Dell FS7500 User Manual

Dell EqualLogic FS7500 – Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads

A Dell Techni cal White Paper

Document Version 1.1

ABSTRACT: This white paper examines the common storage challenges faced by IT for virtualized application

workloads and describes why the Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS7500 unified block and file storage is an ideal solution for hosting a VMware environment with virtual workloads. Using results from testing conducted at Dell Labs, this white paper also provides a performance-based proof point for hosting multiple virtual workloads on EqualLogic FS7500 over NFS.

Dell EqualLogic FS7500 – Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads

owners. Possession, use, or copying of the documentation or the software described in this publication is

authorized only under the license agreement specified herein. Dell, Inc. will not be held liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The

information in this document is subject to change. August 2011

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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 – Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2

Audience ................................................................................................................. 2

Sections .................................................................................................................. 3

Storage Options for VMware .......................................................................................... 3

VMware I/O stacks ...................................................................................................... 4

The Dell EqualLogic FS7500 storage solution for VMware ....................................................... 6

Storage Performance Metrics ......................................................................................... 8

Test Methodology ....................................................................................................... 9

Test Hardware Configurations ...................................................................................... 10

Test Network Configuration ........................................................................................ 11

Virtual Workload Description ....................................................................................... 12

Mail server operations using Microsoft Exchange ............................................................ 12

Social networking operations using Olio, Web 2.0 based applications ................................... 12

E-commerce transactional operations using DVDstore and MS-SQL databases .......................... 12

Test Results ............................................................................................................ 13

Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 14

Appendix A ............................................................................................................. 15

Test System Components ......................................................................................... 15

IP and Subnet Information ....................................................................................... 15

Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 2. Unified Scale-out Dell EqualLogic FS7500 Storage System .......................................... 7

Figure 3. Multiple Virtual Workloads in a VMware environment on Dell EqualLogic FS7500 ............ 10

Figure 4. Logical Network Connectivity Diagram of the Test Environment ................................ 11

Figure 5. Performance of Multiple Virtual Workloads in VMware using FS7500 over NFS ............... 14

WMware I/O stacks ........................................................................................ 5

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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 – Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads

Introduction

Today datacenter administrators in businesses of all sizes are facing an efficiency challenge. Due to the rapid growth of collaboration and e-business applications and regulatory compliance requirements, server and storage needs are continually growing while IT budgets are either stagnant or shrinking. To address the server side efficiency issues, virtualization solutions, such as those from VMware®, Microsoft® and Citrix® where resources of a single physical server are shared across multiple virtual machines, deliver high asset utilization and eliminate the problems that result from having to maintain and manage large numbers of underutilized physical servers. As virtualized application workloads expand to more than a few physical servers, beyond the limits of direct-attached storage (DAS) expansion, some IT organizations have consolidated their storage on networked storage devices. However, many organizations still continue to use DAS for their virtual workloads. While they have taken advantage of server consolidation, they have not yet extended the consolidation benefits to storage. The problem of underutilization of storage resources associated with DAS is dramatically reduced with networked storage. This is particularly important for a virtual environment because the only way to take full advantage of server virtualization is with consolidated storage pools; for example, the ability to move live virtual machines is only enabled with shared storage devices. DAS architectures can support this function only to a limited number of servers that are directly attached to the storage device, making your virtual server implementation less flexible.

Many companies that have implemented networked storage solutions in an attempt to avoid the inefficiencies of DAS have struggled with the complexity and support costs of those solutions. Hypervisors, such as those from VMware, Microsoft®, and Citrix, support both networked storage options—storage area network (SAN

) and network attached storage (NAS). Over time many datacenters may end up with multiple islands of SAN and NAS with separate vendor-specific storage management consoles that are not easy to use.

This white paper provides an overview of storage options for VMware virtualization and describes the benefits you can gain from using the EqualLogic FS7500 in conjunction with VMware. It also provides a performance-based proof point that the EqualLogic FS7500 can meet the demanding I/O needs of multiple virtual workloads running in VMware environments over the NFS protocol.

Audience

This white paper is intended for customers who have evaluated the EqualLogic unified storage value proposition and want to explore the use of the EqualLogic FS7500 for their virtual environments. These customers are looking for a performance-based proof point for running multiple virtual workloads over the NFS protocol in VMware environments. This white paper does not provide design considerations and best practices for setting up their virtual infrastructures with VMware over NFS using the EqualLogic FS7500.

Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or FCoE are storage networking protocols for SANs

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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 – Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads

Sections

This white paper contains the following sections:

• Storage Options for VMware

• The Dell EqualLogic FS7500 storage solution for VMware

• Storage Performance

• Test Methodology

• Test Results

Storage Options for VMware

The VMware® vSphere™ suite provides a hypervisor that supports full operating system virtualization within a virtual machine (VM). A VM operates exactly like a physical server; it has its own virtual hardware including processor(s), memory, hard disks, and network interfaces. Each VM runs its own operating system, whether it is Windows™ ® or Linux, just like a physical server. Most major applications and databases, for example Microsoft® Exchange®, Microsoft® SQL Server®, Microsoft® SharePoint® and Oracle® 11g, are fully supported in VMware virtual environments. Application performance is just as important in a virtual environment as it is in a physical environment. The storage option you choose to host your virtualized application workloads is critically important for a good end-user experience .

VMware offers a variety of storage options in the vSphere product suite to host virtual workloads. These storage options are available to host both the VMware hypervisor including the VMs and the user data for the application running within the virtual machine. These storage options include:

1. Direct Attached Storage (DAS): A typical DAS system consists of one or more data storage devices

directly connected to a computer through a host bus adapter (HBA). These devices can be housed in the server enclosure or in an external enclosure that is directly connected to one or more servers. A DAS environment does not have network devices like hubs, switches, or routers. DAS connections primarily use ATA, SATA or SAS block-based protocols

. VMware DAS environments

typically leverage the VMFS file system.

2. Storage Area Network (SAN): A typical SAN consists of a dedicated network of storage devices that

serves one or more consolidated logical units (also known as LUNs) such that the LUNs appear as locally attached storage devices to the server operating system. A SAN typically has a dedicated switching fabric independent from the client local area network (LAN). A SAN provides only blocklevel abstraction of storage devices. Shared file systems on a SAN use block-level operations to access the host operating system, or user data. Examples include the Microsoft Windows NT file system (NTFS) and the Linux third extended file system (ext3). SAN connections primarily use Fibre Chanel (FC), FC over Ethernet (FCoE) or iSCSI block-based storage networking protocols. VMware SAN environments typically leverage the VMFS file system.

3. Network Attached Storage (NAS): A typical NAS is a storage device that uses file-based protocols

such as NFS or SMB/CIFS and provides file-level abstraction of storage to the network clients. Unlike SANs, NAS systems share the client LAN. Applications running on physical or virtual environments that are connected to NAS devices use file level operations to provide access to user data. VMware can host virtual workloads on NAS devices using the NFS protocol.

Although Fiber Channel protocol can be used in a DAS device, it is primarily used in a SAN device.

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Dell EqualLogic FS7500 – Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads

Both NAS and SAN infrastructures offer viable alternatives for network storage that may be appropriate for hosting multiple virtual workloads in VMware environments. So how do you know which consolidated storage solution is best for you? It depends upon the application, your workload characteristics, and your datacenter circumstances. The key is to look for flexibility in your storage solution.

There are two key features that your shared storage solution should provide: scalability and a unified storage platform. The way a storage solution implements these two features defines whether it will meet your needs for hosting multiple VMware virtual workloads.

First, a highly scalable storage device can handle a growing virtual implementation simply and easily without disruptive “forklift upgrades.” That is, expansion should be possible without replacing existing storage devices with new generation higher-capacity devices and migrating data to the new generation devices. Multiple generations of storage systems should be able to comingle to provide a single storage pool with easy expansion or evacuation of capacity as needed. It should also scale performance along with capacity, so that growth doesn’t lead to performance degradation.

Second, a unified storage system—that is, a system that supports both SAN and NAS storage needs— simplifies storage and virtualization management. A consolidated management approach to storage enables IT administrators to easily manage storage needs of all virtual workloads using a single storage management console. Instead of having to choose between SAN and NAS up front, you are assured that over time you can remain flexible; choosing the most appropriate networked storage type based on your application needs.

VMware I/O stacks

VMware virtualized workloads can be hosted on SAN devices using iSCSI, Fibre Channel, or Fibre Channel over Ethernet (F Co E) block I/O protocol; they can also be hosted on a NAS device using NFS I/O protocol. The key elements in each of the I/O stacks for these technologies are shown below in Figure 1.

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