SNIA-SA 110 Chapter 3 Storage Virtualization (Version 1.1)

SNIA-SA 110
Essentials of Storage
Networking
SAN
Virtualized
File System
Storage Storage Storage

Pool Pool Pool
Chapter 3
Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual
Disk Disk Disk Virtual Disk Disk Disk
Disk
Virtualized Disk
ESS HDS
EMC FastT Storage Virtualization
Version 1.1
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Coverage
1. Concepts of Storage
Virtualization
2. The benefits of Storage
Virtualization
3. Virtualization element – What? SAN
4. Storage Virtualization levels – Virtualized

File System
Where? Storage
Pool
Storage
Pool
Storage
Pool
5. Virtualization management – Virtual

Disk
Virtual
Disk
Virtual
Disk Virtual
Virtual
Disk
Virtual
Disk
Virtual
Disk
How?
Disk
Virtualized Disk
6. Virtualization application ESS HDS

EMC FastT
7. Virtualization selection criteria
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Section 1
Virtualization
Virtualization
3. Virtualization element – What?
4. Storage Virtualization levels –
Where?
5. Virtualization management-
How?
6. Virtualization application
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What is Storage Virtualization?
• The logical abstraction of storage from its physical deployment
and configuration
• Hides the complexity of physical storage
• Simplify and reduce the cost of storage administration
Hides the complexity
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Formal Definition
• SNIA defines:
• “The act of abstracting, hiding, or isolating the internal
functions of a storage (sub) system or service from
applications, host computers, or general network resources,
for the purpose of enabling application and network-
independent management of storage or data.”
• “The application of virtualization to storage device for the

purpose of aggregating functions or devices, hiding
complexity, or adding new capabilities to lower level storage
resources.”
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In Essence…
• Abstraction of detail
• Provides a simple and
consistent interface to
complex functions
Source: Schulz, G., Storage Virtualization: An Overview, InfoStor
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The SNIA Shared Storage
Model
• A layered view:
• To illustrate how the layering of technology in modern
storage architectures creates a complete range of storage
functions.
• Four main layers:
• The storage devices themselves (e.g., a disk drive)
• The block aggregation layer:
• Device
• Network
• Host
• The file/record layer
• The application layer
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The SNIA storage model
A layered view
IV. Application
IV Application
III. File/record layer
File/record layer
IIIa. Database III Database File system
(dbms) (fs)
IIIb. File system
IIc Host
II. Block aggregation
IIb Network
Block
IIa. Device IIa aggregation Device
IIb. Network I Storage devices

IIc. Host
I. Storage devices
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The Goal of Storage Virtualization
• To standardize and centralize storage management in a
heterogeneous storage and/or host environment.
• This includes such functionality as
• LUN masking, LUN mapping
• Storage pooling,
• Dynamic Multi-Pathing (DMP),
• Snapshot,
• Data replication.
• Virtualization should decouple the relationship between physical
disk and logical volumes, allowing users to present customized
logical volume sizes to the applications based upon need rather
than physical limitations translates the block information and
accessing the correct storage blocks.
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Review
 What is storage virtualization?
 The relationship between storage
virtualization and SNIA Shared Storage
Model.
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Section 2
Virtualization
Virtualization
Where?
5. Virtualization management –
How?
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Motivation of Storage
Virtualization
• Problems:
• Heterogeneity and complexity of the IT environments:
• File systems, O/S, Servers, storage systems,
management of consoles, management software, etc.
UNIX Windows SUN AIX Linux

2000/XP
IBM Hitachi EMC

HP
• HOW TO MANAGE effectively?

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Motivation of Storage
Virtualization
• Problems: (cont…)
• I/O Performance
• Needs more data access with higher speed
• Striping across several storage devices
• Availability
• Redundancy
• Downtime
• Cost of Capacity and utilization
• Storage aggregation
• Redeploy
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The Benefits of Storage
Virtualization
• Manageability:
• Automation, Less vendor-specific detail
• Configuration: features, storage, servers, software can be
added or changed without bringing the system down
• Protection
• Security
• Data Availability
• Support for heterogeneous environment
• Enhancement of utilization of the storage
• QoS Awareness – access latency, read/ write performance,
failure rate
Cont…
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The Benefits of Storage
Virtualization (cont…)
• Tiered Storage Approach
• Consolidated Data Services
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A Basic model of virtual
storage
• Use Abstraction layer (Layer 2 SNIA SSM) as Virtual Device
• Interface to the virtual devices is identical to the interface to a
physical device (Layer 1 SNIA SSM)
SAN
Virtualized
File System

Pool Pool Pool

Disk
Virtualized Disk
EMC FastT
ESS HDS
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Storage Virtualization: the Basics
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Review
 Motivation of Storage Virtualization
 The Benefits of Storage Virtualization
 A Basic Model of Storage Virtualization
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Section 3
Virtualization
Virtualization
Where?
How?
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Section 3: Virtualization Elements-
Storage Virtualization Taxonomy
3.1. What is created? (SNIA Storage Virtualization Taxonomy)
3.2. Disk virtualization
3.3. Tape (media, drive, and library) virtualization
3.4. File system virtualization
3.5. File/ record virtualization
3.6. Block virtualization
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Types of Virtualization in the
SNIA Storage Virtualization
Taxonomy
Reference: SNIA Tutorial Documents
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Disk Virtualization
• Disk (drive) virtualization is one of the oldest forms of storage
virtualization.
• Disk firmware transform the CHS addresses into
consecutively numbered logical blocks for use by O/S and
host applications (LBA = Logical block addressing)
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Disk (Drive) Virtualization
000
001
002 C-H-S
003
…
Logical Block Address
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Conversion between Logical
Block and C-H-S Addressing
Geometry (known to WRITE:
WRITE 1,536 bytes firmware) SEEK to cylinder 7
of data, starting at 100 blocks/track SELECT head 3
disk block 3107 4 surfaces ENABLE writing at sector 7
1,000 cylinders DISABLE writing at sector 10
From To
Client Disk
DISK FIRMWARE
READ:
SEEK to cylinder 2
READ 2,048 bytes of
SELECT head 2
data, starting at disk
ENABLE reading at sector 2
block 1002
DISABLE reading at sector 6
Reference: Massiglia, P., Bunn, F., Virtual Storage Redefined
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Disk Virtualization: Defect Free
• Disk Media Defects
• Drive firmware deals with defective blocks by reserving a

small percentage of media capacity to be substituted for
them.
• Persistent tables (often called a revectoring table) within the
drive relate the address relate the addresses of defective
blocks to their substitutes. Virtualization firmware makes the
drive appear to be defect free.
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Tape Storage Virtualization
• Tape Media Virtualization
• Disk Storage virtualizes physical tape media
• Uses online disk storage as a cache to emulate the reading
and writing of data to and from physical tape media.
Advantages:
•Improve backup
performance (buffer to
smooth out the
fluctuations) -> then
written out to tape at
streaming speeds
•Service life of the tape
drives
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Tape Storage Virtualization (2)
• Tape Drive Virtualization
• Present tape drive pools
• Share tape drives among
a number of servers
• RAIT
• RAIL
Unylogix Tape Striping- (Tape RAID)
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File System Virtualization
• Aggregates multiple file systems into one large “virtual file
system”
• Users access data through the virtual file system -> NFS,
CIFS
• Underlying file systems transparent to users
• Location Transparency
• Simplify database management
• Combination of raw partition (to maximize performance) and
file system virtualization (optimal management)
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File System Virtualization
From Silberschatz, A., Galvin, P., Gagne, G., Operating System Concepts, 6th ed
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NFS - File System Virtualization
From Silberschatz, A., Galvin, P., Gagne, G., Operating System Concepts, 6th ed
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File/Record Virtualization
• Virtualize file/ record by:
• Providing HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management)
properties in a storage system
• Automates the migration of rarely used data to
inexpensive secondary storage media (optical disks/tape
drive/low-cost High-density disk storage: SATA arrays)
• Location Transparency
• Presents an integrated file interface when file data and

metadata are managed separately in the storage system
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Block Virtualization
• Focus of Storage Virtualization -> layer II of SNIA SSM
• Block aggregation
• Virtualizing several physical disks to present a single logical
device
• Overcome the physical limits of individual device without
requiring any additional intelligence in applications
• Other services, deals with:
• Performance, availability
• Perspective of the storage consumer (the application)
• Not the storage provider (the array)
• Simplify management tools -> use the same tools to manage
different environment
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The goal of block virtualization
• Control physical storage assets and combine them
• To provide logical volumes that have sufficient capacity,
performance, and reliability
• To meet the needs of storage consumers without burdening
the consumers with unnecessary low-level detail.
• The Virtualization Layer is responsible for Mapping I/O requests

to the logical volume onto the physical storage.
Block Virtualization creates virtual storage devices from

physical disks, which are large, fast and available
(resilient) as storage consumers require.
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In practice…
Block-level
Virtualization
VIRTUAL VIRTUAL
DISK DISK
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Review
 Storage Virtualization Taxonomy
 Disk: LBA
 Tape: tape media and tape drive
virtualization
 File System: NFS, CIFS, location
transparency
 File/Record: HSM, location transparency
 Block Virtualization: virtualizing several
physical disks to present a single logical
device
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Section 4
Virtualization
Virtualization
Where?
How?
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Section 4: Storage Virtualization
Levels - Where
4.1. Where does virtualization reside?
4.2. Host-based virtualization
4.3. Storage-based virtualization
4.4. Network-based virtualization
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Levels - Where
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Where Does Virtualization Reside?
HOST ?
NETWORK ?
Storage
Devices ?
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I/O request …travels from
application to storage
• An application makes a read or write request to the O/S
• Request goes:
• Through File system or
• Directly to a disk
(usually managed
by a database)
I/O request has been
transformed into a
LBAs
• Convert the logical address into
a real physical disk address (CHS)
• Access a particular disk’s address and pass the result back
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I/O request…via block-level
virtualization
• Block Address Conversion
• Virtual Block Addresses -> Device Block Addresses
• Perform by Block Aggregation Layer (Virtualization layer)
• Host
IV Application
• Storage
File/record layer
• Network III Database File system
(dbms) (fs)
• Device Block Address -> CHS

IIc Host
• Perform by Disk Firmware IIb Network
Block
IIa aggregation Device
I Storage devices
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Virtualization at different layers
in the stack
• Host-based virtualization
• Storage-based virtualization
• Network-based virtualization
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Levels - Where
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Host-based virtualization
• Generally Host-based virtualization is associated with Logical
Volume Managers
• Aggregating physical storage from multiple LUNs to form a
single “super-LUN” that the host OS sees as a single disk
drive
• Implementing software RAID and other more advanced
functions, including snapshots and remote replication
• Managing the health of disk resources that are under the
control of the O/S
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Virtualization in the Host
Provisioning Provisioning Provisioning
Per Host Per Host Per Host Abstraction is
implemented in
HOST
IDC
IDC
IDC
hosts,
typically in
Volume
Logical Volume
Volume
Managers
Volume
(LVMs)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE

COL- COL- COL-
HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS
ACT- ACT- ACT-
STA- STA- STA-
STORAGE
SUBSYSTEMS
LUN LUN
LUN
LUN LUN
LUN
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Advantages of Host-based
Virtualization
• Matured technology, Stable
• Many years of use in practice
• Can be implemented across multiple storage systems from
different vendors
• Storage Pooling
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The downside of host-based
approach
• Host-based virtualization like LVM is server-centric
• Storage provisioning must be performed on each host
• For complex environment (with different platforms for host),
the configuration and management task becomes more
difficult
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Levels - Where
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Storage-Based (Sub-system-
Based) Virtualization
• Typically independent form the type of host
• Support heterogeneous hosts with different O/S or
Applications
• Example of Storage-based virtualization:
• RAID (hardware, from RAID array)
• Snapshots (storage-based)
• LUN masking, and mapping
• Applicable in SAN and DAS environments
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Virtualization in the Storage
Sub-system
HOST
IDC
IDC
IDC
Provisioning
Per Host
& HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS
COL-
ACT-
STA-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE
HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS
COL-
ACT-
STA-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE
RAID/ Storage
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE
COL-
HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS
ACT-
STA-
Subsystem
Abstraction is
STORAGE / implemented in
RAID the Storage
SUBSYSTEMS Device
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Advantages of Storage-based
Virtualization
• By isolating the solution from the host server, the architecture
facilitates heterogeneity across many server operating systems
• Since the virtualization function is provided by the storage

subsystem itself, cache can be tuned to deliver optimum
performance
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The Downside
• Typically, it is implemented within a single storage subsystem
• Example:
• Snapshot between LUNs within a storage
• In case of H/W failure -> the snapshot copy is useless
• For the feature that can support multiple storage subsystems
(cluster of arrays or controllers):
• Limited to a single-vendor implementation
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In practice…
• Combine host and storage-based virtualization
• The flexibility of LVM + the performance of RAID
• Example: Host based LVM can use multiple RAID-5
LUNs to create virtual volumes spanning multiple disk
arrays
• Some other features:
• Alternate path fail-over
• Load balancing
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Levels - Where
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Network-Based Virtualization
• The advantages of host- and storage-based virtualization can
be combined into a storage management layer existing within
the SAN fabric.
Network-based
Virtualization
• Typically it is implemented
• “black-box” appliances in the SAN fabric
• Agent software installed on the host
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Example from IBM
Virtualization Approach
Source: Tate, J., Virtualization in a SAN, IBM Redbooks paper
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Example of Block Virtualization
on the storage network
Source: Tate, J., Virtualization in a SAN, IBM Redbooks paper
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Functions
• Combining several LUNs from one or more arrays into a single
LUN before presenting it to a host
• Taking a single LUN from an array and slicing it into smaller
virtual LUNs to present to the hosts
• Synchronous and Asynchronous replication within the SAN as
well as over WAN links
• Device security to ensure that access to a LUN is restricted to
specified hosts
• Caching
• Advanced volume management
• Storage-on-demand through virtualization layer
• QoS awareness functions
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Review
 Where does virtualization reside?
 Host: LVM, OS sees as a single disk drive
“super LUN”
 Storage: RAID subsystem
 Network: appliances
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Section 5
Virtualization
Virtualization
Where?
How?
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Section 5: How is it implemented?
5.1. Virtualization - Implementation

5.2. In-band virtualization
5.3. Out-of-band virtualization
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Implementation
• SAN Appliances can be integrated into the storage
infrastructure:
• In-band virtualization
• The appliance(s) sits directly in the data path (in-band)
between the servers and storage devices.
• Out-of-band (OOB)
• The appliance(s) only sees command and control
metadata
• The actual I/O goes directly to the storage
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In-Band Virtualization(1)
• General idea
H e te r o g e n e o u s D is k a rra y s
D is k a r r a y D is k a r r a y D is k a r r a y
Both data and
control flow over
SAN
the same path
M a n a g e m e n t c o m p u te r
LUN 1 LUN 1 LUN 1 In -b a n d a p p lia n c e

C o m p u te r
LUN 2 LUN 2 p r o v id in g v ir tu a liz a tio n
H EW LE T T
PA C K AR D
d i g i t a l
H o s ts
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In-Band Virtualization (2)
• Virtualization engine resides in appliance
• Appliance is located
• Between host and storage
• Completely transparent to hosts
• From host perspective, the appliance appears as disk(s)
• Storage presented by appliance is indistinguishable from
normal disk
• Metadata can be collocated with appliance or can come out of
storage pools
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The Advantages
• Simpler to implement
• This solution does not require software to be installed in
hosts
• Ability to offload function from the host
• It can also provide caching and advanced functions within the
storage network to improve the performance (performance
optimization in the data path)
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The Downside …
• Appliance still SPOF (Single Point of Failure)
• Since it resides in data path, the appliance becomes a hot
spot and more prone to failures
• A failure brings down the data transfer service
• Appliance being in-band can not be taken off line
• Software upgrades become problematic
• Poor scalability
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Alternative Implementation
• An alternative
H e te r o g e n e o u s D is k a r r a y s
D is k a r ra y D is k a r r a y D is k a r ra y
SAN
M anagem ent
c o m p u te r
C o m p u te r
H E W LE TT
PA C K AR D
A p p lia n c e s c o o r d in a te
s to r a g e v ir tu a liz a tio n
d i g i t a l
a m o n g s t th e m s e lv e s
a n d a re
c a p a b le o f fa ilo v e r
H o s ts
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In-Band Virtualization: Examples
• Examples
• HP OpenView CASA (Continuous Access Storage
Appliance)(previously SANlink)
• FalconStor Software – IPStor
• IBM – TotalStorage Open Software Family -> SAN Volume
Controller
• StorageTek – StorageNet 6000
• Vicom - SVE
IBM SAN Volume Controller design
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Example Vicom SVE
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Example:
IPStor
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Example: Basic IPStor Configuration
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Out-of-Band Virtualization
D is k a r r a y D is k a r r a y D is k a r r a y
M anagem ent
c o m p u te r
SAN
C o m p u te r V ir tu a liz a tio n e n g in e
r e s id e s in H B A
O u t-o f-b a n d a p p lia n c e

p r o v id in g v ir tu a liz a tio n
C a rd C a rd
H EW LE T T C a rd
PA CK AR D
d i g i t a l
V ir tu a liz a tio n in te llig e n c e a n d

p o lic ie s r e s id e in th e a p p lia n c e
H o s ts
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Out-of-Band Virtualization
• An out-of-band appliance sits outside the data path between
host and storage
• The data flow is separated from the control flow
• This approach separates the two functions:
• Block address translation during I/O request execution
• Done by the “agent” run in the host
• Resides in HBA
• Persistent storage and management of virtualization
parameters
• Centralized in “the metadata manager”
• Resides in the appliance
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Virtualization resides in Appliance
• Virtualization “intelligence” and policies reside in appliance
• Appliance keeps track of the entire storage
• Appliance creates storage pool(s)
• Appliance virtualizes heterogeneous storage
• LUNs are carved out of storage pools
• Policies are set on individual LUN basis
• Mapping between “real” LUNs and virtual storage are
created and stored persistently
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Virtualization resides in HBA’s
• Virtualization “engine” resides in HBA’s
• Mappings (between “real” LUNs and virtual storage) are
loaded on demand when hosts issue I/O requests
• To enhance the performance:
• Preload the map
• Use caching schemes to handle the map
• It is related to virtual memory
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Out-of-band Virtualization:
Advantages
• Since the appliances do not handle the I/O data transfer:
• Not an hot spot and less prone to failures
• Avoid SPOF:
• HBA failure affects only one server
• Appliance shall be made redundant
• Appliance failover does not get in I/O way
• Non-disruptive controlled appliance failover
• Map resolution can be pushed ahead of current I/O to
make sure no page fault will occur during the failover
• Non-disruptive software/firmware upgrades
• Virtualization activities do not steal I/O cycles
• Can be performed asynchronously
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Advantages (2)
• Scalable
• Distributed I/O processes with a centralized “intelligence”
• Metadata storage shall be collocated with the appliance
• Appliance shall have its private, reliable storage
• Eliminate any possibility of metadata storage being “visible”
by servers
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Disadvantages
• Proprietary HBA
• Device driver issues
• Multiplatform support issues
• Security issues
• What if a server sees LUN’s that are used for virtualization
through another “plain” HBA
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The Mechanism
• How it works
• Custom HBA’s installed on hosts
• Discovery process:
• Appliance runs FCP or iSCSI discovery to find out what LUN’s are
out there
• Discovered LUN's are included in the storage pool(s)
• Using management console VLUN's are carved out of storage pools
• Custom HBA’s are "told" by the appliance to present VLUN’s to hosts.
• VLUNs are "seen" as normal LUN's by OS
• Mapping between real LUN's and VLUN's is done on the appliance
and maps are stored persistently, however, LBA’s of VLUN’s are not
yet resolved
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The Mechanism (2)
• Maps are resolved on demand to custom HBA’s as the I/O
requests are issued by hosts
• At the first time when a request is issued by host, the
“Page fault” is generated because the mapping of a
particular LBA has not been resolved on HBA
• Appliance handles the “page fault” by resolving the LBA
• Mapping table is updated and the update information is
sent to HBA
• HBA restarts the I/O
• Other pre-resolved and preloaded map schemes
possible.
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Out-Of-Band Virtualization:
Examples
• Example products
• HP – VersaStor
• EMC Storage Router
• Networking Technologies – StoreAge
• IBM TotalStorage Open Software Family ->SAN File System
• Veritas - SANPoint
IBM TotalStorage Open Software Family
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example: StoreAge
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Alternative
• An inexpensive alternative
M anagem ent D is k a r r a y D is k a r r a y D is k a r ra y
c o m p u te r iS C S I iS C S I iS C S I
T C P /IP
IP -S A N V ir tu a liz a tio n e n g in e
C o m p u te r
r e s id e s in c u s to m d r iv e r
C u s to m d riv e r C u s t o m d r iv e r C u s to m d r iv e r
T C P /IP VLUN VLUN VLUN
iS C S I
iS C S I d r iv e r iS C S I d r iv e r iS C S I d r iv e r
H E W LE T T
PA CK AR D
d i g i t a l
V ir t u a liz a t io n in t e llig e n c e a n d
p o lic ie s r e s id e in th e L in u x -
b a s e d a p p lia n c e
H o s ts
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Alternative
• iSCSI:
• Components => Lower cost than FC
• Appliance runs on Linux in dual-node cluster
• Gig E Ethernet cards
• Shareware iSCSI drivers
• Medium/low-end storage arrays (e.g. SATA)
• Other advantages:
• Interoperability with FC (use FC-iSCSI bridges/routers)
• Leverage off of existing security technologies such as
IPSec
• Can utilize existing VPN technologies/products
• To enhance the performance
• Upgrade by replacing iSCSI driver with iSCSI adapter
(TOE, HBA)
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Comparing Storage Virtualization
Source: SANs rely on storage virtualization, InfoStor Articles
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In-band vs Out-of-band
Source: SANs rely on storage virtualization, InfoStor Articles
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Review
 In Band virtualization
 Out of Band virtualization
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Section 6
Virtualization
Virtualization
Where?
How?
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Overview
• Storage Applications Deliver “Storage & Data Services” to
extend the Value of Virtualization
• Types of services:
• Backup and restore
• Security
• QoS
• Volume management
• Clustering
• LUN control
• Snapshots
• Data replication
• Data Migration
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Snapshots
• Snapshots is a fully usable copy of a defined collection of data
that contains an image of the data as it appeared at the point
in time at which the copy was initiated.
• Virtualization changes the requirements of the snapshots
Conventional Array-based Virtualized snapshots

snapshots
Consumes storage within the source Can redirect the snapshots to another
array device in another array
Puts additional load on the source Offloads all snapshots functions from
array to manage the snapshots the source array
Requires the array to implement all Can use no-array (e.g., JBOD) storage
snapshot functions for both source and target
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Snapshots: two distinct types
• The “split mirror” or “full copy”
snapshot
• The “copy-on-write (CoW)”
snapshot
Example from StoreAge
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Example IPStor - Solution for Enterprise Applications
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Data Replication
• Two forms of replication:
• Synchronous
• Asynchronous
Example from StoreAge
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Storage-Based Data Replication
HOST
IDC
IDC
IDC
IDC IDC
Hosts may be
unaware of
replication COL-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE COL-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 CONSOLE
HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS
ACT- ACT-
STA- STA-
STORAGE /
RAID
SUBSYSTEMS
Local RAID subsystem

replicates data to remote
RAID subsystems
Equivalent
Capacity
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Storage-Based Data
Replication
• The function is implemented within the array as firmware
• Typically it works between arrays of the same type.
• Examples:
• Hitachi TrueCopy™ Remote Replication
• Hitachi ShadowImage™ In-System Replication
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Host-Based Data Replication
Volume updates
replicated to
remote servers
HOST
IDC
IDC
IDC
Data
IDC IDC
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE

COL- COL-
ACT- ACT-
STA- STA-
Replicator
Replicator
Software
Software SATA Disk
STORAGE /
RAID
SUBSYSTEMS
Data
Storage can be different
Data from source
FC Disks
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Host-Based Data Replication
• An agent installed somewhere in the I/O stack on the host is
responsible for the replication.
• Storage device independent
• Application transparent
• Eliminate the problem of replication between different array
types
• Today’s limitation:
• The platform for source and target host must be the same
• Example: Veritas Volume Replicator
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Network-Based Data Replication
Replication
HOST
IDC
IDC
IDC
Intelligence is
implemented in
virtualization
appliances
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE
COL- COL-
ACT- ACT-
STA- STA-
SAN appliance
(in-band/out-of-band)
or "intelligent" switch
controls the replication
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE

HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS COL- HS1 HS2 OK1 OK2 PS COL-
ACT- ACT-
STA- STA-
STORAGE /
RAID
SUBSYSTEMS
Storage can be different

from source
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Network-Based Data
Replication
• Combine the best features of host-and storage-based
approaches:
• Storage-based: offload the work from the host
• Host-based: storage independence
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example: Network Based Data
Replication
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Data Migration
• Data Migration: migrating data from one storage system to
(new) another storage systems
• The Motivation:
• Storage vendors discontinuing support for the older systems
• Scaling problem: does not meet the needs of the enterprise
• Technology and Upgrading Limitation: lack some features
but it can not be upgraded with the latest technological
advances
• No longer comply with HA or SRM requirements
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
The Challenge:
•How to transfer the data
from the old storage system
to the new storage system
•The migration process – heterogeneous environment
•The downtime and business continuity during
migration
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Some issues in Data Migration
• If we want to use the traditional method for migrating data
(which is using a ‘backup & restore’ mechanism), the downtime
for data migration is too long due to limited throughput rates.
Result longer downtime.
• Typically, mid-range storage solutions does not provide data
migration utilities, so the customer need to use this
traditional method for migrating data.
• If we use a proprietary data migration utilities from high-end
storage solution,
• Incompatibility issues with other storage system from
different vendors
• High licensing fees
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Requirements
• Minimize the disruption of production applications
• A phased migration process
• A single, uniform data migration solution compatible with
multiple platforms and storage devices from multiple vendors
• A highly scalable, high performance method for migrating large
amounts of data
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example: Implementation
• Virtualize SAN environment
– to achieve a platform-
independent data migration
StoreAge SVM + MultiCopy
SANRAD V-Switch
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Review
 Storage and Data Services of Storage
Virtualization.
 Snapshots
 Data Replication
 Data Migration
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Section 7
Virtualization
Virtualization
Where?
How?
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Awareness
• Storage Virtualization is an enabling technology and is a part of
the solution
• A tool for the storage administrator to simplify the management

of the storage infrastructure
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Storage Virtualization
• It started:
• On the HOST side
• It gave us freedom of storage devices
• But it used up too many CPU cycles.
• Next,
• Storage (Sub-systems/ array) based virtualization
• Free up the CPU
• But it locked customers into a single storage vendor
because one manufacturer's array would not replicate to
another's.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Today …
• Migrate the virtualization function from server or storage subsystem to
the network => virtualized host and storage from multiple vendors
• Solution:
• It centralizes data management and services into the storage
fabric.
• Benefits:
• Ease of deployment and management,
• Sharing of resources from different vendors
• Flexibility of architecture
• Provide Data services
• snapshots or synchronous remote copies
• data migration and disaster recovery.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Vendor’s approaches
• Software-based,
• Appliance-based and
• Switching-based
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Examples
• DataCore SANsymphony and FalconStor IPStor are examples
of a virtualization solution "operating system" designed for open
systems hardware into a storage network.
• It provides freedom of choice in server hardware selection
• A lower cost of entry.
• Free to focus on software functionality and product
enhancements.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Examples (2)
• IBM's SAN Volume Controller and HP's CASA solutions
• Combine both software and hardware into a storage
virtualization appliance.
• The software runs on multiple clustered servers for high
availability and system scalability.
HP OpenView
Continuous Access Storage Appliance
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Examples (3)
• Adding virtualization and data services into a Fibre Channel
switch decreases the number of solutions to manage in the
network and provides a single point to aggregate servers and
arrays.
• Recently, all of the Fibre Channel switching vendors have

announced plans to integrate storage services into their
offerings, but nobody is delivering on these plans yet.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose Storage
Virtualization Solution?
• What type of solution is the vendor offering?
• How much it will cost? How does it improve the performance?
• How disruptive is the implementation?
• How is the system managed?
• Does the solution provide robustness?
• How flexible and scalable is the system?
• Does the product support heterogeneous storage arrays and
servers?
• How reliable are the data service features?
• How mature is the product line?
• Does it provide security features?
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose?
• What type of solution is the vendor offering?
• Is the solution host based, storage subsystem based, or

network based?
• Is the solution for network-based virtualization implemented
by using switch-based, an appliance, or software on
open-systems hardware?
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Performance
How to choose? (2)
• How much it will cost? How does it improve the Price
performance?
• Price-Performance consideration
• Host based -> no additional hardware is required, but
performance?
• Use additional hardware and software to increase performance,
but it also increase the development and testing costs
• Look for solutions that leverage existing, proven, high-
performance technologies that are cost-efficient, familiar, easily
upgradeable, and extensible
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (3)
• How disruptive is the implementation?
• Moving to virtualization and data services is a big change.

• How long the downtime for the implementation?.
• What changes are necessary on the server and storage sides?
• It may require a rollback option in the implementation plan
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (4)
• How is the system managed?
• Java management interfaces are the standard for storage

devices, but these interfaces are not all alike.
• Which version of Java need to be installed?
• Can the interface manage multiple systems?
• Is there an alternative management interface for those times
when Java is not appropriate?
• Can the system be managed over the Internet, or do we need a
local connection?
• Are industry standards such as SMIS implemented?
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (5)
• Does the solution provide robustness?
• Does it provide fault tolerance?

• Does a failure on the virtualizer block the access to the data?
• Can it anticipate SPOF?
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (6)
• How flexible and scalable is the system?
• Can the product support industry standards as they evolve?

• Is the vendor providing all the required data service utilities?
• Does the architecture limit total capacity or number of attached
servers?
• Try to envision our organization two years from now and the
challenges it will face.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (7)
• Does the product support heterogeneous storage arrays
and servers?
• The degree of independence that these products provide from a

host’s O/S and file system, also from the storage subsystems
• Make sure our selection supports everything within the
organization.
• Ask for testing results from the vendor.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (8)
• How reliable are the data service features?
• Are consistency groups supported?

• How does the system verify the accuracy of remote copies?
• Data services provide the framework for disaster recovery, so
be sure the vendor is implementing bulletproof functionality.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (9)
• How mature is the product line?
• Is this a first-generation product?

• How many customers are using the product on live data?
• For instance, according to HP, CASA is a fifth-generation
product with several revisions based on feedback from end
users.
• Complex storage software often takes several revisions before
everything performs as promised.
• Be sure to quiz our vendor about product maturity.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
How to choose? (10)
• Does it provide security features?
• Security layer for shared access control over a SAN

• Storage Pooling and access right
• Centralized security management
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example of Storage
Virtualization Solution #1
• Unused Terabytes
• Customer: Philadelphia Stock Exchange Inc.
• Problem: Unable to reallocate storage without unacceptable

application downtime
• Technology: Foundation Suite, Volume Manager from

Veritas Software Corp
From: Scheier, R.L., Storage Virtualization Gets Down to Business,

ComputerWorld, Jan 2004
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example of Storage
• Cont … (requirements:)
• Tiered architecture – move tier 3 to SCSI/ ATA disks for

archival
• Automated –policy driven migration

© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example of Storage
• Improved Storage Prescription
• Customer: Denver Health Medical Center
• Problem: Underutilized direct-attached storage; need for

seamless disaster recovery
• Technology: IP SAN from LeftHand Networks Inc.

© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example of Storage
• Cont … (requirements)
• Lower price and simplified management
• Disaster Recovery

© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example of Storage
• Application Acceleration
• Customer: Wasatch Advisors Inc.
• Problem: Underused direct-attached storage; poor

application response time; need for cost-effective remote
backup
• Technology: SANsymphony from DataCore Software Corp.

ComputerWorld, Jan 2004 © COPYRIGHTED 2004
Example of Storage
• Cont … (requirements)
• Improved response time
• set up and assign storage volumes "during production

hours”

© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Review
 Host based, Storage Based, and Network
Based virtualization
 Vendor’s approaches
 How to choose storage virtualization
solution?
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Summary
 Concepts of Storage
Virtualization
 The benefits of Storage
Virtualization
 Virtualization element –
What?
 Storage Virtualization levels
– Where?
 Virtualization management –
How?
 Virtualization application
 Virtualization selection
criteria
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Class Discussion
TEAM A
• Define storage virtualization and its benefits
TEAM B
• Compare storage virtualization approaches (host, network, storage
device)
TEAM C
• Describe virtualization management strategies (in-band and out-of-
band)
TEAM D
• Describe storage virtualization taxonomy elements (block, disk, tape, file
system, file/record)
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
References
• Bunn, F., Simpson, N., Peglar, R., and Nagle, G., Storage Virtualization,
SNIA Technical Tutorial
• Maxey, Michael, Are storage virtualization solutions right for you?
Storage Networking World Online (http://www.snwonline.com/) Jan 2004
• Massiglia, P., Bunn, F., Virtual Storage Redefined: Technologies and
Applications for Storage Virtualization, Veritas, 2003
• Scheier, R.L., Storage Virtualization Gets Down to Business,
ComputerWorld, Jan 2004.
• SNIA Education Committee, Storage Virtualization I: What, Why, Where
and How?
• SNIA Education Committee, Storage Virtualization II: Effective use of
Virtualization in Enterprise Data Centers.
• SNIA Shared- Storage Model – An Architectural Overview
• Tate, J., Virtualization in a SAN, IBM Redbooks paper.
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
SNIA 110
SAN
Virtualized
File System
APPENDIX
Pool Pool Pool

Disk
Virtualized Disk
EMC FastT
ESS HDS
© COPYRIGHTED 2004
Where Does Virtualization Reside?
Link to SNIA Shared Storage Model
Reference: SNIA Tutorial
© COPYRIGHTED 2004 Source: SNIA Tutorial Documents

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SNIA-SA 110

Storage Storage Storage

4. Storage Virtualization levels – Virtualized

5. Virtualization management – Virtual

6. Virtualization application ESS HDS

7. Virtualization selection criteria

Hides the complexity

• “The application of virtualization to storage device for the

Source: Schulz, G., Storage Virtualization: An Overview, InfoStor

IIb. Network I Storage devices

UNIX Windows SUN AIX Linux

IBM Hitachi EMC

• HOW TO MANAGE effectively?

• Consolidated Data Services

Storage Storage Storage

Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual Virtual

Reference: SNIA Tutorial Documents

Reference: Massiglia, P., Bunn, F., Virtual Storage Redefined

• Drive firmware deals with defective blocks by reserving a

Unylogix Tape Striping- (Tape RAID)

• Presents an integrated file interface when file data and

• The Virtualization Layer is responsible for Mapping I/O requests

Block Virtualization creates virtual storage devices from

• Device Block Address -> CHS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE

• Since the virtualization function is provided by the storage

Source: Tate, J., Virtualization in a SAN, IBM Redbooks paper

Source: Tate, J., Virtualization in a SAN, IBM Redbooks paper

5.1. Virtualization - Implementation

5.1. Virtualization - Implementation

5.1. Virtualization - Implementation

LUN 1 LUN 1 LUN 1 In -b a n d a p p lia n c e

IBM SAN Volume Controller design

5.1. Virtualization - Implementation

O u t-o f-b a n d a p p lia n c e

V ir tu a liz a tio n in te llig e n c e a n d

IBM TotalStorage Open Software Family

Source: SANs rely on storage virtualization, InfoStor Articles

Source: SANs rely on storage virtualization, InfoStor Articles

Conventional Array-based Virtualized snapshots

Example from StoreAge

Example from StoreAge

Local RAID subsystem

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 CONSOLE

Storage can be different

StoreAge SVM + MultiCopy

• A tool for the storage administrator to simplify the management

• Recently, all of the Fibre Channel switching vendors have

• Is the solution host based, storage subsystem based, or

• Moving to virtualization and data services is a big change.

• Java management interfaces are the standard for storage

• Does it provide fault tolerance?

• Can the product support industry standards as they evolve?

• The degree of independence that these products provide from a

• Are consistency groups supported?

• Is this a first-generation product?

• Security layer for shared access control over a SAN

• Customer: Philadelphia Stock Exchange Inc.

• Problem: Unable to reallocate storage without unacceptable

• Technology: Foundation Suite, Volume Manager from

From: Scheier, R.L., Storage Virtualization Gets Down to Business,

• Tiered architecture – move tier 3 to SCSI/ ATA disks for