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February 22, 2017November 26, 2023

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links P to T

IT Data Center and Data Infrastructure Industry Resources

Updated 6/13/2018

Following are some useful Data Infrastructure IT Industry Resource Links P to T to cloud, virtual and traditional IT data infrastructure related web sites. The data infrastructure environment (servers, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, services, virtual, container and cloud) is rapidly changing. You may encounter a missing URL, or a URL that has changed. This list is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes (additions, changes, and retirement).

Disclaimer and note: URL’s submitted for inclusion on this site will be reviewed for consideration and to be in generally accepted good taste in regards to the theme of this site.

Best effort has been made to validate and verify the data infrastructure URLs that appear on this page and web site however they are subject to change. The author and/or maintainer(s) of this page and web site make no endorsement to and assume no responsibility for the URLs and their content that are listed on this page.

Send an email note to info at storageio dot com that includes company name, URL, contact name, title and phone number along with a brief 40 character description to be considered for addition to the above data infrastructure list, or, to be removed. Note that Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC (e.g. StorageIO) does not sell, trade, barter, borrow or share your contact information per our Privacy and Disclosure policy. View related data infrastructure Server StorageIO content here, and signup for our free newsletter here.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Packeteer.com WAFS and networking solutions (Bought Tacit)
packetlight.com CWDM and DWDM networking solutions
Panasas.com Clustered storage solution
pancetera.com Virtual machine backup software (Bought by Quantum)
Panduit.com Networking and cable management
panzura.com Cloud storage access software
paraccel.com Business and data analytics
paragon-software.com Storage management and backup tools
parallels.com VDI and desktop virtualization and cloud tools
parascale.com Clustered and cloud storage software
pcisig.com PCI trade group (PCI, PCI-X, PCI-Express/PCIe)
penguincomputing.com HPC servers, storage and hosting
pergamumsystems.com Archive solutions (Stealth)
Permabit.com Data archiving solutions
Pernixdata Server and storage I/O cache optimization for virtual servers
perotsystems.com Hosting and managed service provider (Bought by Dell)
pgp.com Security tools (Bought by Symantec)
PHDvirtual Data protection tools
Pillardata.com Data storage solutions – (Bought by Oracle)
pineapp.com Email, archive solutions, web and data protection
Piviot3.com IP Storage
Pivotal Labs Big Data, PaaS development tools, EMC/VMware spinout
plasmon.com (Now called Alliance Storage Technologies) Optical Storage Solutions
plextoramericas.com SSD and other storage solutions
plianttechnology.com Solid state storage devices (SSD) – (Bought by SANdisk)
Pluribus Networks Converged and software defined network management
pmc-serria.com Storage networking component supplier
pny.com Memory componets and technology
Pogoplug Cloud storage
PolyServe.com Clustered storage solutions (Sold to HP)
Polargy Data Center facilaties, HVAC and DCIM solutions
power.org Power Processor trade group
Mushkin SSD Solutions
Peak Cloud Cloud and storage services
PowerFile.com Data archiving solutions
powerware.com UPS and power conditioning systems
procedo.com Archiving and migration solutions
proceedtechnologies.com SAP consulting
profusionbackups.com Cloud and managed backup service solution
progeny.net VAR and specialized IT systems
prolexic.com Distributed denial of service tools
promise.com RAID storage systems
Prostorsystems.com Removable disk storage (See RDX Alliance)
Proxim.com Wireless networking
proximaldata.com SSD caching and tiering software
pt.com Communications hardware and software
puresi.com aka Puresilicon SSD storage solutions
purestorage.com SSD based storage
Puppet Labs IT Automation and DCIM tools for physical, Cloud and Virtual

qlogic.com Host bus adapters and switches
qsantechnology.com iSCSI IP storage
Qstart Technologies Data protection storage including LTFS based systems
Quadric Software Data protection software
qualstar.com Tape backup and archive solutions (Aka Qstar)
quantum.com Tape drives and libraries
quest.com IT and data management solution tools (Bought by Dell)
Qumulo Stealth storage startup
qwest.com (Century Link) Telephone and data networking, managed services provider
racemi.com Repurposing management tools
Rackable.com Now SGI
Rackspace.com Managed services and hosting
www.rackwise.com Data center management tools
raidinc.com Storage systems
raidundant.com Storage systems
Rainfinity.com File virtualization (Bought by EMC)
rainstor.com Big data management tools
rapidio.org RapidIO Trade Group
Raritan Data center and DCIM tools
rasilient.com Storage subsystem vendor
Ravello VMware optimization and management tools
Raxco Data, storage and systems management tools
rebit.com Backup and data protection solutions
RecordNation Digital Data Storage and Records Management
redbend.com Mobile device and application management
redbooks.ibm.com IBM Red books and Red pieces technical articles
Redhat.com Linux provider (Bought Gluster)
Reduxio Hybrid storage with data services
reflexphotonics.com Optical connectivity solutions
Reldata.com Storage systems (Renamed Starboard)
remote-backup.com Remote backup software
renewdata.com Data management and compliance tools
repliweb.com Web and content distribution
Retrospect Data Protection Software Tools
revivio.com Data Protection Software (Assets Bought by Symantec)
rightscale.com Amazon cloud computing management tools
rimage.com CD/DVD production technologies
risingtidesystems.com VAR
Ritek.com Storage solutions
rittal.com Enclosures and cabinets
riverbed.com Wide area file access acceleration solution
rjssoftware.com Document capture and management
rmsource.com Cloud backup solutions
rnanetworks.com Virtual memory management solutions (Bought by Dell)
rocketdivision.com iSCSI technologies
rorke.com VAR
rpath.com Data center automation
rsa.com Security division of EMC
safemediacorp.com Internet security and intrusion detection tools
safenet-inc.com Data protection focused VAR
Sagecloud Cloud storage, deep cold archive
samsung.com Various technologies including SSD memory
sanblaze.com Embedded storage and emulation solutions
SANbolic.com Storage, server and cloud management tools
sand-chip.com Chip design
SANDforce.com SSD storage solutions – (Bought by LSI)
sandial.com Defunct SAN startup
SANdisk.com SSD memory components
sandpiperdata.com Data migration services
sanmina-sci.com Contract manufacturer (Virtual Factory) for various OEM/VARs
sanovi.com Disaster recovery management tools
sanpulse.com SRA and automation tools
sanrad.com Storage networking routers (Bought by OCZ)
sans.org Security related web site
sansdigital.com VAR
sap.com Information management tools and applications
sas.com Statistical analysis software
sata-io.org Serial ATA trade organization
SavageIO High performance storage solutions
savvis.com Cloud, managed service provider and hosting (Bought by Centurylink)
sbbwg.org Storage Bridge Bay Working Group
scalable-systems.com Data warehouse consulting and tools
scalecomputing.com Clustered storage management software
scalemp.com Virtualization technology for scale out computing
scalent.com Virtual IT data center management tools
scality.com Email and sharepoint cloud storage
schoonerinfotech.com SSD based database management solutions
scsita.org SCSI and SAS trade group
seagate.com Disk drives
Sealpath Data and information protection tools
seanodes.com Distributed storage
sec.gov Site about compliance items including CFR 17a-4
securedatainnovations.com Data protection and security tools
sentilla.com Data center performance management tools
sepaton.com Disk based backup solutions
serialata.org Serial ATA trade association
servicemesh.com Cloud, datacenter transformation and devops tools
servicenow.com ITIL data center management tools
1servosity.com Cloud data protection
servoy.com Cloud development tools
ServPath.com Hosting services
seven10storage.com Disaster recovery and archiving software
sgi.com Storage, server and data management hardware, software, tools
sherpasoftware.com Email archiving
shop.bellmicro.com Distributor (Bought by Avnet)
siber.com Data protection and security tools
sidusdata.com Managed service and cloud provider
siemon.com Storage networking infrastructure items
sigmasol.com Value added reseller (VAR)
Signiant.com Data management tools
silexamerica.com Mobile device and server connectivity
SiliconImage.com Digital Video components
SiliconStor.com Storage networking silicon
siliconvalleypr.com IT technologies press/media and analyst relations firm
silveradotech.com VAR
silver-peak.com Wide area data and file services (WAFS, WADM, WADS)
SilverSky Cloud security
simpletech.com Storage solutions including USB portable devices
simplivity.com Convergence and virtualization solutions
simplycontinuous.net Data protection and cloud backup
siriuscom.com VAR
site-vault.com On-line backup server provider (BSP) managed service provider (MSP)
skyera.com SSD storage solutions
skytap.com Public and private cloud application development tools
Smart421 Smart421 AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
smartm.com PC card and other memory module components
smc.com Storage and networking components
smithmicro.com Mobile data management tools
smmdirect.com Memory devices
snapappliances.com NAS Storage solutions (Now Adaptec)
snia.org Storage Networking Industry Association
snseurope.com U.K. & European Storage Networking News
snwusa.com SNIA and Computerworld conference
softek.com Storage management solutions (formerly Fujitsu Softek, Sold to IBM)
softlayer.com Cloud infrastructure services (IaaS) (Bought by IBM)
softnas.com ZFS based opensource NAS solutions
softricity.com Virtualization management tools (Bought by Microsoft)
Sogeti.com Data management tools
solarflare.com 10Gb Ethernet networking
solarwinds.com IT management tools (Bought TekTools, Hyper9 and others)
solidaccess.com Solid state storage (SSD) solutions
soliddata.com Solid State Disk solutions
solidfire.com iSCSI SSD optimized for hosting and cloud providers
Solix.com Database archiving software
solutiontechnology.co.uk Storage networking training
sonasoft.com Email archiving, backup and data protection
sonnettech.com External storage solutions
sony.com Storage devices
sophos.com Data protection and security tools
sorrento.com Optical networking
sparebackup.com Backup data protection solutions
sparkweave.com Private cloud archive and file sharing
spec.org SPEC benchmarks
spectralogic.com Tape library and disk based backup solutions
spiceworks.com Online community and management software tools
spirent.com Storage networking test equipment
Spiron.com Data discovery, classification, lifecycle management (formerly Identity Finder)
Splice Communications Splice Communications AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
splunk.com DCIM and log management tools
spotcloud.com Cloud services clearing house
spraycool.com IT Data center and component cooling
springsoft.com Bought by Synopsys
spsoftglobal.com Software development
spyrus.com Security tools
ssswg.org IEEE Storage Systems Standards Work Group
starboardstorage.com Unified storage solutions (Formerly Reldata, now ceased operations)
startech.com IT/AV technolgie equipment from enclosures to KVM and more
starwindsoftware.com iSCSI storage management solutions
stcroixsolutions.com VAR
stec-inc.com SSD storage (Bought by WD)
Steeleye.com HA software
Stellar Data Protection tools
storagetek.com Disk, tape, data management software (Bought by Sun)
stonebranch.com File transfer tools
stonefly.com Storage networking routers (Aka DNF)
storability.com Storage management software (Bought by STK)
storactive.com Data protection solutions
storagecraft.com Data protection tools
storagefusion.com Storage resource analysis (SRA) tools
storageio.net Alternate URL for the StorageIO Group
storageiogroup.com Alternate URL for the StorageIO Group
storagemadeeasy.com Hybrid and personal cloud management tools and dashboards
Storagemonkeys.com Storage community site
storagenetworking.org Storage Networking Users Groups also known as SNUGs
storageperformance.org Storage Performance Council information
www.storagesearch.com Venue for information about various storage and related topics
storcase.com Data Archive solutions (Bought by Crudata)
store-age.com Storage management software (Bought by LSI)
storediq.com eDiscovery, search, indexing, classification (Bought by IBM)
Storewize.com Real time data compression (Bought by IBM)
Storix.com Data backup solutions
storlife.com CAS object archive storage
stormagic.com Storage virtualization and data movement software
storserver.com Backup and data protection solutions
storsimple.com Cloud storage access solutions (Bought by Microsoft)
storspeed.com NAS/NFS optimization solutions (Missing in action)
stratascale.com Cloud, hosting and management solutions
stratus.com High availability storage and servers
sugarsync.com Backup and data protection solutions
sun.com Storage networking hardware and software (Bought by Oracle)
sunbeltsoftware.com End point data protection security tools
sungard.com Data protection and cloud services
superlumin.com Application caching tools
supermicro.com Server and storage solutions
surdoc.com Cloud storage and backup
surgient.com Cloud computing solutions
svlg.net Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Swiftstack Private cloud solutions
swifttest.com NFS and CIFS storage testing solutions
sybase.com Database solutions
sycamorenetworks.com Networking solutions
Symantec.com Data and storage management software
symbolicio.com stealth startup
symform.com Cloud storage and backup
syncsort.com Information Management tools
synnex.com Distributor
Synnex IT Solutions
synology.com SMB storage solutions
synopsys.com Computer technology development and manufacturing
SysAid Data center, DCIM and ITSM tools
t10.orgscsi-3.htm ANSI T10 (SCSI information) site
t11.org ANSI T11 page for Fibre Channel information
t3media.com Cloud storage and video platform tools
tableausoftware.com Data analytics software tools
tacit.com WAN file system accelerator (Bought by Packeteer)
tacitnetworks.com Wide area file access acceleration solution (Bought by Packeteer)
tandberg.com Data management solutions (Bought by Cisco)
tapeandmedia.com Information about magnetic tape media
tapepower.com Site for tape topics
tarmin.com Archiving solutions
teamdrive.com Cloud storage
teamquest.com IRM management and capacity management tools
TeamViewer.com Remote support and Online meeting software
techdata.com Distributor
tegile.com Storage system solutions
tehutinetworks.net High speed iSCSI adapters
tek-tools.com SRM storage management software (Bought by Solarwinds)
TelecityGroup AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
tellabs.com Networking components
Telx AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
teneros.com Email archiving and management solutions
teracloud.com Capacity planning and resource management software
teradata.com Large scale database and data warehouse systems
teradici.com PC over IP technologies
teranetics.com Ethernet chips
Terascala Data analytics and management solutions
ter.de Optical storage libraries
terracloudinc.com Cloud services
TerraScale.com Scalable storage and server solutions
Verizon/Terremark Cloud, hosting and managed services
Tevron Application Response Time Monitoring
texmemsys.com Solid State Disk storage
thebci.org Business Continuity Institute
thecus.com Multi-protocol storage
thegreengrid.org Industry Trade Group
The Padcaster Apple iPad tools
thepluggllc.com Data center energy efficient floor tiles
theq3.com Data storage security solutions
thinkaheadit.com aka Ahead Value added reseller
thinkaheadit.com Value added reseller (VAR)
thirdbrigade.com Intrusion detection security tools (Bought by Trend Micro)
thirdio.com SSD solutions
tiaonline.org Telecommunications Industry Association
tidalsoftware.com IT Management software tools (Bought by Cisco)
timespring.com Continuous data protection solutions
tintri.com NFS and NAS storage optimized for VMware
tivoli.com Data management software
Softbank Telecom Corp. AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
Primary Data and Tonian Stealth data virtualization startup

topgun-tech.com Data Infrastructure Resource (Server, Storage, SANs)

top500.org Top 500 super compute sites
topio.com Data protection software (Bought by NetApp)
topspin.com InfiniBand Technology (Bought by Cisco)(
Toshiba.com Server and storage solutions
tpc.org Transaction processing performance council
translattice.com Distributed and elastic database and automation tools
Tredent.com WAN optimization solutions
TrendMicro.com Security and anti virus tools
trianz.com VAR
tributary.com Datra protection soultion tools including virtual, disk and tape-
trilogytechnologies.ie Managed services provider
tritondata.com IT services and VAR
trunkbow.com Cloud, mobile and networking services
trustedcomputinggroup.org Trusted computing industry trade group
trusteddatasolutions.com VAR
trustedid.com ID theft protection
trustware.com Internet and data protection security tools
turnkeylinux.org Turnkey Linux appliance –
tusc.com VAR
twinstrata.com BC/DR analysis and cloud access software
tw telecom tw telecom AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
TSO logic DCIM and data center power energy management tools
tzolkin.com DNS and High Availability solutions

Where To Learn More

View additional NAS, NVMe, SSD, NVM, SCM, Data Infrastructure and HDD related topics via the following links.

Can we get a side of context with them IOPS and other storage metrics?
WHEN AND WHERE TO USE NAND FLASH SSD FOR VIRTUAL SERVERS
Revisiting RAID storage remains relevant and resources
NVMe overview and primer – Part I
Part 1 of HDD for content servers series Trends and Content Application Servers
Part 2 of HDD for content servers series Content application server decisions and testing plans
Part 3 of HDD for content servers series Test hardware and software configuration
Part 4 of HDD for content servers series Large file I/O processing
Part 5 of HDD for content servers series Small file I/O processing
Part 6 of HDD for content servers series General I/O processing
Part 7 of HDD for content servers series How HDD continue to evolve over different generations and wrap up
As the platters spin, HDD’s for cloud, virtual and traditional storage environments
How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do?
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) for Virtual Environments
Server and Storage I/O performance and benchmarking tools
Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload scripts Part I and Part II
How to test your HDD, SSD or all flash array (AFA) storage fundamentals
What is the best server storage I/O workload benchmark? It depends
I/O, I/O how well do you know about good or bad server and storage I/Os?
Big Files Lots of Little File Processing Benchmarking with Vdbench
Part II – NVMe overview and primer (Different Configurations)
Part III – NVMe overview and primer (Need for Performance Speed)
Part IV – NVMe overview and primer (Where and How to use NVMe)
Part V – NVMe overview and primer (Where to learn more, what this all means)
PCIe Server I/O Fundamentals
If NVMe is the answer, what are the questions?
NVMe Wont Replace Flash By Itself
Via Computerweekly – NVMe discussion: PCIe card vs U.2 and M.2
Intel and Micron unveil new 3D XPoint Non Volatie Memory (NVM) for servers and storage
Part II – Intel and Micron new 3D XPoint server and storage NVM
Part III – 3D XPoint new server storage memory from Intel and Micron
Server storage I/O benchmark tools, workload scripts and examples (Part I) and (Part II)
Data Infrastructure Overview, Its Whats Inside of Data Centers
All You Need To Know about Remote Office/Branch Office Data Protection Backup (free webinar with registration)
Software Defined, Converged Infrastructure (CI), Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) resources
The SSD Place (SSD, NVM, PM, SCM, Flash, NVMe, 3D XPoint, MRAM and related topics)
The NVMe Place (NVMe related topics, trends, tools, technologies, tip resources)
Data Protection Diaries (Archive, Backup/Restore, BC, BR, DR, HA, RAID/EC/LRC, Replication, Security)
Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press 2017) including SDDC, Cloud, Container and more
Various Data Infrastructure related events, webinars and other activities
www.objectstoragecenter.com and Software Defined, Cloud, Bulk and Object Storage Fundamentals
Server Storage I/O Network PCIe Fundamentals

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

Visit the following additional data infrastructure and IT data center related links.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

February 22, 2017November 3, 2024

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links U to Z

IT Data Center and Data Infrastructure Industry Resources

Updated 2/20/2018

Following are some useful Data Infrastructure IT Industry Resource Links U to Z to cloud, virtual and traditional IT data infrastructure related web sites. The data infrastructure environment (servers, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, services, virtual, container and cloud) is rapidly changing. You may encounter a missing URL, or a URL that has changed. This list is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes (additions, changes, and retirement).

Disclaimer and note: URL’s submitted for inclusion on this site will be reviewed for consideration and to be in generally accepted good taste in regards to the theme of this site.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

ubuntu.com Opensource Linux software and cloud tools
unisys.com Server, storage and managed services
unitedlayer.com Collocation and hosting services
unitrends.com Data protection solutions
updraftplus.com/ WordPress Updraft Cloud Backup Plugin
uptimeinstitute.org Uptime Institute
uptimesoftware.com Capacity management tools
Logicalis IT solutions and managed services
us.logicalis.com Cloud, managed and data center services
usb.org USB trade association
uscolo.com Co-location facility and hosting service
usenix.org LISA and data center forums
usgbc.org United States Green Building Council
v3sys.com VDI and desktop cloud solutions
vadiumtech.com Security and encryption tools
varonis.com Unstructured data management and protection
vaultive.com Cloud encryption for hosted exchange
vaultize.com Cloud backup, file and data sharing
vaultstor.com Data protection and cloud storage services
vaultus.com Cloud, colo and manged service hosting –
vbridges.com Virtual desktop management tools
vce.com Converged infrastructure solutions
vdbench vdbench storage testing/workload generation tool
veeam.com Virtual server data protection, reporting, monitoring, cap planning
vellosystems.com Cloud infrastructure technology solutoins –
velobit.com SSD cache software (Bought by WD)
veloxum.com VM performance management tools Added 11/30/10
vembu.com Backup data protection tools
Venus Venus AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
venyu.com Cloud hosting
verari.com Blade servers and blade storage
verdiem.com Infrastructure Resource Management (IRM) and energy reporting tools
vericept.com Network monitoring software
Veritest.com Third party testing service

verity.com Data search, discovery, classification
versant.com Object database management solutions
vertinsys.com Server I/O virtualization
Vibe AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
victorinox.com Swiss army knife and USB thumb drive
viewfinity.com Rights management, audit and compliance
vigitrust.com Security management tools
vikingmodular.com FLASH SSD storage solutions
violin-memory.com FLASH SSD storage solutions
vion.com Value added reseller
vipreantivirus.com Security, data loss, data leak prevention
virident.com SSD based database management solutions (Bought by WD)
viridity.com Data center and infrastructure resource management (IRM) tools
virsto.com Server virtualization management tools (Bought by VMware)
virtensys.com Virtual I/O and I/O virtualization (IOV)
virtualinstruments.com SAN probes/analyzers (Formerly Finisar Analyzer tools)
VirtualIron.com Server virtualization (Bought by Oracle)
VirtunetSystems Storage I/O acceleration and cache tools for VMware
virtuon-inc.com Cloud, virtualization IT consulting and staffing
visi.com Managed service provider, cloud and hosting service
VisionSolutions.com BC, DR and data protection solutions
visualstorageintelligence.com Cross vendor cloud storage reporting and srmprovider
vitesse.com Storage networking component supplier
vivisimo.com eDiscovery and search
vizoncore.com Virtualization tools and data protection for virtual servers
vizrt.com Video management software tools
vkernel.com VM performance tools (Bought by Quest, bought by Dell)
vmc.com Cloud consulting and outsourcing
vmturbo.com Cloud and virtualization workload management
vmware.com Server virtualization software (Bought by EMC)
Vocus Vocus AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
voltaire.com InfiniBand Technology
vontu.com Data loss prevention tools (Bought by Symantec)
Vormetric Data security solutions
votela.com Specialized network service provider
vscalesystems.com Virtual and converged networking and consulting
vssmonitoring.com Network monitoring
vwsolutions.com Backup and data protection solutions
vyatta.com Cloud and virtual networking, IOV
wanova.com Desktop management solutions
wasabisystems.com iSCSI storage
wdc.com Western Digital Disk drives
WedgeNetworks.com Security solutions
whiptailtech.com Flash SSD solutions (Bought by Cisco)
Microsoft Skydrive Cloud storage
windspring.com Data management and DFR for mobile access
wipro.com Business services
workscomputing.com VAR
wovensystems.com High speed networking switches
wwt.com VAR/Systems integrator
wysdm.com SRA and DPM management tools (Bought by EMC)
Xencode.com Various open tools
XenData Digital Archive solutions
xenos.com Archive and data footprint reduction solutions
xfpmsa.org 10Gb multi-source trade group
xiotech.com Renamed XIO: Storage sub-systems and software
xirin.com Storage adapter (iSCSI) and chip vendor
xosoft.com BC/DR and data protection replication tools (Bought by CA)
xsigo.com I/O virtualization and service oriented connectivity – (Bought by Oracle)
xtreemfs.org scaleout filesystem
xtremio.com SSD startup – Bought by EMC
xyratex.com Storage enclosures, subsystems, test equipmen, Lustre software (Bought by Seagate)t
xyxel.com Networking technologies for cloud and consumer
yorktel.com video solutions
Yosemitetech.com Backup software (Bought by Barracuda)
yousendit.com Cloud backup, storage and file sharing
zadarastorage.com iSCSI cloud storage
zenoss.com Converged, Virtual systems and cloud monitoring, DCIM
Zentera Private cloud and IaaS solutions
zerto.com Data protection for virtual environments
Zetera.com Storage over IP alternative to iSCSI
zetta.net Cloud storage solutions
zettapoint.com Database management tools
zintrus.com Systems development
zirtu.com VDI management tools and platform
zlti.com Email archive and management solutions
zmanda.com Open source data backup
zoho.com Online and cloud management solutions
zyrion.com Network and systems monitoring and management

Where To Learn More

View additional NAS, NVMe, SSD, NVM, SCM, Data Infrastructure and HDD related topics via the following links.

Can we get a side of context with them IOPS and other storage metrics?
WHEN AND WHERE TO USE NAND FLASH SSD FOR VIRTUAL SERVERS
Revisiting RAID storage remains relevant and resources
NVMe overview and primer – Part I
Part 1 of HDD for content servers series Trends and Content Application Servers
Part 2 of HDD for content servers series Content application server decisions and testing plans
Part 3 of HDD for content servers series Test hardware and software configuration
Part 4 of HDD for content servers series Large file I/O processing
Part 5 of HDD for content servers series Small file I/O processing
Part 6 of HDD for content servers series General I/O processing
Part 7 of HDD for content servers series How HDD continue to evolve over different generations and wrap up
As the platters spin, HDD’s for cloud, virtual and traditional storage environments
How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do?
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) for Virtual Environments
Server and Storage I/O performance and benchmarking tools
Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload scripts Part I and Part II
How to test your HDD, SSD or all flash array (AFA) storage fundamentals
What is the best server storage I/O workload benchmark? It depends
I/O, I/O how well do you know about good or bad server and storage I/Os?
Big Files Lots of Little File Processing Benchmarking with Vdbench
Part II – NVMe overview and primer (Different Configurations)
Part III – NVMe overview and primer (Need for Performance Speed)
Part IV – NVMe overview and primer (Where and How to use NVMe)
Part V – NVMe overview and primer (Where to learn more, what this all means)
PCIe Server I/O Fundamentals
If NVMe is the answer, what are the questions?
NVMe Wont Replace Flash By Itself
Via Computerweekly – NVMe discussion: PCIe card vs U.2 and M.2
Intel and Micron unveil new 3D XPoint Non Volatie Memory (NVM) for servers and storage
Part II – Intel and Micron new 3D XPoint server and storage NVM
Part III – 3D XPoint new server storage memory from Intel and Micron
Server storage I/O benchmark tools, workload scripts and examples (Part I) and (Part II)
Data Infrastructure Overview, Its Whats Inside of Data Centers
All You Need To Know about Remote Office/Branch Office Data Protection Backup (free webinar with registration)
Software Defined, Converged Infrastructure (CI), Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) resources
The SSD Place (SSD, NVM, PM, SCM, Flash, NVMe, 3D XPoint, MRAM and related topics)
The NVMe Place (NVMe related topics, trends, tools, technologies, tip resources)
Data Protection Diaries (Archive, Backup/Restore, BC, BR, DR, HA, RAID/EC/LRC, Replication, Security)
Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press 2017) including SDDC, Cloud, Container and more
Various Data Infrastructure related events, webinars and other activities
www.objectstoragecenter.com and Software Defined, Cloud, Bulk and Object Storage Fundamentals
Server Storage I/O Network PCIe Fundamentals

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

Visit the following additional data infrastructure and IT data center related links.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Ok, nuff said, for now.

February 22, 2017November 26, 2023

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links to Others

IT Data Center and Data Infrastructure Industry Resources

Updated 2/20/2018

Following are some useful Data Infrastructure IT Industry Resource Links to cloud, virtual and traditional IT data infrastructure related web sites. The data infrastructure environment (servers, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, services, virtual, container and cloud) is rapidly changing. You may encounter a missing URL, or a URL that has changed. This list is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes (additions, changes, and retirement).

Disclaimer and note: URL’s submitted for inclusion on this site will be reviewed for consideration and to be in generally accepted good taste in regards to the theme of this site.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

www.10gea.org 10Gb Ethernet industry trade organization
www.1394ta.org 1394 (Firewire) trade association
www.3com.com Networking equipment (Bought by HP)
www.3leafnetworks.com I/O virtualization
www.3par.com Clustered storage systems (Bought by HP)
www.3tera.com IT Cloud management tools (Bought by CA)
www.4blox.com Data center design services
www.4blox.com Linux iSCSI target optimization stack
www.4bridgeworks.com aka Bridgeworks SAN networking and connectivity solutions
www.80plus.org Energy efficient power supply trade group

Where To Learn More

View additional NAS, NVMe, SSD, NVM, SCM, Data Infrastructure and HDD related topics via the following links.

Can we get a side of context with them IOPS and other storage metrics?
WHEN AND WHERE TO USE NAND FLASH SSD FOR VIRTUAL SERVERS
Revisiting RAID storage remains relevant and resources
NVMe overview and primer – Part I
Part 1 of HDD for content servers series Trends and Content Application Servers
Part 2 of HDD for content servers series Content application server decisions and testing plans
Part 3 of HDD for content servers series Test hardware and software configuration
Part 4 of HDD for content servers series Large file I/O processing
Part 5 of HDD for content servers series Small file I/O processing
Part 6 of HDD for content servers series General I/O processing
Part 7 of HDD for content servers series How HDD continue to evolve over different generations and wrap up
As the platters spin, HDD’s for cloud, virtual and traditional storage environments
How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do?
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) for Virtual Environments

Server and Storage I/O performance and benchmarking tools
Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload scripts Part I and Part II
How to test your HDD, SSD or all flash array (AFA) storage fundamentals
What is the best server storage I/O workload benchmark? It depends
I/O, I/O how well do you know about good or bad server and storage I/Os?
Big Files Lots of Little File Processing Benchmarking with Vdbench
Part II – NVMe overview and primer (Different Configurations)
Part III – NVMe overview and primer (Need for Performance Speed)
Part IV – NVMe overview and primer (Where and How to use NVMe)
Part V – NVMe overview and primer (Where to learn more, what this all means)
PCIe Server I/O Fundamentals
If NVMe is the answer, what are the questions?
NVMe Wont Replace Flash By Itself
Via Computerweekly – NVMe discussion: PCIe card vs U.2 and M.2
Intel and Micron unveil new 3D XPoint Non Volatie Memory (NVM) for servers and storage
Part II – Intel and Micron new 3D XPoint server and storage NVM
Part III – 3D XPoint new server storage memory from Intel and Micron
Server storage I/O benchmark tools, workload scripts and examples (Part I) and (Part II)
Data Infrastructure Overview, Its Whats Inside of Data Centers
All You Need To Know about Remote Office/Branch Office Data Protection Backup (free webinar with registration)
Software Defined, Converged Infrastructure (CI), Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) resources
The SSD Place (SSD, NVM, PM, SCM, Flash, NVMe, 3D XPoint, MRAM and related topics)
The NVMe Place (NVMe related topics, trends, tools, technologies, tip resources)
Data Protection Diaries (Archive, Backup/Restore, BC, BR, DR, HA, RAID/EC/LRC, Replication, Security)
Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press 2017) including SDDC, Cloud, Container and more
Various Data Infrastructure related events, webinars and other activities
www.objectstoragecenter.com and Software Defined, Cloud, Bulk and Object Storage Fundamentals
Server Storage I/O Network PCIe Fundamentals

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

Visit the following additional data infrastructure and IT data center related links.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Ok, nuff said, for now.

February 11, 2017November 26, 2023

Some popular 2016 storageioblog posts

server storage I/O trends

Big Files and Lots of Little File Processing and Benchmarking with Vdbench – Need to test, validate, compare, contrast or simply apply workload to file systems, NAS or other file-based access? Want the flexibility and simplicity to software define your benchmark workload to meet various needs? For example, millions of small files or thousands of large 5GB, 10GB, 15GB (or larger) files with various read, write size and access patterns spanning a single directory, or many with various depths? Do you want the flexibility for different platforms including Windows, *NIX, bare metal, container, virtual or cloud without a bulk tool using simple scripts that produce lots of insightful results? Then you will want to check this post out.

Breaking the VMware ESXi 5.5 ACPI boot loop on Lenovo TD350 – Ever have a VMware host server go into a boot loop and purple screen of death (PSD) then displaying a message about ACPI or similar? After spending time searching and applying many filters to sift through the noise of false positive matches, finally found the simple fix (e.g. a BIOS setting) to break the VMware ESXi vSphere boot loop, or at least on a Lenovo server.

Cloud and Object Storage

Cloud conversations: AWS EBS, Glacier and S3 overview (Part I) – This is one of the perennial favorites that while new features have been added with others extended, the post series still provides a good overview, primer or refresher of various Amazon Web Services (AWS) services including how they work. Interesting in learning more about Microsoft and Azure, then check out this, this, this and this.

Cloud Conversations: AWS EFS Elastic File System (Cloud NAS) – This is a companion to the above AWS as well as other cloud post series that looks at AWS Elastic File System. Note that other cloud service providers have also added NAS file access support, some are intra (e.g. inside AWS cloud), others are inter-cloud (e.g. inside and outside cloud) such as Azure (can work with external Windows Servers using SMB3). Even OpenStack has added NAS file with Manila folders and Ceph with CephFS among others. So when some people tell you that NAS and file access are dead particular for cloud, remind them of the increasing number of services and software stacks that are adding new services to allow their solution to be compatible with existing environments or applications.

Server Storage I/O performance

Collecting Transaction Per Minute from SQL Server and HammerDB – If you have used the free tool HammerDB (e.g. Hammora) for driving database workloads, simulations or benchmarks you should recall that the resulting statistics are rather lacking. Sure there is a nice GUI chart that shows current executing transactions per second (TPS) along with some very simple counters in the log. However compared to some other tools such as sysbench, Quest Benchmark Factory and YCSB among others, the Hammer metrics are rather lacking. In this post I show how you can collect some more metrics from SQL Server if you have to use HammerDB. View more server storage I/O performance benchmark and monitoring tools resources here.

Windows Server 2016

Gaining Server Storage I/O Insight into Microsoft Windows Server 2016 – Microsoft released into general availability Windows Server 2016 and this post looks at some of the new features along with functionality including Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), Storage Replica (SR) as well as other enhancements. With these new and enhanced features Windows Servers increase their interoperability with Azure, as well as supporting aggregated hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), disaggregated converged (CI) as well as traditional workloads along with Hyper-V (and containers). One of the other new enhancements in Windows Server 2016 which now uses ReFS (Reliable File System) as its default file system that you can read more about here. RIP Windows SIS (Single Instance Storage), or at least in Server 2016 With Windows Server 2016 Microsoft removed single instance storage replacing with new capabilities that you can read more about in the this post.

Garbage data in garbage data out

Garbage data in, garbage information out, big data or big garbage? There is a classic IT expression of garbage data in results in garbage data (or information out) in that your algorithms and data structures (which equals programs e.g. Niklaus Wirth) are only as good as the data they work on. What this means then is that if there is a large amount of big data then there can also be a big garbage in and garbage out problem unless addressed.

Hard product vs. soft product – Hard product refers to something such as hardware, software or a service resource that is obtained and then joined with other resources in a particular way to create a soft product. Not to be confused with software, the soft product is the result or how resources get defined that give some ability or benefit. Think of a soft product as for how airlines can use the same airplane, serve the same coca cola, have same seats, yet their soft product is the service experience of how those are delivered, as well as how you find and buy or use them. Another way of thinking about it is hard products are the ingredients for a recipe, the recipe defines how those ingredients result in some food dish.

how many IOPs can an HDD or SSD do

Part II: How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do with VMware? – This is part of a multi-post series looking at how many IOPs (or bandwidth) various HDD and SSDs can do handling different workloads. Of course, your results will vary with configuration settings, tools among other considerations. However, some of the older rules of thumb (RUT) about RPM and other considerations for HDDs have changed and continue to do so. As an example of how HDDs continue to evolve check out this popular post from the 2016 list Which Enterprise HDDs to use for a Content Server Platform.

Part II: What I did with Lenovo TS140 in my Server and Storage I/O Review – This is a popular post series of some things I have done with a Lenovo TS140 including defining with various software as well as hardware. This is a great price performer value system that several years ago after testing one Lenovo sent me, I returned that to Lenovo and bought several of them to join my other systems.

Server and Storage I/O Benchmarking and Performance Resources – This is a collection of various server, storage I/O and networking hardware, software as well as services tools, techniques as well as tips for benchmarking, comparing, simulation, testing, gaining insight across cloud, virtual, container and legacy resources. Server and Storage I/O Benchmark Tools: Microsoft Diskspd (Part I) – This is one of the tools found on the server, storage I/O benchmarking and performance resources page. Diskspd is a tool developed by Microsoft as an alternative to using Iometer, vdbench, fio.exe, SQLIO among many others, plus, it is on github.

server storage I/O nvme and ssd

The NVM (Non Volatile Memory) and NVMe Place – Interesting and adoption in nand flash, nvram, 3D XPoint among other SSD and Non-volatile Memory (NVM) continues. Another popular post that you can find at thenvmeplace.com is this NVMe overview and primer – Part I. There is a growing interest, awareness and deployment adoption around NVM Express (NVMe) the new protocol for accessing NVMs and SSDs. Some of the common conversations and questions I encounter is confusion between NVM and NVMe, too which the answer is one (the former) are the media or devices, the other is the access method alternative to using AHCI/SATA or SCSI (e.g. SAS, iSCSI, FCP, SRP) among others.

VMware VVOLs and storage I/O fundamentals (Part 1) – VMware Virtual Volumes (VVOL) continue to gain adoption and this post is part of an overview and primer. If you want to go deeper into VVOL as well as see some adoption insights check out Eric Sieberts post here over at vsphere-land.com

Welcome to the Object Storage Center page – This is a micro site that has a primer and overview of cloud as well as object storage along with an expanding list of links to various resources, tips, technologies, tools, trends and industry activity.

Where To Learn More

www.storageio.com particular if you have not been there for awhile to check out the new streamlined look and navigation to various content including Server StorageIO update newsletters (free subscription) among other resources.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What this all means and wrapping up

Some of the popular posts for 2016 are perennial favorites and based on experience will probably appear on the 2017 list. However there are also several new posts that appeared in 2016 that I suspect will also appear on the 2017 version of the above list, along with new content from 2017.

Thank you to all of you who frequent StorageIOblog.com as well as StorageIO.com along with our various micro sites including server storage I/O performance and benchmarking resources, thenvmeplace.com, thessdplace.com, cloud and objectstoragecenter.com, data protection diaries among others.

Also thank you for viewing various partner venues and syndicates with extra ones appearing throughout 2017. Watch for more content in the coming weeks, months and throughout 2017 on software defined data infrastructures (SDDI) along with server, storage I/O, networking, hardware, software, cloud, container, data protection and related topics, trends, technologies, tools and tips.

Again, thank you

Ok, nuff said, for now.

February 4, 2017March 7, 2022

What Does Converged Infrastructure CI Hyperconverged HCI Mean to Storage I/O?

What Does CI and HCI Mean to Storage I/O?

server storage I/O trends

Updated 1/17/2018

Converged Infrastructure (CI), Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) along with Cluster or Cloud In Box (CIB) are popular trend topics that have gained both industry and customer adoption as part of data infrastructures. Data Infrastructures exists to support business, cloud and information technology (IT) among other applications that transform data into information or services. The fundamental role of legacy and software defined data infrastructures (SDDI) is to provide a platform environment for applications and data that is resilient, flexible, scalable, agile, efficient as well as cost-effective.

Business, IT Information, Data and other Infrastructures

Put another way, data infrastructures exist to protect, preserve, process, move, secure and serve data as well as their applications for information services delivery. Technologies that make up data infrastructures include hardware, software, cloud or managed services, servers, storage, I/O and networking along with people, processes, policies along with various tools spanning legacy, software-defined virtual, containers and cloud.

As part of data infrastructures, CI, CIB and HCI enable simplified deployment of resources (servers, storage, I/O networking, hardware, software) across different environments. What do these various approaches (CI, HCI, CiB) mean for a hyperconverged (and converged) storage environment? What are the key concerns and considerations related specifically to storage? Most importantly, how do you know that you’re asking the right questions in order to get to the right answers?

Join me on March 15 at 10:00 AM PT for a live (free) webinar organized by the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) Ethernet Storage Forum (ESF). In this webinar (What Does Hyperconverged Mean to Storage) I will be joined by SNIA ESF chair John Kim of Mellanox to discuss moving beyond the hype to prepare, plan and make decisions for deploying CI, CiB and HCI.

Some of the server, storage I/O and related topics we will be discussing during the webcast include:

What are the storage considerations for CI, CIB and HCI

Fast applications and fast servers need fast server storage I/O

Fast NVM storage including NVMe, flash and SSD

Networking and server storage I/O considerations

How to avoid aggravation-causing aggregation (bottlenecks)

Aggregated vs. desegregated vs. hybrid converged

Planning, comparing, benchmarking and decision-making

Data protection, management and east-west I/O traffic

Application and server I/O north-south traffic

Where To Learn More

SNIA ESF organized webinar on BrightTalk March 15, 2017

StorageIO.com (events, news, tips, resources) and StorageIOblog.com

Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)

Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC)

Data Infrastructure Primer and Overview (Its Whats Inside The Data Center)

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

For many environments some form of converged, desegregated, aggregated or hyper-converged solution or approach will part of their data infrastructures. Join the SNIA ESF folks and me on March 15, 2017 (bring your questions) to discuss CI and HCI storage I/O topics, trends, technologies and themes.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

February 4, 2017October 18, 2024

If NVMe is the answer, what are the questions?

If NVMe is the answer, then what are the various questions that should be asked?

Some common questions that NVMe is the answer to include what is the difference between NVM and NVMe?

Is NVMe only for servers, does NVMe require fabrics and what benefit is NVMe beyond more IOPs.

Lets take a look at some of these common NVMe conversations and other questions.

Main Features and Benefits of NVMe

Some of the main feature and benefits of NVMe among others include:

- Lower latency due to improve drivers and increased queues (and queue sizes)
- Lower CPU used to handle larger number of I/Os (more CPU available for useful work)
- Higher I/O activity rates (IOPS) to boost productivity unlock value of fast flash and NVM
- Bandwidth improvements leveraging various fast PCIe interface and available lanes
- Dual-pathing of devices like what is available with dual-path SAS devices
- Unlock the value of more cores per processor socket and software threads (productivity)
- Various packaging options, deployment scenarios and configuration options
- Appears as a standard storage device on most operating systems
- Plug-play with in-box drivers on many popular operating systems and hypervisors

NVM and Media memory matters

Whats the differences between NVM and NVMe? Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) which as its name implies is persistent electronic memory medium where data is stored. Today you commonly know about NVMs as NAND flash Solid State Devices (SSD), along with NVRAM among others emerging storage class memories (SCM).

Emerging SCM such as 3D XPoint among other mediums (or media if you prefer) have the premises of boosting both read and write performance beyond traditional NAND flash, closer to DRAM, while having durability also closer to DRAM. For now let’s set the media and mediums aside and get back to how they or will be accessed as well as used.

server storage I/O NVMe fundamentals

Server and Storage I/O Media access matters

NVM Express (e.g. NVMe) is a standard industry protocol for accessing NVM media (SSD and flash devices, storage system, appliances). If NVMe is the answer, then depending on your point of view, NVMe can be (or is) a replacement (today or in the future) for AHCI/SATA, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). What this means is that NVMe can coexist or replace other block SCSI protocol implementations (e.g. Fibre Channel FCP aka FCP, iSCSI, SRP) as well as NBD (among others).

Similar to the SCSI command set that is implemented on different networks (e.g. iSCSI (IP), FCP (Fibre Channel), SRP (InfiniBand), SAS) NVMe as a protocol is now implemented using PCIe with form factors of add-in cards (AiC), M.2 (e.g. gum sticks aka next-gen form factor or NGFF) as well as U.2 aka 8639 drive form factors. There are also the emerging NVMe over Fabrics variants including FC-NVMe (e.g. NVMe protocol over Fibre Channel) which is an alternative to SCSI_FCP (e.g. SCSI on Fibre Channel). An example of a PCIe AiC that I have include the Intel 750 400GB NVMe (among others). You should be able to find the Intel among other NVMe devices from your prefered vendor as well as different venues including Amazon.com.

NVM, flash and NVMe SSD
Left PCIe AiC x4 NVMe SSD, lower center M.2 NGFF, right SAS and SATA SSD

The following image shows an NVMe U.2 (e.g. 8639) drive form factor device that from a distance looks like a SAS device and connector. However looking closer some extra pins or connectors that present a PCIe Gen 3 x4 (4 PCIe lanes) connection from the server or enclosure backplane to the devices. These U.2 devices plug into 8639 slots (right) that look like a SAS slot that can also accommodate SATA. Remember, SATA can plug into SAS, however not the other way around.

NVMe U.2 8639 drive NVMe 8639 slot
Left NVMe U.2 drive showing PCIe x4 connectors, right, NVMe U.2 8639 connector

What NVMe U.2 means is that the 8639 slots can be used for 12Gbps SAS, 6Gbps SATA or x4 PCIe-based NVMe. Those devices in turn attach to their respective controllers (or adapters) and device driver software protocol stack. Several servers have U.2 or 8639 drive slots either in 2.5” or 1.8” form factors, sometimes these are also called or known as “blue” drives (or slots). The color coding simply helps to keep track of what slots can be used for different things.

Navigating your various NVMe options

If NVMe is the answer, then some device and component options are as follows.

NVMe device components and options include:

- Enclosures and connector port slots
- Adapters and controllers
- U.2, PCIe AIC and M.2 devices
- Shared storage system or appliances
- PCIe and NVMe switches

If NVMe is the answer, what to use when, where and why?

Why use an U.2 or 8639 slot when you could use PCIe AiC? Simple, your server or storage system may be PCIe slot constrained, yet have more available U.2 slots. There are U.2 drives from various vendors including Intel and Micro, as well as servers from Dell, Intel and Lenovo among many others.

Why and when would you use an NVMe M.2 device? As a local read/write cache, or perhaps a boot and system device on servers or appliances that have M.2 slots. Many servers and smaller workstations including Intel NUC support M.2. Likewise, there are M.2 devices from many different vendors including Micron, Samsung among others.

Where and why would you use NVMe PCIe AiC? Whenever you can and if you have enough PCIe slots of the proper form factor, mechanical and electrical (e.g. x1, x4, x8, x16) to support a particular card.

Can you mix and match different types of NVMe devices on the same server or appliance? As long as the physical server and its software (BIOS/UEFI, operating system, hypervisors, drivers) support it yes. Most server and appliance vendors support PCIe NVMe AiCs, however, pay attention to if they are x4, x8 both mechanical as well as electrical. Also, verify operating system and hypervisor device driver support. PCIe NVMe AiCs are available from Dell, Intel, Micron and many other vendors.

Networking with your Server and NVMe Storage

Keep in mind that context is important when discussing NVMe as there are devices for attaching as the back-end to servers, storage systems or appliances, as well as for front-end attachment (e.g. for attaching storage systems to servers). NVMe devices can also be internal to a server or storage system and appliance, or, accessible over a network. Think of NVMe as an upper-level command set protocol like SCSI that gets implemented on different networks (e.g. iSCSI, FCP, SRP).

How can NVMe use PCIe as a transport to use devices that are outside of a server? Different vendors have PCIe adapter cards that support longer distances (few meters) to attach to devices. For example, Dell EMC DSSD has a special dual port (two x4 ports) that are PCIe x8 cards for attachment to the DSSD shared SSD devices.

Note that there are also PCIe switches similar to SAS and InfiniBand among other switches. However just because these are switches, does not mean they are your regular off the shelf network type switch that your networking folks will know what to do with (or want to manage).

The following example shows a shared storage system or appliance being accessed by servers using traditional block, NAS file or object protocols. In this example, the storage system or appliance has implemented NVMe devices (PCIe AiC, M.2, U.2) as part of their back-end storage. The back-end storage might be all NVMe, or a mix of NVMe, SAS or SATA SSD and perhaps some high-capacity HDD.

NVMe and server storage access
Servers accessing shared storage with NVMe back-end devices

NVMe and server storage access via PCIe
NVMe PCIe attached (via front-end) storage with various back-end devices

In addition to shared PCIe-attached storage such as Dell EMC DSSD similar to what is shown above, there are also other NVMe options. For example, there are industry initiatives to support the NVMe protocol to use shared storage over fabric networks. There are different fabric networks, they range from RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) based as well as Fibre Channel NVME (e.g. FC-NVME) among others.

An option that on the surface may not seem like a natural fit or leverage NVMe to its fullest is simply adding NVMe devices as back-end media to existing arrays and appliances. For example, adding NVMe devices as the back-end to iSCSI, SAS, FC, FCoE or other block-based, NAS file or object systems.

NVMe and server storage access via shared PCIe
NVMe over a fabric network (via front-end) with various back-end devices

A common argument against using legacy storage access of shared NVMe is along the lines of why would you want to put a slow network or controller in front of a fast NVM device? You might not want to do that, or your vendor may tell you many reasons why you don’t want to do it particularly if they do not support it. On the other hand, just like other fast NVM SSD storage on shared systems, it may not be all about 100% full performance. Rather, for some environments, it might be about maximizing connectivity over many interfaces to faster NVM devices for several servers.

NVMe and server storage I/O performance

Is NVMe all about boosting the number of IOPS? NVMe can increase the number of IOPS, as well as support more bandwidth. However, it also reduces response time latency as would be expected with an SSD or NVM type of solution. The following image shows an example of not surprisingly an NVMe PCIe AiC x4 SSD outperforming (more IOPs, lower response time) compared to a 6Gb SATA SSD (apples to oranges). Also keep in mind that best benchmark or workload tool is your own application as well as your performance mileage will vary.

NVMe using less CPU per IOP
SATA SSD vs. NVMe PCIe AiC SSD IOPS, Latency and CPU per IOP

The above image shows the lower amount of CPU per IOP given the newer, more streamlined driver and I/O software protocol of NVMe. With NVMe there is less overhead due to the new design, more queues and ability to unlock value not only in SSD also in servers with more sockets, cores and threads.

What this means is that NVMe and SSD can boost performance for activity (TPS, IOPs, gets, puts, reads, writes). NVMe can also lower response time latency while also enabling higher throughput bandwidth. In other words, you get more work out of your servers CPU (and memory). Granted SSDs have been used for decades to boost server performance and in many cases, delay an upgrade to a newer faster system by getting more work out of them (e.g. SSD marketing 202).

NVMe maximizing your software license investments

What may not be so obvious (e.g. SSD marketing 404) is that by getting more work activity done in a given amount of time, you can also stretch your software licenses further. What this means is that you can get more out of your IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, VMware and other software licenses by increasing their effective productivity. You might already be using virtualization to increase server hardware efficiency and utilization to cut costs. Why not go further and boost productivity to increase your software license (as well as servers) effectiveness by using NVMe and SSDs?

Note that fast applications need fast software, servers, drivers, I/O protocols and devices.

Also just because you have NVMe present or PCIe does not mean full performance, similar to how some vendors put SSDs behind their slow controllers and saw, well slow performance. On the other hand vendors who had or have fast controllers (software, firmware, hardware) that were HDD or are even SSD performance constrained can see a performance boost.

Additional NVMe and related tips

If you have a Windows server and have not overridden, check your power plan to make sure it is not improperly set to balanced instead of high performance. For example using PowerShell issue the following command:

PowerCfg -SetActive “381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e”

Another Windows related tip if you have not done so is enable task manager disk stats by issuing from a command line “diskperf –y”. Then display task manager and performance and see drive performance.

Need to benchmark, validate, compare or test an NVMe, SSD (or even HDD) device or system, there are various tools and workloads for different scenarios. Likewise those various tools can be configured for different activity to reflect your needs (and application workloads). For example, Microsoft Diskspd, fio.exe, iometer and vdbench sample scripts are shown here (along with results) as a starting point for comparison or validation testing.

Does M.2. mean you have NVMe? That depends as some systems implement M.2 with SATA, while others support NVMe, read the fine print or ask for clarification.

Do all NVMe using PCIe run at the same speed? Not necessarily as some might be PCIe x1 or x4 or x8. Likewise some NVMe PCIe cards might be x8 (mechanical and electrical) yet split out into a pair of x4 ports. Also keep in mind that similar to a dual port HDD, NVMe U.2 drives can have two paths to a server, storage system controller or adapter, however both might not be active at the same time. You might also have a fast NVMe device attached to a slow server or storage system or adapter.

Who to watch and keep an eye on in the NVMe ecosystem? Besides those mentioned above, others to keep an eye on include Broadcom, E8, Enmotus Fuzedrive (micro-tiering software), Excelero, Magnotics, Mellanox, Microsemi (e.g. PMC Sierra), Microsoft (Windows Server 2016 S2D + ReFS + Storage Tiering), NVM Express trade group, Seagate, VMware (Virtual NVMe driver part of vSphere ESXi in addition to previous driver support) and WD/Sandisk among many others.

Where To Learn More

Additional related content can be found at:

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

NVMe is in your future, that was the answer, however there are the when, where, how, with what among other questions to be addressed. One of the great things IMHO about NVMe is that you can have it your way, where and when you need it, as a replacement or companion to what you have. Granted that will vary based on your preferred vendors as well as what they support today or in the future.

If NVMe is the answer, Ask your vendor when they will support NVMe as a back-end for their storage systems, as well as a front-end. Also decide when will your servers (hardware, operating systems hypervisors) support NVMe and in what variation. Learn more why NVMe is the answer and related topics at www.thenvmeplace.com

Ok, nuff said, for now.

January 3, 2017March 7, 2022

SSD, flash, Non-volatile memory (NVM) storage Trends, Tips & Topics

Updated 2/2/2018

server storage I/O trends

Will 2017 be there year of solid state device (SSD), all flash, or all Non-volatile memory (NVM) based storage data centers and data infrastructures?

Recently I did a piece over at InfoStor looking at SSD trends, tips and related topics. SSDs of some type, shape and form are in your future, if they are not already. In my InfoStor piece, I look at some non-volatile memory (NVM) and SSD trends, technologies, tools and tips that you can leverage today to help prepare for tomorrow. This also includes NVM Express (NVMe) based components and solutions.

By way of background, SSD can refer to solid state drive or solid state device (e.g. more generic). The latter is what I am using in this post. NVM refers to different types of persistent memories, including NAND flash and its variants most commonly used today in SSDs. Other NVM mediums include NVRAM along with storage class memories (SCMs) such as 3D XPoint and phase change memory (PCM) among others. Let’s focus on NAND flash as that is what is primarily available and shipping for production enterprise environments today.

Continue reading about SSD, flash, NVM and related trends, topics and tips over at InfoStor by clicking here.

Where To Learn More

Additional related content can be found at:

thessdplace.com
thenvmeplace.com
storageio.com/news
storageio.com/tips
InfoStor – SSD Trends, Tips and Topics
Server and Storage I/O Benchmarking and Performance Resources

What This All Means

Will 2017 finally be the year of all flash, all SSD and all NVM including emerging storage class memories (SCM)? Or as we have seen over the past decade increasing adoption as well as deployment in most environments, some of which have gone all SSD or NVM. In the meantime it is safe to say that NVMe, NVM, SSD, flash and other related technologies are in your future in some shape or form as well as quantity. Check out my piece over at InfoStor SSD trends, tips and related topics.

What say you, are you going all flash, SSD or NVM in 2017, if not, what are your concerns or constraints and plans?

Ok, nuff said, for now…

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, vSAN and VMware vExpert. Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and <a “https://storageioblog.com/book1”>Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Watch for the spring 2017 release of his new book “Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials” (CRC Press).

October 17, 2016November 26, 2023

Updated Software Defined Data Infrastructure Webinars and Fall 2016 events

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Webinars and Fall 2016 events

server storage I/O trends

Here is the updated Server StorageIO fall 2016 webinar and event activities covering software defined data center, data infrastructure, virtual, cloud, containers, converged, hyper-converged server, storage, I/O network, performance and data protection among other topics.

December 7, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT – BrightTalk
Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Decision Making

Are Converged Infrastructures (CI), Hyper-Converged Infrastructures (HCI), Cluster in Box or Cloud in Box (CiB) solutions for you? The answer is it depends on what your needs, requirements, application among other criteria are. In addition are you focused on a particular technology solution or architecture approach, or, looking for something that adapts to your needs? Join us in this discussion exploring your options for different scenarios as we look beyond they hype including to next wave of hyper-scale converged along with applicable decision-making criteria. Topics include:

– Data Infrastructures exist to support applications and their underlying resource needs
– What are your application and environment needs along with other objectives
– Explore various approaches for hyper-small and hyper-large environments
– What are you converging, hardware, hypervisors, management or something else?
– Does HCI mean hyper-vendor-lock-in, if so, is that a bad thing?
– When, where, why and how to use different scenarios

November 29-30, 2016 (New) – Converged & Hyper-Converged Decision Making
Is Converged Infrastructure Right For You?
Workshop Seminar – Nijkerk The Netherlands

Agenda and topics to be covered include:

When should decide to evaluate CI/HCI vs. traditional approach
What are decision and evaluation criteria for apples to apples vs. Apples to pears
What are the costs, benefits, and caveats of the different approaches
How different applications such as VDI or VSI or database have different needs
What are the network, storage, software license and training cost implications
Different comparison criteria for smaller environments remote office vs. Larger enterprise
How will you protect and secure a CI, HCI environment (HA, BC, BR, DR, Backup)
What is the risk and benefit of startups, companies with limited portfolios vs. Big vendors
Do it yourself (DiY) vs. Turnkey software vs. Bundled tin wrapped software solution
We will also look at associated trends including software-defined, NVM/SSD, NVMe, VMware, Microsoft, KVM, Citrix/Xen, Docker, OpenStack among others.

Organized by:

November 28, 2016 (New) – Server Storage I/O Fundamental Trends V2.1116
Whats New, Whats the buzz, what you need to know about and whos doing what
Workshop Seminar – Nijkerk The Netherlands

Agenda and topics that will be covered include:

Who’s doing what, who are the new emerging vendors, solutions and technologies to watch
Non-Volatile Memory (NVM), flash solid state device (SSD), Storage Class Memory (SCM)
Networking with your servers and storage including NVMe, NVMeoF and RoCE
Cloud, Object and Bulk storage for data protection, archiving, near-line, scale-out
Data protection and software defined storage management (backup, BC, BR, DR, archive)
Microsoft Windows Server 2016, Nano, S2D and Hyper-V
VMware, OpenStack, Ceph, Docker and Containers, CI and HCI
EMC is gone, now there is Dell EMC and what that means
Various vendors and solutions from legacy to new and emerging
Recommendations, usage or deployment scenarios and tips
Some examples of who’s doing what includes AWS, Brocade, Cisco, Dell EMC, Enmotus, Futjistu, Google, HDS, HP and Huawei, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Mellanox, Micron, Microsoft, NetApp, Nutanix, Oracle, Pure, Quantum, Qumulo, Reduxio, Rubrik, Samsung, SANdisk, Seagate, Simplivity and Tintri, Veeam, Veritas, VMware and WD among others.

Organized by:

November 23, 2016 – Webinar 10AM PT BrightTalk
BCDR and Cloud Backup Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) and Data Protection

The answer is BCDR and Cloud Backup, however what was the question? Besides how to protect preserve and secure your data, applications along with data Infrastructures against various threat risk issues, what are some other common questions? For example how to modernize, rethink, re-architect, use new and old things in new ways, these and other topics, techniques, trends, tools have a common theme of BCDR and Cloud Backup. Join us in this discussion exploring your options for protecting data, applications and your data Infrastructures spanning legacy, software-defined virtual and cloud environments. Topics include:

– Data Infrastructures exist to support applications and their underlying resource needs
– Various cloud storage options to meet different application PACE needs
– Do clouds need to be backed-up or protected?
– How to leverage clouds for various data protection objectives
– When, where, why and how to use different scenarios

November 23, 2016 – Webinar 9AM PT – BrightTalk
Cloud Storage – Hybrid and Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI)

You have been told, or determined that you need (or want) to use cloud storage, ok, now what? What type of cloud storage do you need or want, or do you simply want cloud storage? However, what are your options as well as application requirements including Performance, Availability, Capacity and Economics (PACE) along with access or interfaces? Where are your applications and where will they be located? What are your objectives for using cloud storage or is it simply you have heard or told its cheaper. Join us in this discussion exploring your options, considerations for cloud storage decision-making. Topics include:

– Data Infrastructures exist to support applications and their underlying resource needs
– Various cloud storage options to meet different application PACE needs
– Storage for primary, secondary, performance, availability, capacity, backup, archiving
– Public, private and hybrid cloud storage options from block, file, object to application service
– When, where, why and how to use cloud storage for different scenarios

November 22, 2016 – Webinar 10AM PT – BrightTalk
Cloud Infrastructure Hybrid and Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI)

At the core of cloud (public, private, hybrid) next generation data centers are software defined data infrastructures that exist to protect, preserve and serve applications, data along with their resulting information services. Software defined data infrastructure core components include hardware, software servers and storage configured (defined) to provide various services enabling application Performance Availability Capacity and Economics (PACE). Just as there are different types of environments, applications along with workloads various options, technologies as well as techniques exist for cloud services (and underlying data infrastructures). Join us in this session to discuss trends, technologies, tools, techniques and services options for cloud infrastructures. Topics include:

– Data Infrastructures exist to support applications and their underlying resource needs
– Software Defined Infrastructures (SDDI) are what enable Software Defined Data Centers and clouds
– Various types of clouds along with cloud services that determine how resources get defined
– When, where, why and how to use cloud Infrastructures along with associated resources

November 15, 2016 (New) – 11AM PT Webinar – Redmond Magazine and Solarwinds
The O.A.R. of Virtualization Scaling
A journey of optimization, automation, and reporting

Your journey to a flexible, scalable and secure IT universe begins now. Join Microsoft MVP and VMware vSAN and vExpert Greg Schulz of Server StorageIO along with VMware vExpert, Cisco Champion and Head Geek of Virtualization and Cloud Practice Kong Yang of SolarWinds for an interactive discussion empowering you to become the master of your software defined and virtual data center. Topics will include:

Trust your instruments and automation, however, verify they are working properl
Insight into how your environment, as well as automation tools, are working
Leverage automation to handle recurring tasks so you can focus on more productive activities
Capture, retain and transfer knowledge and tradecraft experiences into automation policies
Automated system management is only as good as the policies and data they rely upon
Optimize via automation that relies on reporting for insight, awareness and analytics

November 3, 2016 (New) – Webinar 11AM PT – Redmond Magazine and
Dell Software
Tailor Your Backup Data Repositories to
Fit Your Security and Management Needs

Does data protection storage have you working overtime to take care of it? Do you have the flexibility to protect, preserve, secure and serve different workgroups or customers in a shared environment? Is your environment looking to expand with new applications and remote offices, yet your data protection is slowing you down?

In this webinar we will look at current and emerging trends along with issues including how different threat risk challenges impact your evolving environment, as well as opportunities to address them. It’s time to deploy technology that works for you and your environment instead of you working for the solution.

Attend and learn about:

Data protection trends, issues, regulatory compliance, challenges and opportunities
How to utilize purpose built appliances to protect and defend your systems, applications and data from various threat risks
Importance of timely insight and situational awareness into your data protection infrastructure
Protecting centralized and distributed remote office branch offices (ROBO) workgroups
What you can do today to optimize your environment

October 27, 2016 (New) – Webinar 10AM PT – Virtual Instruments
The Value of Infrastructure Insight

This webinar looks at the value of data center infrastructure insight both as a technology as well as a business productivity enabler. Besides productivity, having insight into how data infrastructure resources (servers, storage, networks, system software) are used, enables informed analysis, troubleshooting, planning, forecasting as well as cost-effective decision-making. In other words, data center infrastructure insight, based on infrastructure performance analytics, enables you to avoid flying blind, having situational awareness for proactive Information Technology (IT) management. Your return on innovation is increased, and leveraging insight awareness along with metrics that matter drives return on investment (ROI) along with enhanced service delivery.

October 20, 2016 – Webinar 9AM PT – BrightTalk
Next-Gen Data Centers Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) including Servers, Storage and Virtualization

At the core of next generation data centers are software defined data infrastructures that enable, protect, preserve and serve applications, data along with their resulting information services. Software defined data infrastructure core components include hardware, software servers and storage configured (defined) to provide various services enabling application Performance Availability Capacity and Economics (PACE). Just as there are different types of environments, applications along with workloads various options, technologies as well as techniques exist for virtual servers and storage. Join us in this session to discuss trends, technologies, tools, techniques and services around storage and virtualization for today, tomorrow, and in the years to come. Topics include:

– Data Infrastructures exist to support applications and their underlying resource needs
– Software Defined Infrastructures (SDDI) are what enable Software Defined Data Centers
– Server and Storage Virtualization better together, with and without CI/HCI
– Many different facets (types) of Server virtualization and virtual storage
– When, where, why and how to use storage virtualization and virtual storage

September 20, 2016 – Webinar 8AM PT – BrightTalk
Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) Enabling Software Defined Data Centers – Part of Software-Defined Storage summit

Data Infrastructures exist to support applications and their underlying resource needs. Software-Defined Infrastructures (SDI) are what enable Software-Defined Data Centers, and at the heart of a SDI is storage that is software-defined. This spans cloud, virtual and physical storage and is at the focal point of today. Join us in this session to discuss trends, technologies, tools, techniques and services around SDI and SDDC- today, tomorrow, and in the years to come.

September 13, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT – Redmond Magazine and
Dell Software
Windows Server 2016 and Active Directory
Whats New and How to Plan for Migration

Windows Server 2016 is expected to GA this fall and is a modernized version of the Microsoft operating system that includes new capabilities such as Active Directory (AD) enhancements. AD is critical to organizational operations providing control and secure access to data, networks, servers, storage and more from physical, virtual and cloud (public and hybrid). But over time, organizations along with their associated IT infrastructures have evolved due to mergers, acquisitions, restructuring and general growth. As a result, yesterday’s AD deployments may look like they did in the past while using new technology (e.g. in old ways). Now is the time to start planning for how you will optimize your AD environment using new tools and technologies such as those in Windows Server 2016 and AD in new ways. Optimizing AD means having a new design, performing cleanup and restructuring prior to migration vs. simply moving what you have. Join us for this interactive webinar to begin planning your journey to Windows Server 2016 and a new optimized AD deployment that is flexible, scalable and elastic, and enables resilient infrastructures. You will learn:

What’s new in Windows Server 2016 and how it impacts your AD
Why an optimized AD is critical for IT environments moving forward
How to gain insight into your current AD environment
AD restructuring planning considerations

September 8, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT (Watch on Demand) – Redmond Magazine, Acronis and Unitrends
Data Protection for Modern Microsoft Environments

Your organization’s business depends on modern Microsoft® environments — Microsoft Azure and new versions of Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Hyper-V with RCT, and business applications — and you need a data protection solution that keeps pace with Microsoft technologies. If you lose mission-critical data, it can cost you $100,000 or more for a single hour of downtime. Join our webinar and learn how different data protection solutions can protect your Microsoft environment, whether you store data on company premises, at remote locations, in private and public clouds, and on mobile devices.

Where To Learn More

View other upcoming and recent events at the Server StorageIO activities page here.

What This All Means

Its fall back to school and learning time, join me on these and other upcoming event activities.

Ok, nuff said, for now…

Cheers
Gs

October 11, 2016October 16, 2022

EMC is now Dell EMC, part of Dell Technologies and other server storage Updates

EMC is now Dell EMC and other server storage Updates

server storage I/O trends

In case you missed it or did not hear, EMC is now Dell EMC and is future ready (one of their new tag lines).

What this means is that EMC is no longer a publicly traded company instead now being privately held under the Dell Technologies umbrella. In case you did not know or had forgotten, one of the principal owners of Dell Technologies is Michael Dell aka the founder of Dell Computers which itself went private a few years ago. The Dell Server division which sells direct as well as via channels and OEMs is now part of the Dell EMC division (e.g. they sell Servers, Storage, I/O and Networking hardware, software and services).

Dell EMC Storage Portfolio – Via emc.com

Other related news and activities include:

Dell EMC sells Content Division (e.g. Documentum (bought in 2003), InfoArchive and LEAP) to OpenText for $1.62B USD
Dell is selling its Sonicwall and software division (e.g. what was a mix of Quest and other non-EMC related software) to a Private Equity group. The new company to be called Quest has ironically as one of its investors, activist PE firm Elliott Management. You might recall Elliott Management was the activist investor pushing for more value out of EMC for shareholders.
Expands Data Protection Portfolio For VMware Environments
Hybrid Cloud Platform Enhancements
XtremIO New Features and Management for Virtualized Environments
Combines DSSD and PowerEdge Servers for SAS (Software) Analytics
ScaleIO Ready Node Offers All-Flash Software-Defined
Expands Microsoft Support across Cloud and Converged Infrastructure
With approximately 140,000 employees worldwide post merger Dell EMC has announce some expected layoffs.

Dell EMC Enahncements made today

Announced a new entry-level VMAX (200F) with very small physical footprint, affordable starter system price and flexibility to scale as you need to grow. Also announced were SRDF third site enhancements as well as VPLEX updates.
Data Domain enhancements including OS 6.0, flash and tiering across private, public and hybrid cloud
Unity mid-range storage (e.g. the successor to VNX) enhanced with all-flash and UnityOE software updates that include in-line compression along with cloud tiering. All-flash Unity models using 15.36TB SAS Flash SSD drives (3D NAND) can support up to 384TB in a 2U rack. Cloud tiering includes support for Virtustream, AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Dell EMC VMAX storage family
Dell EMC VMAX family and new 200F – Via emc.com

Note that in-line compression on Unity and VMAX systems is available on all-flash based systems, while tiering is available on both all-flash as well as hybrid systems.

Where To Learn More

Dell Updates Storage Center Operating System 7 (SCOS 7)
EMC DSSD D5 Rack Scale Direct Attached Shared SSD All Flash Array Part I
Part II – EMC DSSD D5 Direct Attached Shared AFA
EMCworld 2016 Getting Started on Dell EMC announcements
EMCworld 2016 EMC Hybrid and Converged Clouds Your Way
Dell-EMC: The Storage Ramifications
VMware Targets Synergies in Dell-EMC Deal
Dell to Buy EMC for $67B; Sharpen Focus on Large Enterprises and High-End Computing
Dell SAN strategy examined after move to go private
EMC VxRack Neutrino Nodes launched for OpenStack cloud storage
EMC Under Pressure To Spin Off VMware
EMC Bridges Cloud, On-Premise Storage With TwinStrata Buy
Top Ten Takeaways from EMC World
When to implement ultra-dense server storage
EMCworld 2015 How Do You Want Your Storage Wrapped?
EMCworld 2015 How Do You Want Your Storage Wrapped?

What This All Means

For those that think (or wish) that now that EMC has gone private (e.g. granted under Dell ownership) that they have gone away and no longer relevant, time will tell what happens long term. However while they (EMC, now Dell EMC) are no longer a publicly held company, they are still very much in the public spotlight addressing legacy, current as well as emerging IT data infrastructure and software-defined data center, software defined storage and related topics spanning cloud, virtual, container among others.

What this all means is that Dell EMC is following through with providing different types of data infrastructure along with associated server, storage and I/O solutions as well as associated software defined storage management and data protection tools to meet various needs. How do you want your storage wrapped? Do you want it software defined such as a ScaleIO, ECS (object), DataDomain (data protection), VIPR, or Unity among other virtual storage appliances (VSAs), or tin-wrapped as a physical storage system or appliance?

With the VMAX 200F, Dell EMC is showing that they can scale-down the VMAX. Dell EMC is also showing they can scale VMAX up and out while making it affordable and physically practical for smaller environments who want, need or are required to have traditional enterprise class storage in a small footprint (price, physical space) with enterprise resiliency.

Dell EMC Storage Portfolio – Via emc.com

A question that comes up is what happens with the various competing Dell and EMC (pre-merger) storage product lines. If you look closely at the storage line up photo above, you will notice the Dell SC (e.g. Compellent) is shown along with all of the EMC solutions. This should or could prompt the question of what about the PS series (e.g. EqualLogic) or some MD. So far the answer I have received is that they remain available for sale which you can confirm via the Dell website. However, what will the future bring to those or others is still TBD.

Needless to say there is more to see and hear coming out of Dell EMC in the weeks and months ahead, that is unless as some predict (or wishful thinking) they go away which I don’t see happening anytime soon. Oh, FWIW, Dell and EMC have been Server StorageIO clients direct and indirect via 3rd parties in the past (that’s a disclosure btw).

Ok, nuff said, for now…

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP and VMware vSAN vExpert, Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)
twitter @storageio

July 26, 2016October 18, 2024

Get in the NVMe SSD game (if you are not already) with Intel 750 among others

Get in the NVMe SSD game (if you are not already)

Get in the NVMe SSD game. If you are or have talked the Non Volatile Memory (NVM) and NVM Express (NVMe) flash SSD talk, however have not yet done the walk, there are some good opportunities to do so.

One example how to start walking the talk is get something like the Intel 750 400GB NVMe PCIe Add in Card (AiC) which you should be able to find on different venues including Amazon for $400 USD or less (recently saw the 400GB version for about $309 USD delivered).

Of course the question might then be what to do with a NVMe device when you get it which besides running your applications on it, you can find some benchmark and workload generator tools, scripts and examples here.

NVMe ssd storage
Various NVM flash SSD including NVMe devices

Sure there are newer, more expensive, higher capacity cards, some are general availability (GA) while others are on early preview or evaluation basis.

However a good value, cost-effective way to get into the NVMe game, or expand your footprint are devices such as the Intel 750.

I have some of these cards and they have been great for use with various workloads. The Intel 750 cards are plug and play in various systems including my TS140s among larger robust servers running Windows Server (2012 R2, 2016 TP5), Ubuntu (various) and VMware ESXi (various).

There are in the box drivers for these Intel 750 cards, however to get a little more performance recommend visiting the Intel site, get the SSD tools, update the firmware on the cards if needed, as well as try the Intel vs. native drivers.

There are many vendors with NVMe PCIe cards, as well as U.2/SFF 8639 drives and M.2 mini-cards including Intel, Micron, Seagate, WD among many others

Where To Learn More

- Intel NVMe and SSD resources here, here, here, here, here and here
- Use Intel Optane NVMe U.2 SFF 8639 SSD drive in PCIe slot
- Micron SSD and NVMe devices here and blog posts including some of my guest posts here
- Two part series on server storage I/O benchmark tools and workload script examples (Part I and Part II)
- How many IOPs can an SSD do?
- Which Enterprise HDDs to use for a content server?
- Learn more about NVM and SSDs at www.thenvmeplace.com and www.thessdplace.com
- Server Storage I/O performance and related tools page

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

Time to get in the NVMe game if you have not already done so moving from talking the talk to walking the talk. With cost of early generation NVMe devices such as the Intel 750 among others there are great opportunities to get started. On the other hand if you are already using NVMe, there are some good opportunities to add extra NVMe based SSD to other servers or systems.

Speaking of NVMe talk, join me and others on a panel (Session 303) moderated by Dr. Jay Metz (@drjmetz) August 11th at Flash Memory Summit where we will discuss NVMe including NVMe over fabric networks (e.g. moving beyond the PCIe bus). Also keep in mind, with NVMe the question is not if, rather when, where, why, how with what and how to coexist and leverage existing technologies, hardware, software and people skill sets.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

July 26, 2016November 26, 2023

Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload scripts Part I

Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload scripts

Update 1/28/2018

This is part one of a two-part series of posts about Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload tools and scripts. View part II here which includes the workload scripts and where to view sample results.

There are various tools and workloads for server I/O benchmark testing, validation and exercising different storage devices (or systems and appliances) such as Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) flash Solid State Devices (SSDs) or Hard Disk Drives (HDD) among others.

NVMe ssd storage
Various NVM flash SSD including NVMe devices

For example, lets say you have an SSD such as an Intel 750 (here, here, and here) or some other vendors NVMe PCIe Add in Card (AiC) installed into a Microsoft Windows server and would like to see how it compares with expected results. The following scripts allow you to validate your system with those of others running the same workload, granted of course your mileage (performance) may vary.

Why Your Performance May Vary

Reasons you performance may vary include among others:

GHz Speed of your server, number of sockets, cores
Amount of main DRAM memory
Number, type and speed of PCIe slots
Speed of storage device and any adapters
Device drivers and firmware of storage devices and adapters
Server power mode setting (e.g. low or balanced power vs. high-performance)
Other workload running on system and device under test
Solar flares (kp-index) among other urban (or real) myths and issues
Typos or misconfiguration of workload test scripts
Test server, storage, I/O device, software and workload configuration
Versions of test software tools among others

Windows Power (and performance) Settings

Some things are assumed or taken for granted that everybody knows and does, however sometimes the obvious needs to be stated or re-stated. An example is remembering to check your server power management settings to see if they are in energy efficiency power savings mode, or, in high-performance mode. Note that if your focus is on getting the best possible performance for effective productivity, then you want to be in high performance mode. On the other hand if performance is not your main concern, instead a focus on energy avoidance, then low power mode, or perhaps balanced.

For Microsoft Windows Servers, Desktop Workstations, Laptops and Tablets you can adjust power settings via control panel and GUI as well as command line or Powershell. From command line (privileged or administrator) the following are used for setting balanced or high-performance power settings.

Balanced

powercfg.exe /setactive 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e

High Performance

powercfg.exe /setactive 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

From Powershell the following set balanced or high-performance.

Balanced
PowerCfg -SetActive "381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e"

High Performance
PowerCfg -SetActive "8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c"

Note that you can list Windows power management settings using powercfg -LIST and powercfg -QUERY

server storage I/O power management

Btw, if you have not already done so, enable Windows disk (HDD and SSD) performance counters so that they appear via Task Manager by entering from a command prompt:

diskperf -y

Workload (Benchmark) Simulation Test Tools Used

There are many tools (see storageio.com/performance) that can be used for creating and running workloads just as there are various application server I/O characteristics. Different server I/O and application performance attributes include among others read vs. write, random vs. sequential, large vs. small, long vs. short stride, burst vs. sustain, cache and non-cache friendly, activity vs. data movement vs. latency vs. CPU usage among others. Likewise the number of workers, jobs, threads, outstanding and overlapped I/O among other configuration settings can have an impact on workload and results.

The four free tools that I’m using with this set of scripts are:

Microsoft Diskspd (free), get the tool and bits here or here (open source), learn more about Diskspd here.
FIO.exe (free), get the tool and bits here or here among other venues.
Vdbench (free with registration), get the tool and bits here or here among other venues.
Iometer (free), get the tool and bits here among other venues.

Notice: While best effort has been made to verify the above links, they may change over time and you are responsible for verifying the safety of links and your downloads.

Where To Learn More

Part II of this two-part series including sample scripts and results
How many IOPs can an SSD do?
Which Enterprise HDDs to use for a content server?
Learn more about NVM and SSDs at www.thenvmeplace.com and www.thessdplace.com
Server Storage I/O performance and related tools page

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

Remember, everything is not the same in the data center or with data infrastructures that support different applications.

While some tools are more robust or better than others for different things, ultimately it’s usually not the tool that results in a bad benchmark or comparison, it’s the configuration or lack of including workload settings that are not relevant or applicable. The best benchmark, workload or simulation is your own application. Second best is one that closely resembles your application workload characteristics. A bad benchmark is one that has no relevance to your environment, application use scenario. Take and treat all benchmark or workload simulation results with a grain of salt as something to compare, contrast or make reference to in the proper context. Read part two of this post series to view test tool workload scripts along with sample results.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

July 26, 2016November 26, 2023

Part II – Some server storage I/O workload scripts and results

server storage I/O trends

Updated 1/28/2018

This is the second in a two part series of posts pertaining to using some common server storage I/O workload benchmark tools and scripts. View part I here which includes overview, background and information about the tools used and related topics.

NVMe ssd storage
Various NVM flash SSD including NVMe devices

Following are some server I/O benchmark workload scripts to exercise various storage devices such as Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) flash Solid State Devices (SSDs) or Hard Disk Drives (HDD) among others.

The Workloads

Some ways that can impact the workload performance results besides changing the I/O size, read write, random sequential mix is the number of threads, workers and jobs. Note that in the workload steps, the larger 1MB and sequential scenarios have fewer threads, workers vs. the smaller IOP or activity focused workloads. Too many threads or workers can cause overhead and you will reach a point of diminishing return at some point. Likewise too few and you will not drive the system under test (SUT) or device under test (DUT) to its full potential. If you are not sure how many threads or workers to use, run some short calibration tests to see the results before doing a large, longer test.

Keep in mind that the best benchmark or workload is your own application running with similar load to what you would see in real world, along with applicable features, configuration and functionality enabled. The second best would be those that closely resemble your workload characteristics and that are relevant.

The following workloads involved a system test initiator (STI) server driving workload using the different tools as well as scripts shown. The STI sends the workload to a SUT or DUT that can be a single drive, card or multiple devices, storage system or appliance. Warning: The following workload tests does both reads and writes which can be destructive to your device under test. Exercise caution on the device and file name specified to avoid causing a problem that might result in you testing your backup / recovery process. Likewise no warranty is given, implied or made for these scripts or their use or results, they are simply supplied as is for your reference.

The four free tools that I’m using with this set of scripts are:

Microsoft Diskspd (free), get the tool and bits here or here (open source), learn more about Diskspd here.
FIO.exe (free), get the tool and bits here or here among other venues.
Vdbench (free with registration), get the tool and bits here or here among other venues.
Iometer (free), get the tool and bits here among other venues.

Notice: While best effort has been made to verify the above links, they may change over time and you are responsible for verifying the safety of links and your downloads

Microsoft Diskspd workloads

Note that a 300GB size file named iobw.tst on device N: is being used for performing read and write I/Os to. There are 160 threads, I/O size of 4KB and 8KB varying from 100% Read (0% write), 70% Read (30% write) and 0% Read (100% write) with random (seek) and no hardware or software cache. Also specified are to collect latency statistics, a 30 second warm up ramp up time, and a quick 5 minute duration (test time). 5 minutes is a quick test for calibration, verify your environment however relatively short for a real test which should be in the hours or more depending on your needs.

Note that the output results are put into a file with a name describing the test tool, workload and other useful information such as date and time. You may also want to specify a different directory where output files are placed.

diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b4K -w0 -W30 -d300 -h -fr  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_4KRan100Read_160x160_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b4K -w30 -W30 -d300 -h -fr  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_4KRan70Read_160x160_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b4K -w100 -W30 -d300 -h -fr  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_4KRan0Read_160x160_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b8K -w0 -W30 -d300 -h -fr  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_8KRan100Read_160x160_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b8K -w30 -W30 -d300 -h -fr  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_8KRan70Read_160x160_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b8K -w100 -W30 -d300 -h -fr  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_8KRan0Read_160x160_072416_8AM.txt

The following Diskspd tests use similar settings as above, however instead of random, sequential is specified, threads and outstanding I/Os are reduced while I/O size is set to 1MB, then 8KB, with 100% read and 100% write scenarios. The -t specifies the number of threads and -o number of outstanding I/Os per thread.

diskspd.exe -c300G -o32 -t132 -b1M -w0 -W30 -d300 -h -si  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_1MSeq100Read_32x32_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o32 -t132 -b1M -w100 -W30 -d300 -h -si  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_1MSeq0Read_32x32_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b8K -w0 -W30 -d300 -h -si  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_8KSeq100Read_32x32_072416_8AM.txt
diskspd.exe -c300G -o160 -t160 -b8K -w100 -W30 -d300 -h -si  N:iobw.tst -L  > DiskSPD_300G_8KSeq0Read_32x32_072416_8AM.txt

Fio.exe workloads

Next are the fio workloads similar to those run using Diskspd except the sequential scenarios are skipped.

fio --filename=N\:\iobw.tst --filesize=300000M --direct=1  --rw=randrw --refill_buffers --norandommap --randrepeat=0 --ioengine=windowsaio  --ba=4k --bs=4k --rwmixread=100 --iodepth=32 --numjobs=5 --exitall --time_based  --ramp_time=30 --runtime=300 --group_reporting --name=xxx  --output=FIO_300000M_4KRan100Read_5x32_072416_8AM.txt
fio --filename=N\:\iobw.tst --filesize=300000M --direct=1  --rw=randrw --refill_buffers --norandommap --randrepeat=0 --ioengine=windowsaio  --ba=4k --bs=4k --rwmixread=70 --iodepth=32 --numjobs=5 --exitall --time_based  --ramp_time=30 --runtime=300 --group_reporting --name=xxx  --output=FIO_300000M_4KRan70Read_5x32_072416_8AM.txt
fio --filename=N\:\iobw.tst --filesize=300000M --direct=1  --rw=randrw --refill_buffers --norandommap --randrepeat=0 --ioengine=windowsaio  --ba=4k --bs=4k --rwmixread=0 --iodepth=32 --numjobs=5 --exitall --time_based  --ramp_time=30 --runtime=300 --group_reporting --name=xxx  --output=FIO_300000M_4KRan0Read_5x32_072416_8AM.txt
fio --filename=N\:\iobw.tst --filesize=300000M --direct=1  --rw=randrw --refill_buffers --norandommap --randrepeat=0 --ioengine=windowsaio  --ba=8k --bs=8k --rwmixread=100 --iodepth=32 --numjobs=5 --exitall --time_based  --ramp_time=30 --runtime=300 --group_reporting --name=xxx  --output=FIO_300000M_8KRan100Read_5x32_072416_8AM.txt
fio --filename=N\:\iobw.tst --filesize=300000M --direct=1  --rw=randrw --refill_buffers --norandommap --randrepeat=0 --ioengine=windowsaio  --ba=8k --bs=8k --rwmixread=70 --iodepth=32 --numjobs=5 --exitall --time_based  --ramp_time=30 --runtime=300 --group_reporting --name=xxx  --output=FIO_300000M_8KRan70Read_5x32_072416_8AM.txt
fio --filename=N\:\iobw.tst --filesize=300000M --direct=1  --rw=randrw --refill_buffers --norandommap --randrepeat=0 --ioengine=windowsaio  --ba=8k --bs=8k --rwmixread=0 --iodepth=32 --numjobs=5 --exitall --time_based  --ramp_time=30 --runtime=300 --group_reporting --name=xxx  --output=FIO_300000M_8KRan0Read_5x32_072416_8AM.txt

Vdbench workloads

Next are the Vdbench workloads similar to those used with the Microsoft Diskspd scenarios. In addition to making sure Vdbench is installed and working, you will need to create a text file called seqrxx.txt containing the following:

hd=localhost,jvms=!jvmn

sd=sd1,lun=!drivename,openflags=directio,size=!dsize

wd=mix,sd=sd1

rd=!jobname,wd=mix,elapsed=!etime,interval=!itime,iorate=max,forthreads=(!tthreads),forxfersize=(!worktbd),forseekpct=(!workseek),forrdpct=(!workread),openflags=directio

The following are the commands that call the Vdbench script file. Note Vdbench puts output files (yes, plural there are many results) in a output folder.

vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=4k workseek=100 workread=100 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o  vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_4K100Ran100Read_0726166AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=4k workseek=100 workread=70 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_4K100Ran70Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=4k workseek=100 workread=0 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_4K100Ran0Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=8k workseek=100 workread=100 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_8K100Ran100Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=8k workseek=100 workread=70 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_8K100Ran70Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=8k workseek=100 workread=0 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_8K100Seq0Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=8k workseek=0 workread=100 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_8K100Seq100Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=8k workseek=0 workread=70 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_8K100Seq70Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=160 jvmn=64 worktbd=8k workseek=0 workread=0 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_160TH_8K100Seq0Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=32 jvmn=64 worktbd=1M workseek=0 workread=100 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_32TH_1M100Seq100Read_072416_8AM
vdbench -f seqrxx.txt dsize=300G  tthreads=32 jvmn=64 worktbd=1M workseek=0 workread=0 jobname=NVME etime=300 itime=30 drivename="\\.\N:\iobw.tst" -o vdbench_NNVMe_300GB_64JVM_32TH_1M100Seq0Read_072416_8AM

Iometer workloads

Last however not least, lets do an Iometer run. The following command calls an Iometer input file (icf) that you can find here. In that file you will need to make a few changes including the name of the server where Iometer is running, description and device under test address. For example in the icf file change SIOSERVER to the name of the server where you will be running Iometer from. Also change the address for the DUT, for example N: to what ever address, drive, mount point you are using. Also update the description accordingly (e.g. "NVME" to "Your test example".

Here is the command line to run Iometer specifying an icf and where to put the results in a CSV file that can be imported into Excel or other tools.

iometer /c  iometer_5work32q_intel_Profile.icf /r iometer_nvmetest_5work32q_072416_8AM.csv

What About The Results?

For context, the following results were run on a Lenovo TS140 (32GB RAM), single socket quad core (3.2GHz) Intel E3-1225 v3 with an Intel NVMe 750 PCIe AiC (Intel SSDPEDMW40). Out of the box Microsoft Windows NVMe drive and controller drivers were used (e.g. 6.3.9600.18203 and 6.3.9600.16421). Operating system is Windows 2012 R2 (bare metal) with NVMe PCIe card formatted with ReFS file system. Workload generator and benchmark driver tools included Microsoft Diskspd version 2.012, Fio.exe version 2.2.3, Vdbench 50403 and Iometer 1.1.0. Note that there are newer versions of the various workload generation tools.

Example results are located here.

Where To Learn More

Part I of this two part series providing overview and background
How many IOPs can an SSD do?
Which Enterprise HDDs to use for a content server?
Learn more about NVM and SSDs at www.thenvmeplace.com and www.thessdplace.com
Server Storage I/O performance and related tools page

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

Remember, everything is not the same in the data center or with data infrastructures that support different applications.

While some tools are more robust or better than others for different things, ultimately its usually not the tool that results in a bad benchmark or comparison, its the configuration or lack of including workload settings that are not relevant or applicable. The best benchmark, workload or simulation is your own application. Second best is one that closely resembles your application workload characteristics. A bad benchmark is one that has no relevance to your environment, application use scenario. Take and treat all benchmark or workload simulation results with a grain of salt as something to compare, contrast or make reference to in the proper context.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

April 25, 2016November 26, 2023

Part 4 – Which HDD for Content Applications – Database Workloads

data base server storage I/O trends

Updated 1/23/2018
Which enterprise HDD to use with a content server platform for database workloads

Insight for effective server storage I/O decision making
Server StorageIO Lab Review

Which enterprise HDD to use for content servers

This is the fourth in a multi-part series (read part three here) based on a white paper hands-on lab report I did compliments of Servers Direct and Seagate that you can read in PDF form here. The focus is looking at the Servers Direct (www.serversdirect.com) converged Content Solution platforms with Seagate Enterprise Hard Disk Drive (HDD’s). In this post the focus expands to database application workloads that were run to test various HDD’s.

Database Reads/Writes

Transaction Processing Council (TPC) TPC-C like workloads were run against the SUT from the STI. These workloads simulated transactional, content management, meta-data and key-value processing. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 was configured and used with databases (each 470GB e.g. scale 6000) created and workload generated by virtual users via Dell Benchmark Factory (running on STI Windows 2012 R2).

A single SQL Server database instance (8) was used on the SUT, however unique databases were created for each HDD set being tested. Both the main database file (.mdf) and the log file (.ldf) were placed on the same drive set being tested, keep in mind the constraints mentioned above. As time was a constraint, database workloads were run concurrent (9) with each other except for the Enterprise 10K RAID 1 and RAID 10. Workload was run with two 10K HDD’s in a RAID 1 configuration, then another workload run with a four drive RAID 10. In a production environment, ideally the .mdf and .ldf would be placed on separate HDD’s and SSDs.

To improve cache buffering the SQL Server database instance memory could be increased from 16GB to a larger number that would yield higher TPS numbers. Keep in mind the objective was not to see how fast I could make the databases run, rather how the different drives handled the workload.

(Note 8) The SQL Server Tempdb was placed on a separate NVMe flash SSD, also the database instance memory size was set to 16GB which was shared by all databases and virtual users accessing it.

(Note 9) Each user step was run for 90 minutes with a 30 minute warm-up preamble to measure steady-state operation.

	Users	TPCC Like TPS	Single Drive Cost per TPS	Drive Cost per TPS	Single Drive Cost / Per GB Raw Cap.	Cost / Per GB Usable (Protected) Cap.	Drive Cost (Multiple Drives)	Protect Space Over head	Cost per usable GB per TPS	Resp. Time (Sec.)
ENT 15K R1	1	23.9	$24.94	$49.89	$0.99	$0.99	$1,190	100%	$49.89	0.01
ENT 10K R1	1	23.4	$37.38	$74.77	$0.49	$0.49	$1,750	100%	$74.77	0.01
ENT CAP R1	1	16.4	$24.26	$48.52	$0.20	$0.20	$ 798	100%	$48.52	0.03
ENT 10K R10	1	23.2	$37.70	$150.78	$0.49	$0.97	$3,500	100%	$150.78	0.07
ENT CAP SWR5	1	17.0	$23.45	$117.24	$0.20	$0.25	$1,995	20%	$117.24	0.02
ENT 15K R1	20	362.3	$1.64	$3.28	$0.99	$0.99	$1,190	100%	$3.28	0.02
ENT 10K R1	20	339.3	$2.58	$5.16	$0.49	$0.49	$1,750	100%	$5.16	0.01
ENT CAP R1	20	213.4	$1.87	$3.74	$0.20	$0.20	$ 798	100%	$3.74	0.06
ENT 10K R10	20	389.0	$2.25	$9.00	$0.49	$0.97	$3,500	100%	$9.00	0.02
ENT CAP SWR5	20	216.8	$1.84	$9.20	$0.20	$0.25	$1,995	20%	$9.20	0.06
ENT 15K R1	50	417.3	$1.43	$2.85	$0.99	$0.99	$1,190	100%	$2.85	0.08
ENT 10K R1	50	385.8	$2.27	$4.54	$0.49	$0.49	$1,750	100%	$4.54	0.09
ENT CAP R1	50	103.5	$3.85	$7.71	$0.20	$0.20	$ 798	100%	$7.71	0.45
ENT 10K R10	50	778.3	$1.12	$4.50	$0.49	$0.97	$3,500	100%	$4.50	0.03
ENT CAP SWR5	50	109.3	$3.65	$18.26	$0.20	$0.25	$1,995	20%	$18.26	0.42
ENT 15K R1	100	190.7	$3.12	$6.24	$0.99	$0.99	$1,190	100%	$6.24	0.49
ENT 10K R1	100	175.9	$4.98	$9.95	$0.49	$0.49	$1,750	100%	$9.95	0.53
ENT CAP R1	100	59.1	$6.76	$13.51	$0.20	$0.20	$ 798	100%	$13.51	1.66
ENT 10K R10	100	560.6	$1.56	$6.24	$0.49	$0.97	$3,500	100%	$6.24	0.14
ENT CAP SWR5	100	62.2	$6.42	$32.10	$0.20	$0.25	$1,995	20%	$32.10	1.57

Table-2 TPC-C workload results various number of users across different drive configurations

Figure-2 shows TPC-C TPS (red dashed line) workload scaling over various number of users (1, 20, 50, and 100) with peak TPS per drive shown. Also shown is the used space capacity (in green), with total raw storage capacity in blue cross hatch. Looking at the multiple metrics in context shows that the 600GB Enterprise 15K HDD with performance enhanced cache is a premium option as an alternative, or, to complement flash SSD solutions.

database TPCC transactional workloads
Figure-2 472GB Database TPS scaling along with cost per TPS and storage space used

In figure-2, the 1.8TB Enterprise 10K HDD with performance enhanced cache while not as fast as the 15K, provides a good balance of performance, space capacity and cost effectiveness. A good use for the 10K drives is where some amount of performance is needed as well as a large amount of storage space for less frequently accessed content.

A low cost, low performance option would be the 2TB Enterprise Capacity HDD’s that have a good cost per capacity, however lack the performance of the 15K and 10K drives with enhanced performance cache. A four drive RAID 10 along with a five drive software volume (Microsoft WIndows) are also shown. For apples to apples comparison look at costs vs. capacity including number of drives needed for a given level of performance.

Figure-3 is a variation of figure-2 showing TPC-C TPS (blue bar) and response time (red-dashed line) scaling across 1, 20, 50 and 100 users. Once again the Enterprise 15K with enhanced performance cache feature enabled has good performance in an apples to apples RAID 1 comparison.

Note that the best performance was with the four drive RAID 10 using 10K HDD’s Given popularity, a four drive RAID 10 configuration with the 10K drives was used. Not surprising the four 10K drives performed better than the RAID 1 15Ks. Also note using five drives in a software spanned volume provides a large amount of storage capacity and good performance however with a larger drive footprint.

database TPCC transactional workloads scaling
Figure-3 472GB Database TPS scaling along with response time (latency)

From a cost per space capacity perspective, the Enterprise Capacity drives have a good cost per GB. A hybrid solution for environment that do not need ultra-high performance would be to pair a small amount of flash SSD (10) (drives or PCIe cards), as well as the 10K and 15K performance enhanced drives with the Enterprise Capacity HDD (11) along with cache or tiering software.

(Note 10) Refer to Seagate 1200 12 Gbps Enterprise SAS SSD StorageIO lab review

(Note 11) Refer to Enterprise SSHD and Flash SSD Part of an Enterprise Tiered Storage Strategy

Where To Learn More

Part 1 of this series – Trends and Content Applications Servers
Part 2 of this series – Content applications server decisions and testing plans
Part 3 of this series – Test hardware and software configuration
Part 4 of this series – Large file I/O processing
Part 5 of this series – Small file I/O processing
Part 6 of this series – General I/O processing
Part 7 of this series – How HDD continue to evolve over different generations and wrap up
As the platters spin, HDD’s for cloud, virtual and traditional storage environments
How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do?
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) for Virtual Environments
Server and Storage I/O performance and benchmarking tools
Additional Server StorageIO White Papers and Lab Reports, Solutions Briefs and Profiles, Tips and Articles
PDF White Paper version of this post
www.thenvmeplace.com and www.thessdplace.com

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

If your environment is using applications that rely on databases, then test resources such as servers, storage, devices using tools that represent your environment. This means moving up the software and technology stack from basic storage I/O benchmark or workload generator tools such as Iometer among others instead using either your own application, or tools that can replay or generate various workloads that represent your environment.

Continue reading part five in this multi-part series here where the focus shifts to large and small file I/O processing workloads.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

April 25, 2016November 26, 2023

Which Enterprise HDD for Content Applications Different File Size Impact

Which HDD for Content Applications Different File Size Impact

Different File Size Impact server storage I/O trends

Updated 1/23/2018

Which enterprise HDD to use with a content server platform different file size impact.

Insight for effective server storage I/O decision making
Server StorageIO Lab Review

Which enterprise HDD to use for content servers

This is the fifth in a multi-part series (read part four here) based on a white paper hands-on lab report I did compliments of Servers Direct and Seagate that you can read in PDF form here. The focus is looking at the Servers Direct (www.serversdirect.com) converged Content Solution platforms with Seagate Enterprise Hard Disk Drive (HDD’s). In this post the focus looks at large and small file I/O processing.

File Performance Activity

Tip, Content solutions use files in various ways. Use the following to gain perspective how various HDD’s handle workloads similar to your specific needs.

Two separate file processing workloads were run (12), one with a relative small number of large files, and another with a large number of small files. For the large file processing (table-3), 5 GByte sized files were created and then accessed via 128 Kbyte (128KB) sized I/O over a 10 hour period with 90% read using 64 threads (workers). Large file workload simulates what might be seen with higher definition video, image or other content streaming.

(Note 12) File processing workloads were run using Vdbench 5.04 and file anchors with sample script configuration below. Instead of vdbench you could also use other tools such as sysbench or fio among others.

VdbenchFSBigTest.txt
# Sample script for big files testing
fsd=fsd1,anchor=H:,depth=1,width=5,files=20,size=5G
fwd=fwd1,fsd=fsd1,rdpct=90,xfersize=128k,fileselect=random,fileio=random,threads=64
rd=rd1,fwd=fwd1,fwdrate=max,format=yes,elapsed=10h,interval=30

vdbench -f VdbenchFSBigTest.txt -m 16 -o Results_FSbig_H_060615

VdbenchFSSmallTest.txt
# Sample script for big files testing
fsd=fsd1,anchor=H:,depth=1,width=64,files=25600,size=16k
fwd=fwd1,fsd=fsd1,rdpct=90,xfersize=1k,fileselect=random,fileio=random,threads=64
rd=rd1,fwd=fwd1,fwdrate=max,format=yes,elapsed=10h,interval=30

vdbench -f VdbenchFSSmallTest.txt -m 16 -o Results_FSsmall_H_060615

The 10% writes are intended to reflect some update activity for new content or other changes to content. Note that 128KB per second translates to roughly 1 Gbps streaming content such as higher definition video. However 4K video (not optimized) would require a higher speed as well as resulting in larger file sizes. Table-3 shows the performance during the large file access period showing average read /write rates and response time, bandwidth (MBps), average open and close rates with response time.

	Avg. File Read Rate	Avg. Read Resp. Time Sec.	Avg. File Write Rate	Avg. Write Resp. Time Sec.	Avg. CPU % Total	Avg. CPU % System	Avg. MBps Read	Avg. MBps Write
ENT 15K R1	580.7	107.9	64.5	19.7	52.2	35.5	72.6	8.1
ENT 10K R1	455.4	135.5	50.6	44.6	34.0	22.7	56.9	6.3
ENT CAP R1	285.5	221.9	31.8	19.0	43.9	28.3	37.7	4.0
ENT 10K R10	690.9	87.21	76.8	48.6	35.0	21.8	86.4	9.6

Table-3 Performance summary for large file access operations (90% read)

Table-3 shows that for two-drive RAID 1, the Enterprise 15K are the fastest performance, however using a RAID 10 with four 10K HDD’s with enhanced cache features provide a good price, performance and space capacity option. Software RAID was used in this workload test.

Figure-4 shows the relative performance of various HDD options handling large files, keep in mind that for the response line lower is better, while for the activity rate higher is better.

Figure-4 Large file processing 90% read, 10% write rate and response time

In figure-4 you can see the performance in terms of response time (reads larger dashed line, writes smaller dotted line) along with number of file read operations per second (reads solid blue column bar, writes green column bar). Reminder that lower response time, and higher activity rates are better. Performance declines moving from left to right, from 15K to 10K Enterprise Performance with enhanced cache feature to Enterprise Capacity (7.2K), all of which were hardware RAID 1. Also shown is a hardware RAID 10 (four x 10K HDD’s).

Results in figure-4 above and table-4 below show how various drives can be configured to balance their performance, capacity and costs to meet different needs. Table-4 below shows an analysis looking at average file reads per second (RPS) performance vs. HDD costs, usable capacity and protection level.

Table-4 is an example of looking at multiple metrics to make informed decisions as to which HDD would be best suited to your specific needs. For example RAID 10 using four 10K drives provides good performance and protection along with large usable space, however that also comes at a budget cost (e.g. price).

	Avg. File Reads Per Sec. (RPS)	Single Drive Cost per RPS	Multi-Drive Cost per RPS	Single Drive Cost / Per GB Capacity	Cost / Per GB Usable (Protected) Cap.	Drive Cost (Multiple Drives)	Protection Overhead (Space Capacity for RAID)	Cost per usable GB per RPS	Avg. File Read Resp. (Sec.)
ENT 15K R1	580.7	$1.02	$2.05	$ 0.99	$0.99	$1,190	100%	$2.1	107.9
ENT 10K R1	455.5	1.92	3.84	0.49	0.49	1,750	100%	3.8	135.5
ENT CAP R1	285.5	1.40	2.80	0.20	0.20	798	100%	2.8	271.9
ENT 10K R10	690.9	1.27	5.07	0.49	0.97	3,500	100%	5.1	87.2

Table-4 Performance, capacity and cost analysis for big file processing

Small File Size Processing

To simulate a general file sharing environment, or content streaming with many smaller objects, 1,638,464 16KB sized files were created on each device being tested (table-5). These files were spread across 64 directories (25,600 files each) and accessed via 64 threads (workers) doing 90% reads with a 1KB I/O size over a ten hour time frame. Like the large file test, and database activity, all workloads were run at the same time (e.g. test devices were concurrently busy).

	Avg. File Read Rate	Avg. Read Resp. Time Sec.	Avg. File Write Rate	Avg. Write Resp. Time Sec.	Avg. CPU % Total	Avg. CPU % System	Avg. MBps Read	Avg. MBps Write
ENT 15K R1	3,415.7	1.5	379.4	132.2	24.9	19.5	3.3	0.4
ENT 10K R1	2,203.4	2.9	244.7	172.8	24.7	19.3	2.2	0.2
ENT CAP R1	1,063.1	12.7	118.1	303.3	24.6	19.2	1.1	0.1
ENT 10K R10	4,590.5	0.7	509.9	101.7	27.7	22.1	4.5	0.5

Table-5 Performance summary for small sized (16KB) file access operations (90% read)

Figure-5 shows the relative performance of various HDD options handling large files, keep in mind that for the response line lower is better, while for the activity rate higher is better.

Figure-5 Small file processing 90% read, 10% write rate and response time

In figure-5 you can see the performance in terms of response time (reads larger dashed line, writes smaller dotted line) along with number of file read operations per second (reads solid blue column bar, writes green column bar). Reminder that lower response time, and higher activity rates are better. Performance declines moving from left to right, from 15K to 10K Enterprise Performance with enhanced cache feature to Enterprise Capacity (7.2K RPM), all of which were hardware RAID 1. Also shown is a hardware RAID 10 (four x 10K RPM HDD’s) that has higher performance and capacity along with costs (table-5).

Results in figure-5 above and table-5 below show how various drives can be configured to balance their performance, capacity and costs to meet different needs. Table-6 below shows an analysis looking at average file reads per second (RPS) performance vs. HDD costs, usable capacity and protection level.

Table-6 is an example of looking at multiple metrics to make informed decisions as to which HDD would be best suited to your specific needs. For example RAID 10 using four 10K drives provides good performance and protection along with large usable space, however that also comes at a budget cost (e.g. price).

	Avg. File Reads Per Sec. (RPS)	Single Drive Cost per RPS	Multi-Drive Cost per RPS	Single Drive Cost / Per GB Capacity	Cost / Per GB Usable (Protected) Cap.	Drive Cost (Multiple Drives)	Protection Overhead (Space Capacity for RAID)	Cost per usable GB per RPS	Avg. File Read Resp. (Sec.)
ENT 15K R1	3,415.7	$0.17	$0.35	$0.99	$0.99	$1,190	100%	$0.35	1.51
ENT 10K R1	2,203.4	0.40	0.79	0.49	0.49	1,750	100%	0.79	2.90
ENT CAP R1	1,063.1	0.38	0.75	0.20	0.20	798	100%	0.75	12.70
ENT 10K R10	4,590.5	0.19	0.76	0.49	0.97	3,500	100%	0.76	0.70

Table-6 Performance, capacity and cost analysis for small file processing

Looking at the small file processing analysis in table-5 shows that the 15K HDD’s on an apples to apples basis (e.g. same RAID level and number of drives) provide the best performance. However when also factoring in space capacity, performance, different RAID level or other protection schemes along with cost, there are other considerations. On the other hand the Enterprise Capacity 2TB HDD’s have a low cost per capacity, however do not have the performance of other options, assuming your applications need more performance.

Thus the right HDD for one application may not be the best one for a different scenario as well as multiple metrics as shown in table-5 need to be included in an informed storage decision making process.

Where To Learn More

Part 1 of this series – Trends and Content Applications Servers
Part 2 of this series – Content applications server decisions and testing plans
Part 3 of this series – Test hardware and software configuration
Part 4 of this series – Large file I/O processing
Part 5 of this series – Small file I/O processing
Part 6 of this series – General I/O processing
Part 7 of this series – How HDD continue to evolve over different generations and wrap up
As the platters spin, HDD’s for cloud, virtual and traditional storage environments
How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do?
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) for Virtual Environments
Server and Storage I/O performance and benchmarking tools
Additional Server StorageIO White Papers and Lab Reports, Solutions Briefs and Profiles, Tips and Articles
PDF White Paper version of this post
www.thenvmeplace.com and www.thessdplace.com

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

What This All Means

File processing are common content applications tasks, some being small, others large or mixed as well as reads and writes. Even if your content environment is using object storage, chances are unless it is a new applications or a gateway exists, you may be using NAS or file based access. Thus the importance of if your applications are doing file based processing, either run your own applications or use tools that can simulate as close as possible to what your environment is doing.

Continue reading part six in this multi-part series here where the focus is around general I/O including 8KB and 128KB sized IOPs along with associated metrics.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

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If NVMe is the answer, what are the questions?

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SSD, flash, Non-volatile memory (NVM) storage Trends, Tips & Topics

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Software Defined Data Infrastructure Webinars and Fall 2016 events

December 7, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT – BrightTalk Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Decision Making

November 29-30, 2016 (New) – Converged & Hyper-Converged Decision Making Is Converged Infrastructure Right For You? Workshop Seminar – Nijkerk The Netherlands

November 28, 2016 (New) – Server Storage I/O Fundamental Trends V2.1116 Whats New, Whats the buzz, what you need to know about and whos doing what Workshop Seminar – Nijkerk The Netherlands

November 23, 2016 – Webinar 10AM PT BrightTalkBCDR and Cloud Backup Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) and Data Protection

November 23, 2016 – Webinar 9AM PT – BrightTalkCloud Storage – Hybrid and Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI)

November 22, 2016 – Webinar 10AM PT – BrightTalkCloud Infrastructure Hybrid and Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI)

November 15, 2016 (New) – 11AM PT Webinar – Redmond Magazine and Solarwinds The O.A.R. of Virtualization Scaling A journey of optimization, automation, and reporting

November 3, 2016 (New) – Webinar 11AM PT – Redmond Magazine and Dell Software Tailor Your Backup Data Repositories to Fit Your Security and Management Needs

October 27, 2016 (New) – Webinar 10AM PT – Virtual Instruments The Value of Infrastructure Insight

October 20, 2016 – Webinar 9AM PT – BrightTalk Next-Gen Data Centers Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) including Servers, Storage and Virtualization

September 20, 2016 – Webinar 8AM PT – BrightTalk Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) Enabling Software Defined Data Centers – Part of Software-Defined Storage summit

September 13, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT – Redmond Magazine and Dell SoftwareWindows Server 2016 and Active DirectoryWhats New and How to Plan for Migration

September 8, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT (Watch on Demand) – Redmond Magazine, Acronis and UnitrendsData Protection for Modern Microsoft Environments

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EMC is now Dell EMC and other server storage Updates

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Get in the NVMe SSD game (if you are not already)

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Server storage I/O performance benchmark workload scripts Part I

Why Your Performance May Vary

Windows Power (and performance) Settings

Workload (Benchmark) Simulation Test Tools Used

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Part II – Some server storage I/O workload scripts and results

The Workloads

Microsoft Diskspd workloads

Fio.exe workloads

Vdbench workloads

Iometer workloads

What About The Results?

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What This All Means

December 7, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT – BrightTalk
Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Decision Making

November 29-30, 2016 (New) – Converged & Hyper-Converged Decision Making
Is Converged Infrastructure Right For You?
Workshop Seminar – Nijkerk The Netherlands

November 28, 2016 (New) – Server Storage I/O Fundamental Trends V2.1116
Whats New, Whats the buzz, what you need to know about and whos doing what
Workshop Seminar – Nijkerk The Netherlands

November 23, 2016 – Webinar 10AM PT BrightTalk
BCDR and Cloud Backup Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) and Data Protection

November 23, 2016 – Webinar 9AM PT – BrightTalk
Cloud Storage – Hybrid and Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI)

November 22, 2016 – Webinar 10AM PT – BrightTalk
Cloud Infrastructure Hybrid and Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI)

November 15, 2016 (New) – 11AM PT Webinar – Redmond Magazine and Solarwinds
The O.A.R. of Virtualization Scaling
A journey of optimization, automation, and reporting

November 3, 2016 (New) – Webinar 11AM PT – Redmond Magazine and
Dell Software
Tailor Your Backup Data Repositories to
Fit Your Security and Management Needs

October 27, 2016 (New) – Webinar 10AM PT – Virtual Instruments
The Value of Infrastructure Insight

October 20, 2016 – Webinar 9AM PT – BrightTalk
Next-Gen Data Centers Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) including Servers, Storage and Virtualization

September 20, 2016 – Webinar 8AM PT – BrightTalk
Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) Enabling Software Defined Data Centers – Part of Software-Defined Storage summit

September 13, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT – Redmond Magazine and
Dell Software
Windows Server 2016 and Active Directory
Whats New and How to Plan for Migration

September 8, 2016 – Webinar 11AM PT (Watch on Demand) – Redmond Magazine, Acronis and Unitrends
Data Protection for Modern Microsoft Environments