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Explore the latest features and sales approach for Dynamic Storage Tiers (DST). Address customer objections, qualify sales, and leverage DST for various data types. Learn about new capabilities in Editions Products and resolving objections with DST. Discover 5.0 features and FAQs for a seamless experience.
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Tiered Storage Chris Naddeo Sr Technical Product Manager, Storage Foundation
Dynamic Storage Tiers (formerly known as QoSS) • Qualifying the environment • Objections & (if appropriate) how we address them in 5.0 • Competitive Issues you are facing
Qualifying a DST sale • Today’s known DST customers run the following applications: • Email • Medical research files • ‘pre-structured’ data • Large scale records store (billions of miscellaneous files) • There has been interest from customers running these additional applications: • Customer Billing Records (CBRs) • Call Detail Records (CDRs)
Qualifying a DST sale • The sales cycle is shorter with unstructured data • More on structured, relational data in a bit. • Applications with a mix of active and inactive data are a good fit • More storage makes the economics more compelling
Clarity on DST and Relational Data • Do not run from positioning DST with relational data • What we can do today with 4.1 and QoSS • Put tablespaces in read only mode. • Use mtime as the criteria to move *.dbf files. • Applicable for DSS architectures where read only is realistic • Older billing records partitioned by time (TBS schema supports this) • Nextel is going to be kicking off a POC on this in a few weeks • Use explicit or wildcard naming to move specific dbf files
5.0 New Capabilities in Editions Products for DST and Databases • DBA user can now create and manage placement policies. • Root will still have to set-up volume sets. • Analogous to Flashsnap and DB Flashsnap • There are some new placement polices that the editions team created to handle older archive logs • The DBED GUI has some performance statistics that understand component volumes
5.0 New “base VxFS” capabilities not used by Editions • These are exposed in the core VxFS 5.0 offering • You could use IOTEMP or ACCESSTEMP to move a *.dbf file and keep it in read/write mode since if you only did a few writes to the header region we would still move the file. • Come see me if you want details on this • You could “load balance” a filesystem across multiple volumes in a MVFS using the exposed base VxFS 5.0 sub-file allocation mechanism. • This would give you an ASM like construct. It would also bring the benefit of reduced on-line relayout times • 1 large volume, on-line relayout time = x • Many smaller volumes with files stripped across volumes and now you add or remove a few volumes. Relayout time = y • Assumption (and from testing?) is that x >> y • Sub-file DST was NOT consumed by the Editions team for 5.0
DST Objections – heard from the field in 2005 • If you lose the Tier 2 volume you lose the file system. SPOF. • No longer an issue: 5.0 keeps all VxFS metadata on Tier 1 by default, and adds ability to mount even if the Tier 2 volume is missing • It’s too transparent. How do I know which volume a file is on? • 5.0 adds a reporting tool to map from file to volume (and vice versa) • I can’t set relocation policies if I have any allocation policies set. • 5.0 lets users set both initial placement and relocation in one place • Atime/mtime is bogus. Relocation should be based on frequency. • 5.0 lets you specify policy based on access frequency • IOTEMP and ACCESSTEMP • NBU should restore files to the tier from which they were backed up • Still an issue. Call Paul Mayer, NBU PM at 651-746-7022 and let him know your customers need this. He plans priorities for NBU futures.
What else is new in DST 5.0? • Allocation policies can be set on files before they are created • *.jpg should be created on tier 2 • files created by user=oracle should be on tier 1 • files in directory /critical should be on tier 1 • Deletion policies can be set on files • *.mp3 not accessed within 60 days should be deleted • Be careful, especially if you’re Warner Music • An optional wizard steps you through creating policies for common scenarios • Policies are now stored in XML • Open format, not a proprietary one
Other FAQ • Can I upgrade an existing VxFS file system to DST? • Yes, although it requires an unmount • Can I convert it back if I decide I don’t like it? • Yes, you can back out all the way back to a single file system/volume • Do we have any references? • None public. We may be able to arrange a phone call, and we have one customer who may be able to serve as an internal-to-government reference. • Why don’t I just choose a tier for each application rather than put this complex thing in? • Why couple storage and capacity if you don’t have to and it’s not hard? • Setting DST up is simple – fewer than 10 commands, all but two of which can be done online • Many apps need performance for their current data, and capacity for their historic data. Why pay millions of extra dollars for performance when you just need capacity?
Final Thoughts • Competition • Creates tiers with vLUNs and can move data at the LUN level between back end physical storage frames. • No FS intelligence • No Automation • What are your sales inhibitors? • Are you “loosing” to competition? • What else do you need from DST?