Frequently asked questions

Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Table of contents Performance ................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Do your applications need predictable and consistent performance?.......................................................................... 2 Does your application set need low latency? ..................................................................................................................... 2 Will you have quality of service (QoS) controls that help you deal with “noisy neighbors”? ............................................ 2 How important are capacity and performance scalability? ............................................................................................. 2

Resiliency ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Do you need high availability (HA)? ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Do you require an enterprise-class feature set? ............................................................................................................... 3 What happens if multiple drives fail? ................................................................................................................................... 3 Are you an “always-on” business? ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Do you want a vendor that makes empty promises? ....................................................................................................... 3

Efficiency ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 How important are rack density and consumption? ......................................................................................................... 3 Do you want data saving techniques that don’t ask you to sacrifice performance? ................................................. 4 Do you need simplicity? ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 Are you looking at management suites, a private cloud, or automation? ................................................................... 4 Do you need to clone virtual machines (VMs) on a regular basis? ................................................................................. 4 Do you want more for your money? ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Ecosystem ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 What connectivity options do you need? ............................................................................................................................. 5 What about your apps? How important are openness and integration?...................................................................... 5 Do you need an array that integrates with your existing infrastructure? .................................................................... 5 Are you looking to eliminate silos? ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Do you need guaranteed interoperability support? .......................................................................................................... 5 Do you need an end-to-end solution? ................................................................................................................................. 5 Will your all-flash array vendor be with you for the long haul? ..................................................................................... 6

Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Flash is an undeniably compelling technology that has become a hot topic for storage. But with so many choices out there, how do you go about choosing an all-flash array to invest in? This white paper arms you with the questions you need to ask yourself—and your prospective vendor—before taking the plunge into the world of all-flash storage arrays. These questions are grouped into four categories oriented around performance, resiliency, efficiency, and ecosystem.

Performance

Do your applications need predictable and consistent performance? Virtualized and OLTP workloads, as well as some conventional workloads, require not only high performance levels, but predictable and consistent performance. System-wide striping distributes data not only widely, but across every drive in the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage array. This results in a very even distribution of performance and capacity that allows the array to scale easily, adding performance and capacity evenly with each upgrade. In addition, while most of the all-flash arrays on the market require you to upgrade in big blocks—meaning you may have to even double your capacity with each upgrade—with HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, new drives can be added to the array granularly and online while entirely removing the need for offline upgrades or the use of a “swing kit” to evacuate the array during upgrades.

Does your application set need low latency? Sometimes speed matters. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage has been designed specifically for flash and isn’t just a disk array with flash drives. The flash-specific enhancements added to the HP 3PAR Operating System enable the HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 to offer high performance while also offering sub-millisecond latency times, making it the ideal platform for your high-performance storage requirements.

Will you have quality of service (QoS) controls that help you deal with “noisy neighbors”? Having a single tier of storage greatly eases management, but without physical separation between drives, how can you prevent one service from using all of the resources available? With HP 3PAR Priority Optimization, supported on all arrays in the family, it’s possible to assure service performance levels with granular controls that let you apply QoS-style restrictions on a per-volume basis. Using this technology, it’s possible to restrict the available resources to selected applications to prevent disruptions from a “noisy neighbor” and to assure performance for business-critical services.

How important are capacity and performance scalability? Investing in an all-flash array is an investment in the future, which means you have to be thinking about your future needs, not just the workloads you’re supporting today. This means you have to consider performance scalability as well as capacity scalability.

With HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, you can scale capacity and performance independently, starting with just eight solid-state drives (SSDs) and adding new drives and shelves to the array as you grow and your requirements change. There’s no need to bulk-add drives or to add fully-populated shelves of drives as required by other platforms.

HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 arrays start with two controllers and scale to four controllers and 240 SSDs in a single array, amounting to over 460 TB raw and 1.3 PB of usable capacity. And with HP storage federation capabilities, you can federate multiple HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays, allowing administrators to quickly and simply move volumes between arrays—online and without data migration processes.

Resiliency

Do you need high availability (HA)? There are lots of options available to you when it comes to all-flash arrays, but resiliency is not always a given. If your company requires an all-flash array that can guarantee uptime, you need to be particularly cautious on this front.

HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays offer not just hardware and software redundancy and fault tolerance, but also a rich set of HA features. This goes for the entire platform, not just all-flash arrays. An Active-Active controller design referred to as “Mesh-Active” allows all controllers to share the workload between them, offering predictable performance with no management overhead and extreme fault tolerance.

You don’t have to invest in a quad-node system like the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 to get these benefits, but doing so lets you scale past two controllers to offer increased resilience. And with the HP 3PAR Get 6-Nines Guarantee Program, HP stands behind your ability to maintain 99.9999 percent uptime with any quad-node HP 3PAR StoreServ system, including the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 array.

There is more information available on this subject. Start with the technical white paper HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage: designed for mission-critical high availability.

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Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Do you require an enterprise-class feature set? Features like snapshots, replication, and platform integration might seem like givens, but for many all-flash array providers, these are either future dreams or require additional products.

The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 array shares the same architecture, OS, and rich data services as the StoreServ 7000-series and 10000-series disk-based arrays, delivering enterprise-class functionality that includes:

• HP 3PAR Virtual Copy snapshot technology

• HP 3PAR Remote Copy replication

• HP 3PAR Peer Persistence for automated transparent site failover

• Fully virtualized, system-wide striped array

• HP 3PAR Peer Motion for array federation

• Fully-featured reporting suite

• Proven platform and application integration

• Online import from EMC and HP EVA arrays

• HP 3PAR Persistent Cache and Persistent Ports

• HP 3PAR Thin Technologies for data compaction

• Support for Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), HP OpenStack, and more

To learn more about the HP 3PAR StoreServ Architecture, download the technical white paper.

What happens if multiple drives fail? Tolerating two simultaneous drive failures isn’t possible with most arrays but is fully supported with HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays. HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage is designed to be autonomic, so it can heal itself. During controller failure on quad-controller arrays, cache is persisted to an alternate controller to prevent write-through mode normally associated with controller failures.

Due to the virtualized nature of the platform’s RAID implementation, only missing data is rebuilt when a drive fails—not data and whitespace. System-wide sparing means that data is rebuilt using capacity on every drive. These two advantages work together to dramatically reduce rebuild times and get your array back into a protected state in minimal time and with no management intervention. In addition, with system-wide sparing, you no longer need “hot spare” drives that don’t contribute to array performance.

Are you an “always-on” business? You don’t have to be an enterprise any more to require always-on support. With the advent of smartphones and remote access, users expect to be able to access their work environment from anywhere at any time. HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage is designed from the ground up to support always-on environments through both non-disruptive firmware upgrades and capacity/performance upgrades. Deploying HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage allows your business to continue operating at full productivity, even during a drive upgrade. And because the platform features an Active/Active architecture, you don’t have to support—i.e., power, cool, and house—controllers that don’t actually contribute to system performance.

Do you want a vendor that makes empty promises? Too many all-flash array vendors are making claims they can’t currently live up to—whether that’s federation, tolerating multiple drive failures, online upgrades, deduplication rates that can’t actually be achieved, or promises of space reduction. By contrast, HP doesn’t get wrapped up in media hype by making claims it can’t support, which is one reason that we stand behind many of our claims with guarantees such as our HP 3PAR Get 6-Nines Guarantee Program. All of the resiliency features that you get with all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays are not only tested in the lab, but have been in production for years, which allows us to assure their effectiveness. With HP, there are no empty promises.

Efficiency

How important are rack density and consumption? It’s no secret that high-density flash drives offer space benefits and lower power consumption, but with HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, you get additional savings. The HP 3PAR ASIC is a dedicated chip that performs specific functions such as RAID parity calculations, thin provisioning, thin deduplication, and more at wire speed. This allows HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays to deliver all-flash array performance without the need for multiple general-purpose processors or high RAM usage—thereby delivering greater density that reduces power consumption, thermal output, and physical space requirements.

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Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Do you want data saving techniques that don’t ask you to sacrifice performance? One of the best ways to make your storage dollars go farther is to make sure that you’re getting the absolute most out of your capacity investments, and nowhere is this more crucial than with flash. For this reason, data compaction offerings such as deduplication can be an important factor in choosing an all-flash array.

HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays offer high-performance thin deduplication and zero-overhead thin provisioning thanks to the HP 3PAR ASIC, which features inline deduplication and zero-block detection mechanism. This solution brings hardware and software capabilities together to offer you more usable capacity without the performance overhead generally associated with data compaction techniques. And since HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays are virtualized, thin deduplication can be enabled and disabled on a per-volume basis—online, and with no interruption to service.

Do you need simplicity? Sometimes speed doesn’t matter; but flash technology isn’t just about speed. Even disk-based arrays can be complex. With multiple drive types and “automated” tiering, some technologies can introduce more management than they’re worth. With its autonomic feature set—including self-healing, wide-striped RAID, policy-based management, host and volume sets, and market-leading reporting—HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage offers simple management. For example, the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 offers enhanced simplicity by introducing a single tier of storage that caters to all storage needs. Complex, scale-out solutions start looking a lot less attractive once you put them next to the simple, scalable HP 3PAR architecture with its industry-leading management features.

Are you looking at management suites, a private cloud, or automation? HP 3PAR StoreServ technologies include a fully-featured RESTful API (based on the representational state transfer or REST architecture) that allows seamless integration into automation platforms including HP OneView and HP’s Cloud Service Automation toolset, OpenStack, Microsoft SCOM, VMware® vCenter Operations Management Suite, Veeam Backup and Replication, and provides a full scripting environment allowing administrators to script and schedule any task on the array.

Do you need to clone virtual machines (VMs) on a regular basis? With support for VMware vSphere Storage APIs—Array Integration VAAI primitives, some arrays can handle XCOPY—passing clone workloads to the array to reduce front-end workload—however, the same back-end workload still needs to be carried out.

HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays are deduplication-aware with the XCOPY primitive reducing not only front-end but also back-end IOPS when cloning data. This significantly reduces the time to clone a VM or an entire volume since the array does not need to deduplicate each block during an XCOPY operation. This can drastically reduce the time taken to recompose or rebuild a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) desktop pool.

Do you want more for your money? The HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage array isn’t just a block array that’s been retrofitted with SSDs. As one example of this, enterprise MLC (eMLC) drives commonly used in all-flash arrays typically have 30 percent more flash capacity than advertised, but this capacity is “hidden” because it’s used for things like sparing and garbage collection. Although this capacity is used to improve the longevity of the SSDs, it is lost to the array. Consumer MLC (cMLC) drives on the other hand have less reserved space put to one side (5-10 percent) with the understanding that they are likely to wear out more quickly. While some vendors will hide 20 percent of the capacity of the drive from the array in order to carry out their own garbage collection, HP instead implements Adaptive Sparing—a technology that reserves space on cMLC drives and passes it back to the drive for garbage collection. During drive failures—and only if required—this space is reclaimed from the SSD and used to store data from the failed drive. Once the failed drive is replaced, the capacity is passed back to the SSD for garbage collection. This allows HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays to increase the longevity of cMLC drives while increasing the usable capacity of the drive by 20 percent. It also prevents drives from having to be treated as failed when carrying out garbage collection. As far as longevity goes, HP offers a five-year warranty on all HP 3PAR StoreServ SSDs to protect against failure and media wearout. To learn about the other ways that the architecture is flash-optimized, you can read the technical white paper HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage: optimized for flash.

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Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Ecosystem

What connectivity options do you need? Not all arrays are created equal, and not all arrays support multiple connectivity choices. The all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 supports up to 24 8 Gb Fibre Channel and up to 8 10 Gb iSCSI or Fibre Channel over Ethernet connections, offering true multi-protocol support that meets your connectivity needs. Replication can take place over 1 Gb IP connections or use the Fibre Channel connectivity. No gateways or storage routers are required. What about host OS support? Are you running UNIX® in addition to Windows® and Linux® host OS, and does your flash array support these OSs and the associated versions. How about interoperability with HBAs and switches?

What about your apps? How important are openness and integration? Application integration can be a sticking point with all-flash arrays, particularly those from new entrants to the space. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage offers tight integration with multiple platforms. For example, not only does HP 3PAR technology integrate well with the existing VMware vSphere Suite, but as a VMware vSphere partner, HP has worked closely with VMware to develop VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) and will support VVol technology from day one of VMware’s release of vSphere 6.

HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage also features full support for Microsoft Hyper-V and SCVMM/SCOM, Microsoft Exchange and SQL, Oracle, and SAP® LVM. In addition, HP 3PAR StoreServ solutions integrate tightly with Veeam Backup and Replication to offer enhanced backup and recoverability from array snapshots—an often overlooked aspect of data recovery.

Openness is the HP way, which is why HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays feature full support for HP OpenStack Cinder. In fact, HP is the largest single contributor to the OpenStack project, including the addition of Fibre Channel array support.

Do you need an array that integrates with your existing infrastructure? Since it comes from a vendor that provides not only storage, but servers and networking too, HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage can integrate seamlessly into your existing HP environment. With support for the Flat SAN, pairing HP 3PAR technology with HP BladeSystem c-Class blades allows administrators to reduce or even eliminate the SAN fabric, improving management and performance while reducing up-front costs and total cost of ownership (TCO). HP 3PAR technology is also fully supported with third-party infrastructure.

Are you looking to eliminate silos? One thing you need to watch out for when deploying an all-flash array is that high-performance, low-latency systems can quickly create a storage silo that is at odds with your larger goals of convergence, consolidation, and resource sharing.

The HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage family starts with the midrange 7200 array—now with an HP 3PAR StoreServ 7200 All-Flash Starter Kit option that lets you deploy flash at an absolute lowest cost—and progress up through the quad-controller capable 7400 and all-flash 7450, then the high-end 10000-Series systems that can have up to eight nodes. All of these systems run the same OS, use the same management interface, and offer the same rich feature set. It is one platform that does it all, with seamless integration between all-flash and hybrid or HDD-only systems. If you are already a HP 3PAR StoreServ customer, the all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 integrates seamlessly into your existing HP 3PAR environment, offering full support for federation and replication between all other models in the HP 3PAR StoreServ family.

Do you need guaranteed interoperability support? HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays have a full support matrix that includes tested and supported hardware (HBAs, switches, etc.), firmware revisions, and software stacks (Microsoft Windows patch revisions, etc.) to provide a solution that’s fully tested and guaranteed to perform and protect.

Do you need an end-to-end solution? Only HP can offer you a true, enterprise-class, end-to-end solution that features an all-flash array. From storage to servers, from SAN fabric to networking, and from hypervisors to applications and backup, HP can offer you a single-vendor solution that provides your business with the dynamic and high availability (HA) features you need. Only HP can offer you a single point of contact and unified support across your data center.

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Frequently asked questions | Questions to consider when selecting an all-flash array

Will your all-flash array vendor be with you for the long haul? You can rest assured that the HP 3PAR technology isn’t going to be acquired by another company, make radical changes, or disappear into the ether—but that certainly can’t be said about other all-flash array vendors. Also, remember that all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ arrays are based on technology that is not only mature, reliable, and proven, but deployed by enterprises and service providers alike, supporting critical infrastructure for thousands of businesses. With HP 3PAR as an option, why would you buy an unproven product or from an unknown company?

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© Copyright 2014 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. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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4AA5-5146ENW, October 2014