HP 6100 HP StorageWorks MPX200 - Simplified Cost-Effective Virtualization De - Page 2

Executive Summary, HP StorageWorks MPX200 Architecture - software

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Executive Summary Server virtualization helps to improve the Return on Investment (ROI) by increasing server utilization. However, increased server utilization means a greater demand for I/O bandwidth and more connectivity. To meet the virtualization requirements, Storage Area Networks (SAN) must be capable of providing a higher level of scalable performance than is required by traditional server environments. The rapid growth of virtual servers has enabled companies to extract higher returns on their computing resources. Because this growth has accelerated in the past few years, many organizations are running into limitations in performance, flexibility, and scalability in deployment of storage in virtual environments. These limitations have resulted in businesses decelerating their planned deployments, thereby not realizing the complete benefits of virtualization. In a virtualized environment, the hypervisor manages virtual machines. In VMware, the maximum number of storage logical unit numbers (LUNs) that can be exposed to a physical server, before being subdivided into applications, is 256. This limit applies collectively to all hypervisors within the same storage zone. All hypervisors need access to every LUN to manage the migration of virtual machines (such as, VMotion). When the number of virtual machines deployed increase, the storage requirements grow exponentially, and this limitation increases rapidly. This limitation results in lack of scalability, flexibility, and causes the following problems for storage administrators:  Every application has the potential to be exposed to every data LUN.  Security policies are hard to manage and maintain.  Growth of application data can cause frequent restructuring of the environment.  If more than 256 LUNs are needed, the hypervisor subdivides and manages the LUNs for the applications, thereby increasing storage complexity and management. This white paper describes a cost-effective and easy-to-manage solution that allows the Storage Administrator to leverage the current HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) storage investments for SCSI over IP (iSCSI) connectivity and virtual machine deployments. This paper describes the VMware deployment options for a scalable virtualized data center. HP StorageWorks MPX200 Architecture The HP StorageWorks MPX200 Multifunction Router (MPX200) provides powerful connectivity options for EVA storage systems. In many cases, the cost-per-host connectivity can be as low as $37 per server. The MPX200 incorporates the initiator virtualization technology, which allows over 600 iSCSI initiators (HP StorageWorks 10-1 GbE Blade) to be mapped to only four connections on the EVA storage. Architecturally, this product supports up to 1024 iSCSI initiators. Combine this with Fibre Channel initiators, a combination of EVA and MPX200 can support up to 2032 initiators. The hosts can leverage free iSCSI software initiators from the OS vendors, thereby reducing cost, complexity, and management overheads. The topology for this solution is simple and easy to implement. The MPX200 is installed in the SAN fabric of the EVA storage system in the same rack. The MPX200 appears as an iSCSI target to iSCSI hosts and it appears as a Fibre Channel initiator to the storage array. The EVA Command View manages both the MPX200 and EVA storage array and automatically binds the MPX200 and EVA storage. The HP StorageWorks MPX200 Multifunction Router extends the Fibre Channel SAN investment with integrated multi-protocol support, allowing customers to incorporate iSCSI servers without requiring additional storage arrays or management costs. The MPX200 offers simultaneous iSCSI and Fibre Channel support from EVA with 10GbE, 1GbE, and 8Gb/s Fibre Channel technology, providing modular multi-protocol SAN designs with increased scalability, stability, ROI, and simpler to manage, secure storage solution for virtualized server environments. The MPX200 with EVA iSCSI solution addresses the virtualization environment issues in multiple ways:

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Executive Summary
Server virtualization helps to improve the Return on Investment (ROI) by increasing server
utilization. However, increased server utilization means a greater demand for I/O bandwidth and
more connectivity. To meet the virtualization requirements, Storage Area Networks (SAN) must be
capable of providing a higher level of scalable performance than is required by traditional server
environments.
The rapid growth of virtual servers has enabled companies to extract higher returns on their
computing resources. Because this growth has accelerated in the past few years, many
organizations are running into limitations in performance, flexibility, and scalability in deployment
of storage in virtual environments. These limitations have resulted in businesses decelerating their
planned deployments, thereby not realizing the complete benefits of virtualization.
In a virtualized environment, the hypervisor manages virtual machines. In VMware, the maximum
number of storage logical unit numbers (LUNs) that can be exposed to a physical server, before
being subdivided into applications, is 256. This limit applies collectively to all hypervisors within
the same storage zone. All hypervisors need access to every LUN to manage the migration of
virtual machines (such as, VMotion). When the number of virtual machines deployed increase, the
storage requirements grow exponentially, and this limitation increases rapidly.
This limitation results in lack of scalability, flexibility, and causes the following problems for
storage administrators:
Every application has the potential to be exposed to every data LUN.
Security policies are hard to manage and maintain.
Growth of application data can cause frequent restructuring of the environment.
If more than 256 LUNs are needed, the hypervisor subdivides and manages the LUNs for the
applications, thereby increasing storage complexity and management.
This white paper describes a cost-effective and easy-to-manage solution that allows the Storage
Administrator to leverage the current HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) storage
investments for SCSI over IP (iSCSI) connectivity and virtual machine deployments. This paper
describes the VMware deployment options for a scalable virtualized data center.
HP StorageWorks MPX200 Architecture
The HP StorageWorks MPX200 Multifunction Router (MPX200) provides powerful connectivity
options for EVA storage systems. In many cases, the cost-per-host connectivity can be as low as
$37 per server. The MPX200 incorporates the initiator virtualization technology, which allows
over 600 iSCSI initiators (HP StorageWorks 10-1 GbE Blade) to be mapped to only four
connections on the EVA storage. Architecturally, this product supports up to 1024 iSCSI initiators.
Combine this with Fibre Channel initiators, a combination of EVA and MPX200 can support up to
2032 initiators. The hosts can leverage free iSCSI software initiators from the OS vendors, thereby
reducing cost, complexity, and management overheads.
The topology for this solution is simple and easy to implement. The MPX200 is installed in the
SAN fabric of the EVA storage system in the same rack. The MPX200 appears as an iSCSI target
to iSCSI hosts and it appears as a Fibre Channel initiator to the storage array. The EVA
Command View manages both the MPX200 and EVA storage array and automatically binds the
MPX200 and EVA storage.
The HP StorageWorks MPX200 Multifunction Router extends the Fibre Channel SAN investment
with integrated multi-protocol support, allowing customers to incorporate iSCSI servers without
requiring additional storage arrays or management costs. The MPX200 offers simultaneous iSCSI
and Fibre Channel support from EVA with 10GbE, 1GbE, and 8Gb/s Fibre Channel technology,
providing modular multi-protocol SAN designs with increased scalability, stability, ROI, and
simpler to manage, secure storage solution for virtualized server environments.
The MPX200 with EVA iSCSI solution addresses the virtualization environment issues in multiple
ways: