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VMworld 2013: VMware Virsto Technical Overview:Optimizing Your SAN Infrastructure for VDI and Virtual Datacenter Environments
1. VMware Virsto Technical Overview:
Optimizing Your SAN Infrastructure for VDI and
Virtual Datacenter Environments
Brian Martin, VMware
STO5359
#STO5359
2. 2
Software-Defined
Data Center
Software-Defined
Storage
SDDC | SDS
All infrastructure is virtualized and delivered
as a service, and the control of this data
center is entirely automated by software.
Virtualization of control and data planes to
deliver storage resources as a service
through policy-driven VM-based interface
3. 3
The Journey to SDDC ‒ New Approach to Storage
SAN
HDDSSD
DASNAS
SAN NAS
Physical
Software-Defined
Storage
vSphere
Virtual
App App App App
SDS
SAN NAS
vSphere
• VMware Virsto
• Virtual SAN
• vSphere Flash Read Cache
• Virtual Volumes
• Policy-based Management
• …
• VAAI
• VASA
• S-VMotion
• SDRS
• vSphere
Replication
• vSphere Storage
Appliance
4. 4
Mismatch Between Virtualization Layer
and Storage Infrastructure
Virtual Machines have introduced storage
patterns that have caused inefficiencies
at the SAN layer
Streams of Random I/O
Data fragmentation due to Random I/O
Overprovisioning for the sake of
performance
Need to over-engineer SANs
Hypervisor
?
HDDSSD
HDDSSD
7. 7
VMware Virsto is Designed to Address this Mismatch
VMware
Virsto
Block Storage
ESXi • Solving problems at the most efficient
point – before I/O’s are introduced
• Supports existing block storage
• Maintain native VM workflows
• Delivering VM centric data services
• Predictable Performance
• Faster Data Services executed at the
virtualization layer
• Faster storage provisioning
• Improved SAN utilization
• Storage agnostic
• High performance thin provisioning
across all workloads
VMware Virsto ‒ VM-centric
infrastructure agnostic and 100%
software based solution designed to
optimize block based storage arrays by:
10. 10
VMware Virsto Architecture Artifacts
VMware Virsto vMaster
• Centralized Management Plane
• Requires Windows 2008 OS
• Manages vService on each host
• Coordinates cluster operations
such as HA, vMotion and
Storage vMotion
VMware Virsto Global
Namespace Server
• A Linux based virtual appliance
• Dedicated to the management
of the VMware Virsto global
NFS namespace in clusters
• Coordinates cluster operations
such as HA, vMotion and
Storage vMotion
VMware Virsto vService
• A Linux based virtual
appliance
• Deployed onto every host
• Manages all I/O for host
• One VMFS datastore per 8
or 32 host in cluster
• Recommended minimum
size is ~65GB
VMware Virsto vDisk
• New disk type
• Storage object presented to
virtual machines
• Performance equal to
Thick VMDK
• Efficiency equivalent to
linked clones
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VMware Virsto Architecture Artifacts
VMware Virsto vSpace
• Primary Storage Area for
virtual machines
• Allocated based on RDM
• Asynchronous writes drain log
• Optimized for VM-level data
placement
• Virtual machines read
operations
are done from vSpace
• Can be tiered to provide higher
performance
VMware Virsto vClones
• Never degrade in performance
over time
vSphere Interoperability
• Seamless integration into
existing vSphere environment
• Supports key tools in existing
vSphere ecosystem
• VMware Virsto Plug-in
• vCenter Server 5.0 U1, 5.1, 5.5
• Orchestrator
• VMware Tools
• VDI Brokers
• VMware Horizon View 5.1
• VMware Horizon View 5.2
VMware Virsto vLog
• Used to optimized writes from
virtual machines
• Writes are immediately
committed and acknowledge.
• vLog storage should be ~10GB
• One vLog per ESXi host in
cluster
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VMware Virsto Data Flow: Random to Sequential
I/O’s are contiguously
written to the vLog
Written to vSpace in a
sequential manner to
Maximize performance
1. VM where I/O originated
2. Data
3. Address
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
vDisk vDisk vDisk
Immediate write
acknowledgement
De-staged
VMware Virsto vSpace
Virsto
vLog
Virsto
vService
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VMware Virsto Thin Provisioning
Performance of Thick with the Efficiency and Provisioning Speed of Thin
Block Storage
Allocate blocks
Pre-zero blocks
Update mapping
Write data
Send acknowledgement
Native Thin
Provisioning
Block Storage
Write
Write
Write data
Send acknowledgement
Allocate blocks
Pre-zero blocks
Update mapping
Write data
VMware Virsto Thin
Provisioning
vSphere
vSphere
Virsto
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VMware Virsto Predictable Performance at 8 VMs
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IOps Read IOps Write IOps Average Read Response Time Average Write Response Time
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IOps Read IOps Write IOps Average Read Response Time Average Write Response Time
Native Performance
VMware Virsto Performance
18. 18
VDI Performance Challenges
Windows desktops expect
dedicated local disk
• Windows generates lots of I/O
More write-intensive workloads
VM Density with many more
VMs/host
Much wider variability between
peak & Avg. IOPS
• Boot, Login, Application, Logout Storms
19. 19
VMware Virsto Wizards for VDI Environments
Transparent Integration into existing workflows
VMware Virsto Deploy Wizard Workflow for initial deployments/imaging
VMware Virsto Re-Deploy Wizard Workflow for re-deployments/image updates
VMware Virsto Re-Deploy Recovery
VMware Virsto Revert Wizard Workflow to refresh a desktop or group of desktops
VMware Virsto Delete Wizard Workflow to delete a desktop or group of desktops
Transparently repairs failed re-deploy/refresh operations
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Seamless Integration with vSphere Management UI
VMware Virsto Plug-in integrates with the vSphere Management UI
Management UI tab
Provisioning Workflow with vSpace
Tier Options
vSnap Workflow
Integration with Horizon View
Transparently embedded into standard
desktop creation workflows
Effectively replaces View Composer
Supports the standard deployment,
re-deployment and refresh workflows
Native integration - Virsto View
Connector hands Virsto-provisioned
desktops over to View Manager
without a separate control interface
* vSphere Web Client Plug-in currently under development
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VM-centric, hypervisor resident, infrastructure agnostic
Highly parallel, non-blocking design for cloud scale
Efficient and performant data services to deliver full
potential of virtualization
Logging architecture and hierarchical, extent-based maps
Global namespace simplifies management across multiple
backend devices and storage tiers
VMware Virsto Design Foundations
22. 22
VMware Virsto Architecture
Tiered vSpacevLog (one per host)
De-stages to vSpace
Writes to vLog are sequential
Reads from vSpace
vDisk vDisk vDisk vDisk
VMware Virsto
vSphere
vDisk vDisk vDisk vDisk
VMware Virsto
vSphere
vDisk vDisk vDisk vDisk
VMware Virsto
vSphere
vDisk vDisk vDisk vDisk
VMware Virsto
vSphere
24. 24
VMware Virsto Map Hierarchy
“Map”
Attribute
“Data”
Attribute
“Map”
Attribute
“Data”
Attribute
Every vDisk, Snapshot, and Clone
has its own root map block
Map entries point to contiguous
data space or another map block
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VMware Virsto Snapshot Operation
Writes
vLog
Snapshot
Log Mark
vDisk write operations are
collected in each host’s vLog
A Snapshot is created with
a simple log mark
vDisk write operations before the
log mark are in snapshot
vDisk write operations after the
log mark are not
vDisks
26. 26
“Shared”
Attribute
Snapshot (former vDisk) Clone
o The original vDisk root map
block becomes the snapshot
root map block
o If the vDisk is in use, or the
snapshot is cloned, a new root
map block is created with all
map entries marked “Shared”
VMware Virsto Map After Snapshot and Clone
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VMware Virsto Flash Features
Unlimited levels of snap/clone block
sharing maximizes efficiency of flash
Flash mode for VMware Virsto logs
leverages higher read-write concurrency
Flash friendly allocation units and access
patterns reduce write amplification
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VMware Virsto Benefits
Predictable Performance Don’t have to over-engineer the SAN
Improved SAN Utilization Defer Hardware Purchases
Faster Data Services No performance trade-offs
Faster Storage Provisioning VM-centric vs LUN-centric
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Other VMware Activities Related to This Session
Group Discussions:
STO1004-GD
vSphere Flash Read Cache, VSAN, VMware Virsto, Software Defined
Storage Architecture with Rawlinson Rivera and VMware
R&D Engineers
34. VMware Virsto Technical Overview:
Optimizing Your SAN Infrastructure for VDI and
Virtual Datacenter Environments
Brian Martin, VMware
Rawlinson Rivera, VMware
STO5359
#STO5359