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Technical Paper

60 TB Microsoft Fast Track Data Warehouse Reference Architecture Installation and Configuration Guide

Page 1 of 38 http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/fasttrack

60TB* Microsoft SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse Reference Architecture (*60TB Maximum User Data, 25TB Certified)

Installation and Configuration Guide

Content

1 Introduction 2 1.1 Intended Audience and Document Version 3 1.2 Document Version 3

2 Introduction to Fast Track Data Warehouse 4 2.1 Microsoft SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse 4 2.2 Fast Track Conceptual Overview 5 2.3 Paradigm Shift 6 2.4 Enabling New Scenarios 7

3 Performance Overview 8 3.1 PRIMERGY RX300 S7 and Violin Memory 6232 8 3.2 Hardware Overview 9 3.3 Conclusion 12

4 Installation and Configuration Instructions 14 4.1 Installing HBA Cards and Memory Modules 14 4.2 Connecting Compute Node to Storage Array 15 4.3 Operating System Installation 16

5 Storage Array Installation 19 5.1 HBA Drivers 19 5.2 Configuring MPIO 20 5.3 Storage Array Configuration 21 5.4 Adding Windows Volumes 27 5.5 SQL Server Installation 30

6 Checklists 35 6.1 Operating System 35 6.2 Storage 35 6.3 SQL Server 35

7 High Availability Scenario 36 7.1 Local High Availability 36 7.2 Remote High Availability 36

8 Bill of Materials 37 9 Appendix 38

9.1 Literature and Links 38 9.2 Abbreviations 38

Technical Paper 60 TB Microsoft Fast Track Data Warehouse Reference Architecture Installation and Configuration Guide


1 Introduction A data warehouse (DW) is a large store of data accumulated from a wide range of sources. The stored data is analyzed for trend analysis, business intelligence reporting, and various types of predictive analysis. With todays never ending data growth and complexity, it is becoming a tedious job for IT professionals to balance capacity and performance within the data warehouse system. A modern data warehouse has to continually balance growing data volumes, ETL (data load) requirements, OLAP query complexity with ever growing number of users. DW systems based on disk storage require a massive number of disk drives to deliver the required performance. Further they usually require discipline in maintaining disk groups to maintain desired performance. The industry has responded with in-memory DW solutions using column compression. Unfortunately the new in-memory, No SQL DW solutions require a complete ground up rebuild of the DW solution. They are unproven in terms of scale and limited by the size of DRAM present in the servers which are hosting such solutions. When high availability and disaster recovery and persistence come into play, these solutions tend to fall short. Fujitsu, Violin Memory and Microsoft deliver an all-memory, fully persistent and highly available solution in 5U which does not require new platform, training or re-integration of new software. The result is a lower operating cost, lower datacenter footprint, lower power consumption and processing speed equal or approaching in-memory DW solutions. Fujitsu and Violin Memory all-memory solutions scale from 20TB (5U) to 240TB (20U) while preserving most of the infrastructure investment along the way. Fujitsu all-memory SQL DW solutions address challenges in creating an optimal balance with CPU, memory, I/O and storage. At the same time these solutions dramatically reduce ETL and maintenance requirements on the system. All of your data is located in DRAM on the Server, DRAM in storage or flash memory in storage. There is no spinning media in the solution. Fujitsu , Violin Memory and Microsoft jointly developed guidelines and design principles to assist customers in designing and implementing a balanced configuration specifically for Microsoft SQL Server Data Warehouse workloads to achieve out-of-box scalable performance.



1.1 Intended Audience and Document Version This white paper has two parts. Part one is intended for CIOs, CTOs, IT planners, solution architects, database administrators, storage administrators, and business intelligence users who are evaluating, planning, and deploying a next generation of the predicable data warehouse. The second part is intended for a technical audience and provides step by step setup and configuration instructions.

1.2 Document Version

Version Date Comments

1.0 2013-04-12 First Released Version

1.1 2013-05-02 Minor Corrections



2 Introduction to Fast Track Data Warehouse

2.1 Microsoft SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse

The Microsoft Fast Track Data Warehouse is a combination of Microsoft SQL Server software running on prescribed hardware configurations that have been specifically tested and approved for data warehouse workloads by Microsoft to meet various levels of sustained throughput. Fast Track is intended to provide an out of the box experience that optimizes the utilization of hardware implemented in a data warehouse solution. The goal is to provide predictable hardware performance and to remove the guess work when choosing a hardware solution for a data warehouse implementation. Each configuration has been thoroughly tested and rated for performance using both throughput certified and capacity certified ratings. In a traditional system it is the growth or change in usage patterns that causes the most challenges over the life of the system. As the databases grow in size so does the administration time and complexity. As the number of users increases, so does the number of concurrent open threads to storage. Each open query to the system could interact with multiple tables, partitions or data files further multiplying the total number of concurrent access points to storage. As users come and go the locality of the access points changes. This causes hot spots and unpredictable performance in production environments. This has lead decision makers to look for alternatives to their current infrastructure in order to ensure the availability of consistent, sustainable performance. The Microsoft Fast Track Data Warehouse built by Fujitsu and Violin Memory is a robust solution to this problem, delivering easy to follow setup instructions and predictable performance as measured by IOPS and throughput. Violin Memory flash storage arrays enhance the predictability of the Fast Track solution by delivering the same performance (throughput) regardless of the number of threads, users, tables, files or LUNs. Throughput will not degrade dependent upon usage patterns or data locality, which allows administrators to avoid chasing periodic or systemic degradation issues. Violins flash technology goes beyond SSDs and other implementations of flash that are still bound to a hard disk drive (HDD) architecture. SSDs, like HDDs, still can be affected by data locality, RAID performance degradation and LUN striping issues. Ongoing maintenance and ongoing troubleshooting is still required. In contrast, Violin solutions overcome these issues by presenting the array as one entire block of flash storage. All data is securely balanced across all of the available storage inside of the array and all data is equally accessible, anywhere in the array, at any time. Setup, configuration and management of storage tier in the Violin architecture is significantly faster and simpler than disk- or SSD-based solutions. There is no LUN striping to architect, no separation of data, log and temp space or tiering software to admin and all LUNs perform the same regardless of locality. This consistency allows CIOs and technical staff to plan for and maintain performance levels stipulated by an SLA with ease. Combining multiple Violin Memory storage arrays also results in linear scalability of the storage component of the system and DW. The Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 used in this solution is a 2U dual socket rack server, optimized for all types of business applications by focusing on versatility and scalability. It supports up to 16 SSDs or Hard Disks, up to 7 PCIe Gen 3 cards and up 768GB RAM. Thanks to top performance of the new Intel Xeon E5 product family and the available upgrade kits, the RX300 will also ensure the demands of



tomorrow are met. The RX300 S7 can grow along with the DW solution to certain extend preserving the investment in the server.

2.2 Fast Track Conceptual Overview The goal of the Fast Track data warehouse system is to achieve the required performance while remaining balanced at each layer. Right sizing seeks to deploy sufficient hardware to achieve performance goals without deploying more hardware than is required to get the job done. Fast Track is a set of hardware configurations known as a reference architecture that have been tested and approved by Microsoft to deliver consistent and predictable performance. This allows customers to take the guesswork out of determining hardware as the approved hardware configurations have already been rated for certain sized data warehouses. While the focus of the Fast Track system is on the report delivery side, the reference also addresses the staging and loading procedures to allow for predictable results. It is intended to help avoid the common pitfalls of improperly designed and configured systems and to bring predictability into your data warehouse performance. This is accomplished through using specific and defined OS configurations, SQL Server settings, loading procedures and storage configurations which will be outlined later in this paper. A core requirement of Fast Track reference architectures is to align CPU bandwidth to that of the storage system. The Fast Track system then provides a series of load steps and procedures to achieve continued success. The Fujitsu and Violin Memory Fast Track DW is built with no moving parts so that each piece of data is equally accessible at any moment. This makes the time consuming load tasks mostly irrelevant as the array delivers the same high performance for both sequential and random I/O requests. The goal is no longer to produce physically sequential data on spinning media, regardless of how long that takes. The goal now is to import as quickly and simply as possible. Rotationally bound systems are also more difficult to maintain over time. Moving data or rearranging large sections of data results in time consuming tasks and frequently cause a downtime for the system. Changing one piece of data could cause an entire day to be reloaded. Many users wanting to touch all data from the same day at the same time could cause one set of spindles to degrade in performance. Violins unique offering of an all-flash array is specifically designed for high speed random access to any data at any time which eliminates bottlenecks, hot spots and data segregation requirements. With this patented design, the array will deliver the same performance if it is hosting one huge LUN or hundreds of smaller LUNs. The total aggregate IOPS for 4K blocks will be the same for the life of the array. This eliminates the need to plan for different LUN allocations or leave large portions of purchased space unused. LUNs are simply used as a logical organization unit for ease of administration. This is the first all-memory data warehouse reference architecture. There are no physical moving parts in the compute or storage layer. This drastically reduces the chance of failure due to moving parts wearing out over time. The whole solution is a 5U design delivering the performance normally measured in racks. This guide focuses on the 60 TB maximum user data / 25 TB certified configuration; Fujitsu also has a smaller (20 TB Max) and larger (240 TB Max) configuration based upon the Violin Memory 6212 and 6232 storage arrays.



2.3 Paradigm Shift

Every classic data warehouse requires time consuming and complex steps to sequentially load data into a data warehouse in order to achieve true physically sequential layouts of data. In classic data warehouses this is required to achieve maximum and reliable speeds. These steps included single threaded loading steps, ordering data between steps and utilizing multiple staging tables. It traded overall loading-speed for a physically sequential data layout to minimize fragmentation and allow for physically sequential reads. This was created to satisfy the requirement for predictable throughput during range scans (sequential reads) which is the typical workload of a data warehouse system. The intent was to try to minimize movement of the read/write heads on the disks. This is optimal when designing for spinning media. An all-flash array removes this requirement and opens up the administrators to take the quickest path with parallel loads and reloading data at will. Another issue comes when many users need simultaneous access to the same data, or when usage drifts from pre-defined requirements. Best practices for spinning media provide the best likelihood for success but do not guarantee it, especially over the multi-year life span of a data warehousing system. Only an all-flash system can deliver both the quickest and easiest load times and deliver guaranteed bandwidth regardless of the number of users, queries or data sources in use. With Violin storage arrays, sequential loading of data is not necessary. The array can handle random patterns and sequential patterns equally well and since there are no moving parts in the underlying storage, there is no need to minimize movement of read/write heads. All LUNs are spread evenly over all internal storage components providing maximum speed at all times. The result is that the system delivers the same high level of performance for both sequential and random I/O reads and writes regardless of the usage pattern. Violin Memory arrays are able to achieve this by writing each I/O block to all VIMMs (memory modules) that comprise the array. It is internally designed to scale out I/O operations to maximize concurrent usage of internal flash memory through parallelization down to the bit level. The Violin 6232 has 12 built in RAID groups and each RAID group is made up of 5 VIMMs: 1 for parity and 4 for data. Each 4K block is written to all VIMMs within the RAID group.

Figure 1: Violin Memory Architecture

To achieve the optimal performance of storage, when deployed on spinning media, data is loaded into a primary staging table with all cores (to fully utilize the cores and LUNs), then ordered, then loaded again to another staging table with just one core (to achieve true sequential writes), then partition switched into the final table which is a meta-data operation. All data gets written twice and once via a single core so that no matter how large the system is it is throttled to the speed of one core. Many DW administrators understand this can take hours or days, in some cases filling their weekend with work.



Violin storage arrays eliminate the ordering and second (single core) load steps. Like a modern storage system should be, the system allows for parallel inserts of the data once and it is done. Getting the data into the database should be simple, fast and the last step. Now it is. With a DW based on Violin storage, the data can be loaded directly in parallel into the DW real time without compromising the performance of the read operations. This will dramatically reduce the complexity of your ETL processes while increasing the speed of loading data by a significant factor. With spinning media, migrations can also be a challenge as the administrator has to sequentially unload the data from the old system and perform a full reload into the new Fast Track system to minimize fragmentation. Fragmentation is not a concern with an all-silicon, random IO storage device. In addition to eliminating the long and complex loading process, the Violin Memory storage array accommodates easy maintenance and growth. There are no hot spots to migrate, no tiering tools to configure and maintain and no costly add-on software to purchase. The Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 in this solution is a dual socket rack server, focusing on versatility and scalability. Thanks to the power supply units with 94% efficiency and the new power management further add to the space and power savings from the storage side. This further lowers the operational costs of the solution.

2.4 Enabling New Scenarios

SQL Server natively allows real time data updates while the DW is in full use. But, this typically is not done because this will cause significant performance degradation due to logical fragmentation. With a Violin storage array the logical fragmentation level is irrelevant to throughput and the administrator is free to utilize the full tool in front of them. Violin architecture uses patented technology to remove performance degradation normally associated with writing to hard disk, SSD drives or Flash based PCIe cards. This performance degradation is called Write Cliff and is present on all SSDs and PCIe Flash Cards. Violin Memory does not have this problem. The Violin Memory storage array allows for any administration to occur at any time while still delivering stable, reliable and predictable performance. Inside the array every component is doubled up (except flash, which is vRAID-protected) and hot swappable while the system is running and delivering full data rate speed. This hot swap functionality includes rolling updates to the firmware on the system.



3 Performance Overview

3.1 Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 and Violin Memory 6232

The testing and certification process requires running a benchmarking system that includes a full set of tests that simulate real world test queries and metrics. Here are selected metrics which should provide an understanding of the system performance.

Metric Rating Comment

Rated Database Capacity TB 25 TB Certified for up to 25 TB of queries

Maximum User Database 60 TB Maximum amount of user data

Total RAW space 35.2 TB Array Raw space without formatting

Total User Usable Space 20.2 TB After formatting, active spares, full HA

Fast Track Average I/O CSI 7.1 GB/s Average throughput with SQL 2012 columnstore indexes enabled

Maximum I/O CSI 7.8 GB/s Maximum I/O observed with columnstore indexes enabled

Peak I/O 5.2 GB/s Maximum Physical I/O observed

This table shows a maximum capacity of 60 TB for this reference architecture. Fast Track rated I/O was 3.5 GB/s. This guarantees the system will perform to Fast Track DW expectations while using up to 25 TB of data to run queries. With the Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 and Violin Memory, the throughput or IOPS will not change between 25 TB and 60 TB of user data. Same aggregate throughput will be available regardless of the size of the database and number of concurrent users. The storage array is able to maintain 97.8% of the maximum possible physical IO while under heavy load compared to the maximum baseline IO rates which are measured running SQLIO when the system is idle. What this means to end users is they can expect the storage array to provide efficiency under heavy random I/O load that is roughly equivalent to the arrays maximum IO capability. This is a critical advantage as data is loaded into the system and used in day to day operations. For comparison it is common for spinning media based solutions to drop off to 28-50% or less of the maximum I/O throughput. In general the more concurrent queries and users placed on a commodity spinning disk the lower the performance. Columnstore index (CSI) is a new feature introduced with SQL Server 2012 that provides significant performance gains as tested on the Violin storage array. The maximum sustained I/O with CSI enabled was 7.8 GB/s. This was achieved with a 20 session test. Averaging the 20 session CSI test, with columnstore indexes present, the arrays average tested throughput was 7.1 GB/s. The reason is that the columnstore index does not select all data but subsets from each SQL page and therefore becomes a somewhat random I/O pattern. Spinning disks will not benefit from this feature as dramatically. Furthermore, CSI can only be applied to read-only tables. The Violin arrays performance ensures that the index can be dropped and rebuilt rapidly when compared to disk based solutions. The storage array contains a management and administration portal known as vSHARE, which provides additional insight into the performance of the flash storage above and beyond what you



can capture with traditional Windows Performance Monitor. In this case the array was able to push close to 800,000 read IOPS (4K) and sustain that level for the duration of the test. This is significant in the scenario where a DW workload only needs a few hundred thousand IOPS. Administrators now know exactly how many IOPS they have spare for other workloads. In most cases, the array provides a comfortable margin of additional headroom which can be used to run additional applications or simply provide ample headroom for running mission critical applications during production hours.

3.2 Hardware Overview Server Overview The new generation of Fujitsu PRIMERGY Dual Servers helps you overcome the challenges of IT and make IT even more powerful and more flexible - not just according to today's standards but also those of the future. Here Fujitsu has continued to develop the new generation in the three following areas in particular:

Performance The new generation of PRIMERGY Dual Servers enables an important leap forward in performance compared with previous generations. An increase in overall performance of up to 70% is achieved with the help of the latest Intel Xeon processor E5 family. This is made possible by the new processors, which now have 8 cores as well as an improved I/O architecture. The PCIe lanes are now directly connected to the processors and no longer to an intermediate I/O hub, thus reducing latencies and optimizing throughput. In the field of high performance computing the growth in performance is up 120%. Furthermore, the new generation of PRIMERGY systems is equipped to meet future requirements. The integrated Turbo Boost technology from Intel enables an on-demand, dynamic increase in processor performance. Furthermore, most systems are prepared for the next Intel Xeon generation, thus allowing fast and easy processor upgrades without the need to invest in new hardware. Versatility The Fujitsu PRIMERGY dual-socket servers have many innovations - both large and small and provide a powerful expandable platform for the wide range of critical business applications and solutions used in a data center.



This is made possible by innovative technologies: Modular design and high expandability enable maximum adaptability for new areas of

application at all times Accelerating processor-intensive computing thanks to the support of GPGPU cards Flexible I/O connectivity for a balanced operation of virtual and physical servers State-of-the-art Intel Xeon E5 processors provide top performance Intelligent and easy to operate server administration via the ServerView Management Suite

sustainably reduces the administration and maintenance work involved In short, the new generation of PRIMERGY Dual Socket Servers offers an expandable, high-performance environment for a large number of business applications and data center solutions. They also provide maximum versatility, which also enables IT to be reorganized without having to invest in new servers. Scalability The new generation of PRIMERGY Dual Socket Servers sets new standards in the fields of scalability and modularity. Compared with the S6 generation, the new systems offer up to 100% more RAM and thus support up to 768GB, spread over 24 DIMM slots. And up to 33% more hard disks or SSDs can also be integrated. When it comes to I/O throughput, an increase of up to 100% can be achieved with the support of the latest PCI-Express standard (Generation 3). The new PRIMERGY systems also rely on a completely revised modular design.

The new housing concept now offers the basis of running up to 24 hard disks in tower/rack servers and up to 32 hard disks in blade servers. Here all the components can be freely configured and subsequently extended.

Modular LAN provides a standardized, low-priced upgrade option to the existing on-board LAN controller; this supports technology changes at any time and allows for an individual configuration of 1Gbit or 10Gbit ports. It is also possible to consolidate LAN and Management LAN via one controller, thus simplify the cabling.

Modular power supply units are standardized power supply units for the new generation of PRIMERGY Dual Socket Servers, which enable individual configuration according to requirements with maximum efficiency of up to 94% (80Plus Platinum) and simplified storage.

Modular RAID provides a comprehensive and standardized offer of RAID solutions, which allow the user to select the right controller for the application scenario.

Upgrade Options The modular design makes it possible on the one hand to only configure the components that are needed for today's IT requirements, while on the other hand offering high scalability to enable new components to be added at any time, which ensures the requirements of tomorrow. Fujitsu offers in this regard upgrade kit for hard disks and cages for all new systems as well as for backup devices, which enable the systems to be extended easily and on demand. This is good for the budget and safeguards the investment. Management Efficiency The Fujitsu PRIMERGY ServerView Suite provides all the necessary elements for professionally managing server systems during the Lifecycle. All ServerView products, e.g. for deployment, monitoring and administration, remote and power management come from a single source, which understands data center structures and processes. This is particularly important for those customers



aiming to benefit from the latest virtualization and server technologies and thus improve the efficiency and flexibility of their IT. The Fujitsu ServerView Suite minimizes downtimes, improves the lifespan and service quality through optimized deployment, permanent status monitoring and extensive control options even when there are malfunctions. State-of-the-art power monitoring and control functions ensure a high level of energy-efficient server operation. Furthermore, the seamless integration of PRIMERGY Servers in corporate management solutions ensures full investment protection. The Fujitsu ServerView Suite is cost-effective. It offers generic management functions for server installation, monitoring and administration including basic remote management as well as a range of integration packs enabling easy integration of PRIMERGY Servers in widely-used enterprise management systems or vendor-specific server management solutions free-of-charge. Energy Efficiency - 73% more performance per Watt The new PRIMERGY server generating sets new standards in energy efficiency. Compared to the previous generation, the new PRIMERGY systems offer 73% more efficiency, thus providing significantly more performance for applications and databases and at the same time reducing power consumption and heat dissipation levels. On the one hand, highly efficient power supply units are used (94%, 80+ Platinum), thus ensuring efficient operation of the PRIMERGY servers. On the other hand Power Management is further simplified. Additional pre-defined energy profiles are now available that allow the server power consumption to be adapted individually to the respective load cycles:

Performance mode: This profile provides the PRIMERGY server with maximum performance at all times

Minimum power mode: Ensures minimum energy consumption so that enormous savings can be achieved when usage is low.

Low-noise mode: This reduces noise to a minimum so that the server can be used in the office environment.

Figure 2: Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7



Storage Overview Violin Storage Memory Arrays deliver exceptionally low latency measured in micro seconds and consistent predictable read throughput of up to 3.5GB/s. Each component of the array is doubled and hot swappable while the system is running and delivering full data rate speed. Flash storage (VIMM) is also hot swappable and in vRAID configuration to never lose data. Hot swap functionality includes rolling updates to the firmware on the system.

Figure 3: Violin Memory 6212 Storage Array

Component Details

Server Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7

CPU Intel Xeon E5-2690 2.9 GHz with Hyper-Threading

Total Sockets 2

Cores Per Socket 8

Total Physical Cores 16

Total Logical Cores 32

Memory 256 GB DDR3 (16 X 16 GB DIMMs)

Internal Storage 2x SSD SATA 6G 400GB MLC (400 GB configured in RAID 1)

HBA 4x QLogic QLE2562 (dual port) (8Gbps)

Storage Array Violin 6232 Storage Array V-6232-HA64-FC

Operating System Windows Server 2012 Enterprise

SQL Server SQL Server 2012 Enterprise SP1 (Build 11.0.3000)

3.3 Conclusion The Fujitsu and Violin Memory Fast Track Reference Architectures provide the best combination of performance and manageability out of the box. Fujitsu and Violin Memory deliver a comprehensive product line covering the needs of relatively small 20 TB all-memory data warehouse to a large 240 TB (and soon 480) all-memory architecture. The system represents exceptionally reliable and predictable infrastructure. With total required space of 5Us the system saves space and power as compared to many other solutions with the same performance parameters. It provides a solid



infrastructure for data warehousing needs, reducing complexity and increasing data loading speeds and efficiency by a significant factor. The storage design provides a paradigm changing solution compared to other reference architectures that require up to several hundred hard disks and many racks of space to deliver comparable performance. The evolution of enterprise storage has placed flash memory in a strategic market position to provide the most usable storage compared to dollars spent over spinning disks. The Violin 6232 storage array comes out of the box ready to use making set up easy and with the web based administration UI. This is achieved with an easy to use setup program and a minimal learning curve for system administrators. For more information visit the following links: http://www.violin-memory.com/solutions/enterprise-applications/sql-server/ ` http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/storage/all-flash-arrays/ http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/fasttrack http://www.vmem.com http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/servers/

To find out how to buy the solution or get a POC please contact sales at [email protected]

or [email protected]



4 Installation and Configuration Instructions

The server is a 2U configuration and the storage array is a 3U configuration so minimizing total rack space was taken into account when architecting this hardware solution. With only 5U needed to house this hardware, finding room in a data center should be an easy task. The storage array and server are connected by 8 OM3 Fibre Channel cables, and with this solution, there is no need for a fibre switch. Direct connect was the method chosen for connecting the storage array to the server although nothing prevents using a fibre switch between the server and the storage array if preferred. A switch can be utilized when additional compute nodes are introduced, possibly intended for compute fail over or to introduce another application or DW to the same storage array. Storage failover is already accounted for inside the 3U array. The Fibre Channel cards should be installed in slots 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Figure 4: PCIe slots to use with Violin Memory Array

Violin Memory 6232 storage arrays can also be configured with InfiniBand adapters, PCIe adapters (built in) and 10Ge adapters. The PCIe architecture is designed to accept most standard networking components given there are drivers to run them on the memory. One of the major benefits of Violin storage arrays is the ease of use and simplicity of administration provided. This array is already pre-configured with internal RAID groups and hot spare VIMM cards. A lot of the Fast Track reference guide focuses on how to lay out your storage and specify RAID levels for different LUNs. When looking to purchase storage, one thing to take into account is the price/usable GB. As compared to RAID 10 configuration requirements (and attendant storage enclosures) of commodity hard drives needed to satisfy IOPS requirements, Violin is a very desirable solution for achieving the most IOPS with the lowest price/usable GB. The introduction of flash memory arrays is starting to change the way people look at storage as a major bottleneck in their infrastructure.

4.1 Installing HBA Cards and Memory Modules

If the system does not come preconfigured, please validate that the memory modules and HBA cards are installed in the following manner: The QLogic HBA cards will be installed in PCI Slots 3, 4, 5 and 6.



The 8 GB memory modules will be installed in the DIMM slots 1A, 2A, 1B, 2B, 1C, 2C, 1D, 2D, 1E, 2E, 1F, 2F, 1G, 2G, 1H and 2H. This configuration will deliver the highest possible throughput while eliminating I/O contention on the motherboard.

Figure 5: CPU and DRAM Placement

4.2 Connecting Compute Node to Storage Array

Below is a schematic of the compute node and storage array clearly showing the direct fibre connection. The server should have all 4 HBA cards installed per the previous diagram; the storage array comes with 4 dual-port HBA cards installed out of the box.



Figure 6: Direct Attachment of PRIMERGY to Violin Memory Array

4.3 Operating System Installation

This section will discuss the installation of the operating system. There are some prerequisite tasks as well as some post installation configuration tasks that need to take place to configure the server for optimal performance in accordance with Fast Track guidelines.

4.3.1 Pre Operating System Installation Tasks

There are a number of configuration steps that need to be undertaken within the BIOS prior to installation of the operating system.

1. Power the Fujitsu PRIMERGY Server on. 2. Press F2 to enter the BIOS configuration. 3. Change the following :

After scrolling down additional parameters are visible.



4.3.2 Operating System Installation Tasks

The Operating System drives and Fujitsu system software will all be installed using the ServerView Installation Manager which can be located on the ServerView Suite media that comes with your Fujitsu system. The operating system to be installed is Windows Server 2012. Please follow normal installation steps for installing the operating system and apply all current patches via Windows Update. When prompted, indicate that you want to install the operating system onto the mirrored internal SSDs. Please follow the instructions for installation by referring to the Fujitsu ServerView Installation Manager Guide, which can be found at the following web address: http://manuals.ts.fujitsu.com/file/8396/sv-install-mgr-en.pdf.

4.3.3 Service Packs and Special Instructions

Please ensure the latest Windows Updates have been applied to the Windows Server 2012 installation. Below is a screenshot showing the version of Windows used for this Fast Track.



4.3.4 Post Operating System Installation Configuration

Once the Windows OS has been installed, you will need to change the power plan. In order to do this, open the OS Power Options (Control Panel) and change the power plan from Balanced to High Performance.

Additionally, disable all Windows firewalls in the OS. This is not required but firewall rules would need to be set in place to allow SQL Server through the firewall. Please refer your companys firewall policy or check with the system administrator for further information.



5 Storage Array Installation

5.1 HBA Drivers

Prior to connecting the storage array please ensure there are 4 HBA cards installed on both the server and the storage array. These will be dual-port QLogic QLE HBAs for 8 total IO paths. Make sure they are present in the Storage Controllers section of Device Manager.



The current driver as of the time of this writing is 9.1.10.28 dated 11/26/2012. Please make sure your driver is at least this version for the HBA cards.

5.2 Configuring MPIO

When configuring MPIO, please select Discover Multi-Paths and select VIOLIN SAN ARRAY and select ADD. Reboot when asked. After the server has been rebooted, check your MPIO settings and you should see the storage array present as shown below.



5.3 Storage Array Configuration

Connect the storage array to the server using OM3 Fibre Channel cables. You will need 8 of them to connect all the ports on the server to the storage array to account for 4 dual port cards.

1. Connect serial port 2. Turn on 3. Configure networking

5.3.1 Storage Array Configuration

You will need to create LUNs using the Admin interface for the Violin Storage array. In our testing we created 4 LUNs with the following names and sizes. Note that unlike when using spinning disks, the number of LUNs with flash memory is not relevant but we did add some logical separation and these sizes may be different in your environment:

1. SQLData01 9,707 GB 2. SQLData02 9,706 GB 3. SQLLog01 250 GB 4. SQLStage01 1,024 GB

The process of creating LUNs is done from the admin web interface and is comprised of the following steps :

1. Creating Initiator Groups 2. Creating LUNs 3. Exporting LUNs

5.3.1.1 Creating Initiator Groups

From the home screen of the admin interface select LUN Management Manage Initiators. From this screen please select Add igroup from the top right section of the initiator groups.



From this screen choose a name for the new initiator group.

After the group is created, you will associate all 8 World Wide Names (WWNs) to the new group. This is done by selecting the new group created under the initiator groups section and selecting all 8 WWNs under the manage initiators section and then select Save followed by Commit Changes at the top centre of the UI.

Confirm the initiator assignment in the following dialog by clicking OK.



Finally, click Commit Changes at the top left of the UI:

It should look like the following once completed.

Next click on Manage Targets under LUN Management and make sure each target is in a good

state.



At this point you have set up connectivity of the HBAs between the server and the storage array. In the next step we will create LUNs using the admin web tool.

5.3.1.2 Creating LUNs

For creating LUNs, select Manage LUNs under the LUN Management section of the admin

interface. At this point you should see nothing allocated for the storage array. This process will take you through creating, exporting, and presenting 1 LUN and this same process can be followed for the number of LUNs you decide to present. As mentioned earlier one of the major benefits of Violin storage is you should achieve predictable performance irrespective of the number of LUNs present.

Select Create LUN and from here you give it a name, size, and select 4096 bytes for the Block Size. Click Yes when you get the warning box that says Not all client systems support 4096 block size, Continue to create LUN(s) using 4096?.



At this point you have a LUN present with a status of not exported.

5.3.1.3 Exporting LUNs

From the right side based on the screen shot above, select Add Export to bring up the Add export for LUN screen. Make sure All Initiators and All Ports is selected and hit OK.



After this process, select Commit Changes button in the top middle of the screen.

You have successfully exported the LUN. If you rescan disks on the server using Disk Management you will see the new LUN present. Note: For next steps please follow sizing provided in 5.3.1, screen shots are for illustration only.



5.4 Adding Windows Volumes

Once the LUNs have been presented to the OS, volumes need to be created and formatted in the NTFS file system in Windows. Under Disk Management format the new Volumes with a 4096 block size. The LUNs should be presented as mount points. Once you see the newly presented disk available in Disk Management the first step is to initialize the disk by right clicking and selecting Initialize Disk, choose GPT (GUID Partition Table) for the partition style.

At this point the new disk is now online, but unallocated. Next you want to right click the disk and select New Simple Volume.



This brings up a wizard to walk you through the process. Make sure to allocate maximum possible size for the volume. In this example we are using mount points but drive letters are perfectly acceptable if that is easier to manage in your organization. Also make sure to use the NTFS file system with an Allocation unit size of 4096.

At this point the drive is online and available for use. Remember to follow these same steps to create the multiple LUNs if necessary.



The last step is to remove content indexing for these drives. For this go to Properties of the drive mount point or drive letter and remove the check box Allow files on this drive to have content indexes in addition to file properties.



5.5 SQL Server Installation

The SQL Server version used for installation will be SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition and will be installed onto the C:\. The user databases, tempdb, and transaction logs will be pointed to a mount point on the storage array.

5.5.1 Pre SQL Server Installation Tasks

Prior to installing SQL Server, please create a domain Service Account to run the SQL Server Services, in particular the Database Engine and the SQL Server Agent.

Once this service account is created, please assign it to the following Local Security Policies in the User Rights Assignment section. These settings can be found by clicking Start Administrative Tools Local Security Policy Once this opens select Local Policies User Rights Assignment

1. Lock Pages In Memory 2. Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks

Below is a screen shot of these settings:



5.5.2 Installing SQL Server

The version of SQL Server for this reference architecture is SQL Server 2012 Enterprise. Please perform a normal install and choose to install all components except Reporting Services (SharePoint) components. You can choose all the defaults for now as we will change the data and TempDB locations after the installation process. The build of SQL Server that was installed at the time of the writing of this paper is SQL Server 2012 with Service Pack 1. Below is the discovery report of all the installed features in the current installation:

5.5.3 Post SQL Server Installation Configuration

There are a number of tasks to perform after the installation is complete to configure SQL Server.



1. Change the default database file locations to one of the mount points for the storage array. Ensure that the DW database you create has the same number of files on each LUN of the same size with auto growth enabled. It is assumed your backups will be to an external file share using non Tier I storage.

2. Set the MIN/MAX Memory Settings for SQL Server a. MIN = 200 GB (204800 MB) b. MAX = 235 GB (240640 MB)



3. Move TempDB data file to storage array data LUN SQLData01 and create an additional data file on SQLData01 and 2 additional data files on SQLData02. Move the TempDB log file to the LUN named SQLLog01. Size each file to ~100GB.

4. Set the following startup parameters for the SQL Server Service using the SQL Server Configuration Manager

a. E b. T1117



5. Resource Governor Settings. Set the Memory Grant % to 12% from the default of 25% by opening Management and right clicking Resource Governor and selecting Settings.

6. Set MaxDOP to 16

7. Restart the SQL Server services At this point SQL should be configured and ready for use. Please see below for checklists related to all settings and configurations.



6 Checklists

6.1 Operating System

Area Description

OS Version Windows Server 2012

Drivers Provided by Fujitsu ServerView Installation Manager release 11.12.11.04

Features Enabled Multipath I/O, .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features

Power Settings High Performance (OS and BIOS)

Firewall Disable all windows firewalls

6.2 Storage

Area Description

Array LUNs 4096 block size

MPIO VIOLIN STORAGE ARRAY present

OS Volumes 4096 allocation unit size

OS Volumes Content indexing turned off

6.3 SQL Server

Area Description

SQL Version SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition SP1

Startup Parameters -E -T1117

Memory Settings MIN - 204800 MB MAX - 240640 MB

MAXDOP 16

Local Security Policy Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks Lock Pages In Memory

Resource Governor Memory Grant % = 12%



7 High Availability Scenario

7.1 Local High Availability

It is possible to use the Violin 6232 storage array in a high availability scenario combined with Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) and SQL Server failover cluster instances (FCI). Since SQL Server clustering requires shared storage, the LUNs created on the Violin 6232 must be presented to both compute nodes in the cluster. The Violin 6232 fully supports SQL Server clustering and this section gives an overview of how that configuration needs to be architected. To use this scenario, 2 cards from the Violin 6232 should be connected to 2 cards on each node of the WSFC. Two dual port cards at 8Gb/s/port can deliver 4GB/s total which provides more than sufficient bandwidth to avoid becoming the bottleneck in the storage path. Instead of one server with 4 HBA cards, the configuration will have 2 servers with 2 HBA cards. When creating the initiator groups and exporting LUNs there will be 2 initiator groups, one for each server, and the LUN would be exported to both initiator groups as well. Once storage has been presented, you would perform a normal SQL Server cluster install. Below are some links to setting up a SQL Server Failover Cluster:

SQL Server Clustering Prerequisites

SQL Server Failover Cluster Installation

Create a New SQL Server Failover Cluster

Add or Remove Nodes in a SQL Server Failover Cluster

7.2 Remote High Availability

Another HA/DR configuration that is possible with the Violin storage array is cross data centre disaster recovery. For this scenario, you would need two arrays combined with SQL Server 2012 Mirroring or SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups for database level protection and/or multi subnet cluster for instance level protection. SQL Server 2012 has some great new features for multi subnet clustering that eliminate the need for a stretched VLAN and a flexible failover policy so the administrator has control to set the levels that would initiate a failover. Depending what the HA/DR objective is you can combine these instance level and database level availability features utilizing multiple storage arrays and servers for the highest level of protection. Below are some links to point you in the right direction to getting started with these new SQL Server 2012 features:

Overview of SQL Server 2012 High Availability Solutions

SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering

Overview of AlwaysOn Availability Groups

AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances



8 Bill of Materials

To order a complete solution, please contact Fujitsu or Violin Memory Sales at: [email protected] or [email protected] Individual Components are:

Qty Part Number Description

Violin Memory 6232 Storage Array

Hardware

1 D:V6232HA64-8XFC V-6232 32.7TB 64VIMMs 8x4/8Gbit/s FC

Service

1 D:V6232-8XFC-VSB1 V-6232-HA24-8xFC Bronze Maint. - 1 Year

Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7

Hardware

1 S26361-K1373-V401 PY RX300S7 2.5" Expandable Chassis

2 S26361-F5225-E400 SSD SATA 6G 400GB MLC HOT P 2.5" EP MAIN

4 S26361-F3631-E202 FC Ctrl 8Gb/s 2 Channel QLE2562 MMF LCLP

2 S26361-F3686-E290 Intel Xeon E5-2690 8C/16T 2.90 GHz 20 MB

1 S26361-F3669-E1 RAID Ctrl SAS 6G 1GB (D3116)

1 S26361-F1790-E242 Remote Management iRMC S3 advanced pack

2 S26113-F574-E10 Modular PSU 800W platinum hp

16 S26361-F3697-E516 Memory 16GB (1x16GB) 2Rx4 L DDR3-1600 R ECC

1 S26361-F1373-E420 Hard Disk Bay Config 2: 4x 2.5" HDD

1 S26361-F2735-E145 RackMountKit-F1_DI_CMA_QRL

8 D:FCKAB-OM3-C05L-L FC-Cable OM3 LWL 5m LC LC

1 S26361-F2735-E82 Rack Cable Arm 2U

2 S26361-F3417-L505 LAN-CAT 5 Enhanced, l=5m

1 S26361-F1452-E100 Region Kit APAC/EMEA/India

2 T26139-Y1968-E100 Cable Power Cord Rack, 4m, gray

2 S26361-F3694-E10 Independent Mode Installation

1 S26361-F4530-E10 Mounting in Symmetrical Racks

Software

1 S26361-F2567-E420 Windows Server 2012 Standard 2CPU

Service

1 FSP:GP3S63Z00DEPX3 TP 3years OS Service, 4h Response Time, 24hx7



9 Appendix

9.1 Literature and Links

Mark Document Comment [ServView User Guide] ServerView Suite

ServerView Installation Manager

User Guide English

Edition December 2012

Link: http://manuals.ts.fujitsu.com/file/8396/sv-install-mgr-en.pdf

9.2 Abbreviations

Abbreviation Meaning

CSI ColumnStore Index (Feature of Microsoft SQL Server 2012)

DIMM Dual Inline Memory Module

DR Disaster Recovery

DW Data Warehouse

ETL Extract, Transform and Load

FCI Failover Cluster Interface

HA High Availability

HBA Host Bus Adapter

HDD Hard Disk Drive

IOPS Input Output Per Second

LUN Logic Unit Number

OLAP Online Analytical Processing

OS Operating System

RAM Random-Access Memory

SLA Service Level Agreement

SSD Solid-State Drive

VIMM Violin Intelligent Memory Module

WSFC Windows Server Failover Clustering

Contact FUJITSU Technology Solutions GmbH Address: Mies-van-der-Rohe Str.8 80807 Munich, Germany E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.fujitsu.com/fts/storage 2013-05-02 EM EN

Copyright 2013 Fujitsu Technology Solutions. Fujitsu, the Fujitsu logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in Japan and other countries. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Technical data subject to modification and delivery subject to availability. Any liability that the data and illustrations are complete, actual or correct is excluded. The designations may be trademarks and/or copyrights of the respective manufacturer, the use of which by third parties for their own purposes may infringe the rights of such owner.

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