Dell PS Series Arrays: Advanced Storage Features in VMware vSphere An introduction to VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration, vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness, Storage APIs for Multipathing, and Storage I/O Control Dell Storage Engineering June 2015 A Dell Technical White Paper
Revisions Version Date Description 1.0 March 2011 Initial release 1.1 April 2012 Updated to include new features in VMware vSphere 5.0 and Dell PS Series firmware 5.1 1.2 September 2012 Updated to include new features in PS Series firmware 6.0 1.3 October 2013 Updated to include changes to thin provisioning space reclaim command in vSphere 5.5 1.4 June 2015 Updated to include vSphere 6.
Table of contents Revisions ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 1.1 2 Audience ................................................................................
1 Introduction With VMwareยฎ vSphereยฎ virtualization, even though the hypervisor isolates the virtual machine operating system from the hardware, this does not mean that the hardware no longer matters. All components of the hardware environment are a shared resource in the virtualized data center, so having the right hardware is critical.
2 vStorage APIs for Array Integration Historically, VMware has treated all storage as just storageโwhether local disk, DAS, SAN, or NAS. VMware did not utilize any of the advanced capabilities that exist in the more-intelligent storage products, but this changed with the release of vSphere 4.1. VMware now recognizes and uses intelligent storage arrays, such as the Dell PS Series, and can leverage the array capabilities to the benefit of the virtualized environment through a set of SCSI primitives.
creating the fault-tolerant virtual machine while the array completes the zeroing task in the background. By offloading the block zeroing to the PS Series array, fault-tolerant virtual machines can be created much faster. 2.3 Hardware-assisted locking To protect Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) metadata, the hardware-assisted locking primitive provides a more granular method than SCSI reservations.
the volume, migrate virtual machines off the volume, or delete virtual machines from the volume. Once space on the datastore has been made available, the stunned virtual machine can be un-stunned, and it will continue operating again under normal conditions. Note: VAAI thin provisioned stun requires Dell PS Series firmware 5.1 or above. 2.
To calculate the percentage of deleted blocks to be reclaimed, it is necessary to know the amount of free space on the datastore as seen from vCenter, and the amount of free space in the volume as seen on the array interface. ๐ฃ๐ถ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ โ ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ โ 100 ๐ฃ๐ถ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ In an example with a 1000GB thinly provisioned volume, the array shows 200GB free and vCenter shows the datastore as having 300GB free. 300๐บ๐ต โ 200๐บ๐ต 100๐บ๐ต โ 100 = โ 100 = 33.33% 300๐บ๐ต 300๐บ๐ต 2.5.
3 vStorage APIs for Multipathing VMware vSphere offers many new and advanced enhancements to the software iSCSI initiator beyond basic iSCSI SAN connectivity. The most significant of these enhancements is the API support for thirdparty multipathing plugins. This provides a framework that enables the PS Series Multipath Extension Module (MEM) to build upon VMware round-robin multipathing, and to more intelligently route and efficiently load balance iSCSI traffic across multiple NICs.
4 Storage I/O Control Storage I/O Control (SIOC) ensures that the excessive storage I/O demands of a particular VMDK do not negatively impact the storage I/O needs of other VMDKs residing on the same datastore. Previously, this has been resolved though administrative tasks such as careful VM placement, reactive monitoring of VMDK I/O, and over-sizing of the environment to handle occasional I/O spikes.
5 vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness for vSphere 5.x With the release of vSphere 5.0, VMware added vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) to its set of APIs. VASA enables vCenter to communicate with the PS Series array, through the PS Series VASA Provider, to discern the capabilities of each volume presented to the vSphere environment.
While Storage DRS is aware of the datastores involved (and also the volumes) it does not identify where these volumes exist in the PS Series storage system. Prior to initiating a Storage vMotion action on a virtual machine, Storage DRS consults with the VASA Provider and queries to find out whether the migration of the virtual machine and its workload would benefit the overall I/O workload distribution of the PS Series array.
6 Introduction to Virtual Volumes for vSphere 6.0 VMware vSphere 6.0 introduces Virtual Volumes, a significant change in how storage is utilized in a virtualized environment. Enabled by the second-generation VASA Provider included with Virtual Storage Manager 4.5, this feature enables storage to be virtual-machine aware and for virtual machines to be firstclass citizens in the storage array. With Virtual Volumes, the day-to-day activities of a vSphere administrator change very little.
container, and its underlying physical storage, to be used in creating a particular profile. This allowed the vSphere administrator to create storage profiles that meet their particular business needs. 6.2 Understanding the Virtual Volume storage changes Traditionally, when deploying storage to a vSphere environment, a volume is created on the array, and this becomes a datastore within vCenter upon which virtual machines are placed.
7 Summary Combined with Dell PS Series storage, VMware vSphere can significantly accelerate and automate the virtualized data center. Advanced vSphere storage features leverage the intelligence that exists in PS Series arrays, enabling more-efficient use of the server and networking infrastructure and more-efficient use of IT staff administering these environments.
A Configuration details A.1 VMware licensing The storage features discussed in this document are dependent upon the vSphere licensing requirements listed in Table 1.
B Additional resources B.1 Technical support and customer service Offering online and telephone-based support and service options, Dell support service can answer your questions about PS Series arrays, groups, volumes, array software, and host software. Availability varies by country and product, and some services might not be available in your area. Visit Dell.com/support or call 800-945-3355 (United States and Canada). For international support of Dell PS Series products, visit http://www.dell.
VMware Virtual Machine Protection with Dell EqualLogic Virtual Storage Manager v4.0 VMware Storage I/O Control Technical Overview and Considerations for Deployment VMware Whatโs New in VMware vSphere 5.1 โ Storage B.5 Feedback We encourage readers of this publication to provide feedback on the quality and usefulness of this information by sending an email to StorageSolutionsFeedback@Dell.com.
