Optimize VMware Virtual SAN 6 with SanDisk SSDs · Optimize VMware Virtual SAN 6 with SanDisk SSDs...

©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.

SSDSolutionstoPowerBusiness-criticalApplicationsandDatabasesByJackPoller,Sr.LabAnalystApril2016ThisESGLabReportwascommissionedbySanDiskandisdistributedunderlicensefromESG.

EnterpriseStrategyGroup|Gettingtothebiggertruth.™

ESGLabValidation

OptimizeVMwareVirtualSAN6withSanDiskSSDs

LabValidationReport:OptimizeVMwareVirtualSAN6withSanDiskSSDs 2


Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................................3

Background........................................................................................................................................................................3

VMwareVirtualSAN6........................................................................................................................................................4

SanDiskOptimusAscendandOptimusMAXSSDs.............................................................................................................5

ESGLabValidation.................................................................................................................................................................6

Performance.......................................................................................................................................................................6

WhattheNumbersMean...............................................................................................................................................9

ESGLabValidationHighlights...............................................................................................................................................10

IssuestoConsider................................................................................................................................................................10

TheBiggerTruth...................................................................................................................................................................11

Appendix..............................................................................................................................................................................12

ESGLabReports

ThegoalofESGLabreportsistoeducateITprofessionalsaboutdatacentertechnologyproductsforcompaniesofalltypesandsizes.ESGLabreportsarenotmeanttoreplacetheevaluationprocessthatshouldbeconductedbeforemakingpurchasingdecisions,butrathertoprovideinsightintotheseemergingtechnologies.Ourobjectiveistogooversomeofthemorevaluablefeature/functionsofproducts,showhowtheycanbeusedtosolverealcustomerproblemsandidentifyanyareasneedingimprovement.ESGLab'sexpertthird-partyperspectiveisbasedonourownhands-ontestingaswellasoninterviewswithcustomerswhousetheseproductsinproductionenvironments.



Introduction

ESGLabevaluatedSanDiskflashsolutionsforVMwareVirtualSAN6hyper-convergedinfrastructureforbusiness-criticalapplicationsanddatabases,withafocusonassessingtheperformanceandvalueofflashforinfrastructure-widestoragevirtualizationandhyper-convergedsolutionsinthedatacenter.

Background

Thedatacenteroftodayistransformingtobecomeincreasinglyvirtualized,andnext-generationdatacenterswillincorporatemorepublic,private,andhybridcloud-basedapplications.Virtualizationandcloudbringserverconsolidation,workloadmobility,self-provisioning,management,multi-tenancy,andtheabilitytorapidlyscaleupandout.Traditionaldatacenterstoragesolutions,customarilydesignedforstaticworkloadstiedtophysicalservers,arechallengedtoprovideagility,security,dataprotection,andperformancewithoutcostlyandproprietaryhardware.

ESGrecentlyconductedasurveyof373ITprofessionalsandrespondentswereaskedtoidentifywhattheywouldconsidertheirbiggestchallengeswithrespecttotheirstorageenvironment.AsshowninFigure1,ITorganizationsaresignificantlyfocusedondatagrowth(26%),dataprotection(26%),anddatamigration(23%).Cost,too,isclearlyakeyconsiderationforITorganizations,withmorethanhalf(68%)citingcapital(i.e.,hardware,27%)and/oroperationalexpenses(41%)—includingbothstaffandpowerandcoolingcosts—asastoragechallenge.Additionally,19%oforganizationscitedcostastheirprimarychallenge,whetherrelatedtoCapEx(7%)orOpEx(12%).1

Figure1.TopTenStorageEnvironmentChallenges

Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016

1Source:ESGResearchReport,2015DataStorageMarketTrends,October2015

18%

18%

20%

20%

20%

23%

23%

26%

26%

27%

5%

6%

5%

6%

4%

4%

6%

8%

8%

7%

Devicemanagement

Powerandcoolingcosts

Needtosupportgrowingvirtualserverenvironments

Runningoutofphysicalspace

Management,optimizationandautomationofdataplacement

Datamigration

Staffcosts

Dataprotection(e.g.backup/recovery,etc.)

Rapiddatagrowthrate

Hardwarecosts

Ingeneral,whatwouldyousayareyourorganization’sbiggestchallengesintermsofitsstorageenvironment?Whichwouldyoucharacterizeastheprimarystoragechallengefor

yourorganization?(Percentofrespondents,N=373,toptenshown)

PrimarystoragechallengeAllstoragechallenges



What’sdrivingthesespendingtrends?Afterhardwarecosts,therapidgrowthofdataandthesubsequentrequirementstoprotectthatdatawerethemostcommonlycitedstoragechallenges.Thismakessenseinlightofthefactthatmanagingdatagrowthandimprovingbackupandrecovery—bothwithobviousstorageimplications—wereamongthetopfivemost-citedoverallITprioritiesinESG’s2016ITSpendingIntentionsSurvey.2

VMwareVirtualSAN6

VMwareVirtualSAN6isasoftware-basedstoragesolutionforVMwarehyper-convergedsolutions.Embeddedinthehypervisorandleveragingindustrystandardx86components,VirtualSANdeliversflash-optimized,high-performancecomputeandstorageforhyper-convergedinfrastructures.3VirtualSANprovideseasyscalabilityandseamlessintegrationwiththeentireVMwarestack,includingVMwarevSphere,makingitasimplestorageplatformforvirtualmachinesandidealforbusiness-criticalapplications,virtualdesktops,IToperations,orremoteITapplications.Thesolutionscalesfromtwoto64nodes,andaggregateslocallyattachedflashandmagneticdisksintovirtualdatastoresavailabletoanyVMinthehyper-convergedcluster(Figure2).

Figure2.SanDiskFlashSolutionsforVMwareVirtualSAN6


Inahybridconfiguration,VMwareVirtualSANcombinesoneflashdiskanduptosevenmagneticdisksintoadiskgroup.Theflashdisksserveasread-and-writecacheforthevirtualdatastoreandthemagneticdisksprovidethedatastorecapacity.Inanall-flashconfiguration,oneflashdiskinadiskgroupisusedforwritecaching,whiletheremainingflashdisksprovidedatastorecapacity.Asreadperformancefromthecapacityflashdevicesismorethansufficient,noadditionalreadcachingisprovided.

VMwareVirtualSan6.2includesthinprovisioning,compression,anddeduplication,whichsignificantlyincreaseusablecapacitywithminimalperformanceimpacttothecluster.OrganizationsimplementingVirtualSANbenefitfrom:

• All-flasharchitecture—Deliversupto100,000IOPSperhostwithconsistentlowlatencythroughflash-basedcachingandSSDdatapersistence.

• Qualityofservice(QoS)—AutomaticallylimitsandmonitorsIOPSconsumption,eliminatingnoisyneighborissues.

2Source:ESGResearchReport,2016ITSpendingIntentionsSurvey,February2016.3Ahyper-convergedinfrastructureislargelysoftware-defined,withtightlyintegratedcompute,storage,networking,andvirtualizationresources.



• Self-tuning—AutomaticallyrebuildsandrebalancesstoragetoalignwithQoSlimits.

• Datareduction,deduplication,andcompression—Optimizesstoragecapacitywithasmuchas10xdatareductionwhilehavingminimalimpactonserverCPUandmemoryresources.

• Management—SimplicityofmanagementthroughthevSphereWebClientforstorage,compute,andnetworkinginasingle,tightlyintegratedinterface.

SanDiskOptimusAscendandOptimusMAXSSDs

ESGLabtestedVMwareVirtualSANsolutionswithSanDiskSSDsintwoconfigurations:hybridandall-flash.ThehybridsolutionemploysSanDiskOptimusAscendSASSSDsforthereadandwritecache,andindustry-standardmagneticdrivesforstoragecapacity,whiletheall-flashsolutionemploysSanDiskOptimusAscendSASSSDsforthewritecacheandSanDiskOptimusMAXSASSSDsforstoragecapacity.4

Figure3.SanDiskOptimusAscendandOptimusMAXSSDs

TheSanDiskOptimusSSDfamilyfeaturesanativeSAS6Gb/sinterfaceandacomprehensivesetofhigh-endfeaturesmakingthemidealtointegratewithexistinginfrastructures.SanDiskOptimusAscendSSDsofferperformance,endurance,reliability,andaffordabilityinasinglepackageusingenterpriseMulti-LevelCell(eMLC)flash.SanDiskoptimizedtheAscendformixed-useapplicationworkloadssuchasdatabasesandonlinetransactionprocessing(OLTP),email,virtualdesktop,andcollaborationwhereperformanceandhighavailabilityarerequired.OptimusAscendSSDsprovide95,000IOPSrandomreadand40,000IOPSrandomwriteperformance,with550MB/sreadand540MB/swritespeeds.Availableincapacitiesof200GB-1.6TB,theSSDsincludesupportforwide-portSAS,providingupto1GB/ssequentialreadperformance.OptimusAscendSSDsprovideenterprise-classendurance,with10drivewritesperdayforfiveyears.

TheSanDiskOptimusMAX4TBSASSSDwasdesignedtodeliverSASSSDperformanceatSATA-likepricesforenterprise,cloud,andvirtualizeddatacenters.This4TBSSDwasoptimizedforread-intensiveapplicationworkloadsandalleviatesI/Obottlenecksbyprovidinghigh-densitystorageforefficientdatathroughputtodeliverhighperformance,superiorreliability,andenhancedenduranceformaximumapplicationscalability.TheOptimusMAX4TBSASSSDprovidesupto500MB/s

4BoththeSanDiskOptimusAscendandSanDiskOptimusMAXSSDsusedinthesesolutionsarecertifiedforVMwareVirtualSAN6andlistedontheVMwareHCL.



readandwritespeedsaswellas85,000randomreadIOPSand11,000randomwriteIOPS.ThisSSDoffers0.5drivewritesperdayendurance.

ESGLabValidation

ESGLabperformedhands-onevaluationandtestingofaSanDiskSSD-basedVMwareVirtualSANatSanDisk’sfacilitiesinSanJose,California.Testingwasdesignedtodemonstrateperformanceandcost-efficiencyusingindustrystandardtoolsandmethodologies.Resultswereanalyzedandcomparedbetweenthehybridandall-flashVirtualSANconfigurations.4

Performance

Figure4illustratesthetestbedusedbyESGLabforthisvalidationreport.ThetestbedrepresentsacommonconfigurationforVMwareVirtualSAN,andincludesfourindustry-standardx86servers,eachrunningVMwareVirtualSAN6,whichaggregatedallstorageresourcesintoasinglevirtualdatastore.5

Figure4.TheESGLabTestBed


Forthehybridconfiguration,eachphysicalserverwasconfiguredwith16drives,splitintotwodiskgroupsofeightdriveseach.Eachdiskgroupwascomposedofsevenindustry-standard1.2TB10KRPMmagneticSASdrivesforstoragecapacity,andone800GBSanDiskOptimusAscendSSDforthereadandwritecache.

Fortheall-flashconfiguration,eachphysicalserverwasconfiguredwithsixdrives,splitintotwodiskgroupsofthreedriveseach.EachdiskgroupwascomposedoftwoSanDiskOptimusMax4TBSSDsforstoragecapacity,andone800GBSanDiskOptimusAscendSSDforwriteacceleration.

Eightvirtualmachines,twoperphysicalserver,wererunningMicrosoftWindowsServer2012R2andMicrosoftSQLServer2014.EachVMwasconfiguredtohave16virtualCPUsand96GBofRAM.

ESGsimulatedatypicalOLTPworkloadusingHammerDB,anindustry-standard,opensourcedatabaseloadtestingandbenchmarkingtool.HammerDBwasdesignedasaloadtestingtooltocomparetherelativeperformanceofOLTP

5DetailedconfigurationinformationisprovidedintheAppendix.



databases.Theimplementationisintentionallynon-optimized,focusingonproducingreliable,scalable,accurate,repeatable,andconsistentresults.

Theworkloaditselfemulatedthedatabaseactivityofusersinatypicalonlinebrokeragefirmastheygeneratedtrades,performedaccountinquiries,andexecutedmarketresearch.Theworkloadwascomposedoftentransactiontypeswithadefinedratioofexecution.Fourofthetransactionsperformeddatabaseupdates,andtherestwerereadonly.

EachoftheeightVMswasconfiguredfor5,000HammerDBwarehouses.EightseparateHammerDBinstances,outsidetheVirtualSANcluster,actedasworkloadgenerators,andeachinstancewasconfiguredwith256users,for2,048totalusers.ESGLabstartedthetestwithafive-minuteramptoreachsteadystateoperations.Oncesteadystatewasachieved,thetestranfor30minutes.Theperformanceofthesystem,measuredinthenumberofnewordersperminuteenteredintothedatabase(NOPM),isshowninFigure5.

Figure5.HammerDBPerformanceResults


Thehybridconfigurationachievedmorethan1.7millionnewordersperminute,demonstratingtheenterprise-classperformanceachievablewithafour-nodeVMwareVirtualSANclusterusingSanDiskOptimusAscendSSDsforwriteacceleration.

Theall-flashconfigurationdeliveredmorethan2.5millionnewordersperminute,49%moreperformancethanthehybridconfiguration.UsingSanDiskSSDsenabledtheVMwareVirtualSANclustertomaximizeenterprise-classperformance.

Next,ESGLabexploredtheperformanceforeachindividualVMtolearnmoreabouthowtotalloadwasdistributedacrosseachnode.ThisisanimportantaspectofavirtualizedinfrastructurebecausehavinganevendistributionoftheworkloadacrossalloftheVMshelpstovalidatetheunderlyinghardwareandsoftware’scapabilitytoproperlymeettheapplication’sresourceconsumptionrequirements.Alongwiththeaggregatetotalofnewordersperminute,ESGLabanalyzedtheresultsforeachnodewithagoalofseeingaproperworkloaddistribution.TheresultsareshowninFigure6.

1,702,776

2,542,760

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

Hybrid AllFlash

New

Ordersp

erM

inute(NOPM

)

HammerDB PerformanceResultsVMwareVirtualSANwithSanDisk SSDs

49%



Figure6.DetailedPerformanceResults:HybridversusAll-flash


Thehybridconfigurationshowedsomevariabilitywithaclose-to-evenworkloaddistributionacrossSQLservers.Theall-flashconfigurationyieldedhigherlevelsofperformancewithlessvariabilityandthereforebetterworkloaddistribution.

Next,ESGLabevaluatedtheprice/performancewhenusingSanDiskSSDsintheVMwareVirtualSANcluster.Usingstreetpricesforthecostoftheservers,softwarelicenses,magneticdisks,andSanDiskSSDs,ESGLabcomputedthecostofeachsolution,andtheprice/performance,asshowninFigure7andTable1.

Figure7.Price/PerformanceResults


0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

Hybrid AllFlash

New

Ordersp

erM

inute(NOPM

)

HammerDB ResultsforEachIndividualVMVMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskSSDs

0.20

0.14

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

Hybrid AllFlash

$/N

ewOrdersP

erM

inute

($/NOPM

)

HammerDB Price/Performance:$/NewOrdersPerMinuteVMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskSSDs



Table1.VMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskPriceandPrice/Performance

TotalPrice NOPMs Price/NOPMsHybrid $332,364 1,702,776 $0.20All-flash $365,524 2,542,760 $0.14All-flash%Increase 10% 49% -26%


WhattheNumbersMean

• Theall-flashsolutionwas10%moreexpensivethanthehybridsolution.

• Theall-flashsolutiondelivered49%moreNOPMsthanthehybridsolution.

• Combingpriceandperformance,theall-flashsolutionwas26%lessforprice/NOPM,reflectingtheprice/performanceadvantageofaSanDisk-poweredall-flashVirtualSANsolution.Itwouldtakeanadditional$164,000investmentinahybridsolutiontoachievetheNOPMsoftheSanDiskall-flashsolution.

WhyThisMattersMission-criticaldatabaseapplicationsserveasthelifelineofmanyorganizationsand,therefore,performanceiscritical.Infact,performanceissuesremainakeyconcernpreventingorganizationsfromvirtualizingmission-criticaldatabaseapplications.Thishesitationisduetotheperceptionthatvirtualizationnotonlyaddsoverhead,butwillalsopreventperformancescalability.

ESGLabconfirmedthataVMwareVirtualSANclusterwithSanDiskSSDseasilyaccommodatedtheperformancerequirementsofanenterprise-classvirtualizedOLTPdatabaseenvironment.Performancewasexcellentforahybridconfiguration,whiletheall-flashconfigurationdelivered49%betterperformance.ThenumberofnewordersperminutewereevenlysplitbetweentheVMs,highlightingthesolution’sabilitytoefficientlydistributetheOLTPworkloadacrosstheentirecluster.

Inaddition,ESGLabconfirmedthattheprice/performanceadvantageofSSDstranslateddirectlytotheVMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskSSDsolution.Theall-flashsolution,whilehavinga10%higherprice,delivered49%betterperformance,resultingina26%advantageinprice/performance.



ESGLabValidationHighlights

þ SanDiskdemonstratedthehighlevelsofpredictableperformanceandsustainabilityofitsOptimusSSDsforVMwareVirtualSANhyper-convergedsolutions.

þ UsingtheHammerDBperformancetestingtool,thehybridsolutiondelivered1,702,776newordersperminutefromafour-nodeVirtualSANcluster.

þ Theall-flashconfigurationofthefour-nodeVMwareVirtualSANclusterdelivered2,542,760newordersperminute,a49%improvementoverthehybridsolution.

þ Whiletheall-flashsolutionwaspriced10%morethanthehybridsolution,theprice/performanceadvantagesofSSDstranslatedinto26%price/performanceadvantagefortheall-flashsolution.

þ Withtheperformancebenefitsdemonstratedbytheall-flashsolution,lessserverhardwareisneededtomeetthebusinessrequirements,leadingtoadditionalsavingsonpower,cooling,andapplicationsoftwarelicensing.

IssuestoConsider

þ Thetestresultspresentedinthisreportarebasedonatestbeddeployedinacontrolledenvironmentwithindustry-standardtestingtools.Duetothemanyvariablesineachproductiondatacenterenvironment,capacityplanningandtestinginyourownenvironmentarerecommended.



TheBiggerTruth

TraditionalITinfrastructureswithvarioushardwareandmanagementsiloslimittheabilityofITorganizationstoquicklyandeasilyadjusttobusinessneedsanddemands.Thisisespeciallytrueinvirtualizedinfrastructures,whichhaveproventobeeffectiveinconsolidatingapplicationworkloadsforpotentialCapExsavings,yetcomplexitiesaroundmanagementandITadministrationquicklydriveOpExcoststhroughtheroof.ThequestforrealisticandaffordableoptionstodealwiththechallengesinherentinITvirtualizationandconsolidationisdaunting.Inmassive,virtualizedenvironmentsmadeupofheterogeneoushardwareandsoftware,thesemanagementcomplexitiescangrowexponentially.StoragemanagementinamodernITenvironmenthastobesimpleandpracticalaswellasfunctionalbecauseuserswilleventuallybecompelledtovirtualizeeverything.

TheVMwareVirtualSAN6solutionwithSanDiskSSDsenablesITorganizationstosimplifyallaspectsoftheiroperations.Allthephysicalresourcesareaggregatedintoaclusterofstandardx86servers.Eachserverbecomesasimplebuildingblocktoeasilyscaleupandscaleoutwiththebusiness.Thedistributed-everythingarchitectureleveragesasoftware-definedapproachthataggregatesallstorageresourcesacrosstheclusterandoffersallthestorageservicesthathavecometobeexpectedinenterpriseinfrastructureenvironments.Andforenhancedperformance,SanDiskOptimusAscendSSDsdeliverwriteaccelerationwhileSanDiskOptimusMaxSSDsaddstoragecapacity.

PerformancetestingshowedtheadvantagesofSSDsinareal-world,virtualizedOLTPdatabaseworkload.Thehybridsolutiondelivered1,702,776newordersperminutefromafour-nodeVMwareVirtualSANcluster,whiletheall-flashsolutiondelivered2,542,760newordersperminute,a49%improvement.BothconfigurationsdemonstratedanevendistributionoftheworkloadacrosseachoftheVMs.Andwithcostbeingamajordriverbehindtheadoptionofhyper-convergedtechnologies,ESGLabwasimpressedwiththepotentialreductioninTCOthattheVMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskSSDscanbringtoorganizations.Whiletheall-flashconfigurationpricewas10%morethanthehybridsolution,the49%performanceincreaseresultedina26%price/performanceadvantage

VMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskSSDsprovedtoberobust,flexible,andresponsive,deliveringmajorvalueintermsofperformance,economics,improvedresponsetimes,highavailability(HA),andeasyadministration.ESGLabfirmlybelievesthatitwouldbenefitanyorganizationconsideringorimplementinganITvirtualizationprojecttotakealonglookatVMwareVirtualSANwithSanDiskSSDs.



Appendix

TABLE2.ESGLabTestBed

DataInfrastructureSoftware VersionVMwareVirtualSAN 6.0U1

Hardware OSandHypervisor

4xLenovoX-SeriesX3650M5IntelXeonE5-2697V32.60GHz

256GBRAM

MicrosoftSQLServer2014StandardwithoutSAMicrosoftServer2012R2

VMwarevSphere6EnterprisePlusVMwarevCenterServer6.0U1Standard

WorkloadGeneration VersionHammerDB 2.17


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