This document provides an overview and introduction to VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN). It discusses the VSAN architecture which uses SSDs for caching and HDDs for storage. It also covers how VSAN can be configured through storage policies assigned at the VM level. The document outlines how VSAN provides a software-defined storage solution that is hardware agnostic and can elastically scale storage performance and capacity by adding servers and disks.

1. © 2014 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.
Software-Defined Storage with VMware Virtual SAN 5.5
Mike Armstrong
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
OneCloud
VMware
July, 2014

2. Agenda
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•Introduction to VSAN
•VSAN Architecture
•Configuring VSAN –Demo (Off-Line Demo)
•Additional Resources
•Q & A
•What’s in your vSphere environment?

3. The Hypervisor Opens Up New Opportunities
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SAN / NAS
x86 Servers
Cloud Storage
vSphere
The virtualization platform:
•Knows the needs of all apps in real time
•Sits directly in the I/O path
•Global view of underlying infrastructure
•Software Defined Storage
•Hardware agnostic-Check the HCL: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search. php?deviceCategory=vsan

4. VSAN Is Not an Appliance

5. VSAN Architecture
•SSD used for Read Cache & Write Buffer Cache
•HDD stores VMDK, VM namespace directory, vswap, Delta disks created for snapshots
•VSAN IP Network used for Storage Replication & Connectivity
•A vmkConfigured on Each Host
•Supports Virtual Distributed Switch Network I/O Control
•L2 Multicast required on VSAN Network, recommend Jumbo Frames and 10GB

6. VSAN Architecture Contd.
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•Full integration with HA, DRS, Horizon View (including Linked Clones), and SRM
•Storage Policies assigned at the VM (Storage Policy Based Management)
•vCenterand ESXihosts running 5.5 U1
•Managed with vSphereWeb Client
•Minimum of 3 hosts with minimum 1 SSD and 1 HDD
•If more than 3 hosts are in the cluster then not all hosts need to contribute storage
•Maximum of 32 hosts per cluster, 32,00 VM’s, 5 disk groups per host, each disk group has maximum of 7 HDD and 1 SSD
•Object-based storage with VMFS-L file system
•Single VSAN datastoreper cluster and thin-provisioning is enforced by default
•Does Not Support Storage I/O Control, DatastoreClusters
•VSAN Uses Includes: Management Cluster, DMZ, Remote Office, VDI, DR, Tier 2/3, Test & Dev

7. Two Ways to Build a Virtual SAN Node
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Completely Hardware Independent1. Virtual SAN Ready Node
…with multiple options available at GA + 30
Preconfigured server ready to use Virtual SAN… 2. Build Your Own
…using the Virtual SAN Compatibility Guide*
Choose individual components …
SSDor PCIe
SAS/NL-SAS/ SATA HDDs
Any Server on vSphere Hardware Compatibility List
HBA/RAID Controller

8. VSAN Ready Nodes 10
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/programs/vsan/Virtual%20SAN%20Ready%20Nodes.pdf

9. VSAN Ready Node Contd.
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10. vSphere + Virtual SAN
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Simpleto set up via policy
Delivered on per VMbasis
Zero data loss in case of disk, network or host failures
Ensureszero downtimefrom disk or networkfailures
Interoperable with vSphere HA and Maintenance Mode
Virtual SAN Is Highly Resilient Against Any Hardware Failure
Virtual SAN is Designed to Ensure Data is Never Lost in Case of Failures

11. Virtual Machine Storage Policies
•Storage Capabilities assigned to Storage Policies
•VASA (Storage API’s Storage Awareness) used to show Vendor Storage Capabilities
•Storage Policies assigned to the VM’s
•Storage Policy can be changed while the VM is running

12. Scale UP
Add more Disks
IOPS
Capacity
40 TB
400 TB
4.4 PB
Scale OUT
Add more nodes
ElasticGrow or shrink on demand
GranularAdd single nodes or disks
Non-disruptive No app downtime
VSAN Enables Elastic Linear Scalingof Performance and Capacity
Ability to Expand Storage by Adding Hosts & Disks
“Virtual SAN enables us to scale our storage infrastructure and while providing the necessary redundancy. This allows us to be more agile and bring our solutions to market faster.”
—FransVan Rooyen
Cloud Architect, Adobe
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13. Flexibly Configure For Performance And Capacity
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Performance
2xCPU–8-core
128GB Memory
2xCPU–8-core
128GB Memory
2xCPU–8-core
128GB Memory
1x
400GB MLC SSD
(~15%of usable capacity)
1x
400GB MLC SSD
(~10%of usable capacity)
2x
400GBMLC SSD
(~4% of usable capacity)
5x
1.2TB 10K SAS
7x
2TB 7.2K NL-SAS
10x
4TB 7.2K NL-SAS
IOPS1
Raw Capacity
~20-15K
6TB
~15-10K
14TB
~10-5K
40TB
Capacity

14. VSAN POC Checklist
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsan/VMware_Virtual_SAN_POC_Guide.pdf

15. Additional Resources
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Product Pagehttp://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san/
VSAN Community
https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vsan
VMwareCompatibility Guidehttp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=vsan
Hands-On-Lab
http://vmware.com/go/vsanlab
Virtual SAN 60-day Free Evaluationhttp://www.vmware.com/go/try-vsan-en
Cormac Hogan
http://cormachogan.com/vsan

16. Questions?