EMC VSPEX PRIVATE CLOUD

(1)

EMC VSPEX PRIVATE CLOUD

VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 125 Virtual Machines

Enabled by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup

EMC VSPEX

Abstract

This document describes the EMC^® VSPEX^® Proven Infrastructure solution for private cloud deployments with VMware vSphere 5.5, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup for up to 125 virtual machines.

May 2014

(2)

2 EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 125 Virtual Machines Enabled by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide

Published May 2014

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date.

The information is subject to change without notice.

The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

EMC², EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com.

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 125 Virtual Machines Enabled by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide

Part Number H12855.1

(3)

3 EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 125 Virtual Machines Enabled

by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide

Contents

Chapter 1 Executive Summary 13

Introduction ... 14

Target audience ... 14

Document purpose ... 14

Business needs ... 15

Chapter 2 Solution Overview 17 Introduction ... 18

Virtualization ... 18

Compute ... 18

Network ... 19

Storage ... 19

EMC next-generation VNXe... 20

EMC Powered Backup ... 23

Chapter 3 Solution Technology Overview 25 Overview ... 26

Key components ... 27

Virtualization ... 28

Overview ... 28

VMware vSphere 5.5 ... 28

New VMware vSphere 5.5 features ... 28

VMware vCenter ... 29

VMware vSphere High Availability ... 29

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware vSphere ... 29

VNXe support for VMware vSphere Storage API for Array Integration ... 30

Compute ... 30

Network ... 32

Storage ... 34

Overview ... 34

EMC VNXe series ... 34

VNXe Virtual Provisioning ... 35

VNXe FAST Cache ... 37

VNXe FAST VP ... 37

vCloud Networking and Security ... 37

(4)

VNXe file shares ... 38

ROBO ... 38

EMC Powered Backup ... 39

Overview ... 39

EMC Avamar deduplication ... 39

EMC Data Domain deduplication storage systems ... 39

VMware vSphere Data Protection ... 39

vSphere Replication ... 40

EMC RecoverPoint ... 40

Other technologies ... 41

Overview ... 41

VMware vCloud Automation Center ... 41

VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite ... 42

VMware vCenter Single Sign-On ... 42

Public-key infrastructure ... 43

PowerPath/VE (for block) ... 43

EMC XtremCache ... 44

Chapter 4 Solution Architecture Overview 46 Overview ... 47

Solution architecture ... 47

Overview ... 47

Logical architecture ... 48

Key components ... 49

Storage network ... 50

Hardware resources ... 51

Software resources ... 53

Server configuration guidelines ... 54

Overview ... 54

Ivy Bridge Updates ... 54

VMware vSphere memory virtualization for VSPEX ... 55

Memory configuration guidelines ... 57

Network configuration guidelines ... 58

Overview ... 58

VLANs ... 58

Enable jumbo frames (for iSCSI and NFS) ... 60

Link aggregation (for NFS) ... 60

Storage configuration guidelines ... 61

Overview ... 61

(5)

VMware vSphere storage virtualization for VSPEX ... 62

VSPEX storage building blocks ... 62

VSPEX private cloud validated maximums ... 64

High-availability and failover ... 66

Overview ... 66

Virtualization layer ... 66

Compute layer ... 66

Network layer ... 66

Storage layer ... 67

Validation test profile ... 68

Profile characteristics ... 68

Backup and recovery configuration guidelines... 69

Sizing guidelines ... 69

Reference workload ... 69

Overview ... 69

Defining the reference workload ... 69

Applying the reference workload ... 70

Overview ... 70

Example 1: Custom-built application ... 70

Example 2: Point of sale system ... 71

Example 3: Web server ... 71

Example 4: Decision-support database ... 71

Summary of examples ... 72

Implementing the solution... 72

Overview ... 72

Resource types ... 72

CPU resources ... 72

Memory resources ... 73

Network resources ... 73

Storage resources ... 74

Implementation summary ... 75

Quick assessment ... 75

Overview ... 75

CPU requirements ... 75

Memory requirements ... 76

Storage performance requirements ... 76

I/O operations per second ... 76

I/O size ... 77

I/O latency ... 77

(6)

Storage capacity requirements ... 77

Determining equivalent reference virtual machines ... 77

Fine-tuning hardware resources ... 82

EMC VSPEX Sizing Tool ... 84

Chapter 5 VSPEX Configuration Guidelines 85 Overview ... 86

Pre-deployment tasks ... 87

Overview ... 87

Deployment prerequisites ... 87

Customer configuration data ... 89

Prepare switches, connect network, and configure switches ... 89

Overview ... 89

Prepare network switches ... 89

Configure infrastructure network ... 89

Configure VLANs ... 92

Configure jumbo frames (iSCSI and NFS only) ... 92

Complete network cabling ... 92

Prepare and configure the storage array ... 92

VNXe configuration for block protocols ... 93

VNXe configuration for file protocols ... 95

FAST VP configuration (optional) ... 99

FAST Cache configuration (optional) ... 101

Install and configure the VMware vSphere hosts ... 105

Overview ... 105

Install ESXi ... 105

Configure ESXi networking ... 105

Install and configure PowerPath/VE (block only) ... 106

Connect VMware datastores ... 106

Plan virtual machine memory allocations ... 106

Install and configure Microsoft SQL Server databases ... 109

Overview ... 109

Create a virtual machine for SQL Server ... 109

Install Microsoft Windows on the virtual machine ... 109

Install SQL Server ... 110

Configure database for VMware vCenter ... 110

Configure database for VMware Update Manager... 110

Install and configure VMware vCenter Server ... 111

Overview ... 111

(7)

Create the vCenter host virtual machine ... 112

Install vCenter guest OS ... 112

Create vCenter ODBC connections ... 112

Install vCenter Server ... 112

Apply vSphere license keys ... 113

Install the EMC VSI plug-in ... 113

Create a virtual machine in vCenter ... 113

Perform partition alignment, and assign file allocation unit size ... 113

Create a template virtual machine ... 113

Deploy virtual machines from the template virtual machine ... 113

Summary ... 114

Chapter 6 Verifying the Solution 115 Overview ... 116

Post-install checklist ... 117

Deploy and test a single virtual server ... 117

Verify the redundancy of the solution components ... 117

Block and File environments ... 117

Chapter 7 System Monitoring 118 Overview ... 119

Key areas to monitor ... 119

Performance baseline ... 119

Servers ... 120

Networking ... 120

Storage ... 121

VNX resource monitoring guidelines ... 121

Monitoring block storage resources ... 121

Monitoring file storage resources ... 129

Appendix A Bill of Materials 135 Bill of materials ... 136

Appendix B Customer Configuration Data Sheet 139 Customer configuration data sheet ... 140

Appendix C Server Resource Component Worksheet 143 Server resources component worksheet ... 144

Appendix D References 145 References ... 146

EMC documentation ... 146

(8)

Other documentation ... 146

Appendix E About VSPEX 147

About VSPEX ... 148

(9)

by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide Figures

Figure 1. Next-Generation VNXe with multicore optimization ... 22

Figure 2. New Unisphere Management Suite ... 23

Figure 3. EMC Powered Backup solutions ... 24

Figure 4. Private cloud components ... 26

Figure 5. Compute layer flexibility ... 31

Figure 6. Example of highly available network design—for block ... 33

Figure 7. Storage pool rebalance progress ... 35

Figure 8. Thin LUN space utilization ... 36

Figure 9. Examining storage pool space utilization... 37

Figure 10. Logical architecture for block storage ... 48

Figure 11. Logical architecture for file storage ... 49

Figure 12. Ivy Bridge processor guidance ... 54

Figure 13. Hypervisor memory consumption ... 56

Figure 14. Required networks for block storage ... 59

Figure 15. Required networks for file storage ... 60

Figure 16. VMware virtual disk types ... 62

Figure 17. Storage layout building block for 15 virtual machines ... 63

Figure 18. Storage layout building block for 125 virtual machines ... 63

Figure 19. Storage layout for 125 virtual machines using VNXe3200 ... 64

Figure 20. Maximum scale levels and entry points of different arrays ... 65

Figure 21. High availability at the virtualization layer ... 66

Figure 22. Redundant power supplies ... 66

Figure 23. Network layer high availability (VNXe) ... 67

Figure 24. VNXe series high availability ... 68

Figure 25. Resource pool flexibility ... 72

Figure 26. Required resource from the reference virtual machine pool ... 79

Figure 27. Aggregate resource requirements – stage 1 ... 80

Figure 28. Pool configuration – stage 1 ... 81

Figure 29. Aggregate resource requirements - stage 2 ... 82

Figure 30. Pool configuration – stage 2 ... 82

Figure 31. Customizing server resources ... 83

Figure 32. Sample network architecture – Block storage ... 90

Figure 33. Sample Ethernet network architecture – File storage ... 91

Figure 34. Configure NAS Server Address ... 97

Figure 35. Fast VP relocation tab ... 99

Figure 36. Scheduled Fast VP relocation ... 100

Figure 37. Fast VP Relocation Schedule ... 100

Figure 38. Create Fast Cache ... 102

(10)

Figure 39. Advanced tab in the Create Storage Pool dialog box ... 103

Figure 40. Advanced tab in the Storage Pool Properties dialog box ... 104

Figure 41. Virtual machine memory settings ... 107

Figure 42. Storage Pool alert settings ... 122

Figure 43. Storage Pool Snapshot settings ... 123

Figure 44. Storage Pools panel ... 123

Figure 45. LUN Properties dialog box ... 124

Figure 46. System panel ... 125

Figure 47. System Health panel ... 125

Figure 48. IOPS on the LUNs ... 126

Figure 49. IOPS on the drives ... 127

Figure 50. Latency on the LUNs ... 128

Figure 51. SP CPU Utilization... 129

Figure 52. VNXe file statistics ... 130

Figure 53. System Capacity panel ... 130

Figure 54. File Systems panel ... 131

Figure 55. File System Capacity panel ... 132

Figure 56. System Performance panel displaying file metrics ... 133

Tables Table 1. VNXe customer benefits ... 34

Table 2. Solution hardware ... 51

Table 3. Solution software ... 53

Table 4. Hardware resources for the compute layer ... 55

Table 5. Hardware resources for the network layer ... 58

Table 6. Hardware resources for the storage layer ... 61

Table 7. Number of disks required for different number of virtual machines ... 64

Table 8. Profile characteristics ... 68

Table 9. Virtual machine characteristics... 70

Table 10. Blank worksheet row ... 75

Table 11. Reference virtual machine resources ... 77

Table 12. Example worksheet row ... 78

Table 13. Example applications – stage 1 ... 80

Table 14. Example applications -stage 2 ... 81

Table 15. Server resource component totals ... 83

Table 16. Deployment process overview ... 86

Table 17. Tasks for pre-deployment ... 87

Table 18. Deployment prerequisites checklist ... 87

(11)

Table 19. Tasks for switch and network configuration ... 89

Table 20. Tasks for VNXe configuration ... 93

Table 21. Storage allocation table for block data ... 94

Table 22. Tasks for storage configuration ... 95

Table 23. Storage allocation table for file data ... 98

Table 24. Tasks for server installation ... 105

Table 25. Tasks for SQL Server database setup ... 109

Table 26. Tasks for vCenter configuration ... 111

Table 27. Tasks for testing the installation ... 116

Table 28. Rules of thumb for drive performance ... 127

Table 29. Best practice for performance monitoring ... 129

Table 30. List of components used in the VSPEX solution for 125 virtual machines ... 136

Table 31. Common server information ... 140

Table 32. ESXi server information ... 140

Table 33. Array information ... 141

Table 34. Network infrastructure information ... 141

Table 35. VLAN information ... 142

Table 36. Service accounts ... 142

Table 38. Blank worksheet for server resource totals ... 144

(12)

(13)

Chapter 1 Executive Summary

This chapter presents the following topics:

Introduction ... 14

Target audience ... 14

Document purpose ... 14

Business needs ... 15

(14)

Introduction

EMC^® VSPEX^® validated and modular architectures are built with proven technologies comprising complete virtualization solutions that enable you to make an informed decision in the hypervisor, compute, and networking layers. VSPEX helps to reduce virtualization planning and configuration burdens. When embarking on server virtualization, virtual desktop deployment, or IT consolidation, VSPEX accelerates your IT transformation by enabling faster deployments, expanded choices, greater efficiency, and lower risk.

This document is a comprehensive guide to the technical aspects of this solution.

Server capacity is provided in generic terms for required minimums of CPU, memory, and network interfaces; the customer is free to select server and networking hardware that meet or exceed the stated minimums.

Target audience

The readers of this document must have the necessary training and background to install and configure VMware vSphere 5.5, EMC Next-Generation VNXe^® series storage systems, and associated infrastructure as required by this implementation. External references are provided where applicable, and readers should be familiar with these documents.

Readers should also be familiar with the infrastructure and database security policies of the customer installation.

Individuals selling and sizing a VMware Private Cloud infrastructure must pay particular attention to the first four chapters of this document. After purchase,

implementers of the solution should focus on the configuration guidelines in Chapter 5, the solution validation in Chapter 6, and the appropriate references and

appendices.

Document purpose

This document includes an initial introduction to the VSPEX architecture, an explanation of how to modify the architecture for specific engagements, and instructions on how to effectively deploy and monitor the system.

The VSPEX Private Cloud architecture provides customers with a modern system capable of hosting many virtual machines at a consistent performance level. This solution runs on the VMware vSphere virtualization layer backed by highly available VNXe series storage. The compute and network components, which are defined by the VSPEX partners, are designed to be redundant and sufficiently powerful to handle the processing and data needs of the virtual machine environment.

The 125 virtual machine VMware Private Cloud solution described in this document is based on the VNXe3200^™ storage array and on a defined reference workload. Since not every virtual machine has the same requirements, this document contains methods and guidance to adjust your system to be cost-effective as deployed. For larger environments, solutions for up to 1,000 virtual machines based on the EMC

(15)

by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide VNX series are described in EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: VMware vSphere 5.5 for up to 1000 Virtual Machines.

A private cloud architecture is a complex system offering. This document facilitates setup by providing prerequisite software and hardware material lists, step-by-step sizing guidance and worksheets, and verified deployment steps. After the last component has been installed, validation tests and monitoring instructions ensure that your system is running properly. Following the instructions in this document ensures an efficient and painless journey to the cloud.

Business needs

VSPEX solutions are built with proven technologies to create complete virtualization solutions that allow you to make an informed decision in the hypervisor, server, and networking layers.

Business applications are moving into consolidated compute, network, and storage environments. EMC VSPEX Private Cloud using VMware reduces the complexity of configuring every component of a traditional deployment model. The solution simplifies integration management while maintaining the application design and implementation options. It also provides unified administration while enabling adequate control and monitoring of process separation. The business benefits for the VSPEX Private Cloud for VMware architectures include:

 Provide an end-to-end virtualization solution to effectively use the capabilities of the unified infrastructure components.

 Provide a VSPEX Private Cloud solution for VMware for efficiently virtualizing up to 125 virtual machines for varied customer use cases.

 Provide a reliable, flexible, and scalable reference design.

(16)

(17)

Chapter 2 Solution Overview

Introduction ... 18

Virtualization ... 18

Compute ... 18

Network ... 19

Storage ... 19

(18)

Introduction

The VSPEX Private Cloud for VMware vSphere 5.5 solution provides a complete system architecture capable of supporting up to 125 virtual machines with a redundant server and network topology and highly available storage. The core components that make up this solution are virtualization, compute, storage, and networking.

Virtualization

VMware vSphere is the leading virtualization platform in the industry. For years, it has provided flexibility and cost savings to end users by enabling the consolidation of large, inefficient server farms into nimble, reliable cloud infrastructures. The core VMware vSphere components are the VMware vSphere hypervisor and the VMware vCenter Server for system management.

The VMware hypervisor runs on a dedicated server and allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on the system as virtual machines. These hypervisor systems can be connected to operate in a clustered configuration. The clustered configurations are then managed as a larger resource pool through VMware vCenter, and allow for dynamic allocation of CPU, memory, and storage across the cluster.

Features such as VMware vMotion, which allows a virtual machine to move between different servers with no disruption to the operating system, and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), which performs vMotion migrations automatically to balance the load, make vSphere a solid business choice.

With vSphere 5.5, a VMware-virtualized environment can host virtual machines with up to 64 virtual CPUs and 1 TB of virtual random access memory (RAM).

Compute

VSPEX provides the flexibility to design and implement the customer’s choice of server components. The infrastructure must conform to the following attributes:

 Sufficient cores and memory to support the required number and types of virtual machines

 Sufficient network connections to enable redundant connectivity to the system switches

 Sufficient capacity to enable the environment to withstand a server failure and failover in the environment

(19)

Network

VSPEX provides the flexibility to design and implement the customer’s choice of network components. The infrastructure must conform to the following attributes:

 Redundant network links for the hosts, switches, and storage

 Traffic isolation based on industry-accepted best practices

 Support for link aggregation

Storage

The EMC VNXe series is the leading shared storage platform in the industry. VNXe provides both file and block access with a broad feature set, which makes it an ideal choice for any private cloud implementation.

VNXe storage includes the following components that are sized for the specified reference architecture workload:

 I/O ports (for block and file): Provide host connectivity to the array which supports CIFS/SMB, NFS, FC, and iSCSI).

 Storage processors (SP): The compute components of the storage array, used for all aspects of data moving into, out of, and between arrays. Unlike the VNX series, which requires external processing units known as Data Movers to provide file services, the VNXe contains integrated code that provides file services to hosts.

 Disk drives: Disk spindles and solid state drives (SSDs) that contain the host or application data and their enclosures.

The VMware Private Cloud solution for 125 virtual machines described in this document is based on the VNXe3200 storage array. The VNXe3200 can currently support a maximum of 50 drives.

The EMC VNXe series supports a wide range of business class features ideal for the private cloud environment, including:

 Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP^™)

 FAST Cache

 Thin provisioning

 Snapshots/checkpoints

 File-Level Retention (FLR)

 Quota management

 Deduplication

(20)

Features and enhancements

EMC now offers customers even greater performance and choice than before with the inclusion of the next generation of VNXe Unified Storage into the VSPEX family of Proven Infrastructures. The next-generation VNXe, led by the VNXe3200, offers a hybrid, unified storage system for VSPEX customers who need to centralize and simplify storage when transforming their IT infrastructure and delivery model.

Customers who need to virtualize up to 125 virtual machines with VSPEX Private Cloud solutions will now see the benefits that the new multicore (MCx^™) VNXe3200 brings. The new architecture distributes all data services across all the system’s cores. This means that cache management and backend RAID management processes scale linearly and benefit greatly from the latest Intel multicore CPUs.

Simply put, I/O operations in VSPEX run faster and more efficiently than ever before with the new VNXe3200.

The VNXe3200 is ushering in a profoundly new experience for small and medium- sized VSPEX owners as it delivers performance and scale at a lower price. The

VNXe3200 is a significantly more powerful system than the previous VNXe series and ships with many enterprise-like features and capabilities such as auto-tiering, file deduplication, and compression, which add to the simplicity, efficiency, and flexibility of the VSPEX Private Cloud.

EMC FAST Cache and FAST VP, features that have in the past been exclusive to the VNX, are now available to VSPEX customers with VNXe3200 storage. FAST Cache dynamically extends the storage system’s existing read/write caching capacity to increase system-wide performance and lower the cost per virtual machine. FAST Cache uses high-performing flash drives that are positioned between the primary cache (DRAM-based) and the hard disk drives. This feature boosts the performance of highly transactional applications and virtual desktops by keeping hot data in the cache, so it is available when you need it.

VNXe3200 FAST Cache and FAST VP auto-tiering lowers the total cost of ownership through policy-based movement of your data to the right storage type. This

maximizes the cost investment and speed benefit of SSDs across the system intelligently while leveraging the capacity of less-costly spinning drives. This avoids over-purchasing and exhaustive manual configuration.

The EMC VNXe flash-optimized unified storage platform delivers innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object storage in a single, scalable, and easy-to-use solution. Ideal for mixed workloads in physical or virtual environments, the VNXe combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today’s virtualized application environments.

The VNXe includes many features and enhancements designed and built upon the success of the next generation VNX series. These features and enhancements include:

 More capacity with multicore optimization with multicore cache, multicore RAID, and multicore FAST Cache (MCx)

 Greater efficiency with a flash-optimized hybrid array EMC next-

generation VNXe

(21)

 Easier administration and deployment by increasing productivity with the new Unisphere^® Management Suite

VSPEX built with the next generation VNXe delivers even greater efficiency, performance, and scalability than ever before.

Flash-optimized hybrid array

The VNXe is a flash-optimized hybrid array that provides automated tiering to deliver the best performance for your critical data, while intelligently moving less frequently accessed data to lower-cost disks.

In this hybrid approach, a small percentage of flash drives in the overall system can provide a high percentage of the overall IOPS. A flash-optimized VNXe takes full advantage of the low latency of flash to deliver cost-saving optimization and high performance scalability. The EMC Fully Automated Storage Tiering Suite (FAST Cache and FAST VP) tiers both block and file data across heterogeneous drives and migrates the most active data to the flash drives, ensuring that customers never have to make concessions for cost or performance.

Data is used most frequently at the time it is created; therefore, new data should be first stored on flash drives for the best performance. As that data ages and becomes less active over time, FAST VP moves the data from high-performance to high-capacity drives automatically, based on customer-defined policies. FAST Cache dynamically absorbs unpredicted spikes in system workloads. Inactive data on high-capacity drives that suddenly become active can benefit from FAST Cache because it can provide immediate performance benefits by promoting the data to flash drives. All VSPEX use cases benefit from this increased efficiency.

Note: This reference architecture does not make use of FAST Cache or FAST VP.

VSPEX Proven Infrastructures deliver private cloud, end-user computing, and virtualized application solutions. With the VNXe, customers can realize an even greater return on their investment. The VNXe also provides out-of-band, file-based deduplication that can dramatically lower the costs of the flash tier.

VNXe Intel MCx code path optimization

The advent of flash technology has been a catalyst in changing the requirements of entry and midrange storage systems. EMC redesigned the VNXe storage platform to efficiently optimize multicore CPUs to provide the highest performing storage system at the lowest cost in the market.

MCx distributes all VNXe data services across all processor cores, as shown in Figure 1. The VNXe series with MCx has dramatically improved the file performance for transactional applications like databases or virtual machines over network-attached storage (NAS).

(22)

Figure 1. Next-Generation VNXe with multicore optimization

Multicore Cache

The cache is the most valuable asset in the storage subsystem; its efficient use is key to the overall efficiency of the platform in handling variable and changing workloads.

The VNXe cache engine has been modularized to take advantage of all the cores available in the system.

Multicore RAID

Another important part of the MCx redesign is the handling of I/O to the permanent back-end storage—hard disk drives (HDDs) and SSDs. The modularization of the back-end data management processing, which enables MCx to seamlessly scale across all processors, greatly increased performance improvements in VNXe.

VNXe performance

Performance enhancements

VNXe storage, enabled with the MCx architecture, is optimized for FLASH 1^st and provides unprecedented overall performance; it optimizes transaction performance (cost per IOPS), bandwidth performance (cost per GB/s) with low latency, and capacity efficiency (cost per GB).

VNXe with MCx technology improves overall storage performance by up to four times when compared with previous generation VNXe models.

Unisphere Management Suite

The new Unisphere Management Suite extends Unisphere’s easy-to-use, interface to include VNXe Monitoring and Reporting for validating performance and anticipating capacity requirements. As shown in Figure 2, the suite also includes Unisphere Remote for centrally managing thousands of VNX and VNXe systems with new support for EMC XtremCache^™.

(23)

by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide Figure 2. New Unisphere Management Suite

Virtualization Management

VMware Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware vSphere

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware VSphere is a no-charge VMware vCenter plug-in available to all VMware users with EMC storage. VSPEX customers can use VSI to simplify management of virtualized storage. VMware administrators can gain visibility into their VNXe storage using the same familiar vCenter interface to which they are accustomed.

With VSI, IT administrators can do more work in less time. VSI offers unmatched access control that enables you to efficiently manage and delegate storage tasks with confidence. VSI offers unmatched access control that enables you to efficiently manage and delegate storage tasks with confidence: you can perform daily management tasks with up to 90 percent fewer clicks and up to 10 times higher productivity.

Note: VSI will be supported with VNXe3200 after general availability. For more information, contact the appropriate EMC support channel.

VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration

VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) offloads VMware storage- related functions from the server to the storage system, enabling more efficient use of server and network resources for increased performance and consolidation.

VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness

VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) is a VMware-defined API that displays storage information through vCenter. Integration between VASA

technology and VNXe makes storage management in a virtualized environment a seamless experience.

EMC Powered Backup solutions, EMC Avamar^® and EMC Data Domain^®, deliver the protection confidence needed to accelerate the deployment of VSPEX Private Clouds.

Optimized for virtual environments, EMC Powered Backup reduces backup times by 90 percent and increases recovery speeds by 30 times, even offering virtual machine instant access for worry-free protection. EMC backup appliances add another layer of assurance with end-to-end verification and self-healing to ensure successful

EMC Powered Backup

(24)

recoveries. With industry-leading deduplication, you can reduce backup storage by 10 to 30 times, backup management time by 81 percent, and WAN bandwidth by 99 percent for efficient disaster recovery; this delivers a seven-month payback period on average. You will be able to scale storage easily and efficiently as your environment grows.

EMC Powered Backup solutions that can be used in this VSPEX solution include EMC Avamar deduplication software and system, EMC Data Domain deduplication storage system, and VDP Advanced.

Figure 3. EMC Powered Backup solutions

For a 125 virtual machine VMware-based VSPEX Private Cloud deployment, we recommend VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced (VDP Advanced) for your backup solution. Powered by Avamar technology, VDP Advanced offers the benefits of Avamar's fast, efficient image-level backup and recovery for complete protection confidence.

(25)

Chapter 3 Solution Technology Overview

Overview ... 26 Key components ... 27 Virtualization ... 28 Compute ... 30 Network ... 32 Storage ... 34 EMC Powered Backup ... 39 Other technologies ... 41

(26)

Overview

This solution uses the EMC VNXe series and VMware vSphere 5.5 to provide storage and server hardware consolidation in a private cloud. The new virtualized

infrastructure is centrally managed, to provide efficient deployment and management of a scalable number of virtual machines and associated shared storage.

Figure 4 depicts the solution components.

Figure 4. Private cloud components

The following sections describe the components in more detail.

(27)

Key components

This section describes the key components of this solution.

 Virtualization

The virtualization layer decouples the physical implementation of resources from the applications that use them. In other words, the application view of the available resources is no longer directly tied to the hardware. This enables many key features in the private cloud concept.

 Compute

The compute layer provides memory and processing resources for the virtualization layer software, and for the applications running in the private cloud. The VSPEX program defines the minimum amount of required compute layer resources, and enables the partner to implement the solution by using any server hardware that meets these requirements

 Network

The network layer connects the users of the private cloud to the resources in the cloud, and the storage layer to the compute layer. The VSPEX program defines the minimum number of required network ports, provides general guidance on network architecture, and enables the customer to implement the solution by using any network hardware that meets these requirements.

 Storage

The storage layer is critical for the implementation of the private cloud. With multiple hosts accessing shared data, many of the use cases defined in the private cloud can be implemented. The EMC VNXe storage family used in this solution provides high-performance data storage while maintaining high availability.

 EMC Powered Backup

The backup and recovery components of the solution provide data protection when the data in the primary system is deleted, damaged, or unusable.

The Solution architecture section provides details on all the components that make up the reference architecture.

(28)

Virtualization

The virtualization layer is a key component of any server virtualization or private cloud solution. It decouples the application resource requirements from the underlying physical resources that serve them. This enables greater flexibility in the application layer by eliminating hardware downtime for maintenance, and allows the system to physically change without affecting the hosted applications. In a server virtualization or private cloud use case, it enables multiple independent virtual machines to share the same physical hardware, rather than being directly implemented on dedicated hardware.

VMware vSphere 5.5 transforms the physical resources of a computer by virtualizing the CPU, RAM, hard disk, and network controller. This transformation creates fully functional virtual machines that run isolated and encapsulated operating systems and applications just like physical computers.

The high-availability features of VMware vSphere 5.5 such as vMotion and Storage vMotion enable seamless migration of virtual machines and stored files from one vSphere server to another, or from one data storage area to another, with minimal or no performance impact. Coupled with vSphere DRS and Storage DRS, virtual

machines have access to the appropriate resources at any point in time through load balancing of compute and storage resources.

VMware vSphere 5.5 includes an expansive list of new and improved features that enhance performance, reliability, availability, and recovery of virtualized

environments. Of those features, several have significant impacts upon VSPEX Private Cloud deployments, including:

 Expanded maximum memory and CPU limits for ESX hosts. Logical and virtual CPU counts have doubled in this version, as have non-uniform memory access (NUMA) node counts and maximum memory. This means host servers can support larger workloads.

 62 TB Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) file support including Raw Device Mapping (RDM). Datastores can hold more data from more virtual machines, which simplifies storage management and leverages larger capacity NL-SAS drives.

 Enhanced VAAI UNMAP support that includes a new esxcli storage vmfs unmap command with multiple reclamation methods.

 Enhanced Single-Root Input/Output (I/O) Virtualization (SR-IOV) support that simplifies configuration via workflows, and surfaces more properties into the virtual functions.

 16 Gb end-to-end support for FC environments.

 Enhanced Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) functions offering additional hash algorithms and up to 64 Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs).

 vSphere Data Protection (VDP), which can now replicate backup data directly to EMC Avamar.

 40 Gb Mellanox NIC support.

Overview

VMware vSphere 5.5

New VMware vSphere 5.5 features

(29)

 Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) heap improvements, which reduce memory requirements while allowing access to the full 64 TB VMFS address space.

VMwarevCenter is a centralized management platform for the VMware virtual infrastructure. This platform provides administrators with a single interface for all aspects of monitoring, managing, and maintaining the virtual infrastructure, accessed from multiple devices.

VMware vCenter also manages some advanced features of the VMware virtual infrastructure such as VMware vSphere High Availability (HA) and DRS, along with vMotion and Update Manager.

The VMware vSphere High Availability feature enables the virtualization layer to automatically restart virtual machines in various failure conditions.

 If the virtual machine operating system has an error, the virtual machine can automatically restart on the same hardware.

 If the physical hardware has an error, the impacted virtual machines can automatically restart on other servers in the cluster.

Note: To restart virtual machines on different hardware, the servers must have available resources. The Compute section provides detailed information to enable this function.

With vSphere High Availability, you can configure policies to determine which machines automatically restart, and under what conditions to attempt these operations.

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware vSphere is a plug-in for the vSphere client. It provides a single management interface for EMC storage within the vSphere environment, allowing you to add and remove features to VSI independently. This provides flexibility for customizing VSI user environments. Features are managed by using the VSI Feature Manager. VSI provides a unified user experience, which enables new features to be introduced rapidly in response to customer requirements.

Validation testing uses the following features:

 Storage Viewer: Extends the vSphere client to help to discover and identify EMC VNXe storage devices allocated to VMware vSphere hosts and virtual machines.

Storage Viewer presents the underlying storage details to the virtual data center administrator, merging the data of several different storage mapping tools into a few seamless vSphere client views.

 Unified Storage Management: Simplifies storage administration of the EMC VNX unified storage platform. It enables VMware administrators to provision VMFS datastores, RDM volumes, or network file system (NFS) datastores seamlessly within vSphere client.

Refer to the EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Product Guides on EMC Online Support for more information.

VMware vCenter

VMware vSphere High Availability

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware vSphere

(30)

Hardware acceleration with VMware vSphere Storage API for Array Integration (VAAI) is a storage enhancement in vSphere 5.5 that enables vSphere to offload specific storage operations to compatible storage hardware such as the VNXe series platforms. With the assistance of storage hardware, vSphere performs these operations faster and consumes less CPU, memory, and storage fabric bandwidth.

Compute

The choice of a server platform for an EMC VSPEX infrastructure is not only based on the technical requirements of the environment, but on the supportability of the platform, existing relationships with the server provider, advanced performance, management features, and many other factors. For this reason, EMC VSPEX solutions are designed to run on a wide variety of server platforms. Instead of requiring a specific number of servers with a specific set of requirements, VSPEX documents minimum requirements for the number of processor cores and the amount of RAM.

This can be implemented with two or twenty servers, and still be considered the same VSPEX solution.

In the example shown in Figure 5, the compute layer requirements for a specific implementation are 25 processor cores and 200 GB of RAM. One customer might want to implement this with white-box servers containing 16 processor cores and 64 GB of RAM, while another customer might select a higher-end server with 20

processor cores and 144 GB of RAM.

VNXe support for VMware vSphere Storage API for Array Integration

(31)

by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide Figure 5. Compute layer flexibility

The first customer needs four of the chosen servers, while the other customer needs two.

Note: To enable high-availability at the compute layer, each customer needs one additional server to ensure that the system has enough capability to maintain business operations when a server fails.

Use the following best practices in the compute layer:

 Use several identical, or at least compatible, servers. VSPEX implements hypervisor level high-availability technologies that may require similar

instruction sets on the underlying physical hardware. By implementing VSPEX on identical server units, you can minimize compatibility problems in this area.

(32)

 If you implement high-availability at the hypervisor layer, the largest virtual machine you can create is constrained by the smallest physical server in the environment.

 Implement the available high-availability features in the virtualization layer, and ensure that the compute layer has sufficient resources to accommodate at least single server failures. This enables the implementation of minimal- downtime upgrades, and tolerance for single unit failures.

Within the boundaries of these recommendations and best practices, the compute layer for EMC VSPEX can be flexible to meet your specific needs. Ensure that there are sufficient processor cores and RAM per core to meet the needs of the target

environment.

Network

The infrastructure network requires redundant network links for each vSphere host, the storage array, the switch interconnect ports, and the switch uplink ports. This configuration provides both redundancy and additional network bandwidth. This is a required configuration regardless of whether the network infrastructure for the solution already exists, or you are deploying it alongside other components of the solution. Figure 6 depicts an example of this highly available network topology.

(33)

by Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup Proven Infrastructure Guide Figure 6. Example of highly available network design—for block

This validated solution uses virtual local area networks (VLANs) to segregate network traffic of various types to improve throughput, manageability, application separation, high-availability, and security.

For block, EMC unified storage platforms provide network high-availability or redundancy by using two ports per storage processor. If a link is lost on the storage processor I/O port, the link fails over to another port. All network traffic is distributed across the active links.

For file, EMC unified storage platforms provide network high-availability or redundancy by using link aggregation. Link aggregation enables multiple active Ethernet connections to appear as a single link with a single media access control (MAC) address, and potentially multiple IP addresses. In this solution, LACP is configured on the VNXe, to combine multiple Ethernet ports into a single virtual device. If a link is lost on the Ethernet port, the link fails over to another port. All network traffic is distributed across the active links.