1、WHITEPAPEREnterpriseStorage:TheFoundationforApplicationandEnterpriseAvailabilitySponsoredby:NetAppAshishNadkarniApril2013IDCOPINIONApplicationandsystemsavailabilityntinestodefinehowmoderndatacentersaredesignedanddeployed.Continuousapplicationdataavailabilityisafundamentaldriverforstorageinfrastructu
2、reintodaysalways-onITdatacenters.ItisabusinessimperativetoreducetheoverallexpenditureonITinfrastructurewhilemeetingorexceedingperformancerequirementsandseamlesslyscalingstorageresourcesalongwithbusinessgrowth.Performanceandresourceobjectiveschangeovertime,buttheunderlyinginfrastructuremuststillprovi
3、dethecontinuousavailabilityofuserdatatotheapplication.Flexiblestorageinfrastructure,continuousdataavailability,andconsistentperformancereducetheup-frontcostofstorage,allowingbusinessestobuildouttheITinfrastructureaccordingtotheirbusinessneeds,withoutimpactingend-userapplications.Fromapurelystoragein
4、frastructureperspective,newertechnologiessuchasflash,clustering,andstorageoptimizationareenablingbusinessestoachievetheirservicelevelobjectivesinaneconomicallyefficientmanner:Storageclustering.Clusteredstorage(alsoknownasscale-outstorage)isgainingsolidpopularityasawaytobuildhighlyavailablestoragesys
5、temsthatcanachieve99.999%availabilityandhigher.Withfeaturessuchasnondisruptiveoperations(NDO),multiprotocolfederation,anddeepapplicationintegration,clusteredstorageisslowlyreplacingtraditionalscale-upstoragesystemsinthedatacenter.Flashtechnologies.Theuseofflashasaserver-andstorage-sidecachingmechani
6、smaswellasatierinthestoragesystemallowsthestoragesystemtoachievesuperiorperformancewithareducedfootprint,whichinturntranslatesintoreduceddatacenteroperationscosts.Cloud-enablingtechnologies.Theabilitytoconnecton-premisesstoragesystemstocloudstoragetechnologiesgivesnewmeaningtoenterpriseavailability.
7、Organizationscannowextendtheavailabilityoftheirstoragesystemstothecloudandallowforgreaterflexibilityintermsofdatamovementandarchiving.VendorssuchasNetAppareuppingthevaluepropositionbyofferingclusteredsolutionsthatarecompatiblewithlegacydeploymentscomplementedbyasetofprofessionalservicesofferings.Thi
8、smakesiteasierforbothorganizationswithexistingNetAppdeploymentstomigratetothenewsolutionsandorganizationsconsideringnewNetAppsolutionstodeploythemasagreenfieldsolution.NetApp,withitsprovenreliabilityintheindustryandbackedbycomprehensivemonitoringandreportingcapabilities,isusheringinaneweraofenterpri
9、seapplication,data,andinfrastructureavailability.INTHISWHITEPAPERThiswhitepaperexaminestheimportanceofapplicationandsystemavailabilityandhowagrowingnumberoforganizationsarecurrentlyaddressinghigh-availabilityneedswithrespecttotheirstorageenvironments.Itexplorestheimportanceofapplicationavailabilitya
10、ndtheunderlyingfoundationthatreliablediskstoragesystemsprovideamuchbroadersetofbusinessrequirementsandapplications.ThepaperthenfocusesondeploymentsofNetAppstoragesystemsandhowthesedeploymentshavemetorexceededcustomersexpectationswithgreaterthan99.999%(5-9s)availabilitybasedonNetAppsrigorousprocess,e
11、nabledbytechnologiessuchasarray-basedclusteringandnondisruptiveoperations.SITUATIONOVERVIEWIntroductionITenvironmentseverywhereareundergoingaquietmetamorphosisthattoucheseveryaspectofITfromstaffandhowtheyfunctiontoassetsandhowtheyareoperated.Eventodayandintheforeseeablefuturedatacentersformthecorner
12、stoneofITineveryorganization.Therefore,theattributesofITdirectlymaptotheattributesofthedatacenterinfrastructure.ITorganizationseverywherearelookingatnewerandmorecost-effectivewaystomakethisinfrastructurehighlyavailableandscalableandensurethatitofferslevelsofperformanceforanewgenerationofapplications
13、andusers.Giventheincreasingemphasisondatagrowth,changingaccessmechanisms,andnewerlayoutmodels,ITorganizationsarenaturallyplacingmoreemphasisontheservice-levelobjectivesofthestorageinfrastructure.TheImportanceofAvailabilityForagrowingnumberoforganizations,havingareliable,highlyavailabledatacenterinfr
14、astructureiscriticaltosuccess.DowntimeofanorganizationsITenvironmentandassiatedapplicationscanleadtolossofproductivity,customers,andcurrentorfuturebusinessopportunityallofwhichcanleadtolossofrevenueandprofit,negativebrandrecognition,andforpubliccompanies,anegativeinfluenceonstockpricesandmarketcondi
15、tions.Theimportanceofdatacenteravailabilitythereforeisnotlimitedtothelargestorganizationsorspecificindustries.Indeed,availabilityanduptimewillmeandifferentthingstodifferentorganizations,butthemovementtowardconstantuptimeanda24x7environmentcontinuestopermeatesmall,medium-sized,andlargeorganizationsac
16、rossanexpandingnumberofindustriesandapplications.Organizationsarepushingtheservice-levelobjectivesoftheirstorageinfrastructuretonewheights,demanding5-9savailability,always-onoperations,andtransparentdatamobility.ThisisforcingstoragesupplierssuchasNetApptorethinkhowtheydesigntheirsystems,usingtechnol
17、ogiessuchasaunifiedscale-outarchitectureandnondisruptiveoperationstoachievenewlevelsofavailabilityandreliability.AvailabilityintheEraofBigDataThegrowingdesireoforganizationstoengageinreal-timebusinesscontinuestobepervasiveanddisruptive.Withseveralcompleteandindependentdatasetsattheirdisposal,organiz
18、ationsareengaginginanalyticstobemoreefficientandmoreagileandtostayaheadoftheircompetitionineverywaypossible.Similartostringentservice-levelobjectives,theneedtoanalyzenewandexistingdatasetsandderivebusinessvalueisbeginningtotranscendbusinessesofallshapesandsizes.Theneedforhighavailability(HA)inthewor
19、ldofbigdatathusappliestoabroadspectrumofindustries.Whetherapplicationsanalyzehealthcarerecordsandusage,supporteducation,improvemanufacturingprocesses,supportorderfulfillment,ortrackonlinespending,asuccessfuloperationincreasinglydependsonsignificantuptimetosatisfybusinessneeds.Thecollection,analysis,
20、andstorageofrecordsgeneratedacrossthefollowingcategoriesfeedtcxJay,sbusinessanalytics:Transactionaldata.High-transactiondatabases,suchasthosedeployedtosupportfinancialinstitutions,greatlydependonahighlyavailabledatacenterinfrastructure.Theamountofdatastoredandprocessedbysuchdatabasescontinuestoincre
21、aseasorganizationsanduserscontinuetheirconquesttogodigital.Bigdata.Thestorageandcontinuousaccessoflarge,independent,andcompletedatasetscreatedfrominternaldatasourcesorstreamedvialivefeedsfromtheInternetrequireanimbleandscalableinfrastructure.Organizationscannolongerdiscarddatawithoutcheckingtoseeifi
22、tevenhastheremotestpossibilityofbeingusedtoimprovetheirbusinessprocesses.Thus,theyarestoringdatalongerandholdingontomoredata.囚Filedata.Thechangingdemographicsofinternalusersamobileandgloballydistributedworkforceaccessingtheirdataviaamultitudeofdevicesrequiresanagilefile-sharinginfrastructurethatisgl
23、oballyaccessibleandavailable.Organizationsarethusenteringanewphaseofthedata-drivenenterpriseonethatwillhaveanindelibleeffectondatacenterinfrastructure.ExaminingtheConvergenceofApplicationandStorageInfrastructureAvailabilityItisimportanttorecognizethattheoverallavailabilityofanyITsolutionisinfluenced
24、byseveralcomponents,includingtheapplicationitselfandassociatedsoftware,aswellasthehardwarecomponents,includingservers,networking,andstorage.OverallITavailabilityispredicatedonapplicationavailability,whichisbasedonsystemavailability,includingbothserversystemsandstoragesystems.ApplicationAvailabilityA
25、nyITsolutionconsistsofseveralcomponentsthatcanbeSimplisticallygroupedintosoftware(operatingsystemsandapplications)andhardware(infrastructure).However,itisnotuncommontoexpresssuchsolutionsintermsofasetofapplicationsandrelatedsoftwarerunningonspecifichardwareresourcessuchasservers,networking,andstorag
26、eassets.TheapplicationsthemselvesarefundamentallythelifebloodofthisITsolution,enablinganorganizationtoenhanceproductivity,streamlineandautomateprocesses,andleveragebusinessinformationtogeneraterevenue,improveprofitability,andcomplywithregulatoryorbusinessgovernance.Therelativeimportanceofanyoneparti
27、cularapplicationvariesfromorganizationtoorganization.Forinstance,oneorganizationmaytolerateanoutageinanapplication,suchasacollaborationsuitelikeSharePoint,whileanotherorganizationmayhavezerotoleranceforit.Similarly,thetypesandnumbersofapplicationsalsovarytremendouslyamongorganizations.Smallerorganiz
28、ationstendtohavefewerandlesscomplexapplications,whilelargerorganizationsareattheotherendofthespectrum.However,whetherorganizationsdeploycommondatabaseapplicationssuchasOracle,SAP,orSQLtosupportongoingbusinesstransactions;emailandmessagingapplicationssuchasMicrosoftExchange;orgeneralfile-sharingordir
29、ectoryservices,thedistinctionbetweenmission-criticalandmission-trivialapplicationscontinuestoblur.AResilientStorageInfrastructureastheFoundationforEnterpriseAvailabilityOrganizationshavealwaysreliedonhighlyresilientandavailablestoragesystemswhenbuildinganenterprisedatacenterinfrastructuretosupportmi
30、ssion-criticalapplications.However,inthefaceofrapidlychangingorevolvingtechnologiesinthedatacenter,thebusinessandoperationaldemandsplacedontheinfrastructurearechangingaswell.NewTechnologiesDominatingDatacenterTransformationDrivenbyanewsetofbusinessrealitiesinthedatacenter,organizationsareacceleratin
31、gtheireffortstoreduceandoptimizecapitalandoperationalITspending.Theyareseekingnewapproachesandtechnologies(serveranddesktopvirtualization,flashtechnologies,cloudconnectivity)thatcanhelpreduceorpossiblyeliminatetheamountofITequipmentneeded,makeexistingequipmentmoreefficientandeasytomanage,andatthesam
32、etimeoffermorepredictability,reliability,andoperationalefficiency.Fromastorageperspective,organizationsthatadoptthesenewtechnologiesintheirdatacenterinfrastructurehavetoensurethatthestorageinfrastructurescaleslinearlyasmoreapplicationsaredeployed.Severalelementsareessentialtodatacentertransformation
33、Guaranteedservicelevelsinsharedenvironments.Organizationswithshareddenselyvirtualizedinfrastructurehavetoensurethatservicelevelsaremetforalloftheirmission-andbusiness-criticalapplications.Theyhavetobeespeciallycarefulaboutsecurity,dataisolation,andscale-outcapabilities一wherecapacityandperformanceca
34、nbescaledindependentofeachother.囚Accesstodataiscrucial.JustasapplicationavailabilityisthefoundationforasuccessfulITdeployment,sotooisdataavailabilitythefoundationforasuccessfulandreliableapplicationdeployment.Foranyapplication,preservationofandcontinuousaccesstodataarecritical.Thelossofdataoraccesst
35、oitmeansdowntimeformostapplications.Thishasadirectimpact,whichplacesutmostimportanceontheavailabilityofbothprimaryandsecondarystoragesystemsthataredeployedtostore,provideaccessto,manage,andprotectbusinessdata.Integrationofstoragewithapplications.Storagesystemsthatareoptimizedtoworkcloselywithspecifi
36、capplicationsprovideanexcellentcustomerexperienceforavarietyofreasons: Theeaseofuseandtheeaseofmanagementofastoragesysteminsupportingaspecificapplicationcreateanimprovedcustomerexperience.Thecomplexitiesofallocating,administering,andmanagingstorageresourcestosupportaspecificapplicationcanbegreatlyre
37、duced.FordatabaseapplicationssuchasOracleorSQL,theworkingrelationshipbetweendatabaseadministratorsandstorageadministratorscanbedramaticallyimprovedifthestoragesystemistightlyintegratedwiththeperformanceandcapacitycharacteristicsrequiredbythedatabaseadministratortosupporttheapplication. Thetightinteg
38、rationandoptimizationofastoragesystemtosupportaspecificapplicationcangreatlyreducetheriskthatthestoragesystemmayfailinsupportingthatapplication.Thishastremendousimpactandfurtherincreasesthereliabilityandavailabilitycharacteristicsofthatstoragesystemtocontributetoapplicationavailabilityandultimatelyt
39、hesuccessoftheorganization.Customersamongorganizationsofallsizeshavecometorealizetheimportanceandbenefitofhavingstoragesystemsthatcanbeoptimizedtosupporttheirimportantapplications.Inaddition,customershavegrowntoexpectavailabilityonthesestoragesystemstobeextremelyhigh,asthissystemavailabilityiscritic
40、altosupportthedataaccessandultimatelytheapplicationavailabilitythatiscriticaltoasuccessfulorganization.Thisexpectationhasdrivenmanycustomerstoexploreoptionsbasednotonlyontypicalmetricsaroundperformance,capacity,scalability,andabilitytointegratewithspecificapplicationsbutalsoonthehighavailabilityandr
41、eliabilityofanygivenstoragesystem.THENETAPPSOLUTIONNetApp,oneoftheleadersinthestorageindustry,hasbeenofferinghighlyavailable,reliable,andscalablestoragesolutionsforovertwodecades.Itssolutionsareusedindatacenterinfrastructurebuildoutsbyorganizationsofallshapesandsizesinnearlyallindustriesandverticals
42、andsupportnearlyeverytypeandclassofapplicationusedinthedatacentertoday.WhileNetApphasdesignedgenerationsofdiskstoragesystemstoprovidehighlyreliabledataaccesstoapplications,itearnedareputationforsolutionsthatareeasytodeployandmanage.NetApprecentlyuppedtheantewiththeintroductionofclusteredDataONTAPame
43、chanismthatallowsmultipleindependentNetAppstoragesystemstobeclusteredtogethertoofferasinglefederatedsolution.WithclusteredDataONTAP,NetAppcanbuildonitscompellinghigh-availabilitycharacteristicsandofferevenhigherlevelsofavailabilityandscalability.Moreover,theclusteredDataONTAPsolutionappealstoexistin
44、gcustomersthatrelyonNetAppstoragetoserveasareliabledatafoundationforapplicationavailabilityaswellasnewcustomersthatareconsideringsuchasolution.NetAppsHigh-AvailabilityLineupWhenNetAppreleasedclusteredDataONTAPversion8.1,ittookcaretoensurethattheproductremainedcompatiblewfthNetAppsexistingsolutionlin
45、eup,offeringcustomersachoicebetweenthelegacy7-ModeandtheclusteredDataONTAPoptiononsystemsthatrunDataONTAP:FAS2200Series.Cluster-readysystemsthatscaleupto432TB,forentry-levelordistributedmidsizeenterprises囚FAS3100/3200Series.Systemsthatscaleto2,880TB,forgreatercapacity,availability,andperformancesupp
46、ortingbusinessandvirtualizedapplicationsinenterprises内FAS6200Series.Systemsthatscaleupto5,760TB,fordemandingdatacenterapplicationsandvirtualizedenvironmentsinenterprisesandserviceproviders(Ina24-nodecluster,capacityscalesupto69PB.)内V-3200/6200Series.Systemsthatofferstoragevirtualizationtechnologytol
47、everageexistingthird-partystorageassetsandbringthemundertheDataONTAPfederationlayerWhatmakesNetAppssolutionuniqueinthemarketisthatallFASandV-Seriessystemsarebuiltonacommonarchitectureandanoperatingplatform.Therefore,nearlyalloftheDataONTAPfeaturesandcapabilitiesareavailableacrosstheboard:Configurati
48、onflexibility.Allplatformscanbeconfiguredineither7-ModeorclusteredDataONTAP.WithclusteredDataONTAP1organizationscantakeadvantageofaglobalnamespacetoprovidewhatNetAppreferstoasnondisrptiveoperations,orNDO,todeployedapplicationsandenvironments.NDOessentiallyprovidescontinuousdataavailabilitywhenmoving
49、datawithinthecluster.Multiprotocolsupport.AllFASandV-seriesstoragesystemsoffermultiprotocolfunctionality,includingsimultaneousconnectivityviafile-basedprotocols(CIFSandNFS)orSANblockprotocols(FibreChannel,FCoE,andiSCSI).Additionally,NetAppwasoneofthefirstintheindustrytosupportpNFSonitsarrays.Extensivesoftwareportfolio.NetAppoffersanexpansivesuiteofsoftwaretoolsthatenhancethecustomerexperienceinavarietyofways.Alongwithprovidi
