TheIOPScheatsheet!


Over 35 recommendations, explanations and general know how’s

Basvankaam
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 1

Note:Let’sstartatthebeginning,IOPSstandsfor:input/outputoperationspersecond,which
Note:
ingeneraliseitherareadorwriteoperation.Simplyput,ifyouhaveadiskthatiscapableof
doinga100IOPS,itmeansthatitistheoreticallycapableofissuinga100readandorwrite
operationspersecond.However,beingabletoissuea100readandorwriteoperationsisn’t
thesameasactuallyprocessingthem,readingandwritingdatatakestime.Thisiswhere
latencycomesin.Ifourdisksubsystemcanhandle,orissue,a100IOPSbuttheyareprocessed
ataround20millisecondsperoperation(whichisslowbytheway),thenitwillonlybeableto
actuallyhandle50operationpersecondasapposedtotheissued100.

Note:Intheaboveexamplethe20millisecondsiswhatwewouldcallthelatencywithwhich
Note:
ouroperationsareperformed.IttellsushowlongitwilltakeforasingleIOrequesttotake
place,orbeprocessed.

Note:RememberthatarandomIOPSnumber,onitsown,doesn’tsayanything.Forexample,
Note:
wecandoamillionIOPS!Well,ok,that’snice,buthowdidyoutest?Weretheyreadorwrite
operations?Ifmixedwhatwasthepercentagereadsvswrites?Writesaremoreresource
intensive.Didyoureadfromcache?Whatwasthedatablocksize?Howmanyhostanddisk
controllerswereinvolved?Whattypeofstoragedidyouuse?WasthereRAIDinvolved?
AlthoughusingRAIDwillprobablynegativelyimpacttheIOPSnumber,butstill.Thesameapplies
todatatiering.Physicaldisks?Probably.Ifso,arewedealingwithsequentialorrandomreads
andwrites?

Note:Inadditiontotheabove,andthisisprobablythemostimportantone,howmuch,in
Note:
milliseconds,latencyisinvolved?Thiswillrangefromaround2milliseconds,whichis
comparabletoalocallyinstalledphysicaldisk,to20+millisecondsatwhichperformance,ifany,
willbehighlyimpacted,anoverview:

1. 0-12milliseconds Isfine,thelowerthenumberthebetteroffyouare.

2. 10-15milliseconds Stillacceptableinmostcases,usermightnoticeasmalldelay.

3. 15-20milliseconds Stepupandtakeaction,mostofyouruserswon’tbehappy.

4. 20-25milliseconds Youmightaswellshutitalldown.

Note:LatencytellsushowlongittakestoprocessasinglereadorwriteI/Orequest.
Note:

“Ifyoushouldrememberanythingfromthisguide,itshouldbethat
“ ahighnumberofIOPSis
uselessunlesslatencyislow!EvenwithSSD’swhicharecapableofprovidingahugenumberof
IOPScomparedtotraditionalHDD’s,latencymatters““
“




©2014basvankaam.com
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 2

Note:With‘legacy’physicaldisks,overallspeedandlatencygreatlydependsontherotations,
Note:
orrevolutions,perminute(RPM)acertaindiskiscapableof,thelawsofphysicsapply.Today
wecanclassifyharddiskspeeds(HDD)asfollows:5400rpm,7200rpm,10.000rpmand15.000
rpm.Ahigherrpmequalshigherreadandwritespeeds.Anotherfactorimpactingperformance
isdiskdensity.Thehigherthedensitythemoredataadiskisabletostoreonits‘platter’data
willbewrittenclosertogetheronthediskandasaresultthedisksread/writeheadwillhaveto
travelshorterdistancestoaccessthedata,resultinginhigherreadandwritespeeds.This
maysoundlikeasmallnotetosome,butimaginehavingaSANorFilerholdinghundredsof
disks.Having15.000rpmandhighdensitydisksmakesarealdifference!

Note:Sowhenarandomvendortellsyouthattheirstorageapplianceiscapableofdoingan
Note:
crazyhighnumberofIOPSyouprobablyhaveafewquestionstoaskthem,right?!Ithinkit’s
alsoclearthatthemoreIOPSwecanactuallyprocess,asapposedtoissue,persecondthe
betterouroverallperformancewillbe!

“Latencyisking,thelessyouhavethefasteryou’llinfrastructurewillbe!“
“ “

Note:ThereisnostandardwhenitcomestomeasuringIOPS!Therearetomanyfactors
Note:
influencingoverallperformanceandthusthenumberofIOPS.

Note:NotallIOPSarethesame,sure,youcouldboilitdowntoitbeingeitherareadorawrite,
Note:
butthat’snotthewholetruthnowisit?Firstof,readandwritescanberandomorsequential,
readscanbere-readandwritescanbere-written,singleandmultipletreads,readsand
writestakingplaceatthesametime,randomwritesdirectlyfollowedbysequentialreadsof
thesamedata,differentblocksizesofdatathatgetreadorwritten,rangingfrombytesto
Megabytesandallthat’sinbetween,oracombinationoftheabove.

Note:Itisimportanttounderstandyourapplicationworkloadsandtheircharacteristicswith
Note:
regardstotheIOPStheyneed.Thiscanbeaverytrickyprocess.Takeblocksizeforexample
(justoneofmanyexamples)havingahugeamountofsmallerdatablocksasapposedto
havingarelativelysmallnumberoflargerdatablockscanmakeahugedifference,havealook
atthearticlebelow,itusessomeclearanalogies.It’salsoonmy‘referencematerials’list.

http://recoverymonkey.org/2012/07/26/an-explanation-of-iops-and-latency/









©2014basvankaam.com
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 3

Note:Askyourstorageproviderfordetailedtestprocedures,howdidtheytestandwhatdid
Note:
theyuse.Inaddition,ataminimumyouwillwanttoknowthesethree‘golden’parameter:

1. thelatency,inMS,involved,

2. thereadvswriteratio

3. datablocksizesused.


Note:WealreadyhighlightedreadandwriteIOPS,bothwillbepartofyourworkloadprofile.
Note:
However,alotofapplicationvendorswillrefertoanaverageamountofIOPSthatisneededby
theirworkloadtoguaranteeacceptableperformance.ThisisalsoreferredtoasSteadyState
IOPS.AtermalsousedbyCitrixwhentheyrefertotheirVDIworkloads.AfteravirtualWindows
machinebootsup,usersloginandapplicationsarelaunched,youruserswillstarttheirdaily
routines.SeenfromanIOPSperspective,thisistheSteadyState.Itistheaverageamountof
readandwriteIOPSprocessedduringalongerperiodoftime,usuallyafewhoursatleast.

“AlthoughtheaverageamountofIOPS,ortheSteadyState,doestellussomething,itisn’t
“
sufficient.Wealsoneedtofocusonthepeakactivitymeasuredbetweenthebootandthe
SteadyStatephases,andsizeaccordingly““

Note:Whenwementionthe20/80read/writeratioweareusuallyreferringtotheSteady
Note:
State.SomethingyoumayhaveheardaboutduringoneofthemanyMCSvsPVSdiscussions.
Asyoucansee,theSteadyStateconsistsmainlyoutofwriteI/O,however,thepeaksthat
occuraspartofthebootandorlogonprocesswillbemuchhigher.Again,theserulesprimarily
applytoVDIlikeworkloads.

Note:ThereareseveraltoolsavailablehelpingustomeasuretheIOPSneededbyWindowsand
Note:
theapplicationsinstalledontop.ByusingthesetoolswecangetaideaoftheIOPSneeded
duringtheboot,logonandSteadyStatephasesasmentionedearlier.WecanusePerformance
Monitorforexample,usingcertainperfmoncountersitwilltellussomethingaboutthereads
andwritestakingplaceaswellasthetotalamountofIOPSandtheDiskqueuelength,tellingus
howmanyIOPSaregettingqueuedbyWindows.Havealookatthesecounters:

1. Diskreads/sec-readIOPS

2. Diskwrites/sec-writeIOPS

3. Disktransfers/sec-totalamountofIOPS

4. CurrentDiskQueuelength-IOPSbeingqueuedbyWindows.


©2014basvankaam.com
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 4

Note:Herearesomemoreinterestingtoolsforyoutohavealookat,theywilleithercalculate
Note:
yourcurrentIOPSloadorhelpyoupredicttheconfigurationandIOPSneededbasedonyour
needsandwishes.

1. IOMeter-measuresIOPSforacertainworkload

a. http://www.iometer.org/doc/downloads.html

2. ESXTOP-specifictoESX,providescertaindiskstates,totals,readsandwrites.

a. http://www.yellow-bricks.com/esxtop/

3. WMAROW-webinterface,usedtocalculateperformance,capacity,randomIOPS.

a. http://www.wmarow.com/strcalc/

4. TheCloudCalculator-webinterface,diskRAIDandIOPScalculator.

a. http://www.thecloudcalculator.com/calculators/disk-raid-and-iops.html

5. ProcessMonitor-generalanalysesofIOPS

a. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

6. LoginVSI-VDIworkloadgenerator,simulateuseractivityonyourinfrastructure.

a. http://www.loginvsi.com/


Note:Aswewillseeshortly,thereisadistinctdifferencebetweenthebootandlogonphase.
Note:
Both(can)createsocalled‘storms’alsoreferredtoasabootstormandoralogonstorm,
potentiallyimpactingoverallperformance.ThisiswherethereadIOPSpeaksmentionedearlier
comein.

Note:Takeyourtime!It’simportanttogetthenumbersright,orascloseaspossible,andto
Note:
checkthatwhatyou’vebuildholdsupinpractice.Checkoutsomeofthetoolingmentioned
aboveanduseitwisely.

Note:makesuretocheckoutthewhitepaperbelow,it’swrittenbyJimMoyle,ifanybody
Note:
knowsanythingaboutIOPSandallthat’srelated,it’shim!Greatinfo,whichIusedforthis
documentaswell.

http://jimmoyle.com/wordpress/wp-
content/uploads/downloads/2011/05/Windows_7_IOPS_for_VDI_a_Deep_Dive_1_0.pdf





©2014basvankaam.com
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 5

Note:Knowthat
Note: storagethroughputisn’tthesameasIOPS.Whenweneedtobeableto
processlargeamountsofdatathenbandwidthbecomesimportant,thenumberofGB/sec
thatcanbeprocessed.Althoughtheydohaveanoverlap,thereisadistinctdifference
betweenthetwo.Checkoutthefollowingarticle,it’sshortbutspoton!

http://timradney.com/2012/07/06/iops-verses-throughput/

Note:BeawarethatRAIDconfigurationsbringawritepenalty,thisisbecauseoftheparitybit
Note:
thatneedstobewrittenaswell.Awritecan’tbefullycompleteduntiltheboththedataand
theparityinformationarewrittentodisk.Thetimeittakesfortheparitybittobewrittento
diskiswhatwerefertoasthewritepenalty.Ofcoursethisdoesnotapplytoreads.

Note:WhenlookingatVDIworkloads,wecanbreakitdownintofiveseparatephases:boot,
Note:
userlogon,applicationlaunch,theSteadyStateandlogoff/shutdown.

Note:Duringthebootprocess,especiallyinlargeenvironments,dozensofvirtualmachines
Note:
mightbebootedsimultaneouslycreatingtheearlierhighlightedbootstorm.Bootingamachine
createsahugespikeinreadI/O,assuch,anddependingontheIOPSavailable,bootingmultiple
machinesatoncemightnegativelyimpactoverallperformance.

“IfIOPSarelimited,try(pre)bootingyourmachinesatnight.Also,makesureyouruserscan’t
“
rebootthemachinesthemselves““

Note:Usingtheabovemethodswillonlygetyousofar,theremightbeseveralreasonswhy
Note:
youmayneedtorebootmultiple,ifnotall,machinesduringdaytime.Somethingtothink
aboutasyourVDIenvironmentmightnotbeavailableforacertainperiodoftime.

Note:AlthoughweareprimarilyfocussingonIOPShere,dunotethattheunderlyingdisk
Note:
subsystemisn’ttheonlybottleneckperse.Don’truleoutthestoragecontrollersforexample,
theycanonlyhandlesomuch,CPU,memoryandnetworkmightbeapotentialbottleneckas
well.AlsoaccountforRAIDpenalties,hugeamountofwritesforaparticularworkload,data
compressionandordeduplicationtakingplace,andsoon.

Note:Logonstormsareabitdifferentinthattheywillalwaystakeplaceduringthemorning/
Note:
day.Itisn’tsomethingwecanscheduleduringthenight,userswillalwaysfirstneedtologon
beforetheycanstartworking.Althoughthismaysoundobvious,it’sstillsomethingtobe
awareof.

Note:Logonsgeneratehighreads(notashighasduringthebootprocess)andlesswrites,
Note:
althoughit’sneartoequal.Thisisprimarilyduetosoftwarethatstartsduringthelogonphase
andthewayhowuserprofilesareloaded.Usingapplicationstreaming,folderredirection,flex
profilesetc.willgreatlyenhanceoverallperformance.


©2014basvankaam.com
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 6

Note:Makesureyouunderstandthedifferencebetweenstatefull,akapersistent,and
Note:
statelessVDI’s.Bothwill,ormight,havedifferentstoragerequirementsaswellas(re)boot
andlogonschedules.

“LaunchingapplicationswillgeneratehighreadI/Opeaksandinitiallowwrites.Chancesare
“
thatafteruserslogontheywillstart,eitherautomaticallyormanually,theirmainapplications.
Againsomethingtotakeintoaccountasthiswillprobablycauseaapplicationlaunchstorm,
althoughit’susuallynotrecognizedassuch““

Note:SteadyState,wealreadydiscussedthisoneearlier,thisiswherewriteI/Owilltakeover
Note:
fromreadI/O,onaveragethiswillbearoundtheearliermentioned20/80read/writeratio.So
ifwescaleforthepeaks,readaswellaswrite,wecan’tgowrong,atleastthat’sthetheory.

Note:Todaythemarketisfullwithsolutionsandproductshelpingustoovercomethe
Note:
everlastingbattleagainstIOPS.Someare‘patch’likesolutionswhichhelpspeedupour‘legacy’
SANandNASenvironmentsusingSSD’sandflashorientatedstorageincombinationwithsmart
andflexiblecachingtechnologies.Whileotherfocusonconvergedlikeinfrastructuresandin-
memorycaching.Thesein-memorysolutionsaresomewhatspecial,theydon’tnecessarily
increasethenumberofIOPSavailable,instead,theydecreasethenumberofIOPSneededby
theworkloadbecausewritesgotoRAMinsteadofdisk,ultimatelyachievingthesame,or
evenbetter,result(s).Checkoutthisarticle:

http://virtualfeller.com/2014/06/30/the-latest-xenapp-7-5-readwrite-ratios/

Andthisoneaswell:

http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/07/22/diving-deeper-into-the-latest-xendesktop-7-5-iops-results/

UsinganyoftheseproductswillgreatlyincreasethenumberofIOPSavailable(ordecreasethe
numberofIOPSneeded)anddecreasethelatencythatcomeswithit.Justknowthatno
matterwhichsolutionyoupick,youwillstillhavetodeterminethenumberofIOPSneededand
scaleaccordingly.EvenwhenusingthemostenhancedIOPSacceleratortodaywon’t
guaranteethatyouwillbeabletobootyourentireVDIinfrastructureduringdaytimeand
won’trunintoanyissues.

“ByleveragingRAMforwrites,akaRAMCachewithOverflowtoDiskintermsofCitrixPVS
writecache,wecansignificantlyreducethenumberofIOPSneeded.Infact,Citrixclaimsto
onlyneed1to2IOPSperusersonaXenAppenvironmentwithoutanycomplexconfigurations
orhardwarereplacement““




©2014basvankaam.com
TheIOPScheatsheet!v1.0 7

Note:Although
Note: thisguideisn’taboutwhichproductorvendordoesitbest,I’dliketomakean
exception(sinceIalreadyhighlightedCitrixPVSaswell)andpointoutThinIO,findoutwhyfor
yourself.Moreinformationcanbefoundhere:

http://thinscaletechnology.com/thinio/

Note:GiveyourAntiVirussolutionsomeextraattention,especiallywithregardstoVDI.Youwill
Note:
begladthatyoudid.Isuggestyoustarthere:

http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/rubenspruijt/archive/2013/01/15/project-vrc-antivirus-
impact-and-best-practices-on-vdi.aspx

Note:Duringlogoffandshutdownwewillseealargewritepeakandverylittlereadactivity.
Note:
Justasweneedtoplanforpeakreadsatthetimeofbootandlogon,thesameappliesfor
writepeaksduringlogoff.ButsincewealsoscaledtohandlethepeakwritesduringtheSteady
Statephaseweshouldbefine.AgainI’dliketoemphasizethatalthoughtheremightbeatonof
IOPSavailable,it’sthespeedwithwhichtheyarehandledthatcounts!Lesslatencyequals
higherspeeds.

Hopethishelped!

Resourcesandreferencematerialused:

1. http://www.en.wikipedia.org

2. http://www.jimmoyle.com

3. http://www.recoverymonkey.org

4. http://www.brainmadden.com

5. http://www.timradney.com












©2014basvankaam.com