SATA SSD Enterprise in Infortrend 2-Controller Storage - Performance Measurement

In previous articles: Infortrend storage - an alternative to A-brands and storage Infortrend EonStor DS2024G2 emphasized one of the advantages of Infortrend storage systems - support for Enterprise SATA SSD in 2-controller systems.
A reasonable question arose in readers' comments : “How much does the performance of SATA disks differ when working directly and through a MUX-card?” This article presents the results of testing the SAN Infortrend DS 2012RE2, which was built RAID10 of 6 Intel SSD Intel with SATA interface. For tests, we used 3 ways to connect disks:

• Direct connection (1-controller option)
• Connection via MUX 3G (2-controller version)
• Connection via MUX 6G (2-controller version)

As in previous articles on testing the disk subsystem, we selected the following load scenarios:

1. Database - Access 100% / Read 67% / Random 100%
2. File Storage - Access 2-60% / Read 80% / Random 100%
3. VDI - Access 100% / Read 20% / Random 80%
4. WEB service - Access 1-23% / Read 100% / Random 100%

In order to correctly interpret the test results, I think it is better to start by analyzing the cost of disks for our scenario.

Task: budget 2-controller storage based on SSD. The disk capacity for comparison is 400GB.

Implementation Options:

1. Budget Tier 1 storage - HP MSA 2052 , for example. In this version, as well as in similar solutions of A-brands, only SAS SSDs are used. The cost of a 400GB drive during the life of the model is $ 1800 . After the discontinuation of the storage model, the cost and availability of disks become very uncertain parameters. Often, upgrading a system becomes either impossible or not economically feasible.
2. Infortrend DS2024BG2 complete with unbranded SAS SSD option. The cost of discs in this case will be more than 4 times cheaper than the price of similar discs with a HP sticker, and will be $ 400 apiece. At the same time, we get equivalent system performance and the availability of disks in the market for an unlimited period (at channel prices).
3. Infortrend DS2024BG2 bundled with SATA SSD Enterprise Intel S46xx. Performance will be lower than in the first two examples for two reasons: firstly, the drives themselves are weaker, and secondly, connecting via a MUX-card cuts performance. The cost of a 480GB drive does not exceed $ 250 apiece, which looks even more profitable, even in comparison with the second example.
4. Infortrend DS2024BG2 bundled with SATA SSD Enterprise Intel S45xx. The most budget option - the price of a 480GB drive without taking into account the cost of MUX does not exceed $ 180 . This is an order of magnitude cheaper than the branded SAS SSD from HP and 2 times cheaper than the classic SAS SSD from WD

One can object to this comparison "head on" to drives of completely different weight categories. But, in order not to lead to useless disputes, I will make a reservation: the main idea is to search for the most affordable full-fledged 2-head SAN system based on SSD. Therefore, it is necessary to compare what is presented on the market.

In a good way, the first two examples could stop. The price difference is 4 times and the availability of discs is a weighty argument for sane customers.

But I don’t want to make sense of the second part of this article devoted to testing SATA disks. And there is one more reason besides the price of the solution.

Over the past year, technology has made even the youngest enterprise-grade SATA SSDs “hard to kill.” According to our statistics of warranty cases, over the past 3 years there have not been a single appeal for a guarantee with a diagnosis of “overwriting resource generation”. And this is data on servers sold 3 years ago. Current SSDs have MTBFs that make it possible in most cases not to take this parameter into account at all! Take for example the SSD 240GB SATA 6G TLC 3D NAND Enterprise (90K / 16K R / W IOps, 560/280 MB / s R / W, 900TB recording resource) - this is the lowest budget and youngest SSD rack from Intel on the market today. To consume its rewrite resource, you have to rewrite its volume every day for 10 years. A lot of tasks generating a similar load?

Given this, only productivity and price remain.

The importance of performance can also be leveled, if desired, if you look at the issue from the following angle.

The performance of SAS SSD and SATA SSD is several times different. The performance gap between SATA SSD and SATA / SAS HDD is measured in orders of magnitude! Especially in the area of ​​input / output operations.

There are many tasks that will be enough for any flash array. And the solution described in this article demonstrates the availability of such storage systems.
For 1 million rubles, you can master the fault-tolerant Infortrend storage system with an 11.5TB SSD array (24 x 480GB).

The most budget configuration of HP, a similar volume, will cost more than 3 times more expensive. When using the SSD used for lshih volume - profit, of course, increases.

We decided on the price advantages, now we will consider the situation with a change in productivity.

Database

The database is one of the most popular use cases for SSDs. The results show a drop in IOPs of less than 15%, when using MUX 6G - in my opinion, this is a negligible fee for system fault tolerance.

File storage

Using this scenario demonstrates a smaller drop in performance than in the previous example - the difference is slightly more than 10%.

Virtualization

Test results in VDI simulation mode are almost identical. Judging by the synthetic tests - in this load scenario, the performance drop when using the multiplexer can be neglected.

WEB services

The results of this test were a mystery to me - obviously there is no regularity and common sense in the data on the MUX 6G. There is already no way to double-check, so I will regard this data as erroneous, and I will refrain from commenting.

Finally

The last year has greatly changed the distribution of criteria for selecting All-Flash-repositories in order of importance. It was this fact that prevented the publication of this article earlier - I wanted to wait for clarity and stability in the market of solid state drives.

The top segment of Flash-systems is steadily gaining popularity, despite the cost.
Mid-range solutions are getting closer in price to entry-level solutions, and the latter, in turn, are catching up with the former in terms of performance and resource.

But, despite these SSD evolution processes, and even partly thanks to them, Infortrend storage systems remain the sales leader in the entry-level 2-controller SAN segment. The bet on system channel channel support was justified, and the use of SATA in 2-controller configurations allows you to create the most cost-effective fail-safe All-Flash-Storage.

You can calculate the configuration for your tasks in the convenient configurator on our website!

Thank you for attention!

I ask you not to neglect the survey and help me in getting feedback from you!