Part 3: Testing PernixData FVP 2.0
A while ago I did a write-up about PernixData FVP and their new 2.0 release. In blogpost "Part 2: My take on PernixData FVP2.0" I ran a couple of tests which were based on a…
vSphere Flash Read Cache (vFRC)
Recently I started studying for my second VMware VCAP exam. It made sense to plan the updated VCAP550-DCA exam, since vSphere 5.5 is among us for quite some time now.
While doing so, you automatically run into vSphere Flash Read Cache (vFRC). A feature provided since vSphere 5.5 (only in the Enterprise+ bundle), but I never got to configure and/or test it. Hence this little write-up…
Running through the blueprint for VCAP550-DCA, you’ll see it listed under section 1, objective 1.1:
Section 1 – Implement and Manage Storage
Objective 1.1 – Implement Complex Storage Solutions
Skills and Abilities
- Determine use cases for and configure VMware DirectPath I/O
- Determine requirements for and configure NPIV
- Understand use cases for Raw Device Mapping
- Configure vCenter Server storage filters
- Understand and apply VMFS re-signaturing
- Understand and apply LUN masking using PSA-related commands
- Configure Software iSCSI port binding
- Configure and manage vSphere Flash Read Cache
- Configure Datastore Clusters
- Upgrade VMware storage infrastructure
Let’s check it out!!
My NetApp Flashpool implementation
The other day I was designing and implementing an all new NetApp FAS3250 setup running Clustered ONTAP 8.2 supporting a vSphere environment. This setup contains a bunch of SAS 10K disks and a DS2246 shelf filled with 24x 200GB SSD’s.
Because of the requirements stated by the customer, most of the SSD’s are used for a SSD-only aggregate. But to accelerate the SAS disks, we opted to use 6 SSD’s to create a Flashpool. I guess Flashpool doesn’t need any further detailed introduction. It is a mechanism used by NetApp to utilize SSD’s to automatically cache random reads and random overwritten writes in a dedicated Flashpool aggregate. Note the bold ‘overwritten’! This cached data is available during a takeover or giveback.
Although the implementation of a Flashpool is pretty straight forward, there are a few things I would like to point out. Things I encountered during the implementation: