VMware Virtual SAN Technical Walkthrough Massimiliano Moschini Brand Specialist VCI - vexpert 2014 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.
VMware Storage Innovations VI 3.x VMFS Snapshots Storage vmotion NAS & iscsi support vsphere 4.x Thin Provisioning Storage I/O control Boot from SAN VAAI Linked mode vsphere 5.x Storage DRS Profile-driven Storage VASA Sphere Storage Appliance vsphere Data Protection vsphere Replication vsphere Flash Read 2011-2013 Software-defined Storage 2014+ 2008-2010 2005-2007 2
VMware Virtual SAN Hypervisor-Converged storage platform vsphere + Virtual SAN SSD Hard disks SSD SSD Hard disks Hard disks Virtual SAN Shared Datastore Software-defined storage software solution. Aggregates locally attached storage from each ESXi host in a cluster. Flash optimized storage solution. VM-Centric data operations and policy driven management principals. Resilient design based on a Distributed RAID architecture No single points of failures Fully integrated with vsphere. 3
VMware Virtual SAN Radically Simple Hypervisor-Converged Storage Software vsphere + Virtual SAN SSD Hard disks SSD SSD Hard disks Hard disks Virtual SAN Shared Datastore Hybrid storage solution Magnetic disks () Flash based disks (SSD) Storage scale out architecture built into the hypervisor Dynamic capacity and performance scalability Object based storage architecture Interoperable with vsphere and enterprise features: vmotion, DRS, vsphere HA 4
Virtual SAN is NOT a Virtual Storage Appliance Virtual SAN is fully integrated with vsphere (ESXi & vcenter) Drivers embedded in ESXi 5.5 contain the Virtual SAN smarts Kernel modules: Provide the shortest path for I/O Remove unnecessary management overheads when dealing with an appliance Do not consume resources unnecessarily VSA Virtual SAN Not a VSA Virtual SAN Embedded into vsphere 5
Virtual SAN Key Benefits Radically Simple High Performance Lower TCO Installs in two clicks Managed from vsphere Client Policy-based management Self-tuning and elastic Deep integration with VMware stack Embedded in vsphere kernel Flash-accelerated Up to 915K IOPs from 16 nodes cluster Matches the VDI density of all flash array Best price/performance Eliminates large upfront investments (CAPEX) Grow-as-you-go (OPEX) Flexible choice of industry standard hardware Does not require specialized skills 6
Simplifies and Automates Storage Management Per VM storage service levels from a single self-tuning datastore Per VM Storage Policies Policies set based on application needs Software automates control of service levels Capacity Storage Policy-Based Management Performance vsphere + VSAN SLAs Availability VSAN Shared Datastore No more LUNs! 7
VMware Virtual SAN Hardware Requirements
Hardware Requirements Any Server on the VMware Compatibility Guide SAS/SATA/PCIe SSD SAS/NL-SAS/SATA At least 1 of each 1Gb/10Gb NIC SAS/SATA Controllers (RAID Controllers must work in pass-through or RAID0 mode 4GB to 8GB USB, SD Cards, SATADOM SSD,, and Storage Controllers must be listed on the VMware Compatibility Guide for VSAN http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?devicecategory=vsan Minimum 3 ESXi 5.5 Hosts, Maximum Hosts I ll tell you later 9
Flash Based Devices In Virtual SAN ALL read and write operations always go directly to the Flash tier. Flash based devices serve two purposes in Virtual SAN 1. Non-volatile Write Buffer (30%) Writes are acknowledged when they enter prepare stage on SSD. Reduces latency for writes 2. Read Cache (70%) Cache hits reduces read latency Cache miss retrieve data from Choice of hardware is the #1 performance differentiator between Virtual SAN configurations. 10
Magnetic Disks () SAS/NL-SAS/SATA s supported 7200 RPM for capacity 10000 RPM for performance 15000 RPM for additional performance NL SAS will provide higher controller queue depth at same drive rotational speed and similar price point NL SAS recommended if choosing between SATA and NL SAS Differentiate performance between clusters with SSD selection, and SSD: ratio. Rule of thumb guideline is 10% of anticipated capacity usage 11
Storage Controllers SAS/SATA Storage Controllers Pass-through or RAID0 mode supported Performance using RAID0 mode is controller dependent Check with your vendor for SSD performance behind a RAID-controller Storage Controller Queue Depth matters Higher storage controller queue depth will increase performance Validate number of drives supported for each controller 12
Network 1Gb / 10Gb supported 10Gb shared with NIOC for QoS will support most environments If 1GB then recommend dedicated links for Virtual SAN Jumbo Frames will provide nominal performance increase Enable for greenfield deployments Virtual SAN supports both VSS & VDS NIOC requires VDS Nexus 1000v Should work but hasn't been fully tested Network bandwidth performance has more impact on host evacuation, rebuild times than on workload performance 13
VMware Compatibility Guide 14
Two Ways to Build a Virtual SAN Node Radically Simple Hypervisor-Converged Storage 1 VSAN Ready Node 2 Build your own Preconfigured server ready to use VSAN Choose individual components Any Server on vsphere Hardware Compatibility List Multi-level cell SSD (or better) or PCIe SSD SAS/NL-SAS Select SATA s with 10 different options between multiple 3 rd party vendors available at GA 6Gb enterprise-grade HBA/RAID Controller using the VSAN Compatibility Guide* * Note: For additional details, please refer to Virtual SAN VMware Compatibility Guide Page
VMware Virtual SAN Technical Characteristics and Architecture
Technical Characteristics Virtual SAN is a cluster level feature similar to: vsphere DRS vsphere HA Virtual SAN Deployed, configured and manage from vcenter through the vsphere Web Client (ONLY!). Radically simple Configure VMkernel interface for Virtual SAN Enable Virtual SAN by clicking Turn On 17
Virtual SAN Implementation Requirements Virtual SAN requires: Minimum of 3 hosts in a cluster configuration All 3 host MUST!!! contribute storage vsphere 5.5 U1 or later Locally attached disks Magnetic disks () Flash-based devices (SSD) vsphere 5.5 U1 Cluster local storage local storage local storage cluster Network connectivity 1GB Ethernet 10GB Ethernet (preferred) esxi-01 esxi-02 esxi-03 18
Storage Policy-based Management SPBM is a storage policy framework built into vsphere that enables virtual machine policy driven provisioning. Virtual SAN leverages this new framework in conjunction with VASA API s to expose storage characteristics to vcenter: Storage capabilities Underlying storage surfaces up to vcenter and what it is capable of offering. Virtual machine storage requirements Requirements can only be used against available capabilities. VM Storage Policies Construct that stores virtual machine s storage provisioning requirements based on storage capabilities. 19
Virtual SAN Constructs and Artifacts New Virtual SAN constructs, artifacts and terminologies: Disk Groups. VSAN Datastore. Objects. Components. Virtual SAN Network. 20
Virtual SAN Disk Groups Virtual SAN uses the concept of disk groups to pool together flash devices and magnetic disks as single management constructs. Disk groups are composed of at least 1 flash device and 1 magnetic disk. Flash devices are use for performance (Read cache + Write buffer). Magnetic disks are used for storage capacity. Disk groups cannot be created without a flash device. Each host: 5 disk groups max. Each disk group: 1 SSD + 1 to 7 s disk group disk group disk group disk group disk group 21
Virtual SAN Datastore Virtual SAN is an object store solution that is presented to vsphere as a file system. The object store mounts the VMFS volumes from all hosts in a cluster and presents them as a single shared datastore. Only members of the cluster can access the Virtual SAN datastore Not all hosts need to contribute storage, but its recommended. vsandatastore Each host: 5 disk groups max. Each disk group: 1 SSD + 1 to 7 s disk group disk group disk group disk group disk group VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network 22
Virtual SAN Objects Virtual SAN manages data in the form of flexible data containers called objects. virtual machine files are referred to as objects. Virtual machines files are referred to as objects. There are four different types of virtual machine objects: VM Home VM swap VMDK Snapshots Virtual machine objects are split into multiple components based on performance and availability requirements defined in VM Storage profile. disk group disk group disk group disk group VSAN network vsandatastore Each host: 5 disk groups max. Each disk group: 1 SSD + 1 to 7 s disk group VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network 23
Virtual SAN Components Virtual SAN components are chunks of objects distributes across multiple hosts in a cluster in order to tolerate simultaneous failures and meet performance requirements. Virtual SAN utilizes a Distributed RAID architecture to distribute data across the cluster. Components are distributed with the use of two main techniques: vsandatastore Striping (RAID0) Mirroring (RAID1) replica-1 RAID1 replica-2 disk group disk group disk group disk group disk group Number of component replicas and copies created is based on the object policy definition. VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network 24
Virtual SAN Network New Virtual SAN traffic VMkernel interface. Dedicated for Virtual SAN intra-cluster communication and data replication. Supports both Standard and Distributes vswitches Leverage NIOC for QoS in shared scenarios NIC teaming used for availability and not for bandwidth aggregation. Layer 2 Multicast must be enabled on physical switches. Much easier to manage and implement than Layer 3 Multicast uplink1 uplink2 vmk0 vmk1 vmk2 Management Virtual Machines vmotion Virtual SAN 20 shares 30 shares 50 shares 100 shares Distributed Switch 25
scale up Virtual SAN Scalable Architecture Scale up and Scale out architecture granular and linearly storage, performance and compute scaling capabilities Per magnetic disks for capacity Per flash based device for performance Per disk group for performance and capacity Per node for compute capacity vsandatastore disk group disk group disk group disk group disk group scale out VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network VSAN network 26
VMware Virtual SAN Interoperability Technologies and Products
Technology Interoperability Virtual SAN is fully integrated with many of VMware s storage and vsphere availability enterprise features. Supported Not applicable Future Virtual Machine Snapshots Storage IO Control (SIOC) 62 TB VMDKs vsphere HA Storage DRS vcops vsphere DRS Distributed Power Management (DPM) vmotion 28
Observing performance Monitor performance: Ruby vsphere Console & VSAN Observer In-depth monitoring of VSAN s physical disk layer performance, cache hit rates, latencies, etc.
Virtual SAN 5.5 Pricing And Packing Overview Virtual SAN Standalone edition Any workload License all CPUs in cluster Disk must be internal to host VSAN Editions and Bundles Virtual SAN with Data Protection Soft bundle of VSAN and VDPA Behaves like AK Same rules as standalone edition Virtual SAN for Desktop Standalone edition VDI only (VMware or Citrix) Concurrent or named Licensing Per CPU Per CPU Per User Price 2.178 Features 2.510 (Promo ends Sept 15 th 2014) Persistent data store Read / Write caching Policy-based Management Virtual Distributed Switch 48 Replication (vsphere Replication) Snapshots and clones (vsphere Snapshots & Clones) Backup (vsphere Data Protection Advanced) CONFIDENTIAL 30
DEMO! 31