This document discusses various storage provisioning options for Actuate implementations, including server-attached storage, network-attached storage (NAS), and storage area networks (SANs). It describes the components, protocols, and benefits of each approach. NAS and SAN solutions using NFS are recommended over server-attached storage due to providing a common storage file system and avoiding disk management overhead. The document also covers backup and replication technologies.

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© Actuate Corporation 2004
Storage Provisioning
for Actuate Implementations
Ambareesh Kulkarni

2. Actuate Corporation Confidential
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Simple, No Network Deployment
Actuate Server Processes (EFV)
Actuate Encyclopedia
on local hard disk
Internal Communication
Active Portal ,
Management Console

3. Actuate Corporation Confidential
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Actuate in a distributed environment
Network
Web Tier
Storage Tier
Network
Application
Server Tier
Network
Applications
(Actuate) Tier
Network
Actuate Server Processes (EFV)
Actuate Encyclopedia
Communication
Active Portal ,
Management Console

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Server Attached Storage

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Server Attached Storage
• Simple
• Low initial cost
• Ease of management
• SCSI attached disks
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)
JBOD

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Actuate Cluster (storage) Requirements
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
CLIENTS
LAN
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)
• Actuate Volumes can
use partitions across
multiple disks
• All nodes need access
to all partitions (used
by Actuate volumes)

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Healthcare company (SAS option)
Actuate iServer deployment with Server Attached Storage
• No common and highly
available file system
• Need to maintain (and
synchronize) multiple copies of
the AcServer.xml configuration
file
• More suitable for a non
clustered but load balanced
architecture
• Actuate servers have additional
overhead of managing and
sharing disks
Not a recommended architecture

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File Transfer Protocols

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Windows File Access Protocol
Win Servers
MS-WINDOWSCLIENTS
LAN
Win Servers
CIFS
Volume Sharing
CIFS
• Originally known as the
SMB (Server Message
Block) protocol
• Developed jointly by
IBM/3COM/Microsoft
• Renamed to Common
Internet File System
(CIFS)

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UNIX File Access Protocol
UNIX Servers
UNIX CLIENTS
LAN
UNIX Servers
NFS
NFS
Volume Sharing
• Developed by SUN
• More popular than SMB
• Has a 10 year head-start
on SMB

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Interoperability Challenges

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Interoperability Challenges (overcoming them)
Samba
NFS Client
NFS Client
Samba

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NFS based Storage provisioning
UNIX/Win Servers
CLIENTS
LAN
UNIX/Win Servers
NFS/CIFS
Server
NFS/CIFS
Backup
Server(s)
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)
• Most common storage
provisioning solution for Actuate
implementations
• Low cost and ease of
management
• Unlike SAS, provides a common
storage file system
• Poor performance due to NFS
protocol characteristics
• Interoperability challenges in a
heterogeneous environment
Mount disks onto
backup server in case
of server (e.g. OS)
failure

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Its all about the disks…

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Optimizing Storage Utilization
Fragmented Disk Utilization
Consolidated Disk Utilization
Applications constantly
starved for storage while other
systems have capacity sitting
idle

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RAID basics
• Data is striped across all disks of
an array.
• Multiple hard disks used to form a
logical drive
• RAID 1 offers the best fault
tolerance to a single drive.
• Duplicates each I/O request to a
secondary mirror drive.

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RAID basics
• RAID 5 stripes data across
multiple drives and adds parity for
fault tolerance.
• RAID 5 is the predominant highly
available, fault tolerant RAID level
used in servers today
Typical RAID Array (device)
Physical disks on storage box make up a
RAID-5 disk set
Mirror Set
Logical Disks Presented to Storage Tier
Storage Controller

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Network Attached Storage
LAN
CLIENTS
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Server
NAS
TAPE LIBRARY
• Fast file access for
multiple clients
• Ease of data sharing
• High storage
capacity
• Redundancy
• Ease of drive
mirroring
• Consolidation of disk
resources
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)

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NAS Filers
• Light weight kernel
• Run only services that are
required for file servicing,
security, and management
are installed on the Filer
(appliance)
• Supports NFS, CIFS &
HTTP

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Healthcare company (NAS option)
Local
Network
b2bweb1
b2bweb2
b2bweb3
b2bweb4
Internet
F5LoadBalancer
Firewall
Firewall
Firewall
mcfl1u0y
mcfl1u0z
mcfl1u2j
mcfl1u7g
iPlanet Web Server
Medco Custom Prog
iPlanet Web Server
Medco Custom Prog
iPlanet Web Server
Medco Custom Prog
iPlanet Web Server
Medco Custom Prog
Medco Custom Prog
Actuate Http Service
Active Portal
Stunnel
Medco Custom Prog
Actuate Http Service
Active Portal
Stunnel
Medco Custom Prog
Actuate Http Service
Active Portal
Stunnel
Medco Custom Prog
Actuate Http Service
Active Portal
Stunnel
Actuate Server B
Actuate Server A
Actuate Server C
F5LoadBalancer
HTTPS HTTPS HTTPS
Port
X
Port
N
mcfl1u4c
TeraData
Report Manger
Application
Actuate Services M V F
Stunnel
Actuate Services M V F
Stunnel
Actuate Services
M V F E
NAS
Actuate Architecture with Network Attached Storage
• Common and highly
available file system
• Single copy of the
AcServer.xml file
accessible to all
servers
• No disk management
overhead on the
Actuate servers
Recommended
architecture

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Storage Area Networks

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Storage Attached Network
• Excellent for moving
large blocks of data
• Exceptional reliability
• Wide availability
• Fault tolerance
• Scalability
LAN
CLIENTS
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
TAPE LIBRARY
JBOD
SWITCH/HUBSWITCH/HUB
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)

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SAN Components
LAN
CLIENTS
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
TAPE LIBRARY
JBOD
SWITCH/HUBSWITCH/HUB
iSCSI
FCP
Storage Management Applications
SAN Hardware Specific

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SAN Multi-pathing
• Provides redundant
paths to SAN Fabric
by utilizing both HBA’s
• Balances I/O traffic
across HBA’s using
Balancing Software
such as EMC
PowerPath
• Offers more Flexibility
than Static mapping

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SAN File System
SAN
LAN
CLIENTS
File System
Metadata Servers
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)
SAN FS Clients
• enables sharing of
the same copies of
files
• consists of a client
on each server that
is written especially
for the operating
platform used by that
server
• simplifies and
streamlines SAN
management
• a common metadata
server controls traffic
in the SAN

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Storage Management Software
• Protect and Store Data
• data replication,
mirroring, snapshots,
backup, virtual tape,
encryption.
• Manage Data
• file serving,
virtualization, data
migration, capacity-on-
demand, compression.

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Actuate Deployment using a SAN File System

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NAS vs. SAN
NAS SAN
Wires?
Ethernet, FDDI,
ATM
Fibre Channel
Protocols?
TCP/IP, NFS,
CIFS, HTTP
SCSI, FCP, iFCP,
IP
Shares ? Files Storage Devices
Managed by? NAS head Servers
File Sharing?
Flexible, Windows
& UNIX
OS dependant
Backups? Slow and on files
Fast, at a block
level

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Backup and Replication Technologies

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Backup Operations
• Resource Intensive
• Consumes CPU
cycles effecting
application
performance on
Server
• Usually scheduled
off-hours

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Traditional LAN based backup
LAN
CLIENTS
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
TAPE LIBRARY
LAN FOR
BACKUPS
SAN

32. Actuate Corporation Confidential
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LAN free Backups
LAN
CLIENTS
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
SWITCH/HUB
TAPE LIBRARY
Backup path
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)

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LAN
CLIENTS
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
UNIX/Win
Servers
SWITCH/HUB
TAPE LIBRARY
SAN/Switch (or device) level backups
Backup path
Application Code
(Actuate Server Processes)
File System
(Actuate Encyclopedia)

34. Actuate Corporation Confidential
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Replication Technologies
Snapshots (Local Point in
time Copies)
• Image based copies of
data (like taking a picture
of the hard disk)
• Offer good protection
from common failures
such as accidental file
deletions, viruses,
software corruption)
• Local copies with minimal
application impact
• Snapshots can be
restored very quickly
Locality A
Snap 01 Snap 02 Snap 03 Snap n
T1 T2 T3 Tn
T1-Tn are times when Snaphots (Snap 01- Sanp n) are taken

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Replication Technologies
Remote Snapshots
• Replicate snapshots over
the network to offsite
storage
• Protects data from
physical destruction (as
snapshots are now in a
different location)
• Supports ‘delta’ transfers
(most recent changes),
thereby optimizing
network and storage
Locality A
Locality B
Snap 01 Snap 02 Snap 03 Snap n
T1 T2 T3 Tn
T1-Tn are times when Snaphots (Snap 01- Sanp n) are taken

36. Actuate Corporation Confidential
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Replication Technologies
Continuous Replication
(Remote Disk Mirroring)
• Every ‘write’ operation on
the primary site (disk) is
replicated on the remote
site (disk)
• Offers up-to-the-minute
protection against
physical disasters
• CR does not offer file
protection capabilities like
Snapshots
Primary Site
Backup Site
Primary Data
Backup Data
Continuous Replication

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SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility)
• Online (real time), host-independent, mirrored data storage solution
• Optimizes line bandwidth using multi-hop (mirror only data that has
changed) technology.
• Supports data transfer between geographically distributed sites
using SRDF FarPoint
• Enables large chunks of data to be transferred in Asynchronous
mode

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Datacenter Infrastructure Vendors (DIVs)
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