October 20, 2017 at 16:48SC and Unity: two boots - a pair
On October 5, Moscow hosted the Dell EMC Forum, which brought together more than 800 representatives of customers and partners. Currently, 138,000 Dell EMC employees work in 180 countries and produce a wide range of products and solutions.
During the forum, Dell EMC experts introduced and demonstrated the capabilities of the updated midrange storage range.
According to analysts, Dell EMC has maintained first place in the market for converged systems suppliers and integrated infrastructures, and for 12 quarters holds the first place in the flash arrays market.
This is not the first year that they have been talking about the convergence of performance indicators and functionality of data storage systems of the middle and senior classes. This trend continues today.
Dell Technologies leads the global flash market.
According to IDC analysts, Russian customers began to prefer storage systems built entirely on flash memory (all-flash array, AFA). According to the results of the half year of 2017, such systems occupy 23.7% of the market, and their deliveries showed an annual growth of 86.5% in monetary terms.
According to analysts, systems based on flash memory provide such valuable advantages for all customers of any scale that the number of requests for specifications is growing for all manufacturers of such solutions.
As examples of implementation by Dell EMC customers show, the transition to mid-range arrays with flash memory gives a sharp increase in productivity (for example, it has grown by 17 times for one of the clients), it allows faster generation of reports (up to 10 times), etc.
In Dell EMC developed a special methodology for examining the customer’s IT infrastructure, which, by collecting statistics from its various components, makes a financial calculation of the potential benefits of introducing flash memory in various sections: performance, operational, business level and financial nsovy level (including, for example, maintenance and support costs).
The result will be short and detailed reports showing how the IT infrastructure will improve when moving to flash memory. They can serve as a feasibility study for such migration. What gives the transition to flash arrays?
This benefits are far from exhausted. It is no coincidence that flash drives are widely used today in midrange storage systems.
In the global market for external middle-class storage systems, the combined company is far ahead of its competitors.
Dell EMC mid-range storage systems are now represented by two families - SC Series and Unity. Despite the different architecture, they now have a single operating system. They are supported by a number of Dell EMC software products, including data protection. There is also a special cloud service for monitoring and proactive support for storage. A uniform HTML5 management interface is also being formed in Unisphere.
Dell EMC’s new mid-range storage system delivers common management and data protection tools.
Unisphere for SC software is compatible with most modern browsers; it does not need to be downloaded or installed separately. CloudIQ cloud application provides centralized monitoring and reporting, supports planning and optimization. With advanced features, Dell Storage Manager will manage and monitor SC and PS arrays (up to 10 arrays).
However, SC and Unity are significantly different products. Key features of the SC series:
Key features of the Unity family:
Let's consider them in more detail.
SC Series arrays are designed for applications where power, flexibility and availability are required. They can combine different types of flash memory, for example, add a small number of enterprise-class flash drives to inexpensive SSDs, which allows you to get very small delays in a relatively economical “hybrid” flash array or create new interesting solutions with the advent of new types of non-volatile memory . In 2013, thanks to this combination, Dell was one of the first to bring low-cost TLC memory to the corporate market.
SC Series are flexible hybrid configurations, from 0 to 100% flash memory, which can be added as needed by replacing the HDD.
Storage devices in SC arrays can be changed on the go, combine HDD and SSD, and replace one type of drive with another. In one system, different types of SAS and NL-SAS drives with different rotation and data transfer speeds can be used simultaneously. For example, you can use solid-state drives with high write and read intensities (Write-Intensive and Read-Intensive), hard drives at 15,000, 10,000, 7,200 rpm.
New arrays provide acceleration of workloads, savings due to automation. With automatic optimization of SSDs, hard drives, or hybrid configurations, the SC Series is positioned as a low-cost and high-performance solution for multi-functional environments.
The SC series has the lowest cost per gigabyte of storage with hybrid and flash drives.
Among the advantages of the solution, the following can also be distinguished.
SC Series includes granular tearing (automatic tiered storage), efficient hybrid configurations (0-100% flash memory), intelligent data compression and deduplication, preservation of software licenses when upgrading, as well as the possibility of building disaster-proof solutions and array federation.
Data Progression technology, used in SC Series arrays, dynamically configures different levels of drives and RAID based on actual usage and application needs. This results in optimum performance and savings. By default, all new data is written to the fastest tier-1 drives with RAID 10 performance. Then they are transferred to low-cost RAID 5/6 levels on the same drives for later reading.
Granular tiering (Data Progression) allows you to balance storage costs and performance. Inactive, "cooling" data, images are compressed and automatically moved to a slower lower storage level.
Outdated data is transferred to less expensive storage devices and stays there until it is needed again. Optimal data placement for quick access allows, firstly, to save, and secondly, to achieve high speed in IOPS.
And now - about the new product. The next-generation SC5020 system, which replaced the popular SC4020 array, includes two Intel eight-core processors, four times the memory capacity, and a 12 Gb SAS internal interface. The SC5020 has the following advantages.
Model Dell EMC SC5020 - one of the best performance among systems of this class. This new array has a 3U universal case (two hot-swappable controllers, internal drive bays, network ports and expansion ports).
The new universal 3U form factor enclosure contains 30 drive bays and two hot-swappable controllers. The total physical capacity of such a compact device is up to 460 TB. A variety of expansion shelves are also available, allowing you to expand capacity up to 2 Pb per array. Available and greater horizontal expansion (scale-out) in federated systems with many arrays.
On board the Dell EMC SC5020 is an Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3 processor (2.4 GHz, 8 cores), 128 GB system memory (64 GB per controller) and 30 drive bays for 2.5 "form factor. Maximum physical capacity of the array is 2 Pbytes (solid state drives or hard drives).
The Dell EMC SC5020 now has more options and backup options.
SC Series systems perform intelligent compression, that is, analyze data types and compress them so that this has a minimal impact on performance.
The recently announced SCv array is highly available and also supports federation. For backup, you can connect inexpensive arrays to the HDD to it. Now the SCv (Value) series has become fully functional: almost all restrictions have been removed, except for the ability to upgrade to a new generation of arrays while maintaining licenses.
The SC Series line of arrays now looks like this.
In storage arrays today, components are widely used that are released for standard architecture servers. This avoids the high costs associated with the development and production of specialized microchips (ASICs) and focus on software-implemented functions.
With the increased processing power of processors and the advent of flash memory, the middle class first began to compete with older storage systems in terms of performance. This was facilitated by a simpler dual-controller architecture, the absence of a distributed cache, simpler and faster program code compared to high-end products. Only a few applications (for example, large DBMSs) do not have the performance of middle-class systems.
With regard to reliability, in this indicator (and not only) high-end storage systems can be argued by the federation of middle-class arrays. Federation is a storage group. Although each individual middle-class system (usually dual-controller) in such a group is inferior to the older storage in reliability, a storage federation with the ability to transfer workload between systems without interrupting application performance is highly available.
Live Migrate and Volume Advisor technologies make it easy to work with multiple arrays by moving data, as well as preventive recommendations for load balancing.
Significantly reduces the likelihood of downtime due to errors, the "human factor", while servicing high-end storage systems is a difficult task that requires very high qualifications. Another feature is the lower risk of updating firmware in array federation. It can be tested on one node without compromising the entire storage infrastructure. Yes, and TCO in a middle-class system farm is usually lower than in older storage systems.
In the SC series, Dell EMC advocates a federated approach to building storage systems. Any array of this series can be part of the 16-controller array federation. Capacity can be increased both vertically, inside the array, and horizontally, combining up to 8 arrays. Such a federation can compete in its characteristics with high-end storage systems.
Those who need a simpler solution will be interested in the Unity family.
Unity - a system that requires minimal effort when setting up and maintaining. It is built on the basis of convergent controllers that support various protocols and functions for working with data, unified services for all objects (replication, compression, protection, recovery, etc.).
Easy-to-use Unity flash arrays with unified (block and file) access provide stable response time, integrate with cloud storage services, and support upgrade without data migration.
The new storage technology - dynamic pools - allows you to switch from static to dynamic memory expansion, provides high operational flexibility and ease of increasing the capacity of the system. Compression is performed in inline mode - at the controller level. Compressed data is saved in compressed form. The system also automates the work with data snapshots.
Unity Unified Architecture. In the basic configuration, this versatile storage system is installed in 30 minutes.
Building capacity and performance Dell EMC Unity All-Flash does not require data migration.
The Dell EMC Unity All-Flash with 3D TLC NAND memory is optimized for high performance. It uses up to 40% more computing cores, twice as much RAM, 3U high-density shelves for 80 drives. Capacity is up to 500 TB per rack. File performance increased fourfold.
Dynamic pools save capacity and budget, require less time to rebuild.
Systems support block and file compression (inline), dynamic pools, new RAID technologies, provides built-in functions for managing data copying, including copying data snapshots to the cloud storage.
Dell EMC Unity storage customers receive a 4: 1 warranty. That is, the system can store logical information four times its capacity.
So, SC Series arrays are characterized by the lowest storage cost per gigabyte among flash arrays (AFA), good integration with PowerEdge servers, built-in deduplication and automatic tearing functions, and the possibility of creating array federation. Unity storage is complete unification, ease of deployment, and use that comes with the software system.
SC Series arrays optimized for server and best-in-class performance and easy-to-use storage systems will evolve together.
Together, these two product lines popular with customers allow customers to solve a large number of problems. Dell EMC intends to maintain and develop both mid-range platforms: versatile and easy-to-use Unity storage systems and high-performance, economical and flexible SC Series arrays.
During the forum, Dell EMC experts introduced and demonstrated the capabilities of the updated midrange storage range.
According to analysts, Dell EMC has maintained first place in the market for converged systems suppliers and integrated infrastructures, and for 12 quarters holds the first place in the flash arrays market.
Flash offensive
This is not the first year that they have been talking about the convergence of performance indicators and functionality of data storage systems of the middle and senior classes. This trend continues today.
Dell Technologies leads the global flash market.
According to IDC analysts, Russian customers began to prefer storage systems built entirely on flash memory (all-flash array, AFA). According to the results of the half year of 2017, such systems occupy 23.7% of the market, and their deliveries showed an annual growth of 86.5% in monetary terms.
According to analysts, systems based on flash memory provide such valuable advantages for all customers of any scale that the number of requests for specifications is growing for all manufacturers of such solutions.
As examples of implementation by Dell EMC customers show, the transition to mid-range arrays with flash memory gives a sharp increase in productivity (for example, it has grown by 17 times for one of the clients), it allows faster generation of reports (up to 10 times), etc.
In Dell EMC developed a special methodology for examining the customer’s IT infrastructure, which, by collecting statistics from its various components, makes a financial calculation of the potential benefits of introducing flash memory in various sections: performance, operational, business level and financial nsovy level (including, for example, maintenance and support costs).
The result will be short and detailed reports showing how the IT infrastructure will improve when moving to flash memory. They can serve as a feasibility study for such migration. What gives the transition to flash arrays?
- You can solve performance problems in advance.
- You can allow yourself to perform more data operations: more data snapshots, more frequent backups and any other procedures that were not even considered before due to lack of performance.
- You can significantly improve the “user experience” or launch a new service (for example, RPO = 1 hour for cloud service clients).
- You can save significantly on electricity, floor space and racks.
This benefits are far from exhausted. It is no coincidence that flash drives are widely used today in midrange storage systems.
In the global market for external middle-class storage systems, the combined company is far ahead of its competitors.
SC and Unity Arrays
Dell EMC mid-range storage systems are now represented by two families - SC Series and Unity. Despite the different architecture, they now have a single operating system. They are supported by a number of Dell EMC software products, including data protection. There is also a special cloud service for monitoring and proactive support for storage. A uniform HTML5 management interface is also being formed in Unisphere.
Dell EMC’s new mid-range storage system delivers common management and data protection tools.
Unisphere for SC software is compatible with most modern browsers; it does not need to be downloaded or installed separately. CloudIQ cloud application provides centralized monitoring and reporting, supports planning and optimization. With advanced features, Dell Storage Manager will manage and monitor SC and PS arrays (up to 10 arrays).
However, SC and Unity are significantly different products. Key features of the SC series:
- Built-in metro cluster, stretched pads.
- Federation of Arrays.
- Non-alternative data snapshots.
- High technical characteristics (processors, controllers, memory, FC 32 Gb / s interfaces, etc.).
Key features of the Unity family:
- Inline compression (at the controller level).
- Built-in NAS.
- All software is included in the basic package.
- Unisphere management system with VMware support.
- Simple and clear array.
- Virtual Storage Unity.
Let's consider them in more detail.
Dell EMC SC Series Arrays
SC Series arrays are designed for applications where power, flexibility and availability are required. They can combine different types of flash memory, for example, add a small number of enterprise-class flash drives to inexpensive SSDs, which allows you to get very small delays in a relatively economical “hybrid” flash array or create new interesting solutions with the advent of new types of non-volatile memory . In 2013, thanks to this combination, Dell was one of the first to bring low-cost TLC memory to the corporate market.
SC Series are flexible hybrid configurations, from 0 to 100% flash memory, which can be added as needed by replacing the HDD.
Storage devices in SC arrays can be changed on the go, combine HDD and SSD, and replace one type of drive with another. In one system, different types of SAS and NL-SAS drives with different rotation and data transfer speeds can be used simultaneously. For example, you can use solid-state drives with high write and read intensities (Write-Intensive and Read-Intensive), hard drives at 15,000, 10,000, 7,200 rpm.
New arrays provide acceleration of workloads, savings due to automation. With automatic optimization of SSDs, hard drives, or hybrid configurations, the SC Series is positioned as a low-cost and high-performance solution for multi-functional environments.
The SC series has the lowest cost per gigabyte of storage with hybrid and flash drives.
Among the advantages of the solution, the following can also be distinguished.
- Data Progression Technology . Provides the right level of performance in IOPS (I / O operations per second) with an economical combination of storage devices.
- Deduplication and compression . Significantly reduces the physical capacity requirements for storing data.
- Automatic data distribution across RAID levels . Means more efficient use of resources without manual allocation.
- Federation Allows you to consolidate your storage infrastructure so that it functions as a whole.
- Continuous software licensing schemes. Protect investment and reduce future expansion and modernization costs.
SC Series includes granular tearing (automatic tiered storage), efficient hybrid configurations (0-100% flash memory), intelligent data compression and deduplication, preservation of software licenses when upgrading, as well as the possibility of building disaster-proof solutions and array federation.
Data Progression technology, used in SC Series arrays, dynamically configures different levels of drives and RAID based on actual usage and application needs. This results in optimum performance and savings. By default, all new data is written to the fastest tier-1 drives with RAID 10 performance. Then they are transferred to low-cost RAID 5/6 levels on the same drives for later reading.
Granular tiering (Data Progression) allows you to balance storage costs and performance. Inactive, "cooling" data, images are compressed and automatically moved to a slower lower storage level.
Outdated data is transferred to less expensive storage devices and stays there until it is needed again. Optimal data placement for quick access allows, firstly, to save, and secondly, to achieve high speed in IOPS.
And now - about the new product. The next-generation SC5020 system, which replaced the popular SC4020 array, includes two Intel eight-core processors, four times the memory capacity, and a 12 Gb SAS internal interface. The SC5020 has the following advantages.
- 45% more I / O operations (IOPS).
- Tripled bandwidth (GB / s).
- Doubled maximum capacity.
Model Dell EMC SC5020 - one of the best performance among systems of this class. This new array has a 3U universal case (two hot-swappable controllers, internal drive bays, network ports and expansion ports).
The new universal 3U form factor enclosure contains 30 drive bays and two hot-swappable controllers. The total physical capacity of such a compact device is up to 460 TB. A variety of expansion shelves are also available, allowing you to expand capacity up to 2 Pb per array. Available and greater horizontal expansion (scale-out) in federated systems with many arrays.
On board the Dell EMC SC5020 is an Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3 processor (2.4 GHz, 8 cores), 128 GB system memory (64 GB per controller) and 30 drive bays for 2.5 "form factor. Maximum physical capacity of the array is 2 Pbytes (solid state drives or hard drives).
The Dell EMC SC5020 now has more options and backup options.
SC Series systems perform intelligent compression, that is, analyze data types and compress them so that this has a minimal impact on performance.
The recently announced SCv array is highly available and also supports federation. For backup, you can connect inexpensive arrays to the HDD to it. Now the SCv (Value) series has become fully functional: almost all restrictions have been removed, except for the ability to upgrade to a new generation of arrays while maintaining licenses.
The SC Series line of arrays now looks like this.
Array Federation
In storage arrays today, components are widely used that are released for standard architecture servers. This avoids the high costs associated with the development and production of specialized microchips (ASICs) and focus on software-implemented functions.
With the increased processing power of processors and the advent of flash memory, the middle class first began to compete with older storage systems in terms of performance. This was facilitated by a simpler dual-controller architecture, the absence of a distributed cache, simpler and faster program code compared to high-end products. Only a few applications (for example, large DBMSs) do not have the performance of middle-class systems.
With regard to reliability, in this indicator (and not only) high-end storage systems can be argued by the federation of middle-class arrays. Federation is a storage group. Although each individual middle-class system (usually dual-controller) in such a group is inferior to the older storage in reliability, a storage federation with the ability to transfer workload between systems without interrupting application performance is highly available.
Live Migrate and Volume Advisor technologies make it easy to work with multiple arrays by moving data, as well as preventive recommendations for load balancing.
Significantly reduces the likelihood of downtime due to errors, the "human factor", while servicing high-end storage systems is a difficult task that requires very high qualifications. Another feature is the lower risk of updating firmware in array federation. It can be tested on one node without compromising the entire storage infrastructure. Yes, and TCO in a middle-class system farm is usually lower than in older storage systems.
In the SC series, Dell EMC advocates a federated approach to building storage systems. Any array of this series can be part of the 16-controller array federation. Capacity can be increased both vertically, inside the array, and horizontally, combining up to 8 arrays. Such a federation can compete in its characteristics with high-end storage systems.
Those who need a simpler solution will be interested in the Unity family.
Unity: out of the box functionality
Unity - a system that requires minimal effort when setting up and maintaining. It is built on the basis of convergent controllers that support various protocols and functions for working with data, unified services for all objects (replication, compression, protection, recovery, etc.).
Easy-to-use Unity flash arrays with unified (block and file) access provide stable response time, integrate with cloud storage services, and support upgrade without data migration.
The new storage technology - dynamic pools - allows you to switch from static to dynamic memory expansion, provides high operational flexibility and ease of increasing the capacity of the system. Compression is performed in inline mode - at the controller level. Compressed data is saved in compressed form. The system also automates the work with data snapshots.
Unity Unified Architecture. In the basic configuration, this versatile storage system is installed in 30 minutes.
Building capacity and performance Dell EMC Unity All-Flash does not require data migration.
The Dell EMC Unity All-Flash with 3D TLC NAND memory is optimized for high performance. It uses up to 40% more computing cores, twice as much RAM, 3U high-density shelves for 80 drives. Capacity is up to 500 TB per rack. File performance increased fourfold.
Dynamic pools save capacity and budget, require less time to rebuild.
Systems support block and file compression (inline), dynamic pools, new RAID technologies, provides built-in functions for managing data copying, including copying data snapshots to the cloud storage.
Dell EMC Unity storage customers receive a 4: 1 warranty. That is, the system can store logical information four times its capacity.
Two families - one product strategy
So, SC Series arrays are characterized by the lowest storage cost per gigabyte among flash arrays (AFA), good integration with PowerEdge servers, built-in deduplication and automatic tearing functions, and the possibility of creating array federation. Unity storage is complete unification, ease of deployment, and use that comes with the software system.
SC Series arrays optimized for server and best-in-class performance and easy-to-use storage systems will evolve together.
Together, these two product lines popular with customers allow customers to solve a large number of problems. Dell EMC intends to maintain and develop both mid-range platforms: versatile and easy-to-use Unity storage systems and high-performance, economical and flexible SC Series arrays.