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Glasgow Storage Area Network (SAN) Update

Glasgow Storage Area Network (SAN) Update. Where We Were (April ’05) Why Consider a SAN. Heterogeneous environment Protects against SPF Storage aggregation into virtual pools Less complex management Lower admin costs More suited to DR Potential for server consolidation

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Glasgow Storage Area Network (SAN) Update

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  1. Glasgow Storage Area Network (SAN) Update

  2. Where We Were (April ’05) Why Consider a SAN • Heterogeneous environment • Protects against SPF • Storage aggregation into virtual pools • Less complex management • Lower admin costs • More suited to DR • Potential for server consolidation • Significantly improves backup restore capabilities • Improves data security, accessibility and availability

  3. Proposed SAN Model • A core fabric spanning 2 sites • A number of FC edge switches linked to the FC core • A number of disk arrays providing the storage requirements for: • Research projects • Mirroring • Core services • Other applications • A number of servers connected via FC Host Bus Adaptors (HBAs) • An enterprise class backup facility • NAS heads for file sharing functionality • iSCSI support for fabric extension to non FC attached clients • FC/IP support for native fabric extension

  4. Proposed SAN Model

  5. Fabric costs Fabric Design Switch costs HBA costs Fibre provision Manufacturers limits Vendor and OS support Fabric extension NAS heads iSCSI and FC/IP SAN management Disk grouping Security Performance monitoring What Factors Need to Be Addressed When Considering a SAN Solution?

  6. Disk virtualisation requirements Virtualising file systems Backup Regimes Type – Snapshot, Full and Incremental Extent – wont be able to backup all SAN storage Media – Tape, staging disk then tape Costs – hardware and media Fabric Connection Guidelines Not an open SAN Restrict to manageable set of proven hardware compatible systems Funding Initial SRIF Requires significant investment over time Who pays? What Factors Need to Be Addressed When Considering a SAN Solution?

  7. What Happened • EU procurement process for SAN commenced with publication of official notice in OJEC • Expression of interest from interested suppliers required by mid April ‘’04 • Operational requirement and invitation to tender documentation produced and reviewed by small working group • 20 expressions of interest received • Initial shortlist drawn up and operational requirement/invitation to tender sent on 11th may ‘ 04 with closing date for responses 10th June ‘’04 • Responses received from usual suspects • Suppliers meetings held and shortlist refined • BAFO sent to short listed suppliers on 18th august ‘’04 with responses by 10th sep ‘’04 • Final shortlist of three suppliers agreed and detailed negotiations commenced • Decision on best overall solution and actual spend made by end of Nov ‘’04 • Kit delivered between 23rd December and 10th January

  8. Procurement process

  9. What Did We Get • A lot of work – electrical and other provisioning work • A lot of boxes and a lot of heavy boxes • Logistical nightmare – getting the right boxes to the right location (saved by Nano Fab refurb) • Some pictures • And the end result

  10. Where to Now – Initial Allocations • Initial commitments are 8TB grid, 4TB Hatti, 3.5TB student support • This leaves 9TB approx for other purposes • Initial proposal is to allocate 1TB approx per faculty but; • This is a file level allocation and will require fileservers and decisions on the delivery mechanism e.g NFS, Netware, SMB, CIFS • A suitable client/server model

  11. Where to Now – Future Provision • Need to have an attractive costing model for future buy in • Complicated by (DR) replication model and backup requirements • Initial expansion will be costly requiring additional FC switches, storage arrays and File servers • Thereafter additional capacity would be disks/expansion units and servers • File level service requiring server consolidation to provision • Aiming for as low a cost per Megabyte as possible • Would not attempt to recover capital costs • Ask University to fund infrastructure with Fac/Dept funding their own additional storage services

  12. Is SAN Storage Really Cheaper Than DAS • Difficult to estimate but studies highlight the following: • DAS typically reaches 10-50% utilisation. SAN typically 80-90% • Highest cost is Sys Admin some say by a factor of 7/1 • Some studies indicate the watershed between DAS and SAN is reached at around 12 TB • Need to include all costs not just headline costs

  13. Is SAN Storage Really Cheaper Than DAS • References: • http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=1000938 • http://www.its.monash.edu.au/staff/systems/dsm/technical/cost-recovery/cost-comparison-das-san.html • http://www.infoconomy.com/pages/storage-finance/group95520.adp

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