Introduction to Storage Infrastructure

Outline

Typical San Setup Storage Networking Components Block devices, Char devices Disk based devices (HDD, JBOD, RAID) Tape Drives and Libraries Storage Lab Visit

Typical SAN Setup

Windows server with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs LINUX Servers with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs SunFire V240 with Qlogic HBAs

McData / CNT switch Brocade SAN Switch (3200) FC-SAN

Brocade SAN Switch (3800)

Tape Library StorageTek / Quantum

IBM FastT200 Serial ATA

LSI ProFibre JBOD

Storage Networking Components

Cables and connectors Gigabit Link Model (GLM) Gigabit Interface Converters (GBIC) Media Interface Adapters (MIA) Adapters Extenders Multiplexers Hubs Routers Bridges Gateways Switches Directors

Side Bar - Block and Character Devices

All I/O devices are classified as either block or character (raw) devices. The block special device causes the I/O to be buffered in large pieces. The character (raw) device causes I/O to occur one character (byte) at a time. Some devices, such as disks and tapes, can be both block and character devices, and must have entries for each mode. Terminals operate in character mode.
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Side Bar - Block and Character Devices

In Unix all physical devices are accessed via device files; they are what programs use to communicate with hardware. Files hold information on location, type, and access mode for a specific device. Device files are found in the /dev directory. The first entry in the permission field indicates either b-->block, or c->character.

Side Bar - Block and Character Devices

So what about a device that could be accessed in character or block mode? How many device files would it have?
One. Two. There are no such devices.

Interconnects
Windows server with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs LINUX Servers with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs SunFire V240 with Qlogic HBAs

McData / CNT switch Brocade SAN Switch (3200) FC-SAN

Brocade SAN Switch (3800)

Tape Library StorageTek / Quantum

IBM FastT200 Serial ATA

LSI ProFibre JBOD

Storage Networking Components HBA

A Host Bus Adapter is a card that connects data peripherals and server host buses like PCI. A software device driver for each model of HBA is required by the operating system. Types: FC and GigE QLogic, Emulex, McData

Storage Networking Components HBA

Storage Networking Components Cables - FC

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Storage Networking Components - Cables

Similar to parallel SCSI and traditional networking, there are different types of cables of various lengths for use in a Fiber Channel configuration. Two types of cables are supported: copper and optical (fiber). Copper cables are used for short distance (up to 30m) and can be identified by their DB9 (9-pin) connector. Fiber cables come in two distinct types: MultiMode fiber (MMF) for short distances (up to 2km) and Single-Mode Fiber (SMF) for longer distances (up to 10km).

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Storage Networking Components Switches Storage Networking Components Switches

Types: FC & Ethernet Cisco, Brocade, McData

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Storage Networking Components Switches

Used for interconnecting large numbers of devices, increasing bandwidth, reducing congestion, and providing aggregate throughput. When a Fiber Channel switch is implemented in a SAN, the network is referred to as a fabric, or switched fabric. Each device is connected to a port on the switch, enabling an on-demand connection to every connected device. Various FC switch offerings support both fabric and/or loop connections. As the number of devices increases, multiple switches can be cascaded for expanded access.
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Disk Based Devices

Windows server with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs LINUX Servers with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs SunFire V240 with Qlogic HBAs

McData / CNT switch Brocade SAN Switch (3200) FC-SAN

Brocade SAN Switch (3800)

Tape Library StorageTek / Quantum

IBM FastT200 Serial ATA

LSI ProFibre JBOD

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Disk Based Devices - HDD

Hard Drives
Interface: IDE, USB, SCSI, FC Seagate, IBM, Maxtor, Capacity: 20- 180 GB Data Transfer Rate: over 100MB/s

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Disk Based Devices

Disk Based Devices

JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks)/Spanning RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks)

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Disk Based Devices JBOD

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Disk Based Devices JBOD

JBOD can be thought of as the opposite of partitioning: while partitioning chops single drives up into smaller logical volumes, JBOD combines drives into larger logical volumes. It provides no fault tolerance, nor does it provide any improvements in performance compared to the independent use of its constituent drives.
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Disk Based Devices JBOD

Advantages:
Avoiding Drive Waste: If you have a number of odd-sized drives, JBOD will let you combine them into a single unit without loss of any capacity Easier Disaster Recovery: If a disk in a RAID 0 volume dies, the data on every disk in the array is essentially destroyed because all the files are striped; if a drive in a JBOD set dies then it may be easier to recover the files on the other drives (but then again, it might not, depending on how the operating system manages the disks.)

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Disk Based Devices RAID

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Disk Based Devices RAID

A category of disk drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance. Advantages:
Higher Data Security Fault Tolerance Improved Availability Increased, Integrated Capacity Improved Performance

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Disk Based Devices Single RAID Levels

Level 0: Provides data striping (spreading out blocks of each file across multiple disks) but no redundancy. This improves performance but does not deliver fault tolerance. Level 1: Provides disk mirroring. Level 2: Bit-level striping with Hamming code ECC. Level 3: Same as Level 0, but also reserves one dedicated disk for error correction data. It provides good performance and some level of fault tolerance.
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Disk Based Devices Single RAID Levels

Level 4: Block-level striping with dedicated parity. Level 5: Provides data striping at the byte level and also stripe error correction information. This results in excellent performance and good fault tolerance. Level 6: Block-level striping with dual distributed parity. Level 7: Asynchronous, cached striping with dedicated parity.
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Disk Based Devices Nested RAID Levels

Nested RAID levels typically provide better performance characteristics than either of the single RAID levels that comprise them. The most commonly combined level is RAID 0, which is often mixed with redundant RAID levels such as 1, 3 or 5 to provide fault tolerance while exploiting the performance advantages of RAID 0.

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Tape Devices
Windows server with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs LINUX Servers with Qlogic / Emulex HBAs SunFire V240 with Qlogic HBAs

McData / CNT switch Brocade SAN Switch (3200) FC-SAN

Brocade SAN Switch (3800)

Tape Drive StorageTek / HP/IBM

Tape Library StorageTek / IBM/Adic

IBM FastT200 Serial ATA

LSI ProFibre JBOD

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Tape Drives Basic Storage Devices

Tape Drives
Interfaces: SCSI, FC, FICON, ESCON StorageTek, IBM, HP, Native Media Capacity: 20 200 GB Native Data Transfer Rate: 10 35 MB/s Archival Life: 15 30 years

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Tape Library Composite Storage Devices Tape Library

Combination of Tape Drives, slots and Media. Includes robotic infrastructure for movement of media between slots and drives. Capacity: Up to 90PB Number of cartridge slots: Up to 30 - 30,000 Number of drives: 2 - 2,048 StorageTek, IBM, Adic

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Thanks

Visit To the Storage Infrastructure Lab

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