Decoding Big Data Special Issue: Data Management

power solutions 2011 Issue 04 2011 Issue

Your guide to maximizing IT efficiency dell.com/powersolutions 04 Special issue: Data management Decoding big data Special issue: Data management

Demystifying the buzz: Big data Rethinking storage: How the and little data Dell Fluid Data architecture powers IT DPS-201104-STD Apache Hadoop from Dell and Seamless integration: Dell EqualLogic Cloudera: Taking control of big data storage and Microsoft app servers

Exercises in data agility: Dell Force10 Optimizing data management for Open Cloud Networking virtual desktops: Unified virtual storage US$18.95 CAN$19.95 US$18.95 Extract value from your structured & unstructured data in 1/10th the time Dell | Cloudera Solution v Dell.com/Hadoop v [email protected]

50120138-hadoop.indd 1 11/15/11 12:47 PM 2011 Issue 04

Special issue: Data management

8 Dell Fluid Data strategy Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration 12 Using snapshots to enhance protection of SQL Server application data By Puneet Dhawan and Bob Ganley Smart Copy capabilities included with Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series iSCSI arrays extend traditional data protection for essential application data stored in Microsoft® SQL Server® databases by delivering rapid, efficient data protection and recovery.

14 Integrated, automated storage management with PowerShell scripting By Michael Pacheco and Stanley L. Stevens Freeing IT staff from manual storage management Rethinking tasks enhances productivity and efficiency. Windows PowerShell™ scripting within Dell EqualLogic storage offers accelerated, automated deployment of storage advanced features in complex Microsoft environments.

By Timothy Sherbak and Deborah Sheedy 17 Driving efficient IT through a simplified On the crest of the data deluge, the Dell™ Windows storage environment By Stanley L. Stevens and Michael Pacheco Fluid Data™ vision for an intelligent storage The proliferation of Microsoft Windows®–based application infrastructure enables unparalleled insights and servers calls for an agile storage environment throughout efficiency by delivering the right data to the right the enterprise. Dell EqualLogic unified, virtualized storage place at the right time—for the right cost. eases data management while enhancing availability.

4 Get instant 44 Virtualized 46 Glean insights 58 Open networking 68 Simplify access to Dell storage for from big data to with Dell Force10 virtualization Power Solutions resilient data stay ahead of raises the bar while preparing on Zinio protection the competition for business agility for the cloud

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 1 Special issue: Data management Efficiency with host integration tools Planning tools 21 Advancing storage management efficiency 38 Fine-tuning IT infrastructure through rapid and dynamic data protection system assessment By Darren Miller and Shanky Chandra Gowri By Sam Kirchoff and Joanna Norling Rapid data growth advanced by business-critical applications To effectively upgrade IT infrastructure, organizations must first requires tools capable of efficiently managing and protecting understand the existing environment. The Dell Performance data. Enhanced features in Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK) provides an easy assessment Tools and EqualLogic SAN HeadQuarters software are up that can form the basis of a solid implementation plan. to the task. Customer perspective Unified storage for virtual desktops 40 BioWare: Staying ahead of the game 24 Optimizing VDI data management Video game developers face oceans of rapidly changing data, with unified virtualized storage especially when release dates loom. To meet critical data By Vikram Belapurkar, William Urban, and Chhandomay Mandal management needs, BioWare deploys Dell Compellent™ storage, Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) helps simplify user data part of the Dell Fluid Data architecture, in a virtual data environment. management and enables device- and location-independent data access. Dell EqualLogic systems provide unified, high- performance VDI storage that helps boost IT flexibility.

E-mail and file archiving 94 Security 27 Rising above the data deluge Help is on the way in the form of smart strategies for Systems management: efficient data management and access. A key building block 28 Streamlining e-mail and file archiving with CommVault Simpana software to enhance payment By Dave Jaffe and Darin Camp card security To ease the management of large data volumes, the Dell E-mail By Ken Drachnik and File Archive solution with CommVault® Simpana® software includes three reference architectures that provide basic Theft of consumer data presents a serious risk archiving, content indexing, and high-availability capabilities. for organizations tasked with Payment Card

31 Optimizing data retention and e-discovery Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) with Symantec Enterprise Vault software compliance. Systems management appliances By John Tian and Troy Lehman offer a cost-effective way to meet strict For effective e-discovery, information retention systems must requirements while enhancing IT efficiency. avoid accidental record loss and enable rapid data recovery— capabilities delivered through the Dell E-mail and File Archive solution with Symantec® Enterprise Vault® software.

Architecting for scale-out storage 34 Validating scale-out storage performance for block and file I/O By Dylan Locsin, Jeff Junker, Arun Rajan, and Ananda Sankaran A scale-out storage architecture helps organizations deal with demands for growing data capacity and access. Dell engineers put Dell EqualLogic scale-out storage through its paces to demonstrate its scalability in both file and block I/O scenarios.

2 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Zeroing in on big data 46 Big data and little data 56 Dell: Achieving big savings from big data analytics By Praveen Asthana Global expansion of Dell operations was a driving force The technology industry is buzzing about “big data,” for the design and deployment of integrated business but what is it? How is big data different from, intelligence (BI) and data warehousing for big data. say, “little data,” and will it become the next big thing? The resulting solution helped the company reduce Should IT fear big data or embrace it? IT costs by approximately US$35 million.

50 Taking control of big data 58 Unlocking cloud computing potential By Joey Jablonski and Aurelian Dumitru with open networking Organizations wresting insights from vast volumes and By Jeffrey Baher varied data types find that big data requires big power. Data center operators deploying cloud computing and Dell and Cloudera have teamed up to provide an large-scale applications thrive on open architectures, end-to-end solution that leverages the ability of open automation, and open ecosystems. Dell Force10 Apache Hadoop to process massive data sets. provides high-performance, standardized networking that raises the bar for business agility. 54 InsightExpress: From big data to big insights To help its clients capitalize on the huge amounts of data generated in advertising programs, InsightExpress deployed the Dell | Aster Data Analytics Cloud—enabling fast analysis that yields rich insights into the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

42 ZGT: A maximum-strength prescription for efficient storage Departments Industries today are experiencing unabated data growth, Editor’s comments particularly in health care. ZGT, a Netherlands-based health 6 Small apps, big data care provider, deployed Dell Compellent Storage Center™ By Tom Kolnowski SANs to migrate large amounts of patient data to a tiered storage environment. Product spotlight 61 APC solutions powering Team Lotus, Intel® Xeon® 44 Quarles & Brady: Weathering the storm processor E7 family, Dell Enterprise Efficient IT through resilient, virtualized storage community, Dell UltraSharp™ monitors, After experiencing a hurricane’s aftermath, law firm Dell Power Solutions on Twitter, and more Quarles & Brady made Dell EqualLogic storage arrays a bulwark against future disaster—at the same time boosting productivity and performance.

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 3 Virtualization 62 4 key use cases for automated IT Get your complimentary service delivery and management By Kailas Jawadekar digital subscription

68 Strategies for managing virtualized Power Solutions now on Zinio! and cloud-based environments By M. Consuelo Ortiz

72 Implementing automated replication for cost-effective disaster recovery By Fabian Salamanca and Javier L. Jiménez

76 Deploying a shared resource computing environment By Gong Wang

80 Expediting device management in virtualized data centers Dell Power Solutions—your guide to maximizing IT efficiency— By Greg Kincade offers the latest in expert advice, solutions, and technology for the enterprise. Now, we have partnered with Zinio to bring you Networking the same content digitally. Zinio is an award-winning technology 84 Boosting IT efficiency with highly platform that lets you acquire, read, and share digital editions of scalable network switching magazines. Plus, it adds exclusive digital features—including video, 87 Accelerating application delivery audio, and live links on desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, with nimble networking platforms and other mobile devices. By Melanie Christiansen and Fred Johnson With the Zinio edition, the publication enables anytime, anywhere interaction from any device supporting the Zinio reader app. 91 Enhancing I/O in a virtualized For instant access to your complimentary subscription, visit environment through zinio.com/powersolutions. NIC partitioning By Michael Coon, Pankaj Gupta, and Going mobile? Scan this QR (quick Rahul Deshmukh response) code using a smartphone or tablet computer equipped with a camera Index to featured Dell customers and QR reader app for instant access to BioWare...... 40 InsightExpress...... 54 Dell Power Solutions on Zinio. To install a Quarles & Brady...... 44 QR reader app, visit scan.mobi or search ZGT...... 42 for QR reader in the mobile app store or Index to advertisers American Power Conversion Corporation ...... 71 marketplace appropriate for your device. Dell Inc...... C2, 5, 20, 48–49 F5 Networks, Inc...... C3 Dell Power Solutions Magazine and special edition articles are also Intel Corporation...... 53, 75, 83 Oracle Corporation...... C4 available online at dell.com/powersolutions. Check our Web site QLogic Corp...... 23 SonicWALL, Inc...... 7 for early-release articles, how-to’s, case studies, best practices, and expert tips you won’t find anywhere else. Product showcase Dell PowerVault™ tape automation libraries: Simple, automated, affordable, and expandable.....37

4 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. ©2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. rights All Inc. Dell ©2011

I want to

Spend less time managing data. Spend more time putting that data to work. Help my team focus on the bigger picture.

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E ciently manage data with Dell’s storage solutions. Using our Fluid Data architecture, data is intelligently stored in the right place at the right time, resulting in up to 80% cost savings. You’ll free up resources, so your team can move on to the next big opportunity.

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50120149-delldomore.indd 1 11/18/11 3:06 PM Editor’s comments

Editorial staff Editor-in-chief and publisher Tom Kolnowski Managing editor Debra McDonald Features editor Kathryn White Senior editors Dawn Davidson, James Hurd, Catherine Luo, and Terrence O’Donnell Art director and cover designer David Chan Designer and illustrator Cynthia Webb Business operations Cissy Walker Small apps, Circulation and logistics Monica Tower Staff writers Romy Bauer, Jeanne Feldkamp, Greg Thomas, Chris Young, and Christine Young big data Contributing writers Praveen Asthana, Jeffrey Baher, Vikram Belapurkar, Darin Camp, Melanie Christiansen, Michael Coon, Rahul Deshmukh, Puneet Dhawan, Ken Drachnik, Aurelian Dumitru, Bob Ganley, Shanky Chandra Gowri, Pankaj Gupta, Joey Jablonski, Dave Jaffe, Kailas Jawadekar, Javier L. Jiménez, Fred Johnson, Jeff Junker, Greg Kincade, Sam Kirchoff, Troy Lehman, Dylan Locsin, Chhandomay s we were researching the state of data management for this issue, consumers Mandal, Darren Miller, Joanna Norling, M. Consuelo Ortiz, Michael Pacheco, Arun Rajan, Fabian Salamanca, Ananda of digital media were being stormed by launches for a host of freshly brewed Sankaran, Deborah Sheedy, Timothy Sherbak, Stanley L. Stevens, John Tian, William Urban, and Gong Wang cloud-based services. With the promise of ubiquitous access to digital data Contributing photographers Tony Bolding, Lee Kirgan, A across increasingly mobile devices, Adobe® Carousel (photos only); Apple Bryan Kuntz, and Adran Matte iCloud (music, photos, documents, and more); and Google Music (music only) apps have Advertising sales Sales director Kyle Walkenhorst (323-340-8585) recently joined the fray. Think of it as power to the endpoints, as more data migrates from Sales manager/Western U.S. and South/Central America sales Shaun Mehr (949-923-1660) devices to the cloud. Eastern U.S. and Canada sales Steve Branda (201-483-7871) EMEA and APJ sales Mark Makinney (805-709-4745) While the subscription models and types of digital data served up by these services Advertising sales assistant Cindy Elhaj vary, what they have in common is access through small-footprint apps on mobile Ad coordinator Catherine Luo devices and potentially massive storage infrastructures. For example, Adobe claims the Reader services Subscriptions are complimentary to qualified readers Carousel app was downloaded over 1 million times in the first three weeks after launch. who complete the online subscription form. To subscribe to the regular quarterly edition of Dell Power Solutions Magazine, That’s big data. visit the Subscription Center at dell.com/powersolutions. Once there, you can sign up for a new subscription, As a journalist and imaging professional, I have a sizeable digital photo library residing change your mailing address for a current subscription, ® or unsubscribe. Going mobile? Visit the digital edition on my personal desktop. At last count, my photographic database on Adobe Photoshop online at zinio.com/powersolutions. For other subscription Lightroom® software was registering a total of 50,602 images, consuming over 346 GB services, please e-mail our Reader Services team via [email protected]. of local storage. With this many images, it has not been practical to replicate the entire About Dell library across my mobile devices—so inevitably, any image I need at a given moment Dell Inc., headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, near Austin, listens to its customers and delivers innovative technology and is beyond reach. Overcoming that obstacle was what first intrigued me about using services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services Adobe Carousel—the ability to have my entire library of images instantly available for company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list. For more information, visit our Web site at dell.com. viewing, editing, or sharing across the desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone. But more Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or importantly from an IT perspective, there is no limit to the quantity, resolution, or size of photography. Dell, the Dell logo, Dell Compellent, Data the individual photos you can store in the cloud for a fixed subscription fee. That’s a lot Progression, Data Instant Replay, Dynamic Capacity, Remote Instant Replay, Storage Center, Dell KACE, Dell EqualLogic, of data management infrastructure to look after for the respective IT teams. Fluid Data, OpenManage, PowerConnect, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and UltraSharp are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other Which brings us back to big data. Anytime, anywhere access to digital content is just trademarks and trade names may be used in this publication to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names one genre of application in which data storage requirements are immense, climbing into or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. hundreds of terabytes or more. Gaining real-time business intelligence into how all of that Dell Power Solutions is published quarterly by Dell Inc., Dell consumer data is being used through apps in a globally networked ecosystem is really the Power Solutions, One Dell Way, Mail Stop RR3-68, Round Rock, TX 78682, U.S.A. No part of this publication may be question here. And that is where big data techniques come into play. For example, using reprinted or otherwise reproduced without permission from continuous data analysis for both structured and unstructured data with tools such as the the editor-in-chief. Dell does not provide any warranty as to the accuracy of any information provided through Dell Apache™ Hadoop™ MapReduce model can lead to big business insights. You can read Power Solutions. Opinions expressed in this magazine may not be those of Dell. The information in this publication more about big data in our special section beginning on page 46. is subject to change without notice. Any reliance by the end user on the information contained herein is at the end user’s risk. Dell will not be liable for information in any way, including but not limited to its accuracy or completeness. Dell does not accept responsibility for the advertising content of the magazine or for any claims, actions, or losses arising therefrom. Goods, services, and/or advertisements within this publication other than those of Dell are not endorsed by or in any way connected with Dell Inc.

Printed in the U.S.A.

Cover illustration by David Chan

2011 Issue 4

NETWORK SECURE WEB AND E-MAIL BACKUP AND POLICY AND SECURITY REMOTE ACCESS SECURITY RECOVERY MANAGEMENT

Who Makes the Highest Performance Low Latency Next-Gen Firewall?

SonicWALL® enables IT to get back in control and more easily and efficiently stay ahead of today’s constantly evolving threats and application-related issues. An advanced security platform consolidates core Next-Gen Firewall application intelligence, control and visualization, gateway protection, and inspection for SSL encrypted sessions SONICWALL for enterprises along with WAN acceleration for distributed offices. SonicWALL’s low SECURES THE latency platform scans and secures every packet of every protocol, efficiently securing ENTERPRISE. the network, controlling Web 2.0 apps, and optimizing bandwidth. Secure network optimization that minimizes complexity and latency is now within reach. Learn about our SuperMassive™ E10000 Series and the rest of our network security line-up at www.sonicwall.com/optimize

50110163-sonicwall.indd 1 10/18/11 11:56 AM Focus on data management Dell Fluid Data strategy

n many of the world’s most successful enterprises, Rethinking storage IT is a fundamental driver of innovation. At the heart of these ventures, the information fabric connecting By Timothy Sherbak and Deborah Sheedy Ithe organization plays a pivotal role in heightening productivity, collaboration, and growth. When managed well, the burgeoning volume of data flowing throughout On the crest of the data deluge, the the enterprise offers unprecedented potential for decision Dell™ Fluid Data™ vision for an intelligent makers to glean fresh insights that spark innovation and surpass organizational goals. storage infrastructure enables unparalleled But optimizing the value of strategic information insights and efficiency by delivering the assets can be a challenging task. To begin with, many right data to the right place at the right organizations struggle over prioritizing and classifying data. They need to keep it secure yet easily accessible. time—for the right cost. And all the while, controlling costs is critical. In some cases, data is at risk of becoming a liability—for example, when complex, inefficient, and rigid storage infrastructures impede the flow of information and compromise compliance or e-discovery requirements. The Dell storage strategy is designed to empower organizations by efficiently delivering the right data whenever and wherever needed. Dell’s transformation from storage reseller to storage innovator and enterprise solutions partner can help organizations effectively manage the oncoming data deluge.

EqualLogic Perot Systems Exanet Ltd. Ocarina Networks Leading provider of peer- IT services that scaled Dell Best-of-breed, fast, and Content-aware data scaling architecture for Services to more than scalable file system compression and Internet SCSI (iSCSI) SANs 40,000 employees globally solutions with roots in high- deduplication and simplified storage performance computing virtualization

August 2011 June 2011 December 2010 July 2010

Force10 Networks RNA Networks Compellent Scalent Systems High-performance Memory virtualization All-in-one, multi- Software that enables solutions for virtualizing technology that protocol storage with dynamic deployment and and automating accelerates applications automated, intelligent repurposing of infrastructure conventional data center by extending server data tiering without the need for and cloud networks memory and speeding physical server, cable, or up storage storage changes

Figure 1. Key acquisitions infusing the Dell storage portfolio with deep expertise and a spirit of innovation

Managing storage in today’s data more effectively with less overhead— broader vision as an innovator in advanced changing IT landscape in a way that supports data analytics and data center solutions. Two key trends are driving a fundamental business intelligence applications designed The company is about three years into transformation in the data center—and to mine all this data for strategic advantage. this transformation, conducted through causing organizations to rethink their storage Dynamic storage solutions in the 21st in-house development and the acquisition strategies. First, a need for transparency century must readily adapt to change, of innovative storage technologies and within IT and across the organization as simplify and streamline data management, deep expertise. Dell has invested more than a whole is adding ever more streams of and significantly lower the cost of managing US$2 billion to expand its portfolio of storage information. Creating, managing, and enterprise data throughout its life cycle. products built for virtualized, cloud-based protecting the right data at the right time has Dell’s efforts are focused on helping data centers of the present and future. become crucial for organizational success. organizations maximize data efficiency and Using technologies obtained through Second, executives are depending on IT boost agility at enterprise service levels while these acquisitions, Dell is developing a to enhance organizational value. They want to reducing the inherent cost structures of storing comprehensive portfolio of storage offerings see a clear relationship between IT investments and managing data. To meet information that allow IT departments to stop thinking and organizational results. Technology is no needs for the 21st century, Dell is defining about managing their storage devices longer seen simply as a tool to help reduce a new generation of storage designed to and start thinking about optimizing data costs. It’s expected to be the engine that helps integrate advanced and emerging technologies management to accelerate organizational create new opportunities and contribute that are simultaneously open, capable, and innovation and growth. (See Figure 1.) directly to strategic organizational goals— affordable—including storage virtualization, whether driving top-line revenue growth in a scale-out architectures, automated intelligence, Developing synergies across business environment or accelerating research deduplication, and compression. innovative technology acquisitions at a university, for example. To deliver on this vision, Dell is For example, organizations can deploy A large chunk of most IT budgets goes evolving from a storage reseller to a data multitiered Dell storage area networks toward the management cost of keeping management innovator. The goal is to create (SANs) that automate the movement of the storage environment up and running. the industry’s leading storage portfolio—one more active, performance-driven data to Organizations are looking to manage more that integrates smoothly with the company’s high-performance, optimized solid-state

“Dell is developing a comprehensive portfolio of storage offerings that allow IT departments to stop thinking about managing their storage devices and start thinking about optimizing data management to accelerate organizational innovation and growth.”

drives (SSDs) or Serial Attached SCSI technologies that are designed to identify (SAS) drives. At the same time, they can the type of information and apply the direct less active data to cost-effective best data reduction algorithm to it. These nearline SAS and Serial ATA (SATA) drives. technologies play a significant role in the Dell This automation helps reduce the need Fluid Data architecture, helping organizations for high-performance drives while cost-effectively manage, protect, and archive Customer perspectives: providing a highly efficient, flexible, large amounts of data. The Dell DX6000G Fluid Data in action and dynamic storage environment. The storage compression node, targeted at Discover how five organizations are using Dell Compellent™ Storage Center™ SAN reducing the storage footprint of large-scale Dell Fluid Data solutions to transform their lets organizations easily migrate their digital archives, is the first member of the storage environments. Fluid Data enables flexible, efficient data management by current SAN environment to a next- Dell storage portfolio to incorporate the helping deliver information anywhere, generation virtualized storage architecture leading-edge compression technology. anytime, and on any device. to achieve heightened levels of automation Additional compression and deduplication bit.ly/vheHHg and efficiency. solutions for backup and recovery storage Organizations can also leverage are expected in early 2012. integrated file-system technology from Dell’s Exanet acquisition, which has evolved into Taking an integrated approach to the Dell Fluid File System. Integrated across the storage in the cloud Dell storage portfolio, this technology helps Advanced technologies are critical in unify management of both block and file data. achieving scalable, secure storage for What were once proliferating silos of disks cloud-based computing. A cloud computing now can be merged into one environment infrastructure is agile, flexible, self-managing, with a single point of management across and self-provisioning. Storage in this structured and unstructured data. Today, dynamic environment needs to match the Dell Fluid File System is integrated in the these capabilities without compromising Dell EqualLogic™ FS7500 scale-out network availability, performance, and security. attached storage (NAS) appliance and the Dell Deploying a suitable storage PowerVault™ NX3500 storage system. infrastructure plays a big role in optimizing Through its Ocarina Networks use case scenarios. In addition to acquisition, Dell has obtained content- proprietary cloud architectures, a number aware compression and deduplication of standardized software stacks and system

10 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. architectures are emerging. Dell storage and controller resources easily and has a role across these implementations— cost-effectively. Technologies such as whether it’s storage embedded in automated tiering help keep the right hyperscale servers, scalable NAS and information accessible for analysis. At the SAN solutions, or backup and long-term same time, Dell cloud-based solutions let retention tiers such as target deduplication organizations capitalize on big data with appliances and object-based storage. little in the way of up-front infrastructure or In addition, Dell plans to evolve its Fluid management investments. Data architecture and services capabilities Bringing Dell storage solutions together to help organizations automatically tier with best-of-breed analytics and business information among private cloud and intelligence software creates a very strong public cloud environments. This approach platform for extracting valuable insights is designed to move information efficiently from big data. among traditional physical, virtual, and cloud solutions to help organizations Transforming storage and data ensure that they are storing the right management to advance the information on the right tier at the right strategic agenda time and at the right cost. In many organizations, 80 percent of the IT Dell storage also plays a significant role budget is focused on keeping the lights on in Dell’s cloud-based services offerings. while only 20 percent is spent on the kind For example, Dell E-mail and File Archive of initiatives that are essential in aligning solutions are available in both on-premise IT with organizational objectives to gain and off-premise consumption models. breakthrough innovations and outcomes. In the off-premise scenario, data is Increasing storage infrastructure efficiency hosted across Dell Services data centers can help change that ratio. around the world—an excellent option Moving forward, IT managers need to for organizations that prefer an off-site make storage essentially disappear. This Authors ® model. The Dell Cloud with VMware means reducing the cost, footprint, and Timothy Sherbak is director of vCloud™ Datacenter Services offering complexity of storage, so organizations storage solutions marketing in the lets enterprises extend or migrate their can invest more time and money on IT Dell Enterprise Solutions Group. virtualized infrastructure into a Dell data innovations that focus on business needs. Deborah Sheedy is storage solutions center that provides a secure, dedicated, or Given its pivotal role, a transformed marketing manager in the Dell Enterprise multi-tenant Dell-managed environment. storage infrastructure also helps shift Solutions Group. organizational thinking about the relationship Making the most of big data between IT and business development. By Big data is another area where storage relating technology spending directly to has tremendous impact. By analyzing data business results, IT managers can elevate the produced by e-commerce sites, social conversation about IT operations to the level networks, mobile technologies, and other of strategic decision making. sources, organizations can strengthen customer interactions and enhance customer Learn more experiences—boosting community and Dell storage: loyalty to sustain long-term growth. dellstorage.com But to make the most of big data, organizations must have the right storage Dell EqualLogic storage: equallogic.com infrastructure in place. For example, the

Dell EqualLogic peer storage architecture Dell Compellent storage: helps organizations scale storage capacity compellent.com

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 11 Focus on data management Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration

Using snapshots to enhance protection of SQL Server application data

By Puneet Dhawan and Bob Ganley

Smart Copy capabilities included with Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series iSCSI arrays extend traditional data protection for essential application data stored in Microsoft® SQL Server® databases by delivering rapid, efficient data protection and recovery.

icrosoft SQL Server database databases, and Microsoft Hyper-V™–based transaction performance when compared deployments continue to grow virtual machines. with native SQL Server snapshots—resulting as they become repositories in enhanced RPO. They are also space Mfor everything from customer Implementing application-consistent efficient, using minimal storage instead of information to inventory tracking to sales snapshots copying the entire database. transactions. It’s no secret that traditional ASM/ME uses Microsoft Volume Shadow Smart Copies provide a way to recover backup strategies are no longer sufficient Copy Service (VSS) to enable transaction and restore SQL Server databases. to protect the deluge of business-critical consistency in protection and recovery for Recovery options include in-place SQL application data. To meet ever-increasing Microsoft SQL Server databases. ASM/ME Server database and volume recovery service-level agreements (SLAs), IT is designed to make comprehensive on stand-alone and clustered systems, organizations are looking for sophisticated point-in-time copies of one or many SQL side-by-side SQL Server database and tools that advance information management Server databases simultaneously. Database volume recovery on the same instance, or efficiency while helping to protect strategic protection tasks can be scheduled to the recovery of SQL Server databases and data from possible corruption or loss. proceed automatically, as frequently as volumes elsewhere using transportable Dell EqualLogic PS Series Internet SCSI every five minutes, thereby helping to Smart Copies or Smart Copy replicas at a (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) arrays limit possible data loss. Administrators can remote location. Recovery in this manner offer intelligent snapshot capabilities that use application-consistent Smart Copy helps reduce RTO, particularly compared to enhance conventional data protection. In snapshots in several ways. standard backups and recovery logs. addition, EqualLogic storage is designed For example, Smart Copy snapshots to improve service levels for SQL Server can be used by a dedicated backup device Quantifying Smart Copy databases—enabling administrators to such as the Dell PowerVault™ DL Backup to snapshot protection minimize backup windows, enhance Disk Appliance as a source for backing up Dell engineers conducted testing from recovery point objective (RPO) goals, and SQL Server databases, offloading backup January through April 2011 at Dell Labs to reduce recovery time objective (RTO) targets. processing, and minimizing backup windows. demonstrate the RPO, RTO, and performance Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition This snapshot source helps reduce the need benefits of using Smart Copy snapshots to (ASM/ME), available in Dell EqualLogic Host for overprovisioning server resources to enhance data protection for SQL Server Integration Tools (HIT), allows administrators accommodate backup processing loads. databases.1 Three key results from the to create data- and application-consistent These snapshots can also be used as benchmark test scenario are highlighted here. Smart Copy snapshots, clones, and replicas an on-disk recovery point for a SQL Server of SQL Server databases, NT File System database. The recovery points are created • Reduced impact on production: Using (NTFS) volumes, Microsoft Exchange very quickly with minimal impact on ASM/ME Smart Copies as a source

1 For more information on these tests, see “Enhancing SQL Server protection using Dell EqualLogic Smart Copy snapshots,” Dell Inc., July 2011, dell.to/obdeTv.

12 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dive deeper • Enhanced RPO: Smart Copy recovery approximately 7.5 times faster than using points can be established quickly and with a SQL Server full backup plus SQL Server Get configuration and methodology details on the Dell Labs tests described in this reduced response time impact. Testing log replay—reducing recovery time from article. Besides comprehensive test results, compared SQL Server–based snapshots 41.5 minutes to 5.5 minutes (see Figure 2). this white paper offers best practices for deploying Microsoft SQL Server in and ASM/ME Smart Copy snapshots for the Testing compared a restore from a shared storage environments, along with time needed to establish a protection point, SQL Server full database backup with SQL additional considerations for deployments in virtualized environments. and for the impact on database response Server log replay against an ASM/ME time while protection points were being Smart Copy restore and SQL Server log dell.to/obdeTv established when running a Transaction replay, measuring the time needed Processing Performance Council to complete a point-in-time recovery to for off-loading backup tasks helps Benchmark C (TPC-C)–style workload. restore a 130 GB database. Recovery reduce processor load and speed up In this benchmark study, ASM/ME Smart using ASM/ME is much faster than a application response time. The test Copy snapshots were significantly faster to restore from a backup that involves results indicate that running the native create and less disruptive to the operation data copy from backup media to a SAN Microsoft SQL Server backup utility of business-critical SQL Server applications because the snapshot resides on the to create a backup copy of the entire than using SQL Server backup snapshots. SAN and therefore the process does not database showed a significant increase This reduction encourages establishing involve any data copy operation. ASM/ME in processor load—about 40 percent additional protection points to meet RPO enables a significant reduction in RTO for average increase in processor load and SLAs (see Figure 1). business-critical operations. about 30 percent average increase in • Fast recovery times: In this benchmark application response time during the study, using an ASM/ME Smart Copy Enhancing protection for essential backup window. restore plus SQL Server log replay was application data Using ASM/ME Smart Copies helps administrators efficiently plan and execute 9.00 backup and recovery for Microsoft SQL 8.00 Average response time while creating 7.64 an ASM/ME Smart Copy snapshot 7.00 Server database environments supporting Average response time while creating 6.00 a SQL Server backup snapshot business-critical applications. The test 5.00 results described in this article show 4.00 3.31 how organizations may benefit from Seconds 3.00 application-consistent ASM/ME Smart 2.00 1.88 1.62 1.41 1.01 Copy snapshots. This approach is designed 1.00 0.72 0.75 0.35 0.22 to enhance RPO, reduce RTO, and reduce 0.00 New order Payment Order status Delivery Stock level the impact on production systems, helping improve the protection of SQL Server Figure 1. Comparing SQL Server database snapshots and ASM/ME Smart Copy snapshots database systems.

50.0 Authors 41.5 40.0 Puneet Dhawan is a product manager in the Dell storage marketing organization. 30.0

Bob Ganley is a senior solutions marketing

Minutes 20.0 consultant at Dell and is responsible for workload- specific storage solutions. 10.0 5.5

0.0 ASM/ME Smart Copy restore Restore from SQL Server full database Learn more and SQL Server log replay backup and SQL Server log replay Dell EqualLogic Smart Copy snapshots: Figure 2. Contrasting database recovery times between the SQL Server backup utility and ASM/ME Smart Copy dell.to/obdeTv

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 13 Focus on data management Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration

Integrated, automated storage management with PowerShell scripting

By Michael Pacheco and Stanley L. Stevens

Freeing IT staff from manual storage management tasks enhances productivity and efficiency. Windows PowerShell™ scripting within Dell™ EqualLogic™ storage offers accelerated, automated deployment of advanced features in complex Microsoft® environments.

he proliferation of Microsoft applications Many organizations that deploy large with burgeoning data demands can installations of Microsoft applications in drain IT resources responsible for their data centers are also striving to extend T managing increasingly complex virtualization to their production environments storage architectures across highly dynamic to help accelerate performance cost-effectively. enterprise data centers. Using advanced scripting As a result, IT staff often end up orchestrating capabilities to automate storage management, the management of explosive data growth organizations can reduce administrative time across multiple storage environments. To try and overhead, leverage in-house knowledge and and meet these demands, IT administrators expertise of Microsoft platforms, and enhance typically perform management tasks such productivity and efficiency. as configuring storage, implementing data

14 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Figure 1. EqualLogic PS Series–integrated PowerShell cmdlets for automating storage tasks

protection and recovery, and coordinating Extending the reach of scripting maintenance operations manually, using tools in storage environments with graphical user interfaces (GUIs). But in Because many organizations are already increasingly complex Microsoft Windows Server® deploying Microsoft applications in their IT OS–based storage infrastructures, manual tasks environments, Windows PowerShell scripting can quickly become tedious, time-consuming, helps automate the complex or repetitive and repetitive. administrative tasks that can be required Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for for managing application data. PowerShell Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) is integrated with Dell automation enables administrators to perform EqualLogic PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage these tasks more quickly and efficiently than area network (SAN) arrays. EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft using manual, GUI-based processes. provides a suite of tools designed to simplify Dell EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft extends configuration and administration of EqualLogic PS the reach of PowerShell-based scripting by Comprehensive ® Series arrays deployed in Microsoft Windows – providing a powerful, comprehensive set scripting resources based environments. of PowerShell cmdlets that automate data These tools include a comprehensive set of management, protection, and recovery tasks Visit the Dell Enterprise Technology Center (Dell TechCenter) for an lightweight Windows PowerShell scripted commands for EqualLogic PS Series storage (see Figure overview and demonstration of (cmdlets) that enables complex Windows-based 1). In particular, PowerShell cmdlets enable Windows PowerShell scripted commands (cmdlets) for EqualLogic storage tasks to be automated in Windows Server OS organizations to manage EqualLogic PS Series storage, sample scripts, and a quick environments, including automated management storage in a familiar scripting environment from reference guide. Scripts can also be of one or multiple EqualLogic PS Series groups. a command-line interface (CLI)—allowing them submitted to the community at the Dell TechCenter. EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft is available for EqualLogic to automate routine management tasks such as PS Series arrays running EqualLogic firmware group administration, volume management, array bit.ly/thePS1 version 4.2 and later, and for server platforms management, data protection and recovery, and supporting Windows PowerShell 2.0. schedule management. Additionally, PowerShell In addition to scripting, EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft cmdlets for EqualLogic PS Series storage enable includes Remote Setup Wizard and Auto-Snapshot administrators to incorporate management of Manager/Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME), as well as EqualLogic PS Series storage into existing data integration with Windows Multipath I/O (MPIO) and center processes, automations, and schedules, Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS). These tools and manage multiple EqualLogic PS Series help administrators efficiently manage information groups and other Microsoft assets within the stored on EqualLogic PS Series arrays.1 server operating environment.

1 For more information on EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft, see, “Driving efficient IT through a simplified Windows storage environment,” by Stanley L. Stevens and Michael Pacheco, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/ documents~ps4q11-20110388-stevens.pdf.aspx.

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 15 Focus on data management Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration

Scripting automated storage snapshot, cloning a snapshot, and listing rare, or non-repeatable tasks and storage management tasks iSCSI connections to a snapshot. management from non-Windows platforms. Integrated Windows PowerShell scripting • Disaster recovery: Manages business capabilities in Dell EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft continuance and replication tasks. Streamlining data center include a set of more than 60 Windows Replication configuration operations management PowerShell cmdlets that are designed to include setting up replication between two Advanced storage capabilities to enhance perform powerful, comprehensive storage EqualLogic PS Series groups, retrieving data management efficiency are essential configuration and administrative functions. or changing replication partnerships, in enterprises that deploy Microsoft They are organized in the following functional canceling a replication partnership, applications in Microsoft Windows Server– categories, covering a range of storage configuring replication of a volume to a based environments. Organizations looking management tasks: replication site, and retrieving, deleting, to extend the benefits of virtualization or changing settings for a replica set of a across their data centers can also benefit • Session management: Enables PowerShell volume. Replication management tasks significantly from these advances. scripts to establish connections and include creating new replicas, obtaining Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SANs manage multiple sessions to EqualLogic lists of replicas, deleting specific replicas, enhance storage management capabilities PS Series groups—a key EqualLogic and suspending or resuming replication through integrated Dell EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft feature. of a volume. HIT/Microsoft. These innovative tools include • Array management: Manages individual • Schedule management: Manages EqualLogic PowerShell Tools, an embedded EqualLogic PS Series arrays within scheduling operations such as creating Windows PowerShell CLI scripting environment an EqualLogic PS Series group, including or removing snapshot or replication tasks featuring a comprehensive set of cmdlets. tasks such as array shutdown, restart, and changing or retrieving schedule PowerShell cmdlets enable administrators to obtain status, and monitor events. information for a volume. configure, manage, and protect EqualLogic • Group administration: Manages group PS Series SANs using a single CLI. settings across one or more EqualLogic Managing EqualLogic PS Series Using PowerShell cmdlets to automate PS Series groups, such as retrieving storage with PowerShell scripting offers enterprise-scale storage management— or changing group default settings and administrators a powerful capability and integrating administration into changing configuration settings for an for supervising multiple EqualLogic overall Windows Server–based data array within a group. These cmdlets also PS Series groups simultaneously. For center management operations—helps support pool management, including example, in large data centers with several organizations reduce fixed operating creating a new pool within an EqualLogic EqualLogic PS Series group deployments, expenses and frees IT staff to engage in PS Series group, moving members and administrators can apply similar changes innovative projects that can add value to volumes from one pool to another, and on many groups at once, instead of business operations. deleting a pool from a group. using a GUI to apply changes to one • Volume administration: Manages group at a time. Authors volumes within an EqualLogic PS Series Additionally, administrators can group. Operations include creating new automate routine tasks and integrate Michael Pacheco is a product senior advisor for Dell EqualLogic storage and is focused on volumes, managing access control lists, EqualLogic PS Series management tasks Microsoft Windows Server technologies, retrieving or changing configuration into large data center processes. For including Microsoft Hyper-V™ virtualization. information for volumes in a group, example, in just a few lines of script, a Stanley L. Stevens is a virtualization solutions identifying iSCSI connections to a PowerShell cmdlet can automatically marketing manager in the Dell Large Enterprise volume, resizing volumes, and deleting create 50 storage volumes that may be Storage Marketing Group. a volume. Advanced features include required to support a new application or creating volume clones, templates, thin to accommodate storage expansion for Learn more clones, snapshots, and replicas. an existing application, as opposed to • Data protection: Manages operations manually performing this task using a Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage: such as creating snapshots, deleting GUI-based tool. dell.com/equallogic

snapshots, retrieving or changing settings Operations that are less suited to Dell EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft: for a snapshot, restoring a volume from a automation scripting include one-time, bit.ly/v5oBMI

16 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Focus on Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration data management

o thrive in today’s competitive global marketplace, enterprises are highly motivated to reduce T fixed IT costs and eliminate every last ounce of operational inefficiency. And for good reason: IT groups typically spend 80 percent of their budgets just keeping systems running, which leaves a mere 20 percent for strategic initiatives. For many IT organizations, managing a large and growing number of Microsoft Windows Server® OS– based systems and their attached storage is among the top drains on IT resources. An agile, flexible storage architecture for Windows server platforms helps simplify management while also enhancing the performance and availability of mission-critical applications running on physical and virtual servers. By implementing a unified, virtualized storage environment, organizations can Driving efficient IT through enhance IT efficiency and free administrators to devote time and resources to innovative, value-added projects. Dell EqualLogic PS a simplified Windows Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) arrays and Dell EqualLogic storage environment FS7500 scale-out network attached storage (NAS) appliances offer enterprises an innovative By Stanley L. Stevens and Michael Pacheco approach to unified, virtualized IP-based storage for Windows server environments.

The proliferation of Microsoft® Windows®–based Understanding the impact of application server complexity on storage application servers calls for an agile storage environment Servers running Microsoft applications on a throughout the enterprise. Dell™ EqualLogic™ unified, Microsoft Windows OS platform continue to predominate, and that high proportion has virtualized storage eases data management while a direct impact on storage requirements. enhancing availability. Organizations are often forced to add storage capacity not only to accommodate the addition of Windows-based servers but also to handle the expanded use of capacity-hungry Microsoft applications, such as Microsoft Dive deeper: Advanced Office SharePoint® Server collaboration and storage integration document management software. Visit the Dell Enterprise Technology Center Despite the prevalence and importance of (Dell TechCenter) to see an overview and Windows-based servers in IT infrastructures, demonstration featuring manual and remote installation of Dell EqualLogic Host Integration organizations all too often support their Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) 4.0. environments with traditional storage bit.ly/taBQnb architectures that may limit scalability and

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 17 Focus on data management Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration

Windows clients flexibility and compound management complexity. For example, many servers running a Windows OS are connected to direct attach storage (DAS), which can create islands of stored data that restrict data sharing, storage LAN utilization, flexibility, and scalability while complicating data protection and recovery. Microsoft application servers Fibre Channel SANs—another possible Global option—can add costs and complexity. name space SharePoint Exchange SQL Server Hyper-V Server virtualization Addressing key storage challenges EqualLogic FS7500 Organizations facing the challenges of scale-out NAS deploying and managing storage for Microsoft Dell EqualLogic uniﬁed, virtualized, and IP-based SAN Windows–based servers running Microsoft applications need a fresh approach to EqualLogic PS Series virtualized iSCSI SANs storage that helps improve IT efficiency and enhance agility. Planned upgrades to the latest EqualLogic PS versions of the Microsoft Windows Server Group Manager Volume 1 Volume 2 OS, Microsoft Exchange Server messaging, Virtualized storage pool NAS reserve Volume 3 Microsoft SQL Server® database, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server software, as well as the planned implementation of Microsoft Figure 1. Consolidating virtualized, IP-based storage cost-effectively for Microsoft application server environments Hyper-V™ virtualization, offer opportunities to reevaluate storage architectures for Windows goals for supporting Microsoft Windows– brings together block and file storage in a environments. An efficient approach to based application environments. This kind single environment. Centralized management storage for Windows-based servers helps of storage environment can provide a capabilities and deep integration with overcome three key IT challenges: consolidated, centralized storage pool that Microsoft tools enable efficient administration. cost-effectively supports a comprehensive EqualLogic storage also combines high- • High overhead: Inherent costs, Windows-based server infrastructure while availability hardware design features with a wide complexities, and inefficiencies in existing helping simplify its management. range of management tools that streamline storage architectures that encompass Standardizing on an IP-based (Ethernet) data protection and help sustain uptime. numerous disparate storage systems, network infrastructure helps organizations such as DAS systems avoid the costs and complexity typically Unifying storage with a scale-out • Management complexity: Multiple associated with Fibre Channel SANs. architecture storage tools and platforms complicating Moreover, adopting a unified, centrally Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS allows management of a complex infrastructure managed, and virtualized storage architecture organizations to unite block-level SAN storage • Data protection and application also helps ease administration, reduce costs, with NAS, which is often used to consolidate availability: Time-consuming, manual and improve flexibility by avoiding the islands Microsoft Windows–based file shares. The processes and scheduling that extend of storage that can result from using DAS. EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS appliance backup windows and delay recovery Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage integrates directly with EqualLogic PS Series platforms are well suited for building an SAN arrays to provide a unified infrastructure Deploying unified, virtualized optimal storage environment (see Figure 1). that facilitates Common Internet File System IP-based storage Combining EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN (CIFS) and Network File System (NFS) access Implementing a unified, virtualized arrays and EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS to virtualized, multitiered storage pools.1 IP-based storage environment helps appliances enables organizations to create This scale-out NAS approach of creating organizations accomplish their storage a unified, virtualized pool of storage that a shared resource pool that combines

1 For more information about EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS, see “Taking a scale-out approach to unified block and file storage,” by Scott Sinclair, Arun Rajan, and John Mannix, inDell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11-20110186-rajan.pdf.aspx.

18 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Focus on data management Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration

individual networked storage components in the event of failures and take advantage • Windows Multipath I/O (MPIO) helps administrators enhance their use of of e-mail notifications and Enclosure integration: MPIO provides a redundant, resources while avoiding the complexity Monitoring System (EMS) capabilities. high-performance network framework of managing the components separately. Deep integration with Microsoft designed to dynamically balance iSCSI EqualLogic FS7500 appliances can software allows administrators to manage SAN traffic over multiple network paths. provide scale-out capabilities in part EqualLogic PS Series systems using • Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) because of the Dell Fluid File System, a familiar Microsoft tools. For example, integration: VDS facilitates volume high-performance scale-out file system Dell OpenManage™ Integration Suite for management in EqualLogic PS Series that presents a single namespace through Microsoft System Center includes Dell storage groups. a virtual IP address. Dell Fluid File System EqualLogic Storage Management Pack avoids the file share size limitations Suite. This comprehensive tool suite enables Boosting application availability presented by many traditional NAS systems administrators to discover, classify, inventory, By adopting Dell EqualLogic unified, and supports both scale-out performance and monitor EqualLogic PS Series storage virtualized storage, organizations can build a and scale-up capacity expansion. using System Center Operations Manager fault-tolerant environment that delivers the When scaling up the capacity of EqualLogic (SCOM) or System Center Essentials (SCE). availability and resiliency needed for mission- PS Series SANs, organizations can capitalize Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools critical Microsoft applications. To help on peer storage architecture capabilities, for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) offers additional prevent unplanned downtime, EqualLogic which scale controller resources such as means of helping simplify configuration PS Series storage includes redundant, hot- processing performance, I/O, and capacity. and management of EqualLogic PS Series swappable hardware components such The peer storage architecture provides storage, including the following features: as dual controllers, fan trays, and power automated striping and load balancing supplies. Battery-backed mirrored memory across resources to help ensure consistent • Windows PowerShell™ scripted caches help sustain availability without application performance as organizations commands (cmdlets): Integrated affecting performance. EqualLogic FS7500 expand storage capacity to accommodate EqualLogic PowerShell Tools cmdlets scale-out NAS features a dual active/active growing Windows environments. allow administrators to automate controller architecture, battery-protected numerous storage management and memory, and redundant power supplies. Implementing centralized administration tasks for EqualLogic PS The use of multiple active network management for storage pools Series groups, from volume and group interface ports can boost resiliency while Dell EqualLogic PS Group Manager, available administration to snapshot, replication, bolstering performance. EqualLogic PS for Dell EqualLogic PS Series SANs and and scheduling.2 Series SANs include up to four active Gigabit EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS, helps • Remote Setup Wizard: Administrators Ethernet (GbE) network interface ports per simplify management of storage for Windows- can use this tool to quickly attach, array. EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS based platforms. Available with command-line initialize, set up, and configure access appliances include eight active GbE ports. interface (CLI) or graphical user interface to EqualLogic PS Series SANs. EqualLogic PS Series SANs also include the (GUI) access through a Web-based browser, • Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft MPIO Device-Specific Module (DSM) for EqualLogic PS Group Manager offers Edition (ASM/ME): ASM/ME allows EqualLogic PS Series storage to automate centralized configuration and management administrators to create hypervisor- the creation and management of multipath, for EqualLogic PS Series storage pools consistent, application-aware, point-in-time server-to-storage connections that help and volumes. It also enables management snapshots, clones, and replicas of Microsoft improve availability. of essential EqualLogic FS7500 services, OS and application data. ASM/ME uses including the ability to stop, rename, and Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service Streamlining data protection remove an EqualLogic FS7500 appliance. (VSS) to offer enhanced data protection and recovery In addition, Group Manager provides for Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, and Dell EqualLogic storage is designed to device-level diagnostics and component other applications in Microsoft Hyper-V offer simple, automated data protection health status information. Administrators virtualization environments. ASM/ME can through snapshot tools integrated with can choose to receive alarms and alerts be accessed through a GUI or a CLI. Dell EqualLogic PS Group Manager

2 For more information on EqualLogic PowerShell Tools, see, “Integrated, automated storage management with PowerShell scripting,” by Michael Pacheco and Stanley L. Stevens, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps4q11-20110473-pacheco.pdf.aspx.

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 19 Focus on data management Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration

software. Administrators can take snapshots environments. EqualLogic storage also running mission-critical Microsoft on demand and set up snapshot and provides integration with leading-edge applications helps IT organizations achieve replication schedules. These tools help backup software, including applications these objectives. facilitate rapid restoration of EqualLogic from Symantec and CommVault. FS7500 scale-out NAS files and EqualLogic Authors PS series volume data sets. Managing application data storage Stanley L. Stevens is a virtualization solutions ASM/ME offers additional tools for cost-effectively for Efficient IT marketing manager in the Dell Large Enterprise advanced, integrated protection of For many organizations, planned upgrades Storage Marketing Group. Microsoft application and virtual machine to the latest Microsoft Windows OS or tier 1 Michael Pacheco is a product senior advisor data. ASM/ME enables fast online backups Microsoft applications provide an excellent for Dell EqualLogic and is focused on Microsoft and quick restores of NT File System opportunity to advance the storage Windows Server technologies, including Microsoft (NTFS), Microsoft SQL Server data sets, infrastructure that supports expanding Hyper-V virtualization. Exchange data sets, and Hyper-V virtual Microsoft application environments. machines. Administrators can automate To optimize IT efficiency in Microsoft Learn more scheduling of Microsoft VSS–compliant Windows–based server environments, Dell storage: snapshots, clones, and replication. organizations are exploring ways to dell.com/storage EqualLogic storage also facilitates provide the requisite storage capacity while seamless support for external backup simplifying management, reducing costs, Dell EqualLogic: systems. Support for Network Data and maintaining availability. Deploying Dell dellstorage.com/equallogic

Management Protocol (NDMP) enables EqualLogic unified, virtualized, IP-based Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS: easy integration with existing backup storage for Windows-based environments dellstorage.com/equallogic/fs7500

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he pervasive foothold of virtualization in today’s data centers—where the movement T of application data is more fluid than ever—is driving IT organizations to explore innovative tools capable of managing and protecting this dynamic information fabric. To help simplify management and data protection, Dell has launched advanced versions of comprehensive tool sets geared for host operating platforms and applications in Dell EqualLogic PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) environments. Dell EqualLogic SAN HeadQuarters (SAN HQ) 2.2, Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) 4.0, Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for VMware (HIT/VMware) 3.1, and Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Advancing storage Linux (HIT/Linux) are designed to address the storage management challenges of management efficiency and increasingly complex storage architectures (see Figure 1). EqualLogic Host Integration Tools (HIT) tightly integrate EqualLogic dynamic data protection PS Series storage with host operating platforms and host applications. EqualLogic By Darren Miller and Shanky Chandra Gowri SAN HQ enables analysis and monitoring for efficient storage management.

Rapid data growth advanced by business-critical Monitoring storage area applications requires tools capable of efficiently managing network groups Dell EqualLogic SAN HQ enables effective ™ and protecting data. Enhanced features in Dell allocation of storage group resources and EqualLogic™ Host Integration Tools and EqualLogic centralized access to performance, event, SAN HeadQuarters software are up to the task. and health status information, allowing IT professionals to monitor and troubleshoot multiple EqualLogic PS Series storage groups. Enhanced SAN HQ 2.2 features include multisite support, diagnostics and status views and reporting, RAID analysis, Dive deeper: Event and performance monitoring and support for EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 features such as audit logs and Innovative monitoring tools help administrators efficiently Data Center Bridging (DCB) configuration. manage Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage. Discover advanced EqualLogic SAN HeadQuarters (SAN HQ) 2.2 reporting, analytics, Multisite support provides a consolidated and other features for effective EqualLogic PS Series SAN view of storage groups that may span management. Then see a demo showing SAN HQ in action. multiple data centers worldwide. Data youtube.com/watch?v=v_KjWwmTnlE is collected and presented in views

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 21 Focus on data management Efficiency with host integration tools

Dell EqualLogic Host software multiple Windows-based hosts from a single host. For example, from a single ASM/ME instance an administrator can back up and Dell EqualLogic Dell EqualLogic Dell EqualLogic Dell EqualLogic create Smart Copies for Microsoft Exchange HIT/Microsoft HIT/VMware HIT/Linux SAN HQ Server mailbox and/or Microsoft SQL Server® databases that reside on multiple machines. Figure 1. EqualLogic storage–integrated software: Advanced management, performance, and data protection EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft also integrates Windows PowerShell™ scripted commands that include storage group summary Administering application data (cmdlets) that can be used to automate information. Another view feature, live management and protection management tasks for EqualLogic PS Series view, offers ongoing, real-time diagnostics Dell EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft is designed for arrays, replicas, and iSCSI connections.1 information by streaming data for a member application-consistent data protection and or volume during a predefined period of simplified configuration and administration Managing virtualized storage time. Live view can be helpful for polling of Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SANs environments during a short time period to diagnose or supporting Microsoft® Windows® OS– Dell EqualLogic HIT/VMware provides analyze a specific situation. based hosts for Microsoft applications. In tight integration of Dell EqualLogic PS Reporting helps administrators make addition to centralized data protection and Series arrays with VMware® virtualization. informed decisions for tuning storage management of multiple host operating Comprehensive features include: systems and troubleshooting problems. The platforms, EqualLogic HIT/Microsoft 4.0 offers group diagnostics reporting feature provides enhanced support for the Cluster Shared • Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware information for analysis and identifies non- Volumes (CSV) capability that streamlines Edition (ASM/VE) recommended setups of storage arrays in data protection for Microsoft Hyper-V™ • EqualLogic Datastore Manager multiple category levels—pool, member, virtualization. Using just a single snapshot, • EqualLogic Virtual Desktop Deployment Utility disk, and port. administrators can protect the full range of • EqualLogic Storage Replication Adapter for IT organizations often implement virtual machines on a shared volume cluster VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRA SRM) RAID policies to establish storage and quickly restore them to help improve • EqualLogic Multipath Extension configuration needs for applications. The space utilization, reduce management Module (MEM) RAID evaluator feature helps administrators overhead, and optimize performance. identify the effects of different RAID Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Note: ASM/VE, Datastore Manager, and policies on performance levels for storage Edition (ASM/ME), redesigned on an Virtual Desktop Deployment Utility are groups, pools, or members and determine advanced framework to enhance data packaged along with an EqualLogic VMware the appropriate RAID policy to use for protection usability and functionality, vSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness optimal performance. includes an upgraded dashboard offering (VASA) provider in a single VMware vSphere™ Because optimizing data center a consolidated view of storage and plug-in. The EqualLogic MEM and the performance becomes increasingly applications. It also allows administrators to EqualLogic SRA SRM are packaged separately. important in storage environments remotely deploy and upgrade EqualLogic Offering end-to-end storage visibility, supporting mission-critical applications, the HIT/Microsoft using the Remote Installation EqualLogic HIT/VMware 3.1 includes normalized view reporting feature—also and Upgrade Capability installer. In addition, an EqualLogic VASA provider that enables called 95th percentile reporting—helps expanded e-mail alerts for scheduled tasks VMware vCenter™ Server software to inform administrators factor out data spikes to and visual clues in the ASM/ME interface administrators of the capabilities and status obtain a normalized view of group, pool, offer proactive alerts to notify administrators of individual data stores such as the RAID member, and volume data. This report of potential problems. mix, snapshot and replication enablement, gives IT organizations a more realistic look HIT groups are another enhancement and the use of solid-state drives (SSDs). The at normal operations than if spikes in data for protecting Microsoft application data, VASA provider tightly integrates vSphere hosts traffic were included. offering centralized backup and protection for and EqualLogic PS Series storage, enabling

1 For more information on scripting capability in EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft, see, “Integrated, automated storage management with PowerShell scripting,” by Michael Pacheco and Stanley L. Stevens, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps4q11-20110473-pacheco.pdf.aspx.

22 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. enhanced performance management utilizing EqualLogic SRA SRM 2.0 integrates a authorized user experience from traditional VMware Storage Distributed Resource SAN-based replication feature with VMware storage management tasks to automated, Scheduler (SDRS) to relocate virtual machines vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0. This efficient administration of virtualized storage onto data stores with reduced latencies within integration enables failover and failback to that enhances performance for widely used, the data store cluster. This tight integration also be rapid, manageable, and reliable. business-critical applications. enables EqualLogic HIT/VMware to provide Other EqualLogic HIT/VMware features VMware administrators with notification and include support for VMware vSphere 5 and Authors alarms for critical events related to space Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) files and capacity allocation for volumes, snapshot up to 15 TB, and—in EqualLogic firmware Darren Miller is a technical marketing reserves, and accessibility to storage blocks version 5.1 only—support for vSphere Thin engineering manager for EqualLogic storage at Dell. and members. Provisioning awareness.

Enhanced data store management Shanky Chandra Gowri is a product includes data store deletion and snapshot, Elevating integrated tool capabilities marketing manager for EqualLogic storage at Dell. Follow Shanky on Twitter @ShankyAtDell. replication, and clone capabilities for in storage architectures data store clusters. Using this feature, Enhanced features in Dell EqualLogic administrators can avoid performing these SAN HQ and EqualLogic HIT software Learn more operations individually on each data store. for hosted Microsoft applications and And in addition to defining access control VMware virtualization environments offer Dell storage: list (ACL) policies for data stores, ACL administrators robust tools for monitoring Dell dell.com/storage

policies can be cloned and deployed on EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN arrays and Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage: multiple data stores. protecting data. These features can elevate the dell.com/equallogic

oday’s highly mobile workforce demands seamless access to the data, applications, and services T people need to get the job done—from any location and across multiple client devices. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is an effective way to provide this access, offering a consistent, secure end-user experience designed to increase productivity and business agility. By separating the OS and applications from physical client devices, VDI enables IT to gain optimal control over the client environment through centralized data protection and management. Because data and applications remain in the data center instead of on individual devices, VDI facilitates information security and regulatory compliance. However, managing different categories Optimizing VDI data of virtual desktop data and their storage requirements introduces complexities to management with a VDI implementation. IT can help reduce these complexities by separating virtual machine (VM) data from user data, enabling unified virtualized storage both to be managed efficiently.

By Vikram Belapurkar, William Urban, and Chhandomay Mandal Understanding the complexities of virtual desktop data Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) helps simplify user The centralized virtual desktop model comprises two data types, VM data and user data management and enables device- and location- data. VM data consists of the virtual desktop independent data access. Dell™ EqualLogic™ systems image, including OS and applications. User provide unified, high-performance VDI storage that data is the daily work, including documents, spreadsheets, images, and individual helps boost IT flexibility. preferences, produced by the authorized user of the VM. (See the sidebar, “Case in point: Why separate user data?”) When desktop user data needs to be persistent—that is, preserved in state on the hard drive after shutdown—the data is typically Cost-effective storage for enhancing VDI environments stored alongside OS and application data. But mixing this data causes the VM size to By helping lower costs and simplify VDI management, Dell grow over time, leading to additional capacity EqualLogic storage enables organizations to overcome the biggest hurdle in achieving effective VDI performance: requirements, slow access to data, high latency, supporting the storage infrastructure. Download this white and ultimately a degraded user experience. paper to get the full story. In many cases, user data does not dell.com/EqualLogicVDISuccess need to be persistent. For example, when

24 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Case in point: call-center employees or health-care or thousands of VMs requires the ability to professionals use Web-based or client-server rapidly clone and provision multiple VMs Why separate applications from their desktops, data is from predefined templates. typically stored in a database at the back end User data has its own distinct user data? of the application. The desktops are merely requirements; it is the core asset of the The need for special treatment of user data access points for the workers to perform organization, and reliable protection and for virtual desktops becomes clear when their tasks. No user data needs to be stored backup are essential. Lost or damaged data considering a specific use case—for example, alongside the OS and application data. is otherwise difficult or impossible to replace a software developer for environments ® ® Nonpersistent desktops can be created and can negatively affect organizational running the Microsoft Windows and ® in VDI environments to satisfy this type of use productivity. Additionally, access to user data Linux operating systems. This scenario is challenging for several reasons: case. A nonpersistent VM can be cloned from a must be device and location independent— single master image when an end user needs end users may need to work from a desktop • The developer must log in to different a desktop and can be discarded when the user computer in Austin, Texas, one day and a desktops running different operating logs off. Because user data does not need laptop, tablet, or smartphone in London, systems throughout the day and needs to be persistent, the VM size remains small United Kingdom, the next day. rapid access to user data from any of throughout the desktop life cycle. Temporary Because of these differences, VM and these platforms. OS and application data is discarded when user data must be stored differently. VM data • The developer must be confident that daily the user logs off and the VM is rebooted. is best suited to block-based storage on a work is backed up and will not be lost. This model is designed to provide enhanced storage area network (SAN) for efficiency and • Storing copies of user data on multiple capacity utilization, high performance, low performance. User data should be stored devices can pose a security risk for the latency, and an improved user experience. with robust protection and backup at a file organization’s intellectual property and can These benefits can be extended even for level for easy access. However, maintaining add to data management complexities. desktops in a VDI environment that require separate storage systems can be inefficient, user data to be persistent. If the data is stored costly, and complex. Separating user data from virtual in a central location separate from OS and Dell EqualLogic storage enables machine (VM) data enables the necessary application data, then achieving the same organizations to leverage a unified storage transportability: the developer can high performance and capacity utilization of architecture that cost-effectively addresses transparently and consistently access the nonpersistent desktops while preserving user both VM and user data needs (see Figure 1). same user data from different VMs running data is possible. In this model, each time an Dell EqualLogic PS Series virtualized Internet different operating systems. authorized user logs in, a VM is created in SCSI (iSCSI) SAN arrays provide block-level Dell EqualLogic storage enables much the same way as for a nonpersistent storage that is appropriate for VM data. The administrators to deliver the added desktop. However, the user data is mounted Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out network protection user data requires with unified on the VM from a separate, central storage attached storage (NAS) appliance provides data management for maximum efficiency. location. As the end user performs his or Common Internet File System (CIFS) and her tasks, the data continues to be updated Network File System (NFS) services for in the central location. When the end user file-level access to and management of virtualization platform and VMware View™ logs off and the desktop is rebooted, the user data. Both VM and user data reside environment provides optimized storage temporary OS and application data are on the same shared storage pool, with the management and high availability for VM data. discarded but the user data is retained in a EqualLogic FS7500 appliance providing front- VMware vStorage APIs for Array separate, central location. end NAS functionality for the user data. Integration (VAAI) enables offloading of storage-intensive operations to the EqualLogic Storing different types of data Taking a unified storage approach PS Series SAN arrays. This integration Regardless of the use case, high to VM and user data allows vSphere to leverage EqualLogic SAN performance and low latency are essential A unified approach using Dell EqualLogic capabilities for performing key operations for VMs because suboptimal latency can storage allows organizations to capitalize on quickly—enabling the rapid cloning and negatively affect the user experience. VM the capabilities of both SAN and NAS. The deploying of VMs. EqualLogic multitiered data must also be simple to access and deep integration of EqualLogic PS Series hybrid arrays that combine solid-state drives manage. Additionally, deploying hundreds SAN arrays with the VMware® vSphere™ (SSDs) and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives in a

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 25 Focus on data management Unified storage for virtual desktops

Thin clients minimizing the potential complexities of managing VM and authorized user data. EqualLogic storage provides unified management of block and file data, enabling organizations to meet several key objectives. It separates critical user data for file-level VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM granular access, backup, and recovery VMware ESX VMware ESX while enabling device- and location- independent access. It also helps to simplify

VMware vSphere and View Manager VM provisioning and management, achieve excellent virtual desktop performance, and reduce the storage footprint for Dell EqualLogic FS7500 appliance cost-efficiency. Its virtualized scale-out architecture helps simplify scaling of capacity and performance in a nondisruptive manner. By contributing to the success of VDI, EqualLogic storage allows IT managers to Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN arrays maximize control of the client environment and help reduce associated management SSD SAS costs. Ultimately, a successful VDI deployment enables IT organizations to Figure 1. Unified VDI storage architecture using Dell EqualLogic FS7500 and EqualLogic PS Series storage deliver virtual desktops to multiple devices, helping boost operational efficiency single enclosure along with automated tiering achieve space efficiency by avoiding storage and security while enhancing end-user are well suited for VDI workloads. These hybrid of duplicate data across multiple desktop VMs. productivity and business agility. arrays effectively mitigate I/O storms, while Deploying the EqualLogic FS7500 scale- helping eliminate the need to overprovision out NAS for user data provides multiple data Authors storage to meet performance goals. protection, management, portability, and Vikram Belapurkar is a solutions marketing Hybrid arrays also help achieve optimal access control advantages. These advantages manager at Dell, focused on storage consolidation cost-performance balance. EqualLogic PS include file-level snapshots for fast, simple and virtualization solutions. He has over a decade Series SAN arrays leverage virtualized scale- backup and individual restoration of user of experience in technical and business roles within the IT industry. Follow Vikram on Twitter out architecture that helps simplify scaling of files; file-level disaster recovery in case of an @VirtualStorageV. capacity and performance. IT organizations outage; management of unified NAS and can seamlessly and nondisruptively scale SAN storage through a single interface; and William Urban is a technical marketing engineer their EqualLogic storage environments as expansion of file services performance on the at Dell working on VMware virtualization integration for the Dell EqualLogic product family. the VDI environment grows. In a multi- fly. The EqualLogic FS7500 appliance is also Follow William on Twitter @VirtWillU. array implementation, EqualLogic PS Series integrated with the Microsoft Active Directory® firmware version 5.1 provides automated directory service and Lightweight Directory Chhandomay Mandal is a senior product marketing manager in the Dell Enterprise Storage performance load balancing that optimally Access Protocol (LDAP), enabling user roles, Product Group and has worked in the data distributes VM data based on access quotas, permissions, and files to be managed storage industry for more than 15 years. Follow patterns to minimize latency and enhance from one location. Chhandomay on Twitter @chhandomay. performance. EqualLogic Virtual Desktop Learn more Deployment Utility, a component of Dell Combining SAN and NAS for a

EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for VMware successful VDI deployment Dell storage: (HIT/VMware), enables rapid creation and Combined, Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN dellstorage.com provisioning of multiple desktop VMs. This arrays and the EqualLogic FS7500 scale- EqualLogic unified storage in a utility also leverages EqualLogic PS Series out NAS provide a cost-effective way for VMware View environment: Template Volumes and Thin Clones to organizations to implement VDI while dellstorage.com/VDI

Rising above the data deluge Help is on the way in the form of smart strategies for efficient data management and access.

dentify fraudulent credit card usage. Profile customer habits. Track patient health. Document business deals. I Whatever enterprises they serve, IT organizations amass vast volumes of data and put it to good use every day. But in the face of relentless data growth, many administrators are reaching critical mass, managing heterogeneous compute and storage platforms while attending to stringent compliance regulations governing data retention and access. Dell™ E-mail and File Archive solutions Intelligent archiving platforms are designed to reduce complexity, delivering the right information at the right time for fixed digital content while slashing management costs through Tested and validated reference architectures expedite the deployment of Dell intelligent storage optimization and E-mail and File Archive solutions. Central to these configurations is the Dell DX consolidation. The end-to-end solutions Object Storage Platform, which comprises one or two cluster services nodes combine best-of-breed software with high- and multiple storage nodes. The platform integrates hardware and software to performance hardware and complementary manage storage of files and accompanying metadata. It is designed to handle services. (See the sidebar, “Intelligent billions of objects through unique object identifiers created from one enormous, archiving platforms for fixed digital content.”) flat address space. Its write-once, read-many (WORM) capability is well suited for To learn more about on-premise organizations that need to retain data for compliance. offerings, see the following articles in Policy-based management enables automated, object-level retention and deletion this issue: “Streamlining e-mail and file based on metadata. The DX platform is designed to continuously self-manage the archiving with CommVault Simpana integrity of stored objects, detecting and repairing errors automatically. The platform software” by Dave Jaffe and Darin Camp also incorporates efficient power management features, such as drive spin-down and and “Optimizing data retention and performance throttling. e-discovery with Symantec Enterprise Vault software” by John Tian and Troy Lehman. A hosted alternative through Dell E-mail Management Services is also available.

Learn more

Dell E-mail and File Archive solution: dell.com/email-file-archive

Intelligent data management: dell.com/idm Dell DX6000 cluster services node (top) and Dell DX6012S storage nodes Dell DX Object Storage Platform: dell.to/uFJhfe

t takes a smart data management Streamlining e-mail strategy to tackle explosive data growth. The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution and file archiving with I with CommVault Simpana software enables centralized management of backup and archive data through a single CommVault Simpana architecture with a single console. (For more information about CommVault Simpana software software, see the sidebar, “Key components for centralized, automated archiving.”) This approach is mapped out in By Dave Jaffe and Darin Camp three reference architectures that are designed to archive e-mail from Microsoft® Exchange Server messaging software, To ease the management of large data volumes, the data from Microsoft Office SharePoint® Dell™ E-mail and File Archive solution with CommVault® Server collaboration software, and Microsoft ® ® ® Simpana® software includes three reference Windows , UNIX , and Linux file systems and file servers. Created, tested, validated, architectures that provide basic archiving, content and documented in Dell Solution Centers, indexing, and high-availability capabilities. these configurations can be deployed as-is or components can be combined to suit organization-specific requirements.

Internal Storage Reference Architecture Featuring the Dell PowerVault™ DL2200 appliance, the Internal Storage Reference Architecture is suitable for enterprises with up to 1,000 users that do not require high availability or content indexing. In this architecture, appropriate iDataAgents and Archiver Agents are installed on three client systems: a server hosting Microsoft Exchange Server, a server with a Microsoft Windows Server® OS–based file system, and a network file server that uses Common Internet File System (CIFS). The client systems are connected through a Dell PowerConnect™ 6248 data switch to the PowerVault DL2200, which hosts the CommServe and the MediaAgent and acts as the primary storage library.

EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture Organizations that desire Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage and content indexing without high availability can consider a reference architecture that features the Dell EqualLogic™ PS6000 Series iSCSI storage area network (SAN) array (see Figure 1). The

28 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture, which supports up to 5,000 users, incorporates the EqualLogic PS6000 Series array Key components for additional storage, along with internal disk storage provided by for centralized, the PowerVault DL2200 appliance. It adds to the Internal Storage Reference Architecture in several key ways: automated archiving

CommVault Simpana software provides an automated, policy- • A Microsoft Office SharePoint Server client system is added, based data management process that helps IT organizations to with appropriate iDataAgents and Archiver Agent. consolidate storage and to archive and search data. Simpana • The EqualLogic PS6000 Series array, which attaches through software reclaims valuable primary storage space by automatically a new library, can be accessed in two ways: as a primary copy moving stale data to cost-effective Dell secondary storage. The through its own storage policy or as a secondary copy to the archived data can be encrypted for protection and reduced in size primary copy on the PowerVault DL2200. through deduplication and compression. Once archived, the data • Deduplication is enabled through a storage policy using the is replaced with self-contained stub files on the primary storage. PowerVault DL2200 library; the EqualLogic library can also Simpana software delivers full content indexing so that serve as a deduplication target. information can be searched and retrieved in context. Copies • A Dell PowerEdge™ R610 server is added as a content-index engine. of indexed data (protection, migration, and archive data) are This node performs content-indexing administration, serves as the combined into a single, searchable repository. location of the search index, and can host the search Web server. The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution leverages several key components and features of CommVault Simpana software: High-Availability Reference Architecture Supporting up to 5,000 users, the High-Availability Reference • CommVault CommCell® group: Each CommCell comprises Architecture integrates the self-managing Dell DX Object Storage one CommVault CommServe® component, one or more Platform (see Figure 2). High availability is provided by two MediaAgents, and one or more Client Agents. CommServes running on two PowerEdge R610 servers configured • CommServe: This component coordinates a CommCell, as a failover cluster using the clustering feature in Microsoft Windows communicating with the agents to initiate data protection, Server, with shared storage provided by an EqualLogic PS6000XV management, and recovery operations. array. The architecture uses a pair of PowerVault DL2200 appliances • MediaAgent: This component transfers data between the as MediaAgents and primary storage libraries, which are clustered client computer(s) and the storage media. MediaAgents run on using CommVault GridStor® technology. A cluster comprising the same server as the CommServe or on separate servers. primary and secondary DX6000 cluster services nodes and two • iDataAgent: This Client Agent backs up and restores data. A DX6012S storage nodes is employed as secondary storage. target computer requires one iDataAgent for each data type. • Archiver Agent: This Client Agent moves unused or Microsoft Exchange Server infrequently used data to secondary storage. Microsoft O ce SharePoint Server • Library: A disk library is a virtual library that contains a list of CIFS network ﬁle server running Microsoft Windows Server mount paths through which data can be sent to disk media. Clients Dell PowerConnect 6248 switch • Storage policy: A storage policy maps data from its original Existing infrastructure location to physical media. • Content indexing and search: This feature provides the Dell PowerVault DL2200 appliance ability to content-index file server and desktop data that is (CommServe and MediaAgent) protected or archived. Dell PowerEdge R610 server (Content index engine) • Deduplication: Data deduplication can be performed at the client side before the data is transferred over the network Dell PowerConnect 6248 switches or at the MediaAgent side when the data is received at the MediaAgent. Dell EqualLogic PS6000 Series iSCSI storage • Silo Storage: This tool moves deduplicated backup data on primary storage to secondary storage devices.

Figure 1. The EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture provides iSCSI storage, content indexing, and deduplication

Dive deeper Microsoft Exchange Server Existing infrastructure The Dell E-mail and File Archive Microsoft O ce SharePoint Server solution with CommVault CIFS network ﬁle server running Dell PowerConnect Simpana software helps Microsoft Windows Server 6248 data switch organizations optimize storage Clients while alleviating burdens related to the design, deployment, and Dell PowerVault DL2200 appliances Dell PowerEdge R610 servers Dell PowerEdge R610 servers management of an archiving in GridStor cluster (MediaAgents) in failover cluster (CommServes) (Content index engines) system. This white paper provides an in-depth look at the solution’s three reference architectures and presents sizing examples. Dell PowerConnect 6248 storage switches dell.to/stDEE2 Dell DX6000 primary cluster services node

Dell DX6000 secondary cluster services node Dell DX6012S storage node 1 Dell EqualLogic PS6000 Series Dell DX6012S iSCSI storage or other shared storage node 2 storage for cluster Dell DX Object Storage Platform

Figure 2. The High-Availability Reference Architecture with Dell DX Object Storage Platform provides high availability and high-performance content indexing

The High-Availability Reference Architecture extends the departments and time periods, thereby proportionately decreasing functionality of the content-indexing reference architecture in the number of content-index servers required. two key ways. First, high-performance content indexing is deployed If the journaling feature of Microsoft Exchange were enabled, across multiple nodes. The second node, and any nodes added the amount of storage required would dramatically increase, further later, serves exclusively as a search index node. Also, copying underscoring the need for an organization to fully understand its users’ deduplicated data to a secondary DX6000 node requires the use of environments before designing a Simpana software implementation. a silo copy on the deduplication storage policy. Efficient management of data archives Solution sizing: Sample use case The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution with CommVault Simpana To size the Dell E-mail and File Archive solution with CommVault software addresses an organization’s storage optimization and Simpana software, organizations must consider their user compliance requirements while delivering high performance for workloads. Dell Services consultants can work with organizations to on-premise archiving. The solution’s reference architectures help determine appropriate sizing parameters. As an example, consider facilitate the design, implementation, and ongoing management of a use case that assumes an average user sending or receiving 20 storage infrastructures through tight integration of archiving software messages a day that will be retained, archived, and content-indexed. with a comprehensive array of scalable Dell storage offerings. The PowerVault DL2200 appliance in the Internal Storage Reference Architecture would provide approximately 8 TB of Authors usable archive storage, which allows for a predicted 5 TB required Dave Jaffe is a solution architect on the Dell Solution Centers Intelligent Data over a five-year period plus extra for backups and other storage Management team. needs. A single content-index engine can hold approximately Darin Camp has 20 years of experience in designing storage networking and 1 TB of indexes, which is sufficient for the three years of retention data protection solutions. He is currently a senior technical alliance manager specified in this use case. at CommVault. The two 5,000-user reference architectures provide approximately 30 TB (EqualLogic PS6000 Series SAN) and 28 TB (DX Object Storage Learn more Platform) of storage, respectively; both are sufficient for the predicted Dell PowerVault DL Backup to Disk appliance: 25.1 TB required over five years. To index all user e-mail would require dell.to/t0Rrh8 approximately four content-index servers. More than likely, however, Dell EqualLogic storage: an enterprise would need to search only content from specified dell.com/equallogic

Optimizing data retention and e-discovery with Symantec Enterprise Vault software

By John Tian and Troy Lehman

For effective e-discovery, information retention systems must avoid accidental record loss and enable rapid data recovery—capabilities delivered through the Dell™ E-mail and File Archive solution with Symantec® Enterprise Vault® software.

Dive deeper o deal with vast volumes of data, additional reference architectures for Symantec organizations require storage with Enterprise Vault 10: a cost-effective approach The Dell E-mail and File Archive solution with Symantec Enterprise high-performance, cost-effective that incorporates the Dell DX6004S storage node Vault helps organizations improve data management capabilities that and an approach for virtualized environments the economies of long-term data T ™ retention while helping to reduce are easy to use and scale with rising archiving that leverages Dell EqualLogic Internet SCSI risks associated with corporate, requirements. The Dell E-mail and File Archive (iSCSI) storage and the VMware® vSphere™ 5.0 legal, or regulatory governance. solution with Symantec Enterprise Vault 9 virtualization platform. These architectures can This white paper provides further details on the solution’s three software provides an efficient, cost-effective serve as deployment templates; administrators reference architectures and approach to storing, managing, and discovering may add components to meet specific sizing examples. unstructured information across the enterprise. organizational requirements. dell.to/vLI83n (For more information about Symantec Enterprise Vault, see the sidebar, “A cornerstone for Internal Storage Reference Architecture defensible e-discovery.”) Suitable for enterprises that do not require high The solution features three reference availability or legal e-discovery, the Internal Storage architectures that have been created, tested, Reference Architecture, which supports up to 1,000 validated, and documented in Dell Solution users, utilizes the internal storage of two Dell Centers. The Dell team is also developing two PowerEdge™ R510 rack servers. One server runs

High-Availability Reference Architecture Existing Microsoft Exchange Server infrastructure Suitable for enterprises with up to 5,000 users, the High-Availability Microsoft O ce SharePoint Server Reference Architecture adds high-availability components to the CIFS network ﬁle server running Dell PowerConnect Microsoft Windows Server 6248 data switch EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture (see Figure 2). To avoid Target servers a single point of failure for Enterprise Vault archiving and journaling, the reference architecture includes two clustered Enterprise Vault Dell PowerEdge R610 server Dell PowerEdge R610 server Dell PowerEdge R610 server (Enterprise Vault) (Discovery Accelerator) (Microsoft SQL Server) servers and two clustered SQL database servers. Because clustering support is not available for Discovery Accelerator, it is installed on a stand-alone PowerEdge server. Dell PowerConnect 6248 switches At application and server levels, Enterprise Vault and SQL services and tasks are protected by Windows Server 2008 R2 active- Dell EqualLogic PS6000E iSCSI storage (capacity) passive failover clusters. If a service or task fails on one cluster node, the workload is automatically moved to the passive cluster node. If Dell EqualLogic PS6000XV iSCSI storage (performance) one cluster node must be shut down for maintenance, its workload can be proactively moved to another node to minimize downtime. The High-Availability Reference Architecture differs from the Figure 1. The EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture provides e-discovery capabilities EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture in several key ways:

Enterprise Vault and stores the indexes and archives. The storage • The Dell DX Object Storage Platform replaces the EqualLogic capacity of this server can be expanded with direct attach Dell PS6000E for storing archive data. It includes a secondary node PowerVault™ MD Series disk expansion enclosures. The Enterprise for high availability. Vault server archives data from two target systems: a server running • In addition to message queues, databases, and indexes, cluster Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 and a Common quorums for the Windows Server 2008 failover cluster are stored Internet File System (CIFS) file server running the Microsoft on an EqualLogic PS6000XV array. Windows Server® 2008 R2 OS. The other PowerEdge R510 runs the • This reference architecture supports write-once, read-many Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 software and stores databases on its disks. (WORM) storage for compliance-ready archiving. By default, archive data is stored in the mutable and deletable format. EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture

Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI storage area network (SAN) arrays Existing Microsoft Exchange Server are featured in the EqualLogic Storage Reference Architecture, infrastructure Microsoft Oce SharePoint Server which supports up to 5,000 users (see Figure 1). It is designed to CIFS network ﬁle server running Dell PowerConnect archive Exchange Server e-mail with Exchange journaling turned Microsoft Windows Server 6248 data switch Target servers on, enabling Enterprise Vault to be configured to retain a copy of e-mail messages sent and received to help satisfy regulatory or Dell PowerEdge R610 servers Dell PowerEdge R610 servers legal retention requirements. The Discovery Accelerator option in Windows Server 2008 Dell PowerEdge in Windows Server 2008 failover cluster R610 server failover cluster is included to facilitate legal e-discovery. A Microsoft Office (Enterprise Vault) (Discovery Accelerator) (Microsoft SQL Server) SharePoint® Server target is added for archiving SharePoint data. This reference architecture includes three PowerEdge R610 servers: one running Enterprise Vault, one running Discovery Dell PowerConnect 6248 switches Accelerator, and one running Microsoft SQL Server software. Both the

Enterprise Vault server and the SQL server are configured with redundant Dell DX6000 primary cluster services node network connections to the production network and dual network Dell DX6000 connections with multipath I/O support to the iSCSI storage network. secondary cluster services node Dell EqualLogic Dell DX6012S PS6000XV storage An EqualLogic PS6000XV array acts as the primary storage for storage node 1 Dell DX6012S data that requires high I/O throughput, such as message queues, storage node 2 Dell DX Object Storage Platform indexes, and databases. An EqualLogic PS6000E array provides secondary storage for data that requires large storage capacity but Figure 2. The High-Availability Reference Architecture adds high availability to low I/O throughput, such as archive data. e-discovery capabilities

Symantec Enterprise Vault archives information from messaging • Symantec Enterprise Vault File System Archiving: Files can be servers, file servers, and collaborative systems using powerful storage archived by age, size, or other criteria. Items are compressed, optimization, classification, and retention technologies. Enterprise stored, and indexed centrally by Enterprise Vault and can be Vault is designed to automatically capture, categorize, index, and searched as well as retrieved transparently by end users through enforce retention policies and secure unstructured information. optional placeholders. These capabilities are particularly relevant as organizations • Symantec Enterprise Vault for Microsoft Office SharePoint contend with data retention requirements for regulatory compliance. Server: Document libraries, folders, and files from Microsoft Office Using Enterprise Vault, organizations can consolidate e-mail and other SharePoint Server can be automatically archived, helping enterprises electronic information into a single repository. This consolidation enforce retention policies and reduce the storage and costs enables simplified management, policy enforcement, legal hold, and associated with managing high volumes of electronic content. timely search and retrieval of relevant information for legal cases. • Microsoft Exchange journaling integration: Enterprise Vault Key capabilities of Enterprise Vault used in the Dell E-mail and works with Microsoft Exchange journaling and can be configured File Archive solution include the following: to retain copies of sent and received e-mail messages, helping ensure that they are kept for the appropriate period of time to • Symantec Enterprise Vault for Microsoft Exchange Server: meet legal or regulatory retention requirements. Administrator-defined policies are designed to automatically • Symantec Enterprise Vault Discovery Accelerator: The archive e-mail and attachments out of Microsoft Exchange Discovery Accelerator extends the basic search functionality of Server and into online Enterprise Vault stores. Working with Enterprise Vault to facilitate the search and recovery of archived Exchange journaling, Enterprise Vault can be configured to items used for e-discovery. It delivers a powerful, efficient user retain copies of sent and received e-mail messages, helping interface through advanced search and analysis capabilities such organizations meet retention requirements. as conversation threading and bulk marking and tagging.

When compliance mode is enabled, respectively—both sufficient for a predicted an indefinite litigation hold of relevant content Enterprise Vault implements mutable 9.4 TB over five years. Larger drives may be with minimal strain on IT resources. The Dell and undeletable WORM data archiving, used to increase capacity. E-mail and File Archive solution with Symantec which means the archive data cannot To create the indexes necessary for full- Enterprise Vault helps close the gap between be deleted from the storage within a phrase searches, the index size can reach technology and policies to avoid the risks specified retention period. almost 12 percent of the archive data size. of noncompliance while enabling efficient, Depending on the reference architecture, repeatable, and defensible e-discovery. Solution sizing: Sample use case indexes will be stored on internal storage or Sizing of the Dell E-mail and File Archive the EqualLogic PS6000XV array. Each of the Authors solution with Enterprise Vault depends on reference architectures has sufficient free an IT infrastructure’s configuration and space to store indexes. John Tian is a solution architect on the Dell Solution Centers team. His interests include workload. Dell Services consultants can If a large amount of file server or intelligent data management, virtualization, and help organizations size a solution based on SharePoint data must be archived in cloud computing. their specific requirements. addition to the regular Exchange workload, Troy Lehman is a technical strategist with For example, consider a use case that the architectures may support fewer users. Symantec Corporation. He has over 15 years assumes 20 messages a day per user will of experience in the storage industry, including be archived for five years. The Internal Effective information retention frontline solution design and product management. Storage Reference Architecture provides for e-discovery approximately 3.6 TB of usable storage, IT organizations are being asked to partner Learn more which allows for a predicted 1.9 TB with legal departments to develop information required over a five-year period. The retention systems that help ensure that Dell PowerEdge R510 server: EqualLogic and High-Availability Reference records are not only safely retained but also dell.com/us/enterprise/p/poweredge-r510/pd

Architectures supply approximately 10 TB rapidly discoverable. Organizations faced with Dell EqualLogic storage: and 11.7 TB of usable archive storage, litigation involving e-discovery need to apply dell.com/equallogic

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 33 Focus on data management Architecting for scale-out storage

T organizations appreciate the simplicity of file-level access provided by network attached storage (NAS), as well as the Ispeed of block-level storage area network (SAN) systems. Unified storage systems enable further consolidation of storage deployments, helping reduce or eliminate islands of storage that were siloed for different workload or protocol needs. However, IT managers are finding that NAS, SAN, and unified storage products based on traditional architectures may become bottlenecks as they try to accommodate the surge of rapidly growing business data volumes. Traditional systems can scale up by adding disk capacity—but when the limits of a storage enclosure are reached, organizations must invest in a unit with controllers that are more powerful than those in the original enclosure. Many IT organizations are now turning Validating scale-out to scale-out storage approaches to help them expand seamlessly and avoid forklift storage performance upgrades or complex migration projects.1 Dell EqualLogic scale-out storage, based on a virtualized peer storage architecture, enables for block and file I/O IT departments to add storage easily when needed. In its unified platform, the EqualLogic By Dylan Locsin, Jeff Junker, Arun Rajan, and Ananda Sankaran line provides scale-out capabilities not only for block storage, but also for NAS file services. To quantify how EqualLogic unified storage A scale-out storage architecture helps organizations deal delivers incremental performance increases as with demands for growing data capacity and access. resources are added, Dell performed a series of benchmark tests under several operational ™ ™ Dell engineers put Dell EqualLogic scale-out storage use case scenarios. through its paces to demonstrate its scalability in both file Performance scaling in a Linux and block I/O scenarios. environment Organizations running Linux® OS–based databases need storage systems that can handle the high random I/O workloads of online transaction processing (OLTP) Next-generation virtualized storage applications. To validate the performance

For efficient operation, highly virtualized data centers require scalability of EqualLogic SAN arrays in this storage that supports seamless movement and protection of virtual machines, applications, and data. Dell EqualLogic PS6100 Series arrays are designed to provide midsize organizations with 1 For more information on the Dell EqualLogic scale-out highly scalable storage that automatically manages data in a architecture, see “Taking a scale-out approach to unified block redesigned, compact form factor. and file storage,” by Scott Sinclair, Arun Rajan, and John Mannix, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/ enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/Documents~ps3q11 dell.com/PSseries -20110186-rajan.pdf.aspx.

34 2011 Issue 04 | dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Focus on data management Architecting for scale-out storage

scenario, Dell engineers ran tests using a typical 4.0 deployed infrastructure in June 2011. 3.01 The test environment included two Dell 3.0 PowerEdge™ R710 servers running Red Hat® 2.02 Enterprise Linux 5.5. The Flexible I/O (FIO) 2.0 benchmarking tool was used to generate the test 1.0 workload, which had an 80 percent/20 percent Normalized IOPS 1.0 read/write ratio. This FIO workload was run against

one, two, and three Dell EqualLogic PS6100XV 0 1 array 2 arrays 3 arrays Internet SCSI (iSCSI) SAN arrays. Number of EqualLogic PS6100XV SAN arrays Testing showed essentially linear growth in I/Os per second (IOPS). The set of two arrays Figure 1. Throughput of EqualLogic PS6100XV arrays in Linux FIO benchmark tests achieved approximately twice the IOPS as the baseline single-array test case, and the set of and EqualLogic PS6000XV SAN arrays with Serial three arrays achieved approximately three times Attached SCSI (SAS) drives at RAID-10. With the IOPS as the baseline (see Figure 1). The two NAS appliances and four SAN arrays, the results demonstrate the ability of the EqualLogic EqualLogic system delivered almost twice architecture to scale performance in proportion to the performance for NFS operations (93 percent the number of arrays added to a group. increase) and more than twice the performance for CIFS operations (168 percent increase), compared Scalability of physical file services to one NAS appliance and two SAN arrays. The Dell EqualLogic line delivers a scale-out unified Another test scenario involved running the Dive deeper storage architecture by adding the EqualLogic FS7500 simulations on the EqualLogic FS7500 and scale-out NAS appliance to an EqualLogic PS Series EqualLogic PS6000E arrays with Serial ATA (SATA) The Dell EqualLogic FS7500 appliance adds scale-out unified SAN. Block and file data are stored on back-end drives at RAID-50. With two NAS appliances NAS capabilities to EqualLogic EqualLogic PS Series arrays, which also provide iSCSI and four SAN arrays, the EqualLogic system PS Series iSCSI SANs, enabling access to volumes. The EqualLogic FS7500 provides provided more than twice the performance for management of iSCSI, CIFS, and NFS access from a single console. Learn file services through Common Internet File System NFS operations (110 percent increase) and CIFS how to integrate the EqualLogic (CIFS) and Network File System (NFS) protocols. operations (122 percent increase), compared to FS7500 into an existing EqualLogic SAN to achieve optimum storage From March through August 2011, Dell one NAS system and two SAN arrays. performance. engineers studied the performance scalability of The results of both tests indicate that by dellstorage.com/ 2 EqualLogic storage providing file services. The adding NAS controller resources and back-end FS7500IntegrationWP test methodology comprised two parts: SAN arrays, an EqualLogic unified storage system can scale out performance and help maximize • Creation of NFS exports or CIFS file shares system throughput and performance. Testing on the EqualLogic FS7500 also showed that for very high file I/O needs, • Simulation of NFS or CIFS file operations from administrators should use two EqualLogic FS7500 test clients to record system response times appliances when four or more EqualLogic PS Series arrays are used to host the NAS reserve. The Dell team based the use case for the simulations on end-user access of file shares Storage performance in a virtualized and created file data to simulate the workload. workload environment In one test scenario, NFS and CIFS simulations The iSCSI block storage protocol enables were run on an EqualLogic unified storage system excellent performance for VMware® virtualization comprising an EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS environments, as does the NFS protocol, which

2 For more information on the test configurations, results, and best practices, see “Scalability and deployment best practices for the Dell EqualLogic FS7500 NAS system as a file share solution,” by Ananda Sankaran and Arun Rajan, August 2011, dellstorage.com/FS7500BestPracticesWP.

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. dell.com/powersolutions | 2011 Issue 04 35 Focus on data management Architecting for scale-out storage

3.5 simply by adding units. Because of the many

E-mail (actions/minute) 3 variables involved, specific performance Web 2.0 (operations/minute) results will vary based on an organization’s IT 2.5 E-commerce (transactions/minute) infrastructure configurations, but in general, 2 EqualLogic storage is designed to scale in both capacity and performance. Adding 1.5 EqualLogic PS Series SAN arrays to the 1 infrastructure helps scale capacity. To boost

0.5 performance, administrators can add an

Normalized application throughput EqualLogic FS7500 appliance to increase the 0 1 array 2 arrays 3 arrays number of NAS controllers and EqualLogic Number of EqualLogic PS6000XV SAN arrays PS Series arrays to increase the number of

Figure 2. Performance of multiple virtual workloads in a VMware environment using an EqualLogic FS7500 drives servicing a workload. scale-out NAS over NFS By deploying the EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS in new or existing storage some organizations prefer for the benefits The tests used a mix of three infrastructures, organizations can realize the of managing virtual machines in a file application workloads: scalability benefits of unified block and file system. The EqualLogic unified storage system storage while avoiding the challenges of with the EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS • Mail server operations using Microsoft® managing separate storage architectures. allows organizations to use both storage- Exchange Server, emulating 1,000 users access methods in a single platform. with heavy-usage profiles and a fixed Authors To investigate the performance scalability mailbox size of the unified EqualLogic platform to meet • Social networking Web site operations Dylan Locsin is a product marketing consultant for Dell Storage, with more than demanding I/O needs in a consolidated using Web 2.0–based applications 11 years of experience in marketing for virtual environment, from May through defined by the Olio testing toolkit, fixed enterprise storage, networking, and software. August 2011 Dell engineers designed and ran at 400 concurrent users tests with multiple simultaneous application • E-commerce transactional operations Jeff Junker has more than 25 years of experience in storage, networking, and 3 workloads within a VMware infrastructure. using the open source Dell DVD Store media production. He is currently focused on The engineers deployed two VMware database test suite and MySQL databases virtualized storage solutions at Dell. ESXi host servers with sufficient processor, Arun Rajan is a product marketing consultant memory, and network resources to avoid The height of each bar in Figure 2 shows for Dell Storage. He has more than eight any host-layer bottlenecks and an EqualLogic the normalized application throughput in years of experience across technical product unified storage system comprising a VMware environment using NFS. These marketing and development. the EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS and results show that the EqualLogic unified scale- Ananda Sankaran is a senior development EqualLogic PS6000XV arrays operating out system achieved a near-linear increase in engineer on the Dell Storage Infrastructure under a single group address. Three shared application transaction performance within and Solutions team and has more than nine data stores using NFS exports from the a VMware environment by increasing the years of experience in software, systems, and solutions engineering. EqualLogic FS7500 were configured on the number of back-end SAN arrays. ESXi servers. Second and third EqualLogic PS6000XV arrays were added to the pool Simple, effective scaling Learn more one at a time to test performance scalability. for optimum performance

For each storage configuration, engineers Through comprehensive testing of Dell EqualLogic storage: increased the applications’ workloads EqualLogic scale-out storage under equallogic.com and noted the application transaction different block and file I/O scenarios, Dell Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools (HIT) throughputs while maintaining an acceptable demonstrated that the storage enables for Linux technical report: application quality of service (QoS). performance to be scaled incrementally dellstorage.com/HitLinuxTR

3 For more information on the test configurations and results, see “Dell EqualLogic FS7500–Unified block and file storage for virtual workloads,” August 2011, dellstorage.com/FS7500VMwareWP.

Dell PowerVault tape automation libraries

Simple, automated, affordable, and expandable

The Dell™ PowerVault™ TL tape automation library Green offers a simple and affordable backup and archiving Tape uses zero energy when stored, making it naturally “green.” device for organizations that need automated data protection. With its green energy use, secure Secure encryption capabilities, and expandability, it is the Tape encryption provides security and helps reduce the risk of data being misused. product of choice for small, medium, and enterprise LTO-4 and LTO-5 encrypted data is businesses looking for an easy-to-use and easy-to- unreadable to people without a key. maintain data backup and archiving solution. iSCSI attachment An iSCSI-to-SAS bridge card supplements the growth of your iSCSI SAN.

For more information, visit Performance dell.to/PowerVault-tape-automation The libraries support up to 432 GB of data per drive per hour, for a maximum of 1.73 TB per hour with four drives.

50120137-ibm.indd 1 Focus on data management Planning tools

T organizations constantly strive to optimize IT infrastructure to meet enterprise needs efficiently and cost- I effectively. For example, they may extend the life of an existing infrastructure by incorporating technologies such as virtualized workloads or storage area networks (SANs). Before planning and sizing workloads for a new infrastructure design, IT organizations should obtain a thorough understanding of existing system performance, including that of servers, storage, and workloads. The Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK) offers an in-depth view of server workload and capacity requirements that helps IT departments prepare for a migration or hardware refresh.

Quick, informative assessment Fine-tuning IT DPACK complements the diverse selection of analysis tools available from Dell. It infrastructure through provides a simple approach toward system assessment and simulation, avoiding the long and costly routines sometimes rapid system assessment required to gather data for making basic assumptions about performance By Sam Kirchoff and Joanna Norling requirements. Without knowing the individual characteristics of the servers and how they might interoperate, To effectively upgrade IT infrastructure, organizations administrators may encounter difficulties must first understand the existing environment. The in choosing the right mix of servers and storage. ™ Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK) DPACK is designed to take the provides an easy assessment that can form the basis guesswork out of determining what steps administrators may take to achieve of a solid implementation plan. overall improvements to existing system performance. The kit, which is available at no charge, can be downloaded by visiting support.dell.com and searching for DPACK. Two versions of DPACK are available: one for environments running the VMware® ESX hypervisor or the Microsoft® Windows® OS and one for the Linux® OS. DPACK includes a data collector, a small executable file that typically runs for 24 hours or less to measure disk I/O, throughput, capacity, and memory utilization for each

Download the Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK)

DPACK is a lightweight systems assessment tool that measure