CAPÍTULO IV: LOCALIZACIÓN
4.2 Los Pantanos de Villa
This section provides guidelines for setting up the storage layer of the solution to provide high-availability and the expected level of performance.
VMware vSphere 5.5 allows more than one method of storage when hosting virtual machines. The tested solutions described below use different block protocols (FC/FCoE/iSCSI) and NFS (for file), and the storage layout described adheres to all current best practices. A customer or architect with the necessary training and background can make modifications based on their understanding of the system usage and load if required. However, the building blocks described in this document ensure acceptable performance. The VSPEX storage building blocks section
documents specific recommendations for customization. Link aggregation
(for NFS)
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Table 7 lists the hardware resources used for storage.
Table 7. Hardware resources for storage
Component Configuration
EMC VNX series storage array
Block Common:
1 x 1 GbE interface per Control Station for management 1 x 1 GbE interface per SP for management
2 front end ports per SP system disks for VNX OE For 200 virtual machines:
EMC VNX5200
75 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 4 x 200 GB flash drives
3 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as a hot spare
For 300 virtual machines: EMC VNX5400
110x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 6 x 200 GB flash drives
4 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as a hot spare
For 600 virtual machines: EMC VNX5600
220 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 10 x 200 GB flash drives
8 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as a hot spare
For 1,000 virtual machines: EMC VNX5800
360 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 16 x 200 GB flash drives
12 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as a hot spare
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Component Configuration
File Common:
2 x 10 GbE interfaces per Data Mover
1 x 1 GbE interface per Control Station for management 1 x 1 GbE interface per SP for management
system disks for VNX OE For 200 virtual machines:
EMC VNX5200
2 Data Movers (active / standby)
75 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 4 x 200 GB flash drives
3 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as hot spare
For 300 virtual machines: EMC VNX5400
2 Data Movers (active / standby)
110 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 6 x 200 GB flash drives
4 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as hot spare
For 600 virtual machines: EMC VNX5600
2 Data Movers (active / standby)
220 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 10 x 200 GB flash drives
8 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as a hot spare
For 1,000 virtual machines: EMC VNX5800
3 Data Movers (2 x active /1 x standby) 360 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives 16 x 200 GB flash drives
12 x 600 GB 15k rpm 3.5-inch SAS drives as hot spares 1 x 200 GB flash drive as a hot spare
Note: For the VNX5800, it is recommended to run no more than 600 virtual machines on a single active Data Mover. Configure two active Data Movers (2 x active/1 x standby) when scaling to 600 or larger in that case.
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VMware ESXi provides host-level storage virtualization, virtualizes the physical storage, and presents the virtualized storage to the virtual machines.
A virtual machine stores its operating system and all the other files related to the virtual machine activities in a virtual disk. The virtual disk itself consists of one or more files. VMware uses a virtual SCSI controller to present virtual disks to a guest operating system running inside the virtual machines.
Virtual disks reside on a datastore. Depending on the protocol used, a datastore can be either a VMware VMFS datastore, or an NFS datastore. An additional option, RDM, allows the virtual infrastructure to connect a physical device directly to a virtual machine.
Figure 23. VMware virtual disk types
VMFS
VMFS is a cluster file system that provides storage virtualization optimized for virtual machines. Deploy over any SCSI-based local or network storage.
Raw Device Mapping (RDM)
VMware also provides RDM, which allows a virtual machine to directly access a volume on the physical storage. Only use RDM with FC or iSCSI.
NFS
VMware supports using NFS from an external NAS storage system or device as a virtual machine datastore.
Sizing the storage system to meet virtual server IOPS is a complicated process. When I/O reaches the storage array, several components such as the Data Mover (for file- based storage), SPs, back-end dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cache, FAST VP or FASTCache (if used), and disks serve that I/O. Customers must consider various factors when planning and scaling their storage system to balance capacity,
performance, and cost for their applications. VMware vSphere storage virtualization for VSPEX VSPEX storage building blocks
79 EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 1,000 Virtual Machines Enabled by Mircosoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMc VNX Series, and EMc Powered Backup-Proven Infrastructure Guide VSPEX uses a building block approach to reduce complexity. A building block is a set of disk spindles that can support a certain number of virtual servers in the VSPEX architecture. Each building block combines several disk spindles to create a storage pool that supports the needs of the private cloud environment. Each building block storage pool, regardless of the size, contains two flash drives with FAST VP storage tiering to enhance metadata operations and performance.
VSPEX solutions have been engineered to provide a variety of sizing configurations which afford flexibility when designing the solution. Customers can start out by deploying smaller configurations and scale up as their needs grow. At the same time, customers can avoid over-purchasing by choosing a configuration that closely meets their needs. To accomplish this, VSPEX solutions can be deployed using one or both of the scale-points below to obtain the ideal configuration all while guaranteeing a given performance level.
Building block for 13 virtual servers
The first building block can contain up to 13 virtual servers, with two flash drives and five SAS drives in a storage pool, as shown in Figure 24.
Figure 24. Storage layout building block for 13 virtual machines
This is the smallest building block qualified for the VSPEX architecture. This building block can be expanded by adding five SAS drives and allowing the pool to restripe to add support for 13 more virtual servers. For details about pool expansion and restriping, refer to EMC VNX Virtual Provisioning Applied Technology White Paper. Building block for 125 virtual servers
The second building block can contain up to 125 virtual servers. It contains two flash drives and 45 SAS drives, as shown in Figure 25. The following sections outline an approach to grow from 13 virtual machines to 125 virtual machines in a pool.
However, after reaching 125 virtual machines in a pool, do not expand to more virtual machines. Create a new pool and start the scaling sequence again.
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Implement this building block with all of the resources in the pool initially, or expand the pool over time as the environment grows. Table 8 lists the flash and SAS drive requirements in a pool for different numbers of virtual servers.
Table 8. Number of disks required for different number of virtual machines
Virtual servers flash drives SAS drives
13 2 5 26 2 10 39 2 15 52 2 20 65 2 25 78 2 30 91 2 35 104 2 40 117 2 45 125 2 45*
Note: Due to increased efficiency with larger stripes, the building block with 45 SAS drives can support up to 125 virtual servers.
To grow the environment beyond 125 virtual servers, create another storage pool using the building block method described here.
VSPEX private cloud configurations are validated on the VNX5200, VNX5400, VNX5600, and VNX5800 platforms. Each platform has different capabilities in terms of processors, memory, and disks. For each array, there is a recommended maximum VSPEX private cloud configuration. In addition to the VSPEX private cloud building blocks, each storage array must contain the drives used for the VNX Operating Environment (OE) and hot spare disks for the environment.
Note: Allocate at least one hot spare for every 30 disks of a given type and size. VNX5200
The VNX5200 is validated for up to 200 virtual servers. Figure 26 shows a typical configuration.
VSPEX private cloud validated maximums
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Figure 26. Storage layout for 200 virtual machines using VNX5200
This configuration uses the following storage layout:
Seventy-five 600 GB SAS drives are allocated to two block-based storage pools: one RAID-5 (4+1) pool with 45 SAS disks for 125 virtual machines and one RAID-5 (4+1) pool with 30 SAS disks for 75 virtual machines.
Note: To meet the load recommendations, all drives in the storage pool must be 15k rpm and the same size. Storage layout algorithms may produce sub-optimal results with drives of different sizes.
Four 200 GB flash drives are configured for Fast VP, two for each pool configured as RAID 1/0.
Three 600 GB SAS drives are configured as hot spares. One 200 GB flash drive is configured as a hot spare.
Enable FAST VP to automatically tier data to leverage differences in performance and capacity.
FAST VP:
Works at the block storage pool level and automatically adjusts where data is stored based on how frequently it is accessed.
Promotes frequently accessed data to higher tiers of storage in 256-MB increments and migrates infrequently accessed data to a lower tier for cost efficiency. This rebalancing of 256 MB data units, or slices, is part of a regularly scheduled maintenance operation.
For block, allocate at least two LUNs to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
For file, allocate at least two NFS shares to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
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Optionally configure flash drives as FAST Cache (up to 1 TB) in the array. LUNs or storage pools where virtual machines reside that have a higher than average I/O requirement can benefit from the FAST Cache feature. These drives are an optional part of the solution, and additional licenses may be required to use the FAST Suite.
Using this configuration, the VNX5200 can support 200 virtual servers as defined in Reference workload.
VNX5400
The VNX5400 is validated using for up to 300 virtual servers. There are multiple ways to achieve this configuration with the building blocks. Figure 27 shows one potential configuration.
Figure 27. Storage layout for 300 virtual machines using VNX5400
This configuration uses the following storage layout:
One hundred and ten 600 GB SAS drives are allocated to three block-based storage pools: two pools with 45 SAS disks for 125 virtual machines each and one pool with 20 SAS disks for 50 virtual machines.
Note: The pool uses system drives for additional storage.
Note: If required, substitute larger drives for more capacity. To meet the load recommendations, all drives in the storage pool must be 15k rpm and the same size. Storage layout algorithms may produce sub-optimal results with drives of different sizes.
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Six 200 GB flash drives are configured for Fast VP, two for each pool. Four 600 GB SAS drives are configured as hot spares.
One 200 GB flash drive is configured as a hot spare.
Enable FAST VP to automatically tier data to leverage differences in performance and capacity. FAST VP:
Works at the block storage pool level and automatically adjusts where data is stored based on how frequently it is accessed.
Promotes frequently accessed data to higher tiers of storage in 256-MB increments and migrates infrequently accessed data to a lower tier for cost efficiency. This rebalancing of 256 MB data units, or slices, is part of a regularly scheduled maintenance operation.
For block, allocate at least two LUNs to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
For file, allocate at least two NFS shares to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
Optionally configure flash drives as FAST Cache (up to 1 TB) in the array. LUNs or storage pools where virtual machines reside that have a higher than average I/O requirement can benefit from the FAST Cache feature. These drives are an optional part of the solution, and additional licenses may be required to use the FAST Suite.
Using this configuration, the VNX5400 can support 300 virtual servers as defined in Reference workload.
VNX5600
The VNX5600 is validated for up to 600 virtual servers. There are multiple ways to achieve this configuration with building blocks. Figure 28 shows one potential configuration.
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Figure 28. Storage layout for 600 virtual machines using VNX 5600
There are several other ways to achieve this scale using the building blocks above. This is simply one example.
This configuration uses the following storage layout:
Two hundred and twenty 600 GB SAS disks are allocated to five block-based storage pools: four pools with 45 SAS disks for 125 virtual machines each and one pool with 40 SAS disks for 100 virtual machines.
85 EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 1,000 Virtual Machines Enabled by Mircosoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMc VNX Series, and EMc Powered Backup-Proven Infrastructure Guide Note: If required, substitute larger drives for more capacity. To meet the load
recommendations, the drives all need to be 15k rpm and the same size. If using different sizes, storage layout algorithms may give sub-optimal results.
Ten 200 GB flash drives are configured for Fast VP, two for each pool. Eight 600 GB SAS drives are configured as hot spares.
One 200 GB flash drive is configured as a hot spare.
Enable FAST VP to automatically tier data to leverage differences in performance and capacity. FAST VP:
Works at the block storage pool level and automatically adjusts where data is stored based on access frequency.
Promotes frequently-accessed data to higher tiers of storage in 256 MB increments, and migrates infrequently-accessed data to a lower tier for cost-efficiency. This rebalancing of 256 MB data units, or slices, is part of a regularly scheduled maintenance operation.
For block, allocate at least two LUNs to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
For file, allocate at least two NFS shares to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
Optionally configure flash drives as FAST Cache (up to 2 TB) in the array. These drives are a required part of the solution, and additional licenses may be required to use the FAST Suite.
Using this configuration, the VNX5600 can support 600 virtual servers as defined in Reference workload.
VNX5800
VNX5800 can scale to 1,000 virtual servers. There are multiple ways to achieve this configuration with building blocks. Figure 29 shows one way to achieve that level of scale.
86 EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 1,000 Virtual Machines Enabled by Mircosoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMc VNX Series, and EMc Powered Backup-Proven Infrastructure Guide
87 EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 1,000 Virtual Machines Enabled by Mircosoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMc VNX Series, and EMc Powered Backup-Proven Infrastructure Guide This configuration uses the following storage layout:
Three hundred and sixty 600 GB SAS drives are allocated to eight block-based storage pools: each with 45 SAS disks for 125 virtual machines
Note: The pool does not use system drives, and is not used for additional storage.
Note: If required, substitute larger drives for more capacity. To meet the load recommendations, all drives in the storage pool need to be 15k rpm and the same size. Storage layout algorithms may produce sub-optimal results with drives of different sizes.
Sixteen 200 GB flash drives are configured for FAST VP, two for each pool. Twelve 600 GB SAS drives are configured as hot spares.
One 200 GB flash drive is configured as a hot spare.
Enable FAST VP to automatically tier data to leverage differences in performance and capacity. FAST VP:
Works at the block storage pool level and automatically adjusts where data is stored based on access frequency.
Promotes frequently accessed data to higher tiers of storage in 256-MB increments and migrates infrequently-accessed data to a lower tier for cost- efficiency. This rebalancing of 256 MB data units, or slices, is part of a regularly scheduled maintenance operation.
For block, allocate at least two LUNs to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
For file, allocate at least two NFS shares to the vSphere cluster from a single storage pool to serve as datastores for the virtual servers.
Optionally configure flash drives as FAST Cache (up to 3 TB) in the array. These drives are not a required part of the solution, and additional licenses may be required in order to use the FAST Suite.
Using this configuration, VNX5800 can support 1,000 virtual servers as defined in Reference workload.
Conclusion
The scale levels listed in Figure 30 highlight the entry points and supported maximum values for the arrays in the VSPEX private cloud environment. The entry points
represent optimal model demarcations in terms of the number of virtual machines within the environment. This helps you to determine which VNX array to choose