Introduction - HP StoreVirtual 4000 White Paper

Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage

Introduction

HP StoreVirtual leverages the industry-standard iSCSI protocol to provide shared block storage to application servers.
HP StoreVirtual uses a distributed scale-out architecture and clusters two or more storage nodes into a flexible pool
of storage, a storage cluster. iSCSI is a protocol used to enable block level data transfers over IP between an initiator
(application server) and a target (storage system).
From a networking perspective, HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage provides the following key advantages:
• Adheres to standard Ethernet and IP network design principles
• Leverages standard Ethernet switching and routing infrastructure
• Supports any Ethernet infrastructure from 1GbE to 10GbE
• Supports synchronous replication of volumes between two or three data centers (Network RAID in Multi-site Clusters)
• Supports asynchronous replication of volumes (Remote Copy) over long distances using IP networks
• Simplifies management through a single pane of glass, the Centralized Management Console
Leveraging IP networking and the iSCSI protocol, HP StoreVirtual provides a scalable, flexible, and resilient architecture—
allowing you to expand storage capacity incrementally by adding storage nodes to existing clusters.
This paper will look at the networking aspects of the various components of an environment with HP StoreVirtual 4000
Storage (see figure 1): Storage nodes, network switches, and servers. As a rule of thumb, the network for HP StoreVirtual
should provide a high level of resiliency, high bandwidth, and low latency. Typically, a dedicated infrastructure for HP
StoreVirtual is considered best practice.
Figure 2. Storage and networking technologies for increased resiliency
Application server
MPIO
LACP/IRF/Trunk
Switch 1 Switch 2
NIC bonding
HP StoreVirtual
HP StoreVirtual HP StoreVirtual
storage node
storage node storage node
The technologies shown in figure 2 are the common practices in HP StoreVirtual installations. While network level
technologies such as trunking and bonding are used between switches and on the storage nodes, multipathing drivers
on the application servers are used to manage additional resiliency of redundant paths. This paper will provide pointers
on how to configure these technologies.
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