Case Study
BIGLOBE constructs lower-cost,
high-density scalable storage
Objective
Support customer data requirements—
which have already exceeded 500 TB—
with a robust, scalable mail storage system
while significantly reducing the total cost
of storage (installation, operation, data
centre).
Approach
Choose a storage environment such as
object storage that takes advantage of
x86 architecture on a server with the
capability of loading a high-capacity HDD
in order to achieve cost-eectiveness,
good service quality, and reliable data
protection rather than choosing NAS or
SAN as storage solution.
IT Matters
• Achieved a low cost/2 PB high-capacity
storage environment running Scality
RING on a HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8
Server
• Deployed 88 TB (4 TB SATA×22) disk
capacity and 192 GB memory per single
HPE ProLiant SL4540 Server node
• Easily integrated existing Zimbra mail
application with Scality RING
• Substantially reduced operation and
maintenance cost with ProLiant SL4540
self-management capabilities
• On-site maintenance support within 4
hours is available 24 hours a day, 365
days a year with HPE Support Plus 24
Business Matters
• Overwhelming cost advantage in
comparison with generic 2U server
• Highly competitive mail service
infrastructure
• Scalability of storage capacity in excess
of tens of petabytes
• Ability to use object storage to store
archived logs and pictures
environment
HPE ProLiant SL4500 ensures mail storage
for 3 million BIGLOBE broadband users
As a leading Japanese internet
and cloud service provider,
BIGLOBE is migrating to a
more robust mail storage
system for their 3 million
broadband clients. BIGLOBE
chose HPE ProLiant SL4540
Gen8 Server powered by Intel®
Xeon® processor E5-2400
product family running the
Scality RING software package.
BIGLOBE takes on challenges
for growing mail data
requirements and costs
BIGLOBE is one of Japan’s leading ISPs.
NEC started PC communication service
PC-VAN in 1986, and 10 years later 3
dierent communication services were
merged to create BIGLOBE. BIGLOBE has
since expanded into cloud services and the
MVNO business. In 2014, BIGLOBE became
independent from NEC.
Currently, BIGLOBE is migrating its email
storage environment to an HPE ProLiant
SL4500 Scalable System solution in order to
meet the growing data requirements of its
300 million broadband users.
Case study
BIGLOBE
Industry
IT, ISP, cloud
“The HPE ProLiant SL4540 can reduce the cost by 2/3 in comparison with
conventional storage environments. When we forecasted for the next five
years after installation, we determined that the highest return on
investment would be obtained with the ProLiant SL4540.”
– Ryuichi Ishige, Manager of Cloud Services, BIGLOBE
Page 2
Ryuichi Ishige, Manager of Cloud Services,
said “From the start of our operations with
respect to mail infrastructure, we have
systematically used trial and error methods to
mitigate high cost in regards to growing data
requirements.”
In order to reduce costs for BIGLOBE’s mail
service infrastructure, several changeovers
were carried out. Initially, the original DNA
set up was transitioned to NAS realising a
50% cost savings. Secondarily, the move
to a virtualised server environment further
reduced the cost to about 1/10th of the
original system.
Mr. Ishige commented, “We are seeing a trend
towards a need for total data capacity larger
than 500 TB. The reason behind this growing
need is we believe there is a change in the
mail user mindset. Whereas before users
deleted read emails, now they archive them.”
While managing growing data demands, the
project team had to lower the cost of storage.
When attempting to solve this dilemma, the
proposal of object storage piqued Mr. Ishige’s
and his team’s interest.
“Object storage delivers a very simple
storage environment for x86 server clusters.
In addition, petabyte-class scalability is
available.” Mr. Ishige said.
In object storage, data is treated as an object
rather than a block or a file, giving it an ID
and metadata to be able to uniquely identify
data for its respective application. The
foremost feature of an object-based storage
device (OSD) is that it requires less metadata
than file systems to store and access files,
and reduces the overhead of managing file
metadata by storing the metadata with the
object.
Mr. Ishige stated, “We expect to reduce our
operation management load because of
object storage’s simple structure and flexibility
for ever-increasing data. Also, we can use a
generic x86 server. It significantly reduces the
installation cost when compared to dedicated
storage products.”
Since 2012, Mr. Ishige and his team have
conducted extensive research to deepen
their understanding of object storage. After
considering all their options, they chose to
install Scality RING software from US-based
Scality due to their patented object storage
technology. Scality software combined with
the HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 Servers
running the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2400
product family provided a low-cost, highperformance platform.
Case study
BIGLOBE
Industry
IT, ISP, cloud
Page 3
Solution
Implementing Scality RING to support
object storage
Scality RING runs on Linux OS. The ringshaped structure operating on x86 server
clusters distributes data eiciently and oers
great flexibility. Scality RING, a scale-out
Software Defined Storage (SDS) solution, is a
proven product that has been implemented
by many service providers that require
large-scale storage environments, data
centre operators, and businesses in the
communications industry.
“It is possible to implement Scality RING with
only six servers, and it is capable of expanding
its storage capacity simply by adding more
servers. While expanding our storage, we did
not experience any downtime even without
RAID management. From the data protection
perspective, the ability to replicate objects
multiple times over various dierent nodes
makes data retention very secure,” Yohei
Yamamoto from NEC Solution Innovators,
Ltd. stated. NEC Solution Innovators, Ltd. is a
partner company that has been supporting
BIGLOBE’s development and operations
for more than 10 years in various systems,
including this project.
Case study
BIGLOBE
Industry
IT, ISP, cloud
Page 4
“Scality RING provides a simple user
experience without worrying about directories
and data volume configuration,” said Mr.
Yamamoto. “In addition, Scality RING has an
extensive history of usage among mail server
data storage providers. Scality RING also has
excellent compatibility with existing software
by providing open connectors so that for
example, Zimbra, a mail platform which
BIGLOBE has been using, can be integrated.”
“In comparison with the existing storage
environment, we expect to operate at 1/3 of
the original cost. We need four times more
than our current storage capacity while still
cutting cost by 2/3,” explained Mr. Ishige.
The fact that costs were greatly reduced,
even while quadrupling the replication of
objects and utilising more storage capacity,
is noteworthy. However, great care has to be
taken when selecting the type of platform
because it can have a massive financial impact
on the investment.
HPE ProLiant SL4500 ultra-high density
server maximises return on investment
Mr. Ishige recalls how the project team chose
the Scality RING platform: “Although we had
initially thought about using a 2U server,
we realised that network devices would be
required in proportion to the server number.
As a result, we feared it would exponentially
raise the total cost. Furthermore, as the
number of 2U servers increases, the cost
would eventually outweigh the cost of
conventional storage environments in the
near future.”
In order to increase Scality RING’s return on
investment, it was essential to be capable
of equipping a number of HDDs, which
greatly exceeds the limits of the 2U servers.
When looking for a suitable server with
ample storage, an engineer from Scality
recommended the HPE ProLiant SL4500
Scalable System.
The high-density HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8
Server is best suited for large scale-out when
there are high storage demands. The 4.3U
form factor chassis stores 3 server nodes.
The server is densely packed with moduletype high-capacity storage, an I/O module,
and a power supply unit. It is possible to be
equipped with up to 88 TB (4 TB SATA × 22)
and maximum 192 GB of memory per node.
“When we considered overall cost again, we
identified operation costs including server,
network equipment, power and space, and
we compared the cost outlook due to the
dierences in system configurations,” said
Mr. Ishige. “As a result, a combination of the
HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 Server and
Scality RING became the obvious choice to
achieve optimal cost. The ProLiant SL4540
can reduce the cost by 2/3 in comparison with
conventional storage environments. When
we forecasted for the next five years after
installation, we determined that the highest
return on investment would be obtained with
the ProLiant SL4540.”
Yuta Umezu from DC Platform Group, Cloud
Service HQ, said, “HPE has signed a global
partnership with Scality, and has extensive
experience with systems, including the
petabyte-class system.”
Benefit
Achieve an excellent petabyte-class
storage environment while maintaining
cost eectiveness
In order to implement the latest technology
for the new mail infrastructure, BIGLOBE took
suicient time for verification.
“We started to do trial runs with Scality RING
in November 2012,” said Mr. Umezu. “We
carefully built safe recovery procedures by
checking behaviours when failures occurred
which we created for learning purposes. And
in 2014, we conducted a verification test using
an actual HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 Server.”
In June 2014, the final testing stage was
started when mail data from 200 internal
users migrated to the new system. The HPE
ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 × 6 node (3 chassis)
equipped with 192 GB of memory and 88 TB
(4 TB SATA × 22 pieces) disk per node was
introduced in the first phase.
Case study
BIGLOBE
Industry
IT, ISP, cloud
Page 5
Customer at a glance
Hardware
• HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 Server
HPE Services
• HPE Support Plus 24
Mr. Yamamoto said, “After confirming
stability and service quality of the system
in an internal environment, we wanted to
sequentially begin migrating customers over
to the new system.”
HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 Servers were
introduced due to their ability to reduce
load demands by means of an operation
management system. The servers have
unique self-operating features such as the
capability to self-diagnose, report status,
and be remotely managed with the aid
of iLO 4. The team actively utilises those
functions along with HPE Support Plus 24,
an established system that oers around the
clock service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
including on-site maintenance support within
4 hours.
“Undertaking this project
and operating with this
ultra-high density server
hardware is a first for
BIGLOBE as a company. We
are assured of a
well-prepared system with
support from HPE, by taking
all possible measures so we
can quickly respond to any
possible failures,” Mr.
Umezu explained.
The project to migrate about 300 million
BIGLOBE customers to the new system is now
underway. BIGLOBE expects the new service
infrastructure to be ready for their users in
late 2015. At that point the scale of the system
will be over 2 PB of capacity operating with
HPE ProLiant SL4540 Gen8 × 26 nodes (13
chassis) and 572 (4 TB SATA) disks.
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“New options that combine large capacity
storage servers and object storage are very
good news for providers like us, who deal with
huge amounts of data,” said Mr. Ishige. “We
believe that we can achieve a more costcompetitive server infrastructure using the
appropriate item in the right place to realise
the performance, reliability, and cost we need.”
Learn more at
hpe.com/info/servers
© Copyright 2015 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. The information contained herein is subject to change without
notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Intel and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
4AA5-8196EEW, November 2015, Rev. 1
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