VIRTUALIZATION SOLUTION

3PAR Storage Technologies for Server Virtualization with VMware vSphere

CONSOLIDATE. SIMPLIFY. SAVE.

Virtual Servers Demand Highly Virtualized Storage

Server virtualization delivers cost savings, efciency gains, and increased service levels that are not only transforming datacenters, but the businesses they fuel. VMware vSphere is a leading virtualization platform that is capable of transforming the datacenter into a dramatically simplied cloud infrastructure to drive the next generation of exible and reliable IT services. But these transformative results depend on a highly agile and efcient storage infrastructure. Unfortunately, traditional enterprise storage has failed to keep up with the demands of server virtualization. As a result, scaling VMware vSphere with traditional storage can be costprohibitive, therefore detracting from the core benets offered by server virtualization.

Consolidate, Simplify, and Save in VMware vSphere Environments

Consolidate: Double VM Density

Simplify: Simplify Management

Save: Eliminate Wasted Capacity

Wide Striping Mixed Workload Support 3PAR Plug-In for VMware VAAI Integration with VMware Adaptive Queue Depth Throttling and Storage I/O Control

3PAR Autonomic Groups 3PAR Recovery Manager for VMware vSphere 3PAR Plug-In for VMware vCenter 3PAR Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter SRM

3PAR Thin Provisioning 3PAR Thin Conversion 3PAR Thin Persistence 3PAR Adaptive Optimization 3PAR Fast RAID Technologies

Buy 50% fewer physical servers.

Spend 90% less time managing storage.

Cut storage TCO by 50%.

Boost VMware vSphere ROI Consolidate. Simplify. Save.

Imagine what you could achieve by combining VMware vSphere with a next-generation storage platform designed to address the challenges of server virtualization. You dont have to imagine it. 3PAR Utility

Desktop Virtualization
The same architectural advantages and advanced features that make utility storage the ideal platform for server virtualization apply to desktop virtualization as well. However, desktop virtualization places the storage infrastructure directly in the critical path for thousands of end users and therefore introduces a number of unique challenges with respect to delivering consistently high performance, minimizing management costs, lowering deployment costs, and maintaining capacity efciency over time. For this reason, the storage platform you choose is critical to making the economics of desktop virtualization work while maintaining high quality of service levels to satisfy user requirements. 3PAR Utility Storage delivers the following unique benets to maximize desktop virtualization ROI: High performance to meet peak demands due to boot storms, virus scans, and login storms Simplied management, including rapid storage provisioning and automation to eliminate repetitive tasks Low deployment costs since hundreds of virtual servers and thousands of virtual desktops can be consolidated onto a single array without tradeoffs Capacity efciency over time due to unique space reclamation technologies

Storage is highly virtualized storage built from the ground up to enhance the benets of VMware vSphere by exceeding the demands that server virtualization places on the storage infrastructure. 3PAR Utility Storage combines highly virtualized and dynamically tiered 3PAR InServ Storage Servers with

the advanced internal virtualization capabilities of 3PAR InForm software to increase administrative efciency, system utilization, and storage performance. 3PAR Utility Storage boosts VMware vSphere ROI by enabling you to increase consolidation, simplify administration, and maximize savings.

Increase Consolidation: Buy 50% Fewer Physical Servers

Scaling virtual server environments to achieve higher levels of consolidation and cost savings in large environments is a function of increasing performance and resiliency. This is often a complex undertaking given the myriad of variables at play. For example, the consolidation of more applications onto a single server increases the demand on server memory utilization and performance. This pressure can affect storage performance, as large numbers of application context switches force virtual machine operating systems to frequently write memory to disk. This creates a performance bottleneck that effectively limits the number of virtual machines (VMs) that can be provisioned on a single physical server. But increasing VM consolidation is not only a function of increasing performance to remove these bottlenecks. The ability to place more VMs onto each physical server

also requires increased levels of storage reliability and resiliency, as the impact from a single failure stands to affect more applications and users in highly consolidated environments. The 3PAR InSpire Architecture has unique performance and resiliency features that allow you to double virtual machine density. As a result, you can buy 50% fewer physical servers to achieve a high-performance, highly reliable virtualized server environment. Wide striping distributes each VMware ESX storage volume across all array resources, leveraging the InServs ne-grained virtualization to deliver superior performance. Wide striping provides for consistent levels of performance, regardless of the capacity utilization of the array. This is not the case with traditional enterprise storage.

 Mixed workload support enables different types of applications (transaction-based and throughput-intensive workloads) to run without contention on a single InServ. Mixed workload support is especially important in consolidated and virtualized environments, where a single array must reliably support a wide mix of application types across the cluster while delivering high performance levels. Mesh-Active clustering of controllers distributes and dynamically balances each workload across all drives, nodes, loops, cache, and ports. Each LUN or volume is active on every controller in the array, resulting in better performance and simplied management for a set of virtualized applications.

without the substantial performance penalties associated with traditional arrays and write-through mode. The 3PAR Plug-In for VMware VAAI enables 3PAR Utility Storage support for advanced storage operations introduced in VMware vSphere to improve virtual infrastructure performance, agility, capacity efciency, and scalability for public and private cloud datacenters.

3PAR Support for Hardware Assisted Locking

Without Hardware Assisted Locking VMware vStorage VMFS
App App OS App OS

Increase VM Consolidation with 3PAR Utility Storage

Traditional Storage
App OS App OS App OS App OS App OS App OS

OS

SCSI Reservation Locks Entire LUN

Virtual Machines

Traditional Arrays

Low VM Density

Storage Volume

3PAR Plug-In + Hardware Assisted Locking 3PAR Utility Storage

App OS App OS App OS App OS App OS App OS

VMware vStorage VMFS

Virtual Machines

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

3PAR Array

High VM Density

3PAR Plug-In for VAAI

Buy 50% fewer physical servers Higher performance + greater resiliency = more VMs per physical server
SCSI Reservations Lock at the Block Level

3PAR Persistent Cache does for the InServ node cluster what VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) does for VMware clusters by bringing an ultra high level of resiliency to consolidated environments. Persistent Cache allows always on application and virtual server environments to gracefully handle an unplanned controller failure

3PAR Storage Volume

Granular locking at the block level instead of locking an entire LUN Elimination of SCSI reservation contention enables increased VM density

 Hardware Assisted Locking is a new vSphere storage feature designed to eliminate VM reliability and performance bottlenecks by locking storage at the block level instead of the logical unit number (LUN) level to eliminate SCSI reservation contentions. This new capability enables greater VM scalability without compromising reliability. In addition, with the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC, metadata comparisons are executed in silicon, further improving performance in the largest, most demanding vSphere environments. Full Copy is a new vSphere feature designed to dramatically improve the agility of enterprise and cloud datacenters by enabling rapid VM deployment, expedited cloning, and faster VMware Storage vMotionTM operations. With the 3PAR Plug-In for VAAI, data movement operations are ofoaded to the InServ array. The 3PAR plug-in allows Full Copy to not only leverage the built-in performance and efciency advantages of the InServ platform, but to free up critical server and network resources. Block Zero is a new vSphere feature that ofoads large, block-level write operations of zeros from virtual servers to the InServ array, boosting efciency during several common vSphere operations, including the initialization of Eager Zeroed Thick virtual disks and the allocation of new le blocks for thin provisioned virtual disks. With the 3PAR Plug-In for VAAI, these data movement and write operations now have zero cost, which frees valuable server, storage, and network resources so organizations can increase both VM performance and density. Integration with VMware Adaptive Queue Depth Throttling and Storage I/O Controls (SIOC) minimizes the impact of I/O congestion. These capabilities allow you to increase the number of VMS per physical server and add higher-performing applications to your physical servers when attached to 3PAR arrays.

Simplify Administration: Spend 90% Less Time Managing Storage

Traditional storage provisioning is based on the physical dedication of resources in mainframe and client-server computing paradigmsa legacy that continues to carry forward the root inefciencies and inexibilities that virtual environments were designed to overcome. Inefciency and inexibility are particularly detrimental to virtual server environments, where platform rigidity and provisioning complexity can lead to routine overprovisioning that detracts from storage utilization and diminishes server virtualization ROI.

3PAR Autonomic Groups: Streamlining the Provisioning Process

Traditional Storage

Individual Volumes

Vol 1

Vol 2

Vol 3

Vol 4

Vol 5

Cluster of VMware ESX Servers

Individual Volumes

Vol 6

Vol 7

Vol 8

Vol 9

Vol 10

A VMware ESX cluster of 5 hosts with 10 data volumes requires 50 provisioning actions on most storage arrays. At 10 minutes per action, this could take an entire day to complete.

3PAR Autonomic Provisioning

Autonomic Host Group of VMware ESX Servers

Autonomic Volume Group

With 3PAR Autonomic Groups, only 3 clicks and 60 seconds are needed to fully create and provision multiple volumes to multiple servers.

3PAR Utility Storage offers the simplest administration of any storage platform available, allowing you to reduce provisioning and management time by up to 90%. In addition, several 3PAR features uniquely simplify administration of VMware vSphere environments by enhancing visibility into storage resources and offering superior granularity and control over snapshots and rapid online recovery. 3PAR Autonomic Groups is bundled with the InForm Operating System to make provisioning 3PAR Utility Storage in clustered and virtual server environments even faster, simpler, and more reliable. This product eliminates tedious manual repetition of commands and reduces the number of commands required to provision storage with VMware vSphere from 50 to three for a ve-server cluster. With 3PAR Autonomic Groups, three clicks and 60 seconds are all that you need to fully create and provision multiple volumes to multiple virtual serversthe same process that can consume hours or even days with traditional storage. 3PAR Management Plug-In for VMware vCenter gives VMware administrators enhanced visibility into storage resources and precise insight into the way that individual virtual machines are mapped to datastores and individual InServ volumes. Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics for individual storage volumessuch as RAID level, subsystem failure protection level, drive type, and volume typeare displayed within the VMware vCenter Server virtualization management console, reducing administration time and improving clarity across VM-todatastore-to-storage abstraction layers. 3PAR Recovery Manager for VMware vSphere integrates directly into VMware vCenter Server to give vSphere administrators superior granularity and control. This plug-in powers the creation of hundreds of VM-aware, point-in-time, disk-based snapshots that can be used for rapid online recovery. When used together, 3PAR Recovery Manager and 3PAR Virtual Copy software give

VMware administrators a simple, automated, integrated process for protecting and recovering Virtual Machine Disks (VMDKs), VMware vStorage Virtual Machine File Systems (VMFS), individual virtual machines, and even individual les withinVMware vSphere environments. 3PAR Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager provides simple, reliable, end-to-end disaster recovery for VMware vSphere environments. By integrating 3PAR Remote Copy with VMware vCenter Site Recovery ManagerTM (SRM) for automated disaster recovery management, organizations can protect their applications seamlessly and effectively without duplicating disaster recovery investments in both the storage and the server layers.

Disaster Recovery with 3PAR and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager
Production Recovery
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

App OS

3PAR Remote Copy

Maximize Savings: Cut Storage TCO by Up to 50%

Say goodbye to waste. Not only does 3PAR Utility Storage double VM density so you can buy 50% fewer physical servers, but thin technologies from 3PAR put your datacenter on a diet by breaking the traditional link between allocated and purchased capacity. As a result,

youll also save up to 50% on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for storage. Together, these savings enable you to maximize server virtualization ROI. 3PAR Thin Provisioning provides the desired exported capacity that VMware vSphere recommends without compromising written utilization. This means less capacity to purchase up-front; less capacity to house, power, and cool over the long term; and no more waste. 3PAR Thin Provisioning enables you to allocate as much logical capacity to a VMware VMFS volume as is needed over the lifetime of that volume without actually dedicating

any physical capacity upfront. Physical capacity is allocated seamlessly, on an as-needed basis, and is consumed only when vSphere writes to the thin provisioned storage volume. There is no wasted capacity presented to the ESX host. 3PAR Thin Conversion gives you the ability to get thin by using 3PARs unique Thin Engine to eliminate datacenter waste and by allowing you to deploy a larger number of VMs in your consolidated environment. With Thin Conversion, you can convert traditional fat volumes from other storage platforms to more efcient

3cV:
A Proven Blueprint for Cloud Computing and Virtual Server Environments
Increased demands on IT, coupled with the traditional dedication of physical computing and storage resources, have led to spiraling server and storage costs, datacenter sprawl, and time-intensive provisioning and change management. Coined by global banking leader Deutsche Bank, 3cV stands for the combination of 3PAR Utility Storage with HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades and VMware vSphereTM. A proven blueprint for highly virtualized utility computing, 3cV delivers transformative levels of agility and efciency to todays challenged IT environments. Elements of this combined utility computing solution include: 3PAR InServ Storage Servershighly virtualized, tiered-storage arrays built for utility computing. Organizations creating virtualized IT infrastructures for workload consolidation use 3PAR to reduce the costs of allocated storage capacity, storage administration, and SAN infrastructure. HP BladeSystem c-Class Server Bladesthe leading blade server infrastructure on the market for datacenters of all sizes. HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades minimize energy and space requirements, and increase administrative productivity through advantages in I/O virtualization, powering and cooling, and manageability. VMware vSpherethe leading virtualization platform for industry-standard servers. VMware vSphere helps customers reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security, and go green. 3PAR, HP, and VMware work closely together to ensure that 3PAR Utility Storage, HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades, and VMware vSphere are certied for interoperability. 3PAR is a Premier-level member of the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program. 3PAR is also a member of the HP AllianceONE partner program.

thin volumes on the InServ so you can boost VMware ROI by purchasing and maintaining 50% less storage capacity. 3PAR Thin Persistence ensures that VMware vSphere environments remain thin over timefrom the time VMs are initialized and up through their deletion. For example, 3PAR Thin Persistence delivers performance benets and eliminates capacity tradeoffs that can result from using the highest-performing VMDK format, Eager Zeroed Thick. The built-in zero-detection capability of the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC allows users to create Eager Zeroed Thick VMDKs that do not consume physical capacity for the storage blocks that are zeroed at initialization. As the ESX host writes zeros to the VMDK le, the zeros are detected in-line by the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC, so no space is allocated for the VMDK in the thin provisioned volume. On other storage platforms, Eager Zeroed Thick virtual disks write zeros across the entire VMDK le at the time it is created, meaning that the full size of the VMDK is reserved on the storage array before the VM is ever used. The increased efciency with 3PAR Utility Storage and 3PAR Thin Persistence drives greater storage capacity savings without performance tradeoffs. 3PAR Fast RAID Technologies offer ASIC-accelerated RAID levels that deliver performance approaching that of RAID 1, but with 66% less RAID capacity overhead. This unique 3PAR capability reduces storage capacity requirements for VMware deployments without signicantly impacting performance. 3PAR Adaptive Optimization is a granular, policy-driven, autonomic storage tiering software solution that delivers service level optimization for enterprises and cloud datacenters at the lowest possible cost while increasing agility and minimizing risk. 3PAR Adaptive Optimization delivers the right Quality of Service (QoS) for virtual machines at the right time by leveraging the proven sub-volume data movement engine built into the 3PAR

InForm Operating System. As a result, service levels are autonomically preserved for applications running in the virtual machine.

Get More Out of VMware vSphere

When deployed together, highly virtualized storage from 3PAR and server virtualization from VMware deliver a compelling utility computing solution. This combination boosts server virtualization ROI and increases the agility of your organization by making it easy for you to build a highly scalable virtual datacenter that serves more applications with fewer hardware and management resources.

For More Information Visit: www.3PAR.com

3PAR Inc. | 4209 Technology Drive, Fremont, CA 94538 | 510.413.5999 | www.3PAR.com

2010 3PAR Inc. All rights reserved. 3PAR, the 3PAR logo, Serving Information, InServ, InForm, InSpire, and Thin Built In are all trademarks or registered trademarks of 3PAR Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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