Virtualization Frontier

Confessions of a Recovering Fibre Channel User

ToddMuirhead — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:01:00 GMT

I've been a user of Fibre Channel SANs for about eight years. I have used the Dell | EMC-based arrays throughout and have gone through a few product transitions from the FC4700 to the CX-600 to most recently a CX3-80. I always liked the Navisphere management tool and was able to great performance across the range of applications that I set up to use the Fibre Channel storage.

About eight months ago I was finally convinced to try out some iSCSI arrays. First, I worked with the Dell | EMC CX3-40c, which has both iSCSI and Fibre Channel ports. This configuration didn't really seem all that different from what I was used to with Fibre Channel, mostly because I was still using Navisphere. Next, I set up and used a PowerVault MD3000i and found this array to be really easier in some ways, although it didn't have the same features in lots of respects. Finally, about four months ago I started using some Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series iSCSI storage arrays. And I did some performance testing with them in a whitepaper that was released about a month ago. The net was that this setup is really much easier, and I was able to get great performance.

We are having a chat here on delltechcenter to discuss when to use what type of storage for virtualization, and we expect a lot of the discussion to be about iSCSI versus Fibre Channel. Feel free to join the chat or check out the transcript, depending on when you are reading this.

I haven't done a head-to-head performance comparison of Fibre Channel versus iSCSI, and I don't plan to either. I've been able to get great performance with both in the tests that I have run. It's more the ease of setup and use that makes iSCSI so compelling for me. I had resisted iSCSI for a while because I just knew that it wouldn't be good enough, but now that I have started using it I find that it works fine. I think that Fibre Channel still has places where it fits best, but I would highly recommend that iSCSI be considered for all new projects. I'm still using both in my lab. You just might find that you will like iSCSI-if you try it.

Todd

The Right Storage for Virtualization

ToddMuirhead — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:22:00 GMT

So you want to know what the right storage solution is for your new VMware deployment you are planning. Or maybe you are ready to start deploying Microsoft Hyper-v and need to know which iSCSI array is right for you. Because there really isn't a single answer that is right for everybody, the answer is - It depends.

The question really should be how do I decide what is the right storage. What questions should I ask? and how do I find the answers? Or maybe more simply - What process should I follow to find the right answer? I think that the answer is basically to ask questions, learn about the options, and learn from others experiences. We did a similar focus topic on selecting a server for virtualization in the summer and now it is time to look at storage.

For the next three weeks on DellTechCenter we are going to focus on the question of what is the right storage for virtualization for a range of scenarios. There is a homepage for the topic and series of three web chats scheduled. So if you have a question about storage and virtualization get it answered here. We have lined up experts from the storage engineering teams to help out with the chats and assist in getting your questions answered.

Todd

Better Advice for Virtualization Solutions

ToddMuirhead — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:42:00 GMT

The super virtualization engineering team here at Dell recently upgraded the Dell Virtualization Advisor Tool. This free on-line tool prompts you to answer about 10 questions and then gives a detailed sizing of servers and storage. Additionally it will list the available services that might be useful when implementing the proposed solution. The part that I really like is it is easy to go back and change your answers to some of the questions to see how that affects the proposed solution. For example you can change your preferred storage from fibre channel to iSCSI.

In addition to support for VMware based solutions, it will now also provide Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer based solutions as well. So for those that are interested in what is needed for a Hyper-V solution with high-availability and "quick-migration" the advisor can help. Additionally if you want to get the specifications for a Xen Server solution with live migration and backup and recovery capabilities - the advisor has a configuration recommendation.

The other new feature of the advisor tool is the ability to specify what workloads you will be running in the VMs which makes the sizing more accurate. You are able to specify the number of test and dev, file servers, web servers, domain controller, DNS servers, and other you will be running as VMs.

Take advantage of the free advice.

Todd

Benefits of iSCSI over Fiber Channel

ToddMuirhead — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:39:00 GMT

Our upcoming chat today on benefits of iSCSI and Virtualization led me to some quick research to see what I could find. The first hit was for a Dell Whitepaper on why iSCSI is the best storage for virtualization. Turns out this is a whitepaper that I reviewed internally before it was published about a year ago.

I was a long time fibre channel user and thought that some of the points in the paper were a bit harsh. The funny thing is that reading it now I agree with it much more. The paper didn't change, but my experience in the last year with iSCSI has changed me. I really do think that iSCSI is easier and the performance concerns that I had, for the most part, don't concern me anymore. Although I must admit that I still like my CX3-80 fibre channel storage.

Todd