SolidFire:AllFlashfortheNextGenerationDataCenter

DaveWright
SolidFireFounder,VicePresidentandGM

March/April2016
AdditionalSolidFireResources

InFebruary2016NetAppcompleteditsacquisitionofSolidFire,
amarketleaderinallflashstoragesystemsbuiltforthenext
generationdatacenter.TechOnTapispleasedtowelcome
SolidFirefounder,DaveWright,tointroduceourreaderstothis
technology.DavestartedSolidFirein2010thethirdcompany
hefoundedtobuildauniqueflashstoragearchitecturethat
deliverstheperformance,automation,andscaletoadvance
thewaytheworldusesthecloud.

Videos,Blogs,andArticles

SolidFireandNetApp(Dave
Wright,video)
SolidFire+NetApp=Unstoppable
Force
SolidFire:ThePerfectAdditionto
NetAppsFlashPortfolio(Dave
Hitz,blog)
NetAppandSolidFire:Flashto
MeetAllYourDataManagement
Needs(LeeCaswell,interview)
TheBeginningoftheEndofthe
AllflashArrayMarket(Dave
Wright,blog)

Publiccloudarchitectureismakingitswayintoenterpriseand
serviceproviderdatacenters,creatinganewsetofchallenges
foradministrators.Tobesuccessfulwiththecloudmodelwith
dynamicallyallocatedpoolsofcompute,networking,and
storageinfrastructurehastobeextremelycosteffectiveand
deliverscalability,automation,andsupportformultitenancy
andmixedworkloads.Thesearethecoreprinciplesofthe
SolidFiredesign.

Podcasts

TheTechOnTapPodcastteamhasbeen
workinghardtobringyouthelateston
SolidFire:

Episode25:NetApphasAcquired
SolidFire(AndyGrimes)
Episode26:SolidFireDeepDive
(AaronDelp,AmyLewis,
JeramiahDooley,AndyBanta)
Episode27:Infrastructure
Automation(JoshAtwell)
Episode28:SolidFire
Virtualization(AaronPatten)

StorageFieldDayVideos


DaveWrightandtheSolidFireteam
presentedatStorageFieldDay5
including:

SolidFireSolutionOverview
ComparingModernAllFlash
Architectures

UltimateSoftwareChooses
SolidFire
UltimateSoftwareisaleadingproviderof
humancapitalmanagement(HCM)
solutionsdeliveredviaSoftwareasa
Service(SaaS).Morethan2,800
customersoperatingin150countries
countonUltimatesUltiProsuite.

Ultimatehastfourmaindatacentersin
NorthAmerica,builtonapod
architecturewith200500customersper
pod.Plaguedbystorageperformance
issues,UltimateturnedtoSolidFire,
originallypurchasingfiveSF3010nodes,
andquicklyadding66SF2405nodes,
withplanstopurchaseanadditional44
nodes.

Inadditiontoperformance,SolidFirewas
chosenforitssecurity,availability,and
integrationwithbothOpenStackand
VMware.PodssupportedbySolidFire
deliver4xtheperformance,whileQoS
eliminatesthenoisyneighborproblems
seeninotherpods.

ReadtheUltimateSoftwarecasestudy.

Ifyou'realongtimeNetAppuser,you'llbecurioustoknowmoreaboutSolidFire.Thisarticleexplainssomeof
thetechnologychoicesthatmakeitsdesigndifferentfromotherallflasharrays.

ScaleOut,SharedNothingArchitecture
MostallflashstoragesystemsincludingPureandXtremIOuseadualcontrollerdesigntoprotectagainst
failure.Twocontrollersshareaccesstoasetofdrives,andonecontrollertakesoverfortheotherintheeventof
afailuredataisprotectedwithsometypeofRAID.

TheSolidFiredesigntakesadifferentapproach,usingascaleout,sharednothingarchitecture.EachSolidFire
nodeisastandard1Ux86systemwith10internalMLCorTLCSSDs.Nodesareinterconnectedvia10GbE,and
nothingissharedbetweennodes.HostsaccessdataviaeitheriSCSIorFibreChannelblockprotocols.

ASolidFireclusterstartswith4nodesandcanscaleoutincrementallyto100nodes.Dataisautomatically
distributedacrossallnodesinacluster,soeachadditionalnodeexpandsperformanceandcapacitylinearly.A
storagevolumeisneverconstrainedbytheperformancelimitsofasinglecontroller.

Figure1)SolidFiredeliverslinearscaleoutofperformanceandcapacityinasharednothingdesign.


Source:SolidFire2016

Thisapproachhassignificantadvantages:

Nondisruptivescaleout/scalein.AddorremovenodeswithoutdisruptingserviceorcompromisingQualityof
Service(QoS).Dataisautomaticallyredistributedinthebackgroundacrossallnodes,maintainingbalanceasthe
systemgrows.

Instantresourceavailability.Newlyaddedstorageresourcesareinstantlyavailabletoeveryvolumewithinthe
system,eliminatingtheneedtoreallocatevolumesovernewdrives.

Abilitytomixnodes.Somescaleoutsystemsrequirenodestobeidentical.SolidFiregivesyoutheabilityto
mixnodesofdifferenttypesandgenerations.Aselectionofperformanceandcapacitypointsletsyouscaleto
matchyourneeds.

Simplercapacityplanning.Becausescaleoutoccursin1Uincrements,performanceandcapacitycanbe
addedinaverygranularfashion.Thiseliminatesrelianceonmultiyearcapacityandperformanceprojections.It
alsoeliminatesupfrontoverprovisioning,allowingyoutotakeadvantageofpricereductionsovertime.

Noforkliftupgrades.Newgenerationnodescansimplybeaddedtoanexistingcluster.Whenthetimecomes,
oldnodescanberemovedandretiredorrepurposed.Compatibilitybetweenstoragenodesisguaranteed.Each
timeyouaddanode,youareabletoaddthemostuptodatetechnology.

DataAssurance
Toprovidedataredundancy,SolidFiremaintainstwocopiesofeverydatablockontwoseparatenodesa

technologycalledHelixthatisbuiltintoourElementOSoperatingsoftware.Thisallowsaclustertosustain
applicationperformanceafterfailuresoccur.Italsotakesawaytheneedtohaveseparatestorageshelveswith
shareddriveaccess,makingthehardwarelesscomplexandlessexpensive.Forinstance,SolidFireusessingle
attachSSDsinsteadofmoreexpensiveenterprisegrade,dualattachSSDs.

Thesystemselfhealsquickly,reducingtheriskthatasecondfailurewilloccurbeforeredundancyisrestored.
Becauseaclusterrespondsgracefullytonodesgoingoffline,thefeaturealsofacilitatesnondisruptivehardware
andsoftwareupgrades.

SelfHealingfromFailures

Allresourcesinthesystemarealwaysintheactivepoolthereisnoneedtohavesparedrivesorsparenodes
sittingidleincaseoffailure.

Drivefailure.Ifadrivefails,thesystemautomaticallyrestoresfullredundancybyredistributingcopiesofdata
usingameshedrebuildprocess.Thereisnodegradedmodeoperationandnoperformancepenaltyduringa
rebuild.Theprocesstypicallycompletesin5minutesorless.Becauseofthespeedwithwhichfullredundancyis
restored,itprovidesalevelofdataprotectionthatexceedsRAID6inatypicalsystem.

Nodefailure.Becausedatacopiesaredistributedonseparatenodes,alldataremainsaccessibleifanodefails.
Connectionstothefailednodeareautomaticallyredirectedtoothernodes.Aswithadrivefailure,fullredundancy
isrestoredquicklyandautomaticallybymakingsuretherearetwocopiesofeachblock.

Nomatterthefailuremodedrive,node,backplane,networkfailure,softwarefailuretherecoveryprocessisthe
same.Becausetherecoveryworkloadisdistributedacrossallnodesinthecluster,redundancyisrestored
quickly,andnosinglenode(orapplicationworkload)takesaperformancehit.Themorenodesinthecluster,the
fastertheactivityoccursandthelowertheoverallimpact.

Figure2)Afteranodefailure,dataredundancyisrestoredbydistributingnewcopiesofallblocksfromthefailed
nodeacrossthesurvivingnodes.Performanceandcapacityutilizationincreaseevenlyacrossallnodes.


Source:SolidFire2016

GuaranteedPerformance
Tosupportmixedapplicationworkloadsandmultitenantenvironmentsonasinglecluster,SolidFireprovides
guaranteedQoS.UnlikeimplementationsthatprovideQoSonabesteffortbasis,SolidFireisabletoguarantee
performancetoeachworkload.

Youcanallocateperformanceandcapacityindependentlyforeveryvolumeinasystem.Whenyoucreatea
volume,yousimplysetthedesiredsize,andspecifythreeQoSparameters:Min,Max,andBurst.Ifyouchange
thesettingsonavolume,itwillimmediatelystartreceivingserviceatthenewlevels.

TheMinsettingdefinesaminimumlevelofperformancemeasuredinIOPS(weightedbyI/Osize).Thevolume
isguaranteedtodeliveratleastthatlevelofperformanceunderallcircumstances.TheMaxsettingdefineshow
manyIOPSavolumecanconsume.Becausehardratelimitscancreateproblemsforapplicationsatransient
VDIbootstormisagoodexamplethereisalsotheBurstparameter.Applicationsbuildupcreditswhenthey
runundertheirmaximumlimit,allowingthemtoburstforshortperiodswhennecessary.

Figure3)GuaranteedQoS.TheleftsideillustratestheeffectofnoisyneighborswithQoSdisabled.Afew
poorlybehavedworkloadsrobperformancefromeverythingelse.Ontheright,theeffectofenablingQoSwith
varioussettingsfordifferentworkloadscanbeseen.


Source:SolidFire2016

AstudyfromEnterpriseStrategyGroup(ESG)estimatesthatSolidFirewithguaranteedQoScaneliminateupto
93%oftraditionalstoragerelatedissuesincludingproblemscausedbyworkloadimbalances,monopolizationof
afixedsetofresources,insufficientresourcesinapool,movingVMs,inefficienttiering,andcontroller
bottlenecks.ThestudyconcludedthatguaranteedQoSandautomatedloadbalancingallowanorganizationto
consolidateagreatervarietyandvolumeofworkloadsonasinglestoragesystem.Withtraditionalstorageandno
QoS,youwouldeitherspendmoretimeaddressingperformanceissuesoroverprovisionstoragearraysto
minimizeproblems.

AutomatedManagement
TheSolidFiredesigneliminatesmuchofthecomplexitythatwouldotherwisecomplicateautomation.
Performanceandcapacityareglobalpools,andworkloadsareautomaticallydistributedacrossthecluster.
Provisioningisextremelysimple,andmanytraditionalstoragetasksareeliminatedsuchas:

Performancetuningandloadbalancing
Managingtiering,prioritization,orcaching
Shortstrokingoroverprovisioning
RAIDgroupandsparedrivemanagement
Generationalupgradesorplatformmigrations

EverythingSolidFiredoesisexposedthroughacomprehensiveRESTbasedAPI.Automationreducestheriskof

humanerrorassociatedwithcomplexadministrativetasks.

Figure4)SolidFireRESTAPI.TheSolidFireRESTAPIunderpinsallSolidFiremanagementinterfaces,plug
ins,andtools,andfacilitatescustomintegrations.

Source:SolidFire2016

TheSolidFireAPIenablesdeepintegrationwithmanagementandorchestrationplatformsandsupportsthe
developmentofuserfacingstoragecontrols.Italsoenablesrapiddeploymentofapplicationsandservices.Allof
SolidFirestoolsandallthirdpartyintegrationsincludingthoseforVMware,OpenStack,andothersarebuiltusing
theAPI.

ESGmakesthebenefitofSolidFireautomationclear,concludingthatSolidFirehelpsadministratorsspinup
virtualmachinesupto81%fasterandlowersoperatingexpensesupto67%versustraditionalstorage.

InlineDataEfficiency
SolidFireoffersavarietyofstorageefficiencytechnologies,includingglobalthinprovisioningandspaceefficient
snapshotsandclones.ThesearesimilarinprincipletoNetApptechnologiesyouareprobablyalreadyfamiliar
with.


Combinedwithmultilayercompressionandglobalinlinededuplication,thesetechnologiesincreasethe
effectivestoragecapacityofaSolidFirecluster.

EachSolidFirenodeincludesaPCIeNVRAMcardthatservesasawritecache.Whenahostwritesdata,the
writeisdividedinto4KBblocksthatareimmediatelycompressedandstoredinNVRAM.Eachcompressedblock
issynchronouslyreplicatedtoanadditionalstoragenode.Anacknowledgementisreturnedafterdatahasbeen
storedinNVRAMonbothnodes,sowritesareextremelyfastandperformanceispredictable.

Eachcompressedblockishashedusingasecurecryptohashalgorithm.Theresultingvalueservesasa
BlockID.TheBlockIDdeterminesblockplacement,resultinginacontentaddressedstoragesystemsimilarto
thoseusedinleadingobjectstores.Thehashalgorithmdistributesblocksacrossallnodesinarandomfashion
thatensuresanevendistributionofload.

BasedontheBlockID,theSolidFireDeduplicationBlockServiceidentifiesblocksthathavepreviouslybeen
written.Ifablockalreadyexists,metadataisupdatedaccordinglyandtheduplicateisdiscarded.

Thededuplicationprocessisinlineandglobaldeduplicationhappensacrosstheentirecluster,notpervolume
orpernode.

Thecombinationofinlinecompressionandglobaldeduplicationhassubstantialadvantages:

Reducesdrivewear:Repetitivewritesareeliminated,increasingSSDlife.

Increasessystemperformance:Systemresourceconsumptionisminimized.
Eliminateshotspots:Workloadsareevenlydistributedacrossentireclusters.

Theinlinecompressionalgorithmwaschosenbasedonspeed.SolidFirealsousespostprocesscompressionin
thebackground.Amorecomputationallyintensecompressionalgorithmfurtheroptimizesstoragecapacity
withoutimpactingperformance.

CompleteStorageCapabilities
ThisarticleprovidesafoundationtohelpyoubegintounderstandtheuniqueaspectsofSolidFiresallflash
scaleoutstorageplatform.Whilemanyofthekeypointshavebeentouchedon,youshouldknowthatSolidFire
offersacomprehensivesetofstorageservices:

Replication(synchronous/asynchronous)
Integratedcloudbackup
Snapshotsandclones
256bitencryptionatrest
Comprehensivelogging
Cloudbasedmonitoring
Securemultitenancy
Simultaneousmultiprotocolsupport(FC/iSCSI)
Deepintegrations:VMware,OpenStack,CloudStack

TofindoutmoreaboutSolidFire,checkouttheresourcelistinthesidebarincludedwiththisarticleorvisit
solidfire.com.

DaveWrightleftStanfordin1998tohelpstartGameSpyIndustries,whereheledateamthatcreatedabackend
infrastructurepoweringthousandsofgamesandmillionsofgamers.HelaterservedasChiefArchitectforIGN
afteritacquiredGameSpy.

In2007DavefoundedJungleDisk,apioneerincloudbasedstorageandbackup.Rackspaceacquiredjungle
Diskin2008,andDaveworkedcloselywiththeRackspaceClouddivisiontobuildacloudplatformthat
supportedtensofthousandsofcustomers.InDecember2009,DaveleftRackspacetostartSolidFire.

QuickLinks

TechOnTapCommunity

Archive

PDF