ibm storwize family – scaling capabilities and value

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Technology Insight Paper

IBM Storwize Family – ScalingCapabilities and Value

By Randy Kerns

January, 2013

Enabling you to make the best technology decisions



IBM Storwize Family – Scaling Capabilities and Value 1

© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form

without prior written permission is prohibited.

Introduction: IBM Storwize Family






The IBM Storwize family represents a single architecture applied across several market segments as

independent storage systems. This approach of delivering storage systems optimized to meet price,

performance, and capacity demands for different markets delivers benefits for Information Technology

across many areas. Commonality of administration, reduced risk when deploying a Storwize system,

integration and support from software vendors, and use of unique Storwize features are just a few of

the advantages. Systems delivered at competitive prices based on leverage from a single architectureand use of common underlying hardware may be the most evident benefit.

A high-value result of Storwize systems based on a single architecture is the availability of features

designed originally for demanding, high-end enterprises for use in other segments. The Information

Technology needs from storage systems continue to increase and capabilities developed in one

environment can be applied across Storwize systems because of the common architecture. As needs

change, IT will benefit from capabilities leveraged economically across multiple Storwize systems.

Evolving Storage System Demands

Demands for storing information continue to change over time, which has been evidenced by changes in

storage systems and their capabilities. Continued advances in storage technology and storage systems

provide incremental improvements in efficiency and performance in meeting information storage and

retrieval requirements.

Business demands have led to development of advanced features for storage systems. Features such as

snapshots for point-in-time copies and remote replication for disaster recovery and business continuity

increase the operational value of storage. Initially delivered in large enterprise storage systems, these

advanced capabilities are needed across all environments. Continued advances that can leverage

capabilities across multiple products in a family allow these functions to be applied to all environments.

Storage System Characteristics

Storage systems were originally designed for specific usages with system characteristics to match needs.

Features were added to systems to enhance the value and differentiate products. Usage areas were

defined very generally as three classes of storage systems across multiple market segments.

Characteristics of these storage systems were generally seen as:

• High-end storage systems – for large enterprises / data centerso Advanced data protection – snapshots, asynchronous and synchronous remote

replication with support for consistency groups






o Integration with operating systems such as z/OS or enterprise UNIX

o Thin provisioning and space reclamation for capacity efficiency

o Extensive scalability of performance and capacity

o Highly reliable and available systems

• Mid-range storage systems – served small and mid-size enterprise marketso Dual controller systems and redundancy for high availability

o Scaling of capacity from small to moderate size

o Integration with applications and software systems such as VMware and through

Microsoft VSS

o Snapshot feature for data protection

• Entry level storage systems – served mid-size business and small enterprise markets

o Inexpensive with limited availability features

o Limited connectivity and scaling

o Simple administration with limited choices






Figure 1: Feature Migration

As demands have changed, characteristics and features expected from storage systems have changed.

Changes have been delivered in high-end systems first and offered in mid-range and, in some cases, in

entry level systems as the operational needs of customers have converged across the different segments.

Some of the areas that have seen changes include:

• Availability – Availability is measured in percentage of up time where 99.999% is referred to asfive nines, which amounts to 5 minutes of downtime per year. This level of availability requires






access to data stored with no interruption and has been achieved with the addition of many

improvements:

o Recovery from device failures has improved with introduction of RAID 6 protection using

an additional parity drive. With larger capacity drives available, use of RAID 6 is seen as a

pervasive requirement.

o Support for dual active controllers or multiple controllers and redundant components toenable non-disruptive upgrades of embedded software, expansion of capacity with

addition of more devices and storage modules, and increased availability by limiting

causes for potential interruptions.

o Non-disruptive data movement allowing continued access while information is relocated

for load or capacity balancing, asset relocation or retirement, or changes in operations.

Continued operations while data is being moved have improved operational procedures,

enhancing overall availability.

• Scale – Demand to increase capacity occurs more frequently in higher-end segments but has

become a pervasive issue. The ability to scale capacity up to some point before adding newsystems is offered with most storage systems. Scaling with capacity initially and adding

controllers as needed to meet capacity and performance demands is an effective means of

managing costs while meeting demands.

• Efficiency – Using thin provisioning to allocate disk capacity only when it is needed rather than

pre-allocating based on potential usage was a major capacity efficiency improvement when

released on high-end storage systems. Advantages coming from thin provisioning are being

offered in mid-range storage and are starting to be a differentiator in entry level systems.

• Data protection – Improving the ability to protect data and provide business continuance and

disaster recovery operations for storage led to high-end systems offering snapshots for point-in-

time copies, remote replication over distance using synchronous and asynchronous technologies,

integration with applications for coherent copies of data, and support for consistency groups of

volumes used by applications. Initially delivered on high-end storage with sophisticated

management software, these data protection features are now generally available in mid-range

and entry level storage systems as needs for protection due to business or regulatory

requirements have led to operational integration.

New Demands on Storage






Highlighting the technology developed for high-end storage systems and moving to mid-range and entry

level systems leads to a discussion of more recent capabilities being developed. These capabilities are

becoming important in high-end systems and will also be included in other systems.

Data reduction, usually in the form of compressing data on primary storage systems was introduced in

the IBM RAMAC Virtual Array but only recently has seen wider availability in disk storage, both in high-end and mid-range systems. Data compression increases the efficiency of the storage system and

results in reducing the cost of storing data as represented by $/TB. Storing more data on storage

devices also reduces the number of devices, which means less power, cooling, and physical space

required.

Encryption of stored data is rapidly becoming a requirement for types of regulated data and for business

practices of some companies and industries. Changing applications to encrypt data introduces a wide

set of other changes required so encryption has been addressed by encrypting data in storage systems.

Available in high-end enterprise storage systems initially, demand across industries and companies of

many different sizes has led to encryption being needed in mid-range systems and eventually in entry

level storage systems.

Adding specialized features in storage systems for increasing performance of operating system

environments was pioneered by IBM in mainframe storage systems. Now, features are being delivered

in open systems storage to provide acceleration of server virtualization, with focus on VMware initially.

These are advanced features performing special functions on behalf of the server system software in

high-end and mid-range storage and will likely be required in entry level systems. As more advanced,

specialized features are defined in server system software, storage systems will follow with

implementations.

IBM Storwize Architecture

The IBM Storwize architecture was derived from the development of the SAN Volume Controller (SVC)

storage virtualization system and has been expanded with capabilities and features in different products

across different market segments. Software for Storwize family runs on standard Intel-based controller

hardware and uses industry standard interfaces for connectivity to external hosts, and both internal

storage devices and external storage systems. Software, typically called embedded software in the case

of storage systems, operates as a storage controller with the capability of clustering multiple nodes

which are other instances of Storwize software running on separate hardware controllers. The

clustering capability meets both high availability requirements and enables performance and capacityscaling for Storwize family systems.






Storwize family, based on the SVC system, is a mature, proven architecture with thousands of systems in

production over the last two decades. Major enhancements made to meet new demands and extend to

multiple products for different usages include expanded RAID functionality, thin provisioning with

storage pools, and storage tiering. Added features such as remote replication (Global Mirror and Metro

Mirror), compression, and snapshots (FlashCopy) demonstrate flexibility and extensibility of the

architecture.

Customers benefit from the Storwize family use of underlying Intel-based hardware. Advances in

technology can be delivered more quickly, enabling customers to gain the advantages new technology

brings in performance and costs. Use of standardized hardware elements for the Storwize family allows

customers to have a consistent operational environment across generations of systems. Very early on,

IBM pioneered the flexibility and benefits that come with use of standardized hardware, which is being

termed “Software Defined Storage” today.

Storage Systems from a Single Architecture

A strength of the Storwize family architecture is the ability to create optimized configurations to deliverstorage systems for different usage requirements. These are delivered as different products with

flexibility to scale capacity and performance as well as feature offerings in serving different purposes.

The following diagram shows different products based on the Storwize architecture. In addition to

Storwize V7000, Storwize V7000 Unified is offered, which adds controllers with Network-Attached

Storage (NAS) software to create a combined block and file storage solution.






Figure 2: IBM Storwize Products

Value of a Single Architecture

IBM Storwize systems leverage investment in an architecture capable of meeting a wide range of

requirements for customer needs such as performance, capacity, resiliency, and advanced operational

features. The Storwize architecture is flexible and scalable enough for price and functionality expected

for a range of customers from small enterprise to data centers.

Economic advantages of the Storwize common architecture across multiple products are compellingwith common, underlying components to drive down costs, a single R & D team and a single support

team. Development can focus on the common elements and drive down expenses and extend product

capabilities with advanced features and new technologies. Use of Storwize systems gives IT customers a






common experience across a range of storage which may be utilized for different purposes and

environments.

For customers, continued advancements with new Storwize systems result in less disruption and risk

compared to other vendors who introduce fundamentally different systems on a regular basis to remain

competitive. Scaling to meet the demands for capacity and performance can be accomplished withoutnew product evaluations or proof of concept, improving time to delivery of resources. Another benefit

is the ability to utilize proven, high-end enterprise features for customers with increasing requirements

for different classes of storage. Leverage of using features developed for more demanding

environments gives customers of Storwize systems in other environments valuable features more

quickly and with greater functionality than a new development for another storage system.

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) with applications and utility software will quickly support storage

systems based on Storwize architecture because of the fewer qualifications required and less

investment needed with consistent implementations. IT customers benefit with a greater number of

software products available and improved timeliness because of the larger opportunity base for the ISV.

IBM Unique Implementations with Storwize Architecture

Differentiated features set Storwize systems apart from competing storage systems in various segments.

The leverage of features discussed earlier enables unique value to be applied more widely than when

limited to a single product model. Very notable features and their value are detailed below.

Real-time Compression

Storwize V7000, Storwize V7000 Unified, Flex System V7000, and SVC include an option for compressingdata stored for block access. The Real-time Compression function compresses block data as it is

received by these systems and stores it in compressed form. When data is accessed, it is decompressed

before it is sent to the host. Compression is transparent to hosts and produces a capacity improvement

(up to 5x) with more effective use of storage. Operating in real-time and transparent to applications

with no performance impact gives customers a significant cost reduction for Storwize systems.

Compression works for both internal storage in the case of Storwize V7000, Storwize V7000 Unified, Flex

System V7000, and external storage systems attached to these systems or SVC.

The Real-time Compression feature of all these Storwize systems is a significant milestone for IBM and

has set the bar for other competitive products in open systems storage. Being transparent and with no

performance impact gives customers real, significant cost advantages and a major differentiable feature

for IBM.






Easy Tier

Easy Tier is a software function executing on Storwize systems—including SVC—and the enterprise-class

DS8000 to perform automated tiering of data across storage. In the case of SVC, tiering is for external

storage; with Storwize V7000, Storwize V7000 Unified, and Flex System V7000, tiering is for both

internal and external storage; and with Storwize V37001

, tiering is across internal storage. Easy Tiersoftware monitors storage accesses and moves most active portions of data to the highest performing

tier of storage devices and moves less demanding data to higher capacity, lower performing (and lower

cost) storage devices. Easy Tier is Flash optimized and allows for optimal usage of various Solid State

Devices (SSDs) and hard disk drives. The size of the tiering element (sub-LUN) is configurable to allow for

optimization based on application usage.

Easy Tier, with its simplicity and effectiveness, gives administrators an efficient means of optimizing

devices in the storage system, producing increased performance without requiring monitoring and

complex tuning as needed with some other tiering solutions.

External Virtualization

External virtualization implemented in SVC, Storwize V7000, Storwize V7000 Unified, and Flex System

V7000 connects external storage systems from a variety of vendors to these systems and manages the

resources of the external system. Capacity on external systems is configured as LUNs and utilized with

all the advanced features offered with the Storwize systems. Existing LUNs on external storage can also

be maintained and accessed from hosts through the Storwize systems. The advanced features of thin

provisioning, replication, Real-time Compression, and Easy Tier automated data tiering can be exploited

for external storage systems, which improves their value and can extend their useful life.

Automated Migration and Capacity Efficiency

Migration of LUNs from external storage systems attached to SVC or Storwize systems can be done non-

disruptively, while data is being accessed from host systems. LUNs from external systems can be

migrated to Storwize local storage or to a virtualized storage system attached to a Storwize system,

typically for retiring attached external storage or for load balancing.

Another use for migration is increasing capacity efficiency. A LUN configured without thin provisioning

on an external storage system can be migrated to a thinly provisioned LUN on another storage system or

the local storage of a Storwize system. The migration automates conversion of the LUN and increases

1Currently a Statement of Direction.






capacity efficiency of the storage system. As mentioned above, Real-time Compression adds another

level of improved capacity efficiency.

Administrative Efficiency with Advanced User Interface

Usage of storage systems in customers of different size requires administrative tools to match theexpectations and training of staff in each case. With IBM Storwize systems and SVC, as well as other

IBM products, the user interface from IBM XIV has been utilized to provide intuitive management,

greatly simplifying the administration. This advanced user interface has set the standard for efficiency

of administration for storage systems.

Integration into Management Environments

Within an enterprise, IT administrators have multiple responsibilities which include managing storage

with interactions from applications, hypervisors and operating environments. Integrating storagesystems into these environments with the consistent implementation of the Storwize family, benefits IT

with greater visibility for managing storage and applications.

Data Protection

FlashCopy Manager

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager is a software product that integrates with specific applications to

exploit capabilities of the FlashCopy replication function in Storwize and SVC systems. With FlashCopy

Manager software, point-in-time copies of application data can be taken while the application is active

to almost eliminate backup windows where an application must be quiesced. FlashCopy Manager can

be used to create clones of data for applications for both backup and test copies. FlashCopy Manager is

also used to restore copies as needed. Integrated with VMware, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft SQL, and

Microsoft Exchange applications, FlashCopy Manager enhances usability of Storwize family systems in

creating coherent copies of data for applications.

Management

vCenter and vSphere

Increased usage of server virtualization has centralized administration such that managing server

operating systems, storage, and networking is accomplished by administrators through a common

interface. In these environments, it is important for the storage system to provide a consistentmanagement experience for administrators by integration with management software. In the case of

VMware server virtualization software, Storwize family systems have integrated management with plug-






in software for vCenter. Additionally, features such vSphere APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) have been

implemented to integrate with vSphere to offload some VMware functions to the Storwize system to

improve overall performance and reduce server and SAN load.

OpenStack support

IBM has delivered device drivers for the OpenStack cloud platform to allow Storwize family storage

systems to be managed by OpenStack software. As an example, for Storwize V7000, the features of thin

provisioning, Real-time Compression, Easy Tier and other settings can be controlled by OpenStack

management software. Support of OpenStack by IBM Storwize family simplifies storage management

for enterprises using this cloud platform.

Flex System Manager

IBM Flex System Manager software runs on the management node in an IBM PureFlex system and

integrates management of physical elements of the system including IBM Flex System V7000 Storage

Node. Flex System Manager Storage Control performs discovery, inventory, monitoring, configuration

and provisioning of Flex System V7000 and external virtualized storage. Integrating management forFlex System V7000 with Flex System Manager centralizes and simplifies administration of PureFlex

systems.

Summary

IBM has used the Storwize architecture to produce multiple storage systems across different usage

segments to meet different customer needs. The ability to scale with a common underlying architecture

has proven to deliver multiple benefits to IBM customers. Features developed for high-end enterprise

systems now meet customer needs in other, more price conscious segments. The leverage from acommon base for systems helps reduce development and support costs which are reflected in product

costs for customers. The Storwize architecture also builds on Intel-based hardware, which provides

continued advances with each new generation yet retains the same fundamental architecture.

Customers also benefit from a storage architecture that provides a consistent experience across multiple

products and generations. The longevity of a storage system, based on an architecture with the ability

to scale and investments leveraged across multiple products, reduces risks for customers with new

products, allows for continued use of developed procedures, and benefits from broad support from

applications and systems software. The variety of system types in the Storwize family, including

enterprise storage virtualization, storage systems, and storage integrated with servers helps to address

diverse customer requirements with consistent function and ease of use.






IBM Storwize systems deliver unique implementations of high-value features that stand out from

competing solutions. The inline, Real-time Compression feature is unique in its capabilities. Easy Tier,

external storage system virtualization, automated migration for increased capacity efficiency and the

intuitive, advanced GUI are examples of advanced feature implementations serving to differentiate

Storwize systems. Use of a common architecture in the Storwize family allows new developments to

span multiple products and benefit more customers.

The premise of delivering an IBM Storwize family of products based on a single architecture has benefits

for customers in many areas and allows IBM to focus on continued advances in integrating new

technologies, adding new features, and improving the multiple storage systems based on the Storwize

architecture.

About Evaluator GroupEvaluator Group Inc. is dedicated to helping IT professionals and vendors create and implement strategies that make the most of the value

of their storage and digital information. Evaluator Group services deliver in-depth, unbiased analysis on storage architectures,infrastructures and management for IT professionals. Since 1997 Evaluator Group has provided services for thousands of end users and

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