Post on 25-Jul-2020
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
TheChallenges
Today’scompetitivelandscapedemandshighlevelsofapplicationanddataavailabilityacrosstheenterprise.But
providingfor“alwayson”productivity,especiallyinadistributedenterprisewithmultipleremotelocations,isnotan
easytask.Theadditionalhardwareandmanagementrequiredarenotonlyexpensive,buttheyalsocomplicatetheIT
landscape.Mostorganizationsarelookingforwaystodeliverwhatthebusinessneedswithouttheadditionalcostsand
headaches.
RecentESGresearchbearsthisout.AsFigure1shows,whenaskedwhatconsiderationsweremostimportantfor
justifyingITinvestments,35%ofESGresearchrespondentschoseROI,32%selectedbusinessprocessimprovement,and
27%indicatedreductioninOpEx.1OrganizationsarewillingtoinvestinITsolutionsthatprovideagoodreturnwhile
improvingbusinessprocessesandreducingcosts.
Figure1.TopFiveMostImportantCriteriainJustifyingITInvestments
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016.
Veryoften,remotelocations(forexample,retailoutletsoflargechains)areanorganization’sclosestlinktocustomers,
makingtheirapplicationanddataavailabilityessentialtomaximizingrevenueandlimitingliability.Applicationsatthe
business’sremotesitesareoftencritical,andtryingtokeepthemupandrunningcontinuouslywhileworkingtoreduce
costsisanongoingstruggle.
1Source:ESGResearchReport,2016ITSpendingIntentionsSurvey,January2016.
22%
27%
32%
35%
39%
Improvedregulatorycompliance
Reduc[oninopera[onalexpenditures(i.e.,labor,u[li[es,materialsandotherongoingcostsassociatedwith
opera[nganapplica[on,system,orbusinessprocess)
Businessprocessimprovement
Returnoninvestment
Improvedsecurity/riskmanagement
Whichofthefollowingconsidera4onsdoyoubelievewillbemostimportantinjus4fying
ITinvestmentstoyourorganiza4on’sbusinessmanagementteamoverthenext12
months?(Percentofrespondents,N=633,threeresponsesaccepted)
ESGLabReview
StorMagicSvSAN
Date:February2016Author:MikeLeone,ESGLabAnalystandAvivKaufmann,ESGLabAnalyst
Abstract: This ESG Lab Review documents hands-on testing of StorMagic SvSAN with a focus on the simple and
flexible deployment and management capabilities for distributed organizations with a large number of remote
locations.HighavailabilityandhybridSSDcachingperformancewerealsotested,withagoalofunderstandingthe
valueStorMagicSvSANcanprovidewhencomparedwithtraditionalstoragesolutionsfordistributedenvironments.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN2
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
TheSolution:StorMagicSvSAN
StorMagicSvSANisavirtualized,software-definedsharedstorageplatformdesignedtohelpdistributedenterprisestake
advantageofthehigh-endfeaturesofsharedstorage(suchashighavailabilityandworkloadmobility)withoutthe
addedhardwareandmanagementexpense.
SvSANusesserver-basedstorage(internalordirect-attached)tocreatesynchronouslymirrored,virtualizedstorage
poolsacrosstwoormoreclusteredservers,keepingapplicationsanddatahighlyavailable.AVirtualStorageAppliance
(VSA)iscreatedoneachserverandoperatesasavirtualiSCSISAN.Intheeventofserverfailure,theotherserversinthe
clustercontinuetosupportdataserviceswithoutinterruption.SvSANalsosupportsstretchclusteringacrossdistances
thathavebeentestedupto100kmforaddedresiliency.
Figure2.StorMagicSvSAN
BenefitsofanSvSANdeploymentinclude:
• Theabilitytomaintainapplicationuptimeanddataavailabilitywithouttheexpenseandmanagementof
SAN/NASarrays.
• LowerCapEx,withlesshardware(aminimumof2ratherthan3servers)andnoSAN/NASinfrastructure
required.Organizationscanleverageexistingserverstodeliversharedstorage.
• LowerOpEx,includinglesscomplexity,whicheliminatestheneedforonsiteITstafforspecializedstorage
skills;andreducedfloorspace/power/cooling/maintenancecosts.
• Asoftware-based,server-hardwareagnosticsolutionthatissimpletodeployandmanage,includingremote
deploymentandprovisioning.
• SupportforVMwarevSphereandMicrosoftHyper-Vhypervisors.
• IntegrationwithVMwarevCenterandMicrosoftSystemCenter.
• ScalabilitybysimplyaddingstoragecapacitytotheonsiteserverstoexpandthevirtualSAN.
• Simplecapacity-basedlicensing.
SvSANmakesremotelocationhighavailabilitysimpleandcosteffective,andcanquicklysolvetheproblemoflost
revenuethatstemsfromplannedorunplanneddowntimeforbusiness-criticalremoteapplications.Insteadofhavingto
buildaSANateverylocationandhaveITstaffavailabletomanageit,distributedlocationssimplyneedtwoserverswith
internalorDASstorage,andSvSANsoftware.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN3
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Othervirtualscale-outstoragesolutionsrequirethreeservers:twoformirroringdata,andathirdtoserveasa“tie-
breaker”incaseswhenwriteshavebeencommittedtooneserverbutnottheother.Thisquorumserveristhearbiterof
whichserverintheclusterhasthecorrectdata.AsshowninFigure3,SvSANeliminatestheneedforhavingthethird
serveron-premisesbyprovidingacentralizedquorumservice,calledtheneutralstoragehostservice(NSH).TheNSH
canbedeployedonphysicalorvirtualWindowsorLinuxmachinesthatareaccessiblebyallremotesites.TheNSHwas
designedtouseminimalnetworkbandwidth,anditcantolerateahighlatencynetworkandsurvivenetworkdowntime.
AsinglesharedserverrunningtheNSHservicecanprovidequorumforthousandsofSvSANs,replacingtheneedto
deploythousandsoflocalizedquorumservers.Alternatively,theNSHcanbeinstalledonthevCenterServerAppliance
(vCSA).WiththereleaseofSvSAN5.3,StorMagicalsonowprovidesanNSHapplianceforVMwaredeployedasanOVF.
ThisisacutdownversionoftheVSA,designedtoprovidequorum.Itusesthesameupgrademechanismandfirmware,
isselfcontained,requiringnoadditionalOSorlicenses,andhasverylightweightsystemrequirements.
Figure3.On-premisesHardwareRequirementsforTraditionalDistributedEnvironmentsVersusStorMagicSvSAN
GettingStarted
ESGLabperformedremotehands-onevaluationandtestingofStorMagic’sSvSANfromitsfacilityintheUnited
Kingdom.Testingfocusedoneaseofdeployment,manageability,andhighavailabilityforlarge,geographically
distributedenterprises.Throughoutthetesting,ESGLabpaidspecialattentiontothekeydesignadvantagesofthe
SvSANarchitecture,includingtheuniquequorumservice,enhancedhypervisorintegration,andcentralizedmonitoring
andmanagement.
EaseofDeployment
ESGLabtestedSvSAN’sdeploymentcapabilitieswithafocusonsimplicityandspeedforlarge,distributedenvironments.
ThetestsetupconsistedoftwoHPProLiantDL380pserversrunningESXiv5.5.EachserverwasconfiguredwithfourIntel
E5-2609processors,32GBofmemory,and8x72GBSASDrives.Two1GbENICswereusedtoprovideconnectivityfor
theVirtualMachineNetwork,andtwo10GbEportsweredirectlyconnectedbetweentheserversusingacrossovercable
forSvSANcommunication.WhileESGchosetoruninatypicaltwo-nodedeploymentwithacentralizedNSHservice,
SvSANoffersdeploymentflexibilitytobestsuittheneedsofthedistributedbusiness.
ESGLabdeployedStorMagicSvSANv5.3inaVMwareenvironmentonapairofHPservers.Theinstallationwasstarted
byexecutingthesetupprogram,whichautomaticallycontactedthevCenterserver,installedtheNSHservice,deployed
theOVFtemplatesandothernecessaryservicestothedatacenters,andensuredthattheVMwareplug-inwas
accessibletoanyconnectedclients.Theinstallationwizardmadethedeploymentprocesseasyandthesystemwasup
andrunninginamatterofminutes.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN4
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Figure4.InitialOVFDeploymentWizard
ESGLabthenusedvSpheretoinstalltheStorMagicplug-in,whichprovidedasimpleVSAdeploymentwizardtoguideus
throughtheinstallationofSvSANvirtualcontrollersontothetwoESXhosts.Withinthewizard,ESGLabselectedtheESX
host,datastore,networking,licensing,andallocatedsharedstorageforusebySvSAN.SvSANcanleverageindividual
disksandRAIDvolumesthroughRawDeviceMapping(RDM)oruseexistingVMDKcapacitytocreatetheshared
storage,providingorganizationstheflexibilitytochoosetheidealimplementation.
AftercreatingapasswordfortheVSA,thedeploymentwasinitiatedandthecreationoftheVSAcouldbemonitoredin
theESXtaskslist.ESGLabnotedtheverysmallfootprintofthenewlycreatedLinux-basedVM.TheVSAusedjusta
singlevCPUand1GBofmemory,andcreateda512MBBootDiskconfiguredinadualbootOSconfigurationandcreated
a20GBjournaldrivetotrackmetadatachanges.ThesameprocesswasfollowedtoinstalltheVSAonthesecondESX
hostandoncecompleted,themetadatawassyncedbetweentheVMs.ThiscreatedacompletelyredundantSvSAN
environmentthatwasreadyforuse.
Figure5.VMwareVSADeploymentWizard
Next,ESGLabturnedtoasimilartestbed,butusedMicrosoftHyper-Vasthevirtualizationlayer.Thedeploymentwas
justaseasyaswiththeVMwareenvironment.UsingtheVSAImporterforHyper-V,virtualcontrollerswereinstalledon
twoDellserversintheHyper-Venvironment.
Thisdeploymentflexibilitymeansthatlarge,distributedorganizationscanselectthedeploymentoptionthatbestfits
theirstrategy,whetherthatbewithVMwarevSphereorMicrosoftHyper-Vasthevirtualizationlayer.ThoughESGLab
wasabletoquicklydeploySvSANtoasimulatedremotesiteusingtheVMwareandHyper-Vinstallationwizards,
StorMagicrecommendstakingadifferentapproachtomaketheprocessevenfaster.Thisisespeciallytrueforlarger
deploymentswithmanyremotelocations.CommandLineInterface(CLI)orPowerShellscriptscanbeusedtoautomate
thedeploymentprocessfromacentralizedlocation,helpingtomaintaindeploymentconsistencyacrosseverysite.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN5
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Simplicity
ManagementofStorMagicSvSANisdesignedtobesimpleandintuitiveforVMwareandMicrosoftadministrators.They
aregiventheoptiontomanageanSvSANstorageenvironmentthroughintegratedplug-insforvCenterandSCOMor
CLIs.Inaddition,individualVSAscanbemanagedusingastandaloneweb-basedGraphicalUserInterface(GUI),orby
loggingintotheVSAconsole.ESGLabperformedhands-ontestingoftheseinterfaceswithagoalofvalidatinghoweasy
itistomanageandmonitortheSvSANenvironment.
CentralizedManagement
ESGLabbeganthisphaseoftestingbyusingvCentertomanagetheSvSANdeploymentfromasinglepaneofglass.
UsingvCenter,administratorscanmanageeverygloballydeployedSvSANacrosstheentiredistributedinfrastructure
fromasingle,centralizedlocation.EachVSAismanagedasanindividualVM,soESGLabusedalloftheadvanced
managementfeaturesofVMware,includingresourceallocationandconfiguration,eventnotificationandlogging,and
performancemonitoringforeachindividualVSA.Thestoragemanagementtabatthedatacenterlevelallowedusto
manageSvSANfromasystemlevel,includingviewingthesystemoverview,initiatingwizard-baseddeployments,and
managingshareddatastores.UsingtheStorMagictabattheindividualVSAlevel,ESGLabperformedallofthenecessary
managementfunctionsfortheVSAs,includingconfiguringtheVSA,storage,targets,andinitiators.
Figure6.CentralizedManagementofVMwareDistributedDeployments
Next,ESGLabusedtheHyper-VSvSANdeploymentenvironmenttoseehoweasyitwastomanageandmonitorusing
SystemCenterOperationsManager.InstallingtheStorMagicmanagementpackcreatedaMicrosoftManagement
Console(MMC),whichincludedsnap-insforHyper-Vmanager,DiskManagement,FailoverClusterManager,andalink
totheStorMagicweb-basedGUIforeachVSA.Thiscreatedanintegratedmanagementinterfacethatwasusedtoeasily
manageallofthefunctionsoftheclusteredHyper-VSvSANdeployment.ESGLabquicklyandeasilyconfiguredand
monitoredthestatusoftheindividualVSAs,storagepools,targets,initiators,andnetworkports.Theinterfacewasalso
usedtomonitoralertsandstatisticsabouttheconfiguration.Figure7showsthemanagementinterfacesofSvSANina
MicrosoftHyper-Venvironment.
Figure7.ManagingSvSANfromMicrosoftSystemCenter
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN6
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
SimplifiedProvisioning
Forprovisioning,ESGLabusedthevCenterplug-ininterfacetoprovision100GBofSvSANprotectedstoragebyusingthe
“CreateSharedDatastore”wizard.Thedatastorewasprovisionedfromapoolofstoragethatwascreatedusingraw
devicemappings(RDM)andlicensedduringinitialdeployment.Thewizardprovidedguidancethroughthestepsof
creatingthesharedstorageincludingthenameandcapacityofthedatastore,selectionoftheVSAs,locationoftheNSH
service,andthenameandcredentialsofthehoststhatwouldbemountingthedatastore.OnceESGLabcompletedthe
wizard,thenodesynchronizationprogresscouldbemonitoredanddetailedinformationaboutthedatastorecouldbe
viewedfromtheStorMagicplug-intab.The100GBdatastorewasinstantlyavailableforusefromtheVMhostsandwas
fullysynchronizedinthebackgroundinamatterofminutes.ThestoragecreationinaVMwareenvironmentisshownin
Figure8.
Figure8.ProvisioningSvSANStorageinVMwareEnvironment
WhileStorMagicisworkingonareleasethatprovidessimilarintegratedandautomatedprovisioningcapabilitieswithin
SystemCenterVirtualMachineManager(SCVMM),provisioningstoragetodayinaMicrosoftenvironmentrequireda
fewadditionalstepsduetoMicrosoft’sapproachtosharedstoragewithitsClusteredSharedVolumes.Theprovisioning
wascompletedentirelywithinMicrosoftSystemCenterusingtheStorMagicmanagementpack,butrequiredseveral
stepsandwasnotwizard-driven.ThestepsweresimpleandfamiliartoanyMicrosoftAdministratorandincluded
creatingthesharedstoragetarget,mappingtheinitiators,andformattingthediskwiththeNTFSfilesystem.It’s
importanttonotethattheseadditionalstepscanquicklyandeasilybeautomatedusingPowerShellscripts.
WhyThisMatters
Large,distributedenterprisessuchasretailoperationsarecomplexanddifficulttomanage.Thisisespeciallytrue
withhundredsoreventhousandsofsitesbeingdeployedinrapidsuccessiontominimizedowntime.Eachbranch
office must contain an infrastructure that is highly available and capable of independently running when
connectivitytoacentrallocationisunavailable,whilestayingwithinstrictbudgetrequirements.
ESG Lab validated the simplicity of deployment and management of an SvSAN in both VMware and Hyper-V
environments.WithStorMagicSvSANbeingdesignedtoleveragetheadvantageofvirtualizationtogreatlysimplify
themanagementofcomplexdistributedenvironments,theflexibilityofdeploymentmethodswasquicklyapparent.
Thesolution iscoupledwiththeabilitytoeasilymanagefromacentralized locationusingfamiliartools,meaning
thatasingleadministratorcoulddeployandmanagetheentiredistributedenvironment, resulting insignificantly
loweroperationalexpenses.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN7
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
HighAvailabilityandDataIntegrity
StorMagicSvSANprovidesasynchronous,active-activemirrorbetweenpairsofVSAstoensurehighavailabilityforevery
deploymentscenario.Ifonenodeofthemirrorfails,thehypervisor’smultipathingsoftwarewilldetectthepathfailure
andinstantlyfailovertotheothernode.Fromadata-integritystandpoint,itiscrucialthatbothnodeshavethesame
viewofthemirroreddataatalltimes.Ifthatviewwastobedisruptedduetoanetworkfailureoraserverunexpectedly
goingdown,ascenariocouldoccurinwhichthetwonodeshaveadifferentviewofthedata,knownasa“split-brain”
scenario.Whenthishappens,athirdpartyisrequiredtoactasatie-breakerorquorumservicetohelpmaintainthe
correctstateofthemirror.Toaddressthisscenarioandpreventdataloss,SvSANutilizesaneutralstoragehostservice
(NSH)runningonathird,physicallyindependenthost.Ifonesideofthemirrorgoesdown,theNSHservesasaquorum
servicetoreliablyhandlethefailure.
ThedualVSA,NSH-protectedStorMagicSvSANdeploymentthatESGLabusedduringhigh-availabilitytestingisshownin
Figure9.Typically,synchronously-mirroredVSAsolutionsrequireaminimumoftwoofthethreepoints(eitheroneVSA
andtheNSHorbothVSAs)toremainonlineandcommunicatingwitheachotherinordertostayactive.WithSvSANthis
logicismodifiedtoprovidedataaccessundermorefailurescenarios,buttheorderofthefailureiskey.Ifoneofthetwo
VSAsgoesdown,anyhostedVMsarefailedovertothe
othernodeandservicedbytheremainingVSA.The
storageremainsonline,eveniftheconnectiontothe
NSHlaterbecomesunavailable.If,however,theNSH
connectionfailsfirstandthatfailureisfollowedbya
subsequentfailureonahostoroneofthetwoVSAs,
thenthestoragewillbetakenoffline.Thisparticular
configurationshowsanimportantdifferentiatorfor
StorMagicSvSAN:Onlytwoofthethreepointsare
requiredtobeon-premises.TheuniquelydesignedNSH
servicecanserveallremotelocationsandbecentrally
locatedonasingleserverataglobalheadquartersor
eveninthecloud,requiringlesshardwareand,
therefore,lesscost.Thisperfectbalanceofhigh
availability,deploymentflexibility,andcostsavings
makesSvSANidealfordistributedorganizationswitha
largenumberofbranchofficesorstores.
ESGLabtestedthehighavailabilityofStorMagicSvSANwithagoalofshowinghowquicklyandnon-disruptivelyafailure
couldbehandled.Twovirtualizedenvironmentswereusedduringthisphaseoftesting.Thefirstenvironmentwas
virtualizedusingVMwarevSphere.ESGLableveragedtheVMwaretestbedthatwasdeployedearlierandcreateda
singleVMonthefirstserverthatwasstoredontheSvSANmirroreddatastore.Onceconfigured,thephysicalserverwas
thenrebooted,whichforcedthenewlycreatedVMtovMotiontothesecondserver.Thehighavailabilityfunctionality
workedasexpectedandtheVMwasaccessibleonthesecondserverinlessthanaminute.Thestateoftheenvironment
throughouttheprocessisshowninFigure10.
Figure10.SvSANNodeFailureinVMwareEnvironment
Figure9.StorMagicSvSANThree-pointDeploymentwith
NeutralStorageHostService
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN8
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Next,ESGLabusedaMicrosoftHyper-Venvironmentinasimilarthree-nodeconfiguration:thetwostoragenodeson-
premisesandtheNSHlocatedoff-premises.AvirtualmachinerunningWindowsServer2012wasconfiguredand
opened.AvideofromwithintheVMbeganplayingandthenahardwarefailurewassimulatedwithagoalofshowing
minimaldisruptiontovideoplayback.ESGLabwatchedinHyper-VManagerastheserverwasshutdown.Oncethe
serverwasrecognizedasbeingunreachable,aliveVMmigrationwastriggered.Themigrationcompletedinlessthan12
secondsandthevideoplaybackwasinterruptedforonlyafewseconds.
Oncethefailoverhadcompleted,ESGLabturnedtoMicrosoftSystemCenterOperationsManagertoseehowthe
simulatedStorMagicSvSANfailuresweredisplayed.Asdescribedearlier,StorMagicprovidesamanagementpackfor
SystemCenterthat,onceimported,providesmanagementfunctionalitydirectlyfromOperationsManager.Underthe
Monitoringtab,aStorMagicfolderwasaccessibletoshowactivealertsandalsoallowedadministratorstomanage
hosts,subsystems,andvirtualdisks.ESGLabclickedontheactivealertstoseetheserverfailureandclickedonthe
virtualdiskstoseetheVSAsthatweredownfromtheserverfailure.Figure11showsthenodefailureandmigration
processfromtwoMicrosoftmanagementinterfaces:Hyper-VManagerandSystemCenterOperationsManager.
Figure11.StorMagicSvSANNodeFailureinaMicrosoftHyper-VEnvironment
WhyThisMatters
System uptime and high availability are crucial for geographically distributed organizations with a large
number of remote branches or offices. More often than not, each remote location serves as the first
interactionwithacustomer.Thisisespeciallytrueintheretailspace,wheresystemdowntimeatastorecan
directly impact profit and customer loyalty. Organizations are looking for a cost-effective way to not only
maintainhighlevelsofavailabilityfortheirremoteoffices,butalsoensuredataintegrityifafailureoccurs.
ESG Lab confirmed that StorMagic SvSAN is a purpose-built, cost-effective solution that is optimized for
distributedorganizations.Withjusttwoserverson-premisesandacentrallylocatedNSHservicethatservesas
atie-breaker,highavailabilityanddata integritycanbeachievedtoensuresystemuptimeandpreventdata
loss. ESG Lab simulated a node failure in both a VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized
environment and witnessed minimal disruption to hosted virtual machine applications. Throughout both
failurescenarios, integratedVMwarevCenterandMicrosoftSystemCentermanagementallowedESGLabto
clearlyidentifythefailures,monitorVMfailoverstatus,andviewtheappropriatecautionaryalerts.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN9
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Cost-optimizedHybridPerformanceScalability
StorMagicSvSANsupportsahybridmixofsolid-statedisk(SSD)andtraditionalharddiskdrive(HDD)technologieswitha
goalofprovidingacost-effectiveperformanceboostforI/O-intensiveapplicationworkloads.Applicationupdatesand
accessrequestsforrecentlywrittendataareacceleratedinrealtimewithhigh-speedSSDconfiguredasawriteback
cachinglayerinfrontoftraditionaldiskdrives.Cachingisconfiguredonaper-volumebasis,whichensuresthat
importantapplicationdataisprioritized.
Performance
ESGLabtestedtheperformanceofStorMagicSvSANSSDcachingwiththeindustry-standardIOmeterutilitythat
emulatedatypicalmulti-userOLTPdatabaseworkload.2Apairofeightcoreserverswithfour1TBSATAdrivesandtwo
20GBvolumes—oneforthedatabaseandtheotherfordatabasejournaling—weretestedinaVMwareenvironment.3
Figure12,whichshowsStorMagicSvSANVSAscreenshotsthatrecordedperformanceovertimeinone-minuteintervals,
illustrateshowSSDcachingimprovedperformance.Addingasingle480GBSSDimprovedperformanceupto11times
comparedwiththeall-diskconfigurationwithnocaching.
Figure12.AcceleratingPerformancewithStorMagicSvSANCachingandaHybridMixofSSDandHDD
IOmeterresultswereusedtoquantifytheperformancebenefitsthataresummarizedinTable1.
Table1.IOmeterPerformanceTestResults
All-disk
(nocaching)
HybridCached
(starting)
HybridCached
(1.5hourslater)Delta
IOPS 468 1,200 5,021 2to11timesmore
DBresponse(ms) 35.48 13.24 4.07 3to9timesfaster
Journalresponse(ms) 56.20 5.05 2.25 11to25timesfaster
Blended
response(ms)36.26 9.15 3.16 4to11timesfaster
2Workloaddetails:8KB,80%read,20%sequential,16outstandingI/Osforthedatabasevolume;8KB,100%sequentialwrite,1I/Ooutstanding
forthejournalvolume;IOmeterversion1.1.0testingwasperformedatthephysicaldisk/rawdeviceleveloniSCSIdirectmappedvolumes.3Testbeddetails:1UserverwitheightcoreIntelXeonX5-2500CPUand64GBRAM,VMwareESXv5.5hypervisor,Windows2012guestOS,WD
Blue1TB2.5"SATAHDD,SamsungEnterprisePM863SATA480GBSSD,RAID-0withsynchronousmirroringbetweenapairofservers.
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN10
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
A summary of the results shown in Table 1 indicates that adding a single SSD with StorMagic SvSAN SSD caching
improved the overall performance capacity of the storage infrastructure up to 11 times with up to 11 times faster
responsetimes.Theresultsalsoshowhowdatabasejournalresponsetimeswereimprovedevenmore:upto25times
faster.Acceleratingjournaledupdatestranslatesdirectlyintofasterperformanceforinteractivedatabaseusersdueto
the fact thatmostmulti-user applications are blocked until journaledwrites have been safely committed to storage
media—inthiscase,high-speedflashSSD.
Price/Performance
Next,ESGLabanalyzedtheprice/performancebenefitsofStorMagicSvSANSSDcaching.StorMagicSvSANSSDcaching
reducesthecostofstorageinremotelocationsbyleveragingtheaffordabilityoftraditionaldiskdrivesforthebulkofa
remoteapplication’slong-termdatastorageneedswhiletakingadvantageofthehighperformanceofSSDflash
technologyforacost-optimizedperformanceboostforthemostrecentlyupdateddata.Thisapproachcandramatically
reducetheoverallcostofprovidingstorageservicesforadistributedenterprise—especiallyforI/O-intensiveapplication
workloadsthatwouldneedalargeall-diskconfigurationoranexpensiveall-flashconfigurationtomeetperformance
requirements.
ThecostadvantagesofStorMagicSvSANSSDcachingwereanalyzedbycomparinghowmuchitwouldcosttodeployan
all-diskconfigurationtomeettheperformancelevelsthatweremeasuredduringESGLabtestingwithfourharddrives
andoneSSDdrive.Theall-diskconfigurationtoppedoutatabout500IOPS,sotenharddriveswouldbeneededtoreach
thelevelof5,000IOPSmeasuredduringhybridSSDcachetesting.Thepricesthatwereusedforthisanalysiswerethe
bestpricesavailableonAmazonwhenthisreportwaswritten.4AsshowninFigure13,StorMagicSvSANSSDcaching
reducedthecostofstoragemediaby31%comparedwithanall-diskconfigurationwithsimilarperformancecapabilities.
Figure13.StorageMediaPrice/PerformanceAnalysis
Finally,ESGLabscaleduptheanalysistoassessthecostsassociatedwithsupportingmoreusersandahigherworkload
requirementof10,000IOPS.Foraretaildeployment,thisemulatesthetypeofcapacityplanningthat’sneededto
supportnewstorerolloutswithtwicethenumberofemployeesandcashregisters,oranewsetofvirtualized
applications.DoublingtheStorMagicSvSANhybridSSDconfigurationyieldstwicethestoragemedia(eightHDDandtwo
SSD),whichfitwellinthe1Userverwith12driveslotsthatwastestedbyESGLab.Theall-diskconfigurationwouldjump
fromtento20drives,whichwouldn’tfitinthe1UserverthatwasusedduringESGLabtesting.Asaresult,theall-disk
configurationwouldrequirethepurchaseofmoreserversorlarger,moreexpensiveserverstomeetthe10,000IOPS
requirement.ThecostdifferencesaresummarizedinFigure14.
4ThisAmazonlinkwasusedforHDDpricingandthisAmazonlinkwasusedforSSDpricinginJanuary2016.
$0
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
All-disk HybridSSDCache
StorageMediaCostComparison(5,000IOPOLTPWorkload,1TBHDD,480GBSSD)
31%
less
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN11
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Figure14.ServerandStoragePrice/PerformanceAnalysis
WhattheNumbersMean
• ThehigherperformanceandsmallerfootprintofSSDcanbeusedtoavoidthecostofanotherserver,a
biggerserver,oradriveexpansionchassistofitmoreharddrives.
• StorMagicSvSANSSDcachingreducedthecostofserverandstorageinfrastructurebyhalfforthe10,000
IOPSdatabaseworkloadthatwasanalyzedbyESGLab.
• ThelowerenergyrequirementsofSSDmagnifiesthesavingsevenmoreduetoareductioninspace,power,
andcoolingrequirements.
• WhileESGLabisconfidentthatStorMagicSvSANSSDcachingcanbeusedtoaccelerateperformanceand
reducecosts,itshouldbenotedthattheexactlevelofbenefitsthataredocumentedinthisreportare
specifictotheapplicationworkloadandconfigurationsthatweretestedandanalyzed.
• WhileESGLabexaminedthecosteffectivenessofStorMagicSvSANcachingwithacost-optimizedmixofSSD
andHDD,itshouldbenotedthatStorMagicSvSANcanbeusedtocreateanall-SSDconfigurationfor
applicationswithextremelydemandingperformanceorenvironmentalrequirements.
WhyThisMatters
Costisavitalconcernwhendeployingfrontlineapplicationsinalargegeographicallydistributedenterprise—
especiallyforretailerswithdozenstothousandsofstores.ESGLabhasconfirmedthatcachingwithahybrid
mix of SSD and traditional hard drives can be used to magnify the savings that can be achieved with a
software-definedStorMagicSvSANstorageinfrastructure.
Performancetestingwithasimulatedreal-worlddatabaseworkloadprovedthataddingatouchofSSDtoan
all-diskStorMagicSvSANconfigurationcandeliveradramatic,yetcost-effective,performanceboost—upto11
times more during ESG Lab testing. Delivering similar levels of performance with an all-disk configuration
wouldrequiremorediskdrivesandmayincurthecostofanotherserver,abiggerserver,oradriveexpansion
chassis.AnESGLabcostanalysisindicatesthatSSDcachingcandelivera50%discountontopoftheinherent
savingsofStorMagic’ssoftware-definedapproachthatavoidsthecostofaSANandmorethantwoserversfor
highavailability.
$0
$5,000
$10,000
$15,000
All-disk HybridSSDCache
Server&StorageMediaCostComparison(10,000IOPOLTPWorkload,1TBHDD,480GBSSD,8core1Uservers)
media servers
half
thecost
ESGLabReview:StorMagicSvSAN12
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
TheBiggerTruth
InaworldthatismovingrapidlytowardtheInternetofThings(IoT),planninganddeployingtheidealstoragesolution
foradistributedorganizationisadifficulttask.Identifyingatraditionalstoragesolutionthatmeetsthesimplicity,
performance,high-availability,anddata-integrityrequirementsforeachremoteofficelocationwithintheorganizationis
hardenough,neverminddoingthiswhiletryingtominimizecapitalandoperationalexpenses.Traditionalsolutions
requirebalancingtradeoffsbetweenthecost,complexity,andflexibilityofasolution,andwithmostorganizations
requiringconstantsystemuptimetohelpmaximizeprofits,theyoftenpayapremiumforhighavailabilityeitherincost
ofhardwareorcomplexityofmanagementanddeployment.
StorMagicunderstoodthesechallengesandcreatedSvSANtosimply,cost-effectivelyprovideaflexiblesoftware-defined
storagesolutionforlargedistributedenterprises.SvSANconvertsdirect-attachedstoragefromtwoormoreclustered
serversintovirtualized,highlyavailable,mirroredsharedstoragethatisidealfordistributeddeployments.Themost
cost-effectiveSvSANdeploymentconfigurationconsistsofjusttwoon-premisesserverswithacentralizedneutral
storagehostservicethatservesasaquorum.Bycentralizingandconsolidatingthelocationofthequorumservice,
hardwarecostsaregreatlyreducedateveryremotesite,resultinginsignificantcapitalcostsavingsfortheentire
organization.Eachremotelocationrequiresaminimumofonlytwopiecesofhardware,asopposedtothreewhenusing
atraditionalvirtualizedscale-outorSANstorageapproach.Whereneeded,StorMagicSvSANcanscaleouttohundreds
ofnodes.TheStorMagicSvSANstoragesolutionintegrateswiththefamiliarinterfacesofVMwarevSphereand
MicrosoftHyper-Vtomakedeploymentandmanagementquickandeasy,ultimatelyloweringoperationalexpenditures.
ESGLabvalidatedthesimplicity,flexibility,andhighavailabilitySvSANprovidestoorganizationswithalargenumberof
remotelocations.Withsimple,centralizedmanagement,thedeploymentandconfigurationofthetwo-nodesolution
wascompletedquicklyinbothaVMwareandMicrosoftvirtualizedenvironment.Hardwarenodefailureswere
simulatedandworkloadsinstantlymigratedtotheothernodewhilenodatawaslost,reaffirmingtheabilityofthe
solutiontoeliminateasinglepointoffailure.StorMagicSvSANcachingwithahybridmixofSSDandHDDimproved
performanceupto11times,andthecostofserverandstoragemediawascutinhalf.
StorMagicismovingforwardwithaverywiseapproach:Itisstayingtruetothevalueofitsproductandthetypeof
customeritbestserves.StorMagicunderstandsthefundamentalproblemswithlegacysolutionsandbuiltavirtualized
storagesolutionoptimizedspecificallyfordistributedorganizationswithalargenumberofremotelocations.The
technologyisprovenanditshowsbasedontherecentdealsStorMagichaswonwithsomeofthelargestretailersinthe
world.Infact,oneretailer’slegacystoragedeploymentacross2,200storesreportedanaverageoffiveoutagesper
week,withsixhoursofdowntimeperoutage.AfterreplacingitslegacysolutionwithSvSAN,theretailerhasrunvirtually
outage-freesincetheinitialdeploymentoccurredalmosttwoyearsago.Ifyouarelookingforawaytoefficientlydeploy
acost-effective,highlyavailablevirtualizedstoragesolutionacrossadistributedorganization,ESGLabrecommends
takingalookatStorMagicSvSAN.
ThegoalofESGLabreports istoeducateITprofessionalsaboutdatacentertechnologyproductsforcompaniesofalltypesandsizes.ESGLabreportsarenot
meant to replace the evaluation process that should be conducted before making purchasing decisions, but rather to provide insight into these emerging
technologies.Ourobjectiveistogooversomeofthemorevaluablefeature/functionsofproducts,showhowtheycanbeusedtosolverealcustomerproblems
and identify any areas needing improvement. ESG Lab’s expert third-party perspective is based on our own hands-on testing as well as on interviews with
customerswhousetheseproductsinproductionenvironments.ThisESGLabreportwassponsoredbyStorMagic.
Alltrademarknamesarepropertyoftheirrespectivecompanies.InformationcontainedinthispublicationhasbeenobtainedbysourcesTheEnterpriseStrategy
Group(ESG)considerstobereliablebutisnotwarrantedbyESG.ThispublicationmaycontainopinionsofESG,whicharesubjecttochangefromtimetotime.
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