WelcometoXtremIOFundamentals.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

This courseprovidesanintroductiontotheEMCXtremIOproduct.Inthiscoursewewilldiscussthe
productarchitecture,usecases,hardwareandsoftwarecomponents,capabilities,andinterfaces
availabletotheconsumer.

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved

XtremIO Fundamentals

This modulefocusesonanintroductiontotheEMCXtremIOsystemabilities,conceptsofFlash
storagewithemphasisontheXtremIOproduct,anditsusecases.

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved

XtremIO Fundamentals

Thislessonprovides anintroductiontoXtremIOhighlightsandtheimportanceofFlashdrivesin
storagearrays.

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved

XtremIO Fundamentals

TheEMCXtremIOsystemisanallFlashstoragearraythathasbeendesignedfromthegroundup
tounlockFlashsfullpotential.Whiletheimportanceofusingallflashdrivesisakeyattributeofan
XtremIOsystem,itisnotitssoledefiningfactor.
XtremIOsapproachistousesolidstatedisks,orFlashdrives, andproprietaryintelligentsoftware
todeliverunparalleledlevelsofperformance.Achievableperformancerangesfromhundredsof
thousandstomillionsofIOPS,andconsistentlylowlatencyunderonemillisecond.The systemis
alsodesignedtoprovideminimalplanningwithaverysimpleuserinterfacethatmakes
provisioningandmanagingthearrayeasy.
Some oftheXtremIOproductfeaturesthathavesignificanceare:
Performance
Linespeeddeduplication
Scaleoutability
Dataprotection
Thinprovisioning
Loadbalancing
SSDwearleveling

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XtremIO Fundamentals

Therearevarious types ofharddrivesandFlashinthedatacentertoday. Thistrendwillcontinue

because characteristicsofeachinregardtotransactionalperformance andcostperGBaretypically
inverted.Thisleavestheconsumertochooseeitheronetypeofdriveoramixoftypestoprovide
theanswertoabusinesssolution.
It iscommontoseeamixofmediawhichincludesrelativelyslow,highcapacityspinningdisksthat
offerthelowestcostperGB,allthewaythroughtofasternonspinningFlashbasedSolidState
Disks(SSDs). Theseare alsoknownashybridarrays.
Withtheindustrywideemphasisonserverconsolidationusingvirtualizationandsolution based
goals,anewclassofrequirementshasemerged:aheavilyvirtualizedserverenvironmentthat
generatesmassiveI/OloadsonthearraywithveryrandomI/Opatterns.The drivetypethat
addressesthisneedbestisanallFlashstoragearray.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

Before youcanmakeaninformeddecisionregardingwhichdrivetypeisbestforanysolution,you
mustunderstandtheattributesofeachtypeandweightheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofeach.
Anadditionalimportantconsiderationthatisnotaddressedhereisthesoftwarethatutilizesthe
drives,becauseitdefinestheperformancelevelsandutilizationratesaconsumercanexpecttosee
intheworkingenvironment.
Priortopresentingacomparison betweenFlashdrivesandtraditionalspinningdiskdrives,it is
importanttostatethatallFlashdrivesarenotcreatedequal.Thereareenterprisemultilevelcell
(eMLC),multilevelcell(MLC),singlelevelcell(SLC),andtriplelevelcell(TLC)flashdrives.XtremIO
useseMLC (enterprisemultilevelcell)Flashdrives andwewillusethemhereasourbasisfor
comparison.Price,performance,anddrivereliabilityareimportantwhenselectingaFlashdrive.
EMChasselectedtheeMLC drivesastheyprovidetheattributesthatwerequire.
Thetablehighlightsthedetailed differencesbetweenHDDandeMLC Flash.Usecautionwhenonly
addressingasinglecharacteristicbecauseitcanbemisleading.
Forexample:Ifyouonlyconsiderprice,youmaydeterminethatFlashisnotcosteffective.
However,whenyouconsidertheamountofIOPSthataFlashdrivecanprovide,youmaynotice
thatthecostperI/OischeaperthanHDD.Ifaflashdriveistentimesmoreexpensivebutoffers
400timesthenumberofIOPS,thejustificationbecomesclear.
Anotherexample:Ifyoursolutionrequiresahighdensityforsequentialworkloads,Flashdrives
mightnotbethebestsolution.
Theprimarygoalofthischartistoensureyouarepositioningthetechnologycorrectly.

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved

XtremIO Fundamentals

EMCoffersawiderangeofproductsthat allowthecustomeroptionswhenitcomestoselecting
drivetypes.Hybrid arraysthatmixtraditionalspinningdiskdrivesandFlashdrives useinnovative
technologysuchasFullyAutomatedStorageTiering(FAST)where ourintelligentsoftware
understandswherethehotdatais,andpromotesittoFlash,whilemovingcolddatatonearline
SASdrives.Workloadsthathavepredictableaccesspatternstypicallyworkwellwithhybridarrays.
Iftheworkloadchangesorconstanthighperformanceisrequiredforallthestoragebeing
presented,usingahybridarraycanresultinperformanceissues.
XtremIOisalwaysanallFlasharray.XtremIOisparticularlywellsuitedforenvironmentsthat
requirehighIOPS,lowlatencywithrandomworkloads.WhenweaddtheXtremIOsoftwarethat
performsinlinedatareduction(deduplication),thinprovisioning,andotherfeaturesthatleverage
what Flashdrivescanprovide,thepricepergigabyteonFlashcanbe similartothepriceper
gigabytewithspinningdiskdrives.These pointsareimportantwhenconsideringXtremIOasa
solution.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

WithanXtremIOsystem,regardlessofhowbusythesystemis,storagecapacityutilization,latency,
andthroughput remainconsistentlypredictableandconstant. The systemcanmaintainsub
millisecondI/Olatencywithinawiderangeofworkloadsandstoragecapacityusage.XtremIOs
softwareallowsnearinstantaneouscloningwithminimalfootprintduetoitsinlinededuplication
process.

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved

XtremIO Fundamentals

TheXtremIO storagearrayautomaticallydeduplicatesdataasitentersthesystematline
speed formallycalledinlinedatareductionorinlinededuplication.Theresultislessdata written
tothedisk,reducingtheoverallspacerequiredinenvironmentswithahighpercentageof
duplicatedata.
AnadditionalbenefitisthattheFlashdrivegainsimproved longevity becauseuniquewritesare
onlyperformedonce.
Volumesarealwaysthinprovisionedwithoutanylossofperformance,overprovisioningof
capacity,orfragmentation.Thereare nopostwriteactionsrequiredbythearray.
XtremIOhasaunique dataprotectionmethodthatallowstheconsumertohaveindustryleading
rawversususableratesandrequiresnoadministrationasitisbuiltin.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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XtremIOusesasoftwaremanagementcomponent calledtheXtremIOManagementServer(XMS)
thatprovideseasytousegraphicaluserinterfaceandcommandlineinterfaceoptions.
AllstorageisthinprovisionedandalldataresidesononlyonetypeonFlashdisk.Thismeansthere
arenotieringdecisionsrequiredasallstoragehasthesameultrahighperformanceattributes.
XtremIOprovidesaunique dataprotectionmethodthatrequiresnoadministrationasitisbuiltin.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

11

TheXtremIOstoragearrayiscurrentlyavailablein3variants:asingleXBrickcluster,adualXBrick
cluster,andaquadXBrickcluster.XtremIOscaleslinearlytoincreasecapacityandhandlesmore
IOPSwhilekeepingaconsistentsubmillisecondlatency.Nocompetitorcanclaimthesefeatures.
WhenchoosingfromaoneXBrickclustertoatwoXBrickcluster,yougettwicethecapacity,twice
thenumberofIOPS,andstillmaintainthesubmillisecondlatency.Whenyoumovefromatwotoa
fourXBrickcluster,youagaindoublethecapacity,doublethenumberofIOPS,andstillmaintain
thesubmillisecondlatency.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Thislessoncovers XtremIOusecasesandgeneralconsiderations.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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TheVMwareproduct,HorizonView,provides the Virtual DesktopInfrastructure(VDI)which

deliversvirtualdesktopsthatruninthedatacentertoendusers. Userscanaccesstheirdesktops
fromanynumberofdeviceseitherwithintheenterpriseorathome.Administratorsgain
centralizedcontrol,efficiency,andsecuritybyhavingdesktopdatainthedatacenter.
StoragedesignconsiderationsaresomeofthemostimportantelementsofasuccessfulHorizon
View architecture.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Virtualdesktopadoptioninthedatacenterisrapidlyincreasing.Onalargescale,thisbecomesa
challengingtasktodeployandsupport.Thousandsofdesktopimagesmustbecreatedand
maintained,resultinginahighvolumeofsmallrandomI/Orequestswhileapplicationresponse
timesmustremainlow.
ApoorvirtualdesktopuserexperienceduetolimitedIOPSperdesktopandhighlatencycan
furtherstalladoption.Forthisreason,environmentsaretypicallyoversizedforcapacitysinceit
mustbedesignedforhighIOPSrequiring alargenumberofdiskspindles.
This resultsin:
Highstoragecost
Largerfootprint
Usedoflinkedclones

AddoverheadtoESXiandvCenterservers
Increasescaleout performanceconcerns
Thealternativeistousefullclones,whichsimplifiestheperformancemanagementproblem,but
increasesthefootprintevenmore.Thetypical downsidetothisapproachis:
Lessagileenvironment
Desktopscannotberolledoutquickly
Desktopscannotberolledoutcosteffectively

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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XtremIOistheidealstoragesolutiontoaddressvirtualdesktop challenges.Thesystemisdesigned
specificallytohandlethehighlevelsofsmall,randomI/Othataretypicalofvirtualmachines.The
arraydeliversmassiveI/Operformanceensuringagooduserexperienceoneverydesktop,
characterizedbylowapplicationresponsetimes.WithXtremIOs realtimeinlinedatareduction,
youcandelivertheperformancerequiredwithminimalstoragefootprint,whilesupportingafull
cloneimplementation. Thereisnoimpactfrombootstorms,suspend/resumeoperations,or
applicationpeakdemands.WithsignificantlyhigherIOPSperdesktop,XtremIOcansupportalluser
profilesinatypicalrollout.Witheaseofmanagement,complete VAAI(vStorageAPIsforArray
Integration)integration,managingandrollingoutnewdesktopsissimplerandnotresource
intensive.Thisimprovesagilityanddrivesfurthervirtualdesktopadoption.
ThetablehighlightsspecificXtremIOstrengthsthatcanuniquelybenefitaVDIenvironment.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Thesecondusecaseisservervirtualization.Servervirtualizationprovidessignificantconsolidation
benefitsincludingreducedstorage footprint,operationalcost,managementcostandcomplexity,
andeaseofmanagementandagility.
Thechallengetodayisthatcustomersaredrivingveryhighvirtualizationrateswith50%to70%of
theirserversalreadyvirtualized.Virtualizingmultipleguestoperatingsystemswithdifferent
workloadsresultsinhighlyrandomI/Oprofilesonsharedstorage.
Anotherchallengeisthatinordertodrivehighervirtualizationrates,80%to90%,itbecomes
necessarytovirtualizemissioncriticalapplicationswithextremelydemandingI/Oloadprofiles.
Theseproblemshaveresultedinslowingthepaceoffurtherconsolidationinthedatacenter.
Inaddition,managementcomplexityforthestorageinfrastructurecontinuestoimpactsuchlarge
scalevirtualizeddatacenters.Complexityandmanagementoverheadpreventscustomersfrom
successfullyimplementingacloudservicedeliverymodel.Thisdirectlyimpactstheirabilityto
rapidlyprovisionvirtualmachinesandapplicationsandputthemintoservice.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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XtremIOprovidesacosteffectiveperformancesolutionthatenablesfurtherconsolidationofsuch
environments(80%90%).Thesystemisdesignedspecificallytohandlethehighlevelsofsmall,
randomI/Otypifiedinvirtualserverenvironments.XtremIOperformsrealtimeinlinedata
reductionthatonlystoresuniquedatainthearray.Virtualserverenvironmentscontainhigh
amountsofredundantdata(similarVMimages),whichtheXtremIOarraystoresasasingle
instance,dramaticallyreducingcapacityrequirements.Thisdatareductioncapabilitycausesno
performancedrawbacks itactuallyimprovesthearraysperformance.
XtremIOfullysupportsVAAI(vStorageAPIsforArrayIntegration),whichincombinationwithreal
timeinlinedatareductionenablesnearlyinstantaneousVMcloningoperations.Witheaseof
managementandnoneedfortuning,XtremIOmakesitpossibletorapidlyprovisionvirtualservers
forhighperformanceapplications.Thissignificantlyimprovesagilityandreadiesthedatacenterfor
cloudadoption.
Thistablehighlights theXtremIOfeaturebenefitsandtheaddedvaluetotheenvironment.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Our thirdusecaseisstoragefordatabaseanalyticsandtest/devenvironments.Database
applicationsareverydemandingonstorageduetotheirhigh,smallblockrandomIOactivity.This
applicationenvironmentalsorequiresverylowandconsistentresponsetime.Forthisreasonthis
environmentistypicallydesignedformaximizingIOPS.Itis designed withalargenumberofdisk
spindleswhichmakesitoversizedforcapacity.Thismeanshighstoragecostsandlargerfootprint.
Scalabilityandmanagementarealsobigchallengesinthisenvironment.Thereissignificantcostto
managedatalayoutacrosstheentireinfrastructure.Inordertosupporttestanddevelopment
activitieswithoutperformancepenalty,fullclonesarerequiredfurtherincreasingthetotalcostof
thesolution.Thetypicaltestanddevelopmentenvironmentlacksagilityduetothesubstantial
managementoverhead.Thistranslatestolongerapplicationrollouttimes.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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WithXtremIOyoucanconsolidatetheentireenvironmentintoamuchsmallerfootprintstill
deliveringthesameorevenhigherperformancetotheapplication.AnXtremIOallFlasharrayis
ideallysuitedforsmallblock,randomI/Oandiscapableofdeliveringconsistentlylowlatencyat
veryhighutilizationandpeakthroughput.ThismeansthatXtremIOcanbesizedforthesame
logicalcapacityandperformancewithavastlyreducedstoragefootprint.Thisreducedfootprint
resultsinsignificantsavingsinpowerandcoolingaswell.Withnoneedfortuningandeaseof
provisioning,theXtremIOsolutionofferssubstantiallyreducedmanagementcost.
Thistablehighlights thebenefitsoftheXtremIOfeatures andtheaddedvaluetotheenvironment.

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved

XtremIO Fundamentals

20

WhenyouexaminetheusecasesforXtremIO,therearesolutionsthatdonotrequirewhat
XtremIOhastooffer.
Solutionsthatrequiresomeoralloftheitemslistedbelowmayrepresentimproperpositioningof
theXtremIOstoragearray:
Highlatencyisacceptable/tolerated
LowI/Os areacceptable/tolerated
Largecapacityrequirements
Advancedreplicationrequirements
Lowamountsofduplicatedata

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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ThismodulefocusedonXtremIOhighlights,theroleofFlashdisksinthestorage environment,and
practicalusecaseexamples.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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This modulefocusesonthearchitecture,components,andtermsusedtodescribeanXtremIO
system.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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AnXtremIOsystemisadropinsolutionwhichintegrateswiththeexistingSAN.Itsupportsboth
FibreChannelandiSCSIconnectivitytothehostsandisimplementedasanyotherenterprise
storagearray.
Inside,theXtremIOstoragearrayautomaticallydeduplicatesdataasitentersthesystem.
Deduplicationisalwaysonandisperformedinrealtime,notasapostprocessingoperation.
XtremIOusesaglobalmemorycachethatisawareofdeduplicateddata,andautomaticallyspreads
dataoutacrosstheentirearray.
AllvolumesareaccessibleacrossallXBricksandacrossallstoragearrayhostports.Thesystem
leveragesahighlyavailablebackendnetworkthatprovideshighspeedswithultralowlatency.
TheeffectivelogicalcapacityofasingleXBrickvariesdependinguponthedatasetbeingstored.
Forhighlyduplicatedinformation,whichistypicalofmanyvirtualizedenvironments,theeffective
usablecapacityismuchhigherthantheavailablephysicalFlashcapacity.Deduplicationratiosinthe
rangeof5:1to30:1areroutinelyachievedinsuchenvironments.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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ThebasicbuildingblockofanXtremIOarrayistheXBrick.AnXBrickiscomprisedoftwostorage
controllers,adiskarrayenclosure(DAE)fullypopulatedwithtwentyfiveeMLC Flashdrives,anda
backupbatteryunit.
EachXBrickisconfiguredasanActive/Activehighlyavailableclusteredstoragearray,withoutany
singlepointoffailure.ThephysicalusercapacityofanXBrickisabout7.5TBandeveryvolumeis
alwaysthinprovisioned.
Withenvironmentsandworkloadsthatcantakeadvantageofdeduplication,theeffectivelogical
capacityusablebyhostsis muchlarger. A10:1deduplicationratiowouldmaketheeffective
storagecapacityover70TB.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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TheXtremIOstoragecontrollers,alsoreferredtoasnodes,aretheheartoftheXtremIOsystem.
Twoexistper XBrickandtheyruntheproprietaryoperatingsystemcalledXIOS.Theyare
interconnectedviaInfiniBandtocreateaglobalcacheviaRemoteDirectMemoryAccess(RDMA).
Therearefourconnectionsprovidedforfrontendconnectivity,twoFibreChanneland/ortwoiSCSI
networkconnections.Bothprotocols canbeusedsimultaneously.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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EachXBrickcontainsasinglefullypopulatedDAEwithtwentyfiveeMLC SolidStateDisks.TheDAE
usestwoPowerSupplyUnits(PSUs).Theyarebothcableddirectlytotherack inwhichitresides.
BydesignthereisnoneedtoprovidebatterybackuptotheDAE,sincedataprotectionandvaulting
occursonthestorage controller,notattheDAE.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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XtremIOsupportsboth8GbFibreChanneland10GbE iSCSI usingSFP+opticconnector.EachX

BrickprovidesfourFC andfouriSCSIfrontendports, twooneachstoragecontroller.Hostscanuse
eitherofthetwoprotocolsorbothatthesametime.
AkeyfeatureofXtremIOisthatallvolumesareaccessibleviaanyoftheseportsonanyX
Brick. Therefore,eachportprovideshighperformanceaccesstoanydataanywhereinthesystem.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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EachXtremIO systemhasaminimumoftwoUninterruptedPowerSupplies(UPS).EachUPScan
providepowertothestoragecontrollersintheeventofapoweroutage.Eachstoragecontrolleris
connectedviaserialporttotheUPSCOMportformonitoring.
NotethatthenumberofUPSsisdeterminedbythesizeofthecluster.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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The storagecontrollersuseanInfiniBandconnectiontoeachotherinasingleXBrickclusteranddo
notrequireInfiniBandswitches.WhenadualorquadXBrickclusterisformed,therearenot
enoughinternalportstointerconnectthem.
Theswitches provideahighlyavailable backendnetworkthatenableshighspeed,ultralow
latencyRemoteDirectMemoryAccess(RDMA)communicationbetweenallstoragecontrollersin
thecluster.
ByleveragingRDMA,theXtremIOsystemisinessenceasingle,sharedmemoryspacespanningall
storagecontrollers.TheInfiniBand switchesareunmanagedandplugandplaysothereisno
configurationormanagementbyEMC ortheconsumer.
TheInfiniBand switchisnotoptional;itiseithernotrequiredinthecaseofsingleXBrickXtremIO
systemorrequiredindualandquadsystems.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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TheXtremIOManagementServer (XMS) isarequiredserverusedtomanagetheXtremIOstorage

system.ItcommunicateswiththestoragecontrollersineachXBrickviathemanagementLAN.It
canbeaphysicalserverorinstalledasavirtualapplianceonVMwarevSphere.
TheXMSenablesthemanagementofthearrayusingaGUIorCLI.Itisimortanttoknowthatan
XMScanonlymanageoneXtremIOsystem.Multiplesystems requiremultipleXtremIO
ManagementServers.AsingleXtremIOsystemwithmultipleXBrickshasonlyoneXMS.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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YoucanchoosetohaveanXtremIO systeminstalledinarackprovidedbyEMCorintegrateitinto
anexistingrack.Theimageillustratesthespacerequirementsforeachmodel.Ifyouchoosetouse
apreexistingrack,confirmwithEMCthatitissuitableforyourXtremIOsystem.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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ThismodulecoveredtheXtremIOhardware, frontendconnectivityoptions,andracklayoutusing
XtremIOterminology.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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This modulefocusesonthefeaturesandcapabilitiesofanXtremIOsystem.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Theprocess ofinlinedatareduction,alsocalledinlinededuplication,isachievedinthefollowing
manner.TheXtremIOsystemprocessesdatainblocksasitenters thestoragecontroller.All
incomingdatastreamsaresplitupinto4Kblocksandtheneachblockisfingerprintedbasedonthe
contentofthedatawithinthe4Kblock.
Thefingerprintingmethodologyprovidesauniformdistributionofvalues. Evenasinglebit
differencebetweenanytwo4Kblocksresultsincompletelyuncorrelatedfingerprintvalues.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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WhenblocksarewrittentotheXtremIO system,theyarenotimmediatelyflushedtodisk.The
systemisdesignedtooptimize writestodiskbykeepingwritesinthededuplicationawarecache
untilthereareenoughblockstowriteafullstripeatatime.Asshowninthisexample,oncethere
areenoughincomingblocksofdata,thesystemwillflushthecachetotheFlashdrives.Thisallows
thesystemtokeepthemostrecentlyaccesseddataincacheincaseitisreadagain makingthe
bestuseofsystemcycles.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Thephysicallocationofthedataisdeterminedbythefingerprintofthedata.Usingthefingerprint
value,XtremIOhastheuniquecapabilitytodistributethedataevenlyacrosstheentirearray,and
placeeachblockinthemostsuitablelocation.Sinceallthedataisalwaysevenlyspreadacrossall
theSSDs,theXtremIOsystemensuresconsistentperformanceandamaximumlifespanofallSSDs.
Thisalsoprovidesbetterendurance andinherentloadbalancingacrossallcontrollersanda
scalableprocessthatworksregardlessofthenumberofcontrollersinthecluster.
Anotheradvantageoffingerprintingeach4Kblock,isthatbeforeablockiswritten,itsfingerprintis
comparedtoexistingblocksinthesystem.Here,wecanseethatablockmatchesablockwhichhas
alreadybeenwrittentocache.Forthisblockwewillsimplyupdatethereferencecountinmetadata
anddiscardit.Thisdataisnotrewrittentothedrives,sincethedataisalreadythere. Withthis
methodnotonlydowesavespacebuttheduplicatewriteiscarriedoutevenfasterthananon
deduplicatedwrite.Asmoredata iswrittentothearray,thereisabetterchanceofmatchingfora
biggercostsavingsandincreasedperformance.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Anotheradvantageoftherevolutionary waythatXtremIO handlesdataisthatitprovidesnative

thinprovisioning.Allvolumesarethinprovisioned.SinceXtremIOdynamicallycalculatesthe
locationofeach4Kdatablock,itneverpreallocatesorthickprovisionsstoragespacebefore
writingtheactualdata.
Thinprovisioningisnotaconfigurablepropertyofavolume;itisalwayson.Again,thisprovides
severalbenefits.Unliketraditionalmethodologies,XtremIOthinprovisioningisinherenttothe
storagesystem.Thereisnoperformancelossorcapacityoverhead.Thereisnogarbagecollection
involvedwithXtremIOthinprovisioning.Furthermore,thereisnovolumedefragmentation
necessary,sinceallblocksaredistributedovertheentirearraybydesign.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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ThewayanXtremIOhandlesdata incombinationwithVMwarevStorageAPIforArrayIntegration
(VAAI)makesXtremIO oneofthebeststorageplatformsforVMwarevirtualizedenvironments.
WhileotherstoragearraysutilizeVAAIandreceiveaperformancebenefit,XtremIOsurpassesother
platformsinperformance.
VAAIallowstheVMkerneltooffloadcommonsupportedoperationsfromtheESXihoststothe
VAAIenabledstoragesystem.Thisreducesthehostworkload,lessensnetworktraffic,and
improvesperformance.Specifically,XtremIOsupportsExtendedCopy(xcopy),blockzeroing,
AtomicTestandSet,andspace reclamation.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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ThisimageprovidesandexampleofaVAAIassistedfullcopyoperationwith anXtremIOsystem.
XtremIOnotonlyavoidsreading andwritingtoandfromthehost(asistrueforallVAAIenabled
arrays),butitalsoavoidsreadsandwritestotheFlash drives completely,andsimply creates
metadatapointersinmemory.XtremIO cancloneVMsandperformstoragevMotion operationsat
6 8GB/secperXBrick.

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XtremIO Fundamentals

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Thisimage illustrateshowBlockzeroingisperformedonanXtremIOsystem.XtremIO performance

issuperiortootherarraysbecausewhentheESXiserversendstheblockzeroingcommand(trim),
XtremIOdiscardstheSCSIcommandanddoesnotcreateamapping. Whileotherarraysbenefitby
havingtheoperationcarriedoutbythearrayitself,thezeroingoperationstilltakesplaceand
consumesmoretimeandresources.
IfthehosttriestoreadablockthatXtremIOhasnomappingfor,thearraywillsimplyreturnzeros.
Inthismanner,zerosconsumeneitherphysicalSSDspacenorlogicalmetadataspaceinmemory.
Italsomeansthatblockzeroingtakesplaceatover10gigabytespersecond.Thisisakey
advantagebecauseyoucaneagerzerothickprovisionallyourVMswithoutanyupfrontor
downstreamperformancepenalty,allwhilebeingcompletelyspaceefficientonthearray.

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AnotherkeycomponentoftheXtremIOsystemisthe XtremIO DataProtection(XDP)feature.

XtremIOhasreinventeddataprotectionfromthegrounduptoleveragethespecificpropertiesof
Flashmedia.TheXtremIODataProtectionalgorithmsimultaneouslycombinesthemostdesirable
traitsoftraditionalRAIDalgorithms,avoidstheirpitfalls,andbringsentirelynewandpreviously
impossiblecapabilitiestotheXtremIOstoragesystem.
Howdoesitachievethesefeatures?Theanswerisinthealgorithmsabilitytoplaceandaccess
datainanylocationonanySSD.PastRAIDalgorithmshadtoconsiderhowtokeepdatacontiguous
toavoiddiskdriveheadseeks.XDPpresumesrandomaccessmediasuchasFlashispresentinthe
array,andthusitcanlayoutdataandreaditbackinhighlyefficientwaysthatwouldheavily
penalizeadiskbasedRAIDalgorithm,butwithnoilleffectsinXtremIOallFlasharchitecture.

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XtremIODataProtectionsignificantlyenhancestheenduranceoftheunderlyingFlashmedia
comparedtoanypreviousRAIDalgorithm.Thisisanimportantconsiderationforanenterprise
Flasharray.XDPhasbeendesignedforpartialstripeupdates.Thisiscriticaltomaintaining
performanceoverthelongterminaproductionsettingoncethearrayhasbeenfilledandfile
systemsandapplicationsareoverwritingolddatawithnewdata.
TraditionalRAIDhasaheavyperformancepenaltyinthisscenario,asitismostefficientwhen
performingfullstripewritesintoavailablefreespace.XtremIOisoptimizedforthesituationwhere
everyblockarrayeventuallyisconsumed,whichissaythatnocontiguousfreespaceremains.XDP
isvastlysuperiorinperformanceandflashenduranceintheselongterm,steadystate,production
situations.
Thistableillustratestheperformance,levelofprotection,andoverheadassociatedwithXtremIO
XDPincomparisonto thetraditionalRAIDschemes.

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EachXtremIOXBrickcontainsoneDAEwith25SSDs.TheseSSDsareconfiguredwithN+2rowand
diagonalparity,asshownhere.IfoneoftheSSDsinanXBrickfails,XDPwillquicklyrebuildthe
faileddrive,whiledynamicallyreconfiguringincomingnewwritesintoa22+2stripesizeto
maintainN+2doublefailureprotectionforallnewdatawrittentothearray. XDPalwaysmaintains
areservedcapacityoneachdrivetoperformthe first driverebuild.
ThisreservedcapacityisfactoredoutofXtremIOs 7.5TBusablecapacityperXBrick.Thefirstdrive
failuredoesnotlessenthe7.5TB ofusablespaceperXBrick. Because eachwriteiswrittentoa
totallyrandomblockonthecluster,notonlydoesXtremIOnotrequirehotspares,butevery
availableSSDisalwaysactiveandaddingtothearraysperformance.
Oncetherebuildcompletesandthefaileddriveisreplaced,incomingwriteswillonceagainbe
writtenwiththestandard23+2stripe.ThisadaptabilityallowsXDPtotolerateasequence of5SSD
failureswithouthavingtorushtothedatacentertoreplacefailedSSDs.XtremIOcancontinueto
rebuildfaileddrivesup tothe5drivelimit,whileservinguserI/Os,aslongasthereisstillavailable
capacityinthearray.Bothrowanddiagonalparityareusedforfastdriverebuilds.Thisisavery
uniquefeaturethatallowsadministratorstodeferdrivereplacementsuntilaconvenienttime.This
isespeciallyimportantinremote,secure,andlightsoutdatacenters.

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ThismodulefocusedonthefeaturesandcapabilitiesoftheXtremIOsystem.

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This modulefocusesonthemanagementinterfacesforXtremIO.

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AnXtremIOsystemisverysimpletoconfigureandmanage.Thereisnoneedforextensive
planning.First,thereisnoRAIDconfiguration.WhenthesystemisinitializedtheRAIDisalready
configuredasasingleRAIDgroup.AlltheuserdataisspreadacrossalltheXBricks.Thereisno
tieringandperformancetuning.AllI/Osaretreatedthesame.Allvolumes,whencreated,are
mappedtoallports(FCandiSCSI)andthereisnostoragetieringinthearray.Thiseliminatesmany
complex aspectscommonlyassocated withstorageprovisioningoperations.

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TheXtremIO ManagementServerisa Linuxbasedsystemwhichcanbedeployedoneithera

physicalserverthat canbepurchasedoravirtualappliancedeployedinanexistingVMware
environment.Thisistheprimary platforminwhichanXtremIOsystemismanaged.ItprovidesGUI
managementviaaJavaWebStart application andCLImanagementfromwithintheGUIonthe
administrationtab.
ShownhereistheDashboardviewoftheXMS.

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TheXMSprovidesauserfriendlyGUIformanagingandmonitoringtheclusterwithouttheneedto
befamiliarwiththeCLI.
Theinterfaceisdividedintothefollowingsections,shownintheslide.
Themenubarcontainsiconsforselectingtheworkspaceyouwanttoworkin. Theworkspace
containsthewindowpanesthroughwhichyoucanmonitorandmanagethecluster.Thestatusbar
showsthecluster'sconnectionstatus,clustername,andthecurrentusername.
Themenubaristheprimarymeansofnavigationin XMS.Itrepresentsalltheactionsthatcanbe
performedonanXtremIOsystem.
Fordetailedoperations,consulttheEMCXtremIOStorageArrayUserGuideavailableon
support.emc.com.Itprovidesacompletewalkthroughofalltheoperationsthatcanbeperformed.

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YoucanmanageandmonitortheXtremIOsystemusingthe CommandLineInterface(CLI).
YoucanaccesstheCLIinthreeways:
XMSGUIviatheAdministration tab
SSHclientsuch asPuTTY
XMCLIclientwhichisastandaloneapplicationdeployedona CentOS 6.xoperatingsystem
FordetailedoperationsconsulttheEMCXtremIOStorageArrayUserGuideavailableon
support.emc.com.Itprovidesacompletewalkthroughofalltheoperationsthatcanbeperformed.

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XtremIOrequirescustomizedperformancetesttools.Thisisbecausetraditionaltools(suchasFIO
andIometer standarddistribution)writethesamedatapatternsoverandoverresultinginan
unrealistichighdedupratio.BecauseoftheXtremIOarrayuniquedesign,thiscanresultinthe
arraybeingvastlyunderutilized.
To addressthisissue,XtremIOrecommendsusingBtest forLinux,Iometer 2010forWindowsand
Vdbench 5.03forSolaris.Thesetoolsarecapableofgenerating distinctdatapatterns andtheyare
available fordownload.

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ThismodulefocusedonthemanagementinterfacesforXtremIO.

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ThiscoursecoveredanintroductiontotheEMCXtremIOflasharraysystem.Itdiscussedthe
productarchitecture,usecases,hardwareandsoftwarecomponents,capabilities,andinterfaces
availabletotheconsumer.
Thisconcludesthetraining.

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