Storage School I

An introduction to the world of storage

An introduction to the world of storage

Storage School I:

Presented by Stephen Foskett

Director of the Data Practice Contoural sfoskett@contoural.com www.contoural.com

The world of storage can be daunting the uninitiated. This session provides all of the background that you will need to get started in the world of storage. We will start with the basic concepts: SAN vs. NAS, block vs. file, RAID levels, and other basic topics. These are woven together in a lively lesson, explaining how we got here and why it all matters. We will finish up with a brief discussion of how storage fits within the big picture of enterprise IT.

WHAT I ASSUME YOU KNOW

Storage School I assumes no prior knowledge of storage topics, but a basic comprehension of computing and networks would be helpful.

BY THE END OF THE SESSION, YOULL KNOW THE FOLLOWING:

A bit of history and context Five Important Concepts:
Storage outside the computer
Blocks and files The importance of SCSI What RAID is and why its important

The three kinds of storage arrays

How it all fits together in a storage architecture

How involved with storage are you?

1. Im soaking in it! (its my job)
2. Touch and go (Im involved but not all the time) 3. I just stepped in quicksand! (Im new to all this)

4. Cardboard boxes and tape! (whats this all about?)

(There Is Nothing New Under The Sun)

NIL NOVI SUB SOLE

The basic concepts of storage are not new and most are easy to grasp once the reasoning and history behind them is understood Simply put, the storage world of today is the result of consolidation, networking, and sharing of resources We mostly talk about open systems now, but much of the work was pioneered in the world of mainframes and minicomputers

Storage is Outside the Computer

Mainframe storage has always been located in a separate cabinet

Important Concept #1:

IBM 350

IBM 2314

Open systems storage moved outside later

IBM introduced the first disk drive system in 1956, the 350 disk storage unit The storage industry was born with plugcompatible storage for the System/360s 2311 and 2314 DAS in the 1960s Bus-and-tag became ESCON in 1990

ESCON

Seagates 1980 introduction of the ST506 brought hard disk storage to the personal computer Introduced in 1986, SCSI allowed personal computers and servers to access external storage

ST506

SCSI

Were Used to External Storage Today

External disks are common from PCs to servers
FireWire and USB storage is used on PCs External Serial ATA (eSATA) is becoming more common Servers still use SCSI, but also commonly use Fibre Channel NAS and iSCSI use common Ethernet and IP protocols

FireWire and USB

eSATA

Networked storage is also gaining attention

Fibre Channel

Enterprise storage generally consists of SCSI, Fibre Channel, and Ethernet

Ethernet

Important Concept #2: Blocks and Files

Disk drives (and things like disk drives) organize data in blocks
Equal-sized units have unique addresses on the disk

People (and most applications) organize data as files in folder hierarchies Filesystem drivers in the operating system translate file requests to block addresses

Most Enterprise Storage Systems and Protocols are Block or File Based
Block protocols require a filesystem driver in the computer to locate files

File-based devices handle the file translation and organization themselves

SCSI, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI Also USB, FireWire, thumb drives anything that acts like a disk drive

Content-addressable storage (CAS) is something else altogether

CAS uses a hash of the content itself (block or file) to create a unique address for data

File servers and NAS arrays return data based on directory location and filename

SAN and NAS

A storage area network (SAN) is a block storage network

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file storage network

Clients request files from file servers or NAS arrays (filers) Common NAS protocols include CIFS/SMB for Windows and NFS for UNIX A network of NAS devices has been dubbed a file area network (FAN)

SCSI initiators (servers) talk to targets (disks or arrays) and request access to logical sets of block storage (LUNs) SAN implies FC or iSCSI storage

Most Enterprise Block Storage Uses SCSI

SCSI is the foundation of all current enterprise block storage protocols
SCSI commands FCP Optical/Copper

Important Concept #3:

Thick parallel SCSI cables of old have been replaced by new connections

SCSI is both a command set and physical specification

Fibre Channel
SCSI commands TCP/IP Ethernet/other Optical/Copper

Mainframes now use FICON which is like ESCON over FCP (not SCSI)

Fibre Channel = SCSI commands over Fibre Channel Protocol on optical fiber or copper cables iSCSI = SCSI commands over TCP/IP, commonly over Ethernet SAS = SCSI commands over some FCP services and a serial transport based on Serial ATA (SATA)

iSCSI
SCSI commands Partial FCP SATA Copper

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

But other protocols are used by disk drives

Serial ATA (SATA) is used in lower-end drives Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) is the next tier
Replaced parallel ATA, also called IDE SATA is quick, common, and cheap

Native Fibre Channel drives are still tops

Enterprise drives versus desktop drives
Have non-optical FC interconnect

Replaced parallel SCSI as higher-end drive Shares common components with SATA but adds SCSI command set (and command queueing)

Enterprise are more sturdy and pass more rigorous tests Spinning speed (RPM) has huge impact on performance

Important Concept #4: RAID Combines Disks

A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) is a combination of disk drives acting as one
RAID can improve performance and reliability

RAID is as old as storage

Today there are literally dozens of different implementations of the RAID concept

IBM patented the general concept in 1978 David Patterson, Garth Gibson, and Randy Katz defined five idealized RAID levels in 1988 The I originally stood for inexpensive, but this proved to be inaccurate once arrays were produced for sale!

Common RAID Levels

RAID 0 Stripe
Poor reliability no data protection and double the chance of failure! No wasted space Fast reads and writes 2x!

RAID 1 Mirror
Good reliability 50% overhead for data protection 50% wasted space 2x fast reads but slower writes

Common RAID Levels

RAID 4 Dedicated parity
Good data protection Less wasted space (N-1) Nx faster reads but slower writes Parity across blocks means lots of recalculation if theyre not written at the same time
P P P P

RAID 5 Striped parity

Good data protection Less wasted space (N-1) Nx faster reads but slower writes Parity for each block means they can easily be written individually
P P P P

RAID Mashups
It is common to stack RAID levels as RAID X+Y where X is laid over top of Y
RAID 0+1 (or RAID 01) is mirrored stripes RAID 1+0 (or RAID 10) is striped mirrors RAID 5+0 (or RAID 50) is striped RAID 5

RAID 6 or RAID DP has two parity slots either a duplicate or an alternate calculation RAID E mixes a hot spare disk into the striping Some vendors use RAID on a region of a disk instead of a whole disk drive

There are Three Kinds of Storage Array

Monolithic arrays are large cabinets with many disk slots, controllers, and I/O paths

Important Concept #5:

Modular arrays use a 1- or 2-controller head and generic disk shelves that can be added as needed

IBM, EMC, and HDS started with the mainframe

Monolithic array

Grid arrays have small nodes with a few drives that team up in flexible clusters for performance and reliability
Upstart CAS and iSCSI arrays were first to use this concept

3Com was followed by NetApp, CLARiiON, etc Clustered heads and SAN storage can be used

Modular array

Grid array

Choices Abound for Networked Enterprise Storage

No matter if youre looking for SAN, NAS, iSCSI, or CAS there are lots of options Every type of equipment and protocol could support every type of application
There are monolithic, modular, and grid devices that support most protocols

Databases can run great on NAS or RAID 5 You can build a cheap SAN with Fibre Channel or iSCSI NAS filers can make great archiving targets Workstations can share SAN storage CAS can be accessed with NFS or CIFS You can put tier-3 bulk storage on an enterprise array Modular arrays can outrun their big brothers

Mixing Up the Right SAN

The best choice is the one that makes the most sense in your environment Select the right tool for the job instead of using a wrench as a hammer

Look for the best fit for your budget and scale

Just because something can work doesnt make it a good idea Always pick the simplest and most straightforward solution If you only have a few terabytes, buy just one networked array that will work for most of your applications

Match your chosen technologies with the platforms and applications you have

Architecture Example: Small Web Company

A small but growing business focused on a webbased product Selected a modular NAS/iSCSI array
Wants stability, flexibility, scalability, low cost, and DR All Windows, mostly file but with some block storage

NAS replaced all current Windows file servers iSCSI replaced internal storage for email and database Picked a midrange device with lots of growth potential Used SATA drives with RAID 6 for reliability and good enough performance Built-in snapshots and replication of both file and block data from a single interface

Architecture Example: Large Financial Company

A household name in the world of finance
Wanted to implement tiered storage to save money Hundreds of TB, mixed Windows, UNIX, and mainframe Sufficient staff and money to bring in a new storage platform Spent time and money on data classification to move less critical apps off Tier 1 Decided to consolidate Windows systems with virtualization and blades rather than use iSCSI Deferred all enterprise storage purchases for two years Kept all mainframe data on Tier 1 enterprise storage for now

Selected a modular FC SAN device

Closing Thoughts
Bring in the storage that is right for you
Dont let rules of thumb and bogus best practices prejudice your choice

All storage devices work pretty well these days but none are perfect Make the vendors prove it works
Dont try to do anything exotic with basic devices Use the right tool for the job

Remember that its not all about the technology even the best storage cant fill an uncertain need!

Talk to references who are doing what you want to do Create a proof of concept before buying

Questions?
Audience Q&A: 10-15 minutes Contact me at sfoskett@contoural.com Come talk to me after the session or at lunch

I'll be available at the Ask-the-Expert booth today and tomorrow from 5 PM to 6 PM

For More Information

Contact me:
Stephen Foskett sfoskett@contoural.com

Visit SearchStorage.com and read Storage magazine Get SNIAs "Network Storage Terms and Acronyms" book Ask others here at the show or at user groups
Storage Networking User Group (SNUG)
http://storagenetworking.org
http://asnp.org

Association of Storage Networking Professionals (ASNP)

Ask the vendors (really!)