Rapid Provisioning Cutting Deployment Times with INFINIDAT s Host PowerTools Abstract Today s storage environment, in which the storage administrator handles each and every task, is not scalable. It takes too much of the storage administrator s time to perform daily, mundane tasks, often at the expense of handling the big picture. It also creates organizational traffic jams when the application administrators need to provision storage for a new application, or add storage for an existing application. A new paradigm is required. In this new paradigm, the storage administrator sets rules and boundaries to maintain overall control of the storage. At the same time, the applications administrators get tools that enable them to quickly, easily and automatically provision storage for their own needs (within the set boundaries). These tools enable the application administrators to perform standard tasks without having any knowledge in storage, while the tools make sure they can t cause harm. INFINIDAT makes this futuristic paradigm into a reality, with its InfiniBox storage system and Host PowerTools management tool.
Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Executive Summary... 3 Current complexity of defining new storage... 3 The ideal IT model... 4 INFINIDAT s solution... 5 The new provisioning process... 5 Initial configuration... 5 The dashboard... 8 Registering the host in the storage system... 9 Deploying a new LUN... 10 Resizing an existing LUN... 12 Conclusion... 14 Appendix A - Installing Host PowerTools... 15
Introduction Executive Summary Today s storage administrator operates a larger and more complex environment than ever, coupled with rapidly changing business requirements. This environment consists of many applications that rely on the organization s storage for their ongoing operations. New applications are frequently being added, and require storage allocation; existing applications generate increasing amounts of data, and need additional storage. The application administrators are chasing the storage administrator, to get service for their respective applications. The storage administrator is perceived an expert on all things storage-related. He is supposed to handle each and every storage task, with the storage-specific tools developed by various vendors. These tools traditionally focused on assisting the storage admin with storage systems internals; the tools gave less weight to simplifying the storage-related tasks, and automating the tasks themselves. Challenges Storage Administrator needs to handle multiple tools Current storage tools require extensive manual work Complex tools prevent Storage Administrators from delegating common tasks to application administrators This current state of affairs calls for a paradigm shift. Today s storage administrators need tools that enable them to support an increasingly agile and time sensitive business environment; tools that would simplify daily tasks, reduce the time required to setup new applications / environments, and prevent misconfigurations that lead to downtime. In addition, these tools should enable the storage administrator to delegate many common tasks to the application administrators, allowing them to self-service their respective applications, while the storage administrator still maintains overall control on the storage environment. INFINIDAT s Host PowerTools is focused on doing exactly that allowing storage administrators to stop handling many of the daily, routine tasks that take so much of their valuable time. The alternative that Host PowerTools offers is a service oriented provisioning environment, allowing storage administrators to focus their time on strategic storage activities and overall supervision of the storage environment. Note: Many storage teams have existing procedures for allocating new capacity from the storage system, and then having the application administrator scan for the new SCSI device, build a file system and mount it. While we endorse the simpler approach of doing everything from a single place (as demonstrated in this white paper), we fully support both methodologies. Current complexity of defining new storage Fiber Channel (FC) is the leading storage protocol. It has many advantages, such as high bandwidth, low latency and excellent scalability. However, it requires multiple configurations on the host, fabric and storage side, in order to get things run properly; this is also where most mistakes happen, and one of the main reasons for significant downtime every year among many organizations. The complexity involved in provisioning a single LUN of 1TB to a freshly installed host can be demonstrated by the following, which lists the required steps:
Provisioning challenges Long, complex and manual process Multiple places for errors that would lead to downtime A time consuming provisioning process has a business cost 1. Configure the host according to storage vendor s best practices. This may include: Multipath configuration Drivers compatibility Firmware version System settings 2. Storage side provisioning: Create multiple LUNs to host the data, taking into account: i. Maximum supported LUN size ii. Applying the same settings to all LUNs Aggregate the LUNs into a single virtual device Map the new virtual LUN to a specific storage controller / processor, taking into account: i. Determining which storage controller / processor is connected to which physical fabric ii. Load balancing across all controllers / processors iii. Address ranges iv. Activating all relevant configuration flags on the storage controller / processor 3. Collect host side configuration: This includes the host name and the World Wide Port Names (WWPNs) to be connected to the storage 4. Create masking on the storage system, including: Host s WWPNs Storage controller / processor Virtual LUN you created 5. On the host: Scan for new SCSI devices Create a file system on the new SCSI device Mount the new file system As can be seen, this is a long and time consuming process, which has to be repeated with every new host installed in the environment. The ideal IT model As IT becomes a business enabler, IT teams are expected to get new applications provisioned quickly, enabling the business to gain a competitive edge. Storage teams need to provision storage faster, and then hand it over to the next team, that will get the applications running. This inter-team dependency is the root cause for many delays in application provisioning, even in virtual environments. A new approach is required in order to reduce time to deployment. In an ideal world, an application administrator would be able to provision new storage for a new application, under some prior rules set by the storage administrator. The application
A change of paradigm Storage administrator creates overall policies and oversees entire storage Application administrators empowered to provision their own storage, within policy guidelines Provisioning process is fully automated, requiring no technical storage background, and is completed in 1-2 minutes Intelligent Host PowerTools performs all the process and guards against mistakes administrator will not need to depend on the storage administrator for every action, especially when new capacity is provisioned in order to expand an existing application. On the other hand, the storage administrator would still have control over the storage, via tools that help prevent storage sprawl and unnecessary waste of capacity. INFINIDAT s solution INFINIDAT s vision is for an empowered IT staff, where storage administrators enable application administrators to provision storage for their own applications. At the same time, the storage administrators maintain control and overall responsibility over the storage environment. This vision is achieved by changing the paradigm of storage allocation; rather than provisioning every single LUN, the storage administrator sets maximal capacities for each application, allowing the application administrators to provision LUNs for their own applications. To protect the application administrators from provisioning LUNs incorrectly, INFINIDAT provides a set of host side tools that help in provisioning storage without requiring any knowledge of the underlying storage infrastructure, which leads to increased productivity and satisfaction among application administrators. To further simplify the process, INFINIDAT s RAID, InfiniRAID stripes every single LUN across every single disk in the system, so no storage layout configuration is required. Note: Host PowerTools is a management tools. It is not a part of the data path, it is not an agent, and it is not a prerequisite for working with InfiniBox. This means you can enjoy the benefits of simpler management without the risk or CPU overhead of a driver / agent. The new provisioning process Compared to the provisioning process presented above, INFINIDAT s Host PowerTools offers a substantially simpler approach: 1) The Storage administrator creates a pool for the application, defines its maximal capacity and assigns the application administrator with a user that has limited privileges 2) The application administrator creates the LUN(s) inside the pool, without depending on the storage administrator (up to the pool s boundaries) Note: The remaining steps, which exist in traditional storage provisioning (e.g. create the file system, scan for a new SCSI device, create mapping on the storage side, etc.) are all performed automatically by Host PowerTools. The entire provision process end-to-end takes 1-2 minutes The next chapter will take you step-by-step through task 2 above, and Appendix A takes you through the simple installation of Host PowerTools Initial configuration
When starting Host PowerTools, it automatically checks the host and compares its running configuration to INFINIDAT s best practices. If the host doesn t comply with one or more requirements, a popup window is displayed on top of the main dashboard, warning the user that the host is not ready to work with InfiniBox:
Host PowerTools When the user clicks OK, the system presents full details of the current configuration and how it aligns with best practices. Below is the Host readiness analysis output: Automatically performs a full Host Readiness Analysis Shows all changes that need to be made, asks for permission, and performs all changes by itself The user clicks the Start button (not shown in the screenshot) to apply all the required changes, and then clicks Done to go back to the dashboard and resume normal work. If the system finds an issue that requires the user to take action (can t be auto-fixed), it will provide detailed information about the issue and a link to a knowledgebase article that offers more details and guidance on what needs to be done. In a case where the user is on a secure network and the links can t be opened (no internet access), Host PowerTools can translate the links to QR codes, enabling the user to scan the QR code using a smartphone and instantly read the required KB article.
Dashboard Some host side settings require a reboot. This means that Host PowerTools performed the configuration, but the server is not yet ready to be used in production. To make sure the user is aware of the server s state, should a reboot be required, the system displays the following message: User just needs to choose the type of action needed All choices are presented via a friendly GUI interface HostPowerTools performs all the processes with the host, in the background The dashboard The dashboard appears once the host has all the correct settings. The dashboard provides the user with two main functionalities: 1) Receive information on current configuration of storage systems, LUNs and mappings 2) Perform any of the operations supported by Host PowerTools, such as: a. Provision a new LUN b. Resize an existing LUN c. Register on a new storage system d. Remove a LUN completely from the host e. Add labels to existing LUNs f. Take a snapshot of an existing LUN g. Recover a LUN from a snapshot h. Create and mount a file system in an existing LUN
The dashboard is organized by storage system at the first level, and then all the underlying configurations per storage system (LUNs, LUN Mappings, etc.), as seen below: Host Registration No manual registration of WWNs HostPowerTools automatically identifies all InfiniBox systems in its vicinity and displays them Registering the host in the storage system The process of gaining access to the storage (and be able to provision new capacity) is called registration. Once installed, Host PowerTools automatically identifies all InfiniBox systems in its vicinity, and displays them on the dashboard, to simplify the registration process. This doesn t mean that every host installed with Host PowerTools can start allocating new LUNs (security permission are required), but rather that the administrator doesn t need to manually type the details for each separate system. The registration is achieved by simply clicking the Register Host button:
Simplified provisioning Minimal manual data entry, HostPowerTools find the optimal configuration for the LUN Simple, clean GUI to perform all tasks on multiple storage systems All operations are subject to the storage policy set by the storage administrator The registration process creates a new host record on InfiniBox, associates its WWPNs and updates InfiniBox with the host s properties such as operating system, versions etc. Upon completing registration, the storage administrator is asked to set credentials that will determine access to some or all of the storage pools in that specific InfiniBox. Hosts can only provision capacity if they meet all of the following requirements: 1) Successfully logged in to the storage 2) Has access to one or more pools 3) The pool in which the admin is trying to provision has enough free space to contain the LUN (This requirement is applicable only to thick-provisioned LUNs) Deploying a new LUN Deploying a new LUN or expanding an existing LUN is a common task, due to scenarios such as: A database growing beyond its current capacity A new database instance is provisioned for a DB server, requiring separate LUNs A VMware farm that requires a new datastore to grow A VM that needs an RDM An Exchange server requiring a new mailbox for growth or for archiving In each of the above scenarios, a new LUN will be provisioned, and sometimes more than one LUN. It s important to simplify this common task, so that it consumes as little time as possible. From the Host PowerTools dashboard, the admin sees all the LUNs currently provisioned on every storage machine (in the screenshot below, four LUNs are already provisioned on InfiniBox system box-ci09 ): For every storage system on the dashboard, the admin simply clicks the New button to provision a new LUN, or the "Resize" button to expand an existing LUN.
Host PowerTools asks for a minimal number of details, required to provision the new LUN. Once provided, Host PowerTools performs all the storage-side tasks, as well as the host-side tasks required to complete the operation:
Once all the details are provided, click Continue (screenshot above) and Host PowerTools will show details on the steps it is about to perform. Click the Start button (not shown here) to initiate the provisioning process; Host PowerTools will provide details on its progress: Resizing - simplified Adding capacity on the fly Choose specific LUN from dashboard and click Resize button Set new size for the chosen LUN You re done. All storage side and OS side configurations are performed automatically by HostPowerTools That s it the job is done! A new LUN named SQL-Prod-01 is already mounted to H:\ on the host, with an NTFS file system already created (as this is a Windows server). Resizing an existing LUN Now that the LUN was created, it is used to store data. It s possible that over time, the data grows and uses nearly all of the LUN s capacity, and the admin will need to increase its size. Increasing a LUN s size is a simple, two step operation: 1) From the dashboard, locate the specific LUN. In the Actions section, click the Resize button:
2) In the popup window, set a new size for that LUN:
Conclusion The InfiniBox storage system, coupled with Host PowerTools management system, set new standards for ease of installation and ease of use. It was built with one goal in mind to automate as many daily processes as possible, allowing an application administrator, novice to storage systems, to provision new storage for a new application, or increase the storage allocation for an existing application. The knowledge needed to perform these tasks is minimal, and the management system supervises that the activities performed do not cause any harm to the storage environment. The storage administrator still maintains overall control over the storage environment, by setting rules and boundaries, within which the application administrators can work. The latter cannot get additional storage, beyond the boundaries set. By automating these daily tasks and allowing their delegation, INFINIDAT enables the storage administrator to concentrate on strategic activities related to the organization s storage environment, as well as overall supervision.
Appendix A - Installing Host PowerTools When building Host PowerTools, we gave special attention to ease of installation and ease of use. The only input needed during the installation process is to define the installation location.
With these 5 simple clicks the installation is complete and you re ready to start working!
Copyright May 2014 This document is current as of the date of publication and may be changed by INFINIDAT at any time. Not all offerings are available in every country in which INFINIDAT operates. The data discussed herein is presented as derived under specific operating conditions. Actual results may vary. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. INFINIDAT products are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided. INFINIDAT, The INFINIDAT logo, InfiniBox, InfiniRAID, InfiniSnap, Host PowerTools, and any other applicable product trademarks are registered trademarks or trademarks of in the United States and other countries. Other product and service names might be trademarks of INFINIDAT or other companies. A current list of INFINIDAT trademarks is available online at http://www.infinidat.com/legal/trademarks/ Please Recycle INFINIDAT USA WEB. 35 Highland Circle, S304 www.infinidat.com Needham, MA, 02494 www.izbox.com Tel. +1855 900 INFI Tel. +972 9 970 4000