Technical Case StudySOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.

Since it was founded more than 30 years ago, SOFTBANK Group has aspired to use technology to enhance the well-being of people and the communities in which they live. Today, the SOFTBANK Group consists of 190 subsidiaries and affiliated companies delivering products and services that touch more than 37 million subscribers worldwide. SOFTBANK Group’s primary areas of focus are communications and the Internet, including serving as one of the leading Internet-oriented venture capital firms.

In addition, cloud-based services offered through our division, SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp., helped the people of Japan as they responded to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. We’ll cover this in more detail later, but for now suffice it to say that it’s truly exciting to see what happens when inspiration, technology, and service come together.

A Pioneer in Cloud ComputingAcross its telecom groups, the SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. IT team quickly identified opportunities to improve IT service delivery. At the top of our list was turning IT from a cost center into a profit center.

By focusing on consolidating and standardizing our IT infrastructure across telecom divisions, we were also able to build our cloud-service offerings called “White Cloud.” Today, these include White Cloud Desktop service (DaaS)—our first cloud offering—and, more recently, our White Cloud vCloud DataCenter (vCloud) service, which was previously called White Cloud Shared Hardware as a Service Premium (SHP).

Launched internally in 2008, White Cloud DaaS quickly achieved solid returns, including reducing calls to our internal IT help desk by 90% and increasing individual employee productivity by 10%. In 2010, we began offering White Cloud DaaS to our external customers. Within SOFTBANK Group alone, we currently have more than 22,000 virtual desktops, making our deployment one of the largest VDI use cases in the world.

By Midori Morooka and Masaki Gonda, SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.

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Integral to the success of our IT infrastructure consolidation and our ability to introduce more high-availability, flexible cloud services was standardizing on best-in-class technologies, including NetApp® storage. Our White Cloud DaaS and White Cloud vCloud services are built on NetApp storage tech nology. Through a strategic partnership, IBM provides the NetApp storage technologies to us as the IBM N series for the White Cloud DaaS service. The White Cloud vCloud service is built on the NetApp FAS3200 series.

Technology and Service in ActionOn March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, destroying lives, homes, and infrastructure across the country and rattling the economy. At SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.—where White Cloud DaaS was already serving thousands of employees—the company’s top management real-ized that the White Cloud DaaS offering could be of great value in the disaster’s aftermath, enabling us to address new government energy requirements while helping other organizations across Japan resume operations faster.

Within weeks of the earthquake, we expanded White Cloud DaaS to an additional 14,000 SOFTBANK Group employees. The fast, secure scalability of NetApp storage was instrumental in helping us accomplish this. At the same time, we offered our White Cloud DaaS at half price to our customers, the government, and nonprofit organizations, providing almost zero profit to SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. Through our own success with White Cloud, we knew we could help displaced workers be productive in the current environment.

In addition to aiding business continuity, the underlying scalable NetApp storage infrastructure helped extend the reach of our White Cloud DaaS service and sig-nificantly decreased energy usage across locations. That, combined with other measures and efforts by employees and affiliated companies, reduced electrical power usage at SOFTBANK Group head quarters by 39%.

Building a Solid Storage Foundation for Cloud ServicesThe decision to first adopt our own cloud services was part of SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.’s ambitious strategy to create proven, powerful cloud services for customers. We also wanted to build on the skills we developed with VMware® virtualization and with virtualized storage. VMware was the natural choice for us because we were already a VMware partner representing VMware vCloud® Datacenter Services in Japan.

For our storage infrastructure, our IT team concluded that we needed a new, agile, and cost-efficient infrastructure for cloud services. We chose NetApp storage technology sourced through IBM. The unified architecture of the NetApp storage technology enabled us to start small and scale nondisruptively as we grew while keeping costs low. We initially estimated that our new storage systems could manage 700 virtual desktops. Later, we used a block-and-cell design (see Figure 1) that enabled us to expand the number of desktops to thousands.

In addition to adopting an agile, cost-effective solution, security was critical. We needed to be able to isolate users and customers within the virtualized envi-ronment. The built-in multi-tenancy capabilities of NetApp technology proved essential because we could divide the storage area for each customer and securely deliver the appropriate level of service to meet each customer’s needs.

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Today, our unified storage infrastructure built on NetApp technology comes with logical partitioning, so we can isolate customer services and maintain excellent security. The logical partitioning does not require additional physical hardware, resulting in a less costly storage infrastructure that is still secure and flexible. In addition, this storage architecture helps us maintain a competitive edge by offering built-in capabilities such as thin provisioning and deduplication to expand the system and still conserve disk capacity.

We also took full advantage of FlexClone® software to instantly replicate data volumes and datasets without requiring more storage space. By combining that with thin provisioning and deduplication, we effectively control storage consumption.

Finally, more consistent storage management enables us to administer the entire system through a single console, which further reduces costs. We can perform capacity management, virtual machine management, and more from the same screen. Other APIs allow us to manage the basic storage functions through the VMware console if we choose. This reduces the learning curve for some administrators.

For the White Cloud DaaS infrastructure, we combined the IBM x3550 servers and the IBM N series storage, which is based on NetApp storage technology. We decided that this combination would deliver the best cost/performance while improving operational management.

White Cloud DaaS Infrastructure DetailsThe completed White Cloud DaaS infrastructure was considerably different from what we had planned. It called for using a low-end HP storage array that we figured could handle 300 virtual desktops. In subsequent plan reviews, we became concerned about how difficult the system would be to maintain and provision. We also were concerned about how expensive it would be to scale. With our White Cloud DaaS today, NetApp technology lets us scale easily while minimizing storage and administration costs.

The current White Cloud DaaS infrastructure uses a block-and-cell design architecture. This is a simple design that lets us start small and scale easily. Each block contains 500–1,000 virtual PC desktops that connect to the storage through NFS, and each cell can contain multiple blocks. In practice, we ended up with 700 desktops per block. This design can scale big to support business growth. (See Figure 1.)

To grow the system we can add virtual desktops to each block, which users can access through the cloud with PCs, laptops, Wyse Thin Clients, or Apple® iPad® tablets. We have an innovative way of scaling. When we need to add fewer than 100 desktops, we use VMware View™ and cloning capabilities. However, when we need to add more than 100 virtual desktops, we rely on FlexClone technol-ogy through the rapid cloning utility (RCU) to enable fast deployment and save storage capacity.

Occasionally, we have to achieve the security of a multi-tenant environment by isolating network access to NAS instead of our usual multi-tenant function. In these cases, we configure NAS storage even if only a few users are involved. Then we use MultiStore® functions to create a logical security partition.

In instances in which we have to back up virtual desktops, we use Snapshot™ and SnapMirror® capabilities. A virtual desktop can be divided into a virtual machine and the user profile data. We do not back up the virtual machines because it is faster to simply redeploy the virtualized systems than to initiate a full backup and restore process.

Midori MorookaManager, Information System Division Communication Service Management Department SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.

Ms. Morooka has worked for SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. for the last 25 years. She held positions as an instructor in technical support and as the system management team leader prior to her current role as general manager of the Communication Service Management Department in the Information System Division. She is also the planning manager for the group-wide commu-nications infra structure. Ms. Morooka contributed to implementing NetApp storage for 19,500 virtual desktops for SOFTBANK Group employees, leveraging her success in implementing NetApp storage during a prior project.

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Tools and Technologies for White Cloud DaaSAt various points, SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. uses different tools and protocols, most of which are included as part of the storage and data management platform. These are:

• Storagemonitoring—OperationsManager

• Automatedprovisioning—RCUandNMSDK

• Storageutilities—FlexClone,Snapshot,SnapMirror

• Storageefficiency—Thinprovisioning,deduplication

• Security—MultiStoreformulti-tenancy

• Protocols—NFS,CIFS

• Thinclients—Wyse,AppleiPad

• Connectionbroker—Developedinhouse

White Cloud vCloud Infrastructure OverviewSOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. is the only provider of VMware vCloud Datacenter services in Japan. Our White Cloud vCloud service is infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

As mentioned earlier, we previously offered White Cloud Shared HaaS Premium (SHP) as an IaaS service. White Cloud vCloud is the replacement service for SHP and offers more flexible options, such as the self-service portal feature, to our users. The main difference between the two from a technical standpoint is that White Cloud vCloud uses VMware’s vCloud Director. (VMware vSphere® was used in SHP.) vCloud Director enables the consolidation of virtual infra-structure across multiple clusters, the encapsulation of application services such as portable vApps, and the deployment of those services on demand, but still with isolation and control.

Figure 1) White Cloud DaaS storage architecture.

ESX Cluster

NFS Data Store(OS Images Only)

1 Block (500 ~ 1,000 VM)1 Block (500 ~ 1,000 VM)

1 Cell (4 Block)

N3400 #1

RCU

Dedup

N3400 #2

N3400 #3MultiStore

SnapMirror

CIFSHome Directory

Management

Operations ManagerVSC ESX Cluster

Wyse Thin ClientsPC

iPad

1 Block (500 ~ 1,000 VM)

1 Block (500 ~ 1,000 VM)

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White Cloud vCloud consists of three clusters connected to a 10GbE switch. The resource cluster in the middle runs the VMware ESX server and the customer virtual machines. The administration cluster on the right-hand side handles the administrative tasks while the staging cluster on the left-hand side runs piloting and testing. These connect to NetApp FAS3200 series storage containing both SAS and SATA disk. The power of NetApp unified storage is that it can handle different types of disks with no problem. (See Figure 2.)

SHP offered end-user data backup as an option, which was important to differentiate us from our competitors. It was a feature that we wanted to keep offering to end users even after moving to White Cloud vCloud. In the environment using vCloud Director, we are able to back up with integrity since the solution coordinates with vCloud Director, vCenter™, and each element in the storage, as you can see in the diagram below. We had a problem initially, however, because there weren’t many vendors at that time who offered a backup structure that worked with vCloud Director transparently. We consulted with NetApp and they introduced us to NetApp Snap Creator™. This framework let us easily build a structure to back up and restore data working with any application or middleware and offer the same level of service that we had with SHP. (See Figure 3.)

When a backup job is run in the White Cloud vCloud environment using Snap Creator, Snap Creator accesses vCloud Director and gets data from vCenter, which is under vCloud Director. It then takes a backup of the linked vApps and VMs online. NetApp Snapshot enables fast backup, and we provide protection by replicating the online backup data using SnapMirror.

Masaki GondaSystems Engineer, Cloud Services Division Cloud Services Department SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.

Mr. Gonda has been a systems engi-neer with SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. for the last six years. He previously worked in the security and mobile areas, and now works in systems engineering in the Cloud Service Development department, working on general infrastructure, including server, network, and storage. While with the company he has contributed to imple-menting NetApp storage in the White Cloud VMware vCloud Datacenter ser-vice, leveraging his experience utilizing NetApp storage and virtualization tech-nologies during a previous project.

Management Cluster

Resource Cluster Resource Cluster

Staging Cluster

Company A Company B

vApp vApp vApp

Org_vDC Org_vDC

VirtualMachine

Layer

vCloudLayer

StorageLayer

MultiStore

FAS3240AE

SAS Shelf

SATA Shelf

vCloud DirectorSnap CreatorOperations Manager

SnapMirror

Figure 2) White Cloud vCloud storage architecture.

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We also offer our customers the option of developing and implementing their own tools using the vCloud API to handle automation and orchestration in the delivery of vCloud services. We will continue to offer services that support our customers in delivering automation, in addition to the previously mentioned self-service portal.

ResultsThe White Cloud DaaS initiative, which was started to optimize our own business, has now been used by many customers. From our users’ standpoint, the benefits include:

• Increasedindividualproductivitybyabout10%dailybysupportinguseof smartphones and tablets, resulting in increased efficiency and less overtime

• Reducedinternalhelp-deskcallsby90%

• Reducedenergyconsumptionasagroupby39%usingWhiteCloudDaaSin combination with other company initiatives and employee efforts (the government requested reducing energy use by 25%)

• Achievedrapidimplementationofvirtualdesktopsinsecondsusingstoragecloning technology

• Achievedhighlyefficientuseofstoragethroughdeduplication

Since White Cloud vCloud was launched in July 2011, its sales have been higher than we anticipated. The service achieved an 80% increase in month-over-month sales for the past three months.

Figure 3) White Cloud vCloud backup environment using NetApp Snap Creator.

VMware vCloud Director

VMwarevCenter

NetApp Storage

Snapshot Copies

Snapshot Copies

Mirror with SnapMirror to Other Site

Snap Creator

Backup Admin

www.netapp.com

© 2012 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. No portions of this document may be reproduced without prior written consent of NetApp, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further, faster, FlexClone, MultiStore, Snap Creator, SnapMirror, and Snapshot are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. VMware, vCloud, and vSphere are registered trademarks and View and vCloud Director are trademarks of VMware, Inc. Apple and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. NA-135-0312

ConclusionWhite Cloud DaaS and White Cloud vCloud, with their NetApp technology, have provided significant benefits. For the White Cloud DaaS initiative in particular, we were able to simplify implementation and speed deployment through the use of feature-rich, NetApp based IBM N series storage. This enables us to more easily implement multi-tenancy and provide the necessary security and isolation. SnapMirror and MultiStore also make it easy to protect data and scale the system. At the same time, through highly efficient use of existing storage capacity, we minimize the need to buy more storage, which enables us to keep costs low.

With White Cloud vCloud and the NetApp FAS3200 series we were able to quickly build a new service, bring up new customers, and incorporate customers of the previous SHP initiative into the new service.

Our NetApp FAS3200 series unified storage and its close integration with VMware’s vCloud support SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp’s vCloud services and enable easy implementation.

About SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp.SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. is the core fixed telecommunications entity within SOFTBANK Group, a leading Japanese telecommunications and Internet pro-vider that operates under the corporate philosophy of “endeav oring to benefit society and the economy and to maximize enterprise value by fostering the sharing of wisdom and knowledge gained through the Information Revolution.” www.softbanktelecom.co.jp/en

About NetAppNetApp creates innovative storage and data management solutions that accelerate business breakthroughs and deliver outstanding cost efficiency. Discover our passion for helping companies around the world go further, faster at www.netapp.com.

NetApp Products• NetAppFASstoragesystems

• NetAppDataONTAP® 8

• NetAppSnapshot™

• NetAppSnapMirror®

• NetAppFlexVol®

• NetAppThinProvisioning

• NetAppDeduplication

• NetAppMultiStore®

• NetAppSnapManager® for Virtual Infrastructure

• NetAppVirtualStorageConsole 2.0

• NetAppFilerView® Management Software

• NetAppFlexClone®

• NetAppRAID-DP®

• NetAppRapidCloningUtility

• NetAppvFiler®

• NetAppSnapCreator™

• NetAppDFM

• NetAppSnapRestore

• NetAppFlashCache

Protocols• NFS,CIFS