White
Paper
A Storage Network Architecture for
Highly Dynamic Virtualized and Cloud
Computing Environments
Juniper’s QFabric Solution for EMC Storage
Environments
By Bob Laliberte, Senior Analyst
May 2013
This ESG White Paper was commissioned by Juniper
and is distributed under license from ESG.
Contents
Data Centers in Transition ... 3
Challenges ... 3
The Storage Network ... 4
What Is Needed ... 5
Juniper Networks Solution... 6
The Bigger Truth ... 8
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Virtualization and cloud computing have seen increased adoption across IT environments everywhere. Server and storage virtualization, now commonplace across a range of industries, enable enterprises to spin-up compute resources or additional capacity on the fly. These virtualization technologies have also served as the foundation for more advanced cloud computing, in which IT organizations dynamically provision virtualized resources to support their organizations’ changing business needs.
ESG research shows that organizations continue to express interest in server virtualization technology, as it ranks in the top three most important IT priorities reported by respondent organizations for 2013.1 The potential of these highly virtualized or cloud-based models isn’t always fully exploited, however. Data centers, in many cases, must replace existing infrastructure before organizations can realize the vision of rapidly provisioned, utility-like services. Thus, data centers have to transition in order to provide greater flexibility, responsiveness, and a tighter alignment between IT and line-of-business operations. This will enable the business to deploy new applications or application upgrades faster and more efficiently.
In particular, the networking environment has trailed other infrastructure components in the transition of the data center to a more dynamic resource for the business. Enterprise networks that were architected for legacy and static client/server computing have failed to adequately support highly dynamic cloud environments. Storage networks, in particular, have lagged behind. In many cases, application deployments are delayed, waiting for the network to be provisioned.
A greater focus on storage networking will help companies get the most out of their virtualization and cloud technology investments. Overall, modern data centers require storage network architectures capable of supporting all types of storage networks and a range of service levels.
Challenges
Enterprises face a number of networking challenges as they ramp up virtualization and boost their commitment to cloud computing.
Indeed, evidence suggests that legacy networks are hampering the rollout of applications. ESG research found that the typical timeframes for deploying new applications or upgrading existing ones amongst respondent
organizations were longer than what can be expected in highly dynamic cloud settings. In fact, fully one-third of the respondents (administrators responsible for application development or the networks supporting applications) reported that it took three months or more to deploy a new application. Thirty percent said that the task takes at least one month.2
To be sure, application compatibility issues play a role in holding back application deployment. But network
infrastructure also emerges as a key contributor. Inflexible legacy networks require ample time to provision services and thus fail to scale quickly enough to meet demand. ESG survey respondents cited the length of time to provision network services as the top networking-related challenge they encounter when rolling out an application.3 Next on the list was the failure of legacy networks to scale rapidly, followed by network latency and insufficient flexibility to support virtual environments (see Figure 1).
1
Source: ESG Research Report, 2013 IT Spending Intentions Survey, January 2013.
2
Source: ESG Research Brief, Are Legacy Networks Holding Back Applications, August 2012.
3
Figure 1. Biggest Network Challenges When Deploying a New Application
Source: Enterprise Strategy Group, 2013.
The bottom line: An IT organization that can’t readily scale its network will also encounter delays in application deployment, which, in turn, hinders a business’ ability to react to market trends.
The Storage Network
While the backbone network infrastructure can impede cloud computing, specific storage networks also create problems. IT departments often build storage systems upon distinct and isolated networked storage architectures. Larger enterprises may maintain separate Fibre Channel (FC) storage-area networks (SANs), iSCSI SANs, and network-attached storage (NAS) clusters. ESG research demonstrates the mixed nature of enterprise storage: Twenty six percent of the data storage administrators surveyed identified NAS as the primary storage type, while 22% cited FC and 12% listed iSCSI (see Figure 2).4
4
Source: ESG Research Report, 2012 Storage Market Survey, October 2012.
13% 18% 20% 27% 28% 44% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Not enough security for multi-tenant environment Not enough capacity Lacking flexibility to support virtual environment Latency in the network Lacking ability to rapidly scale Length of time to provision network services
What are the biggest network challenges your organization encounters when deploying a new application? (Percent of respondents, N=97, three responses accepted)
Source: Enterprise Strategy Group, 2012.
The idea behind operating multiple storage architectures is to optimize performance for each type of storage. Individual topologies aim to provide specific performance advantages. Each storage architecture, however, becomes its own discrete network. The resulting storage “silos” restrict the mobility potential of virtualized applications, as virtual machines end up tethered to the resource pools of a specific network. VMs can be mobilized, but only within the confines of the storage silo.
Organizations that build such fragmented storage architectures and networks find themselves with islands of data, rather than holistic resource pools. The huge investments businesses have made in network architectures, tools, and supporting IT teams reinforces this isolation of storage. But, given the current budget crunch, it’s only natural for IT shops to want to extend the life of existing and significant technology investments.
The isolated data islands result in expensive redundancy, but the difficulties don’t end there. Fragmented storage environments also impact applications—they become stranded as well. Organizations host a range of applications including e-mail, e-commerce, business analytics, collaboration, human resources, customer relationship
management, and myriad industry-specific software products. In many cases, each of these applications is initially set up to operate in a particular storage silo (e.g., FC, iSCSI, or NAS). Those applications generally remain locked in place, since moving them out of particular storage settings is extremely difficult.
Another downside: Insufficient flexibility to deal with unpredictable IT resource needs. Cloud computing allows fast resource provisioning, which helps organizations compensate for not knowing precisely what resources they will need and when. But this elasticity suffers when data centers tie applications to specific storage environments and network technologies.
What Is Needed
In order to complete the data center transition, organizations need to rethink how they architect their network environment. Ideally, this would include:
A network architecture capable of supporting all types of networked storage. That scope would include
iSCSI, NAS, FC, and FC over Ethernet (FCoE). FCoE could actually play an important role in a converged
28% 47% 54% 57% 74% 82% 4% 12% 22% 9% 26% 28% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Unified storage iSCSI storage area network (SAN) Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) Direct-attached storage (DAS) Network-attached storage (NAS) Internal server storage
Which of the following type(s) of disk-based storage technologies are currently being used by your organization? Which would you consider to be your organization’s primary
disk-based storage technology? (Percent of respondents, N=418)
Primary disk-based storage technology All disk-based storage technologies
network architecture. Recent developments to FCoE (FC-BB-6) will help it to gain traction as an effective way to extend existing FC investments, but still leverage a high-speed Ethernet network to enable a converged network architecture.
A range of performance levels. In order to support mission-critical applications and heavy I/O
transaction-based workloads, the storage network has to perform at the highest levels. This will be important for those organizations looking to transition from FC to FCoE. However, the optimum network architecture would also be able to support technologies that may not require high performance links. Ultimately, a single network architecture that can deliver a range of performance levels based on the need of the application or workload is required.
The ability to rapidly provision network services regardless of protocol. In order to accelerate application
deployments and meet the varied performance requirements, storage network architectures must be capable of quickly turning up any type of service. Essentially, this means that organizations would be able to wire once and then dynamically reconfigure services where and when they are needed. Running new cable connections or deploying additional infrastructure that supports a single storage network will become increasingly difficult to justify.
Demonstrated and proven interoperability with storage environments. Organizations rely on their storage
networks to run all their applications, so in order to gain acceptance, network vendors need to prove that their infrastructure has been tested and approved by the major storage vendors. This requirement is really not an option if it is to be deployed in an enterprise data center. The last thing an operations team wants to hear is network and storage vendors blaming one another because the solution was fully tested and
deemed to be interoperable with one another’s systems.
Change in storage network team culture. For many years, it has been accepted wisdom that individual
storage networks should be separate architectures. Every protocol has its own environment. Even infrastructures that are capable of running separate protocols, like FC or FICON, are typically deployed as separate physical fabrics. However, virtualization and cloud are game changers. Organizations need to adapt to that change and recognize the opportunities and competitive advantages that can be gained through a new network architecture.
Juniper Networks Solution
The next-generation data center architecture, one in which storage resources are pooled rather than isolated, would seem to require the adoption of a single storage technology. In such an approach, organizations would face the costly prospect of replacing storage systems unable to fit into the consolidated environment.
Juniper Networks offers a product set that lets organizations retain their existing investments in storage systems while enabling them to consolidate and pool storage resources. The company’s solution provides a storage network fabric capable of unifying distributed and disparate storage systems.
Specifically, Juniper’s QFabric System provides an architecture for simplified storage networking that converges all storage network protocols onto a single fabric. A complete QFabric system is comprised of QFabric Nodes, QFabric Interconnects, and a QFabric Director. The role of the QFabric Nodes is to provide ramps for servers and storage to get on to or off of the fabric. The QFabric Interconnects provide high-performance connectivity between QFabric Nodes, while QFabric Director provides centralized control and management which allows network administrators to operate the entire QFabric System as a single device. Standalone Juniper switches such as the QFX3500 and QFX3600 can be converted to QFabric Nodes connecting servers and storage to the fabric, protecting initial investments.
The QFabric System supports iSCSI, Ethernet, and FCoE, offering simplified provisioning across the various
protocols. This capability allows organizations to preserve their storage technology investments because the multi-protocol support will enable organizations to effectively pool together previously disparate islands of storage
base of FC equipment and associated expenditures.
Even more important, the Juniper QFabric System and QFX3500 switch have undergone rigorous testing in EMC’s E-lab and have been proven to be interoperable with EMC VMAX and VNX storage systems. The scope of EMC’s interoperability testing included multiple hypervisors, operating systems, Converged Network Adapters(CNAs), network switches, and EMC’s VMAX and VNX storage systems. EMC’s testing and support from the hypervisor to EMC storage means customers’ Juniper-based data center and EMC solutions now have end-to-end support. As a result of this testing, Juniper’s QFabric System and QFX3500 switch have earned a spot on the EMC Support Matrix and are certified for use in EMC storage network environments.
For storage network administrators, the fact that Juniper’s products received this certification from EMC is critical. Knowing that the products are part of the EMC support matrix removes a great deal of risk from the decision making process for administrators. Organizations that pursue a Juniper QFabric solution will have confidence that the solution will interoperate with existing and future EMC storage arrays.
This may also help an enterprise organization’s supply chain, as their current EMC reseller may also support Juniper, enabling the reseller to deliver the entire unified storage fabric as a single solution from a trusted supplier.
The Bigger Truth
Enterprises must adapt to remain competitive. Continuing to build out silos of separate storage network
environments will eventually restrict flexibility and growth in highly virtualized and cloud environments. However, most organizations already have significant investments in silos of storage networks. Within that context, storage networks confront the two-pronged pressure of building an architecture that will meet future needs and
accommodate existing investments.
IT organizations need to create flexible storage network environments as part of an overall data center transition that will enable the rapid adoption of new applications, scale to meet unknown requirements, and provide flexibility to accommodate different service-level agreements.
Recognizing this imperative, Juniper and EMC have worked together to test and validate a highly flexible solution. This collaboration will help storage teams become comfortable with the solution. Channel partners should also confidently welcome the ability to deploy Juniper’s QFabric into storage network environments built around EMC products.
