Vice President and Chief Architect [email protected]/11/24 · • Storage solutions are deployed over time • Data is long-lived and continuity to access is expected – Emerging

Scalable storage networking - November 24, 2003

Scale and performancein networked storageBrian PawlowskiVice President and Chief [email protected]


The beauty of a keynote…

Provide no answers, just raise questions and challenge audience.


Considerations

• Reality• Simplicity• Continuity• Compatibility• Scalability


Rashomon

Differing views of reality.


Enterprise Storage Challenges

StorageConsolidation

Data CenterOperations

BusinessContinuance

DistributedEnterprise

UNIX

NT

Linux

Database

Backup/Recovery

CapacityAllocation

CentralManagement

PerformanceManagement

DataAvailability

DisasterRecovery

Time toRecovery

EconomicalProtection

Data Access

ApplicationAcceleration

StreamingMedia

Security



We talk about protocols and technology

• But reality revolves around application support

• … backup and restore• … disaster recovery• … business continuance• … manageability• … cost of ownership


The Problem

The emergence of scalable Linux compute clusters.


The Old Way


The New Way


The problem

• Linux compute clusters solve a computation problem - create a storage problem

• The model - the ten thousand chickens (er, penguins) approach– Versus old workhorse model of one large or

several “smaller” tightly clustered compute nodes

• “Why can’t my storage simply scale like my compute clusters?”


The obvious

• Direct attached storage doesn’t scale• Old models of “restoring” data are inadequate

for availability requirements• Not all data is created equal• Disaster recovery solutions can double your

storage costs


Simplicity

In a scalable storage network, composing storage from simple to manage components.


Simplified approaches to storage networks

StorageArea

Network

StorageArea

Network

Block viewBlock view

Linuxfile

view

AIX or Oraclefile

view Windowsfile

view

The storage networkas archipelagoThe storage networkas archipelago


Simplified approaches to storage networks

StorageNetworkStorageNetwork

File viewFile view

Block viewBlock view

Storage virtualizationnetworkStorage virtualizationnetwork


Simplifications over-simplify

• There is no one solution that works for all applications

• The best you can do is provide multiple access methods within common data management framework

• Provide flexible storage reallocation• Shared global resource pools


Scalable compute platform properties

• Linux compute clusters– Scale out– Low cost components– Application resilient in face of partial (expected) failures

• Windows home directory consolidation– Multiple security domains

• Database clustering– Small today but evolving towards Linux compute cluster

model– Not as simply partitionable/restartable


Continuity

Evolving a scalable storage network that adds capabilities.


Two opposing forces

• Real customers today run real operating systems and applications– No one solution exists - application support

often dictates storage choices– Technology acceptance on 2+ year deployment

path (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it)• Perfect solutions exist in the future

– It is comforting to know that this will all work out in the long run

– Technology acceptance on 2+ year deployment path


The implications

• Storage solutions are deployed over time• Data is long-lived and continuity to access is

expected– Emerging laws requiring durability of business

data (or will that one e-mail make you wince)• Customers want a path through this - you

have to get from here to there– This is a journey, not a destination


Compatibility

Fitting new scalable storage paradigms within existing contexts.


Data lives a long time

• The expectation of storage networking is data accessibility

• New technologies emerge with greater capabilities– But older application platforms hold critical

data in perhaps incompatible way– Can I access my old data?

• Trends in laws governing data retention increasing data longevity and access issues


Protocols live even longer

SCSI ProtocolSCSI Protocol

IPIP

TCPTCP

iSCSIiSCSI

FibreChannelFibreChannel

FCPFCP Parallel BusParallel Bus

§ TCP/IP Transport for SCSI command sets§ SCSI block protocol access

§ Internet standard§ iSCSI is a direct replacement for FCP

§ FCP is the SAN fabric today


The wheel

• Reinventing the wheel is interesting (not)– Eyeball estimate of one new Linux file system

every three months• New technology should add value with

continuity and compatibility• Do explore cheaper wheels


Scalability

Defining the interesting axes of scalability.


DB2DB2DB2DB2

Towards a single system image

FinanceFinance

netapp.comnetapp.com

netapp.co.ilnetapp.co.il

salessales

shlomoshlomo

agendasagendas

beepybeepy

engineeringengineering

hitzhitz

linuxlinux mailmail

haifahaifa

beepybeepy

slidesslides

FinanceFinance

netapp.comnetapp.com

netapp.co.ilnetapp.co.il

salessales

engineeringengineering

Little cloudLittle cloud

Big cloudBig cloud

DB2DB2DB2DB2


Storage networks

StorageNetworkStorageNetwork

File viewFile view

Block viewBlock viewSplit loadIncrease availability

netapp.comnetapp.com netapp.comnetapp.com beepybeepy DB2DB2

DB2DB2

beepybeepy

netapp.comnetapp.comCaching on demand


Capabilities of scalable storage

• Composable building blocks• Transparent reconfiguration• Differing classes of storage• Hierarchical relationships• Domains of trust• Local autonomy• Availability of data• Aggregation of bandwidth


Things to avoid

• Creating more problems than you solve• Introducing new and exotic failure modes• “Red letter” days or forklift upgrades


Questions?

Documents

Vice President and Chief Architect [email protected]/11/24 · • Storage solutions are deployed over time • Data is long-lived and continuity to access is expected – Emerging