FAST SQL SERVER BACKUP AND RESTORE

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER FAST SQL SERVER BACKUP AND RESTORE WITH PURE STORAGE

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW... 3 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES... 3 AUDIENCE... 3 PURE STORAGE INTRODUCTION... 4 SOLUTION SUMMARY... 4 FLASHBLADE USE CASES... 6 TEST CONFIGURATION... 6 IMPLEMENTATION STEPS... 8 PERFORMANCE RESULTS SUMMARY

3 EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Microsoft s SQL Server relational database offering continues to be a primary data store for organizations. As the amount of data increases from a variety of sources, SQL Server database administrators have less time available to perform the essential tasks of backing up data and routine backup testing validation. While traditional backup appliances are designed to store data, they are notoriously slow at rehydrating and recovering data. The data restore process is utilized more than ever before as DBAs iterate on their code with up-to-date databases. Pure Storage FlashBlade helps reduce the time for both backup and restore operations by providing high bandwidth performance and simple management. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The test cases shown here are intended to emphasize the high levels of throughput, workload consolidation, minimized RTO and RPO, and ease of administration that these connected solutions provide. Though we will focus on Microsoft SQL Server in our examples, the use cases shown here are easily extensible to other workloads and hypervisors, such as vsphere, VSI, and Hyper-V, just to name a few. Define use cases for employing FlashBlade as a backup target in a SQL Server environment Provide high-level implementation steps for a given test configuration Document performance metrics when restoring a SQL Server database from a FlashBlade backup source with a given configuration Document performance metrics when backing up a SQL Server database to a FlashBlade backup target with a given configuration AUDIENCE This document is for database, system, and storage administrators responsible for maintaining SQL Server, storage, and network environments. 3

4 PURE STORAGE INTRODUCTION Ready for the Big + Fast Data of Tomorrow The past decade saw the rise of big data and storage solutions designed to allow petabytes of data to be centralized and served for everything from data analytics to scientific discovery to movie rendering. These storage solutions were big, but often slow, as they took advantage of bigger and bigger hard disk drives, the last mechanical relics in today s otherwise all-silicon data center. However, with the rise of cloud-native applications, needs and expectations are changing. Big but slow is not good enough anymore, and the dramatic inefficiency of rows and rows of spinning disk in the data center just cannot keep up with the efficiency demands of today. What if an all-flash storage platform could deliver big and fast for tomorrow s data, and be simple and efficient enough to be the platform for your cloud-native applications? FlashBlade is a ground-breaking, scale-out flash storage system from Pure Storage. Engineered with a massively parallel architecture from software to hardware, FlashBlade has emerged as the industry-leading solution for use cases requiring the highest performance, like artificial intelligence and modern analytics. Many customers have tapped this performance to modernize their backup and recovery infrastructure. FAST Elastic performance that grows with data, up to 17 GB/s Always-fast, from small to large files Massively parallel architecture from software to flash BIG Petabytes of capacity Elastic concurrency, up to 10s of thousands of clients 10s of billions of objects and files SIMPLE Evergreen don t rebuy TBs you already own Tuned for Everything design, no manual optimizations required Scale-out everything instantly by simply adding blades SOLUTION SUMMARY Problem Database backup and restore completion times are increasing due to fast-growing amounts of data. This puts strain on infrastructures, increasing database maintenance times. Solution FlashBlade s architecture is flexible, and efficiently utilizes flash-based storage to increase bandwidth performance in SQL Server environments. 4

5 Results Using FlashBlade (with a minimal configuration of 7 blades) as a backup target in a SQL Server environment resulted in 1.9GB/s throughput and a completion time of 14 minutes and 26 seconds. (3.2TB database, 1.6TB of realistic data in the test configuration.) Blade SCALE-OUT COMPUTE + FLASH The Blade is the scaling unit of FlashBlade adding Blades linearly scales capacity, performance, metadata, and clients. Each blade contains a low-power Intel XEON System-on-a-Chip processor and FPGA ARM cores to run Purity for FlashBlade (Purity//FB) software. Blades contain raw flash chips, DRAM, as well as integrated NV-RAM protection to guard write operations from sudden power loss. Blades are available in 8, 17, and 52TB capacities; blades can be mixed and matched and hot-added into the system. Blades were designed with ultra-low latency in mind, leveraging PCIe to connect flash chips to CPUs, and low-latency Purity Fabric to communicate with other blades in the system. Purity//FB SCALE-OUT STORAGE SOFTWARE Plug-and-go deployment that takes minutes, not days. Non-disruptive upgrades and hot-swap everything. Fewer parts = more reliability. Purity//FB LOW-LATENCY, SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKING Fewer parts = more reliability. FlashBlade includes a built-in 40Gb Ethernet fabric, used for both communication between Blades and to clients. The Purity Fabric implements low-latency proprietary protocols bypassing the TCP/IP stack, separating client, data, and metadata traffic in the system via QoS. Each chassis includes 8x 40Gb/s Ethernet ports for both client connectivity and direct chassis interconnect. 5

6 FLASHBLADE USE CASES SQL Server Backup Restore Operation Backing up a SQL Server database is one of the most important tasks for a database administrator. It is not really a backup until it is off the primary database storage subsystem and the process has been validated. Optimizing backup and restore completion time is a high priority. FlashBlade increases bandwidth with its parallel architecture to help achieve this. SQL Server Backup Restore Validation Scheduled backup restore testing is essential for backup validation. A backup should be tested outside of the production system regularly to ensure it is free of corruption, is able to be restored successfully, and the data is accessible. FlashBlade decreases the completion time to restore for this validation process. SQL Server Development Test Environments Organizations can have a variety of database environments outside of production. Development, test, staging, etc. often need database copies quickly. FlashBlade decreases the completion time to restore databases for these environments. TEST CONFIGURATION Note: To ensure configuration, performance, and compatibility are optimal, please reference and apply the following Pure Storage Best Practice Guides: Microsoft Windows Server Best Practices Guide FlashBlade User Guide SQL Server Best Practices Guide COMPUTE INFORMATION/PARAMETER VENDOR CISCO MODEL C460 M4 PROCESSOR QTY.(2) INTEL E GHZ V4 24 CORE DRAM 3 TB QTY. (2) INTEL NETWORK ADAPTER XL710-Q2 40GB/S NETWORK INTERFACE CARD TEAMED TEAMING MODE LACP LOAD BALANCING MODE DYNAMIC 6

7 NETWORK INFORMATION/PARAMETER STORAGE PROTOCOL SMB 2.1 NETWORK SWITCH ARISTA DCS-7050QX-32S-F OPERATING SYSTEM INFORMATION/PARAMETER WINDOWS SERVER 2016 BUILD POWER MANAGEMENT HIGH PERFORMANCE ENABLED LOCAL SECURITY POLICY LOCK PAGES IN MEMORY ENABLED PERFORM VOLUME MAINTENANCE TASKS INSTANT FILE INITIALIZATION ENABLED DATABASE SOURCE STORAGE INFORMATION/PARAMETER MODEL FLASHARRAY //X 70 OPERATING ENVIRONMENT PURITY CAPACITY 79 TB BACKUP TARGET STORAGE INFORMATION/PARAMETER MODEL FLASHBLADE CONFIGURATION 7 BLADES OPERATING ENVIRONMENT ELASTICITY CAPACITY TB WORKLOAD INFORMATION/PARAMETER SQL SERVER BACKUP OPERATION BUFFERCOUNT = BLOCKSIZE = MAXTRANSFERSIZE= (4MB). SEVEN BACKUP FILES (WRITER THREADS). SQL SERVER BACKUP COMPRESSION ENABLED. CHECKSUM ENABLED. 7

8 SQL SERVER RESTORE OPERATION BUFFERCOUNT = BLOCKSIZE = MAXTRANSFERSIZE= SEVEN WINDOWS VOLUMES (READER THREADS). SQL SERVER COMPRESSED BACKUP. CHECKSUM ENABLED. DATABASE APPLICATION INFORMATION/PARAMETER MICROSOFT SQL SERVER ENTERPRISE (X64) DATABASE SIZE 3.2TB DATA SIZE (REALISTIC DATA) 1.6GB TRACE FLAGS (FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY) ENABLE DATABASE BACKUP INFO AND OUTPUT TO ERROR LOG DBCC TRACEON (3213, 3605, -1) IMPLEMENTATION STEPS Note: To ensure configuration, performance, and compatibility are optimal, please reference and apply the following Pure Storage Best Practice Guides: Microsoft Windows Server Best Practices Guide FlashBlade User Guide SQL Server Best Practices Guide 1. Network Infrastructure Designate IP addresses for compute host network interface cards, FlashBlade, FlashBlade VIP (virtual IP address), to be used within the same subnet. Configure switch to be used with FlashBlade and compute host. 2. Deploy FlashBlade Assign IP address information to FlashBlade. Assign IP address information to FlashBlade VIP (virtual IP address). Join FlashBlade to the existing Active Directory Domain. Create a number of storage SMB file systems to correspond with each backup file used. Seven are used in this example. 8

9 FIGURE 1. Creation of SMB File Systems Create a number of network data VIPs to correspond with each blade installed. Seven are used in this example. FIGURE 2. Creation of network data VIPs 9

10 3. Windows Compute Host Assign IP address information to the network interface card. Team network interface cards if applicable and assign IP address. If network teaming is used, set teaming mode accordingly (static teaming, switch independent, LACP), depending on the type of network switch used. Set load-balancing mode accordingly (address hash, Hyper-V port, and dynamic); this is environment dependent. Map SMB shares from FlashBlade to Windows with drive letter and credentials. Use SMB share use persistence to ensure reconnect after reboot. Check status of SMB share mapping to local Windows drive letters. FIGURE 3. SMB share mapping in local Windows drives 4. SQL Server Instance In SQL Server, add backup devices to correspond to the SMB share local drive letters. 10

11 FIGURE 4. Adding backup devices in SQL Server If applicable when the host SQL Server instance is not a member of the domain the FlashBlade participates in, use the xp_cmdshell and Windows network commands net use to assign the Windows-mapped drive letters as backup devices for use in SQL Server. Note: The number of source database reader threads SQL Server assigns to a backup/restore operation is dependent on how many logical Windows device volumes are used for the SQL Server database files on the primary source storage. Backup performance may vary and be limited to the number of source database reader threads used in a given configuration. The number of underlying physical storage subsystem disks, devices, etc., does not affect SQL Server thread creation with regard to a backup/restore operation. Tests for this configuration were performed with seven reader and write threads. 11

12 In this source database file example, seven reader threads are used for Windows logical drives A, E, F, O, P, Q, and R. FIGURE 5. Reader threads in a source database file In this source database file example, one reader thread is used for Windows logical drive X. FIGURE 6. Reader threads in a source database file 12

13 PERFORMANCE RESULTS SQL Server native backup/restore test completion time and bandwidth metrics. SQL Server Backup to FlashBlade Target FIGURE 7. SQL Server native backup/restore metrics Database 3.2TB, data size 1.6TB (realistic data) Completion time 14 minutes 26 seconds BACKUP DATABASE successfully processed 210,754,282 pages in seconds ( MB/sec) T-SQL was used for this backup test to FlashBlade FIGURE 8. Backup confirmation 13

14 SQL Server Restore from FlashBlade Source FIGURE 9. SQL restore to target from FlashBlade Database 3.2TB, data size 1.6TB (realistic data) Completion time 18 minutes 11 seconds RESTORE DATABASE successfully processed 210,754,282 pages in seconds ( MB/sec) T-SQL was used for this restore test to FlashArray //X FIGURE 10. Restore confirmation 14

15 SUMMARY SQL Server has evolved and become the mission-critical platform of choice for many organizations. As your data platform evolves, so should your storage backed by the FlashBlade product offering. Utilizing our all-flash technology reduces the time and complexity involved in performing these essential database backup and restore operations for SQL Server database administration Pure Storage, Inc. All rights reserved. Pure Storage, FlashBlade, and the Pure Storage Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pure Storage, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft Exchange are registered trademarks of Microsoft in the U.S. and other countries. Cisco, Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus, Cisco Unified Computing System are trademarks of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries. VMware vsphere, VMware vmotion, VMware ESXi, and VMware vsphere Distributed Resource Scheduler are registered trademarks of VMware in the U.S. and other countries. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel in the U.S. and other countries. The Pure Storage products described in this documentation are distributed under a license agreement restricting the use, copying, distribution, and decompilation/reverse engineering of the products. The Pure Storage products described in this documentation may only be used in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization from Pure Storage, Inc. and its licensors, if any. Pure Storage may make improvements and/or changes in the Pure Storage products and/or the programs described in this documentation at any time without notice. THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. PURE STORAGE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ps_wp15p_accelerated-sql-server-backup-restore_ltr_01 SALES@PURESTORAGE.COM 15