Evaluator White Paper on NetApp V-Series_January 2010

8/14/2019 Evaluator White Paper on NetApp V-Series_January 2010

1/11

Tech

nology

Insig

htSeries

Future Proof Your Data Center with

NetApp V-Series

Russ Fellows

January15, 2010

Evaluator Group


2/11

Copyright2010EvaluatorGroup,Inc.andNetAppInc. Allrightsreserved


3/11

Future Proof your Data-Center with NetApp V-Series

ExecutiveSummary

Businessoptimizationisonceagaininvogueascompanieslookforwaystocontinuedeliveringthehigh

levelsofservicestheircustomershavecometoexpect,whileloweringcosts. ITdepartmentsare

receivingincreasedscrutinyoftheirbudgetsforthiscriticalfunction.

OneofthelargestcomponentsofITspendingisstorage,whichhasbeenincreasingfasterthanserver

anddatacenternetworkingspending,andisprojectedtocontinuedoingsooverthenextfiveyear

period. EvaluatorGroupsanalysisrevealsstoragespendinghascontinuedtoincreaseasapercentage

oftotalITspending.

Forthesereasons,ITmanagersandCFOsalikearelookingforwaystoradicallyimprovetheefficiencyof

theirITstorageinvestments. Newtechnologiessuchasvirtualizationcanhelpimprovestorage

efficiencies,justasithasimprovedserverutilization. PragmaticcorporateexecutivesandITstaffsare

seekingprovensolutionsthatminimizenewcapitalinvestments.

Inthispaper,EvaluatorGrouphighlightsthecriticalconsiderationsanddemonstrateshowto

significantlyincrease

service

levels

and

reduce

costs

all

while

delivering

proven

results

to

the

bottom

line.

TodaysBusinessObjectives

Businessesarefacedwithadilemmahowtomeeteverincreasingexpectationswithreducedcapital

andoperationalresources.

Findinginnovativewaystosolvethechallengeofincreasingservicelevelswithlowerfinancialresources

ispossiblebyleveragingtechnologyprudently. Ascompaniescontinuetobecomemoredependent

uponinformationtechnologies,efficiencygainsinITwillplayamoreprominentroleinthesuccessof

companies.Over

the

past

decade,

significant

improvements

have

been

made

towards

increasing

the

utilizationandefficiencyofcomputerprocessingduetoseveralfactors,themostsignificantofwhich

wasthewidespreaddeploymentofservervirtualizationtechnologies.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Successfulcompaniesareinnovatingbyleveraging

newtechnologiesandbusinesspracticesinordertomeettheircustomersneeds

andtheirfinancialgoalssimultaneously.

However,similarefficiencygainshaveyettobeachievedwithstorage. Theneedtostoreinformationis

increasingatanexponentialrate,drivenbyseveralfactors. Consumersarenowcreatingandstoring

informationindigitalformat,whilealsoincreasingtheirdemandforcontent. Simultaneously,

businessesare

looking

to

meet

consumer

demand,

while

adding

new

applications

and

facing

an

increase

inbusinessregulations. Asaresult,storagedemandisoutpacinggrowthincapacity,resultinginstorage

becomingthelargestsinglecostofITinmanydatacenters.

Inordertocompeteinaglobalmarket,firmsneedtoprovide24/7availability,leadingtoanincreased

relianceontechnologyforcompaniesofallsizes.

Copyright2010,EvaluatorGroup,Inc. Page1of9


4/11


CostEffectiveTechnologyRefresh

Often,financialvaluationplacesanarbitraryvalueonequipmentwithoutregardtoitstechnical

usefulness. Asaresult,ITequipmentisviewedasanassetwithafinancialvalue,ratherthanitstrue

valueindeliveringinformationtechnology.WhenITbudgetsareplentiful,itisacceptabletoreplace

equipmentwhenitsfinancialvalueisdepreciated. However,manycompaniesarerethinkingwaysto

maximizetheirinvestmentstouseexistingequipmentmoreeffectively,therebyreducingtheneedfor

newITinvestments.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Virtualizationallowsadministratorstoadaptto

changingrequirements,whileinsulatingapplicationsfromtheimpactofchanges.

Anotherfactorthathasimpededtechnologyrefreshcyclesistheimperativenottodisruptcritical

businessapplications. Onetechnologythatisabletomeetthisgoalisstoragevirtualization,whichis

uniquelyabletounlockthevalueofolderequipment,whilealsoimprovingthemanageabilityand

efficiencyinnewdeployments. Inparticular,virtualizationisabletoaggregateaccesstomultiple

generationsofstoragebehindacommonsetofmanagementanddataavailabilityservices. Using

storagevirtualization,

companies

are

able

to

reap

the

rewards

of

the

newest

storage

features

such

as

thinprovisioning,datadeduplication,automatedtieringandotheremergingtechnologies.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Storagevirtualizationunlocksthevalueofbothnew

andexistingequipment,enablingadministratorstousenewfeaturessuchasthin

provisioninganddatadeduplicationwithexistingstorage.

Stillanotherbenefitofvirtualizationistheuseofconsistentstoragemanagementanddataprotection

tools,whileleveragingexistingstoragetoprovidetherawcapacity. Thismovestheintelligenceand

managementfrommultipleindividualdevicestoasinglelayer,allowingadministratorstointeractwith

storageatahigher,virtuallayer.

TightBudgetsLimitCapitalSpending

TheshiftfromGetmoreforthesamepricetooneofGetthesameforlessisunderway. Consumers

beganthistrend,andmorerecently,thismovementhasbegunemergingincorporatetechnology

spending. Thisfocusonreducingcostswillcontinuewhileeconomicconditionsemphasizecost

reductionsratherthanaddingnewcapabilities.

Currentconditionshaveleftcompaniesstrugglingtomeetthechallengeofdeliveringnonstop

availability,whilestoragedemandsareincreasingandITbudgetsarefalling. Atransformationis

underwayinhowtechnologyadvancementsareused,whichshiftsthedividendsawayfromnew

capabilities,toloweringcost.

FutureProofing

Companieslookingtoinvestwanttoensurethattheirchoiceswilldeliverimmediatebenefits,whilealso

buildingabridgetotheirlongertermobjectives. ChoosingflexibleITbuildingblocksthatcandeliver

virtualresourcesisthefirststeptoensuringITinvestmentsprovideareturnoninvestment.

Page2of9 Copyright2010,EvaluatorGroup,Inc.


5/11


ThetermsCloudComputing,CloudStorageandITasaServicehavebeengainingpopularityover

thepastyear,becomingthenewoverhypedterms. SavvyITprofessionalsandbusinessexecutives

understandthatmarketawarenessisonlythebeginningofdeliveringrealfunctionalityandvalue. The

premiseofCloudComputingisthatitaddressesthebusinessneedtotransitionITfromacapital

expensetoanoperationalexpense.

EvaluatorGroup

Comment:

Organizations

can

future

proof

their

IT

investments

by

choosingflexible,virtualsystems. AsCloudandITaaSmatures,thesetechnology

choiceswillenablenextgenerationdatacenters.

Ultimately,businessesarelookingtoconsumeITasaService(ITaaS),enablingdynamicservicelevels

andcoststhatcanadapttochangingdemand.WhilecloudstorageandITaaShaveyettomature,some

elementsoftheseconceptsareavailable. Byselectivelyimplementingnewtechnologieswithaneye

towardsthefuture,itispossibletoachieveimmediateROIgains,whilestillenablingfuturebuildoutsof

adatacenterabletooperateasaservice.

AFlexibleFutureProofInfrastructure

Inordertolowercostsovertime,itisimportanttofutureproofdatacentersfromtheinevitablechanges

inbusinessandtechnologychoicesthatarecertaintocome. Twoofthekeystofutureproofingare

virtualizationandtheuseofconsistentflexiblecomponentsasthecoreoftheITarchitecture.

Manytechnologypurchasesarelimitedintheiruse,andareoftensoldasapointsolutiontoaddressa

specificproblem. Thereisaneedtobalancesolvingpointproblemswiththeneedtodeliveralongterm

returnoninvestment.

TechnologyRequirements

Whilethegoalsareclear,thetechnologyrequiredtoachievethesegoalsisoftenunclear,withnew

trendsand

product

features

often

drowning

out

the

discussion

of

how

businesses

can

best

meet

their

requirements.

ThecrucialingredientsinchoosingandimplementingastandardITstackincludeseveralkey

components:

Virtualizationrequiredforcorecomponents,includingNetworking,ServersandStorage IntelligentDataManagementrequiredtomanagephysicalandlogicalcomponents DataProtectionrequiredforallbusinesscriticalapplications ApplicationIntegrationrequiredtodeliverhighSLAsattheapplicationlevel Flexibilityrequiredtoadapttochangingneedswithoutchangingequipment



6/11


TheNetAppV-Series

Eachitemoutlined,virtualization,intelligentmanagement,dataprotection,applicationintegrationand

multiprotocolaccess,areimportantaspectstodeliveronthethemeDomorewithless.

Figure1:FeaturesofV-Series

Virtualization

VirtualizationisoneofthemostimportanttoolsformanagingstacksofITtechnologyinaconsistent

manner,whileprovidingincreasedintelligenceandcontrol. Theconceptofvirtualizationhasbeen

aroundalmostsincetheinceptionofIT,buthasonlyrecentlybeguntoexpanditspotentialthroughout

theentireITstack.

Servervirtualizationhasgrownrapidlyoverthepastthreeyears,duetothelargeefficiency

improvementsseenacrossmanysuccessfuldeployments. ITusershavebeenabletoachievesignificant

reduction

in

the

number

of

physical

servers,

while

increasing

the

utilization

of

existing

equipment.

A

remainingchallengeformanyenvironmentsisprovisioningandmanagingthestorageforthesevirtual

systems.

Theabilitytotransparentlymigratedatafromonevirtualsystemtoanotherhasbeenachallengefor

server,networkingandstorageadministratorsalike. Administratorsevaluatingvirtualizationchoices

shouldconsidertheavailabilityofdataprotectionandservicelevelmanagementtools,alongwiththe

managementandapplicationintegrationtoolsavailable. Virtualizationcapabilitiesareimportant,along

withtheabilityforvirtualizedserverenvironmentstoleveragedataprotectionofstorageresources.



7/11


EvaluatorGroupComment: Storagevirtualization,particularlywhencombined

withservervirtualizationcansignificantlyimprovetheefficiencyofIT

environments. NetAppsVSeries,alongwithDataMotionandintegratedVMware

andHyperVdataprotectionareanaturalfitforenvironmentslookingtoimprove

theirefficiency.

Storagevirtualizationoffersmanyofthesesamebenefitstostorageasservervirtualizationhas

deliveredtocomputersystems. Increasedutilizationthroughpooling,andtheabilitytotransparently

migratedataareallenabledbytheuseofstoragevirtualizationtechnology.

Flexibility

Flexibilityisakeyrequirementforinfrastructureintodaysdatacenters. Onefacetofflexibilityisthe

abilitytosupportmultiplephysicalconnectiontypes,andmultipleprotocols. Olderstoragetechnology

forcedITdepartmentstochoosetheconnectionsandprotocolstheywouldneedatacquisitiontime.

ThisinflexibleapproachtoITarchitectureplacedaburdenonITdepartmentsandrestrictedtheirability

toadapttothechangingbusinessrequirements.

Theserestrictionsaremostacuteinorganizationsthatdonothavetheabilitytopurchasenew

equipmentwhenbusinessapplicationsrequireadditionalcapacity,orwhennewapplicationprojects

arise. Smallerorganizationshavefacedtheserestrictions,butwiththenewbusinessimperativesof

deliveringhigherservicelevelsatlowercost,organizationsofallsizesareexperiencingthischallenge.

Whatmakesunifiedstorageflexibleisthecommonapproachtomanagingdata. Byallowingaccessto

dataregardlessoftheprotocol,unifiedstorageallowsadministratorstoworkwithstoragewithout

forcingachoicebetweenaccessprotocolsorconnectivitytypes. Thisuseofacommonsetoftoolsto

managedataimprovesbothefficiencyandavailability.

Storage

virtualization

coupled

with

unified

storage

enables

IT

departments

to

manage

heterogeneous

storagesystemsinacommon,consistentmanner,irrespectiveoftheprotocolsrequired. Thisinturn,

allowsITstafftodevotetheirtimetosolvingbusinessneeds,ratherthansolvingconnectivity,protocol

orprovisioningchallenges.

IntelligentStorageAccess

Oneofthedownfallsofthinprovisioningisthatovertime,thinvolumesgrowfat.Whatismissingis

storageintelligence;asaresult,storagesystemshavenoknowledgeofwhatdataisused,andwhenit

mayberemoved. Typicalstoragesystemslackthisintelligentintegration,andovertime,thinly

provisionedstoragebecomeslesseffectiveasitgainssize.

EvaluatorGroup

Comment:

Companies

that

deploy

the

NetApp

V

Series

can

achieveproductivitygainsthathelptofutureprooftheirITinvestments. Only

intelligentstoragevirtualizationisabletomaintaintheefficiencygainsfromthin

provisioninganddatadeduplication.

Intelligentstoragesystemsintegratetheknowledgeofdatausewithvirtualization,solvingthecommon

problemofdatabloatexperiencedwithothersystems. Thisprovidesadministratorswiththeabilityto



8/11


maintainthinvolumeswithoutrequiringadditionalhostbasedsoftwaretoscanvolumesorother

resourceconsumingtasks.

ApplicationIntegration

Theimportanceofapplicationintegrationcannotbeoverstated.Withoutthiscriticalcomponent,IT

administratorsare

left

to

deal

with

the

complexities

of

understanding

applications

data

requirements,

howtheyimpactstorage,andhowtoprotectandrecoverthisdataquickly.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Integratingdataprotectionserviceswithapplications

inavirtualenvironmentisacriticalandoftenoverlookedaspectofhighservice

levels. Lookfortechnologiesthatcanmanageandprotectbusinesscritical

applicationsefficiently.

Manyapplicationsrequirespecificmethodsandprocessesforsafeguardingdatainanapplication

consistentmanner.Withoutapplicationconsistency,dataprotectionpointsbecomeuseless. Often,the

coherencyofapplicationcheckpointsarenottesteduntilanincidenthasoccurred. Evenwhen

administratorsare

able

to

recover

data

consistently,

the

amount

of

time

needed

to

manually

step

throughintricateprocessescanaddsignificanttime,therebyaffectingrecoverytimesandpossibly

missingcriticalservicelevels.

BusinessObjectivesmeetTechnology

ThebusinessimperativefacedbyITdepartmentsisfindingawaytodelivertherelentlessdemandfor

dataatthesameorhigherlevelsofservice,allwithfewerresources. Clearly,thisequationcannotwork

bycontinuingtopurchaseandoperateITdatacentersastheyhavebeeninthepast.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Itisimperativeforbusinessestorethinkhowthey

deliverstorageservices. Technologiesthat,improveefficiency,flexibilityand

servicelevelscanaddresstheprimaryITchallengesfacedbybusinessexecutives.

Forthisreason,technologiesthataddresstheseissuesaretopofmindforbusinessexecutivesandIT

staffalike. Storagetechnologiesthathavefoundtractionduetosuccessesincludethetieringofstorage,

datadeduplication,thinprovisioningandvirtualization. Thesetechnologieshavefoundsuccessdueto

theirabilitytomaximizeacompanysexistinginfrastructure,whileloweringcostsandmeetingthe

requirementforincreasingstoragecapacitiesandservicelevels.

BenefitsofNetAppV-Series

Simplystated,storagevirtualizationisthecapabilitytohidethecomplexitiesofindividualstorage

componentsandallowadministratorstomanagestorageatahigherlevel. Currently,therearelimited

formsofinternalvirtualizationoccurringthroughoutstorage. Theseinternalformsofvirtualizationare

inflexible,anddonotprovidetheseamless,heterogeneousaccesstopooledstoragethattruestorage

virtualizationcanprovide.



9/11


Theserestrictedformsofvirtualizationhavebeenavailableindisksandstoragearrayssincetheir

inception;however,theydonotaddressthebusinessneedsofcustomerslookingtoprovideaccesstoa

sharedglobalpoolofheterogeneousstorage.

Whatisneededistheabilitytoprovisionandmanagestoragewithoutrestrictionsonthetypeorbrand

ofstorage. Byallowingadministratorstomanagemorestoragewithfewertoolsandeffort,storage

virtualizationcan

increase

utilization,

while

reducing

complexity

and

costs.

This

definition

of

storage

virtualizationisconsistentintheindustry,despitesomemisuseoftheterm.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Oneofthefewproductsthatdeliverstruestorage

virtualizationistheNetAppVSeries,whichprovidesaccesstopoolsof

heterogeneousstorage;alldirectedbyNetAppprovisioning,managementand

dataprotectiontools.

ImmediateROIPotential

SeniorexecutivesandITstaffhavedifferentobjectives. ITmanagersandCFOsareseekingan

immediatereturn

on

their

investment

and

desire

pragmatic

methods

to

achieve

this

goal.

ProvidedbelowinTable1islistingofsomeofthetoolsavailablefromtheNetAppVSeries,andhow

theymaptotherequirementofimprovingefficiency,andimprovingserviceslevels.

NetAppFeature ImproveServiceLevels ImproveEfficiency

Snapshot: Rapiddatarecovery Usesafractionofthespace

requiredbyafullcopy

SnapMirror: Increasedavailability

FlexCache:

Improvedperformance

SnapManager:

(forExchange,SQLServer,SharePoint,

Oracle,SAP,VMwareandHyperV)

Highapplicationavailability LeveragesSnapshottechnology

forefficientcopiesofdata

MetroCluster: Improvessystemavailability

FlexClone: Abletocreatespaceefficient

copiesfortest

Datadeduplication: Reducesamountofstorage

Unifiedopencontroller: Supportsstoragefrommultiple

vendors

Data

Motion:

Able

to

move

data

for

VM

migrationsfaster Reduces

downtime

and

improvesSLAflexibility

MultiStore: WhenusedwithDataMotion,

canimprovedataaccess

Transformsaphysicalstorage

systemintomultiple,logical,

storagesystems

Table1:DesignRequirementstoTechnologyMapping



10/11


Storageadministratorsareoftenlookingtofixaspecificproblem,suchas:

Improvebackupand/orrestoretotapeoperationsnotmeetingservicelevels Simplifystoragemanagementbyusingconsistenttoolsacrossstoragetypes Reducestorageusagebyincreasingefficiency

Toolsthat

provide

immediate

benefits

simplify

existing

processes,

without

requiring

IT

administrators

or

userstochangethewaytheyusestorage. Toolssuchaspointintimecopies(snapshots),thin

provisioninganddatadeduplicationcanallprovideimmediatebenefitstousers,withoutchangingthe

waystorageismanagedorprovisioned. Anothertoolfindingwidespreaduseinservervirtualization

deployments,aswellastestanddevelopment,istheabilitytoprovideawriteablecopyofdata.

DeliveringHighServiceLevels

Meetinghighservicelevelagreements(orSLAs)encompassmanyareas. Servicelevelsincludeprice,

performance,availability,reliabilityandalistofotherpossibleagreements. Attheircore,servicelevels

arebusinesscontractsthatstipulateaspecificqualityofservicetobedeliveredandthepriceforthe

service.

Asaresult,servicelevelsarealwaysbalancedagainstthecostofdeliveringaservice. Improvingservice

levelsalterstheequation,asdoesloweringcosts. Thus,toolsthatallowITstafftoimproveservice

levelswhiledecreasingcostscandramaticallyshifttheequationtoprovidesignificantleveragetoIT

departmentsandCFOsalike.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Itiscriticaltointegrateapplicationintelligencewith

storagedataprotection. Onlythroughintegrationcantrueapplicationrecovery

pointandrecoverytimeobjectivesbedelivered. NetAppssuiteofapplication

SnapManagerproductshelpstoautomatetheprocessofprotectingandrestoring

applicationdatainaconsistentandtimeeffectivemanner.

AsoutlinedinTable1,severalNetAppdataprotectionproductscandirectlyaffectservicelevelsandthe

costtodeliveraSLA. Byaddressingbothaspects,ITmanagersareabletochangetheSLAequationand

deliveragreaterdegreeofcontroloverthecostrequiredtodeliveraservice.

Highapplicationservicelevelscanonlybedeliveredbytightlyintegratingdataprotectionwith

applications. NetAppprovidesafamilyofSnapManagerproducts,whichprovideapplicationavailability,

includingthoseforOracle,Exchange,SQLServer,SharePointandExchange. Byprovidingtight

integrationbetweenapplicationconsistencyandstorage,itispossibletodeliverhighSLAsbymeeting

stringentRecoveryTimeandRecoveryPointobjectives(RTOandRPO).

Future

Proof

Your

Datacenter

ITadministrators,architectsandmanagersfrequentlyhavemultipleobjectivesbeyondsolvinganear

termissue. ITdepartmentsexploringnewmethodologiesareseekingtechnologiesthatprovidethe

flexibilitytoutilizetheirexistingequipment,innewordifferentways.

InordertodeliveravirtualITinfrastructure,eachphysicalcomponentincludingservers,storageand

networkingmustbevirtualized. Therehasbeenasignificantemphasisonvirtualizedservertechnology,



11/11



whichhashelpedtoleadthechangetovirtualinfrastructures. However,unlessthestorage

componentsarevirtualized,thepromisedbenefitsaredifficulttorealize.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Virtualizationisacriticalbuildingblockforfuture

proofingdatacenterdesigns. Bothserverandstoragevirtualizationshouldbe

implementedinordertoseethefullbenefits.

Onecriticalcomponentistheabilitytodeliverandmanagevirtualstorageinstancesthattogetherwith

virtualnetworkingandservercomponentscanreconstituteavirtualITstack.Whenapplicationsare

abletorunwhollyinavirtualenvironment,datacentermanagerswillbefreefromphysicaltime,place

orscalerestrictions.

Summary

BusinessexecutivesandITmanagerslookingtocosteffectivelyimprovetheircurrentstorage

infrastructureshouldconsidervirtualizationtechnologies. Optimalstoragevirtualizationproductswill

virtualizeheterogeneous

storage

and

provide

multiple

connectivity

and

protocol

options

with

consistent

dataprotectionandstoragemanagementtools.

NetAppsVSeriesisoneofthefewproductlinesavailabletodayprovidingthenecessarytechnology

features,togetherwiththeabilitytodeliverprovenbusinessresults. TheVSeriescouplesNetApps

flexible,unifiedstoragearchitecturewiththeabilitytomanagenewstorageandrepurposeexisting

storage. ByconsolidatingbotholderandnewerstoragecapacitybehindtheVSeriescontroller,IT

departmentsareabletosimplifythemanagementoftheirstorage,whilemeetingtheirapplicationand

businessneeds.

EvaluatorGroupComment: Companieslookingtofutureprooftheirstorage

infrastructure

should

start

with

proven,

multi

protocol

systems

that

provide

storagevirtualizationcapabilities. NetAppsuniqueunified,storagevirtualization

anddataavailabilityservicesprovidetheroadmapforacompetitivebusiness

advantage.

Forcompanieswithaneyeonthefuture,unified,intelligentstoragevirtualizationtechnologiescanbe

usedtoupdateexistinginfrastructures,whileprovidingapathforafutureusingCloudandITasa

Service. Buildingdataandstorageservicesonaflexible,virtualizedinfrastructure,isthefirststepon

thisroad.

Thefuturedatacenterisavirtualdatacenter,andstorageisacriticalpiecetorealizethedream.

Documents

Evaluator White Paper on NetApp V-Series_January 2010