EMC VMAX 400K SPC-2 Proven Performance   Silverton  Consulting,  Inc.  StorInt™  Briefing                              

     

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Introduction   In  this  paper,  we  analyze  all-­‐flash  EMC®  VMAX®  400K  storage  system  performance   using  an  industry-­‐standard,  Storage  Performance  Council  (SPC)  benchmark.  A   number  of  SPC  and  Silverton  Consulting,  Inc.  (SCI)  benchmark  metrics  confirm  the   superior  throughput  performance  of  EMC  VMAX3™  storage.  Such  benchmark-­‐proven,   bandwidth-­‐intensive  IO  performance  offers  a  significant  advantage  for  customers   with  data  warehousing,  data  analytics  or  batch-­‐intensive  environments  that  process   a  lot  of  sequential  data  that  generates  high-­‐throughput  input/output  (IO)  activity.     Below,  we  discuss  the  advanced  storage  functionality  of  the  EMC  VMAX3,  along  with   key  details  about  EMC  VMAX3  storage  system  performance.  

EMC  VMAX  100K,  200K  and  400K  storage  systems   EMC  VMAX  was  specifically  designed  for  high-­‐performance,  mission-­‐critical   enterprise  workloads.  As  EMC’s  third-­‐generation  VMAX  system,  VMAX3  includes  a   number  of  enhancements  over  the  previous-­‐generation  hardware.  These   enhancements  improve  flash  storage  performance,  expand  IO  bandwidth  and   provide  a  platform  for  deeper  data  services.  The  VMAX3  system  was  specifically   designed  to  enable  more  multi-­‐core  execution  of  any  and  all  data  IO  and  other   storage  functionality  requested  by  attached  hosts.  With  an  eight-­‐engine  VMAX  400K,   all  384  processing  cores  can  actively  service  IO  and  provide  storage  functionality  in   order  to  address  extreme  customer  demands.     The  EMC  VMAX3  currently  comes  in  three  hardware  solutions:  the  VMAX  100K,   200K  and  400K,  with  up  to  four  or  eight  VMAX3  engines.  A  VMAX3  engine  contains   two  storage  directors  with  redundant  interfaces  to  the  new  Dynamic  Virtual  Matrix   dual  InfiniBand®  inter-­‐cluster  fabric.  Each  VMAX3  director  also  offers  global   memory  (up  to  2TB/engine),  front-­‐end  ports  and  backend  storage  interfaces  that   together  offer  direct  host  access  to  the  array’s  backend  storage  and  globally  cached   data.     The  backend  of  the  VMAX3  is  connected  via  redundant  6Gb/sec  serial-­‐attached  SCSI   (SAS)  interfaces  and  can  use  small  form  factor  (2.5”)  and  large  form  factor  (3.5”)   disks  or  solid-­‐state  drives  (SSDs).  For  the  VMAX  400K,  the  system  can  access  up  to   5,760  disk  or  SSD  drives,  constituting  up  to  4PB  of  usable  storage,  with  a  maximum   of  720  drives  per  system  bay.  System  bays  can  be  located  up  to  25  meters  from  the   first  system  bay,  and  the  VMAX3  storage  systems  support  independent,  third-­‐party   system  bay  racking.  This  agility  allows  IT  managers  to  easily  deploy  VMAX  arrays  in   space  constrained  or  congested  data  centers.    

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Advanced  VMAX3  HYPERMAX  OS  software  functionality   Implemented  as  a  foundation  for  the  new  VMAX3  hardware,  the  HYPERMAX  OS   leverages  the  scalable  VMAX3  hardware  to  expand  data  services.  One  example  of  the   new  data  services  is  VMAX’s  new  embedded  Network  Attached  Storage  (eNAS)   functionality,  which  runs  as  virtual  machines  under  HYPERMAX  in  order  to  offer  file   services.  VMAX3  eNAS  provides  file  services  using  file  data  movers  and  control   stations  that  are  distributed  across  all  VMAX3  engines  in  an  array.  This  distribution   allows  customers  to  use  VMAX3  storage  systems  for  all  of  their  file  service  needs,  as   well  as  support  other  mission-­‐critical  block  storage  applications.       Additional  HYPERMAX  OS  advanced  services  include  the  following:      

• One-­‐click,  service  level  objective  (SLO)  provisioning  for  both  file  and   block  storage.  With  a  single  click,  customers  can  easily  provision  new  block   or  file  storage  at  any  defined  SLO  available  within  the  system.    

• Virtual  or  thin  provisioning  for  block  storage,  which  only  draws  down   backend  storage  space  when  written  by  the  host.  With  HYPERMAX  virtual   provisioning,  customers  can  shrink  and  expand  thin  pools  of  storage  as   workloads  demand,  spreading  any  unused  capacity  over  other  virtually   provisioned  pools  of  storage.  

• Data  at  rest  encryption  (D@RE)  for  both  file  and  block  storage  to  increase   security  for  customer  data  on  backend  storage  devices.  With  D@RE,  VMAX3   data  is  protected  and  secured  from  unauthorized  access.    

• TimeFinder®  SnapVX  for  block  storage  to  create  an  on-­‐array,  rapid  point-­‐ in-­‐time  copy  of  customer  data.  VMAX3  SnapVX  reduces  the  time  and  storage   consumption  impacts  of  snapshot  data  copies  and  can  produce  up  to  16   million  snapshots  per  array.    

• EMC  ProtectPoint  for  faster  storage  backup  and  recovery  to  enable  direct   data  transfers  to  EMC  Data  Domain  from  VMAX3  storage.  EMC  ProtectPoint   eliminates  the  media  server  bottleneck  and  dramatically  reduces  the  host   data  transfers  needed  to  perform  storage  backups  and  data  recovery.    

• Host  IO  limits  for  block  storage  to  constrain  host  IO  performance  to  defined   service  levels  across  accessible  storage  units.  Administrators  can  restrict   host  input/output  operations  per  second  (IOPS)  or  throughput  on  a  per-­‐ application  basis.    

• Enhanced  Symmetrix  Remote  Data  Facility  (SRDF)  for  block  and  file   storage  disaster  recovery  featuring  state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art,  remote  mirroring  of   customer  data.  Enhanced  SRDF  offers  two-­‐,  three-­‐  and  four-­‐way  remote   replication  to  support  customer  disaster  recovery  requirements.  VMAX3  and   HYPERMAX  OS  also  include  hardware  compression  and  increased  multi-­‐ threading  to  reduce  operational  costs  and  increase  replication  throughput.   All  of  the  redundant  VMAX3  hardware  and  advanced  SRDF  capabilities  enable   customers  to  configure  VMAX  storage  to  supply  24x7xforever,  99.9999%  (6-­‐ 9’s)  availability  for  their  data.  

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  HYPERMAX  OS  offers  Full