Hitachi Data Systems Virtual Storage Platform (VSP)

With the purchase order now received at the vendors end, I’ve decided to write an article about the new enterprise VSP storage array from Hitachi Data Systems (HDS).

Over the past few months I have been researching a number of different enterprise arrays with the hope of meeting stringent criteria:

• Green (not in colour but in terms of its carbon footprint – this means power draw, cooling and hardware density)
• Scalability
• Redundancy
• Ability to mix with existing arrays (non vendor specific)
• Support for mainframe connectivity (FICON point to point)
• Storage Tiering (Tiering of data across multiple storage technologies such as SSD, SAS and SATA so that high I/O is dynamically elevated to the correct tier)
• Thin Provisioning (Ability to only allocate storage that is actually used and reclaim overheads)
• VAAI (VMware Array Application Integration with Virtual Center). For those of you who aren’t aware what this means, it involves 3 different VMware API’s that ultimately improve efficiency:

1. Hardware Locking Offload – Ability to have more than one ESX host access and then write to a LUN/Datastore simultaneously, assisting in operations such as VMotion, creating new VM’s and deploying from template.
2. Write Same – When writing to a VMFS LUN/Datastore the data must first be zeroed out completely using a SCSI write command, this ensures integrity of data. By offloading the repetitive commands of identical zero blocks to the array, tasks such as formatting and reallocation are dramatically reduced in terms of I/O – up to 10x.
3. Fully Copy – Typically VM’s that are being vmotioned, cloned or even created the data must first be read by the host before being written back to the array. This is no longer the case as the API can now handle the task, reducing times by more than 50%.

**If you’d like to read a good article which references actual performance gains from the technology, go here: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2011/03/24/vaai-sweetness/

 

The criteria above is specific to a customer’s requirements but I would imagine it to be at least 80% is relevant for most large corporates who employ SAN storage and are looking to create a totally dynamic and scalable storage solution.

As mentioned above I looked at a few different arrays such as the IBM V7000 and the NETAPP FAS3210. Now, I know a lot of you will be asking the question… where is the VMAX or VPLEX from EMC? Not this time unfortunately (I have a background in EMC SAN so I was disappointed not to have at least seen a demo).

Each of these arrays displayed impressive feature sets, however at the end of the day it was the VSP from HDS that took honors. Albeit this box isn’t the best looking with its green face-plates (image below), but its features have truly put it ahead of the class. Just to name a few that were stand outs:

• 2.5” 10K drives for improved array density (equivalent to 3.5” 15k). Up to 256 drives in your initial rack with controllers and 384 for each subsequent.
• VAAI functionality (first to market out of all vendors, which begs the question… where were you EMC, I thought you guys owned VMware???) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/08/hds_vaai_first/
• 6GB SAS switched back-end
• 8Gbps Fibre Channel Connectivity
• Ability to reverse the role of front end directors (FEDS) in to back end directors (BEDS)
• Priceless peace of mind knowing that Hitachi Data Systems employ disk from Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. End to end manufacturing has its advantages!
• Scales up to 1TB of flash

**NB: The unit still needs 8 x 32amp feeds (2 for each of the 4 x PDU’s)

With the array only a few weeks away from arriving on the floor it’s time to begin running fibre and finalising its initial uses. For this particular customer we will be rolling out its features in phases and the 1^st phases includes:

• Dynamic Tiering
• Dynamic Pooling
• FED to BED virtualization for existing arrays

In my next blog I will talk about the new found relationship that this array will have with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) – 750 x Windows XP 32bit Desktops running on 6 vSphere 4.1 hosts with you guessed it… a VSP at the back end!

VSP Image Reference Courtesy of HDS.COM: