



1-13

Today, the new paradigm focuses on information: The focus has shifted from storing the data to using the information that the data contains. Businesses have realized that the ability to share information is more of a competitive asset than the ability to hoard it. By 2000, a “Partners” link had appeared on the home pages of nearly all corporate websites. Businesses require accessible, open systems in order to effectively share information.

The New Paradigm: Information

• Storage networking is information-centric• Storage networking allows transparent access to

information from anywhere on the network• Information is more easily accessed and managed

Introduction to Storage Networking Business Needs


1-14

Outline

üWhat is Storage Networking About?üEvolution or Revolution?• Business Needs• The New Datacenter• Storage Consolidation• Server Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



1-15

Businesses must be able to easily adapt to the dynamic global marketplace: They must be prepared to respond to rapid growth. They must be able to add capacity with very short planning windows and minimal disruption to operations. Capacity is not the only scalability issue; application performance must also be able to scale.

By 2000, many companies measured their data in Terabytes

Scalability

By 2005, many companies measured their data in Petabytes

By 2010 the scale was Exabytes



1-16

With direct-attached storage, each disk is attached to a server: Adding more direct-attached storage means adding more servers, due to:

The limited number of devices that can be managed by a server’s SCSI bus The server’s total processing capacity

Adding more servers can triple the cost of new storage: Server hardware Server OS and application software licenses Deployment time Operational and maintenance costs

More servers mean more single points of failure, increasing the risk of downtime.

Scalability

• With direct-attached storage, more storage means more servers

• Cost of server hardware, software, installation, and maintenance can triple the cost of new storage

• Increased implementation time decreases business agility



1-17

Levels of availability: Level Downtime per year 99% 3 days 99.7% 1 day 99.9% 8 hours 99.99% 1 hour 99.999% 5 minutes

Preventing failures is only part of the problem: The demand for near total availability means that the system cannot be taken down for scheduled maintenance, including upgrades and backups. When a failure does occur, recovery must be nearly instantaneous, with no loss of data. Over 2/3 of IT organizations in a recent survey indicated they either have or are considering 24x7 operations.

Availability

• Availability is a valuable asset in a market where your competitor’s website is just a click away

• Many businesses now insist on “five 9s” availability – 5 minutes of unplanned downtime a year

• IT’s focus has shifted from backup & recovery to business continuity



1-18

You can see from the table above how small amounts of downtime can have a large impact to the financial results. It is important to understand the financial cost of downtime as it will have a significant input to the decision process of how much redundancy to build into a network design.

If the cost of control is greater than the financial impact of failure, then this scenario will need to be reviewed. If the cost of control is significantly less than the financial impact of failure, then the strategy will probably be adopted.

Availability

Business operation Industry cost range per hour ($)

Avg. cost per hourof downtime ($)

Brokerage operations 5.6 - 7.3 million 6.5 millionCredit card / sales authorization 2.2 - 3.1 million 2.6 millionPay-per-view television 67,000 - 230,000 150,000Home shopping (TV) 87,000 - 140,000 113,000Home catalog sales 60,000 - 120,000 90,000Airline reservations 67,000 - 112,000 89,500Tele-ticket sales 56,000 - 82,000 69,000Package shipping 24,000 - 32,000 28,000ATM fees 12,000 - 17,000 14,500

Source: Contingency Planning Research and Dataquest

Introduction to Storage Networking The New Datacenter


1-19

Outline

üWhat is Storage Networking About?üEvolution or Revolution?üBusiness Needs• The New Datacenter• Storage Consolidation• Server Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



1-20

Optical network speeds and compute power follow a different growth pattern than capacity growth:

Optical network speeds and compute power do not really increase every 8-9 months, but rather increase by a factor of ten every 5-7 years. In effect, this averages to a doubling every 8-9 months. The importance of this distinction lies in the “leapfrog” effect as each technology in turn passes the others’ delivery schedules. Capacity growth tends to be more incremental, and can outpace growth in network speeds and compute power.

Speeds and Feeds

User

User

Doubling every 18 months

Doubling every 12 months

Doubling every 8-9 months

Average values

ComputePower

Optical Network Speed

Storage Capacity



1-21

Rack-optimized server architectures are helping to drive the move to SANs: Rack-optimized servers implement a “modular” architecture that allows higher densities and more flexible deployment. Rack-optimized servers typically contain only a few internal disk drive slots. Storage is provided by external JBOD or RAID units. Computing power can be scaled by adding more rack servers, and storage can be scaled by adding more external storage.

This architecture is a good match for SANs because: SANs allow multiple servers to access the same storage devices. SAN storage consolidation applications allow multiple rack-optimized storage units to be aggregated into larger logical storage pools. SANs allow servers and storage to scale independently.

Storage

• Rack-optimized form factor is designed for:– Small footprint– High-density datacenters– Quick and flexible deployment– Centralized management

• SANs allow maximum flexibilityin deployment of computingresources:– Shared storage– Logical storage consolidation– Independent scalability of

servers and storage

Rack-Optimized Servers

Storage

FC switch

Server

Server

Server

Server



1-22

Blade computing is a more modular architecture than rack-optimized servers: A blade is a hot-swappable hardware device, such as an individual port card that adds connectivity to a switch. A typical blade is either one or three rack units high (1U or 3U). A blade server is a thin, modular circuit board, containing one or more microprocessors and memory, that is intended for a single, dedicated application (such as serving Web pages) and that can be easily inserted into a space-saving rack with many similar servers. Because blade servers usually share a common high-speed bus, they create less heat and thus save energy costs as well as space. A blade server is sometimes called a high-density server.

Storage

Blade Computing

• Modularized servers:– Add CPUs, LAN/SAN ports, management

capabilities by snapping in cards (blades)– Can support heterogeneous operating

systems in the same chassis• Allow dynamic, adaptive

server infrastructure• Flexible servers

demand flexiblestorage

Managem

entCPUCPUCPUCPUCPU

EthernetEthernet

FC



1-23

Typical uses for clustered blade servers include: File sharing Web page serving and caching Streaming audio and video content

Like rack-optimized data centers, blade computing is a good match for SANs because SANs enable many-to-many connectivity between servers and storage devices, storage consolidation, and independent scalability of servers and storage.

Introduction to Storage Networking Storage Consolidation


1-24

Outline

üWhat is Storage Networking About?üEvolution or Revolution?üBusiness Needsü The New Datacenter• Storage Consolidation• Server Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



1-25

Storage consolidation technology objectives typically include the following:

Reduce the number of supported storage platforms Centralize management of storage resources Make it easier and faster to provision storage Make it possible to monitor storage utilization in real-time, across the entire enterprise

A storage consolidation solution usually requires several elements: Disk consolidation solutions Tape consolidation solutions Data sharing solutions Management solutions Connectivity solutions

Centralized management can either be in-band or out of band management. •Out-of-band management involves the use of a dedicated management connection for device maintenance. It allows a storage administrator to monitor and manage storage devices and storage network equipment

Storage Consolidation

• Technology objectives:– Reduce number of supported storage platforms– Centralized management of storage– Easier to provision storage– Possible to monitor storage utilization

• Solution requirements:– Disk consolidation– Tape consolidation– Data sharing– Management– Connectivity



1-26

remotely without impacting data transfers and independently of the main data link. •By contrast, in-band management shares the main data path with user traffic and if the main link goes down, so does the remote management and diagnosis capability.

The Storage Cloud is anywhere, but is manifest as a real data center somewhere- not on the users location necessarily. Storage Networking makes this possible.



1-27

With storage consolidation we are looking to maximise the utilization of our existing storage platforms by giving us the flexibility to allocate the correct sized logical units to our heterogeneous application servers. These servers can be running different operating systems from different vendors, but our consolidated disk subsystem is able to accommodate all of these. By consolidating our storage the average organization can increase its disk utilization from 30% for direct attached storage up to 70% with SAN attached storage. Tape consolidation can be considered in two different formats.

We could look at it as tape pooling where we can allocate tape resource to any of our devices as they require it. Alternatively, we could look at it as the creation of a virtual tape resource, which could improve our ability to restore individual files.

Solution Requirements

• Disk consolidation: – Reduce number of supported platforms– Supports heterogeneous servers and protocols– Offers flexibility in configuration– Potential virtualization solution?

• Tape consolidation: – Tape library sharing (“tape virtualization”)– Software to manage the access to the library– Supports heterogeneous servers

For Storage Consolidation



1-28

When looking at our requirements for storage consolidation, we need to consider the requirement of concurrent access to the same data from multiple hosts. These hosts could be running different operating systems, or alternatively they could be clustered to provide a high availability solution. With storage area networks the creation of a shared data environment requires the addition of a clustered file system or a SAN aware file system. This will provide a common allocation table and a distributed lock manager for data protection. Network attached storage has a centralised file system and lock manager, to protect data access from heterogeneous hosts, and therefore data sharing is part of its generic architecture.

Solution Requirements

• Data sharing: – Concurrently access the same data from multiple hosts– Usually software-based solutions (such as clustering)– Network Attached Storage (NAS) architectures– Next-generation SAN solutions

• Management:– Hardware platform management– Usage management– Provisioning - automated? – Centralized and distributed

For Storage Consolidation

Introduction to Storage Networking Server Clustering


1-29

Outline

üWhat is Storage Networking About?üEvolution or Revolution?üBusiness Needsü The New DatacenterüStorage Consolidation• Server Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



1-30

Server clustering is a “meta-application”: Clustering can provide increased reliability, scalability, and performance for nearly any application. Clustering and SANs go hand-in-hand because clusters require that multiple servers access the same storage resources. Clustering was one of the first applications for SANs.

Server clusters offer benefits to SANs: High availability due to elimination of single point of failure, failover/fallback capability Enhance performance by eliminating bottlenecks Load balance across multiple data paths Reduce latency by sharing bandwidth between servers and storage Flexible allocation of host and storage resources Independent scaling of application, server, or storage resources

• A group of servers acting as a single system with shared storage resources

• One of the first applications for SANs• Server clusters offer significant advantages:

– High availability– Enhanced performance– Load balancing– Reduced latency– Flexibility– Scalability– Administration/Manageability

Server Clustering



1-31

Server clustering is one of the first and most prevalent SAN applications because it requires that multiple servers have access to common storage resources. The early clustering architectures used a heartbeat between the cluster members to determine if a host member was available and functional. Newer cluster architectures use a common disk area to determine host member availability and functionality. This could be a quorum disk or alternatively it could rely on the SCSI reservation settings for this determination.

• Server access to common storage resources• Failure of a single server still provides data access• Simplified storage resource management

SAN Switch

Servers

Users

Storage Subsystem

Heartbeat

Server Clustering

Storage Subsystem

Introduction to Storage Networking Storage Networking Applications


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Outline

üWhat is Storage Networking About?üEvolution or Revolution?üBusiness Needsü The New DatacenterüStorage ConsolidationüServer Clustering• Storage Networking Applications



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SANs can provide substantially increased performance for backup and recovery:

In a 24x7 operation, there is no good time to take systems down for backup or maintenance. Continuous operation requires fault-tolerance, rather than recovery. Disaster-tolerance requires complete, current, and accurate copies of data in widely dispersed locations.

Backup Applications

• Backup applications:– LAN-free and serverless backup– Remote backup– Snapshots and split mirrors– Synchronous mirroring

• Key benefits of SAN:– Reduced backup and restore times– Remote connectivity– Continuous operation– Disaster-tolerance

solutions



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Database applications often require the enhanced reliability and performance that SANs offer:

Continuous uptime is a requirement, but so is cost containment. Capacity must be able to scale both quickly and massively. Performance must scale to match capacity: databases must often be clustered to provide scalable performance, and I/O latency must be reduced as much as possible.

§Database applications:§ Financial databases§ Supply chain/inventory management§ Data warehousing and data mining§ B2B and B2C web portals§ ERP applications§ Email and messaging

§Key benefits of SAN:§ Continuous uptime§ Scalable capacity§ Scalable performance

Database Applications



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Imaging applications require high-performance storage I/O: High-quality, high-resolution images consume storage capacity quickly, even when compressed. Digital production and post-production require rapid access to very large files. Image manipulation includes such processes as compression, resizing, image enhancement, and colour correction. All of these are CPU-intensive operations, and therefore images must often be accessible to multiple servers to allow scalable operations. Images also frequently have to be shared and manipulated across multiple operating systems.

§ Imaging applications:§ Digital media production§ Pre-press production§ Document imaging and archiving§ Medical and scientific imaging

§Key benefits of SAN:§ Satisfies large capacity requirements§ Fast transfer of large files§ Sharing across heterogeneous OS

platforms

Imaging Applications



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Content distribution is the “product” for many Internet businesses: ISPs, ASPs, and online media providers use these applications to push content across private networks to multiple points-of-presence. The video broadcasting industry pushes even more massive amounts of data across their own specialized networks. These businesses are service providers that are often subject to SLAs that specify financial penalties for downtime and poor performance. Content distribution applications require highly scalable bandwidth for both data networks and storage I/O.

§Content distribution applications:§ Web and application hosting§ Digital broadcasting§ Video-on-demand

§Key benefits of SAN:§ Continuous operation§ Guaranteed performance§ Highly scalable bandwidth

Content Distribution Applications



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Storage Service Providers (SSPs) allow companies to outsource storage services. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, SSPs primarily used NAS because only NAS provided long-distance connectivity services. However, the SSP business model was not very successful, partly due to lack of customer confidence, and partly because the SSPs reached beyond the capabilities of the technologies that were available at the time. Most of the original generations of SSPs closed their doors. SSPs are coming back again, this time largely as subsidiaries of network infrastructure providers. The new generation of SSPs are starting with the basics instead of trying to provide end-to-end solutions immediately.

Storage Service Providers

• Storage Service Providers (SSPs) allow companies to outsource storage services:– Storage Transport Services (STS)– Storage Hosting Services (SHS)– Storage Management Services (SMS)

• Key benefits of SAN:– Connectivity– Disaster-tolerance services– Scalability without service disruption– Robust management services

IIO Storage, Inc.



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There are three basic tiers of storage services, with most SSPs focusing on the first tier today:

Storage Transport Services (STS) are a natural extension of the network services that SSPs already provide. STS services include Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), FC over SONET/SDH and FC over dark fibre (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, or DWDM). STS simply means providing a transport service to connect two or more customer sites, just like a WAN service. The actual storage is located at the customer site. The next step in the evolution of an SSP is to begin providing Storage Hosting Services (SHS). SHS means that storage is located at the SSPs site, instead of at the customer site. Implementing SHS services means that SSPs need robust disaster-tolerance options and the ability to scale easily without service disruption. Storage applications like virtualization and automated provisioning are key for SSPs who want to offer SHS. Today, some SSPs are beginning to take this step. The last step in the evolution of an SSP is to offer Storage Management Services (SMS). This means that the SSP takes over the end-to-end management of the customer’s storage, including provisioning, performance monitoring and tuning, and capacity planning. This obviously requires very robust storage management. Today, most SSPs don’t offer SMS because they feel that their management capabilities aren’t quite there yet.



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Audio/video applications were also among the first uses for SANs: Media production, editing, distribution, and broadcast are bandwidth-intensive applications. Latency is not well-tolerated by consumers, who are accustomed to the de-facto “standard” of analogue transmission. Because the broadcast and cable television industries already use specialized protocols for transmitting audio/video data, the FC-AV protocol was developed to allow these protocols to run over Fibre Channel SANs.

Audio/Video Applications

• Audio/video applications:– Production and editing– Distribution and broadcast

• Key benefits of SAN:– High-bandwidth, low-latency transmission– Compatibility with existing A/V standards

• Fibre Channel Audio Video (FC-AV) protocol maps digital A/V formats onto Fibre Channel:– Includes those used for broadcast television



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Avionics is a technically specialized but significant market for Fibre Channel: Applications for Fibre Channel include real-time command-and-control systems, instrumentation and signal processing in aircrafts. For example, data from an aircraft’s sensors must be simultaneously displayed for the pilots, fed into banks of processors that control fly-by-wire systems, and recorded in the aircraft’s “black box.” Fibre Channel provides increased throughput and reliability, and offers more flexible topologies than the I/O buses typically used in aircraft today. Complex avionic simulation applications also benefit from SANs. The Fibre Channel Avionics Environment (FC-AE) protocol is being designed for use in real-time aircraft control systems.

Avionics Applications

• Commercial and military avionics:– Avionic command and control– Instrumentation and signal processing– Avionic simulation

• Key benefits of SAN:– High-speed I/O bus– High availability

• Fibre Channel Avionics Environment (FC-AE) protocol is being developed to enable these applications:– For real-time I/O as well as storage applications



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Categorize the functionality of application. Applications can be categorized into three corporate levels:

Workgroup applications that enable end users to accomplish common daily activities Enterprise applications that are shared by users and are specific to business processes used across enterprise Externally networked applications that are also shared by multiple users, however connected or networked beyond the local facility

The first column of applications have lower availability needs than the second column.

Need for availability – low to high availability. How does this affect business continuity needs?

The third column gives characteristics of this level of application. Example: Email within the company is less important than ecommerce availability. Need to sell a seat in a class is more important than getting our internal email.

Deg

ree

of C

onne

ctiv

ityCategorizing Applications

§E-mail§Web page

delivery

§E-commerce§Rich media on demand§Cross-enterprise applications§Credit card processing

§ERP§ Intranet§Document

management

§OLTP§CRM, SCM§Data warehousing§Workflow management§Core legacy systems§CAD/CAM§ Industry-specific applications

§Word processing

§Spreadsheets§Desktop/PC

backup

§Research databases§Animation§CAD/CAE/CAM

Need for AvailabilityLow High

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upEn

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Introduction to Storage Networking Summary


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Summary

üWhat is Storage Networking About?üEvolution or Revolution?üBusiness Needsü The New DatacenterüStorage ConsolidationüServer ClusteringüStorage Networking Applications



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INTRODUCTION TO STORAGE NETWORKING

1. What three are benefits of implementing a SAN in a campus

environment? (Choose three)

a. Storage consolidation in the Datacenter

b. Heterogeneous Servers can share files

c. Improved storage utilization

d. Centralized backup strategy decreasing network traffic

2. Name two key applications enabled by Storage Networking?

(Choose two)

a. Storage Consolidation

b. SAN Free Backup

c. LAN Free Backup

d. Server Consolidation

3. What are benefits of a SAN? (Choose two)

a. Heterogeneous servers can share storage subsystems b. Heterogeneous servers can share files c. Storage subsystems can appear as self contained

autonomous file servers d. Servers and Storage can be managed centrally



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INFINITY I/O STORAGE NETWORKING CONCEPTS - FOUNDATION V6.01

REVIEW QUESTION ANSWERS

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Introduction to Storage Networking Review Questions

57

INTRODUCTION TO STORAGE NETWORKING

1. What three are benefits of implementing a SAN in a campus

environment? (Choose three)

a. Storage consolidation in the Datacenter

b. Heterogeneous Servers can share files

c. Improved storage utilization

d. Centralized backup strategy decreasing network traffic

2. Name two key applications enabled by Storage Networking? (Choose

two)

a. Storage Consolidation

b. SAN Free Backup

c. LAN Free Backup

d. Server Consolidation

3. What are benefits of a SAN? (Choose two)

a. Heterogeneous servers can share storage subsystems b. Heterogeneous servers can share files c. Storage subsystems can appear as self contained autonomous file

servers d. Servers and Storage can be managed centrally

Storage Networking Architectures Review Questions

105

STORAGE NETWORKING ARCHITECTURES

Left click on your selection to see if you are correct

1. Which architectures are focused on block-level data transfer?

(Choose two)

a. DAS

b. NAS

c. SAN

d. DAFS

2. Which two statements are typically true for low end DAS storage?

(Choose two)

a. Storage is not easily shared between servers b. DAS storage is the most expensive to purchase c. Storage devices must be located close to servers d. Requires specialized training to manage

3. What is the approximate maximum potential bandwidth of a fibre

channel 2Gb/s Link?

a. 100 MB/s

b. 200 MB/s

c. 212 MB/s

d. 400 MB/s

Storage Components Review Questions

142 - 143

STORAGE COMPONENTS


1. Which term refers to the data that can be accessed by all the heads

without having to seek?

a. Cylinder

b. Track

c. Sector

d. Spindle

2. Which component of a disk drive is used for the physical storage of data

blocks?

a. Cylinder

b. Head

c. Track

d. Sector

3. What components can be found in a linear tape cartridge? (Choose

three)

a. Leader pin

b. Supply reel

c. Pick up reel

d. Access door

e. Read/write heads

Storage Components Review Questions

142 - 14

STORAGE COMPONENTS


1. Which term refers to the data that can be accessed by all the heads

without having to seek?

a. Cylinder

b. Track

c. Sector

d. Spindle

2. Which component of a disk drive is used for the physical storage of data

blocks?

a. Cylinder

b. Head

c. Track

d. Sector

3. What components can be found in a linear tape cartridge? (Choose

three)

a. Leader pin

b. Supply reel

c. Pick up reel

d. Access door

e. Read/write heads

Documents

Storage Networking Concepts -- Foundations - Infinity I/O