Hi Toasters
Sorry it's taken so long to get reply back... I've been distracted with other "fires" for the last week.
A big thank you to Michael, Andrei and Tony for your responses. Toasters is a great resource because people like you are willing to share your experience and expertise. Cheers.
To close this out and for the benefit of others, here's where I've landed based on your feedback:
__ FlashCache vs FlashPool __
I've had some pricing back from Netapp and, as Michael said, there's no cost savings in choosing FlashCache over FlashPool for the configuration we are interested in. On that basis we'll stick with FlashPool as it's tried and tested on our busiest aggregate. It sounds like FlashPool is the future anyway so this is an easy decision.
__ Flash[XXXX] Sizing __
Our oldest system, the FAS2020, doesn't support anything beyond DOT 7.3.7 so AWA is out (need 8.2 or higher) and PCS isn't supported on the platform. We just don't have any good tools available to measure the expected benefits of flash acceleration for this small system's workload. Given that the current SATA-only aggregates are performing adequately, we know the new SAS+SSD aggregates will blow our hair back. We'll buy as many of the largest SSDs our budget will support knowing that we'll get a big benefit, if not the optimum one. We also know we'll have the tool we need for sizing at the next hardware refresh (AWA).
Thanks again,
Steve
________________________________________ From: Michael Bergman Sent: 30 June 2015 18:21 To: Stephen Stocke Subject: Re: FAS2xxx Upgrade - Flash Cache Performance Estimation?
Stephen Stocke wrote:
When planning an upgrade for a FAS2000 series filer, how do you size the required FlashCache or FlashPool storage for the workload without having PCS or AWA available?
I read up on AWA just now. I cannot find anything in the FlashPool Tech FAQ (May 2014) that points to 'wafl awa' not being available in FAS2000 boxes. From 8.2.1 and up, in both 7-mode and c-mode.
It doesn't consume much resources from the system at all:
AWA uses 2% or less CPU, regardless of the number of aggregates that are simultaneously under analysis, and it uses less than 0.2% of system memory per aggregate. Even in a smaller FAS2000 model, this should be ok IMO.
As I mentioned before, you really want 8.3.1 with HyA (FlashPool) on your new 8020 :-) Among other things, this limitation is changed, perhaps even removed:
"Only random writes, or more precisely overwrites, that are 16KB or smaller are candidates to be cached by Flash Pool."
As far as I'm aware there's also some new tuning (policy) which is the equiv of this for FlashPool:
flexscale.lopri_blocks on (same value in local+partner recommended)
It caches large(r) sequential reads. As it is with HyA in 8.3 it cannot be made to do that, so all seq READ comes from spinning disk. This can clearly be seen e.g. when baselining a backup with lots of SnapVault jobs running in parallel.
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Steve -
Regarding the 2020 I'd replace that guy, especially to save money on maintenance renewals if you're coming up on them. You could probably get a 2520 or come close enough in range to a 2552 to make it work in a budgetary sense with comparison to year over year support costs, per incident support fees with 3rd party support (if that is what you're doing) and comparative performance. I'd be guessing you could get a 2552 with 20x 1.2 TB SAS drives plus a minimal FlashPool config (probably 4x400GB drives) and save money on operating costs in the process ... with ADP & CDOT 8.3 storage efficiency is pretty great and the CPU is up to the task of dedupe/compression. Just something to think about, unless for some reason you're really needing to keep a 7.3.7 system around a bit longer.
Whatever you end up with I'm glad we could help. Best of luck to you.
Anthony Bar 650.207.5368tel:650.207.5368 tbar@berkcom.commailto:tbar@berkcom.com
On Jul 7, 2015, at 3:28 AM, Stephen Stocke <Stephen.Stocke@je.logicalis.commailto:Stephen.Stocke@je.logicalis.com> wrote:
Hi Toasters
Sorry it's taken so long to get reply back... I've been distracted with other "fires" for the last week.
A big thank you to Michael, Andrei and Tony for your responses. Toasters is a great resource because people like you are willing to share your experience and expertise. Cheers.
To close this out and for the benefit of others, here's where I've landed based on your feedback:
__ FlashCache vs FlashPool __
I've had some pricing back from Netapp and, as Michael said, there's no cost savings in choosing FlashCache over FlashPool for the configuration we are interested in. On that basis we'll stick with FlashPool as it's tried and tested on our busiest aggregate. It sounds like FlashPool is the future anyway so this is an easy decision.
__ Flash[XXXX] Sizing __
Our oldest system, the FAS2020, doesn't support anything beyond DOT 7.3.7 so AWA is out (need 8.2 or higher) and PCS isn't supported on the platform. We just don't have any good tools available to measure the expected benefits of flash acceleration for this small system's workload. Given that the current SATA-only aggregates are performing adequately, we know the new SAS+SSD aggregates will blow our hair back. We'll buy as many of the largest SSDs our budget will support knowing that we'll get a big benefit, if not the optimum one. We also know we'll have the tool we need for sizing at the next hardware refresh (AWA).
Thanks again,
Steve
________________________________________ From: Michael Bergman Sent: 30 June 2015 18:21 To: Stephen Stocke Subject: Re: FAS2xxx Upgrade - Flash Cache Performance Estimation?
Stephen Stocke wrote: When planning an upgrade for a FAS2000 series filer, how do you size the required FlashCache or FlashPool storage for the workload without having PCS or AWA available?
I read up on AWA just now. I cannot find anything in the FlashPool Tech FAQ (May 2014) that points to 'wafl awa' not being available in FAS2000 boxes. From 8.2.1 and up, in both 7-mode and c-mode.
It doesn't consume much resources from the system at all:
AWA uses 2% or less CPU, regardless of the number of aggregates that are simultaneously under analysis, and it uses less than 0.2% of system memory per aggregate. Even in a smaller FAS2000 model, this should be ok IMO.
As I mentioned before, you really want 8.3.1 with HyA (FlashPool) on your new 8020 :-) Among other things, this limitation is changed, perhaps even removed:
"Only random writes, or more precisely overwrites, that are 16KB or smaller are candidates to be cached by Flash Pool."
As far as I'm aware there's also some new tuning (policy) which is the equiv of this for FlashPool:
flexscale.lopri_blocks on (same value in local+partner recommended)
It caches large(r) sequential reads. As it is with HyA in 8.3 it cannot be made to do that, so all seq READ comes from spinning disk. This can clearly be seen e.g. when baselining a backup with lots of SnapVault jobs running in parallel.
/M -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared by MailMarshal --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
disclaimer
This email communication does not create or vary any contractual relationship between LogicalisCI and you. Internet communications are not secure and accordingly LogicalisCI does not accept any legal liability for the contents of this message. The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient at the email address to which it has been addressed. It may not be disclosed to or used by anyone other than this addressee, nor may it be copied in any way. If received in error, please contact LogicalisCI on the above number (listed as Main) quoting the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete it from your system. Please note that neither LogicalisCI nor the sender accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan the email and attachments (if any).
Please be aware that LogicalisCI may monitor email traffic data and also email content for security purposes.
The following companies are collectively referred to in the above statements as LogicalisCI: Logicalis Channel Islands Limited, Registered in Jersey No: 67161, Registered Office: Rue A La Dame, Five Oaks, St. Saviour, Jersey, JE2 7NH Logicalis Jersey Limited, Registered in Jersey No: 10124, Registered Office: Rue A La Dame, Five Oaks, St. Saviour, Jersey, JE2 7NH Logicalis Guernsey Limited, Registered in Guernsey No: 10896, Registered Office: Pitronnerie Road, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 2RF
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Tony Bar