Frequently asked questions

Questions to consider when

selecting an all-flash array
Table of contents
Performance................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Do your applications need predictable and consistent performance?.......................................................................... 2
Does your application set need low latency? ..................................................................................................................... 2
Will you have quality of service (QoS) controls that help you deal with noisy neighbors? ............................................ 2
How important are capacity and performance scalability? ............................................................................................. 2
Resiliency ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Do you need high availability (HA)? ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Do you require an enterprise-class feature set? ............................................................................................................... 3
What happens if multiple drives fail? ................................................................................................................................... 3
Are you an always-on business? ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Do you want a vendor that makes empty promises? ....................................................................................................... 3
Efficiency ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
How important are rack density and consumption? ......................................................................................................... 3
Do you want data saving techniques that dont ask you to sacrifice performance? ................................................. 4
Do you need simplicity? ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
Are you looking at management suites, a private cloud, or automation? ................................................................... 4
Do you need to clone virtual machines (VMs) on a regular basis? ................................................................................. 4
Do you want more for your money? ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Ecosystem....................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
What connectivity options do you need? ............................................................................................................................. 5
What about your apps? How important are openness and integration?...................................................................... 5
Do you need an array that integrates with your existing infrastructure? .................................................................... 5
Are you looking to eliminate silos? ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Do you need guaranteed interoperability support? .......................................................................................................... 5
Do you need an end-to-end solution? ................................................................................................................................. 5
Will your all-flash array vendor be with you for the long haul? ..................................................................................... 6

Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Flash is an undeniably compelling technology that has become a hot topic for storage. But with so many choices out there,
how do you go about choosing an all-flash array to invest in? This white paper arms you with the questions you need to ask
yourselfand your prospective vendorbefore taking the plunge into the world of all-flash storage arrays. These questions
are grouped into four categories oriented around performance, resiliency, efficiency, and ecosystem.

Performance
Do your applications need predictable and consistent performance?
Virtualized and OLTP workloads, as well as some conventional workloads, require not only high performance levels, but
predictable and consistent performance. System-wide striping distributes data not only widely, but across every drive in the
HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage array. This results in a very even distribution of performance and capacity that allows the array to
scale easily, adding performance and capacity evenly with each upgrade. In addition, while most of the all-flash arrays on the
market require you to upgrade in big blocksmeaning you may have to even double your capacity with each upgradewith
HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, new drives can be added to the array granularly and online while entirely removing the need for
offline upgrades or the use of a swing kit to evacuate the array during upgrades.

Does your application set need low latency?

Sometimes speed matters. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage has been designed specifically for flash and isnt just a disk
array with flash drives. The flash-specific enhancements added to the HP 3PAR Operating System enable the HP 3PAR
StoreServ 7450 to offer high performance while also offering sub-millisecond latency times, making it the ideal platform for
your high-performance storage requirements.

Will you have quality of service (QoS) controls that help you deal with noisy neighbors?
Having a single tier of storage greatly eases management, but without physical separation between drives, how can you
prevent one service from using all of the resources available? With HP 3PAR Priority Optimization, supported on all arrays in
the family, its possible to assure service performance levels with granular controls that let you apply QoS-style restrictions
on a per-volume basis. Using this technology, its possible to restrict the available resources to selected applications to
prevent disruptions from a noisy neighbor and to assure performance for business-critical services.

How important are capacity and performance scalability?

Investing in an all-flash array is an investment in the future, which means you have to be thinking about your future
needs, not just the workloads youre supporting today. This means you have to consider performance scalability as
well as capacity scalability.
With HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, you can scale capacity and performance independently, starting with just eight solid-state
drives (SSDs) and adding new drives and shelves to the array as you grow and your requirements change. Theres no need
to bulk-add drives or to add fully-populated shelves of drives as required by other platforms.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 arrays start with two controllers and scale to four controllers and 240 SSDs in a single array,
amounting to over 460 TB raw and 1.3 PB of usable capacity. And with HP storage federation capabilities, you can federate
multiple HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays, allowing administrators to quickly and simply move volumes between arraysonline
and without data migration processes.

Resiliency
Do you need high availability (HA)?
There are lots of options available to you when it comes to all-flash arrays, but resiliency is not always a given. If your
company requires an all-flash array that can guarantee uptime, you need to be particularly cautious on this front.
HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays offer not just hardware and software redundancy and fault tolerance, but also a rich
set of HA features. This goes for the entire platform, not just all-flash arrays. An Active-Active controller design referred to
as Mesh-Active allows all controllers to share the workload between them, offering predictable performance with no
management overhead and extreme fault tolerance.
You dont have to invest in a quad-node system like the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 to get these benefits, but doing
so lets you scale past two controllers to offer increased resilience. And with the HP 3PAR Get 6-Nines Guarantee Program,
HP stands behind your ability to maintain 99.9999 percent uptime with any quad-node HP 3PAR StoreServ system,
including the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 array.
There is more information available on this subject. Start with the technical white paper HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage:
designed for mission-critical high availability.
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Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Do you require an enterprise-class feature set?

Features like snapshots, replication, and platform integration might seem like givens, but for many all-flash array providers,
these are either future dreams or require additional products.
The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 array shares the same architecture, OS, and rich data services as the StoreServ 7000-series
and 10000-series disk-based arrays, delivering enterprise-class functionality that includes:
HP 3PAR Virtual Copy snapshot technology
HP 3PAR Remote Copy replication
HP 3PAR Peer Persistence for automated transparent site failover
Fully virtualized, system-wide striped array
HP 3PAR Peer Motion for array federation
Fully-featured reporting suite
Proven platform and application integration
Online import from EMC and HP EVA arrays
HP 3PAR Persistent Cache and Persistent Ports
HP 3PAR Thin Technologies for data compaction
Support for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), HP OpenStack, and more

To learn more about the HP 3PAR StoreServ Architecture, download the technical white paper.

What happens if multiple drives fail?

Tolerating two simultaneous drive failures isnt possible with most arrays but is fully supported with HP 3PAR StoreServ
arrays. HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage is designed to be autonomic, so it can heal itself. During controller failure on
quad-controller arrays, cache is persisted to an alternate controller to prevent write-through mode normally associated
with controller failures.
Due to the virtualized nature of the platforms RAID implementation, only missing data is rebuilt when a drive failsnot
data and whitespace. System-wide sparing means that data is rebuilt using capacity on every drive. These two advantages
work together to dramatically reduce rebuild times and get your array back into a protected state in minimal time and with
no management intervention. In addition, with system-wide sparing, you no longer need hot spare drives that dont
contribute to array performance.

Are you an always-on business?

You dont have to be an enterprise any more to require always-on support. With the advent of smartphones and remote
access, users expect to be able to access their work environment from anywhere at any time. HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage
is designed from the ground up to support always-on environments through both non-disruptive firmware upgrades and
capacity/performance upgrades. Deploying HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage allows your business to continue operating at full
productivity, even during a drive upgrade. And because the platform features an Active/Active architecture, you dont have
to supporti.e., power, cool, and housecontrollers that dont actually contribute to system performance.

Do you want a vendor that makes empty promises?

Too many all-flash array vendors are making claims they cant currently live up towhether thats federation, tolerating
multiple drive failures, online upgrades, deduplication rates that cant actually be achieved, or promises of space reduction.
By contrast, HP doesnt get wrapped up in media hype by making claims it cant support, which is one reason that we stand
behind many of our claims with guarantees such as our HP 3PAR Get 6-Nines Guarantee Program. All of the resiliency
features that you get with all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays are not only tested in the lab, but have been in
production for years, which allows us to assure their effectiveness. With HP, there are no empty promises.

Efficiency
How important are rack density and consumption?
Its no secret that high-density flash drives offer space benefits and lower power consumption, but with HP 3PAR StoreServ
Storage, you get additional savings. The HP 3PAR ASIC is a dedicated chip that performs specific functions such as RAID
parity calculations, thin provisioning, thin deduplication, and more at wire speed. This allows HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays to
deliver all-flash array performance without the need for multiple general-purpose processors or high RAM usagethereby
delivering greater density that reduces power consumption, thermal output, and physical space requirements.
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Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Do you want data saving techniques that dont ask you to sacrifice performance?
One of the best ways to make your storage dollars go farther is to make sure that youre getting the absolute most out of
your capacity investments, and nowhere is this more crucial than with flash. For this reason, data compaction offerings such
as deduplication can be an important factor in choosing an all-flash array.
HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays offer high-performance thin deduplication and zero-overhead thin provisioning thanks to
the HP 3PAR ASIC, which features inline deduplication and zero-block detection mechanism. This solution brings hardware and
software capabilities together to offer you more usable capacity without the performance overhead generally associated with
data compaction techniques. And since HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays are virtualized, thin deduplication can be enabled and
disabled on a per-volume basisonline, and with no interruption to service.

Do you need simplicity?

Sometimes speed doesnt matter; but flash technology isnt just about speed. Even disk-based arrays can be complex.
With multiple drive types and automated tiering, some technologies can introduce more management than theyre
worth. With its autonomic feature setincluding self-healing, wide-striped RAID, policy-based management, host and
volume sets, and market-leading reportingHP 3PAR StoreServ Storage offers simple management. For example, the
all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 offers enhanced simplicity by introducing a single tier of storage that caters to all
storage needs. Complex, scale-out solutions start looking a lot less attractive once you put them next to the simple,
scalable HP 3PAR architecture with its industry-leading management features.

Are you looking at management suites, a private cloud, or automation?

HP 3PAR StoreServ technologies include a fully-featured RESTful API (based on the representational state transfer
or REST architecture) that allows seamless integration into automation platforms including HP OneView and
HPs Cloud Service Automation toolset, OpenStack, Microsoft SCOM, VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite,
Veeam Backup and Replication, and provides a full scripting environment allowing administrators to script and schedule
any task on the array.

Do you need to clone virtual machines (VMs) on a regular basis?

With support for VMware vSphere Storage APIsArray Integration VAAI primitives, some arrays can handle
XCOPYpassing clone workloads to the array to reduce front-end workloadhowever, the same back-end workload
still needs to be carried out.
HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays are deduplication-aware with the XCOPY primitive reducing not only front-end but also back-end
IOPS when cloning data. This significantly reduces the time to clone a VM or an entire volume since the array does not need
to deduplicate each block during an XCOPY operation. This can drastically reduce the time taken to recompose or rebuild a
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) desktop pool.

Do you want more for your money?

The HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage array isnt just a block array thats been retrofitted with SSDs. As one example of this,
enterprise MLC (eMLC) drives commonly used in all-flash arrays typically have 30 percent more flash capacity than
advertised, but this capacity is hidden because its used for things like sparing and garbage collection. Although this
capacity is used to improve the longevity of the SSDs, it is lost to the array. Consumer MLC (cMLC) drives on the other hand
have less reserved space put to one side (5-10 percent) with the understanding that they are likely to wear out more
quickly. While some vendors will hide 20 percent of the capacity of the drive from the array in order to carry out their own
garbage collection, HP instead implements Adaptive Sparinga technology that reserves space on cMLC drives and passes
it back to the drive for garbage collection. During drive failuresand only if requiredthis space is reclaimed from the SSD
and used to store data from the failed drive. Once the failed drive is replaced, the capacity is passed back to the SSD for
garbage collection. This allows HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays to increase the longevity of cMLC drives while increasing the
usable capacity of the drive by 20 percent. It also prevents drives from having to be treated as failed when carrying out
garbage collection. As far as longevity goes, HP offers a five-year warranty on all HP 3PAR StoreServ SSDs to protect
against failure and media wearout. To learn about the other ways that the architecture is flash-optimized, you can read
the technical white paper HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage: optimized for flash.

Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Ecosystem
What connectivity options do you need?
Not all arrays are created equal, and not all arrays support multiple connectivity choices. The all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ
7450 supports up to 24 8 Gb Fibre Channel and up to 8 10 Gb iSCSI or Fibre Channel over Ethernet connections, offering true
multi-protocol support that meets your connectivity needs. Replication can take place over 1 Gb IP connections or use the
Fibre Channel connectivity. No gateways or storage routers are required. What about host OS support? Are you running
UNIX in addition to Windows and Linux host OS, and does your flash array support these OSs and the associated
versions. How about interoperability with HBAs and switches?

What about your apps? How important are openness and integration?
Application integration can be a sticking point with all-flash arrays, particularly those from new entrants to the space.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage offers tight integration with multiple platforms. For example, not only does HP 3PAR
technology integrate well with the existing VMware vSphere Suite, but as a VMware vSphere partner, HP has worked closely
with VMware to develop VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) and will support VVol technology from day one of VMwares
release of vSphere 6.
HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage also features full support for Microsoft Hyper-V and SCVMM/SCOM, Microsoft Exchange and
SQL, Oracle, and SAP LVM. In addition, HP 3PAR StoreServ solutions integrate tightly with Veeam Backup and Replication
to offer enhanced backup and recoverability from array snapshotsan often overlooked aspect of data recovery.
Openness is the HP way, which is why HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays feature full support for HP OpenStack Cinder. In fact, HP is
the largest single contributor to the OpenStack project, including the addition of Fibre Channel array support.

Do you need an array that integrates with your existing infrastructure?

Since it comes from a vendor that provides not only storage, but servers and networking too, HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage
can integrate seamlessly into your existing HP environment. With support for the Flat SAN, pairing HP 3PAR technology with
HP BladeSystem c-Class blades allows administrators to reduce or even eliminate the SAN fabric, improving management
and performance while reducing up-front costs and total cost of ownership (TCO). HP 3PAR technology is also fully
supported with third-party infrastructure.

Are you looking to eliminate silos?

One thing you need to watch out for when deploying an all-flash array is that high-performance, low-latency systems can
quickly create a storage silo that is at odds with your larger goals of convergence, consolidation, and resource sharing.
The HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage family starts with the midrange 7200 arraynow with an HP 3PAR StoreServ 7200 All-Flash
Starter Kit option that lets you deploy flash at an absolute lowest costand progress up through the quad-controller capable
7400 and all-flash 7450, then the high-end 10000-Series systems that can have up to eight nodes. All of these systems run
the same OS, use the same management interface, and offer the same rich feature set. It is one platform that does it all, with
seamless integration between all-flash and hybrid or HDD-only systems. If you are already a HP 3PAR StoreServ customer,
the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 integrates seamlessly into your existing HP 3PAR environment, offering full support for
federation and replication between all other models in the HP 3PAR StoreServ family.

Do you need guaranteed interoperability support?

HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays have a full support matrix that includes tested and supported hardware (HBAs, switches, etc.),
firmware revisions, and software stacks (Microsoft Windows patch revisions, etc.) to provide a solution thats fully tested
and guaranteed to perform and protect.

Do you need an end-to-end solution?

Only HP can offer you a true, enterprise-class, end-to-end solution that features an all-flash array. From storage to servers,
from SAN fabric to networking, and from hypervisors to applications and backup, HP can offer you a single-vendor solution
that provides your business with the dynamic and high availability (HA) features you need. Only HP can offer you a single
point of contact and unified support across your data center.

Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Will your all-flash array vendor be with you for the long haul?
You can rest assured that the HP 3PAR technology isnt going to be acquired by another company, make radical changes,
or disappear into the etherbut that certainly cant be said about other all-flash array vendors. Also, remember that
all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays are based on technology that is not only mature, reliable, and proven, but deployed by
enterprises and service providers alike, supporting critical infrastructure for thousands of businesses. With HP 3PAR as an
option, why would you buy an unproven product or from an unknown company?

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Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties
for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed
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Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft Group of companies. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. SAP is the
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and/or other jurisdictions.
4AA5-5146ENW, October 2014