Technical White Paper PowerScale Introduction for NetApp

H15757

Technical White Paper

PowerScale Introduction for NetApp Admins PowerScale nomenclature from a NetApp background

Abstract This document provides a PowerScale Scale-Out NAS overview, including the

architecture and features from a NetApp 7-Mode and Clustered Data ONTAP

background.

June 2020

Revisions

2 PowerScale Introduction for NetApp Admins | H15757

Revisions

Date Description

May 2017 Initial release

June 2020 Updated with ‘PowerScale’ branding and converted to new template

Acknowledgements

Author: Aqib Kazi

The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this

publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Use, copying, and distribution of any software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

Copyright © 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell

Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. [4/30/2020] [Technical White Paper] [H15757]

Table of contents


Table of contents

Revisions............................................................................................................................................................................. 2

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................. 2

Table of contents ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

1 PowerScale overview ................................................................................................................................................... 5

1.1 Architecture ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Isilon 6th generation platform .............................................................................................................................. 6

1.3 File system .......................................................................................................................................................... 7

1.4 Cluster expansion ............................................................................................................................................... 7

2 OneFS features ............................................................................................................................................................ 8

2.1 NetApp FlexVols, shares, and Qtrees ................................................................................................................ 9

2.2 Data replication ................................................................................................................................................... 9

2.3 Load balancing ................................................................................................................................................. 10

2.4 Compliance ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

2.5 Role-based access control ............................................................................................................................... 10

2.6 Storage utilization and data protection ............................................................................................................. 10

2.7 Snapshots ......................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.8 Backups ............................................................................................................................................................ 11

2.9 Data tiering ....................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.10 Authentication and access control .................................................................................................................... 12

2.11 Multi-tenancy .................................................................................................................................................... 12

2.12 Monitoring ......................................................................................................................................................... 14

A Technical support and resources ............................................................................................................................... 15

A.1 Related resources............................................................................................................................................. 15

Executive summary


Executive summary

For enterprises to harness the advantages of advanced storage technologies with DellEMCs PowerScale, a

transition from an existing platform is necessary. Enterprises are challenged by how the new architecture will

fit into the existing infrastructure. This document provides a PowerScale overview of architecture, features,

and nomenclature for enterprise’s migrating from traditional NAS platforms, such as NetApp 7-Mode and

Clustered Data ONTAP (cDOT).

PowerScale overview


1 PowerScale overview PowerScale’s OneFS operating system is based on a distributed architecture, built from the ground up as a

clustered system. Each node provides compute, memory, networking, and storage. The notion of controllers,

HA, active/standby, or disk shelves are not present in a pure Scale-Out architecture. Thus, when a node is

added to a cluster, the cluster performance and capacity increase collectively.

Due to the Scale-Out distributed architecture, the system management is far simpler than traditional NAS

platforms, due to the single namespace, single volume, single file system, and one single pane of

management. In addition, the data protection is software based, rather than RAID, eliminating all the

complexities associated, including configuration, maintenance, and the additional storage utilization.

Administrators do not have to be concerned with RAID groups or load distribution.

NetApp’s 7-Mode is based on an HA pair of controllers, with disk shelves added as storage is required. The

processing, memory, and network interfaces remain the same as more storage is added, causing the

controllers to serve as a bottleneck. As more storage is added, performance degrades, causing controllers to

reach their processing limits.

NetApp’s Clustered Data ONTAP (cDOT) has evolved from 7-Mode’s HA pairs to a clustered system tying

together controllers. cDOT introduces “Infinite Volumes” composed of aggregates and FlexVols across nodes.

However, each NetApp filer does have a file system beneath it. For example, if a NetApp cluster contains 24

nodes that is 24 underlying file systems. The management of multiple file systems leads to complexity and

additional management resources.

PowerScale is a single volume, which makes cluster management simple. As the cluster grows in capacity,

the single volume automatically grows. Administrators are no longer required to manually migrate data

between volumes. When a new node is added, OneFS repopulates and balances data between all nodes,

making the node part of the global namespace. All the nodes in a PowerScale cluster are equal in the

hierarchy. Drives share data intra-node and inter-node.

PowerScale is easy to deploy, operate, and manage. Most enterprises require only one full-time employee to

manage a PowerScale cluster.

PowerScale overview


1.1 Architecture PowerScale offers node types based on performance and storage requirements. To form a cluster, a

minimum of 3 nodes are required. The nodes are connected to the back-end through private switches in an

active/active state, responsible for distributing data. Externally, the client facing connections include 1, 10, or

40 Gigabit Ethernet. The front-end or client facing connections support multiple subnets which are split

between pools of IP addresses. PowerScale SmartConnect provides load-balancing between the nodes for

client connections.

PowerScale architecture

1.2 Isilon 6th generation platform DellEMC Isilon introduces its 6th Generation platform with an entirely new architecture, exceeding the

stringent requirements of advanced workflows, and enabling new levels of performance and scale. The New

Generation Platform is denser and supports a higher capacity with a smaller footprint across all platforms,

providing a 75% savings of data center efficiency. The new platform is future-proofed with modular, in-chassis

flexibility of CPUs, storage media, and networking.

Isilon’s 6th Generation platform is composed of four nodes in a single 4U chassis. Within the chassis, each

node is completely independent, consisting of five drive sleds, a compute bundle, and cache SSDs,

depending on the node. Each drive sled contains up to six drives. The new platform offers six node types in

three distinct categories, All-Flash, Hybrid, and Archive. As the name suggests, All-Flash does not have any

spinning disks. The Hybrid nodes are composed spinning disk and flash. The Archive nodes are designed for

near-line and cold archive.

PowerScale overview


Isilon 6th generation platform

1.3 File system OneFS is based on a UNIX file system. OneFS has a root file path, /ifs, which is globally accessible. Access

permissions and hidden shares may be applied as required.

1.4 Cluster expansion Expanding storage on a NetApp system requires adding disk shelves in 7-mode and adding controllers in

Clustered Mode. After which, the storage structure must be configured including volume creation and

partitioning disks.

Adding a new node to a PowerScale cluster takes sixty seconds. Once the node is cabled, simply select “Add

to Existing Cluster” on the LCD panel. OneFS automatically balances data evenly across all nodes. OneFS’

single volume capacity grows automatically without any additional actions.

OneFS features


2 OneFS features The single volume and single namespace of PowerScale OneFS also lead to a unique feature set. As the

entire NAS is a single file system, the concept of FlexVols, shares, qtrees, or FlexGroups do not apply. Each

NetApp volume has specific properties associated with limited storage space. Adding additional storage

space could be an onerous process depending on the current architecture. As soon as a node is added to a

PowerScale cluster, the cluster is rebalanced automatically, leading to minimal administrator management.

The fact that OneFS is a single volume means many features are not volume dependent, but rather span the

entire cluster. SnapshotIQ, NDMP backups, and SmartQuotas do not have limits based on volumes; rather

they are cluster or directory specific.

With a single volume NAS, features like SmartConnect, SmartPools, and ClouldPools utilize the entire cluster

by differentiating node performance. SmartConnect can be used to configure access zones that are mapped

to specific node performance. SmartPools can tier cold data to nodes with deep archive storage, and

CloudPools can store frozen data in the cloud. Regardless of the where the data is residing, to the end user, it

is presented as a single namespace.

PowerScale NetApp Details

Data Protection Software based

Reed-Solomon Error

Correction

Up to N+4 Protection

Hybrid Protection Options

available - Cover Node

and/or drive failure

NetApp RAID-TEC (cDOT)

NetApp RAID-DP (7-Mode)

OneFS provides data

protection against more

simultaneous hardware

failures and is software

based, providing a

significantly higher storage

utilization.

NetApp only supports a

maximum of triple parity.

Snapshots SnapshotIQ NetApp Snapshot OneFS supports:

1,024 snapshots/directory

20,000 snapshots/cluster

NetApp Snapshot:

255 snapshots/volume

Replication SyncIQ SnapMirror SyncIQ supports cluster in

compliance mode.

SnapMirror does not support

compliance mode.

Backup NDMP SnapVault

NDMP

SnapVault limits are volume

and Snapshot dependent.

255 maximum/volume

OneFS supports 64 NDMP

connections per node

Load Balancing / Multi-

Tenancy

SmartConnect

Access Zones

MultiStore – vFiler (7-Mode)

Storage Virtual Machines

(cDOT)

OneFS SmartConnect

Access Zones are

performance based and also

support multi-tenancy.

NetApp does not support

load balancing as all

connections are through the

controller, but multi-tenancy

OneFS features


is supported through vFiler

or SVM.

Compliance SmartLock SnapLock

Deduplication SmartDedupe Volume Efficiency (A-SIS)

Data Tiering SmartPools None NetApp does not support

automatic data tiering.

Admins must manually

migrate data or use a 3rd

party tool.

Quotas SmartQuotas Quotas are user, tree,

volume, or group based.

OneFS provides

configurable options to

monitor and enforce storage

limits at the user, group,

cluster, directory, or

subdirectory level.

Monitoring InsightIQ OnCommand NetApp OnCommand is a

suite of software, requiring

multiple components.

InsightIQ is a complete

bundle, making NAS

management simple.

Cloud Tiering CloudPools None NetApp does not support

cloud tiering. NetApp

recommends creating a

virtual ONTAP system in the

cloud and using SnapMirror

to replicate data.

PowerScale and NetApp feature nomenclature

2.1 NetApp FlexVols, shares, and Qtrees NetApp requires administrators to create space manually and explicitly define aggregates, flexible volumes,

RAID, and RAID groups. The concept of FlexVols, Shares, and Qtrees are non-existent in OneFS, as the file

system is a single volume and namespace, spanning the entire cluster.

SMB shares and NFS exports are created through the web or command line interface in OneFS. Both

methods allow the user to create either within seconds with security options. SmartQuotas is used to manage

storage limits. These include accounting, warning messages, or hard limits of enforcements. The limits can be

applied by directory, user, or group.

2.2 Data replication PowerScale’s SyncIQ provides data replication. Similar to NetApp’s SnapMirror, this replication could be for a

Disaster Recovery site or a form of backup. SyncIQ provides options for ensuring all data is retained during

failover and failback from the Disaster Recovery cluster. SyncIQ is fully configurable with options for

execution times and bandwidth management. Only changed data blocks are transferred with SyncIQ, allowing

OneFS features


for minimal resource consumption. SyncIQ can be directory based or for entire cluster replication, rather than

volume based with NetApp’s SnapMirror. A SyncIQ target cluster may be configured as a target for several

source clusters.

2.3 Load balancing As OneFS is a distributed architecture across a collection of nodes, client connectivity to these nodes requires

load balancing. Rather than having clients connect through a controller or filer as with NetApp, PowerScale

clients connect directly to a node, minimizing latency, increasing performance, and overall user experience.

PowerScale SmartConnect provides options for balancing the client connections to the nodes within a cluster.

Balancing options are round-robin or based on current load. Additionally, SmartConnect Zones can be

configured to have clients connect based on group and performance needs. For example, the Engineering

group may require high-performance nodes, a zone can be configured forcing connections to those nodes.

2.4 Compliance PowerScale’s SmartLock offers similar features to NetApp’s SnapLock, including WORM files and meeting

strict SEC requirements. If a cluster is in compliance mode, SmartLock allows failover to a Disaster Recovery

Cluster. NetApp does not support failover in compliance mode.

2.5 Role-based access control PowerScale supports Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), allowing administrative tasks to be configured,

without a ‘root’ or ‘administrator’ account. A role is a collection of OneFS privileges that are limited to an area

of administration. Custom roles for security, auditing, storage, or backup tasks may be provisioned with

RBACs. Privileges are assigned to roles. As a user logs in to the cluster through the Platform API, the OneFS

command-line interface, or the OneFS web administration interface, they are granted privileges based on

their role membership.

2.6 Storage utilization and data protection Storage utilization is the amount of storage available after the NAS system overhead is deducted. The

overhead consists of the space required for data protection and the operating system. NetApp’s data

protection is RAID-TEC or RAID-DP, depending on the configuration. RAID-TEC and RAID-DP require three

disks, or two disks, respectively, for parity of each additional RAID group.

PowerScale uses software-based data protection rather than RAID. The software-based data protection

stripes data across nodes in stripe units. Some of the stripe units will be Forward Error Correction (FEC) or

parity units, based on the Reed-Solomon algorithm. The FEC units provide a variable to reformulate the data,

in the case of a drive or node failure. Data Protection is customizable to be for node loss or a hybrid

protection of node and drive failure.

Storage utilization in a PowerScale cluster ranges between 80%-90%. NetApp’s storage utilization is typically

40%-60%.

With software-based data protection, the protection scheme does not have to be cluster specific. Additional

granularity allows for making data protection specific to a file or directory. All of this is without the creation of

additional storage volumes or manually migrating data. OneFS runs a job in the background moving data as

configured.

OneFS features


PowerScale data protection

2.7 Snapshots SnapshotIQ provides options for taking on demand or scheduled snapshots of directories, rather than volume

based with NetApp’s Snapshot. These snapshots have a small overhead with little to no impact on

performance and storage. The limits are cluster based rather than volume. Isilon supports up to 1,024

snapshots per directory and up to 20,000 per cluster.

An option is also provided for restore using Windows Volume Manager, allowing users to perform restores

without requiring administrator assistance, minimizing help desk calls.

2.8 Backups OneFS supports backups through NDMP to several third-party vendors offering NDMP support. An

accelerator node may also be added to the cluster to process backups faster.

2.9 Data tiering PowerScale has built-in features to tier data based on its age or file type. NetApp does not have built-in

functionality to tier data. Instead, a 3rd party tool must be used. Implementation and management of an

additional tool requires administrator resources.

PowerScale SmartPools can be configured to automatically move data to a set of nodes. For example, if a file

has not been accessed in the last 90 days, in can be migrated to a node with deeper storage, allowing admins

to define the value of storage based on performance.

PowerScale CloudPools migrates data to a cloud provider, with only a stub remaining on the PowerScale

cluster, based on similar policies. Typically, CloudPools migrates frozen data, or data not accessed in the last

year.

OneFS features


PowerScale SmartPools and CloudPools

2.10 Authentication and access control NetApp and PowerScale both support several methods for user authentication and access control.

PowerScale OneFS supports UNIX and Windows permissions for data-level access control. OneFS is

designed for a mixed environment that allows configuration of both Windows Access Control Lists (ACLs) and

standard UNIX permissions on the cluster file system. OneFS provides user and identity mapping, permission

mapping, and merging between Windows and UNIX environments.

OneFS supports local and remote authentication providers. Anonymous access is supported for protocols that

allow it. Concurrent use of multiple authentication provider types, including Active Directory, LDAP, and NIS is

supported. For example, OneFS is often configured to authenticate Windows clients with Active Directory and

to authenticate UNIX clients with LDAP.

Authentication providers

2.11 Multi-tenancy NetApp 7-mode supports multi-tenancy with MultiStore vFilers, partitioning storage and network resources of

an HA controller pair. NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP (cDOT) supports multi-tenancy with Storage Virtual

Machines (SVMs), formerly vServers. SVMs isolate storage and network resources across a cluster of

OneFS features


controller HA pairs. vFilers and SVMs require managing protocols, shares, and volumes to provision

successfully. Volumes cannot be non-disruptively moved between SVMs.

PowerScale OneFS provides multi-tenancy through SmartConnect and Access Zones. Management is simple

as the file system is one volume and access is provided by hostname and directory, rather than by volume.

PowerScale multi-tenancy

SmartConnect zones allow administrators to provision DNS hostnames specific to IP pools, subnets, and

network interfaces. If only a single authentication provider is required, all of the SmartConnect zones map to a

default Access Zone. However, if directory access and authentication providers vary, multiple Access Zones

are provisioned, mapping to a directory, authentication provider, and SmartConnect Zone. Authenticated

users of an Access Zone only have visibility into their respective directory. Conversely, an administrator with

complete file system access can migrate data non-disruptively between directories.

Access zones

OneFS features


2.12 Monitoring PowerScale InsightIQ provides performance monitoring and reporting tools, similar to NetApp OnCommand.

However, OnCommand is composed of several suites, while InsightIQ is one comprehensive monitoring tool.

InsightIQ

Technical support and resources


A Technical support and resources

Dell.com/support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support.

Storage technical documents and videos provide expertise that helps to ensure customer success on Dell

EMC storage platforms.

A.1 Related resources

OneFS 8.2.0 Documentation - PowerScale Info Hub

PowerScale Network Design Considerations

Superna Eyeglass

High Availability and Data Protection with Dell EMC PowerScale Scale-Out NAS

PowerScale OneFS 8.2.1 CLI Administration Guide

OneFS 8.2.1 Web Administration Guide

OneFS 8.2 Backup and Recovery Guide

PowerScale InsightIQ 4.1 User Guide

OneFS 8.2.1 Security Configuration Guide

PowerScale OneFS CloudPools Administration Guide

PowerScale CloudPools and ECS Solution Guide

Dell EMC PowerScale OneFS Best Practices

http://www.dell.com/support

https://www.dell.com/storageresources

https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-75133

https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-75133

https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/asset/white-papers/products/storage/h16463-isilon-advanced-networking-fundamentals.pdf

https://www.supernaeyeglass.com/

https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/asset/white-papers/products/storage/h10588-isilon-data-availability-protection-wp.pdf

https://www.dellemc.com/en-us/collaterals/unauth/technical-guides-support-information/2019/09/docu95372.pdf




https://support.emc.com/docu94164_OneFS_8.2.0_Backup_and_Recovery_Guide.pdf

https://support.emc.com/docu94164_OneFS_8.2.0_Backup_and_Recovery_Guide.pdf

https://www.emc.com/collateral/TechnicalDocument/docu79773.pdf



https://www.emc.com/collateral/TechnicalDocument/docu84274.pdf

https://www.emc.com/collateral/white-papers/h14775-isilon-cloud-pools-and-ecs-solution-guide.pdf

https://www.dellemc.com/en-us/collaterals/unauth/white-papers/products/storage/h16857-wp-onefs-best-practices.pdf

Documents

Technical White Paper PowerScale Introduction for NetApp