White Paper For Service Providers

Host Performance-Sensitive Applications in Your Cloud

CloudByte ElastiStor Resolves Noisy Neighbor Issues

and Delivers Guaranteed QoS to Every Application

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………………………….… 3

Limitations of Legacy Solutions …………….…………………………………………………… 4

ElastiStor Cures Noisy Neighbor Issues ..………………………………………………….… 6

ElastiStor: Key Features …………….……………………..…………………………………………. 7

ElastiStor: Standard Storage Features ………..…………………………………………….… 8

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Executive Summary

Business Opportunity for Service Providers

For organizations today, running applications in the cloud has become a matter of “when will we

deploy,” and not “should we deploy.” Even conservative IT shops that may have shied away from

the public cloud have at least embraced the cost and efficiency advantages of deploying utility

computing.

Large “retail-class” infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers, like Amazon Web Services, work well

for applications that require scaling to high aggregate processing throughput or near-infinite

storage capacity. But, there are significant challenges in hosting performance-sensitive

applications. A significant business opportunity exists for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) that can

support QoS-sensitive workloads, like Oracle, SAP, SAS, OLTP, ERP, etc.

Challenges in Hosting Performance-Sensitive Applications

Hosting performance-sensitive enterprise applications requires delivery of guaranteed QoS, which

has been the Achilles heel of large cloud service providers. In fact, without much effort, one can

find many horror stories from many organizations trying to get databases running—and keep them

running—in these environments.

So, what stops legacy solutions from delivering guaranteed QoS? Noisy neighbors! Within a shared

storage platform, legacy solutions cannot isolate and dedicate a specific set of resources to any

application. As a result, applications are in a constant struggle for the shared storage resources. An

application’s IOPS, throughput, and latency are determined by the current state of the system (i.e.,

currently available resources), rather than being in sync with its workload characteristics. An

obvious solution is to dedicate physical storage per application. But this implies a huge wastage of

resources and an exorbitant cost structure for the CSP. The only efficient solution is to virtually

isolate applications and dedicate/control resources allotted to them right from the shared storage

platform i.e., provide a true multi-tenant solution.

Legacy storage solutions—traditional SAN/NAS arrays, advanced SAN/NAS arrays, and scale-out

storage platform–fall woefully short of providing a true multi-tenant storage architecture, that is

capable of guaranteeing QoS. With traditional storage arrays, admins typically resort to faster

spindles and more capable controllers. This is both inefficient and difficult to implement as

datacenters scale. Advanced storage arrays provide compartmentalization of tenants (to an extent)

and CoS (control of service). CoS does not guarantee QoS and just gives the admin a way to decide

which workload loses the least during periods when the system gets busy. Scale-out storage

solutions eliminate multiple points of management by building, in effect, a storage cloud to which

controllers and disk can be added and decommissioned with absolutely no impact to tenant

workloads. They are designed around the principle of throwing hardware at the QoS problem,

albeit making the process easier. To conclude, every legacy storage solution resorts to

overprovisioning to workaround the noisy neighbor problem, resulting in a prohibitively expensive

cost structure for CSPs, especially as they scale to hundreds of applications.

CloudByte ElastiStor Guarantees QoS right from Shared Storage

ElastiStor, with its patented TSMTM

architecture, is specifically designed for hosting multiple

disparate workloads on a single system. For the first time ever, ElastiStor delivers guaranteed QoS

to every application within shared storage, resolving the noisy neighbor issues. In addition to

industry-first multi-tenant capabilities, ElastiStor provides all the standard storage features that

CSPs need. Software-only and software-defined, CloudByte also frees CSPs from any proprietary

lock-in, eliminating large upfront and ongoing investments.

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Limitations of Legacy Solutions

Cloud Service Providers have several options when deploying a shared storage solution. They are:

traditional SAN/NAS arrays, advanced SAN/NAS arrays, and scale-out storage platforms. As we will

see in detail, all these solutions fall short of delivering guaranteed QoS within shared storage.

Traditional Storage Arrays are Designed for Capacity Control

With a traditional SAN/NAS array, CSPs have a single parameter that can be controlled for each

tenant: storage capacity. Disk consumption is clearly important, but in a multi-tenant environment,

the most troublesome issue is performance due to multiple workloads competing for scarce

resources. Unfortunately, standard storage platforms do nothing to help the CSP ensure that each

tenant receives its appropriate share. So, administrators need to design storage systems to ensure

that each workloads will have its required resources when they are needed. Additionally, it is vitally

important to allocate some reserve performance capacity to account for bursts of activity and other

such periods where system resources may become constrained.

When a traditional storage array runs low on resources, administrators can scale it up by upgrading

to larger and/or faster controllers with more, and faster, spindles. But, once a system reaches its

configurable limits, the only option is to deploy additional storage systems. This, of course, creates

more points of management and goes completely opposite of the CSP’s design goal of creating an

efficient, shared infrastructure. Both of these effects increase the CSP’s costs and create potential

customer satisfaction issues: a perfect storm for driving down revenues.

Advanced Storage Arrays Enable CoS (Control of Service); Do Not Deliver QoS

Some storage vendors have realized the limitations of traditional SAN/NAS arrays and have

innovated by providing limited compartmentalization and control of service (CoS) features in their

offerings. In some respects, this is a significant advantage over the capabilities offered by

traditional arrays because it provides better isolation and security. However, it does nothing to help

resolve the noisy neighbor problem. The compartmentalization feature merely makes the process

of moving noisy neighbors off of a busy storage system easier. Administrators are still forced to

overprovision hardware and monitor for contention so that they can jump into action to migrate

troublesome workloads before all tenants hosted on a particular system begin to suffer.

To alleviate some of the problems associated with these troublesome workloads, some vendors

offer Control of Service (CoS) features. Although it sounds similar, CoS is not QoS. Rather than

setting detailed SLA parameters for each tenant, CoS allows an administrator to select from a

limited set of priorities that can be assigned to each tenant. When the platform becomes resource

constrained, it will utilize the priorities to apportion the scarce processing resources in a so-called

fair manner. In short, overall system performance will suffer in this situation and CoS just gives the

admin a way to decide which workload loses the least during periods when the system gets busy.

No QoS Control

Noisy Neighbors: Applications

Contending for Resources

Legacy

Storage Solutions

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Limitations of Legacy Solutions

Scale-Out Storage Overcomes Noisy Neighbors by Overprovisioning

Scale-out storage is one of the hottest topics in the computer industry today. These solutions allow

CSPs to eliminate multiple points of management by building, in effect, a storage cloud to which

controllers and disk can be added and decommissioned with absolutely no impact to tenant

workloads. However, they are designed around the principle of throwing hardware at the problem.

Scale-out storage platforms aggregate hardware resources into a shared pool under a single

management umbrella and then distribute tenant workloads across that pool. Unlike the traditional

or advanced SAN/NAS solutions previously discussed, these platforms significantly reduce the need

for administrators to keep a close watch over system performance or capacity. Since the aggregate

pool is so large, it is highly unlikely for a single workload, or even a handful of workloads, to

completely overwhelm the system. And, when tenant workloads do start to consume too many

resources, they simply grow the pool.

So, what’s the problem? Like their less-capable cousins, traditional and advanced storage arrays,

scale-out storage platforms lack the ability to set specific SLAs for tenant workloads. Therefore,

administrators are still forced to over-provision to keep aggregate performance ahead of the

demands of tenant workloads. Worse yet, end users will see inconsistent performance as each

tenant’s experience is dictated by the current state of the system. This is a zero-sum game for the

CSP because the inability to contain tenants means continually growing the shared storage pool to

meet customer expectations.

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ElastiStor Cures Noisy Neighbor Issues

CloudByte TSM Architecture Cures the Noisy Neighbor Issues

The fundamental difference between legacy storage solutions and CloudByte ElastiStor lies in the

storage controller architecture. ElastiStor, with its TSMTM

architecture, is specifically designed for

hosting multiple disparate workloads on a single system.

Legacy solutions have a monolithic storage controller architecture, where applications share a

common pool of resources with no reference to QoS requirements. In a CloudByte controller, each

application is fully isolated at all storage stack levels—this isolated environment known as a TSM is

the fundamental unit of CloudByte architecture. With CloudByte’s TSM architecture, a specific set of

controller resources can now be dedicated to each application, without any impact from other

applications within the shared storage.

Read more about CloudByte technology at http://www.cloudbyte.com/products_technology.aspx

ElastiStor Delivers Guaranteed QoS within Shared Storage

While TSM architecture allows each application to be dedicated a specific set of resources,

CloudByte intelligence takes care of provisioning these resources based on QoS demands for the

application—in terms of IOPS, throughput and latency. Admins can now configure storage

endpoints (LUNs) with the required capacity and performance metrics and CloudByte takes care of

the rest. In short, CloudByte ElastiStor delivers guaranteed QoS to each application within shared

storage—an industry first!

With ElastiStor, CSPs can now affordably host performance-sensitive applications right from shared

storage, without resorting to the expensive dedicated storage or overprovisioning workarounds.

CloudByte ElastiStor also boasts of other industry firsts such as on-demand provisioning and

N-way HA, significantly increasing manageability and reliability. In addition, CloudByte provides all

the standard storage features that CSPs need (see more details in page 8).

Software-defined and software-only, CloudByte frees CSPs from any proprietary lock-in and allows

them to custom-build their infrastructure based on their demands, whether it’s SATA, SAS or SSD.

ElastiStor Delivers Tailored QoS to Every Application within Shared Storage

Every storage endpoint is defined in terms of capacity, IOPS, throughput, latency

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ElastiStor: Key Features

QoS-Configurable Storage Endpoints

Share your storage and deliver predictable performance to every application.

For the first time ever, ElastiStor allows storage LUNs to be defined beyond

capacity, in terms of IOPS, throughput and latency. This allows applications

with diverse workloads to be guaranteed QoS right from a shared storage

platform. Together with linear scaling, a single extensible shared storage

platform from ElastiStor can now replace legacy solutions’ dedicated storage

islands. By un-fragmenting storage islands and optimally utilizing resources,

ElastiStor steeply cuts down your storage footprint, leading to 80-90% cost

savings over 3-5 years.

On-Demand Storage Provisioning

Do you still manually configure hardware to provision storage for any new

application? Break the need for hardwiring storage with ElastiStor's

on-demand provisioning. Just enter the required SLA/QoS parameters and let

ElastiStor automate node selection and resource allocation for you. ElastiStor

includes an intelligent heuristics daemon which continuously learns the

quantity of various controller resources needed to deliver the required QoS.

vCenter-like Administration Console

ElastiStor makes managing storage as easy as managing VMs, even when as

you scale to hundreds of applications. Storage admins can now comprehen-

sively manage the entire storage cluster, spanning across multiple sites, from

a single web-based console. Further, ElastiStor gives you unprecedented ac-

cess and control over resource usage within shared storage, right down to

the application-level granularity.

REST APIs and Plugins for Easy Integration

Every action performed at ElastiStor admin console translates into a REST

based API call in the backend, enabling admins to fully manage ElastiStor

right from their existing portals. Our plugin for VMware vCenter (also based

on REST API) enables storage management right from the vCenter, right from

setting QoS policies to monitoring resource usage.

N-way High Availability

ElastiStor enables N-way High Availability, exponentially increasing reliability

(mean time to failure), compared to the standard 2-way HA provided by

existing solutions. CloudByte's storage un-fragmentation and its patented

TSM architecture make N-way HA affordable and feasible.

Delegated Administration

A much requested feature from the cloud service providers, delegated ad-

ministration empowers both CSPs and its customers to monitor and control

storage, as necessary. Management privileges vary based on the admin func-

tionality – for example, a super admin can manage the entire storage cluster,

whereas a customer admin can manage just the storage resources allotted to

that particular customer.

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ElastiStor: Standard Storage Features

Scalability 128-bit file system

Zettabyte storage capacity

Unlimited file size

Access Protocols NFSv3, NFSv4, CIFS, iSCSI, FC

Storage Connectivity SAS JBODS, iSCSI targets, FC targets

Storage Resilience RAIDZ1, RAIDZ2

Storage Efficiency De-duplication

Compression

Thin provisioning

Backup Efficient Snapshots, Unlimited

Efficient Clones, Unlimited

Tape Backup

Availability N-way high availability (N-way HA)

Partial failure transfer to the available node

Active-Active mode

HA with/without storage redundancy

Disaster Recovery Tenant level disaster recovery

High availability across primary and DR sites

Block level replication

Synchronous mirroring

Asynchronous mirroring

RPO—Last minute

RTO—Few minutes

Data Integrity Protection against silent data corruption

Fixes corrupt block without having to take the file system offline

CloudByte’s file system is built on ZFS and hence, it inherits all the standard ZFS features

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multi-tenant storage

Service Providers can now provide full benefits of dedicated

storage to their customers on a shared storage platform

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