Data is growing at an unprecedented rate. Within the next decade, the amount of data managed by data centers is expected to increase by over 60 percent, as projected by the Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). By 2020, data centers were estimated to store 14 times more data than in 2010. During this period, the number of servers is expected to grow rapidly, primarily driven by the rise of virtual servers. Furthermore, processing power is predicted to increase tenfold, exemplified by the latest Intel multi-core architecture featured in EMC’s VNX2 systems.
Although hard drive density is anticipated to grow, the pace will not be sufficient to match the ever-increasing amount of data being generated. Meanwhile, IT budgets and staffing levels are projected to remain relatively flat, creating a significant challenge for data centers.
EMC VNX Storage Efficiency Technologies
To address these challenges, EMC offers a suite of VNX storage efficiency technologies, which include:
- Virtual Provisioning
- Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST™ VP)
- Multicore FAST Cache
- File Deduplication and Compression
- Block Deduplication
- Block Compression
These technologies help improve capacity usage, optimize performance, and align with green initiatives, all while maintaining simplicity.
EMC Storage Efficiency Solutions
EMC’s Storage Efficiency Technology solutions provide various tools for managing data efficiently, each feature complementing the others. The following are key components of EMC’s approach to efficient data management:
Unified Virtual Provisioning
Virtual Provisioning enables the allocation of storage using both Thick and Thin LUNs within storage pools. These LUNs can coexist within the same storage pool and share its capacity, allowing for easier provisioning, expansion, compression, and deduplication through the Unisphere interface.
- Storage pool for block: Groups of available disk volumes used to allocate storage to pool LUNs (Thick and Thin).
- Storage pool for file: Groups of available disk volumes organized by Automatic Volume Management (AVM) to allocate storage for file systems. AVM can create these pools automatically, or users can create them manually.
- Thick LUN: Allocates physical space equal to the user capacity seen by the host server, offering predictable high performance, especially for applications requiring consistent performance.
- Thin LUN: Allocates physical space that can be less than the user capacity seen by the host, providing on-demand storage to maximize utilization.
VNX systems are “Thin-friendly,” meaning file systems do not pre-allocate storage during initialization. Instead, they reuse deleted space before consuming additional storage, improving capacity utilization.
Thin File System
Thin File Systems allow users to allocate storage based on long-term projections, while consuming only the necessary resources in the present. NFS or CIFS clients and applications view the maximum virtual size of the file system, while only a portion is physically allocated.
FAST VP (Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools)
FAST VP is an advanced data service that optimizes storage efficiency by relocating data at the sub-LUN level based on usage patterns. Frequently accessed data is placed on faster, high-performance drives, while less accessed data is moved to lower-cost, lower-performance drives.
Available tiers for storage pools include:
- Extreme Performance tier – Flash drives
- Performance tier – Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives
- Capacity tier – Near-Line SAS (NL-SAS) drives
Users can assign tiering policies based on factors like performance requirements, usage frequency, and cost. FAST VP dynamically relocates data using an algorithm that determines the activity level of each slice. The Unisphere interface provides several policy options, including:
- Highest Available Tier
- Auto-Tier
- Start High Then Auto-Tier (Recommended)
- Lowest Available Tier
- No Data Movement
Multicore FAST Cache
Multicore FAST Cache is a large secondary cache positioned between the storage processor’s DRAM-based primary cache and hard disk drives (HDD). It leverages SAS Flash or SAS Flash 2 drives to extend caching capacity, significantly improving system-wide performance by storing frequently accessed data on faster flash drives.
This cache is not tied to specific applications but optimizes Flash drive use across the storage system, resulting in more scalable and efficient storage.
File Deduplication and Compression
EMC’s VNX systems include File Deduplication and Compression, which increase storage efficiency by eliminating redundant data within file systems. The system compresses files and identifies duplicate files, reducing multiple copies to one and freeing up valuable space. This feature is especially effective for static or nearly static files.
Block Deduplication
Block Deduplication identifies and consolidates duplicate data within block or file storage objects, reducing the need for redundant storage. In VNX2 systems, Block Deduplication operates at the 8 KB block level and is enabled on a per pool LUN basis. Deduplicated data frees space within the storage pool for other LUNs, whether deduplicated or not.
VNX Block Deduplication for VNX File
In VNX OE for Block version 05.33.008.5.119 and VNX OE for File 8.1.8.119, VNX Block Deduplication can be used with VNX File. Enabling Block Deduplication for a VNX File-mapped storage pool converts all underlying LUNs to thin deduplicated LUNs, further enhancing storage efficiency.
Block Compression
VNX Block Compression compresses LUN data to conserve storage space by analyzing and reducing repetitive sequences of data. This process occurs in 64 KB increments, and data is only compressed when savings exceed 8 KB. Block Compression ensures that storage is optimized without unnecessary data reduction.
VNX and VNX2 Array Models
The first generation of VNX storage systems was introduced by EMC as a unified platform that combined block and file storage capabilities into a single system. This series included models like the VNX5100, VNX5300, VNX5500, VNX5700, and VNX7500, each designed to cater to different levels of performance and scalability needs. These models provided a solid foundation for mid-sized to enterprise-level environments, offering features such as unified storage management through the Unisphere interface and support for both Fibre Channel and iSCSI protocols. With scalable performance, these first-generation VNX systems were ideal for businesses seeking a reliable and versatile storage solution that supported virtualization and data consolidation.
The second generation of VNX, often referred to as VNX2, brought significant improvements in both performance and efficiency, with models like the VNX5200, VNX5400, VNX5600, VNX5800, VNX7600, and VNX8000. These systems were equipped with enhanced multicore processing power, utilizing Intel’s multi-core architecture to deliver up to four times the performance of their predecessors. VNX2 systems also introduced advanced data services such as Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP) and Multicore FAST Cache, which allowed for more intelligent data placement and improved system-wide efficiency. These innovations made VNX2 models a popular choice for businesses requiring high performance, optimized storage utilization, and advanced data management capabilities.
