Dell EMC Unity: Best Practices for Best Performance Stephen Wright Performance Engineering Midrange & Entry Solutions Group
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Optimized for All-Flash Performance & Simplicity
What’s New with Dell EMC Unity
4 new Broadwell based All-Flash models New 80 drive 3U enclosure 4X file power with 256TB file system Compression for file AppSync integration, snapshots & thin
clones for iCDM Dynamic Pools
Up to 40% more cores; 2X the memory
650F
550F
450F
350F
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Dell EMC Unity: Best Practices for Best Performance
What is “performance”? What are “Best Practices”? How has Best Practice guidance changed?
Dell EMC Unity All-Flash Considerations Dell EMC Unity Hybrid Considerations
Compression, Snapshots, Replication
Background
Hardware
Features
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What is “Performance”?
Small transactions Bulk data
Individual transactions
Batch transactions
IOPS MB/s
Latency Response time
Window Job
The ability to do the
requested work in the
required period of time
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What are “Best Practices”?
Configuration Guidance • Advice based on experience • Recommendations for options • Responsive to your application • Best behavior for your needs
Consideration Checklist
________
________
________
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How are Best Practices Evolving
Dell EMC Unity Simplicity Dell EMC Unity drives intelligence into the storage system
Unified File and Block Same recommendations apply
Flash Changes the game for storage performance
One set of common guidance
Stress on other components
Remove need for detailed tweaking
Let the system do the right thing for you
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Based on small-block random workloads
• NL-SAS • SAS 10K RPM • SAS 15K RPM • Flash
Recommended Maximum IOPS per Drive
SPEED LIMIT
150
SPEED LIMIT
250
SPEED LIMIT
350
SPEED LIMIT
20000
The Quantum Leap of Flash
• Do not use these numbers for sizing • Contact Dell EMC Representative
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The Flash Effect, and CPU Utilization • Flash is fast, and Dell EMC Unity can support hundreds of drives
• Driving a lot of Flash can take a lot of CPU power
• We provide Best Practices around CPU utilization
Average CPU Utilization Below 50% 50% to 70% 70% to 90% Above 90%
Latency
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The Flash Effect, and CPU Utilization • Flash is fast, and Dell EMC Unity can support hundreds of drives
• Driving a lot of Flash can take a lot of CPU power
• We provide Best Practices around CPU utilization
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Average CPU % Utilization
IOPSResponse Time
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The Flash Effect, and CPU Utilization • Flash is fast, and Dell EMC Unity can support hundreds of drives
• Driving a lot of Flash can take a lot of CPU power
• We provide Best Practices around CPU utilization
Average CPU Utilization Below 50% 50% to 70% 70% to 90% Above 90%
Latency
High Availability
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Approaching Best Practices: AFA or Hybrid?
All-Flash Hybrid Features
• Compression • Snapshots • Replication • Both Block and File
• HDD performance can be determining factor
• A little Flash can add a lot of capability
• Drives are most likely not a bottleneck
• Focus on maximizing other hardware resources
Hardware Considerations
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0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
U3xx
U4xx
U5xx
U6xx
Dell EMC Unity Relative CPU Horsepower
New All-Flash Models Existing Models
All-Flash Considerations • With All-Flash, CPU becomes the driving factor
– CPU power has largest impact on achievable performance – Memory has largest impact on scalability
1X 2X
2.5X
3X
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0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
1
2
3
4
5
6
Num
ber o
f act
ive
SAS
buse
s
Maximum GB/s
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
1
2
3
4
5
6
Num
ber o
f act
ive
SAS
buse
s
Maximum GB/s
Balanced Access – Back-end SAS • At least use the 2 on-board!
– Maybe you also want the SAS expansion? (up to 6 buses)
• Largest impact is on bandwidth
Bottleneck shifts to
front-end ports
2 SAS ports per SP On-board I/O Module
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Balanced Access – Front-end Ports • For HA, zone 1 initiator to 1
port from SPA, 1 port from SPB
• For HA + load balancing, zone to 2 ports per SP
• Cable and use as many front-end ports as possible
• We recommend at least 4 ports per SP in U3x0 and U4x0
• At least 6 ports per SP in U5x0 and U6x0
Host
Switch2
SPB SPA
Switch1
Host
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Front-end Port Considerations
Speed is good!
Use faster ports when available
Understand port limits Consult Best
Practices Guide
Use more ports
Better distribution across cores
12 x 1,500 MB/s = 18,000 MB/s
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Flash Tier FAST VP
All Previous Recommendations
Size for HDD Constraints
FAST Cache
Hybrid Considerations
5% = Flash Acceleration
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Host I/O RAID Snapshots Compression ReplicationHost I/O RAID Snapshots Compression Replication
Features Overview • In Dell EMC Unity, all system
resources are always available – Architectural philosophy – CPUs are not reserved for any
particular process
• Features require resources – Use additional CPU and may
add drive IOPS – CPU cycles can shift as
defined workload changes
80%
RAID
-1/0
RAID
-6
Add Snapshots
Add Com
pression
Add Replication
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Decision Tree for Enabling Features • Understand that enabling a feature may increase CPU utilization
• This chart represents average CPU before implementing feature
Average CPU Utilization Below 50% 50% to 70% 70% to 90% Above 90%
Snapshots / Replication
Compression
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Compression
>25% space savings from Compression
Good candidates for Compression
Low rate of data overwrite
Tolerant of latency fluctuations
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Few Objects Several Objects Many Objects
Snapshots
12 h
ours
12 hours
12 h
ours
12 hours
12 h
ours
12 hours
8 hours
8 hours
4 ho
urs 4 hours
• Use less aggressive snapshot schedules
• Stagger snapshot schedules
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Asynchronous Replication • Asynchronous Replication leverages Snapshots
– Similar considerations – Recovery Point Objective = snapshot schedule – Longer RPOs with lots of replicated objects
• Consider port capabilities – Multiple links per SP – Higher speed ports
8 hours
RPO
12 h
ours
12 hours
RPO
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Synchronous Replication • Real-time replication over Fibre Channel link
• Latency is key
• Zone so that clients are not on the replication link
Storage Processor
Replication Link
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Dell EMC Unity Best Practices: Summary
Appropriate Model
Enough Hardware
Plan for Features
Flash Acceleration
Start with Flash All-Flash Flash tier (Hybrid)
Consider CPU consumption Snapshot schedules Replication RPOs
Have enough…? Drives Enclosures Ports Utilize all ports
Choose the right model, based on CPU power Data-in-place upgrades to move to more powerful model For All-Flash, consider new Ux50F models
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Booth #347
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Related Sessions for SC and Dell EMC Unity Series Session Title Day/Time Dell EMC Unity & SC Series: Midrange Storage Portfolio Overview Mon @ 12:00 PM + Wed @ 01:30 PM CloudIQ: Cloud-Based Storage Analytics for Dell EMC Unity and SC Series Mon @ 04:30 PM + Wed @ 08:30 AM Dell EMC Unity All-Flash: What’s New Tue @ 03:00 PM + Wed @ 01:30 PM Dell EMC Unity: Architectural Overview Mon @ 01:30 PM + Thu @ 08:30 AM Dell EMC Unity: Best Practices For Best Performance Wed @ 08:30 AM + Thu @ 10:00 AM Dell EMC Unity: Performance Analysis Deep Dive Wed @ 03:00 PM + Thu @ 01:00 PM Dell EMC Unity: Next Generation NAS & File Capabilities Mon @ 03:00 PM + Thu @ 11:30 AM Dell EMC Unity: Data Protection & Copy Management Options Mon @ 08:30 AM + Wed @ 12:00 PM Dell EMC Unity: Virtualization & Cloud Integration Mon @ 12:00 PM Dell EMC Unity: Migration From VNX Tue @ 08:30 AM Dell EMC Unity: Using Dell EMC UnityVSA In Converged Environments Mon @ 08:30 AM Dell EMC Unity All Flash: Flash Technology Deep Dive Mon @ 08:30 AM + Thu @ 01:00 PM SC Series: What's New Mon @ 04:30 PM + Tue @ 03:00 PM SC Series: Architectural Overview Mon @ 01:30 PM + Tue @ 03:00 PM SC Series: Performance Best Practices Mon @ 04:30 PM + Thu. @ 01:00 PM SC Series: Affordable Data Mobility & Business Continuity With Multi-Array Federation Mon @ 08:30 AM + Thu @ 01:00 PM SC Series: Virtualization & Ecosystem Integrations Wed @ 03:00 PM + Thu @ 08:30 AM
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Hands on Labs for SC and Dell EMC Unity Series Self-Paced Day/Time
Dell EMC Dell EMC Unity CloudIQ – Event Correlation & Analytics
Monday: 8:30AM – 9:00PM
Tuesday: 7:00AM – 5:30PM
Wednesday: 7:00AM – 5:00PM
Thursday: 7:00AM – 2:00PM
Dell EMC Dell EMC Unity – Simplified Storage Management & Administration
Dell EMC Dell EMC Unity – VMware vSphere Integration
Dell EMC Dell EMC Unity – Configuring Snapshots & Replication
SC Series: Introduction to SC Series and Dell Storage Manager
Guided Day/Time
Dell EMC Dell EMC Unity CloudIQ – Event Correlation & Analytics (Registration required and limited availability)
Tuesday: 1:30PM – 2:30PM
Thursday: 8:30AM – 9:30AM
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Thank You for Attending
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO • Visit the Storage & Data Protection Booth • Tweet: @DellEMCStorage
A STAR IS BORN • Shoot an in-room 10 second reference video
(where applicable)
Talk with us in the booth about the:
Modern Infrastructure Assessment &
Storage Efficiency Guarantee
SITES TO BE SEEN • Efficiency Guarantee: dellemc.com/4to1guarantee • CloudIQ: dellemc.com/cloudiq • All-Flash Storage: dellemc.com/all-flash
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