STO4650-QT - Five Common Customer Use Cases for Virtual SAN Duncan Epping – Chief Technologist Lee Dilworth – Principal SE
STO4650-QT - Five Common Customer Use Cases for Virtual SAN
Duncan Epping – Chief TechnologistLee Dilworth – Principal SE
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Agenda• Introduction (Duncan)
• Five Common Customer Use Cases for Virtual SAN1. Production (Lee)2. Management Cluster (Duncan)3. ROBO Deployment (Lee)4. DMZ / Isolation (Duncan)5. Development Platform (Lee)
• Q&A (if time permits)
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We need to transform storage the way we transformed compute
Fast and Simple Provisioning Application-Centric Control Memory
CPU
Memory
CPU
Automated Self-Tuning
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The hypervisor is best positioned
(1) Gartner Market Trends: x86 Server Virtualization, Worldwide, 2013
Why the Hypervisor:
• Over 70% of x86 server workloads are virtualized1
• It’s inherently app-aware
• Sits directly in the I/O path
• Has global view of underlying storage resources
• It’s hardware agnostic
vSphere
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VMware Virtual SAN
• Storage scale out architecture built into the hypervisor– 3 node minimum
• Aggregates locally attached storage from each ESXi host in a cluster– Flash + Magnetic Disk or Flash + Flash
• Dynamic capacity and performance scalability
• Flash optimized storage solution
• Fully integrated with vSphere and interoperable:• vMotion, DRS, HA, VDP, VR …
• VM-centric data operations
vSphere + Virtual SAN
…
Magnetic Devices
Flash Devices
Magnetic Devices
Flash Devices
Magnetic Devices
Flash Devices
Virtual SAN Datastore
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Two Ways to Implement VMware Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
• 50+ validated server configurations
• Jointly recommended by VMware and Server OEM
• Ready for Virtual SAN deployment
• Build your own SDDC by adding VMware software components
Virtual SAN Ready Node / BYO
Certified Hardware
Flexibility Ease of Use
• Pre-integrated and pre-configured software with certified partner H/W
• Software to simplify deployment, configuration and lifecycle management
• vSphere, Virtual SAN and management software included
EVO Family
Integrated Systems
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Yes… really simple!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– Radically simple
• Configure VMkernel interface for Virtual SAN• Enable Virtual SAN by clicking Turn On
Use Case 1: Production
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Production• VSAN isn’t just for VDI or Test/Dev
• Most of our customers run Production and even Mission Critical workloads on VSAN– MS Exchange / SQL– Oracle– SAP– Billing Systems (6-7 million customers!)
• Physical system runs for 22 hours• Virtual system on traditional storage 14 hours • Virtual system on VSAN 3 hours!
• Growth pattern unknown? VSAN scales up and out!
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Production – Typical Design• In production most used is a 2U server platform
• 256 / 384GB and 2 x 10 core Intel (v3) CPU
• Two disk groups is typical per server
• Per disk group:– Disk controller SAS Expander– 400GB flash for read/write cache– 6 magnetic disks per disk group
• Most customers use SAS
• Note, more than 8 disks? SAS Expander!• Those who use NL-SAS buy more flash!
• 2 x 10GbE
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Many customers run production workloads on Virtual SAN
Use Case 2: Management Cluster
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Management Cluster• Typical 1U form factor, or 2U / 4 Node
• Perfect fit for VSAN
• “Externally” hosted Management Cluster– Not running on components you are managing
• Typically small clusters of 3 or 4 hosts
• Use of single CPU hosts not uncommon– Reduces cost
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Management Cluster• Typically small clusters of 3 or 4 hosts
– Take maintenance mode in to account!
• Use of single CPU hosts not uncommon– Reduces cost (not just hardware, but also licenses!)
• 64GB / 96GB memory
• Single disk group– 200GB Flash– 5 x 1TB (NL-SAS)
• 2 x 10GbE
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But how do I run vCenter on VSAN before I have vCenter?• Bootstrapping method 1
– Local VMFS move to VSAN using Storage vMotion
• Bootstrapping method 2– Create VSAN using esxcli
• Change the default VSAN policy to set “Force Provisioning” to 1• Tag all the local devices accordingly (Is Local: true / Is SSD: true / false)• Create a new VSAN cluster using “esxcli vsan cluster new”• Add disks to the cluster using “esxcli vsan storage add”• Deploy vCenter to VSAN using the C# Client
Read all about it on VirtuallyGhetto.com: http://bit.ly/1m3cO5o
Use Case 3: ROBO Deployments
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ROBO Deployments• Virtual SAN very popular for ROBO
• No need for dedicated storage appliance, leverage local disk slots– Lowers overall power and cooling requirements
• Easy to manage, no special skills required
• Can be managed centrally!– You are not stretching the cluster, just managing remotely
• Virtual SAN can run “headless”, network down to main site does not impact workload!
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ROBO Deployments• Typically small clusters of 3 hosts
• Use of single CPU hosts not uncommon– Reduces cost
• 64GB / 96GB
• Single disk group– 200GB Flash– 3-5 x 1TB (NL-SAS)
• 4 x 1GbE– Create multiple VMkernel interfaces for VSAN or..– Use IP-Hash (requires specific switch configuration!)
Use Case 4: DMZ / Isolation
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DMZ / Isolation• Customers today typically run fully isolated except shared storage
• Buying a separate array for just DMZ is too expensive
• Smaller arrays do simply often not offer same performance or features
• Very common use case for VSAN, as it will offer full isolation!
• Examples: Mini data center on Trains, Oil Platforms, Boats…
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DMZ / Isolation• 1U or 2U/4 Node systems
• Configuration greatly varies depending on VM requirements
• Interesting configuration I’ve seen:– All-flash VSAN
• Lower power consumption• Minimize moving parts• And a great performance…• Dell FX2 System with FC430 Compute and FD332 Storage Blades
– Networking, 10GbE switch, in the box!
Use Case 5: Development Platform
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Development Platform• Programmatically accessed
• Differentiate through policies instead of tiers
• Fast provisioning, agile, and no impact on production
• Running next to the traditional infrastructure
• Extend existing platform to meet “different” needs
• Front-end VSAN/vSphere with VIO, vCloud Director, vRealize Automation
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