Vblock

My former colleague and virtualization buddy Ernst Cozijnsen over at Capgemini Outsourcing has done some extensive testing on virtual machine deployments with VAAI enabaled storage. The storage he has used for the deployment tests was an EMC Symmetrix VMAX, Here are his findings:

A while ago a colleague of mine pointed me to a blog post which included a link to an pdf document released by EMC talking about VAAI efficiency with EMC Symmetrix VMAX arrays. The document basically covers 3 new features which have been released in the “Enginuity 5875” firmware for the VMAX also known as the “75 code” in conjunction with vSphere 4.1.

These features are:

- Hardware accelerated Full Copy
- Hardware accelerated Block Zero
- Hardware accelerated locking

Without repeating all the technical details already mentioned in the pdf (which is a must read for all nerds)  we’ve put the pedal to the metal to see if VAAI really makes a difference. To make a good comparison between old and new we have set up 3 (almost) identical THICK templates: W2K8 R2 ent 30GB + 5GB hdd  containing +/- 12GB of actual data. The source and target Datastores are 1T tier2 (VMAX) LUN’s connected via 4 storage paths (Powerpath VE enabled) which are formatted with a 2MB block size.

The 1st template “Ernst-oldtemplate” is virtual hardware  version 4 created on ESX 3.5, with an aligned OS disk and default storage allocation (this template was cloned and freshly installed to mimic template 2 and 3).
The 2nd “Ernst-nonzero” has hardware version 7 created on ESXi4.1, with an aligned OS disk and eagerzeroedthick formatted vmdk’s.       
The 3rd “Ernst-zeroed” has hardware version 7 created on ESXi4.1, with an aligned OS disk and zeroedthick formatted vmdk’s.

To quote EMC from their document: “The improvement in deployment times range from 7 to 18 times faster”.

Deploying the 1st template:



The job completed in +/- 9 minutes. During this time we observed the ESXi host itself via esxtop and as shown below. The SCSI command reads issued, spiked to sometimes 6550 per second meaning all data blocks are read with some form of intelligence.

I’ve recorded a great interview with Vblock guru Jim Wentworth and UCS specialist Ron Heheman.  In this interview they will explain how FAST (Fully Automarted Strorage Tiering) performs data movement based on IOPS. We also touch some other topics like unified storage and the upcoming management software.

On January 21th, 2010 the 16th edition of the Tech Data and Azlan partner event took place at the Home Boxx Exhibition Center Nieuwegein.  This Partner Event has become an annual event, with over 60 leading ICT suppliers and over 2000 resellers and is the only ICT exhibition with a unique design, full of information and entertainment. I’ve presented two sessions at this event about how to Accelerate Deployment of the Private Cloud with Vblock Infrastructure Packages. Here’s my slide deck, kudos to Chad Sakac for helping me out with my presentation.

IT is undergoing a transformation. The current ‘accidental architecture’ of IT today increases procurement, management costs, and complexity while making it difficult to meet customer service level agreements.  This makes IT less responsive to the business and creates the perception of IT being a cost center.   IT is now moving towards a ‘private cloud’ model, which is a new model for delivering IT as a service, whether that service is provided internally (IT today), externally (service provider), or in combination.  This new model requires a new way of thinking about both the underlying technology and the way IT is delivered for customer success.

While the need for a new IT model has never been more clear, navigating the path to that model has never been more complicated. The benefits of private clouds are capturing the collective imagination of IT architects and IT consumers in organizations of all sizes around the world. The realities of outdated technologies, rampant incremental approaches, and the absence of a compelling end-state architecture are impeding adoption by customers.

This new ‘private cloud’ model, which is a new model for delivering IT as a service, whether that service is provided internally (IT today), externally (service provider), or in combination.  This new model requires a new way of thinking about both the underlying technology and the way IT is delivered for customer success.
By harnessing the power of virtualization, private clouds place considerable business benefits within reach. 

Cisco and EMC, together with VMware, are putting you on a new road to greater efficiency, control and choice. A faster road to unprecedented IT agility and unbounded business opportunities. With the Virtual Compute Environment’s Vblock experience.

On January 21th, 2010 the 16th edition of the Tech Data and Azlan partner event will take place at the Home Boxx Exhibition Center Nieuwegein.  This Partner Event has become an annual event, with over 60 leading ICT suppliers and over 2000 resellers and is the only ICT exhibition with a unique design, full of information and entertainment.

My session will show you how to Accelerate Deployment of the Private Cloud with Vblock Infrastructure Packages. You can still signup here to reserve your free entrance ticket.