Data Center iSCSI: Building next generation storage networks

Data-Center iSCSI – Building next generation storage networks

Currentservertechnologysupportsmulti‐coreprocessors,eachcapableofrunning10ormorevirtual

systemssimultaneously.Thiscanresultinover1,000virtualsystemsrunninginonerack,drivinga

massiveincreaseonthenetworkinterfacesinvirtualenvironments.

Alongwithaconvergedinfrastructure,comestherequirementforstoragenetworkingtechnologiesthat

areabletosupportmassivescale‐outvirtualserverfarms,andfacilitaterapidprovisioninganddynamic

movementofworkloadsbetweensystems.Inordertoreapthebenefitsofvirtualization,itis

imperativethatnetworksandstoragesystemsareabletosupportdynamicworkloads.

AScalableSANforVirtualEnvironments

iSCSIisoneofthefewstoragenetworkingtechnologiesabletodeliverflexiblescalabilityalongwithhigh

performanceandavailabilitywhileretainingeaseofmanagement.TheuseofiSCSIisincreasingwithout

regardtoindustryorcompanysizeduetoitsabilitytodeliveronthesecapabilities.

OneoftheprimarybenefitsofiSCSIisitsuniqueability togrowfromsmall,inexpensiveworkgroup

deploymentstolarge,enterprise‐gradeSANenvironments.Themultipleoptionsforprovidinghigh‐

availabilityalsoprovidechoicesforITdepartmentslookingtodeliverhigh‐availabilityconnectivityand

fail‐overcapabilities.

Additionally,iSCSIsupportstheuseofbothsoftwareinitiatorsrunningoverstandardEthernetforlow

costconnectivity,andspecializedserveradaptersforthehighestperformance.Adaptersleverage

hardwareassistancetoprovideperformancegainsforhighlyvirtualized environmentsandsystems

runningcriticalapplications.

ThestandardOSinitiatorsusedbyiSCSIallowITadministratorstoutilizeembeddedEthernetlinks,or

addhighperformance10Gbconnections.Asaresult,administratorscanavoiddeployin g complex,

singlepurpose,adaptersandtheinherentcompatibilitychallengeswithproprietaryinitiators.

EvaluatorGroupComment:iSCSIprovidesunmatchedscalability,byinexpensively

supportingsmallnetworksandscalinguptothousandsofdedicatedSANportsfor

largeenterpriseswhorequirethehighestperformanceandavailability.

Forhighlyvirtualizedenvironments,serveradaptersoff‐loadprocessingtodedicatedhardwarethat

workswiththeoperatingsystemstoacceleratenativeOSprotocolssuchasTCP/IPandiSCSI.These

adapterscanalsoprovideI/OvirtualizationtoscaleI/Oacrossmulti‐coreservers.Bystandardizingon

scalableprotocolsandconnectors,iSCSIsupportsmovingfromlow‐costbuiltinadapterstospecialized

adapterswhenneeded,allwhileusingthesameprotocolsandmanagementtools.Asaresult,iSCSI

deliverstheperformanceandflexibilityrequiredforvirtualized,dynamicdatacenters.

I/OtechnologiesforVirtualization

AnotherbenefitisiSCSI’sabilitytodeliverfeaturesthatvirtualserverworkloadsdemand,suchasthe

abilitytomoveapplications anddatatransparently,withoutre‐provisioningtheSANnetwork.

WithanewgenerationofEthernetavailableasaconvergeddatatransport,ITusersarenowableto

deployonetransportandthenchoosewhichprotocolsprovidethebestmatchforanapplication.

