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Slowrider5
52 Posts
0
2136
March 1st, 2012 10:00
VMware View on VMAXe or big VNX?
Thinking about a use-case for View that would require a VNX5700 type of box. It raises the question of should I be considering VMAXe, particularly because my client may desire a scale-out architecture, and could benefit from the increased levels of reliability that come with Symmetrix.
That being said, I know VMAX/VMAXe today doesn't have any equivalent of FAST Cache, though it does have a substantial amount of DRAM-based cache. With FAST Cache having such tremendous benefits for VDI deployments, I'm looking for thoughts on whether using a VMAXe for VDI makes sense. How can I plan for boot storms, login storms, refresh/recompose activities, etc without adding tons of spindles (which will quickly eliminate VMAXe as an option).
Thanks,
Dan
Slowrider5
52 Posts
414
0
Posted March 1st, 2012 13:00
If I'm understanding correctly that the VMAXe is 100% virtually provisioned, then I wouldn't be able to create a dedicated RAID group of EFD's. Correct?
I am willing to trust the fact that FAST VP is much more granular on VMAXe and the moving around of bits is more dynamic. I'm still struggling to see any alternative to designing around the lack of FAST Cache without having to add a lot more disk.
mattcowger1
61 Posts
414
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Posted March 1st, 2012 14:00
Even though its virtually provisioned, you can still create a LUN that isn't allowed to cross tiers. Its wont be on a specific raid group, but it WOULD be bound to exclusively SSDs.
You dont need to design 'around' FAST Cache, because the VMAXe simply has more than enough. A 4 engine system has 512GB of cache, which is more useful than fast cache because its faster (by at least an order of magnitude).
To some degree though, you're right. A VMAX(e) based VDI environment IS going to cost significantly more per desktop than a VNX based one. For most scenarios where you are talking about these numbers of sessions, its probably better to consider scaling out with multiple VNXs (maybe 2 5700s) than scaling out by going VMAX.
Dan,
What's your VDI number? On EMC WP, the reference infrastructure is to use 2 mirrored 100GB EFD as FAST Cache in VNX5300 to suppport up to 2000 users. The available FAST Cache capacity is only around 93MB. VMAXe would be qualified enough on the hardware perspective. I heard a VMAXe is currently tested for 5,000 concurrent VDI users.
Krichter, please go to the below URL for WP.
When trying to access that URL I get the error:
"
The content you are trying to access is unavailable. This content may have expired, the link may be incorrect or you may not be entitled to access it with your account. Click here to return to the Powerlink home page.
We apologize for any inconvenience."
-Alex
DeLF wrote:
When trying to access that URL I get the error:
"
The content you are trying to access is unavailable. This content may have expired, the link may be incorrect or you may not be entitled to access it with your account. Click here to return to the Powerlink home page.
We apologize for any inconvenience."
-Alex
You need to have a powerlink account to access these EMC WP
mattcowger1
61 Posts
414
0
Posted March 1st, 2012 11:00
Even though VMAX(e) doesn't have FAST cache, it does have FAST VP, and its FAST VP is VERY granular (~7.6MB chunks).
Set it up much like you would a VNX that didn't have fast cache - use FAST VP to store most of the data, with perhaps a dedicated set of SSD LUNs for the Linked Clones.