Sun Storage 7110

[teejay]

I think this is worth a look for anyone thinking about SIMS or similar applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's an interesting read.

 

Performance Comparison of IP Storage protocols (iSCSI, NFS and CIFS)

 

Yes, very interesting. The only points I would make on it are that it was done back in 2003, using very old versions of linux, so I don't know how the results would be the same on a current modern storage server. I think some testing has been done by people on here.

 

I was thinking if some of us with Sun boxes could pool resources and run a few tests to get some definitive results, rather than us all reinventing the wheel all the time.

 

The sort of answers we all seem to want are:

 

NFS or iSCSI? I think this will depend on application, so we would need to test things like SIMS, Exchange, Web Server etc.

 

VMWare or XEN?

 

File servering performance through a VM?

 

Peformance of CIFS for User Documents/Shares.

 

I don't know how Sun would feel about these tests being done and data shared, Phil?

[Duke]

I see where you're coming from with your comment about the Windows server being a bottle neck but not as a single point of faliure? Is a single SAN device not also a single point of faliure as well? I'd be more concerned with performance.

 

I guess I was looking at it from the point of view of a SAN being relatively simple to mirror, whereas setting up Windows servers with clustering for fault-tolerance is somewhat more complicated. I should have been more accurate as it's more another point of failure rather a single point of failure, so at least with a SAN there's only one thing to break before you lose your storage, rather than either the Windows box or the SAN going down and taking away your storage.

 

Phil - Thanks for looking into the quota issue, I think there are a lot of people who will really appreciate it. I think Andy mentioned something a while ago about Sun putting a whitepaper together on iSCSI vs. NFS performance when running virtual machines in VMware, is there an official document like that floating around anywhere?

 

Cheers,

Chris

[pete]

Phil I think Andy mentioned something a while ago about Sun putting a whitepaper together on iSCSI vs. NFS performance when running virtual machines in VMware, is there an official document like that floating around anywhere?

 

And if anyone at Sun was thinking of doing the same comparison under Citrix XenServer, it'd be appreciated.

[Ric_]

And if anyone at Sun was thinking of doing the same comparison under Citrix XenServer, it'd be appreciated.

 

I will be doing this very shortly

[cookie_monster]

Ric_ are you currently connecting your Xen VMs to your SAN via NFS rather than iSCSI then?

[Ric_]

@cookie_monster: I'm currently using iSCSI but what I intend to do is create a 'fresh' VM (probably one Windows and one Debian) and use IOMeter to get some performance statistics via iSCSI, NFS and using local storage.

 

It would be great if others could do similar tests - I will post the IOMeter config file so that the tests are comparable - and then people can make an informed decision. A comparison between VMWare, Hyper-V and XenServer would be nice too.

[DMcCoy]

@cookie_monster: I'm currently using iSCSI but what I intend to do is create a 'fresh' VM (probably one Windows and one Debian) and use IOMeter to get some performance statistics via iSCSI, NFS and using local storage.

 

It would be great if others could do similar tests - I will post the IOMeter config file so that the tests are comparable - and then people can make an informed decision. A comparison between VMWare, Hyper-V and XenServer would be nice too.

 

Also worth testing aligned/unaligned partition and iscsi from inside a windows/linux VM for example (it can be faster than host level at times)

[Ric_]

Also worth testing aligned/unaligned partition and iscsi from inside a windows/linux VM for example (it can be faster than host level at times)

 

I will also try some comparisons of performance between CIFS shares straight off the 7110 and a Windows file share via an iSCSI LUN from the 7110. I'll obviously have to do this at a time that there is minimal network traffic to make it a fair comparison.

[Duke]

It would be great if others could do similar tests - I will post the IOMeter config file so that the tests are comparable - and then people can make an informed decision. A comparison between VMWare, Hyper-V and XenServer would be nice too.

 

As soon as I can find a NIC that VMware supports I may be able to help as I'll have four identical boxes - two running Xen and two running ESX. Unfortunately they'll be over 100MB rather than 1Gb Ethernet as neither Xen nor VMware will accept any of the spare Gig NICs I have lying around.

 

Cheers,

Chris

[Hebdenlad]

@cookie_monster: I'm currently using iSCSI but what I intend to do is create a 'fresh' VM (probably one Windows and one Debian) and use IOMeter to get some performance statistics via iSCSI, NFS and using local storage.

 

It would be great if others could do similar tests - I will post the IOMeter config file so that the tests are comparable - and then people can make an informed decision. A comparison between VMWare, Hyper-V and XenServer would be nice too.

for those of you that are interested I have a standard set of filebench settings that we used for our stress testing. It's the same ones that the Fishworks team use to see what happens under certain workloads on the S7000 series.

 

Cheers,

 

Phil

[Butuz]

Awaiting my matching grant to be approved

 

Butuz

[Butuz]

Matching grant approved!

 

So ordering a Pair of 7110's today!

 

Storage me up baby!!!!

 

Butuz

[Duke]

Congratulations, have fun!

 

Presumably you're mirroring these? You'll have to let us know how it goes.

 

Cheers,

Chris

[spc-rocket]

Can i ask in order to qualify for the grant does one need to order two units or can we choose to buy just 1.

 

Ash.

[linescanner]

Can i ask in order to qualify for the grant does one need to order two units or can we choose to buy just 1.

 

Ash.

 

Ash,

 

to get them at this cost you would need to order at least a pair of x86 servers. They are however under edu promo @ £5k each.

 

Drop me a PM for details

[Hebdenlad]

Matching grant approved!

 

So ordering a Pair of 7110's today!

 

Storage me up baby!!!!

 

Butuz

Nice one Butuz!!

 

Keep 'em coming!!

 

Cheers,

 

Phil

[Butuz]

All I need now are some Ultra 24s on maching grant!

 

Butuz

[Ric_]

iSCSI-v-NFS for use with XenServer up at http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/35639-sun-storage-7110-performance.html#post332593

[linescanner]

Guys,

 

for those that may have missed it

 

 

A new micro update to the 2008.Q2 software has been posted. This includes targeted fixes for networking hangs during heavy FTP use. Any users with FTP deployments are encouraged to upgrade at the earliest opportunity.

 

Link here Sun Storage 7000 Series Software Updates - Fishworks - wikis.sun.com

 

Complete release notes can be found here.

[Duke]

A new micro update to the 2008.Q2 software has been posted. This includes targeted fixes for networking hangs during heavy FTP use. Any users with FTP deployments are encouraged to upgrade at the earliest opportunity.

 

Any chance of an official Sun mailing list for this, or is there already one and I've missed it? I get emails from my WSUS server telling me about new Windows Updates, Red Hat send me emails for updates, as do NetApp... Any chance of Sun doing the same?

 

I saw the RSS feed you can subscribe to, but email is a lot more convenient and likely to get noticed when you're busy. The other option would be to have the SAN auto-check for updates and give you a pop-up window notifying you (or even send you an email itself) that there's an update available when you log in?

 

Cheers,

Chris

[RobFuller]

Just come back from a meeting with Andy (Cutter) and Phil (SUN) (Thanks Guys!!) Phil gave a very intresting presentation on the road map of the 7000 series and it’s looking amazing. Those of you using them for home shares etc will have some very interesting options coming your way which I guarantee you'll love!! Unfortunately cannot say what exactly but trust me you will be happy! Generation 2 of the 7110 looks interesting I would say it’s becoming more like the other higher end boxes but at a better starting price bracket so looking to be brilliant option for lower budgets.

 

All I can say is watch this space and if you’re in the market for a SAN or unified storage systems then these boxes are looking to be a good longer term investment.

[Hebdenlad]

Just come back from a meeting with Andy (Cutter) and Phil (SUN) (Thanks Guys!!) Phil gave a very intresting presentation on the road map of the 7000 series and it’s looking amazing. Those of you using them for home shares etc will have some very interesting options coming your way which I guarantee you'll love!! Unfortunately cannot say what exactly but trust me you will be happy! Generation 2 of the 7110 looks interesting I would say it’s becoming more like the other higher end boxes but at a better starting price bracket so looking to be brilliant option for lower budgets.

 

All I can say is watch this space and if you’re in the market for a SAN or unified storage systems then these boxes are looking to be a good longer term investment.

Rob,

 

Many thanks for your time this afternoon and glad you liked what was under the proverbial kimono.

 

Always enjoy meeting customers and going through how we're developing the S7000.

 

Hope you can make the S7000 Discovery Day on the 9th June in London.

 

Regards,

 

Phil

[Soulfish]

Just come back from a meeting with Andy (Cutter) and Phil (SUN) (Thanks Guys!!) Phil gave a very intresting presentation on the road map of the 7000 series and it’s looking amazing. Those of you using them for home shares etc will have some very interesting options coming your way which I guarantee you'll love!! Unfortunately cannot say what exactly but trust me you will be happy! Generation 2 of the 7110 looks interesting I would say it’s becoming more like the other higher end boxes but at a better starting price bracket so looking to be brilliant option for lower budgets.

 

All I can say is watch this space and if you’re in the market for a SAN or unified storage systems then these boxes are looking to be a good longer term investment.

 

I'm looking forward to sitting down with Phil and seeing what Sun have got in store for us S7000 customers next week, and picking up some hopefully useful information at the Sun discovery day

[Hebdenlad]

I'm looking forward to sitting down with Phil and seeing what Sun have got in store for us S7000 customers next week, and picking up some hopefully useful information at the Sun discovery day

Cheers for the reply on the thread.

 

The Discovery Days should be interesting to say the least! I hope you're looking forward to an action packed morning for those of you attending!

 

I always enjoy the group sing-song at then end of these sessions (lol!). All together now... "Hi ho...."

 

Regards,

 

Phil

[Duke]

Just come back from a meeting with Andy (Cutter) and Phil (SUN) (Thanks Guys!!) [...]

 

Having had the same meeting last week with Phil and Mike I can also give this a big +1. The roadmap makes for very interesting reading, and should put to rest anyone's concerns about the future of the product. If the planned features go ahead then this is a very strong product line-up that has the potential to compete with the vast majority of mid- and high-end SAN systems. Great job from the guys at Sun, they're really on to a winner with this stuff.

 

Cheers,

Chris