emcmagic

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emcmagic

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January 19th, 2014 13:00

FAST VP versus Optimizer

Are these two are referring to two different things, or FAST VP would use Optimizer to determine HOT volumes? These two seems doing the similar thing.

On VMAX here, Optimizer is diabled (shown by running symoptmz query), however, FAST VP is being used (shown enabled by symfast -sid 123 list -state and symfast -sid 123 list -fp).

Thanks for your advice!

  • rawstorage

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    Posted January 20th, 2014 04:00


    Dynamox is on the money as usual

    FAST-DP and Optimizer are very similar, the difference between the two is FAST DP is building on the Optimizer technology somewhat giving you the ability to setup policies and tiers.  Both utilize DRV (Dynamic Relocation Volumes) to accomplish the relocation of the hot luns to balance out performance.  FAST DP can also balance performance on an application on a particular storage group based on the luns in the group, the busier luns will automatically get selected for promotion to FLASH.

    The reason for the difference is Optimizer doesn't do everything FAST can do, as in it's array wide by default, it doesn't have policies,  and it is a different product.

    While FAST-DP can identify hot luns, not all data on any lun is actually hot, this is where FAST VP comes in.  FAST VP is able to identify sub-lun portions of luns that are hot and move this hot data to a higher performing tier if the policy allows,  it also can identify cold data and move this to a capacity tier.  At the sub-lun FAST VP is moving around as little as 7.5 MB of data between thin pools doing this all non-disruptively and automatically.     There's a lot of whitpapers and and youtube videos out there if you're looking for more info on this.

    On the Array there are 2 controllers, FAST-DP and Optimizer and FAST VP;   Performance windows are shared between DP/VP and Optimizer and move windows are separate.

  • dynamox

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 13:00

    Optimize aka FAST-DP is used on thick devices while FAST-VP works on pool devices only

  • dynamox

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 14:00

    old naming, existed on Symmetrix waaaay before FAST came about

  • dynamox

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 14:00

    yep, that's FAST-DP

  • emcmagic

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 14:00

    I am curious, why do they call it Optimizer, not FAST or FAST-DP, since FAST is more common and already accepted term?

  • emcmagic

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 14:00

    # symfast -sid 123 list -state

    Symmetrix ID: 000192605065

    FAST State                 : Disabled

    Reason(s)                  : N/A

    FAST Current Activities    : Idle

    FAST Perf Time Window      : Open

    FAST Move Time Window      : Closed

    FAST VP State              : Enabled

    Reason(s)                  : N/A

    FAST VP Current Activities : RunningPlan

    FAST VP Perf Time Window   : Open

    FAST VP Move Time Window   : Open

  • emcmagic

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 14:00

    FAST is disabled here.

    Is FAST-DP = FAST?

    People usually disable FAST-DP, and use FAST-VP on VMAX, is that correct?

  • dynamox

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 14:00

    where did you see FAST ?

  • dynamox

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 16:00

    yes

    FAST and Fully Automated Storage Tiering with Virtual Pools (FAST VP)

    EMC Symmetrix FAST (FAST DP) and FAST VP automate the identification of data

    volumes for the purposes of relocating application data across different

    performance/capacity tiers within an array. FAST operates on standard Symmetrix

    devices. Data movements executed between tiers are performed at the full volume

    level. FAST VP operates on virtual devices. As such, data movement execution can be

    performed at the sub-LUN level, and a single thin device may have extents allocated

    across multiple thin pools within the array. Because FAST DP and FAST VP support

    different device types – standard and virtual respectively – they both can operate

    simultaneously within a single array.3 Aside from some shared configuration

    parameters, the management and operation of each are separate.

  • emcmagic

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    Posted January 19th, 2014 16:00

    EMC® Solutions Enabler Symmetrix Array Controls CLI Version 7.6

    this is a pretty recent document, on page 288, they still call it Optimizer. Is this Optimizer really the same as FAST/FAST-DP?