HP StoreVirtual 4000 White Paper
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HP StoreVirtual 4000 White Paper

HP StoreVirtual 4000 White Paper

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Download this manual See also: Configuration Manual, Maintenance Manual
Technical white paper
HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage
Network design considerations and best practices

Table of contents

Overview ................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Storage node ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4
10GbE connectivity ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Interface speed and duplex settings ............................................................................................................................... 5
Flow control ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Jumbo frames ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Network bonding ................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Separate management networks .................................................................................................................................... 9
IP addressing ...................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Network switching ................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Port buffering cache ......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Switching methodology .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Flow control ........................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Jumbo frames .................................................................................................................................................................... 12
VLAN ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Spanning Tree Protocol ................................................................................................................................................... 13
Unicast storm control ....................................................................................................................................................... 14
Recommended network switches for HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage .................................................................... 14
Host configuration ................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Jumbo frames .................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Flow control ........................................................................................................................................................................ 16
Multipathing I/O ................................................................................................................................................................. 17
MPIO for VMware vSphere .............................................................................................................................................. 17
MPIO for Microsoft Windows Server ............................................................................................................................. 17
Multi-site cluster networking requirements .................................................................................................................... 18
Remote Copy ......................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Asynchronous replication ...............................................................................................................................................20
Network bandwidth planning .........................................................................................................................................20
Calculate bandwidth usage ............................................................................................................................................21
Remote Copy tuning .........................................................................................................................................................23
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................... 24

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Summary of Contents for HP StoreVirtual 4000

  • Page 1: Table Of Contents

    Jumbo frames ..................................12 VLAN ..................................... 13 Spanning Tree Protocol ..............................13 Unicast storm control ............................... 14 Recommended network switches for HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage ..............14 Host configuration ................................. 16 Jumbo frames ..................................16 Flow control ..................................16 Multipathing I/O ................................. 17 MPIO for VMware vSphere ..............................

  • Page 2: Overview

    Initiators Servers HP Networking Network Switches HP StoreVirtual Target Storage As of November 1, 2012, the third generation has been rebranded to HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage and includes the new models HP StoreVirtual 4130 Storage and HP StoreVirtual 4330 Storage...

  • Page 3: Introduction

    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.

  • Page 4: Storage Node

    Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage Storage node Network interfaces on HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage are used for communication between storage nodes in a cluster as well as storage access via iSCSI. Depending on which HP StoreVirtual platform is deployed, there are various connectivity options available: •...

  • Page 5: 10Gbe Connectivity

    Storage with 10GbE network adapters are hard set to 10GbE and full duplex. Best practices • Set interfaces on HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage and switch ports to auto negotiate, thus allowing the devices to auto negotiate speed and duplex settings •...

  • Page 6: Jumbo Frames

    Layers 2 and Layer 3 network devices within their network. A key feature of any storage network design is the ability to move data traffic as fast as possible incurring the least amount of latency. HP internal testing has shown an increase in performance in the order of 10–20 percent for large sequential read and write workloads when using...
  • Page 7 Bandwidth aggregation is another reason to create bonds. Bonds may be used for cluster and iSCSI connectivity, as well as management traffic; for example, on HP StoreVirtual 4330 Storage with four 1GbE ports: Two interfaces in one bond for cluster/iSCSI communication and two interfaces for CMC management operations on a different network segment.
  • Page 8 Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage Table 2 provides a quick glance at supported and unsupported NIC bonding configuration for StoreVirtual systems installed with 1 and/or 10 Gigabit NICs. Note: In a mixed 1GbE and 10GbE active/passive bond, it is a best practice to set the 10GbE NIC as the preferred interface to ensure maximum throughput in a known good state.

  • Page 9: Separate Management Networks

    This allows the storage nodes to access network services, which are not available on the iSCSI network, such as NTP, DNS or SMTP servers and SNMP trap receivers (HP Remote Support, HP Systems Insight Manager). The additional network can also be used by administrators to perform storage management operations using the HP StoreVirtual Centralized Management Console and CLiQ.

  • Page 10: Ip Addressing

    IP addressing Using static IP addresses for HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage is best practice. In cases where DHCP is used, reserve IP addresses for all storage systems. Bonds cannot be configured with DHCP, therefore, manually assign the IP address to the bond.

  • Page 11: Network Switching

    Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage Network switching Network interfaces on HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage (physical storage nodes as well as HP StoreVirtual VSA) can connect to industry-standard network switches (adhering to the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard). While any compliant Ethernet switch works, the capabilities and feature set of the switch is key to designing a robust network for storage.

  • Page 12: Flow Control

    • Some manufacturer switch models may have limited flow control support, that is, the ability to receive and respond to pause frames, but do not support the ability to send pause frames. HP Networking series of switches listed in Table 5 can respond to pause frames generated by targets and initiators, allowing them to control the overall data flow between servers and storage volumes.

  • Page 13: Vlan

    HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage does not natively support tagged VLANs. If HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage is on a separate iSCSI VLAN, the appropriate switch ports must be in the iSCSI VLAN (untagged for iSCSI VLAN; primary VLAN ID must be set to the VLAN ID of the iSCSI VLAN).

  • Page 14: Unicast Storm Control

    Layer 2 to 4 network services. HP Networking top of rack series of switches offer unmatched combination of 1GbE and 10GbE ports density, high- availability architecture, Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology as well as a full range of Layer 2 and or Layer 3 features depending on switch selection.
  • Page 15 3.6 GB of packet buffer to eliminate network congestion. 6600-24XG The HP 6600 Switch Series offers both 1GbE and 10GbE models. The 6000 Switch Series consists of the most advanced data center server edge switches in the HP Networking product line. This 24-port 10GbE model is a wire-speed and non-blocking switch.

  • Page 16: Host Configuration

    Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage Host configuration The server is typically configured in one of three ways to communicate to iSCSI targets presented by HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage over the network. The three initiator configurations are: 1. iSCSI Software Initiator with a standard network adapter 2.

  • Page 17: Multipathing I/O

    MPIO for Microsoft Windows Server For Windows Server, the built-in MPIO framework is used to manage redundant paths to HP StoreVirtual. In addition to the generic Microsoft DSM (device specific module) for iSCSI which works with LeftHand OS versions 9.0 and later, there is also the HP StoreVirtual DSM for MPIO.

  • Page 18: Multi-Site Cluster Networking Requirements

    The multi-site cluster configuration in figure 7 is typical for customers who want to replicate data synchronously between two data center. HP StoreVirtual Fail-over Manager, which is ideally installed in a third site, provides quorum in the event of a site failure. For more information, please refer to the Specialized Manager section in the HP StoreVirtual User Guide.

  • Page 19: Remote Copy

    50 MB/s x 2 = 100 MB/s of bandwidth between the sites (at least one 1GbE link; two for redundancy). • HP StoreVirtual Fail-over Manager is not in the data path and has to be connected using at least Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s) with a latency not exceeding 50 ms.

  • Page 20: Asynchronous Replication

    • For routed links between primary and secondary sites, make certain routers are configured with industry standard routing protocols such as RIP and OSPF. HP recommends using OSPF as the routing protocol of choice given it has the richest features over RIP.

  • Page 21: Calculate Bandwidth Usage

    Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage To understand network usage, you can use the Centralized Management Console to understand snapshot sizing and replication time. For example: • Set up local snapshot schedule and frequency; let this run for a couple of days to gather snapshot change rate information and transfer times;...
  • Page 22 Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage Table 6 provides a working illustration of how to calculate “network transfer rate and time” for a data change rate of 4 GB per hour with an every 4-hour remote snapshot schedule. Meaning the primary volume change rate is 16 GB over a 4-hour period.

  • Page 23: Remote Copy Tuning

    Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage Remote Copy tuning To tune the maximum rate of data transfer for remote snapshot, set the remote bandwidth setting. The remote bandwidth setting defines the maximum rate of data transfer between primary and secondary (DR) management groups.

  • Page 24: Conclusion

    © Copyright 2009, 2011, 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

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