GTS Infrastructure

Services - Software
Defined Storage Overview

Tom Bish, Mark Chitti

February, 2017
© 2017 IBM Corporation
0
GTS SDS Agenda
• Describe GTS Infrastructure Services (IS) view of SDS
• Outline key requirements for GTS IS SDS
• Walk through our current SDS focus technologies
• Introduce our decision trees to help select the appropriate technology
• Objective – after this discussion you should be able to understand
• Directions and requirements driving our SDS technology choices
• Know the key technologies we are looking at and resources available for them
• Have view of our decision tree process to bring you to right tool for the requirement

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Software Defined Storage – What and Why
What is SDS?
Software-defined storage (SDS) is an approach to data storage in which
the programming that controls storage-related tasks is decoupled from
the physical storage hardware.
SDS places the emphasis on storage-related services rather than storage
hardware. It is part of a larger industry trend that includes software-defined
networking (SDN). As is the case with SDN, the goal of software-defined storage
is to provide administrators with flexible management capabilities through
programming. Without the constraints of a physical system, a storage resource
can be used more efficiently and its administration can be simplified through automated policy-based management.
Potentially, a single software interface could be used to manage a shared storage pool that runs on commodity
hardware.
Why SDS?
• Software Defined Storage is a lower cost option for clients leveraging cloud for both compute and storage.
• It provides on demand compute capabilities which many clients like especially for Dev/Test/QA workloads (guidance for SDS is
non-mission critical). Cost attractive and innovative.
• Continual reductions in TCO expected as the technology evolves - and the beauty of getting to the TCO is that you may only have to
upgrade the SW in future vs replacing all the storage HW.
• In addition to lower cost, its provides storage capacity without technology investment in proprietary HW/SWFW.

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Software Defined Storage – Past, Present and Future
Past - Storage has traditionally been used in the datacenter as an appliance where the hardware and
software architecture of the appliance is proprietary to the vendor.
The management and administration of the storage is also
very vendor specific with vendor specific tools.
In recent years commodity servers based on
consumer processors have become more powerful
with higher processing power, more memory
and with greater options and capacity for storage
expansion with JBOD disk enclosures.

Present - Hybrid cloud environments, new SW applications with needs to store multi-petabytes of data,
scalability is key. SDS platforms provide flexibility, scalability, and scale-up/scale-out architecture specially
designed for these needs.

Future - We are moving away from appliance-centric to software-centric architecture. Software Defined
Storage abstracts storage from hardware, making storage a pooled and freely exchangeable resource across
physical boundaries that are a key requirement for modern datacenters, which are driving toward Software
Defined Compute, Network, and Storage as a service that is highly available.

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GTS IS Software Defined Storage (SDS) Use Cases
• Dedicated, managed storage for customers
• Not shared, large, cloud-type storage offering
• Assigned customer account teams to provide install, configure, steady state management

• On premises
• Leverage commodity hardware
– Wide acceptance of varying hardware options (servers, adapters, disks)
• Provides option when existing appliances have gaps
– Cost
– Function

• SoftLayer Cloud
• Work within limitations of SoftLayer bare metal servers (fixed servers, adapters, disk options, etc)
• No externally shared disk topology option
• Network only topology – no Fibre Channel

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GTS IS Software Defined Storage (SDS) Use Cases
• Protocols
• Need protocol currency/compatibility to use with all current operating system environments
• Block – iSCSI
• File – CIFS/SMB, NFS
• Object – S3, Swift

• Environments
• General purpose storage – NAS, iSCSI, Object Store to external servers/applications
• VM/Hyper-Converged – specialized for virtual machine environments
– Integration with key hypervisor environments
– Monitoring/management within hypervisor ecosystem

• Backup/Recovery – low cost, high capacity storage

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GTS IS Software Defined Storage (SDS) – Key Requirements
and Attributes
• Ease of install, configuration, management
• Should be installed/configured/managed by understanding industry standard concepts vs
implementation specific (i.e. erasure coding, distributed mirroring, RAID, etc)
• Majority of steady state operations should be able to be performed by low band admins –
knowledgeable, not experts
• Scalable
• Should be able to start small and grow to decent scale
– Does not have to be “Cloud Scale” type size
• Scaling should be on consistent building blocks
– Building blocks should be able to provide more capacity, performance, and resiliency in predictable increments
– Building blocks should be able to be segmented into price/performance increments to provide more capability for
given workload needs
• Scaling up and down should be non-disruptive and transparent
• Cost reduction capability
• Looking to reduce TCO of storage for workloads capable of using SDS by ~40% over current
options
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GTS IS Software Defined Storage (SDS) – Key Requirements
and Attributes
• High Availability
• The solution and data must be able to tolerate a configurable level of availability and
durability
• Self healing/adjusting – as possible, system should continually recover itself to the
highest state of protection/availability achievable given the remaining resources
• Should minimize ability for non-optimal deployments or misconfiguration when there
is a system enforced way to accomplish best practice
• Should be able to achieve HA for on premises and SofLayer using same topology
– Avoid deltas in capabilities, setup, failure response, etc...between deployment use cases

• Disaster Recovery
• Should provides means to protect data against local and metro failure boundaries
• Replication/protection mechanisms should be consistent with options/capabilities
available with given access protocol (block, file, object).
• Replication/protection should be network efficient – minimize updates required to
make target consistent based on change profile of source
• Consistent at target with low RPO options based on latency

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GTS IS Software Defined Storage (SDS) – The Future
• Converged SDS/SDN/Compute
• Unified network connected servers to provide cloud-like capabilities
• Storage formed by internal disks with servers in building blocks of varying storage
performance capabilities
• Unified protocol from SDS building blocks – block, file, and object
• Protection defined on data boundaries – not physical hardware
– Data copies, erasure coding, etc…defined and enacted on defined data boundaries
– Replication count and placement based on data policy/attributes

• Placement of data based on defined attributes/policies tagged to the data

– Performance tiers, protection type/depth, etc

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GTS IS Technology Notes
• ”Why don’t I see technology XXXXX listed?”
• Some were excluded due to our specific GTS IS use cases and needs – not a reflection on
the technology as a whole
• We are still looking at technologies and did not list ones we have not had a chance to review
or compare against
• This list may NOT be true for IBM as a whole – IBM has a very diverse set of needs, use
cases and requirements
• Some technologies overlapped too closely with others we have evaluated and were
positioned lower based on our metrics – we had to make choices based on our limited
resources to evaluate
• Some technology such as Quantastor has been removed from Strategy due to performance,
reliability, availability issues from deployments in the field and other more feasible solutions.

• Some technologies listed may not be used on a larger scale by GTS – some may be
deployed for specific customer use cases as opposed to more general use
• GTS IS leverages technologies based on specific use cases, TCO elements, and other
metrics which may provide a different view of SDS than other teams

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Off-Premise Solutions
(Softlayer/BlueMix only)

© 2017 IBM Corporation

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IBM Spectrum Accelerate
• Block/iSCSI protocol support

Spectrum Accelerate • Uses distributed mirror protection

• Great performance profile using all disks within the cluster
SDS • Highly resilient with low rebuild times
…
• TIER2 performance (10K IOPs per node)

• Enabled for GTS with Softlayer on bare-metal

• Globally approved/enabled in GTS

• Inherits most capabilities from IBM XIV Enterprise Storage system

• Approx. $0.13 per GB per month for full pod (including

delivery). $0.17 per GB per month with minimal configuration
(50TBs) – see SDM/FWB

• Contacts – Vidula Patel, Tom Bish, Jim Olson, Mark Chitti

• GDA - GTS Software Defined Storage Spectrum Accelerate

(cookbook, sales collateral, etc):
https://w3.gsar.ibm.com/services/gsar/gda/sbb_details.jsp?id=388

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VMware vSAN • Block/iSCSI protocol support

• Dedicated storage for VMware ESX Clusters only

• Provides copy protection (RAID 1)

• Fully integrated into ESX environment and management ecosystem

• Most advanced functions provided by ESX layers above vSAN storage

layer
• Self-healing, thin provisioning, resiliency, etc…part of vSAN
• Replication, etc…is above vSAN, using tools like VMware Site
Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication
• High TIER2 performance (12K IOPs @ 4K R/W per disk group)
• 2-4 disk groups per server per guidance

• Enabled for GTS with SoftLayer on bare-metal – Hybrid Mode

• Globally approved/enabled in GTS - (9/15/16)

• Approx. $0.08 (8 cents) per GB (US) per month small

configuration (16TB useable per Server) – see SDM/FWB

• Contacts – Vidula Patel, Jack Cherkas, Tom Bish, Jim Olson

• GDA - GTS Software Defined Storage VMWare VSAN (cookbook,

sales collateral, etc):
https://w3.gsar.ibm.com/services/gsar/gda/sbb_details.xhtml?id=545

• 2H 2017 – All Flash deployment model and evaluation vSAN Stretch

Cluster in Softlayer (dependent on future VMware code changes)

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On-Premise Solutions
(On-Premise only)

© 2017 IBM Corporation

13
 • iSCSi based architecture for Block Storage
IPHyperStor
Cisco 9508 Cisco 9508
• High Tier2 performance

• 5ms average response time over 24 hour period and

Nexus Nexus Nexus Nexus
99.99% SLA
9372TX 9372TX 9372TX 9372TX

n n n
n
• New greenfield – instead of Fiber Channel
6 6 6 6
6
3 3 6 6

APIC
Server

Server
Server

Server
6
• Cisco approved network vendor - Arista coming very soon
40 GbE
APIC Server Server 6x10 GbE
XiV XiV XiV XiV Nx10 GbE
APIC Server Server XIV
Legend A9000 A9000R
314

• Based upon 4TB or 6TB XIV GEN3 314 with Auto-Compression

4 4 44 4
4 4 4 4
• Soon to include A9000R
Arista 75xx Arista 75xx Arista 75xx

• Utilizes native features of XIV such as Compression, Thin Provisioning, replication,

encryption, etc…

Arista Arista Arista Arista

• 35% baseline reduction with XIV RealTime Compression 7280QR-48 7280QR-48 7280QR-48 7280SE

n
• XIV 6 TB - $0.056 per GB cost and $0.07 per GB price n n
n

• GDA - GTS Software Defined Storage IPHyperStor (cookbook, sales collateral, etc): Server Server
https://w3.gsar.ibm.com/services/gsar/gda/sbb_details.xhtml?id=418
Server Server

Server Server 40 GbE

10 GbE
Server Server
Legend 14
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NexentaStor • NAS/iSCSI/FC protocol support

• Scale Up architecture – Similar to NetApp/nSeries 7-mode

• Enabled for On Premise ONLY - Cannot provide HA in SoftLayer

• Designed as an alternative to NetApp for lower end file needs.

• Tier 1, 2 and 3 configurations

• Includes all flash and hybrid configuration options

• Software RAID protection

• ZFS zRAID and mirroring capabilities

• Hardware options from Lenovo and SuperMicro

• Enablement material currently going through Architecture Control Board

reviews

• Approx. TIER1 cost per GB targeted for .03 per GB per month (US) –
based on 5 years. TIER2 around .01 per GB. See SDM/FWB

• Contacts – Rick Taylor, Tom Bish, Jim Olson, Vijayaruban K2

• GDA - GTS Software Defined Storage Nexenta (cookbook, sales collateral,

etc): https://w3.gsar.ibm.com/services/gsar/gda/sbb_details.xhtml?id=546

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Off and On-Premise Solutions
(Both)

© 2017 IBM Corporation

16
Compuverde • NAS/Block/Object interface – Only looking to enable file at this time

• Scale Out architecture – 4 node minimum to hundreds

• Capacity AND performance scale linearly with nodes
• Able to create performance tiers of nodes within same file
space
• Distributed copies or erasure coding on any file system boundary –
offers wide range of resiliency options

• Enabled for On Premise AND SoftLayer

• Same topology for on premise and SoftLayer deployments
• Designed as an alternative to Netapp for lower end file needs.

• Covers performance tiers 1, 2 and 3

• On Prem Tier 1 ~$0.03/GB/month, Tier 3 ~$0.01/GB/month over
5 years
• SoftLayer Tier 1 ~$0.25/GB/month, Tier 3 ~$0.03/GB/month
over 5 years
• Approx costs US – see SDM/FWB

• On Premise hardware option from SuperMicro

• Contacts – Rick Taylor, Vidula Patel, Tom Bish, Jim Olson

• GDA - GTS Software Defined Storage Compuverde (cookbook, sales

collateral, etc):
https://w3.gsar.ibm.com/services/gsar/gda/sbb_details.xhtml?id=547

• Enablement material currently going through Architecture Control

Board reviews.

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Nutanix
Scalable HyperConverged Storage
• 1(3) to 100s of nodes
• Linear Performance Scaling
• More mature than vSAN
• Turn advanced features like encryption
off and on per container instead of per
cluster
• Compression, Deduplication, SnapShot and
Clones and ShadowClones
• Automatic Data Tiering
• Supports VMWare and Nutanix AHV
Hypervisors
• 4 Different OEM Platforms Available:
• Supermicro (Reference)
• Dell
• Lenovo
• Cisco UCS
• No SoftLayer Support
• Under evaluation

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IBM Internal Use Only
CleverSafe
CleverSafe
• Object interface
• Scale Out architecture – segmented node roles
• Local or globally dispersed erasure coding
• Dramatically increased storage efficiency when using
globally dispersed erasure coding compared with local
protection and DR copies

• Same topology for on premise and SoftLayer

deployments
• Enablement in progress – BJ Klingenberg

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We already are delivering software defined storage for clients
• Spectrum Accelerate • vSAN
• Fannie Mae • Bacardi-Martini
• Panasonic (Germany) • Dixons Carphone
• Royal Bank of Canada • Sysco
• Shop Direct • DSC Shared Services
• Fincantieri
• Evry
• Gerdau
• CompuVerde • IBM Dynamic Automation
• Kaiser Permanente (proof of concept) • Lufthansa
• MMM Healthcare
• Nexenta • Project Miller
• Avon • Robotic Process Automation
• SAPA
• IPHyperStor • Telstra
• Avon • Thomson Reuters
• Twins (IBM Belgium shared infrastructure) • Westpac
• WPP
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Backup
• Decision trees

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 SoftLayer Block Decision Tree

If using a VMware Private Cloud in Softlayer and require dedicated storage then Performance Storage can provide a maximum IOPS of 6000 and a maximum
you should look at using VMware vSAN. You can then supplement the usage of capacity of 12TB. Priced at a combined rate of $0.10/GB and $0.07/IOP. It can be
vSAN with Spectrum Accelerate or one of the other offerings in this decision tree used for customers who want to self-provision storage
if there are additional requirements that cannot be met by VMware vSAN. vSAN
will cost between $0.075 to $0.09 per GB per month and IOPS will scale linearly Endurance TIER1 is rated at 10000 IOPs per TB, TIER 2 is rated at 4000IOPs
from 10-12k IOPs per Disk Group in Hybrid Configuration. per TB and TIER3 is rated at 2000 IOPs per TB. See Softlayer pricing for this. As
of Dec 2016 TIER1 is approx. .58 US per GB per month and TIER2 is approx. .35
Spectrum Accelerate has a minimum capacity of 50TB. It can burst to 1000 IOPs US per GB per month and Tier 3 is approx. .20 per GB per month.
per TB and have sustained performance of 500 IOPs per TB. If performance ask
exceeds this then Endurance only option for Cloud (see below). If Endurance not
**Prices were accurate at the time of writing**
allowed due to public cloud then on premise solution is guidance (non-cloud). See
slides 2-5 in this deck.

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SoftLayer File/Object Decision Tree
SoftLayer Object
Store

No
Yes **
S3 support CompuVerde
Start

No No

NetApp eco system on-premises Yes

Mission Critical No File Yes
SnapMirror Replication to SoftLayer
workloads SnapLock, SnapVault
Yes

Yes Yes No IOPS > 500 / TB No

Cloud mandated File Dedicated
by customer

No Yes
No Yes

Use On-Premises Mission Critical Mission Critical

Endurance Performance ONTAP Select
storage workloads cannot be workloads are not
Storage Storage
Use GTS Storage run on Object Store. supported on dedicated
Solution Guidance Review solution file SDS in SoftLayer. If
document. See Note account team insists on
using dedicated SDS
(such as CompuVerde or
SDOT) in SoftLayer for
mission critical Mission Critical workloads requiring file storage can be run only on Performance
applications, the PE/DPE or Endurance storage
must specify that they
are willing to accept the CompuVerde supports CIFS, S3, NFS and Swift
risks in writing SDOT supports NFS & CIFS, Compression and Deduplication
** - Custom solutioning necessary

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On Premise File Decision Tree
Start

No Yes
Mission Critical Client acceptable to use off See File Decision tree for
workloads premise Cloud SoftLayer

Yes No On Premise below

Yes No “Scale Out” architecture required – No

NetApp MetroCluster, SnapVault, Replication to SoftLayer No
required Single system with maximum count of
SnapLock support
nodes scaling to > 5PB
Yes
Yes
NetApp
(with a ONTAP Select installation in Compuverde NexentaStor
SoftLayer) Yes (maximum capacity of 5PB in a single 2-
node system)

A single Compuverde system can scale up to hundreds of nodes with a maximum raw
capacity of hundreds of PB – This is “Scale Out” architecture
A single NexentaStor system has 2 nodes with a maximum raw capacity of 5PB

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Contacts

For GTS Software Defined Storage help (client discussion, technical, solution, etc), contact us here….

GTS WW Solution Design Request/Los Angeles/IBM

Vidula Patel - Cloud Storage TSA

Email: [email protected]

Software Defined Storage

• TI&A Global Storage Best Practice Community: https://w3-
connections.ibm.com/communities/service/html/communitystart?communityUuid=ee2222e8-6a33-4f67-9c79-79e45bc8db5b
• SA Knowledge Center: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/STZSWD
• GDA – GTS Software Defined Storage Spectrum Accelerate (cookbook, sales collateral, etc):
https://w3.gsar.ibm.com/services/gsar/gda/sbb_details.jsp?id=388
• Global Storage Solution Strategy – http://goto.hursley.ibm.com/storage/tiering-definitions
• Recorded session -
http://learning2.atlanta.ibm.com/hr/global/events/ems.nsf/pages/session?open&id=378A8BBE1830294085257F5B007CFEF0

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Thank You

© 2017 IBM Corporation