Enterprise Storage Reinvented

Stanislav DzúrikFTSS StorageIBM Slovenskostanislav_dzurik@sk.ibm.com

The IBM XIV Storage

Traditional Enterprise Storage Solutions

With this legacy architecture, scalability is achieved by using more powerful (and more expensive) components with higher energy consumption

Cach

eC

on

trollers

Interface Interface InterfaceBuilding blocks:• Disks/Flash• Cache• Controllers• Interfaces• Interconnects

JBOD JBOD

Scale Up

PERFORMANCERELIABILITYSCALABILITY

= $ + E

IBM XIV Storage Architecture – A Disruptive GRID

Interface Interface

Design principles:• Massive parallelism• Granular distribution• Off-the-shelf components• Coupled disk, RAM and CPU• User simplicity

Data Module

Interface Interface Interface

Data Module Data Module Data Module Data Module Data Module Data Module

Switching Switching

Scale Out

IBM XIV Enterprise Storage Solution

• IBM XIV Storage is based on the following basic principles:• The entire system is one Virtual space

• Simple storage provisioning an thin allocation

• “Self Healing” - the failure of a component is automatically fixed with no impact on the reliability and performance of the system

• “Self Tuning” - the provisioning and management of data should always result in the optimal use of available space

• The speed of data access is not dependent on the speed of the drives (no disk hotspots)

• Make use of readily available standard components

• “GREEN” - Efficient use of resources: Power, Cooling, Space

• Best in class TCO - Cost effective

IBM XIV Storage Distribution Algorithm

• Each volume is spread across all drives • Data is “cut” into 1MB “partitions” and stored on the disks• XIV algorithm automatically distributes partitions across all disks in the

system pseudo-randomly

Data Module

Interface

Data Module

Interface

Data Module

Interface

Switching

XIV disks behave like connected vessels, as the distribution algorithm aims for constant disk equilibrium.

Thus, IBM XIV’s Storage overalldisk usage could approach100% utilization when loaded

Node 4

XIV Space Distribution on System Changes

• Data distribution only changes when the system changes• Equilibrium is kept when new hardware is added

• Equilibrium is kept when old hardware is removed

• Equilibrium is kept after a hardware failure

Data Module 2

Data Module 3

Data Module 1

[ hardware upgrade ]

Data Module 4

XIV Distribution Algorithm on System Changes

• Data distribution only changes when the system changes• Equilibrium is kept when new hardware is added

• Equilibrium is kept when old hardware is removed

• Equilibrium is kept after a hardware failure

Data Module 2

Data Module 3 Data Module 4

Data Module 1

[ hardware failure ]

The fact that distribution is full and automatic ensures that all spindles join the effort of data re-distribution after configuration change.

Quick recovery from failure. No disk hot spots - all drives are used equally

Storage in a grid

• Data is redundantly spare space are spread over all the drives, with parallel access and smart caching to match the performance of high end systems

• If a drive fails, the system replicates the lost data across the other drives. System is fully redundant in less than 30 min with minimal performance impact.

Interface Module

Interface Module

Interface Module

Internal Switch 1 Internal Switch 2

Host Host Host Host Host

User Switch (FC/Ethernet)

Data moduleData module Data moduleData moduleData moduleData module

• Efficient and Green by design

• Simplified architecture• Each volume a spread on

all the drives• Use of large SATA Disks• Integrated software• Thin, smart and simple to

manage• Simple migrations• How does it work?

Making Storage Efficient

• Comparing raw capacity to actual application data capacity in traditional storage system shows an amazing gap

• Several factors contribute:• Over-provisioning of space

• Backups, Clones, BCVs and Snaps

• Orphaned space

• The XIV Enterprise architecture makes efficient use of the capacity so that you can meet your needs with far less capacity

• Enables top reliability and high and consistent performance with energy efficient high density components (e.g. SATA)

Over-provisioning

• Traditional systems require upfront allocation of predicted space

• Volume resizing in the storage system is complex

• Volume resizing is virtually impossible for applications

• Inevitable application downtime

• The result:• Users tend to pad requirements, leading to over-provisioning

• Excessive capacity goes unused for months, years or forever

• Excessive floor-space, power and cooling is wasted

• You’re stuck with old systems• Can’t benefit from expected decline in price and advances in technology

XIV Thin Provisioning Concept

• Virtualize volume size• Define virtual volumes of maximal capacity for each application

• Map them to much less physical storage

• Scale physical storage over time without having to change the virtual volume size• The result:

• Application volumes never need to be resized

• No application downtime• Buy storage over time, just when you actually need it

• Don’t pay for over-estimation

• Don’t waste floor-space, power, and cooling on unused space• Keep users happy

Thin provisioning yields 20-50% saving in infrastructure cost over a period of time

Differential Backups and Snaps

• Backups: Periodic copies of entire volumes • Maintain regulation compliance

• Restore data upon corruption or human errors

• Traditional systems use full volume copy for each backup• Each copy require allocation of the entire volume capacity

• The solution: Differential backups through XIV Snaps• Save only deltas from the main volume

• No upfront allocation - Allocate space over time when new data is written

• Actual savings depend on• Number of snapshots

• Application profile

Using differential backups yields 15-30% saving in infrastructure cost

No Orphaned Space• In traditional architectures some capacity is effectively lost over time

• The complexity of volume and performance management

• The ever changing applications and their storage needs

• The result: Idle storage chunks are scattered in the system• Reclaiming them is more expensive than buying a new system

• The solution: Let the system automate volume allocation and management

• Maintaining perfect equilibrium across the system throughout its lifetime

• Automatically handle tasks such as striping, volume resizing, migration etc.

• The result: No space is ever lost

10-20% of traditional systems space is orphaned and will never be reclaimed. With the new architecture, no space is ever lost.

Stretching a TB to the MaxWasted Space

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Traditional System XIV System

Orphaned Space

Full Backups

Thick Provisioning

Effective Capacity

Real-life capacity gain with XIV

• Meet the same functional needs with much less net TBs

How Capacity Efficiency Translates to Savings

• Serve the same applications with fewer TBs

• Fewer TBs means less power

• Fewer TBs means less floor space

SATA disks to save even more power

• The power consumption of a system is the sum total of the power used by its components

• Since there are so many of them, disks are typically the biggest users

• SATA vs. FC disks• SATA drives provide 2-10 times the capacity

• Lower spin rate means each disk requires 25-30% less power

• The result: A lot less power is used to drive each raw TB (3 to 15 times less)

• using SATA drives is not a compromise• The XIV architecture offers primary storage performance for all volumes

• Perfectly adapt to any future changes in volumes and capacity

Enjoy the power–efficiency of SATA drives with a supporting architecture that handles tier-1 performance and reliability

System Power Usage

• Power consumption of a system comparable to XIV is 180–380W per raw TB

• Typically using 146GB 15K rpm disks

• Power consumption of an XIV rack is 7.7KW • 180TB raw capacity, 79TB net capacity

• 42W per raw TB today

• Rack power consumption will not change much with 2TB disks • But capacity will double

• Consumption per raw TB expected to drop to 21W

The new solution uses 4 to 9 times less power for the same (or better) performance and reliability levels

kW per Raw TB

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Traditional System IBM XIV

System Power Efficiency

The result is a remarkable reduction in power usage for each raw TB

Power per TB is only Half the Story

• Using less power to drive a storage system means

• Direct power cost savings

• Cooling savings, typically adding 30% - 100% of the system power consumption depending on data centre efficiency

• Smaller UPS infrastructure• Power is becoming a limited resource

• It’s not just a a matter of paying more

• Power companies unable to deliver more power to satisfy the expected growth

XIV TCO Advantage Management and migration Cost

Ease of Management

Ease of Management

• System administration is virtually effortless• Complex tasks are handled automatically under the hood

• Always optimized

• Not prone to human errors• Things an administrator no longer need to worry about:

• Planning volume layout,

• Optimizing for performance

• Tiering data to service levels• Ease of provisioning means better service to users• Instant creation of snapshots makes backup procedures

simpler

Simple management means fewer administrators can give better service to users

Migration

• Automatic data migration

• Migrating thick volumes to thin provisioned volumes

• Online data migration from other Storage arrays• New hardware can be added to the system

• Better performance, less power, more density• Outdated hardware can be phased out and removed

With the new solution, migration is effortless !

Summary

Attribute Typical System IBM XIV Storage Advantage

Disk Drives FC small factor SATA >1TB 4-9 times more storage (with less power and same performance)

Provisioning Thick Thin Avoid over-provisioning, grow gradually over time with the best available technology

Backups/Snaps Full Differential Snaps Keep backups lean

Volume Allocation

Manual Smart Orphaned space is never an issue

Management Complex Simple Minimize learning curve and ongoing management overhead

• Enterprise Storage Reinvented

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Stanislav Dzúrikstanislav_dzurik@sk.ibm.com