Technology Brief

Storage Networking Solutions for High Performance Databases

Optimized Performance and I/O Efficiency for Data Warehouse Deployments
Industry Challenges
The exponential growth of data transactions and analysis is generated by a multitude of data sources. Business intelligence analytics creates I/O-intensive requests on the data warehouse ecosystem. It has contributed to ever-increasing demands in the enterprise for the following: Higher bandwidth Improved availability Dynamic I/O provisioning In addition to resolving the challenges presented by data growth, data warehouse systems require guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) for consistent, end-to-end performance to meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs), even under varying workload conditions.

Technology Brief
Table 1: Characteristics of a High-Performance I/O Interconnect Essential for Complementing High-Performance Databases

METADATA LAYER

Extract, Transform, Load (ETL)

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Technology Benefits
High I/O bandwidth for performance scale out
Executive Dashboard Operational & Analytical Reports

Faster Business Analytics

More data warehouse transactions Faster throughput and response Faster backup and restore High availability

SOURCE DATA LAYER

DATA TRANSFORMATION LAYER

DATA WAREHOUSE LAYER

Interactive Query & Reporting

REPORTING LAYER

OPERATIONS LAYER

Figure 1. Data Flow

Improve Service Up Time

Prevent single point of failure Improve I/O reliability for transactions

Data Warehouse Deployments

Primarily used in analyzing queries for business intelligence, data warehouse activities include the following: extract, transform, load (ETL), backup and recovery, analytical processing, management services, and traffic bursts. Large volumes of data sets are extracted and transported for further data transformation and analysis. Data sources stationed in singular or distributed locations across multiple nodes must be moved into the data warehouse for subsequent analytical processing. ETL type of processing with massive volumes of data in execution workloads rely heavily on the CPU and I/O system resources. Typical data flow through the data warehouse environment is shown in Figure 1. The I/O performance for the data warehouse is expected to be balanced for providing end-to-end, consistent bandwidth. The elements of I/O connectivity include Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters and 10GbE Converged Network Adapters that connect servers, switches, and storage. The scalability of data warehouse workloads and I/O throughput performance is typically linear and therefore scalability is essential for managing end-to-end system resource allocation. Resource starvation is observed when bottlenecks are created by unmet needs of increasing workloads for dynamic throughput provisioning or additional I/Os to meet network requests. Because the shared resources are limited, it is important to maximize the efficiency of the system, improving CPU and I/O utilization and thereby eliminating the bottlenecks. Table 1 is a checklist of the characteristics of a high-performance, scalable I/O interconnect required to complement a high-performance database transaction infrastructure.

Reduce Infrastructure Footprint (Lower CAPEX)

Improve I/O bandwidth efficiency Reduce underutilization of I/O resources Avoid overutilization of I/O resources Dynamic provisioning balances I/O workloads Consistent end-to-end performance

Simplify System Management, Tools, and Methodology (Lower OPEX)

Allocate I/O resources where required Switch-agnostic Flexible I/O allocation Operating system (OS) agnostic Flexible SAN and LAN functions Single-pane-of-glass management CPU efficiency saves system CPU cycles

Higher Application Scale Out

Fewer CPU cycles used for I/O More room for application scalability Run more data warehouse operations QoS provides guaranteed I/O provisioning

Meet SLA Compliance

Minimum and maximum metering Fine grain QoS Oversubscription leverages unused bandwidth reserve Manage unexpected I/O usage spikes Use same hardware for additional I/O

Meet Unexpected Demands

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QLogic Solution
Data center consolidation driven by server virtualization and storage network convergence is accelerating the transition to 10GbE technology to complement the needs of high throughput and I/O-intensive database deployments. ConvergeFlex and VMflex solutions from QLogic support QoS to extend the benefits of virtualization by reducing TCO on cables, ports, PCIe slots and improving CPU and I/O utilization efficiency for end-to-end system performance. High-performance data warehouse systems require I/O throughput optimization (higher bandwidth), system CPU efficiency (improved availability), and system I/O utilization efficiency (dynamic provisioning). All of these factors are critical for meeting industry challenges and achieving business goals. The QLogic solution, designed for high I/O throughput performance and fine grain QoS with dynamic bandwidth provisioning, is well suited for data warehouse deployments. Primarily used in analyzing queries for business intelligence, data warehouse activitiesextract, transform, load (ETL), backup and recovery, analytical processing, management services, and traffic burstsuse large volumes of data sets. The data sets are extracted and transported using high performance and network bandwidth. Data sources that are stationed in singular or distributed locations across multiple nodes are moved into the data warehouse for subsequent data transformation and analytical processing. Executing ETL processing with massive volumes of data in parallel execution creates significant demand on the CPU and I/O system resources. Data warehouse transactions typically are characterized by the following model: Sequential I/O access Large I/O transactions I/O size range: 64k to 1MB DB block size: 8KB (or larger) Parallel execution for scaling (if not limited by CPU or I/O) Efficient I/O utilization in the hardware is achieved by allocating the precise amount of bandwidth resources to the applications running on the virtualized or native host. The technology significantly improves resource availability, reduces the possibility of I/O underutilization, and prevents wasted bandwidth. An administrator can change the I/O functions personality between storage or networking on the same hardware. The 10GbE converged solutions provide the best storage and networking capabilities to match the sustained throughput requirements. Large block and I/O transactions take up a bigger slice of the bandwidth. The I/O offload technology (SAN or LAN) frees up the system CPU cycles, especially during parallel execution of the workloads when the demand on the system CPU is further stressed to process the data warehouse transactions. Fine grain QoS allows minimum guaranteed bandwidth allocation and maximum metering. The resource allocation can be dynamically managed to align and respond to varying degrees of bandwidth workload conditions. The I/O bottlenecks are removed by providing sufficient bandwidth when and where it is required. Oversubscription can be used for meeting unexpected I/O workload spikes beyond the minimum guaranteed bandwidth. Numerous operations in the data warehouse ecosystem are executed in parallel, such as accessing and processing large volumes of data for analytics, updates, inserts, and deletes. The performance of I/O-intensive operations relies on the overall efficiency of the systems performance and the availability of guaranteed scalable bandwidth. QLogics solution helps mitigate the overutilization and underutilization of resources that can otherwise lead to general system performance degradation. QLogic provides a simple, dynamically configurable, high availability solution with scalable bandwidth to meet the I/O performance and efficiency demands of data warehouse deployments.
Mgmt. DR
Log Files Database Transactions

Guaranteed Provisioning

Hypervisor
Database Clients

Data Warehousing Data Mart

Data Mining Remote Of ce

QLogic 8200 Series Converged Network Adapters

NIC

NIC

NIC

FCoE

Cloud Storage

Mobile Access

LAN
Data Access Server

REMOTE SAN (off-site) QLogic ISR6200

Executive Dashboard

Business Intelligence

SAN ENTERPRISE DATABASE WAREHOUSE

KEY ATTRIBUTES OF QLOGIC SOLUTION
QLogic 5800 Series Switch with FCF

QLogic 2500 Series Fibre Channel Adapters

FC Storage

Operational & Analytical Reports Interactive Query Export to Excel, PDF & Reporting etc. for Of ine Viewing

10Gb Solutions for High Bandwidth Flexible Personality for Improved Availability in LAN and SANs QoS for Dynamic Provisioning

10GbE Switch

NAS Storage QLogic 3200 Intelligent Ethernet Adapters

Figure 2. The QLogic Solution in the Database Warehouse

Related Video: QLogic Adapter of Choice for Database Performance

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Technology Brief

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2013 QLogic Corporation. Specifications are subject to change without notice. All rights reserved worldwide. QLogic, the QLogic logo, ConvergeFlex, and VMflex are trademarks or registered trademarks of QLogic Corporation. PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG Corporation. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information supplied by QLogic Corporation is believed to be accurate and reliable. QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this brochure. QLogic Corporation reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specifications.

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