EMC VSPEX with Brocade Networking Solution for PRIVATE CLOUD

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Proven Infrastructure

EMC VSPEX

Abstract

This document describes the EMC^® VSPEX^® Proven Infrastructure solution for private cloud deployments with Brocade VDX networking, Microsoft Hyper- V, EMC VNXe3200™, and EMC Powered Backup for up to 125 virtual machines.

August 2014

EMC VSPEX with Brocade Networking Solution for PRIVATE CLOUD

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V for up to 125 Virtual Machines

Enabled by Brocade VCS

^®

Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered

Backup

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2 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V for up to 125 Virtual Machines Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup

ADX, AnyIO, Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, ICX, MLX, MyBrocade, OpenScript, VCS, VDX, and Vyatta are

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respective owners.

Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning any equipment, equipment feature, or service offered or to be offered by Brocade.

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Contact a Brocade sales office for information on feature and product availability. Export of technical data contained in this document may require an export license from the United States government.

Published August 2014

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

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Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V for up to 125 Virtual

Machines Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup

Part Number

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Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V for up to 125 Virtual Machines

Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 3

Figures

Figure 1. Next-generation VNXe with multicore optimization ... 25

Figure 2. Active/active processors increase performance, resiliency, and efficiency ... 26

Figure 3. EMC Powered Backup solutions ... 27

Figure 4. VSPEX Private Cloud components ... 30

Figure 5. Compute layer flexibility ... 36

Figure 6. Example of highly available Brocade Block Based storage network design ... 38

Figure 7. Brocade VDX with VCS Fabrics in a highly available file based storage network design ... 40

Figure 8. Storage pool rebalance progress ... 43

Figure 9. Thin LUN space utilization ... 44

Figure 10. Examining storage pool space utilization ... 44

Figure 11. Logical architecture for block storage ... 53

Figure 12. Logical architecture for file storage ... 54

Figure 13. Hypervisor memory consumption ... 61

Figure 14. Required networks for block storage ... 64

Figure 15. Required networks for file storage... 65

Figure 16. Hyper-V virtual disk types ... 69

Figure 17. Building block for 15 virtual servers ... 72

Figure 18. Building block for 125 virtual servers ... 72

Figure 19. Storage layout for 125 virtual machines using VNXe3200 ... 74

Figure 20. Maximum scale levels and entry points of different arrays ... 75

Figure 21. High availability on the virtualization layer ... 76

Figure 22. Redundant power supplies ... 76

Figure 23. Brocade Network layer high availability (VNXe) – block storage network variant ... 77

Figure 24. Brocade Network layer high availability (VNXe) – file storage . 77 Figure 25. VNXe series HA components ... 78

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Figures

Figure 26. Resource pool flexibility ... 83

Figure 27. Required resource from the reference virtual machine pool ... 91

Figure 28. Aggregate resource requirements – stage 1 ... 93

Figure 29. Pool configuration – stage 1 ... 93

Figure 30. Aggregate resource requirements - stage 2 ... 95

Figure 31. Pool configuration – stage 2 ... 95

Figure 32. Customizing server resources ... 96

Figure 33. Sample Brocade network architecture – File storage ... 105

Figure 34. Sample Brocade network architecture – Block storage ... 106

Figure 35. Port types ... 114

Figure 36. Port Groups of the VDX 6740 ... 115

Figure 37. Port Groups of the VDX 6740T and Brocade VDX6740T-1G ... 115

Figure 38. Creating VLANs ... 117

Figure 39. Example VCS/VDX network topology with Infrastructure connectivity ... 123

Figure 40. Configure NAS Server Address ... 144

Figure 41. Configure NAS Server type ... 145

Figure 42. Fast VP tab ... 147

Figure 43. Scheduled Fast VP relocation ... 148

Figure 44. Fast VP Relocation Schedule ... 148

Figure 45. Create Fast Cache ... 150

Figure 46. Advanced tab in the Create Storage Pool dialog box ... 151

Figure 47. Settings tab in the Storage Pool Properties dialog box ... 152

Figure 48. Storage Pool Alert settings... 170

Figure 49. Storage Pool Snapshot settings ... 170

Figure 50. Storage Pools panel ... 171

Figure 51. LUN Properties dialog box ... 172

Figure 52. System Panel ... 173

Figure 53. System Health panel ... 173

Figure 54. IOPS on the LUNs ... 174

Figure 55. IOPS on the drives ... 175

Figure 56. Latency on the LUNs ... 176

Figure 57. SP CPU Utilization ... 177

Figure 58. VNXe file statistics ... 178

Figure 59. System Capacity panel ... 179

Figure 60. File Systems panel ... 180

Figure 61. File System Capacity panel ... 181

Figure 62. System Performance panel displaying file metrics ... 182

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Figures

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Tables

Table 1. VNXe customer benefits ... 41

Table 2. Solution hardware ... 57

Table 3. Solution software ... 59

Table 4. Hardware resources for compute layer ... 60

Table 5. Hardware resources for network ... 63

Table 6. Hardware resources for storage ... 68

Table 7. Number of disks required for different number of virtual machines ... 73

Table 8. Profile characteristics ... 79

Table 9. Virtual machine characteristics ... 81

Table 10. Blank worksheet row ... 87

Table 11. Reference virtual machine resources... 90

Table 12. Example worksheet row ... 90

Table 13. Example applications – stage 1 ... 92

Table 14. Example applications - stage 2 ... 94

Table 15. Server resource component totals ... 97

Table 16. Deployment process overview ... 100

Table 17. Tasks for pre-deployment ... 101

Table 18. Deployment prerequisites checklist ... 102

Table 19. Tasks for switch and network configuration ... 104

Table 20. Brocade VDX 6740 Configuration Steps ... 109

Table 21. Brocade switch default settings ... 127

Table 22. Brocade 6510 FC switch Configuration Steps ... 128

Table 23. Brocade switch default settings ... 128

Table 24. Tasks for VNXe configuration for block protocols ... 138

Table 25. Storage allocation table for block ... 140

Table 26. Tasks for storage configuration for file protocols ... 141

Table 27. Storage allocation table for file ... 146

Table 28. Tasks for server installation ... 152

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Tables

Table 29. Tasks for SQL Server database setup ... 155

Table 30. Tasks for SCVMM configuration ... 157

Table 31. Tasks for testing the installation ... 162

Table 32. Rules of thumb for drive performance ... 175

Table 33. Best practice for performance monitoring ... 177

Table 34. List of components used in the VSPEX solution for 125 virtual machines ... 184

Table 35. Common server information ... 188

Table 36. Hyper-V server information ... 188

Table 37. Array information ... 189

Table 38. Brocade Network infrastructure information ... 189

Table 39. VLAN information ... 189

Table 40. Service accounts ... 190

Table 41. Blank worksheet for determining server resources ... 192

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Chapter 1 Executive Summary

This chapter presents the following topics:

Introduction ... 16

Target audience ... 16

Document purpose ... 16

Business needs ... 17

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Executive Summary

Introduction

The VSPEX Private Cloud for VSPEX^® for Microsoft Hyper-V and Brocade VDX networking solution provides a complete system architecture capable of supporting up to 125 virtual machines validated and modular

architectures; are built with proven superior technologies to create complete virtualization solutions that enable you to make an informed decision at the hypervisor, compute, backup, storage, networking, and storage 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 the server and networking hardware that meet or exceed the stated minimums.

Target audience

The readers of this document should have the necessary training and background to install and configure Microsoft Hyper-V, Brocade VDX Ethernet Fabric or Connectrix-B Fibre Channel series switches, EMC VNX^® series storage systems, and associated infrastructure as required by this implementation. External references are provided where applicable, and the readers should be familiar with these documents.

Readers should also be familiar with the infrastructure and database security policies of the customer’s environment.

Individuals focusing on selling and sizing a VSPEX end-user computing solution for Microsoft Hyper-V private cloud infrastructure must pay particular attention to the first four chapters of this document. After the 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 proven infrastructure guide 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 the customer with a

modern system capable of hosting many virtual machines at a consistent

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Executive Summary

Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 17 performance level. This solution runs on the Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization layer backed by the highly available Brocade fabrics network switch series and VNX family of storage. The compute and network components, which are defined by the VSPEX partners, are laid out to be redundant and sufficiently powerful to handle the processing and data needs of the virtual machine environment.

The 125 virtual machine Hyper-V Private Cloud solution described in this document is based on the EMC VNXe3200^™ 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 when deployed. For larger environments, solutions for up to 1,000 virtual machines based on the EMC VNX series are described in the EMC VSPEX Private Cloud: Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V for up to 1,000 Virtual Machines Proven Infrastructure Guide.

A private cloud architecture is a complex system offering. This document facilitates its setup by providing up-front 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 customer’s system is running correctly. Following the instructions in this document ensures an efficient and expedited journey to the cloud.

Business needs

Business applications are moving into consolidated compute, network, and storage environments. EMC VSPEX private cloud solutions use Microsoft Hyper-V to reduce the complexity of configuring every component of a traditional deployment model. The complexity of integration management is reduced while maintaining the application design flexibility and implementation options. Administration is unified, while process separation can be adequately controlled and monitored.

The business needs for the VSPEX private cloud solutions for Microsoft Hyper-V are:

 Providing an end-to-end virtualization solution to effectively utilize the capabilities of the unified infrastructure components.

 Providing a VSPEX private cloud solution for Microsoft Hyper-V to efficiently virtualize up to 125 virtual machines for varied customer use cases.

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

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Executive Summary

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Chapter 2 Solution Overview

Introduction ... 20

Compute ... 20

Networking ... 20

Storage ... 22

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Solution Overview

Introduction

The EMC VSPEX with Brocade Networking Solution for Private Cloud for Microsoft Hyper-V provides a complete system architecture capable of supporting up to 125 virtual machines with a redundant server or network topology and highly available storage. The core components that make up this particular solution are virtualization, compute, networking, storage, and EMC Powered Backup.

Virtualization

Microsoft Hyper-V is a key virtualization platform in the industry. For years, Hyper-V has provided flexibility and cost savings to end users by

consolidating large, inefficient server farms into nimble, reliable cloud infrastructures.

Features such as Live Migration, which enables a virtual machine to move between different servers with no disruption to the guest operating system, and Dynamic Optimization, which performs Live Migrations automatically to balance loads, make Hyper-V a solid business choice.

With the release of Windows Server 2012 R2, a Microsoft 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

 Excess capacity to withstand a server failure and failover within the environment

Networking

Brocade VDX Ethernet Fabric and Fibre Channel Fabric switch technology enable the implementation of high performance, efficient, and resilient networks validated with the VSPEX proven architectures. Brocade Ethernet and Fibre Channel fabrics provide an open standards based solution that unleashes the full potential of high-density server virtualization, private cloud architectures, and EMC VNX storage.

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Solution Overview

Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 21 Brocade VDX Ethernet Fabrics networking solutions provides the following attributes:

 Offers flexibility to deploy 1000BASE-T and upgrade to 10GBASE-T for higher bandwidth

 Delivers high performance and reduces network congestion with 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports, low latency, and 24 MB deep buffers

 Improves capacity with the ability to create up to a 160 GbE uplink with Brocade ISL Trunking

 Manages an entire multitenant Brocade VCS fabric as a single switch with Brocade VCS Logical Chassis

 Provides efficiently load-balanced multipathing at Layers 1, 2, and 3, including multiple Layer 3 gateways

 Simplifies Virtual Machine (VM) mobility and management with automated, dynamic port profile configuration and migration

 Supports Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies within data, control, and management planes

The Brocade 6510 Fibre Channel Fabric switch is the purpose-built, data center-proven network infrastructure for storage, delivering unmatched reliability, simplicity, and 4/8/16 Gbps performance. The Brocade 6510 Fibre Channel Fabrics networking solution provides the following attributes:

 Provides exceptional price/performance value, combining flexibility, simplicity, and enterprise-class functionality in a 48-port switch

 Enables fast, easy, and cost-effective scaling from 24 to 48 ports using Ports on Demand (PoD) capabilities

 Simplifies management through Brocade Fabric Vision technology, reducing operational costs and optimizing application performance

 Simplifies deployment and supports high-performance fabrics by using Brocade ClearLink Diagnostic Ports (D_Ports) to identify optic and cable issues

 Simplifies and accelerates deployment with the Brocade EZSwitchSetup wizard and Dynamic Fabric Provisioning (DFP)

 Maximizes availability with redundant, hot-pluggable components and non-disruptive software upgrades

 Simplifies server connectivity by deploying as a full-fabric switch or a Brocade Access Gateway

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Solution Overview

Storage

The EMC VNXe^® storage series 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, sized for the stated reference architecture workload:

 I/O ports (for block and file): Provide host connectivity to the array, which supports CIFS/ Server Message Block (SMB), Network File System (NFS), Fibre Channel (FC), and Internet Small Computer System

Interface (iSCSI).

 Storage processors – The compute components of the storage array, used for all aspects of data moving into, out of, and between arrays.

Unlike the VNX family, 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 125 virtual machine Hyper-V Private Cloud solution described in this document is based on the VNXe3200storage array. The VNXe3200 can currently support a maximum of 50 drives.

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

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

 EMC FAST Cache

 Thin provisioning

 Snapshots or checkpoints

 File-level retention

 Quota management

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.

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 EMC next-

generation VNXe

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Solution Overview

Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 23 across all the system’s cores. 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 customers 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 solution.

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. Doing so 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.

VNXe includes many features and enhancements designed and built upon the success of the next generation VNX family. 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

 Better protection by increasing application availability with active/active storage processors

 Easier administration and deployment by increasing productivity with a new Unisphere Management Suite

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Solution Overview

Flash-optimized hybrid array

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 typically used most frequently at the time it is created; therefore new data is 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. EMC has enhanced this functionality with four times better granularity and with new FAST VP solid-state disks (SSDs) based on enterprise multi-level cell (eMLC) technology to lower the cost per gigabyte. FAST Cache dynamically absorbs unpredicted spikes in system workloads. All VSPEX use cases benefit from the increased efficiency.

Note: This reference architecture does not make use of FAST Cache or FAST VP. Lab testing has demonstrated performance increases of approximately 10 – 20%, depending upon protocol using the VSPEX workload.

VSPEX Proven Infrastructures deliver private cloud, end-user computing, and virtualized application solutions. With VNXe, customers can realize an even greater return on their investment. VNXe 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 totally changing the requirements of VNXe storage systems. EMC redesigned the midrange 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 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).

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Solution Overview

Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 25 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 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. Greatly increased performance improvements in VNXe come from the

modularization of the back-end data management processing, which enables MCx to seamlessly scale across all processors.

VNXe performance

Performance enhancements

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

VNXe provides the following performance improvements:

 Up to four times more file transactions when compared with dual controller arrays

 Increased file performance for transactional applications by up to three times, with a 60 percent better response time

 Up to four times more Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server OLTP transactions

 Up to six times more virtual machines

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Solution Overview

Active/active array storage processors

The new VNXe architecture provides active/active array storage processors, as shown in Figure 2, which eliminate application timeouts during path failover since both paths are actively serving I/O.

Figure 2. Active/active processors increase performance, resiliency, and efficiency

Load balancing is also improved and applications can achieve an up to two times improvement in performance. Active/active for block is ideal for applications that require the highest levels of availability and

performance, but do not require tiering or efficiency services like compression or deduplication.

Virtualization Management EMC Storage Integrator

EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) is targeted towards the Windows and Application administrator. ESI is easy to use, delivers end-to end

monitoring, and is hypervisor agnostic. Administrators can provision in both virtual and physical environments for a Windows platform, and

troubleshoot by viewing the topology of an application from the underlying hypervisor to the storage.

Microsoft Hyper-V

With Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft provides Hyper-V 3.0, an

enhanced hypervisor for private cloud that can run on NAS protocols for simplified connectivity.

Offloaded Data Transfer

The Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) feature of Windows Server 2012 R2 enables data transfers during copy operations to be offloaded to the storage array, freeing up host cycles. For example, using ODX for a live migration of a SQL Server virtual machine doubled performance,

decreased migration time by 50 percent, reduced CPU on the host server by 20 percent, and eliminated network traffic.

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Solution Overview

Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 27 EMC Powered Backup solutions, EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain, deliver the protection and 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 machines 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 recoveries.

Our solutions also deliver big saving. 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, delivering a seven-month payback period on average.

You will be able to scale storage easily and efficiently as your environment grows.

Figure 3. EMC Powered Backup solutions

EMC Powered Backup solutions used in this VSPEX solution include the EMC Avamar deduplication software and system, and the EMC Data Domain deduplication storage system.

EMC Powered Backup

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Chapter 3 Solution Technology Overview

Overview ... 30 Summary of key components ... 31 Virtualization ... 32 Compute ... 35 Network ... 37 Storage ... 41 Backup and recovery ... 47 Other technologies ... 48

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Solution Technology Overview

Overview

This solution uses the VNXe array, Brocade network Fabric switches, and Microsoft Hyper-V to provide storage and server hardware consolidation in a VSPEX 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. VSPEX Private Cloud components

The following sections describe the components in detail.

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Summary of key components

This section briefly describes the key components of this solution.

 Virtualization

The virtualization layer decouples the physical implementation of resources from the applications that use them. The application’s 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 customer to implement the solution by using any server hardware that meets these requirements.

 Network

Brocade VDX Ethernet Fabric or Connectrix-B Fibre Channel Fabric switches with Brocade Fabric networking technology connect the users of the private cloud to existing customer infrastructure with the compute and storage resources of the VSPEX solution. EMC VSPEX reference architecture with Brocade network Fabric switches provides the required connectivity and scalability. The EMC VSPEX with Brocade networking solutions enables the customer to

implement a solution that provides a cost effective, resilient, and operationally efficient virtualization platform.

 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 used in this solution provides high-performance data storage while maintaining high availability.

 Backup and recovery

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

damaged, or unusable.

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

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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.

Microsoft Hyper-V is a Windows Server role that was introduced in Windows Server 2008. Hyper-V virtualizes computer hardware resources, such as CPU, memory, storage, and networking. This transformation creates fully functional virtual machines that run their own operating systems and applications like physical computers.

Hyper-V works with Failover Clustering and Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs) to provide high availability in a virtualized infrastructure. Live migration and live storage migration enable seamless movement of virtual machines or virtual machines files between Hyper-V servers or storage systems

transparently and with minimal performance impact.

Windows Server 2012 R2 provides virtual Fibre Channel (FC) ports within a Hyper-V guest operating system. The virtual FC port uses the standard N- port ID virtualization (NPIV) process to address the virtual machine WWNs within the Hyper-V host’s physical host bus adapter (HBA). This provides virtual machines with direct access to external storage arrays over FC, enables clustering of guest operating systems over FC, and offers an important new storage option for the hosted servers in the virtual

infrastructure. Virtual FC in Hyper-V guest operating systems also supports related features, such as virtual SANs, live migration, and multipath I/O (MPIO).

Prerequisites for virtual FC include:

 One or more installations of Windows Server 2012 R2 with the Hyper-V role

 One or more FC HBAs installed on the server, each with an appropriate HBA driver that supports virtual FC

 NPIV-enabled SAN

Virtual machines using the virtual FC adapter must use Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2 as the guest operating system.

Overview

Microsoft Hyper- V

Virtual Fibre Channel ports

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Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 33 Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) is a

centralized management platform for the virtualized data center. SCVMM allows administrators to configure and manage the virtualized host,

networking, and storage resources, and to create and deploy virtual machines and services to private clouds. SCVMM simplifies provisioning, management, and monitoring in the Hyper-V environment.

The Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering feature provides high-

availability in Hyper-V. High availability is impacted by both planned and unplanned downtime, and Failover Clustering significantly increases the availability of virtual machines during planned and unplanned downtimes.

Configure Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering on the Hyper-V host to monitor virtual machine health, and migrate virtual machines between cluster nodes. The advantages of this configuration are:

 Enables migration of virtual machines to a different cluster node if the cluster node where they reside must be updated, changed, or

rebooted.

 Allows other members of the Windows Failover Cluster to take ownership of the virtual machines if the cluster node where they reside suffers a failure or significant degradation.

 Minimizes downtime due to virtual machine failures. Windows Server Failover Cluster detects virtual machine failures and automatically takes steps to recover the failed virtual machine. This allows the virtual machine to be restarted on the same host server, or migrated to a different host server.

Hyper-V Replica was introduced in Windows Server 2012 to provide asynchronous virtual machine replication over the network from one Hyper-V host at a primary site to another Hyper-V host at a replica site.

Hyper-V replicas protect business applications in the Hyper-V environment from downtime associated with an outage at a single site.

Hyper-V Replica tracks the write operations on the primary virtual machine and replicates the changes to the replica server over the network with HTTP and HTTPS. The amount of network bandwidth required is based on the transfer schedule and data change rate.

If the primary Hyper-V host fails, you can manually fail over the production virtual machines to the Hyper-V hosts at the replica site. Manual failover brings the virtual machines back to a consistent point from which they can be accessed with minimal impact on the business. After recovery, the primary site can receive changes from the replica site. You can perform a planned failback to manually revert the virtual machines back to the Hyper-V host at the primary site.

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager

High availability with Hyper-V Failover Clustering

Hyper-V Replica

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A Hyper-V snapshot creates a consistent point-in-time view of a virtual machine. Snapshots function as source for backups or other use cases.

Virtual machines do not have to be running to take a snapshot. Snapshots are completely transparent to the applications running on the virtual machine. The snapshot saves the point-in-time status of the virtual machine, and enables users to revert the virtual machine to a previous point-in-time if necessary.

Note: Snapshots require additional storage space. The amount of

additional storage space depends on the frequency of data change on the virtual machine and the number of snapshots being retained.

Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) was introduced in Windows Server 2012. It provides a way of updating cluster nodes with little or no disruption. CAU transparently performs the following tasks during the update process:

1. Puts one cluster node into maintenance mode and takes it offline (virtual machines are live-migrated to other cluster nodes).

2. Installs the updates.

3. Performs a restart if necessary.

4. Brings the node back online (migrated virtual machines are moved back to the original node).

5. Updates the next node in the cluster.

The node managing the update process is called the Orchestrator. The Orchestrator can work in a couple of different modes:

 Self-updating mode: The Orchestrator runs on the cluster node being updated.

 Remote-updating mode: The Orchestrator runs on a standalone Windows operating system, and remotely manages the cluster update.

CAU is integrated with Windows Server Update Service (WSUS). PowerShell allows automation of the CAU process.

Hyper-V snapshot

Cluster-Aware Updating

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Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 35 EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) is an agentless, free plug-in that enables application-aware storage provisioning for Microsoft Windows Server applications, Hyper-V, VMware, and Xen Server environments.

Administrators can provision block and file storage for Microsoft Windows or Microsoft SharePoint sites by using wizards in ESI. ESI supports the

following functions:

 Provisioning, formatting, and presenting drives to Windows servers

 Provisioning new cluster disks, and automatically adding them to the cluster

 Provisioning shared CIFS storage, and mounting it to Windows servers

 Provisioning SharePoint storage, sites, and databases in a single wizard

Compute

The choice of a server platform for a 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, 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 the 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 by using white-box servers

containing 16 processor cores, and 64 GB of RAM, while another customer chooses a higher-end server with 20 processor cores and 144 GB of RAM.

EMC Storage Integrator

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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, which 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.

 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.

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 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 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

VSPEX Proven Infrastructure with Brocade networking solution provides the required redundant network links for each vSphere host, the storage array, and the switch interconnect ports, and the switch uplink ports. Brocade networking solutions provides options with Connectrix-B 6510 Fibre Channel switches for block storage and VDX 6740-T Ethernet Fabric switches for file storage connectivity between compute and storage. The Brocade network is designed in the VSPEX reference architecture for block and file based storage traffic types to optimize throughput, manageability,

application separation, high availability, and security. The storage network solution is implemented with redundant network links for each host, and VNX storage array. If a link is lost with any of the Brocade network

infrastructure ports, the link fails over to another port. All network traffic is distributed across the active links. Figure 6 and Figure 7 depict examples of this highly available Brocade storage network topology.

The Brocade® 6510 with Gen 5 Fibre Channel Technology simplifies the storage network infrastructure through innovative technologies and supports the VSPEX highly virtualized topology design. The Brocade validated network solution simplifies server connectivity by deploying as full-fabric switch and enables fast, easy effective scaling from 24 to 48 Ports on Demand (PoD). The Brocade 6510 Fibre Channel switches

maximizes availability with redundant architecture for Block Based storage traffic and hot-pluggable components and non-disruptive upgrades.

For block, the EMC VNX a unified storage platform is attached to a highly available Brocade storage network by two ports per storage processor. If a link is lost on the storage processor front end port, the link fails over to another port. All storage network traffic is distributed across the active links.

Figure 6 Depicts an example of the Brocade network topology for file based storage.

Overview

Brocade 6510 Fibre Channel switch for Block Based Storage

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Figure 6. Example of highly available Brocade Block Based storage network design

Brocade 6510 Fibre Channel switches provide high availability for the VSPEX SAN infrastructure. Active – active links for all traffic from the

virtualized compute servers to the EMC VNX storage arrays. The Brocade^® 6510 Switch meets the demands of hyper-scale, private cloud VSPEX storage traffic environments with market-leading Gen 5 Fibre Channel technology and capability that supports the VSPEX virtualized architecture.

The failure of a link in a route causes the network to reroute any traffic that was using that particular link—as long as an alternate path is available.

Brocade Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) is a highly efficient routing algorithm that reroutes around failed links in less than a second.

ISL Trunking improves on this concept by helping to prevent the loss of the route. A link failure merely reduces the available bandwidth of the logical ISL trunk. In other words, a failure does not completely “break the pipe,”

but simply makes the pipe narrower. As a result, data traffic is much less likely to be affected by link failures, and the bandwidth automatically increases when the link is repaired

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Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 39 The Brocade® VDX with VCS Fabrics helps simplify networking

infrastructures through innovative technologies and VSPEX infrastructure topology design. The Brocade 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 with file storage traffic. Brocade VDX 6740 switches support this strategy by simplifying network architecture while increasing network performance and resiliency with Ethernet fabrics. Brocade VDX with VCS Fabric technology supports active – active links for all traffic from the virtualized compute servers to the EMC VNXe storage arrays.

This validated solution for file storage with the EMC unified storage platforms attaches to the highly available Brocade network by using link aggregation. Link aggregation enables multiple active (MAC) Ethernet connections to appear as a single link with a single MAC address, and potentially multiple IP addresses. In this solution, Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is configured on the VNX array, combining 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.

Figure 7 depicts an example of the Brocade network topology for file based storage.

Brocade VDX Ethernet Fabric switch for file based storage

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Figure 7. Brocade VDX with VCS Fabrics in a highly available file based storage network design

The Brocade VDX 6740 Ethernet Fabric switches provide file based connectivity at 10 GbE in between the compute and VNX storage. The Brocade® VDX with VCS Fabric technology helps simplify networking infrastructures through innovative technologies for the VSPEX File storage network topology design. The Brocade network validated solution supports segregated network traffic of VSPEX reference architecture for SMB 3.0 File storage traffic. Brocade VDX switches enable a storage network with high availability and redundancy by using link aggregation for EMC VNX storage array.

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Storage

The storage layer is also a key component of any cloud infrastructure solution that serves data generated by applications and operating system in data center storage processing systems. This increases storage

efficiency, management flexibility, and reduces total cost of ownership. In this VSPEX solution, EMC VNXe series arrays provide features and

performance to enable and enhance any virtualization environment.

The EMC VNX family is optimized for virtual applications, and delivers industry-leading innovation and enterprise capabilities for file and block storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage platform combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today’s enterprises.

Intel Xeon processors power the VNXe series for intelligent storage that automatically and efficiently scales in performance, while ensuring data integrity and security. It is designed to meet the high performance, high- scalability requirements of midsize and large enterprises.

Table 1 shows the customer benefits that are provided by the VNXe series.

Table 1. VNXe customer benefits

Feature Benefit

Next-generation unified storage, optimized for virtualized

applications

Tight integration with Microsoft

Windows and System Center allows for advanced array features and

centralized management Capacity optimization features

including compression,

deduplication, thin provisioning, and application-consistent copies

Reduced storage costs, more efficient use of resources and easier recovery of applications

High availability, designed to

deliver five 9s availability Higher levels of uptime and reduced outage risk

Automated tiering with FAST VP and FAST Cache that can be optimized for the highest system performance and lowest storage cost simultaneously

More efficient use of storage resources without complicated planning and configuration

Simplified management with EMC Unisphere™ for a single

management interface for all NAS, SAN, and replication needs

Reduced management overhead and toolsets required to manage

environment Overview

EMC VNXe

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Different software suites and packs are also available for the VNXe series, which provide multiple features for enhanced protection and

performance.

Software suites

The following VNXe software suites are available:

 FAST Suite — Automatically optimizes for the highest system performance and the lowest storage cost simultaneously.

 Security and Compliance Suite — Keeps data safe from changes, deletions, and malicious activity.

EMC VNXe Virtual Provisioning^™ enables organizations to reduce storage costs by increasing capacity utilization, simplifying storage management, and reducing application downtime. Virtual Provisioning also helps

companies to reduce power and cooling requirements and reduce capital expenditures.

Virtual Provisioning provides pool-based storage provisioning by

implementing pool LUNs that can be either thin or thick. Thin LUNs provide on-demand storage that maximizes the utilization of your storage by allocating storage only as needed. Thick LUNs provide high performance and predictable performance for your applications. Both types of LUNs benefit from the ease-of-use features of pool-based provisioning.

Pools and pool LUNs are also the building blocks for advanced data services such as FAST VP, VNXe Snapshots, and compression. Pool LUNs also support a variety of additional features, such as LUN shrink, online expansion, and User Capacity Threshold setting.

Virtual Provisioning allows you to expand the capacity of a storage pool from the Unisphere GUI after disks are physically attached to the system.

VNXe systems have the ability to rebalance allocated data elements across all member drives to use new drives after the pool is expanded. The rebalance function starts automatically and runs in the background after an expand action. You can monitor the progress of a rebalance operation from the Jobs Panel in Unisphere, as shown in Figure 8.

EMC VNXe Virtual Provisioning

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Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered Backup 43 Figure 8. Storage pool rebalance progress

LUN expansion

Use pool LUN expansion to increase the capacity of existing LUNs. It allows for provisioning larger capacity as business needs grow.

The VNXe series has the capability to expand a pool LUN without disrupting user access. You can expand pool LUNs with a few simple clicks and the expanded capacity is immediately available. However, you cannot expand a pool LUN if it is part of a data-protection or LUN-migration operation. For example, snapshot LUNs or migrating LUNs cannot be expanded.

For more detailed information of pool LUN expansion, refer to Virtual Provisioning for the New VNX Series.

Alerting the user through the Capacity Threshold setting

You must configure proactive alerts when using a file system or storage pools based on thin pools. Monitor these resources so that storage is available for provisioning when needed and capacity shortages can be avoided.

Figure 9 explains why provisioning with thin pools requires monitoring.

EMC VSPEX with Brocade Networking Solution for PRIVATE CLOUD

EMC VSPEX

EMC VSPEX with Brocade Networking Solution for PRIVATE CLOUD

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V for up to 125 Virtual Machines

Enabled by Brocade VCS

Fabrics, EMC VNXe3200, and EMC Powered

Backup

Contents

Figures

Tables

Chapter 1 Executive Summary

Introduction

Target audience

Document purpose

Business needs

Chapter 2 Solution Overview

Introduction

Virtualization

Compute

Networking

Storage

Chapter 3 Solution Technology Overview

Overview

Summary of key components

Virtualization

Compute

Network

Storage