VMworld 2015: Explaining Advanced Virtual Volumes Configurations
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The document presents an overview of VMware's vSphere Virtual Volumes, emphasizing their ability to streamline storage management for virtual machines through policy-based automation and improved scalability. It outlines different types of virtual volumes, their management perspectives, and the integration with various storage protocols, highlighting benefits like increased capacity utilization and reduced management overhead. The presentation concludes that vVols enable better control and efficiency in storage arrangements, while also facilitating disaster recovery and multi-tenant configurations.
VMworld 2015: Explaining Advanced Virtual Volumes Configurations
- 1. Explaining Advanced Virtual Volumes Configurations Ken Werneburg, VMware, Inc Andy Banta, SolidFire STO5074 #STO5074
- 2. • This presentation may contain product features that are currently under development. • This overview of new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product. • Features are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. • Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery. • Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features discussed or presented have not been determined. Disclaimer CONFIDENTIAL 2
- 3. vSphere Virtual Volumes 3 Management & Integration Framework for External Storage vSphere Virtual Volumes The Basics • Virtualizes SAN and NAS devices • Virtual disks are natively represented on arrays • Enables VM granular storage operations using array-based data services • Storage Policy-Based Management enables automated consumption at scale • Supports existing storage I/O protocols (FC, iSCSI, NFS) • Industry-wide initiative supported by major storage vendors • Included with vSphere CONFIDENTIAL
- 4. CONFIDENTIAL 4 vSphere Virtual Volumes SAN / NAS Vendor Provider (VASA) Control Path Control Path Storage Policies Access Capacity Published Capabilities Snapshot Replication Deduplication QoS Virtual Datastore Storage Admin vSphere Admin VVOLs Data PathProtocol Endpoint PE vSphere Virtual Volumes Architecture
- 5. VVols are Just Storage “Stuff” CONFIDENTIAL 5
- 6. • Virtual Volumes – Virtual machine objects stored natively on the array – No file system on-disk formatting required • There are five different types of recognized Virtual Volumes: – CONFIG – vmx, logs, NVRAM, log files, etc – DATA – VMDKs – MEM – Snapshots – SWAP – Swap files – Other – Vendor solution specific CONFIDENTIAL 6 vSphere Web Client View vvol vSphere Virtual Volumes
- 7. Storage Containers are Where “Stuff” Lives CONFIDENTIAL 7 VM VM VM VM
- 8. Protocol Endpoints are How You Get the “Stuff” CONFIDENTIAL 8 iSCSI Target
- 9. Bindings are How the “Stuff” Finds Its Way to You CONFIDENTIAL 9 Truck A Truck B Truck C
- 10. VASA Provider 10
- 11. Overview • VVols motivations – Separation of VMware and storage management – Better use of storage capacity and network bandwidth – The upshot: better scalability and control • Configuration examples – Memory overprovisioning – Multi-tenant use of VVols – Disaster Recovery configurations CONFIDENTIAL 11
- 12. Motivations • Ease of management • Built on top of existing protocols • Datastore scalability – Less wasted storage space – No file system contention – Logical Storage Container concept as a replacement • Scalability through less SAN bandwidth – No vSphere data mover for normal operations – Less Storage vMotion – Less need for SDRS and SIOC CONFIDENTIAL 12
- 13. Different Management Perspectives • What do the Admins see? • How are the storage containers set up? • What does the vSphere Admins see? • Why are datastores still required? CONFIDENTIAL 13 vSphere Web Client Storage Management UI Datastore Storage Container
- 14. Ease of Management • What do the Admins see? • How are the storage containers set up? • What does the vSphere Admins see? • Why are datastores still required? CONFIDENTIAL 14 Storage policies vSphere Web Client Storage Management UI Datastore Storage Container Storage Capabilities virtual volumes virtual machines
- 15. Virtual Volumes CONFIDENTIAL 15 VM objects view from a storage container on an arrayVM objects view from a datastore vSphere Web Client Storage Management UI vSphere Admin View Storage Admin View VVol Storage UI
- 16. Multi-Protocol Support Protocol Endpoints • Access points that enable communication between ESXi hosts and storage array systems – Part of the physical storage fabric – Created by Storage administrators Scope of Protocol Endpoints • Compatible with all SAN and NAS Protocols: - iSCSI - NFS v3 - FC - FCoE • A Protocol Endpoint can support any one of the protocols at a given time • Existing multi-path policies and NFS topology requirements can be applied to the PE Why Protocol Endpoints? CONFIDENTIAL 16 SAN / NAS Virtual Datastore Data Path Protocol Endpoint PE vSphere Virtual Volumes Storage Container
- 17. Scalability by Separating Datastores and Protocol Endpoints • Today, there are different types of logical management constructs to store VMDKs/objects: – NFS mount points – IP or block based datastores • Datastores serve two purposes today: – Endpoints – receive SCSI or NFS reads, write commands – Storage Container – for large number of VMs metadata and data files • Differences between Protocol Endpoints and Datastores: – PEs no longer stores VMDKs but it only becomes the access point – Now you wont need as many datastores or mount point as before • Certain offloading operations will be done via VASA and other will be done using the standard protocol commands CONFIDENTIAL 17 vSphere storage fabric PE protocol endpoint SCSI: proxy LUN NFS: mount-point datastore = protocol endpoint + storage container storage system 1 VVol (storage container) Per VMDK One entity on the fabric
- 18. SAN Bandwidth Used Without VVols CONFIDENTIAL 18 VASA API Compatible Array 2 vSphere VMFS VVOLs 1 vSphere Admins Migrate VM from VMFS to VVOL datastore software data mover implementation
- 19. Operations Offloaded with VVols, Using Less SAN Resources CONFIDENTIAL 19 vSphere VMFS VVOLs vSphere Admins offload to arrayoffloadtoarray Virtual Machine Operation Offloaded • Virtual Machine provisioning • Virtual Machine deletes • Virtual Machine full clones • Virtual Machine Linked Clones • Virtual Machine Snapshots • Storage vMotion
- 20. Advantages All Day Long with VVols CONFIDENTIAL 20 Device-centric Silos ✖ Static classes of service ✖ Rigid provisioning ✖ Lack of granular control ✖ Frequent data migrations ✖ Time consuming processes ✖ Lack of automation ✖ Slow reaction to request Complex Processes ✖ Not commodity ✖ Low utilization ✖ Overprovisioning Specialized Costly HW
- 21. Real Life Examples CONFIDENTIAL 21 Memory overprovisioning Multi-tenant configuration Disaster Recovery Snapshot management
- 22. Using Storage Capabilities and VM Storage Policies • Storage Capabilities – are array based features and data services specifications that capture storage requirements that can be satisfied by a storage arrays advertised as capabilities • Storage capabilities define what an array can offer to storage containers as opposed to what the VM requires • Arrays Storage Capabilities are advertises to vSphere through the Vendor Provider and VASA APIs • In vSphere Storage Capabilities are consumed via VM Storage Policy constructs • VM Storage Policies is a component of the vSphere Storage Policy-based management framework (SPBM) CONFIDENTIAL 22 SPBM object manager virtual disk Datastore Profile VM Storage Policy vSphere VM Storage Policy Management Framework Storage Capabilities for Storage Array Access Capacity Published Capabilities Snapshot Replication Deduplication QoS Virtual Datastore
- 23. Special Handling of Swap VVols • If you’re running a memory over-provisioned system, prioritize swap VVols • Swap volumes need the lowest latency and highest throughput priorities – If your VM can’t use its memory, it can’t do much of anything useful • If the swap volumes are being used heavily, it might be time to reconfigure vSphere CONFIDENTIAL 23
- 24. Multi-tenant use of VVols • Use Storage Containers as logical separation • Use individual policies and capabilities as VMs require – Different policies for different VMs – Different policies for different requirements in the VM • Desktop • Database • Log CONFIDENTIAL 24 Storage Containers Access Capacity Published Capabilities Snapshot Replication Deduplication QoS
- 25. Disaster Recovery • Replication policies • Failover techniques CONFIDENTIAL 25 Published Capabilities Snapshot Replication Deduplication Encryption vSphere Storage Policy-Based Mgmt. Virtual Volumes Storage Policy Capacity Availability Performance Data Protection Security PE VASA Provider PE
- 26. Snapshots • Snapshots are a point-in-time, copy-on-write image of a Virtual Volume with a different ID from the original • Virtual Volumes snapshots are useful when creating: – A quiesced copy for backup or archival purposes, creating a test and rollback environment for applications, instantly provisioning application images, and so on • Two type of snapshots supported: – Managed Snapshot – Managed by ESX • A maximum of 32 snapshot are supported for fast clones – Unmanaged Snapshot – Managed by the storage array • Maximum snapshot dictated by the storage array CONFIDENTIAL 26 Managed Snapshot - vSphere Unmanaged Snapshot - Array
- 27. vSphere Virtual Volumes Supported Features CONFIDENTIAL 27 Supported vSphere Features • SPBM • Thin Provisioning • Linked Clones • Native Snapshots • Protocols: NFS3, iSCSI, FC, FCoE • View Storage Accelerator (CBRC) • vMotion • SvMotion • DRS • XvMotion • vSphere SDK (VC APIs) • VDPA/VDP • View • vRealize Operations • vRealize Automation • Stateless / Host Profiles Published Capabilities Snapshot Replication Deduplication Encryption vSphere Storage Policy-Based Mgmt. Virtual Volumes Storage Policy Capacity Availability Performance Data Protection Security PE VASA Provider PE
- 28. The Benefits of vSphere Virtual Volumes CONFIDENTIAL 28 A More Efficient Operational Model For External Storage Improves Resource Utilization • Increase capacity utilization • Eliminate overprovisioning • Reduce management overhead • Eliminate inefficient handoffs between VI and Storage Admin • Faster storage provisioning through automation • Simplified change management through flexible consumption • Self-service provisioning via cloud automation tools Simplifies Storage Operations • Leverage native array-based capabilities • Fine control at the VM level • Dynamic configuration on the fly • Ensure compliance through policy enforcement using automation Simplifies Delivery of Service Levels
- 29. Wrap upVvols was motivated by manageability, transparency and scalability. If you don’t care about those reasons, they can help you manage configurations that are otherwise difficult to manage 29
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- 32. Explaining Advanced Virtual Volumes Configurations Ken Werneburg, VMware, Inc Andy Banta, SolidFire STO5074 #STO5074
Editor's Notes
- #4: vSphere Virtual Volumes is management & integration framework that delivers a more efficient operational model for external storage. Virtual Volumes virtualizes SAN and NAS devices into logical pools of capacity, called Virtual Datastore. Then, Virtual Volumes represents virtual disks natively on the underlying physical storage. This makes the virtual disk the primary unit of data management at the array level. It becomes possible to execute storage operations with VM granularity and to provision native array-based data services to individual VMs. To enable efficient storage operations at scale, Virtual Volumes uses vSphere Storage Policy-Based Management Both Virtual Volumes and SPBM are offered as standard features of the vSphere platform, from a pricing and packaging standpoint.
- #5: Storage Admin Cares about Capacity Management Access Control Admissible Data Services Meeting Application SLA requirements Data Security VI admin cares about On-demand storage provisioning for VMs Application of appropriate VM-level data services SLA compliance checks throughout VM lifecycle
- #7: Other-Vvol is a generic type of Vvol for solution specific objects i.e HBR side car file, CBRC files, etc
- #14: Why are datastores still utilized: because vSphere and all of its platform features are aware of the concept of a datastore and in order to preserve the interoperability without requirement the adjacent feature modules to change. What does the vsphere admin see? They see the same vsphere datastore and information as normal in the vSphere Web Client. Screen shot Products like vCAC, vCOPs, DRS,VC use the concept of a datastore natively. Need at least 1 SC per array. You can have as many as the array can support. An SC cannot span across array
- #15: Why are datastores are still utilized: because vSphere and all of its platform features are aware of the concept of a datastore and in order to preserve the interoperability without requirement the adjacent feature modules to change. What does the vsphere admin see? They see the same vsphere datastore and information as normal in the vSphere Web Client. Screen shot Products like vCAC, vCOPs, DRS,VC use the concept of a datastore natively. Need at least 1 SC per array. You can have as many as the array can support. An SC cannot span across array
- #16: Other-Vvol is a generic type of Vvol for solution specific objects i.e HBR side car file, CBRC files, etc
- #17: Why the concept of a PE? In today’s LUN-Datastore world, the datastore has two purposes – It serves as the access point for ESXi to send IO to. It also serves as storage container to store many VM files (VMDKs). This dual-purpose nature of this entity poses several challenges – You do not need as many access points as you need the storage itself. Because of the rigid nature of the size of the datastore, and the fewer number of datastores, you have to combine several VMs together to be stored in the same datastore even if the VMs have different requirements. So, how about we separate out the concept of the access point from the storage aspect? This way, we can fewer number of access points to several number of storage entities. And hence the introduction of PE.
- #18: Questions: Equivalent to what in todays world?. E.i if there are vasa API to communicate with the array what will the PE do? What do some of the command do? Show and example! What is the discovery process? During a rescan ESX will identify PE and maintain then in DBs. Multi-pathing on the PE unsure high availability Concept of queue depth in a PE?
- #27: Unmanaged snapshots VMware anticipates that early generations of VVol storage systems will support on the order of tens of thousands of snapshots.
- #28: This slide walks through the architecture of Vvols at a high level. Subsequent slides will dive into individual components in a bit more detail.
- #29: Now let’s discuss the value proposition of vSphere Virtual Volumes Virtual Volumes simplifies storage operations by automating manual tasks and eliminating operational dependencies between the VI Admin and the Storage Admin. Provisioning becomes faster and change management simpler because of the policy-driven automation. Virtual Volumes simplifies the delivery of storage service levels to applications by providing administrators with finer control of storage resources and data services at the VM level that can be dynamically adjusted in real time. Virtual Volumes improves resource utilization by enabling more flexible consumption of storage resources, when needed and with greater granularity. The precise consumption of storage resources eliminates overprovisioning.