MODULE – 4

VIRTUALIZED DATA
CENTER – STORAGE

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 1
 Module 4: Virtualized Data Center – Storage

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

• Explain storage virtualization and its implementation
• Explain virtual machine storage options
• Describe block and file level storage virtualization
• Describe virtual provisioning and automated storage tiering

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 2
 Module 4: Virtualized Data Center –
Storage
Lesson 1: Storage Virtualization Overview
Topics covered in this lesson:
• Key benefits of storage virtualization
• Implementation of storage virtualization at compute, network,
and storage layers

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 3
Storage Virtualization
Storage virtualization

It is the process of masking the underlying complexity of physical

storage resources and presenting the logical view of these
resources to compute systems.

• Logical to physical storage mapping is performed by the

virtualization layer
• The virtualization layer abstracts the identity of physical storage
devices
 Creates a storage pool from multiple, heterogeneous storage arrays

• Virtual volumes are created from the storage pools and are
assigned to the computing system

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Benefits of Storage Virtualization
• Adds or removes storage without any downtime
• Increases storage utilization thereby reducing TCO
• Provides non-disruptive data migration between storage devices
• Supports heterogeneous, multi-vendor storage platforms
• Simplifies storage management

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Storage Virtualization at Different Layers

Layers Examples

Compute • Storage provisioning for VMs

• Block-level virtualization
Network
• File-level virtualization

• Virtual Provisioning
Storage
• Automated Storage Tiering

Storage virtualization may be implemented at compute, network, and storage

layers. At the compute layer, hypervisor allocates storage space for VMs without
exposing the complexity of the physical storage. Block and file level
virtualization are network-based virtualization techniques which embed
intelligence of virtualizing storage resources at network layer.

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 Module 4: Virtualized Data Center –
Storage
Lesson 2: Virtual Machine Storage
Topics covered in this lesson:
• Virtual machine storage options
• Virtual machine storage considerations

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 7
Storage for Virtual Machines
Compute 1 Compute 2
• VMs are stored as set of files on
storage space available to VM 4
VM 3
hypervisor
• ‘Virtual disk file’ represents a
virtual disk used by a VM to store Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk
its data file file file file

NFS
• Size of virtual disk file represents VMFS

storage space allocated to virtual

disk FC SAN IP Network

• VMs remain unaware of

 Total space available to the
hypervisor
 Underlying storage technologies
FC Storage iSCSI NAS

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File System for Managing VM Files
• Hypervisor uses two file systems to manage the VM files
 Hypervisor’s native file system called Virtual Machine File System
(VMFS)
 Network File System (NFS) such as NAS file system

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Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)
Compute 1 Compute 2
• Hypervisor’s native file system to
manage VM files
• Cluster File System
 Can be accessed by multiple compute
systems simultaneously
 Provides on-disk locking

• Uses a VMFS volume to store VM

files

Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk

VMFS Volume

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Dynamic Expansion of VMFS
Expand VMFS on the existing
• VMFS can be dynamically expanded volume
without disrupting running VMs
VMFS

Methods to expand VMFS

Add a LUN to the existing VMFS
• Expand VMFS dynamically on the volume volume
partition on which it is located VMFS
LUN VMFS Volume
• Add one or more LUNs to the source VMFS Volume

volume

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Raw Device Mapping
• Enables VM to directly access LUNs
in a storage system VM1 VM2

• Contains a symbolic link on VMFS

volume to the LUN
 Acts as a proxy that allows direct VM Mapping
Content File
access to a LUN
VMFS Volume

Benefits VM
Content
• Provides solution when huge volume of data on LUN on Physical
LUN is not practical to move onto virtual disk Storage System

• Enables clustering the VM with physical machine

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Network File System
Compute 1 Compute 2
• Hypervisor uses NFS protocol to
access NAS file system
• NFS volumes are created on NAS
device
 Provide storage to VM
 Accessed by multiple compute systems
simultaneously

NFS Volume
Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk Virtual disk

NAS System

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 Module 4: Virtualized Data Center –
Storage
Lesson 3: Block-level and File-level Virtualization
Topics covered in this lesson:
• Block-level storage virtualization
• File-level storage virtualization

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 14
Block-level and File-level Virtualization –
Overview
• Network-based virtualization embeds storage virtualization
intelligence at the network layer
• Provides ability to
 Pool heterogeneous storage resources
 Perform non-disruptive data migration
 Manage a pool of storage resources from a single management interface

• Network-based storage virtualization is applied at

 Block-level (SAN)
 File-level (NAS)

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Block-level Storage Virtualization
Compute
• Creates an abstraction layer at
SAN, between physical storage
resources and volumes presented
to compute
Virtual volume
• Uses virtualization appliance to
perform mapping operation
• Makes underlying storage
infrastructure transparent to SAN
compute Virtualization
• Enables significant cost and Appliance

resource optimization

Heterogeneous Storage Arrays

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 Physical to Virtual Volume Mapping
Compute Compute

Virtualization
Appliance

Virtual Virtual
volume volume

Extent Extent Extent Extent

Storage Volume Storage Volume Storage Volume Storage Volume

Storage Storage
Array Array

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File-level Storage Virtualization Clients

• Provides an abstraction in the NAS/File

servers environment
 Eliminates dependencies between the file
Virtualization
and its location Appliance

• Enables movement of files between IP

NAS systems without impacting client IP Network
access
• Provides opportunities to optimize
storage utilization
• Implemented using global namespace

Multi-vendor NAS Systems

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File-level Storage Virtualization – Global
Namespace
• Enables clients to access files using logical names which are
independent of the actual physical location
• Maps logical path of a file to the physical path names
• Simplifies access to files
 Clients no longer need to have multiple mount points to access data
located on different NAS devices

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 19
 Module 4: Virtualized Data Center –
Storage
Lesson 4: Virtual Provisioning and Automated Storage Tiering
Topics covered in this lesson:
• Virtual provisioning and its benefits
• Thin LUN and Thin Pool
• Virtual Provisioning for virtual disks
• Automated Storage Tiering
• Sub-LUN Tiering and Cache-Tiering

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Virtual Provisioning (Thin Provisioning)
Virtual Provisioning (Thin Provisioning)
Compute Systems

It is the ability to present a LUN to a

compute system with more capacity than
what is physically allocated to the LUN.
10 TB 10 TB 10 TB

• Capacity-on-demand from a shared storage Thin LUN Thin LUN Thin LUN
pool, called Thin pool Compute
Reported
 Physical storage is allocated only when the compute Capacity
3 TB 4 TB 3 TB
requires it Allocated Allocated Allocated

 Provisioning decisions not bound by currently

available storage
• May be implemented at Disk Drives
 Storage layer
 Compute layer – virtual Provisioning for virtual disk
Shared Storage pool
(Thin Pool)

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 21
These challenges are addressed by Virtual Provisioning.
• Virtual Provisioning is the ability to present a logical unit (Thin
LUN) to a compute system, with more capacity than what is
physically allocated to the LUN on the storage array.
• Physical storage is allocated to the application “on-demand”
from a shared pool of physical capacity.
• This provides more efficient utilization of storage by reducing
the amount of allocated, but unused physical storage. You will
learn about Thin LUN and Thin pool later in this lesson.

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 22
Traditional Provisioning vs. Virtual Provisioning

150 GB
Available
Capacity

1500 GB 1650 GB
or 800 GB or
1.5 TB 550 GB 1.65 TB
Allocated Available
600 GB 500 GB
Allocated Unused Capacity
Unused
400 GB
500 GB Capacity
Capacity
Allocated
Allocated
Unused
Unused
Capacity
Capacity
350 GB 350 GB
100 GB 200 GB
Actual data
100 GB 50 GB 200 GB Actual data
Data 50 GB Data Data Allocated Allocated Allocated
Thin Thin Thin Storage System
LUN 1 LUN 2 LUN 3 Storage System
LUN 1 LUN 2 LUN 3 2 TB
500 GB 550 GB 800 GB 2 TB

Traditional Provisioning Virtual Provisioning

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Thin LUN
• Logical device where the physical storage need not be
completely allocated at the time of creation
• Seen by the operating system as a traditional LUN
• Physical storage is allocated to the Thin LUN from the Thin pool
• Minimum amount of physical storage allocated at a time to a
Thin LUN from a Thin Pool is called Thin LUN Extent
• Best suited for environments, where space efficiency is
paramount

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 24
Thin Pool
Thin Pool
• Collection of physical drives that
provide the actual physical storage used
by Thin LUNs
• Multiple pools may be created within a
storage array
• Can be expanded dynamically
 Drives can be added to a Thin pool while
pool is being used in production
• Allocated capacity is reclaimed by the
pool when Thin LUNs are destroyed Additional Disk Drives

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 25
Thin Pool Rebalancing
• Thin pool rebalancing is a technique
that provides the ability to
automatically rebalance allocated
extents on physical disk drives over the
entire pool when new disk drives are
added to the pool. Thin pool
rebalancing restripes data across all the
disk drives( both existing and new disk
drives) in the thin pool. This enables
spreading out the data equally on all
the physical disk drives within the Thin
pool, ensuring that the used capacity of
each disk drive is uniform across the
pool.
•
Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 26
Virtual Provisioning at Compute
• Hypervisor performs virtual
provisioning to create virtual
disks for VMs
 Virtual machine sees full logical Hypervisor
disk size at all times
• Hypervisor allocates storage
space to the virtual disk only Thin Thick Thin

when VM requires storage space 10GB

20GB 40GB
 Eliminates the need to 20GB

overprovision virtual disks Virtual Disks

100GB

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 27
Virtual Provisioning Benefits
• Reduces administrative overhead
• Improves capacity utilization
• Reduces cost
• Reduces downtime

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Virtual Provisioning Best Practices
• Drives in Thin pool should have same RPM
• Drives in the Thin pool should be of same size
• Provision Thin LUNs for applications that can tolerate some
variation in performance

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Storage Tiering
Storage Tiering

Establishing a hierarchy of storage type, and identifying the candidate data

to relocate them to the appropriate storage type to meet service level
requirements at a minimal cost.

• Each tier is optimized for a specific characteristic, such as

performance, availability, or cost
• Efficient storage tiering requires implementation of policies
 Policies may be based on parameters such as file type, frequency of
access etc.
• Storage Tiering Implementation
 Manual storage tiering
 Automated storage tiering

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 30
Automated Storage Tiering
• Automates the storage tiering process
• Enables non-disruptive data movement between tiers
• Improves application performance at the same cost or provides
the same performance at a lower cost
• Configures data movement
 Within a storage array (Intra-array)
 Between storage arrays (Inter-array)

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 31
Automated Storage Tiering – Intra Array
• Automates the storage tiering process within
array Faster,

• Enables efficient use of Solid-state drives Application

performance
SSD
(SSDs) and SATA drive technologies
 Moving active data to high performance SSD tier
and inactive data to higher capacity lower Fibre
Channel
performance SATA drives tier
• Performs data movements between tiers at
Lower storage
sub-LUN level costs and less
SATA
energy
• Employs cache tiering to improve application
performance further

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 32
Sub-LUN Tiering
• By using sub-LUN tiering, a LUN is broken down into smaller
segments and tiered at that level
• Solid-state drives (SSD)
5% Active SSD

95% Inactive HDD

Storage pool

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 33
Automated Storage Tiering – Building Blocks
Building Description
Blocks
Combination of drive technologies (SSD, FC, or SATA) and
Storage Type
RAID protection
Storage groups Logical collection of LUNs that are managed together
Manage data placement and movement across Storage
Policies Types to achieve service levels for one or more Storage
Storage Type
Groups Storage Groups
Policies
Type 1 Platinum
200 GB SSD
RAID 5 (3+1) 25%
Exchange_SG
50%
Type 2 25%
146 GB 15K FC
RAID 1 Silver Oracle_SG

Type 3 25%
1 TB SATA 100%
RAID 6 (14+2)
Dev_SG

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Cache Tiering
• Creates a large capacity secondary
cache using SSDs Hypervisor Hypervisor Hypervisor
• Enables tiering between DRAM cache,
SSDs drives (secondary cache) Array controller

• Most reads are now served directly DRAM Cache Tier 1

from high performance tiered cache Tiered
Cache
SSD Tier 2
Benefits

• Provides excellent performance benefit

during peak workload
• Non-disruptive and transparent to
applications

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 35
Module 4: Summary
Key points covered in this module:
• Storage virtualization and its benefits
• Storage for Virtual Machines
• Network-based storage virtualization
• Virtual provisioning and its benefits
• Automated storage tiering

Copyright © 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Virtualized Data Center - Storage 36