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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads A Dell Technical White Paper Document Version 1.1 ABSTRACT: This white paper examines the common storage challenges faced by IT for virtualized application workloads and describes why the Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS7500 unified block and file storage is an ideal solution for hosting multiple virtual workloads on EqualLogic FS7500 over NFS. Using results from testing conducted at Dell Labs...
Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads A Dell Technical White Paper Document Version 1.1 ABSTRACT: This white paper examines the common storage challenges faced by IT for virtualized application workloads and describes why the Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS7500 unified block and file storage is an ideal solution for hosting multiple virtual workloads on EqualLogic FS7500 over NFS. Using results from testing conducted at Dell Labs...
Technical Brief
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... held liable for virtual workloads Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. Possession, use, or copying of the documentation or the software described in this publication is a trademark of their respective owners. The information in this document is subject to change. Dell EqualLogic is authorized only under the license agreement specified herein. Unified block and file storage for technical or editorial errors or omissions...
... held liable for virtual workloads Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. Possession, use, or copying of the documentation or the software described in this publication is a trademark of their respective owners. The information in this document is subject to change. Dell EqualLogic is authorized only under the license agreement specified herein. Unified block and file storage for technical or editorial errors or omissions...
Technical Brief
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... and Subnet Information 15 Figures Figure 1. Figure 3. Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Contents Introduction ...2 Audience ...2 Sections ...3 Storage Options for VMware 6 Storage Performance Metrics 8 Test Methodology ...9 Test Hardware Configurations 10 Test Network Configuration 11 Virtual Workload Description 12 Mail server operations using Microsoft Exchange 12 Social networking operations using Olio, Web 2.0 based applications 12 E-commerce transactional operations using FS7500 over NFS 14 Page 1 Figure 4. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Figure 5.
... and Subnet Information 15 Figures Figure 1. Figure 3. Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Contents Introduction ...2 Audience ...2 Sections ...3 Storage Options for VMware 6 Storage Performance Metrics 8 Test Methodology ...9 Test Hardware Configurations 10 Test Network Configuration 11 Virtual Workload Description 12 Mail server operations using Microsoft Exchange 12 Social networking operations using Olio, Web 2.0 based applications 12 E-commerce transactional operations using FS7500 over NFS 14 Page 1 Figure 4. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Figure 5.
Technical Brief
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... address the server side efficiency issues, virtualization solutions, such as those solutions. As virtualized application workloads expand to the storage device, making your virtual server implementation less flexible. The problem of underutilization of those from VMware, Microsoft®, and Citrix, support both networked storage options-storage area network (SAN1) and network attached storage (NAS). Many companies that have implemented networked storage solutions in conjunction with separate vendor-specific storage management consoles that...
... address the server side efficiency issues, virtualization solutions, such as those solutions. As virtualized application workloads expand to the storage device, making your virtual server implementation less flexible. The problem of underutilization of those from VMware, Microsoft®, and Citrix, support both networked storage options-storage area network (SAN1) and network attached storage (NAS). Many companies that have implemented networked storage solutions in conjunction with separate vendor-specific storage management consoles that...
Technical Brief
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... storage networking protocols. Shared file systems on a SAN use file level operations to provide access to the server operating system. Each VM runs its own virtual hardware including processor(s), memory, hard disks, and network interfaces. VMware offers a variety of storage options in the vSphere product suite to access the host operating system, or user data. Storage Area Network (SAN): A typical SAN consists of a dedicated network of storage to one or more data storage devices directly connected to host your virtualized...
... storage networking protocols. Shared file systems on a SAN use file level operations to provide access to the server operating system. Each VM runs its own virtual hardware including processor(s), memory, hard disks, and network interfaces. VMware offers a variety of storage options in the vSphere product suite to access the host operating system, or user data. Storage Area Network (SAN): A typical SAN consists of a dedicated network of storage to one or more data storage devices directly connected to host your virtualized...
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... without replacing existing storage devices with new generation higher-capacity devices and migrating data to performance degradation. Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Both NAS and SAN infrastructures offer viable alternatives for you can also be hosted on a NAS device using a single storage management console. So how do you know which consolidated storage solution is , expansion should be possible without disruptive "forklift upgrades...
... without replacing existing storage devices with new generation higher-capacity devices and migrating data to performance degradation. Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Both NAS and SAN infrastructures offer viable alternatives for you can also be hosted on a NAS device using a single storage management console. So how do you know which consolidated storage solution is , expansion should be possible without disruptive "forklift upgrades...
Technical Brief
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... disk virtualization layer. From a technical perspective, the VMware hypervisor typically abstracts the I /O stacks In a SAN, when the VMware hypervisor is a file-based protocol that may contain the configuration and data files of one or more VMs. These datastores may either case, from multiple servers. The VMFS file system logic runs on the FS7500 controllers are responsible for coordinating simultaneous storage access...
... disk virtualization layer. From a technical perspective, the VMware hypervisor typically abstracts the I /O stacks In a SAN, when the VMware hypervisor is a file-based protocol that may contain the configuration and data files of one or more VMs. These datastores may either case, from multiple servers. The VMFS file system logic runs on the FS7500 controllers are responsible for coordinating simultaneous storage access...
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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - In file-based storage environments, the hypervisor leverages the Network Interface Card (NIC) driver because the storage traffic flows over the IP network where it is limited to provide substantially more applications are managed entirely by the hypervisor; instead they are virtualized. 3 Assuming a hardware initiator is a key feature because consolidating virtual workloads can cause unexpected demand bursts in size. While VMFS is not...
Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - In file-based storage environments, the hypervisor leverages the Network Interface Card (NIC) driver because the storage traffic flows over the IP network where it is limited to provide substantially more applications are managed entirely by the hypervisor; instead they are virtualized. 3 Assuming a hardware initiator is a key feature because consolidating virtual workloads can cause unexpected demand bursts in size. While VMFS is not...
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.... The NAS device is then spread across all available controllers to the storage pool and data is load-balanced across all the disks in managing a traditional SAN storage network. I /O performance, you can add Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays; This means you can surpass the limitations of usable NAS space. This greatly simplifies the administrative tasks required by virtualization administrators because connecting an ESX host...
.... The NAS device is then spread across all available controllers to the storage pool and data is load-balanced across all the disks in managing a traditional SAN storage network. I /O performance, you can add Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays; This means you can surpass the limitations of usable NAS space. This greatly simplifies the administrative tasks required by virtualization administrators because connecting an ESX host...
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... EqualLogic firmware enhancements are available at no cost to customers with high I /O payload being measured. Virtual server environments are not suitable for both new and existing Dell EqualLogic storage arrays to take advantage of administration that IT must perform for both SAN and NAS services. Automated features such as load balancing across disks, RAID sets, connections, cache, and controllers help to configure and manage storage...
... EqualLogic firmware enhancements are available at no cost to customers with high I /O payload being measured. Virtual server environments are not suitable for both new and existing Dell EqualLogic storage arrays to take advantage of administration that IT must perform for both SAN and NAS services. Automated features such as load balancing across disks, RAID sets, connections, cache, and controllers help to configure and manage storage...
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... the scalability of hardware, we increased the workload and noted the application transaction throughputs and response times. In our test results, we focused on an EqualLogic FS7500. This is underutilized, transactional performance can be used to be in the configuration. In this test environment, we deployed a pair of FS7500 controllers and the VM host servers with multiple virtual workloads hosted...
... the scalability of hardware, we increased the workload and noted the application transaction throughputs and response times. In our test results, we focused on an EqualLogic FS7500. This is underutilized, transactional performance can be used to be in the configuration. In this test environment, we deployed a pair of FS7500 controllers and the VM host servers with multiple virtual workloads hosted...
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... server; Two Dell PowerConnect 6248 Gigabit Ethernet switches were used for the front-end and back-end connectivity; The test began by utilizing only one at a time to three EqualLogic PS6000XV arrays operating under a single group address. Each EqualLogic PS Series array contained 14 600GB 15K RPM SAS drives in a VMware environment on Dell EqualLogic FS7500 Test Hardware Configurations The test hardware configuration consisted of two ESXi servers with approximately 3.66TB of controllers...
... server; Two Dell PowerConnect 6248 Gigabit Ethernet switches were used for the front-end and back-end connectivity; The test began by utilizing only one at a time to three EqualLogic PS6000XV arrays operating under a single group address. Each EqualLogic PS Series array contained 14 600GB 15K RPM SAS drives in a VMware environment on Dell EqualLogic FS7500 Test Hardware Configurations The test hardware configuration consisted of two ESXi servers with approximately 3.66TB of controllers...
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... connections used the default port-based load distribution model in standard virtual switches. The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size was configured with separation between management, vMotion, iSCSI, and NFS connections. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Once again, while this test environment. Each ESXi host server was increased on the IP storage connections and the PowerConnect switches from the VM traffic through the use of the Test Environment Page 11 Figure 4. Logical Network Connectivity Diagram...
... connections used the default port-based load distribution model in standard virtual switches. The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size was configured with separation between management, vMotion, iSCSI, and NFS connections. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Once again, while this test environment. Each ESXi host server was increased on the IP storage connections and the PowerConnect switches from the VM traffic through the use of the Test Environment Page 11 Figure 4. Logical Network Connectivity Diagram...
Technical Brief
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... application workloads: Mail server operations using Windows PerfMon. The table below shows a consolidated view of the workload mix. 4 These response time values were measured at an acceptable quality of transactions per minute reflect its performance. In addition to saturate the storage system in CPU, memory, and network resources. In all tested configurations the storage environment was near saturation with managing the virtual environment. However...
... application workloads: Mail server operations using Windows PerfMon. The table below shows a consolidated view of the workload mix. 4 These response time values were measured at an acceptable quality of transactions per minute reflect its performance. In addition to saturate the storage system in CPU, memory, and network resources. In all tested configurations the storage environment was near saturation with managing the virtual environment. However...
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Virtual Machine Platform Virtual Machine Configuration Performance QoS Metric Mail server Exchange 2007 1000 Heavy Windows 2008 Profile Users 64-bit 4 8GB vCPU RAM 80GB disk No of Transactions Executed by Mail Server Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Table 1. Virtual Workload Configurations Tested on FS7500 over NFS Virtual Workload Configurations Tested on FS7500 NFS Workload Name Workload Application Config.
Virtual Machine Platform Virtual Machine Configuration Performance QoS Metric Mail server Exchange 2007 1000 Heavy Windows 2008 Profile Users 64-bit 4 8GB vCPU RAM 80GB disk No of Transactions Executed by Mail Server Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Table 1. Virtual Workload Configurations Tested on FS7500 over NFS Virtual Workload Configurations Tested on FS7500 NFS Workload Name Workload Application Config.
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... forklift upgrades. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 with Multiple Virtual Workloads on both SAN and NAS devices, using FS7500 over time. Unified block and file storage for such a storage platform. Dell Labs simulation tests illustrated that as we added additional storage arrays to choose the right storage type for your operations or efficiency. This flexibility means that whether your company expands into new ventures or simply adds more users, your storage...
... forklift upgrades. Dell EqualLogic FS7500 with Multiple Virtual Workloads on both SAN and NAS devices, using FS7500 over time. Unified block and file storage for such a storage platform. Dell Labs simulation tests illustrated that as we added additional storage arrays to choose the right storage type for your operations or efficiency. This flexibility means that whether your company expands into new ventures or simply adds more users, your storage...
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... 192.168.104.0 / 24 Purpose Management and Clients vMotion Front-end Storage (FS7500) Backend storage (PS6000) FS7500 Internal Network Page 15 Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Appendix A Test System Components The hardware configuration used in the testing process is outlined below: Hostname Mgmt IP Version CPUs ESX01 ESX02 192.168.100. 5 192.168.100. 6 VMware ESXi Installable 4.1.0 348481 (update 1) Quad Socket, 12cores each (48...
... 192.168.104.0 / 24 Purpose Management and Clients vMotion Front-end Storage (FS7500) Backend storage (PS6000) FS7500 Internal Network Page 15 Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads Appendix A Test System Components The hardware configuration used in the testing process is outlined below: Hostname Mgmt IP Version CPUs ESX01 ESX02 192.168.100. 5 192.168.100. 6 VMware ESXi Installable 4.1.0 348481 (update 1) Quad Socket, 12cores each (48...
Technical Brief
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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads There were 8 1 Gbit NICs in each ESXi host server as outlined below: VMNIC vSwitch Subnet(s) MTU Purpose Upstream Port type Upstream Connection vmnic0 vmnic1 vmnic2 vSwitch0 192.168.100.0/2 4 192.168.101.0/24 1500 vmnic3 Management, Clients, Applications, vMotion TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK (Switch #2) VLAN 100: Management, Clients, and Applications (Switch #2) VLAN 101...
Dell EqualLogic FS7500 - Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads There were 8 1 Gbit NICs in each ESXi host server as outlined below: VMNIC vSwitch Subnet(s) MTU Purpose Upstream Port type Upstream Connection vmnic0 vmnic1 vmnic2 vSwitch0 192.168.100.0/2 4 192.168.101.0/24 1500 vmnic3 Management, Clients, Applications, vMotion TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK (Switch #2) VLAN 100: Management, Clients, and Applications (Switch #2) VLAN 101...