Dell DR4000 DeDupe Appliance Goes 64-bit for Compellent

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture, Legacy Gear, News, Pricing  Comments Off
Feb 262012
 

Dell has introduced the DR4000, its de-duplication appliance based on its Ocarina technology and upgraded the software for its enterprise-class Compellent storage line with 64-bit technology.

Dell Compellent DR4000 PricingThere’s no way around it – we’re in the midst of a data explosion – an explosion many small businesses are struggling to keep up with, without ever-increasing budgets. By eliminating redundancies, organizations can maximize their storage capacity and see immediate results.. However, such technology has previously been out of reach for growing businesses. We’re pleased to announce the wait is over – today we announced the new Dell DR4000 Storage Platform which combines the performance and reliability of disk-based backup with innovative deduplication and compression capabilities from Dell’s Ocarina Networks acquisition.

So, how does it work? Data deduplication inspects chunks of data. A fingerprint of that chunk is taken and looked up in the system’s data index. If the fingerprint is in the index then the chunk does not need to be stored again. Instead the object map is updated and a shortcut is put in place of the duplicate data.

By keeping data online for weeks or even months before moving it to archive storage, customers can more easily locate and restore important data, creating new efficiencies and reducing the total cost of ownership for their storage infrastructure. These capabilities eliminate multiple copies of the same data and enable customers to keep more data online longer and readily available in the event of a disaster or data loss event.

Here are the DR4000 highlights:

* Eliminate redundant copies of data by decreasing disk capacity requirements up to 15 times.
* Reduce dependence on tape backup
* Reduce bandwidth requirements for data transfer by up to 15 times
* Reduce backup storage costs to as low as $0.25/GB
* Reduce the footprint of backup delivering power and cooling savings in the datacenter

In addition to excellent data reduction capabilities, the DR4000 reduces storage costs over time through an all-inclusive software licensing model that allows customers to leverage all of the DR4000 current and future product capabilities without incurring additional licensing costs.

Data deduplication helps optimize storage and more intelligently manage growing data – with less. As Dell continues to evolve its Fluid Data architecture for storage, customers will be able to apply deduplication technology on data in primary storage, backup storage, cloud storage or data in flight for replication, LAN and WAN transfers. So, what are some real-life examples that create duplicate data in a network? Email blasts that include attachments, saving multiple versions of file or the same file in different place and server/desktop virtualization containing redundant images of the same operating system. These activities are becoming more and more common, increasing the importance of deduplication technology for organizations of all sizes.

Implementing deduplication into your backup strategy is a critical part of moving into a next generation data center. What plans do you have in store for deduplication? Is the DR4000 in your future?

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Number 8 – Scale On Demand with an Open, Agile Platform

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture  Comments Off
Feb 262012
 

This is the eighth of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 8 – Compellent Scale On Demand with an Open, Agile Platform

Unlike systems that require you to rip and replace hardware as your business needs change, Dell
Compellent supports the continual adoption of new technologies on a single, modular platform. This is
a major departure from the status quo, which imposes artificial restrictions on everything from drive
type to server interconnect. Simply put, most storage systems are designed for early obsolescence,
forcing organizations into costly forklift upgrades.

Dell Compellent storage is designed for persistence. Administrators can scale from entry-level to
enterprise on the same platform (from 2 TB to 1,000 TB in the same system) incrementally in line with
business needs. They can also deploy any combination of FC and iSCSI server interfaces, as well as mix
and match SSD, FC, SAS and SATA drives in the same system. Even SAS drives with varying capacities
and rotational speeds can be used in the same enclosures. You can seamlessly adopt new and emerging
technologies on the fly as they become available. And upgrades, port modifications and other changes
in configuration can be implemented on demand without disruption.

Dell Compellent storage also features fully redundant hardware and advanced failover capabilities.
Clustered controllers, each with redundant fans and power supplies, operate in unison for optimum
system performance. Yet each controller connects to enclosures and drives independently to ensure no
single point of failure. Controller port virtualization and dual paths from servers to disk drives also
enhance availability, with built-in multi-path I/O failover eliminating the need for custom software.
With Dell Compellent, you have the freedom to choose the technologies that support your IT
infrastructure today and readily adapt to change tomorrow – all without disruption. And you don’t have
to repurchase your base software license when you upgrade controllers to integrate new technologies.


That’s it! We hope you’ve enjoyed the series!

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Number 7 – Intuitive, Unified User Interface

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture, Setup and Operation  Comments Off
Feb 262012
 

This is the seventh of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 7 – Intuitive, Unified User Interface

Managing conventional storage systems is complex and time-consuming. In fact, IT staff expenditures
often exceed the cost of the storage platform itself. Administrators need to monitor always-changing
capacity requirements, manually migrate data from tier to tier, configure backup sequences and more.
And in most cases, all these tasks must be performed using multiple, standalone user interfaces.

Dell Compellent storage is designed to help administrators manage more data in less time. This is
largely because of the built-in efficiency and intelligent automation of Dell Compellent storage. It is
also because Dell Compellent storage features an intuitive, point-and-click interface that provides a
complete view of the entire storage environment through a single pane of glass.

With Dell Compellent, there is no need for specialized skill sets or ongoing systems training. Wizards
guide users through system setup and application configuration, making even advanced operations
simple and straightforward. Since common, repetitive (and often time-consuming) tasks are fully
automated, users can focus on other important projects. Storage consumption and usage trends are
automatically monitored and displayed, eliminating the need for manual capacity planning. And a
unique Phone Home feature provides automated real-time alerts and notifications for remote
diagnostics and monitoring. Dell Compellent storage even generates executive summaries, cost-savings
calculations and utilization chargeback reports with just a few clicks.


Next up in our 8 Must Have series is #8, Scale On Demand, Open Platform.

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Number 5 – Space-Efficient Snapshots

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture, Setup and Operation  Comments Off
Jan 312012
 

This is the fifth of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 5 – Space-Efficient Snapshots

The hidden cost of snapshot space hogs

Using snapshots to protect array data is nothing new. What is new is how the aging (or tiered progression) algorithms associated with primary data can also be applied to snapshot data. There are 2 parts to snapshot efficiency; 1) minimizing the amount needed initially and 2) placing the older snapshots on lower tiered groups of disks.

Some storage architectures implement snapshots using large chunks, or pages, of data. These larger block approaches tend to overuse snapshot space by preserving data at a minimum of 15K chunks. Imagine a 15K snapshot for a single byte change. Compellent snapshots can be configured from 512 Byte blocks to 4K, drastically reducing the per change overhead.

Snapshot migration reduces costs

The second snapshot efficiency gained by the Compellent architecture is that, similar to primary data, snapshot data can also be progressively moved to lower speed, lower cost media as it ages. Snapshots for yesterday are generally more likely to be needed than snapshots from a previous month, especially for high-IO applications. Thus, it makes sense that the most recent snapshots are readily available on the fastest tier groups; a process handled automatically by Compellent.

Since Replays are so space efficient, recovery can take as few as 10 seconds and volumes can be
mapped to any server without disruption. To simplify the process, administrators set up Replay
schedules using an intuitive point-and-click interface. Replays can also be used to test new applications
and service packs on actual data without risk, efficiently support boot-from-SAN operations and
virtually eliminate backup windows on production systems.


Next up in our 8 Must Have series is #6, Thin Replication.

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Number 4 – Automated Tiered Storage

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture, Pricing  No Responses »
Jan 032012
 

This is the fourth of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 4 – Automated Tiered Storage

Dynamically Classify and Migrate Data

To continue containing costs throughout the lifecycle of enterprise data, Dell Compellent leverages an
innovative data movement engine that integrates intelligent tiering with advanced virtualization.
Traditionally, information lifecycle management has been a tedious and manual process with no end.
Data is continually classified and reclassified based on its “importance” to the organization, an
approach rife with political implications.

Politics aside, manually moving data between high-performance drives and more cost-effective,
capacity-oriented drives is complicated and time consuming. Add-on migration engines can help, but
increase overall software costs and waste valuable staff time for systems integration. Either way, each
volume must be moved in its entirety, although some of that data is probably more frequently
accessed. That means administrators have to continuously fine-tune data placement over time. Still,
the alternative – retaining all enterprise data on high-performance drives – is not only costly in terms of
disk expenditures, but wastes energy and squanders limited data center space.

With Dell Compellent, since data is actively, intelligently managed at the block level, manually moving
data between tiers is a thing of the past. Using unique Automated Tiered Storage software, known as
Data Progression, Dell Compellent dynamically classifies and migrates data to the optimum tier based
on actual usage. The “importance” of data becomes a matter of fact according to actual usage, and
data placement organically remains in tune with changing business needs.

Data is written to high-performance Solid State (SDD) or Fibre Channel (FC) drives on Tier 1 storage.
Then, as the frequency of access declines, the less active blocks of data migrate to FC or SAS drives on Tier 2 storage. Over time, completely inactive data moves to high-capacity SAS or SATA drives on Tier 3 storage. To further free up high-performance drives for mission-critical applications, snapshots
automatically flow to cost-effective, energy-saving drives. Meanwhile, the most active data is
dynamically placed on the outer tracks of each drive for increased performance. Since most enterprise
data is inactive, on average organizations can reduce disk expenditures by as much as 80 percent with
Automated Tiered Storage.

Regardless of the current tier, with Dell Compellent storage, enterprise data always remains readily
available. Even once-inactive data is promoted to a higher tier if it becomes regularly accessed again.
Administrators simply customize the tiering algorithm according to specific organizational needs, or use
default settings established based on current industry best practices.

Next up in our 8 Must Have series is #5, Space Efficient Snapshots.

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#3 Must Have for the IT Director – Thin Provisioning

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture, Setup and Operation  No Responses »
Dec 292011
 

This is the third of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 3 – Thin Provisioning

Dell Compellent significantly reduces the cost of storage by enabling you to purchase and manage
fewer disk drives now and in the future. With other storage systems, physical disk capacity is
preallocated when the volume is created. Administrators estimate how much capacity may be required
for a given application and allocate “extra” space to accommodate growth. If the volume created is
500 GB, all 500 GB are set aside for that application. No other applications can use any of the preallocated
disk space, and none of it can be reclaimed later if actual utilization doesn’t coincide with
staff estimates. In most cases, only a fraction of the pre-allocated capacity is ever actually used,
resulting in the accumulation of purchased but “stranded” storage.

Such inefficient disk utilization inflates capital expenditures, operating expenditures and, ultimately,
your total cost of ownership (TCO). Administrators are forced to buy more capacity than needed
upfront, when the price per GB is sure to fall. Over time, as capacity is consumed (or stranded), even
more capacity must be purchased, further expanding the data center footprint. And all of this storage
must be provisioned manually, a time-consuming process that often requires downtime. In the end,
regardless of how much data is truly stored, all of these disks require continuous power and cooling.

Dell Compellent Thin Provisioning software, called Dynamic Capacity™, completely separates allocation
from utilization, eliminating preallocated but unused capacity. Administrators can provision any size
virtual volume upfront yet only consume physical capacity when data is actually written to disk. That
means you purchase the data you need to store your data today, then continue saving by expanding the
system on demand, adding the right capacity at the right time as your business needs change. In most
cases, organizations can regain 40 to 60 percent of disk space that would have been lost to preallocation.
You can even reclaim capacity from volumes provisioned with legacy systems using Thin
Import.

Next up in our 8 Must Have series is #4, Automated Tiered Storage.

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#2 Must Have for the IT Director – Storage Virtualization

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture, Setup and Operation  1 Response »
Dec 272011
 

This is the second of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 2 – Storage Virtualization

The term “virtual storage” has about as many definitions as there are vendors that provide it. In it’s most basic form, Compellent Storage Virtualization means that logical disk volumes are not directly associated with physical disk devices. A single volume, for example, might be spread across many physical drive types and raid levels.

Here’s Compellent’s overview:

Dell Compellent virtualizes enterprise storage at the disk level, creating a dynamic pool of shared storage resources available to all servers. With read/write operations spread across all drives, multiple requests can be processed in parallel, boosting system performance. Dell Compellent Storage Virtualization allows users to create hundreds of volumes in seconds to support any virtual server platform and optimize the placement of virtual applications.

How to Increase Performance with Storage Virtualization

  • Create any size virtual volumes without allocating drives to specific servers or dealing with complicated capacity planning and performance tuning
  • Present network storage to servers simply as disk capacity, regardless of tier, RAID level or server connectivity
  • Automatically restripe data across all drives in the storage pool when adding disk capacity
  • Dynamically scale the storage pool and implement system upgrades without disruption
  • Use virtual ports to increase port capacity, disk bandwidth, I/O connectivity and port failover

While these are certainly all important bullets, I’d like to add my own from a “benefit” perspective. For an IT administrator, Compellent Storage Virtualization:

  • Eliminates “hot spots” because individual drives are not target for specific apps
  • Improves performance by utilizing all spindles available; gets faster as it gets larger.

Next up in our 8 Must Have series is #3, Thin Provisioning.

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#1 Must Have for the IT Director – Fluid Data Architecture

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture  1 Response »
Dec 232011
 

This is the first of eight in a series titled 8 Must Haves for the IT Director

Number 1 – Fluid Data Architecture

Dictionary.com defines Fluid as:

flu·id
   /ˈfluɪd/ Show Spelled[floo-id]
noun
1.
a substance, as a liquid or gas [or data], that is capable of flowing and that changes its shape at a steady rate when acted upon by a force tending to change its shape.

adjective
2.
pertaining to a substance that easily changes its shape; capable of flowing.
3.
changing readily; shifting; not fixed, stable, or rigid: fluid movements.

The Importance of Fluidity of Data

The underlying goal of scaling out large virtual environments is cost savings; both from using less machines and less labor to manage them. One administrator can now manage dozens of virtual environments across multiple application service level agreements.

Individual application availability and performance is where the Fluid Data Architecture shines. Like liquid seeks it’s own level, Fluid Data methods balance data placement with natural request history. More frequently used data is placed on closer, faster disk spindles. The concept is not new. Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) systems have been around since the 60′s and 70′s. What has changed is the built-in intelligence and granularity of data placement.

Each block in a Compellent Fluid system has meta data characteristics

Dell Compellent’s Fluid Data Architecture

Ok, let’s cut to the chase. The key to Compellent’s “put the data where it’s needed at the precise time it’s needed” fluid data process is intelligence….at the BLOCK LEVEL. I didn’t mean to shout, but this is important. Each block carries with it information that other systems simply don’t have.

Check out the graphic to the left. Note that usage and access characteristics accompany each block. By using this metadata the system can make real decisions on where to place the data.

Data progresses from one tier to another using metadataThis simple tagging of usage information at the block level means the Compellent operating system can easily determine where to best place the data. If, over time, data has not been accessed and still resides on expensive Tier 1 spindles, it can be migrated down to Tier 2 disks, freeing up space.

Likewise, Tier 3 data that suddenly becomes active can be migrated back up to Tier 1 automatically. This built-in process is called “data progression management” and is the key to the Fluid Data Architecture.

Since we are focusing on IT Director “Must Haves”, it is important to translate this technical feature into benefits.

A Fluid Data Architecture enabled by block level meta data means:

  • You buy fewer drives and use more Tier 3 storage, saving on power and space
  • You simplify your IT infrastructure with zero touch management
  • Scale without limits on a persistent, technology-independent platform
  • Recover instantly and set up multi-site replication in minutes

Next up in our 8 Must Have series is #2, Storage Virtualization.

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Fluid Data Storage – 8 Must-haves for the IT Director

 Design Considerations, Fluid Data Architecture  3 Responses »
Nov 292011
 

IT professionals familiar with Compellent (Dell) have most likely heard the term “Fluid Data Architecture” (FDA). Having started my career in the data storage industry in 1989, I’ve seen dozens of vendor implementations of Hierarchical Data Management (HSM) and thought I’d delve deeper into the Compellent offering. I’ll try to boil down the 8 key features that are being promoted by Compellent as “must haves” for the IT director.

Here is a summary of the 8 core features we’ll be discussing:

1. Fluid Data Architecture – Storage is managed at the most granular level with built-in system
intelligence to enable the dynamic flow of enterprise data.

2. Storage Virtualization – Storage is virtualized at the disk level to create a flexible pool of storage
resources shared by all servers all the time.

3. Thin Provisioning – Allocation is completely separated from utilization so any size volume can be
created at any time, yet capacity is only consumed when data is written.

4. Automated Tiered Storage – Data dynamically cascades from tier to tier according to actual
usage, freeing up high-performance drives for mission-critical applications.

5. Space-efficient Snapshots – Continuous snapshots only capture changes in data for real-time
protection with instant recovery to any point in time.

6. Thin Replication – Data is replicated between local and remote sites using space-efficient
snapshots and native IP connectivity, eliminating the need for high-speed data links or identical
system configurations.

7. Unified Storage Resource Management – All storage resources are managed through a single,
point-and-click interface providing a complete view of the entire storage environment.

8. Open, Agile Hardware Platform – Storage is designed for persistence, not obsolescence,
leveraging a single, modular hardware platform coupled with technology independence.

With that list as a base, we’ll move ahead next time and discuss the Fluid Data Architecture.

Let’s get started with #1…Fluid Data Architecture

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