|
General
|
|
|
- Fully Supported
- Limitation
- Not Supported
- Information Only
|
|
Pros
|
- + Extensive platform support
- + Extensive data protection capabilities
- + Flexible deployment options
|
- + Extensive QoS capabilities
- + Extensive data protection capabilities
- + Small form factor
|
- + Strong Cisco integration
- + Fast streamlined deployment
- + Strong container support
|
|
Cons
|
- - No native data integrity verification
- - Dedup/compr not performance optimized
- - Disk/node failure protection not capacity optimized
|
- - No hybrid configurations
- - No stretched clustering
- - Single hypervisor support
|
- - Single server hardware support
- - No bare-metal support
- - Limited native data protection capabilities
|
|
|
|
Content |
|
|
|
|
WhatMatrix
|
WhatMatrix
|
WhatMatrix
|
|
|
|
Assessment |
|
|
|
|
Name: SANsymphony
Type: Software-only (SDS)
Development Start: 1998
First Product Release: 1999
NEW
DataCore was founded in 1998 and began to ship its first software-defined storage (SDS) platform, SANsymphony (SSY), in 1999. DataCore launched a separate entry-level storage virtualization solution, SANmelody (v1.4), in 2004. This platform was also the foundation for DataCores HCI solution. In 2014 DataCore formally announced Hyperconverged Virtual SAN as a separate product. In May 2018 integral changes to the software licensing model enabled consolidation because the core software is the same and since then cumulatively called DataCore SANsymphony.
One year later, in 2019, DataCore expanded its software-defined storage portfolio with a solution especially for the need of file virtualization. The additional SDS offering is called DataCore vFilO and operates as scale-out global file system across distributed sites spanning on-premises and cloud-based NFS and SMB shares.
Recently, at the beginning of 2021, DataCore acquired Caringo and integrated its know how and software-defined object storage offerings into the DataCore portfolio. The newest member of the DataCore SDS portfolio is called DataCore Swarm and together with its complementary offering SwarmFS and DataCore FileFly it enables customers to build on-premises object storage solutions that radically simplify the ability to manage, store, and protect data while allowing multi-protocol (S3/HTTP, API, NFS/SMB) access to any application, device, or end-user.
DataCore Software specializes in the high-tech fields of software solutions for block, file, and object storage. DataCore has by far the longest track-record when it comes to software-defined storage, when comparing to the other SDS/HCI vendors on the WhatMatrix.
In April 2021 the company had an install base of more than 10,000 customers worldwide and there were about 250 employees working for DataCore.
|
Name: NetApp HCI
Type: Hardware+Software (HCI)
Development Start: 2016
First Product Release: 2017
SolidFire, founded at the end of 2009, released its first Software Defined Storage (SDS) solution in november 2012. In february 2016 NetApp officially completed its acquisition of SolidFire, thus gaining acces to the SDS/HCI market.
NetApp HCIs (NetApp HCI) worldwide customer install base is unknown at this time. The number of employees working in the NetApp HCI division is also unknown at this time.
|
Name: HyperFlex (HX)
Type: Hardware+Software (HCI)
Development Start: 2015
First Product Release: apr 2016
NEW
Springpath Inc., founded in 2012, released its first Software Defined Storage (SDS) solution, Springpath Data Platform (SDP), in february 2015. Early 2016 Springpath Inc. exclusively partnered with Cisco to re-launch its SDS platform as part of a hyper-converged (HCI) offering, Cisco HyperFlex (HX), which surfaced in April 2016. In September 2016 Cisco officialy completed the acquisition of Springpath, solidyfing the core of its HCI technology.
In October 2019 Cisco HyperFlex (HX) had a customer install base of more than 4,000 customers worldwide. The number of employees working in the HyperFlex division is unknown at this time.
|
|
|
|
GA Release Dates:
SSY 10.0 PSP12: jan 2021
SSY 10.0 PSP11: aug 2020
SSY 10.0 PSP10: dec 2019
SSY 10.0 PSP9: jul 2019
SSY 10.0 PSP8: sep 2018
SSY 10.0 PSP7: dec 2017
SSY 10.0 PSP6 U5: aug 2017
.
SSY 10.0: jun 2014
SSY 9.0: jul 2012
SSY 8.1: aug 2011
SSY 8.0: dec 2010
SSY 7.0: apr 2009
.
SSY 3.0: 1999
NEW
10th Generation software. DataCore currently has the most experience when it comes to SDS/HCI technology, when comparing SANsymphony to other SDS/HCI platforms.
SANsymphony (SSY) version 3 was the first public release that hit the market back in 1999. The product has evolved ever since and the current major release is version 10. The list includes only the milestone releases.
PSP = Product Support Package
U = Update
|
GA Release Dates:
NetApp HCI 1.8P1: oct 2020
NetApp HCI 1.8: may 2020
NetApp HCI 1.7: sep 2019
NetApp HCI 1.6: jul 2019
NetApp HCI 1.4: nov 2018
NetApp HCI 1.3: jun 2018
NetApp HCI 1.2: mar 2018
NetApp HCI 1.1: dec 2017
NetApp HCI 1.0: oct 2017
NEW
12th Generation SolidFire software on whitelabel server hardware.
NetApp HCI is fueled by SolidFire Element OS software. SolidFires maturity has been increasing ever since the first iteration by expanding its range of features with a set of advanced functionality.
NetApp HCI v1.8P1 is based on Element OS 12.2.
Element OS 12.2: sep 2020
Element OS 12.0: may 2020
Element OS 11.5: sep 2019
Element OS 11.3: jul 2019
Element OS 11.1: mar 2019
Element OS 11.0: nov 2018
Element OS 10.4: aug 2018
Element OS 10.3: jun 2018
Element OS 10.2: mar 2018 (NetApp HCI-only)
Element OS 10.1: dec 2017
Element OS 10.0: nov 2017
Element OS 9.0: oct 2016
Element OS 8.0: jun 2015
Element OS 7.0: nov 2014
Element OS 6.0: apr 2014
|
GA Release Dates:
HX 4.0: apr 2019
HX 3.5.2a: jan 2019
HX 3.5.1a: nov 2018
HX 3.5: oct 2018
HX 3.0: apr 2018
HX 2.6.1b: dec 2017
HX 2.6.1a: oct 2017
HX 2.5: jul 2017
HX 2.1: may 2017
HX 2.0: mar 2017
HX 1.8: sep 2016
HX 1.7.3: aug 2016
1.7.1-14835: jun 2016
HX 1.7.1: apr 2016
NEW
4th Generation software on 4th and 5th generation Cisco UCS server hardware.
Cisco HyperFlex is fueled by Springpath software, which is now co-developed with Cisco and renamed to HX Data Platform. Cisco HyperFlex maturity has been gradually increasing ever since the first iteration by expanding its range of features with a set of foundational and advanced functionality.
|
|
|
|
Pricing |
|
|
|
Hardware Pricing Model
Details
|
N/A
SANsymphony is sold by DataCore as a software-only solution. Server hardware must be acquired separately.
The entry point for all hardware and software compatibility statements is: https://www.datacore.com/products/sansymphony/tech/compatibility/
On this page links can be found to: Storage Devices, Servers, SANs, Operating Systems (Hosts), Networks, Hypervisors, Desktops.
Minimum server hardware requirements can be found at: https://www.datacore.com/products/sansymphony/tech/prerequisites/
|
Per Node
|
Per Node
Bundle (ROBO)
Next to acquiring individual nodes Cisco also offers a bundle that is aimed at small ROBO deployments, HyperFlex Edge.
Cisco HyperFlex Edge consists of 3 HX220x Edge M5 hybrid nodes with 1GbE connectivity. The Edge configuration cannot be expanded.
|
|
|
Software Pricing Model
Details
|
Capacity based (per TB)
NEW
DataCore SANsymphony is licensed in three different editions: Enterprise, Standard, and Business.
All editions are licensed per capacity (in 1 TB steps). Except for the Business edition which has a fixed price per TB, the more capacity that is used by an end-user in each class, the lower the price per TB.
Each edition includes a defined feature set.
Enterprise (EN) includes all available features plus expanded Parallel I/O.
Standard (ST) includes all Enterprise (EN) features, except FC connections, Encryption, Inline Deduplication & Compression and Shared Multi-Port Array (SMPA) support with regular Parallel I/O.
Business (BZ) as entry-offering includes all essential Enterprise (EN) features, except Asynchronous Replication & Site Recovery, Encryption, Deduplication & Compression, Random Write Accelerator (RWA) and Continuous Data Protection (CDP) with limited Parallel I/O.
Customers can choose between a perpetual licensing model or a term-based licensing model. Any initial license purchase for perpetual licensing includes Premier Support for either 1, 3 or 5 years. Alternatively, term-based licensing is available for either 1, 3 or 5 years, always including Premier Support as well, plus enhanced DataCore Insight Services (predictive analytics with actionable insights). In most regions, BZ is available as term license only.
Capacity can be expanded in 1 TB steps. There exists a 10 TB minimum per installation for Business (BZ). Moreover, BZ is limited to 2 instances and a total capacity of 38 TB per installation, but one customer can have multiple BZ installations.
Cost neutral upgrades are available when upgrading from Business/Standard (BZ/ST) to Enterprise (EN).
|
Per Node
Capacity based (per TB)
NetApp HCI software licensing is separate from hardware pricing. The decoupling provides a choice between per node and capacity pricing. The capacity pricing model allows usage of the licensed storage capacity across an entire enterprise (multiple sites, multiple solutions). Currently 25TB and 100TB packs exist.
There are no separate software editions with regards to NetApp HCI. Each node comes equiped with an all-inclusive feature set. This means that without exception all storage software capabilities are available for use.
NetApp HCI can be connected to NetApp Cloud Central to enable additional features and services such as Kubernetes-as-a-Service with NetApp Kubernetes Service and fileservices-as-a-Service with NetApp Cloud Volumes. Some cloud services come with an additional charge.
The NetApp HCI solution comes with a 90-day trial license for VMware, which allows the NetApp Deployment Engine (NDE) to install and configure the VMware software. VMware software licenses must be purchased separately.\
|
Per Node
Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform (HXDP) Software is offered as an annual software subscription (1 year or 3 years).
There are 3 software editions to choose from: Edge, Standard and Enterprise.
HXDP Edge is the most limited edition and does not have the following software capabilities: Microsoft Hyper-V support, Kubernetes Container Persistent Storage, CCP, Maximum cluster scale, NVMe Flash caching, Logical Availablity Zones, Stretched Clustering and Synchronous replication, SEDs, Client Authentication and Cluster Lockdown.
HXDP Enterprise has the following advanced capabilities not available in HXDP Standard: Stretched Clustering, Synchronous replication and support for HX Hardware Acceleration Engine (PCIe).
Compute-only nodes do not require a subscription fee (free license).
|
|
|
Support Pricing Model
Details
|
Capacity based (per TB)
Support is always provided on a premium (24x7) basis, including free updates.
More information about DataCores support policy can be found here:
http://datacore.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1270/~/what-is-datacores-support-policy-for-its-products
|
Per Node
With regards to NetApp HCI there are three support offerings:
- SupportEdge Standard
- SupportEdge Premium
- SupportEdge Secure for Government (onsite and parts delivery)
All three options include hardware support (both compute and storage), software support, VMware support, upgrades and patch entitlement, access to NetApp Support site assets and the Knowledge Base, and full access to the HCI Technical Support team.
SupportEdge Standard:
- Next-Business-Day (NBD) hardware replacement.
SupportEdge Premium:
- 4-Hour hardware replacement
- Priority placement in the technical support queuing system
Customers may call VMware directly or call NetApp Technical Support when it comes to VMware-specific support questions.
|
Per Node
Cisco provides a variety of support service offerings, including:
- Unified Computing Warranty, No Contract (non-production environments)
- Smart Net Total Care for UCS (8x5 or 24x7; with or without Onsite)
|
|
|
Design & Deploy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Design |
|
|
|
Consolidation Scope
Details
|
Storage
Data Protection
Management
Automation&Orchestration
DataCore is storage-oriented.
SANsymphony Software-Defined Storage Services are focused on variable deployment models. The range covers classical Storage Virtualization over Converged and Hybrid-Converged to Hyperconverged including a seamless migration between them.
DataCore aims to provide all key components within a storage ecosystem including enhanced data protection and automation & orchestration.
|
Compute
Storage
Data Protection
Management
Automation&Orchestration
Both NetApp and the NetApp HCI platform are storage-oriented.
With the NetApp HCI platform NetApp aims to provide key components within a Private Cloud ecosystem as well as integration with existing hypervisors and applications.
|
Compute
Storage
Network
Management
Automation&Orchestration
Both Cisco and the HyperFlex platform itself are stack-oriented.
With the HyperFlex platform Cisco aims to provide all key functionality required in a Private Cloud ecosystem as well as integrate with existing hypervisors and applications.
|
|
|
|
1, 10, 25, 40, 100 GbE (iSCSI)
8, 16, 32, 64 Gbps (FC)
The bandwidth required depends entirely on the specifc workload needs.
SANsymphony 10 PSP11 introduced support for Emulex Gen 7 64 Gbps Fibre Channel HBAs.
SANsymphony 10 PSP8 introduced support for Gen6 16/32 Gbps ATTO Fibre Channel HBAs.
|
10/25 GbE (iSCSI)
NetApp HCI compute and storage nodes use Ethernet connectivity for storage traffic; two SFP+ (10 GbE) or SFP28 (25GbE) interfaces can be dedicated to storage. On compute nodes, all traffic including storage can also be converged on just two SFP+/SFP28 interfaces.
|
1, 10, 40 GbE
Cisco HyperFlex hardware models include redundant ethernet connectivity using SFP+. Cisco recommends at least 10GbE to avoid the network becoming a performance bottleneck.
Cisco also supports 40GbE Fabrics as of HX 2.0.
Ciso HyperFlex M4 models have 10GbE onboard; Cisco HyperFlex M5 models have 40GbE onboard.
As of HX 3.5 Cisco HyperFlex Edge bundle supports both 1GbE and 10GbE.
|
|
|
Overall Design Complexity
Details
|
Medium
DataCore SANsymphony is able to meet many different use-cases because of its flexible technical architecture, however this also means there are a lot of design choices that need to be made. DataCore SANsymphony seeks to provide important capabilities either natively or tightly integrated, and this keeps the design process relatively simple. However, because many features in SANsymphony are optional and thus can be turned on/off, in effect each one needs to be taken into consideration when preparing a detailed design.
|
Low
NetApp HCI was developed with simplicity in mind, both from a design and a deployment perspective. NetApp HCIs uniform platform architecture is meant to be applicable to a wide variety of use-cases and seeks to provide important capabilities natively. There are only a handful of storage building blocks to choose from, and many advanced capabilities like deduplication and compression are always turned on. This minimizes the amount of design choices as well as the number of deployment steps.
|
Low
Cisco HyperFlex was developed with simplicity in mind, both from a design and a deployment perspective. Cisco HyperFlex uniform platform architecture is meant to be applicable to all virtualized enterprise application use-cases. With the exception of backup/restore, most capabilities are provided natively and on a per-VM basis, keeping the design relatively clean and simple. Advanced features like deduplication and compression are always turned on. This minimizes the amount of design choices as well as the number of deployment steps.
|
|
|
External Performance Validation
Details
|
SPC (Jun 2016)
ESG Lab (Jan 2016)
SPC (Jun 2016)
Title: 'Dual Node, Fibre Channel SAN'
Workloads: SPC-1
Benchmark Tools: SPC-1 Workload Generator
Hardware: All-Flash Lenovo x3650, 2-node cluster, FC-connected, SSY 10.0, 4x All-Flash Dell MD1220 SAS Storage Arrays
SPC (Jun 2016)
Title: 'Dual Node, High Availability, Hyper-converged'
Workloads: SPC-1
Benchmark Tools: SPC-1 Workload Generator
Hardware: All-Flash Lenovo x3650, 2-node cluster, FC-interconnect, SSY 10.0
ESG Lab (Jan 2016)
Title: 'DataCore Application-adaptive Data Infrastructure Software'
Workloads: OLTP
Benchmark Tools: IOmeter
Hardware: Hybrid (Tiered) Dell PowerEdge R720, 2-node cluster, SSY 10.0
|
Evaluator Group (aug 2019)
Evaluator Group (Aug 2019)
Title: 'Scaling Performance for Enterprise HCI Environments'
Workloads: Mix (MS Exchange, Olio, Web, Database), VDI
Benchmark Tools: IOmark-VM (all), IOmark-VDI
Hardware: H410S, 5-node cluster, NetApp HCI 1.x
|
ESG Lab (jul 2018)
SAP (dec 2017)
ESG Lab (mar 2017)
ESG Lab (Jul 2018)
Title: 'Mission-critical Workload Performance Testing of Different Hyperconverged Approaches on the Cisco Unified Computing System Platform (UCS)'
Workloads: MSSQL OLTP, Oracle OLTP, Virtual Servers (VSI), Virtual desktops (VDI)
Benchmark Tools: Vdbench (MSSQL, Oracle)
Hardware: All-flash HyperFlex HX220c M4, 4-node cluster, HX 2.6
Remark: Also impact to performance caused by deduplication and compression was measured in comparison to two SDS platforms.
SAP (Dec 2017)
Title: 'SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application Benchmark'.
Workloads: SAP ERP
Benchmark Tools: SAPSD
Hardware: All-Flash HyperFlex HX240c M4, single -node, HX 2.6
ESG Lab (Mar 2017)
Title: 'Hyperconverged Infrastructure with Consistent High Performance for Virtual Machines'.
Workloads: MSSQL OLTP
Benchmark Tools: Vdbench (MSSQL)
Hardware: Hybrid+All-Flash HyperFlex HX220c M4, 4-node cluster, HX 2.0
|
|
|
Evaluation Methods
Details
|
Free Trial (30-days)
Proof-of-Concept (PoC; up to 12 months)
SANsymphony is freely downloadble after registering online and offers full platform support (complete Enterprise feature set) but is scale (4 nodes), capacity (16TB) and time (30 days) restricted, what all can be expanded upon request. The free trial version of SANsymphony can be installed on all commodity hardware platforms that meet the hardware requirements.
For more information please go here: https://www.datacore.com/try-it-now/
|
Proof-of-Concept (PoC)
|
Online Labs
Proof-of-Concept (PoC)
Cisco has a few online HyperFlex simulators within its Demo Cloud (dcloud) environment.
|
|
|
|
Deploy |
|
|
|
Deployment Architecture
Details
|
Single-Layer
Dual-Layer
Single-Layer = servers function as compute nodes as well as storage nodes.
Dual-Layer = servers function only as storage nodes; compute runs on different nodes.
Single-Layer:
- SANsymphony is implemented as virtual machine (VM) or in case of Hyper-V as service layer on Hyper-V parent OS, managing internal and/or external storage devices and providing virtual disks back to the hypervisor cluster it is implemented in. DataCore calls this a hyper-converged deployment.
Dual-Layer:
- SANsymphony is implemented as bare metal nodes, managing external storage (SAN/NAS approach) and providing virtual disks to external hosts which can be either bare metal OS systems and/or hypervisors. DataCore calls this a traditional deployment.
- SANsymphony is implemented as bare metal nodes, managing internal storage devices (server-SAN approach) and providing virtual disks to external hosts which can be either bare metal OS systems and/or hypervisors. DataCore calls this a converged deployment.
Mixed:
- SANsymphony is implemented in any combination of the above 3 deployments within a single management entity (Server Group) acting as a unified storage grid. DataCore calls this a hybrid-converged deployment.
|
Dual-Layer
Single-Layer = servers function as compute nodes as well as storage nodes.
Dual-Layer = servers function only as storage nodes; compute runs on different nodes.
Dual-Layer: NetApp HCI is implemented exclusively in a dual-layer architecture consisting of compute-only nodes in one layer and storage-only nodes in a separate layer. This design choice was intentional as to allow for maximum flexibility and performance predictability.
|
Single-Layer (primary)
Dual-Layer (secondary)
Single-Layer: Cisco HyperFlex is meant to be used as a storage platform as well as a compute platform at the same time. This effectively means that applications, hypervisor and storage software are all running on top of the same server hardware (=single infrastructure layer).
Cisco HyperFlex can also serve in a dual-layer model by providing storage to non-HyperFlex hypervisor hosts (Please view the compute-only scale-out option for more information).
|
|
|
Deployment Method
Details
|
BYOS (some automation)
BYOS = Bring-Your-Own-Server-Hardware
DataCore SANsymphony is made easy by providing a very straightforward implementation approach.
|
Turnkey (very fast; highly automated)
Because of the ready-to-go Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) building blocks and the setup wizard provided by NetApp, customer deployments can be executed in hours instead of days.
|
Turnkey (very fast; highly automated)
Because of the ready-to-go Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) building blocks and the setup wizard provided by Cisco, customer deployments can be executed in hours instead of days.
For initial deployment, Cisco expanded end-to-end automation across network, compute, hypervisor and storage in HX 1.8 and refined this in HX 2.0.
HX 3.0 introduced the ability for centralized global deployment from the cloud, delivered through Cisco Intersight.
|
|
|
Workload Support
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virtualization |
|
|
|
Hypervisor Deployment
Details
|
Virtual Storage Controller
Kernel (Optional for Hyper-V)
The SANsymphony Controller is deployed as a pre-configured Virtual Machine on top of each server that acts as a part of the SANsymphony storage solution and commits its internal storage and/or externally connected storage to the shared resource pool. The Virtual Storage Controller (VSC) can be configured direct access to the physical disks, so the hypervisor is not impeding the I/O flow.
In Microsoft Hyper-V environments the SANsymphony software can also be installed in the Windows Server Root Partition. DataCore does not recommend installing SANsymphony in a Hyper-V guest VM as it introduces virtualization layer overhead and obstructs DataCore Software from directly accessing CPU, RAM and storage. This means that installing SANsymphony in the Windows Server Root Partition is the preferred deployment option. More information about the Windows Server Root Partition can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/performance-tuning/role/hyper-v-server/architecture
The DataCore software can be installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2019 or lower (all versions down to Microsoft Windows Server 2012/R2).
Kernel Integrated, Virtual Controller and VIB are each distributed architectures, having one active component per virtualization host that work together as a group. All three architectures are capable of delivering a complete set of storage services and good performance. Kernel Integrated solutions reside within the protected lower layer, VIBs reside just above the protected kernel layer, and Virtual Controller solutions reside in the upper user layer. This makes Virtual Controller solutions somewhat more prone to external actions (eg. most VSCs do not like snapshots). On the other hand Kernel Integrated solutions are less flexible because a new version requires the upgrade of the entire hypervisor platform. VIBs have the middle-ground, as they provide more flexibility than kernel integrated solutions and remain relatively shielded from the user level.
|
None
Because of the design choice to keep compute and storage fully separated, the storage is served from the storage node cluster to the compute node cluster through the iSCSI storage protocol. In effect no solution components, eg. virtual storage controllers, need to be deployed on top of the compute nodes.
Kernel Integrated, Virtual Controller and VIB are each distributed architectures, having one active component per virtualization host that work together as a group. All three architectures are capable of delivering a complete set of storage services and good performance. Kernel Integrated solutions reside within the protected lower layer, VIBs reside just above the protected kernel layer, and Virtual Controller solutions reside in the upper user layer. This makes Virtual Controller solutions somewhat more prone to external actions (eg. most VSCs do not like snapshots). On the other hand Kernel Integrated solutions are less flexible because a new version requires the upgrade of the entire hypervisor platform. VIBs have the middle-ground, as they provide more flexibility than kernel integrated solutions and remain relatively shielded from the user level.
|
Virtual Storage Controller
Cisco HyperFlex uses Virtual Storage Controller (VSC) VMs on the VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor platform.
Kernel Integrated, Virtual Controller and VIB are each distributed architectures, having one active component per virtualization host that work together as a group. All three architectures are capable of delivering a complete set of storage services and good performance. Kernel Integrated solutions reside within the protected lower layer, VIBs reside just above the protected kernel layer, and Virtual Controller solutions reside in the upper user layer. This makes Virtual Controller solutions somewhat more prone to external actions (eg. most VSCs do not like snapshots). On the other hand Kernel Integrated solutions are less flexible because a new version requires the upgrade of the entire hypervisor platform. VIBs have the middle-ground, as they provide more flexibility than kernel integrated solutions and remain relatively shielded from the user level.
|
|
|
Hypervisor Compatibility
Details
|
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5-7.0U1
Microsoft Hyper-V 2012R2/2016/2019
Linux KVM
Citrix Hypervisor 7.1.2/7.6/8.0 (XenServer)
'Not qualified' means there is no generic support qualification due to limited market footprint of the product. However, a customer can always individually qualify the system with a specific SANsymphony version and will get full support after passing the self-qualification process.
Only products explicitly labeled 'Not Supported' have failed qualification or have shown incompatibility.
|
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5U2-7.0
(Microsoft Hyper-V)
(Red Hat KVM)
The NetApp HCI Deployment Engine currently supports a single hypervisor (VMware vSphere), whereas other platforms support multiple hypervisors.
NetApp HCI v1.8 supports VMware vSphere 6.5U2-6.5U3, 6.7U1-6.7U3 and 7.0.
VMware vSphere 6.5U2 and 6.7U1 are also supported for initial deployments as well as expansions of existing environments. VMware vSphere 6.0 is no longer supported as it reached end-of-life on March 12, 2020.
Microsoft Hyper-V or Red Hat KVM hypervisors can be manually installed on the NetApp HCI compute nodes. However, support for such a particular combination can only be obtained via the NetApp Feature Product Variance Request (FPVR) process.
|
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0U3/6.5U2/6.7U2
Microsoft Hyper-V 2016/2019
NEW
Cisco HyperFlex 3.0 introduced support for Microsoft Hyper-V.
Cisco HyperFlex 3.01b added support for VMware vSphere 6.5U2.
Cisco HyperFlex 3.5.2 added support for VMware vSphere 6.7U1.
Cisco HyperFlex 4.0 introduces support for VMware vSphere 6.7U2 and Microsoft Hyper-V 2019.
|
|
|
Hypervisor Interconnect
Details
|
iSCSI
FC
The SANsymphony software-only solution supports both iSCSI and FC protocols to present storage to hypervisor environments.
DataCore SANsymphony supports:
- iSCSI (Switched and point-to-point)
- Fibre Channel (Switched and point-to-point)
- Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
- Switched, where host uses Converged Network Adapter (CNA), and switch outputs Fibre Channel
|
iSCSI
NetApp HCI only supports the iSCSI protocol in order to present storage to hypervisor hosts, bare-metal hosts and VMs.
|
NFS
SMB
In virtualized environments In-Guest iSCSI support is still a hard requirements if one of the following scenarios is pursued:
- Microsoft Failover Clustering (MSFC) in a VMware vSphere environment
- A supported MS Exchange 2013 Environment in a VMware vSphere environment
Microsoft explicitely does not support NFS in both scenarios.
|
|
|
|
Bare Metal |
|
|
|
Bare Metal Compatibility
Details
|
Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2/2016/2019
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.5/6.6/7.3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0SP3+4/12.0SP1
Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS
CentOS 6.5/6.6/7.3
Oracle Solaris 10.0/11.1/11.2/11.3
Any operating system currently not qualified for support can always be individually qualified with a specific SANsymphony version and will get full support after passing the self-qualification process.
SANsymphony provides virtual disks (block storage LUNs) to all of the popular host operating systems that use standard disk drives with 512 byte or 4K byte sectors. These hosts can access the SANsymphony virtual disks via SAN protocols including iSCSI, Fibre Channel (FC) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).
Mainframe operating systems such as IBM z/OS, z/TPF, z/VSE or z/VM are not supported.
SANsymphony itself runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2012/R2 or higher.
|
RHEL 7.4-8.1 (KVM)
Windows Server 2016-2019 (Hyper-V)
VMware vSphere 6.5-7.0
Citrix XenServer 7.4-7.6
Citrix Hypervisor 8.0-8.1
NetApp HCI volumes can be allocated to external hosts that support the iSCSI protocol, such as external (=non-NetApp HCI) VMware clusters, Hyper-V hosts, OpenStack hosts, Bare Metal Windows hosts and Bare Metal Linux hosts.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not support any non-hypervisor platforms.
|
|
|
Bare Metal Interconnect
Details
|
iSCSI
FC
FCoE
|
iSCSI
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not support any non-hypervisor platforms.
|
|
|
|
Containers |
|
|
|
Container Integration Type
Details
|
Built-in (native)
DataCore provides its own Volume Plugin for natively providing Docker container support, available on Docker Hub.
DataCore also has a native CSI integration with Kubernetes, available on Github.
|
Built-in (native)
NetApp provides its own software plugins for container support (both Docker and Kubernetes) through its Trident open-source project.
More information can be found here: https://netapp-trident.readthedocs.io
NetApp also developed its own container platform software called 'NetApp Kubernetes Service'. NKS provides on-premises Kubernetes-as-a-Service (KaaS) in order to enable end-users to quickly adopt container services.
NetApp Kubernetes Service (NKS) is not a hard requirement for running Docker containers and Kubernetes on top of NetApp HCI, however it does make it easier to use and consume.
NKS system size requirements for NetApp HCI environments:
- 2x4 systems are not supported for production use. However, these can be used for demo work.
- 3x4 systems are the minimum production system size supported by NetApp.
- 4x4 systems are the recommended minimum size.
|
Built-in (native)
Cisco developed its own container platform software called 'Cisco Container Platform' (CCP). CCP provides on-premises Kubernetes-as-a-Service (KaaS) in order to enable end-users to quickly adopt container services.
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) is not a hard requirement for running Docker containers and Kubernetes on top of HX, however it does make it easier to use and consume.
|
|
|
Container Platform Compatibility
Details
|
Docker CE/EE 18.03+
Docker EE = Docker Enterprise Edition
|
Docker EE 17.06+
Trident should work with any distribution of Docker or Kubernetes that uses one of the supported versions as a base, such as Rancher or Tectonic.
NetApp Kubernetes Service (NKS) is a Pure Upstream K8s play. This means that NetApp will support the latest release within a week.
|
Docker EE 1.13+
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) supports deployment of Kubernetes clusters on HyperFlex IaaS (VMware). The Kubernetes pods leverage the Docker container platform as the runtime environment.
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) is not a hard requirement for running Docker containers and Kubernetes on top of HX, however it does make it easier to use and consume.
Docker EE = Docker Enterprise Edition
|
|
|
Container Platform Interconnect
Details
|
Docker Volume plugin (certified)
The DataCore SDS Docker Volume plugin (DVP) enables Docker Containers to use storage persistently, in other words enables SANsymphony data volumes to persist beyond the lifetime of both a container or a container host. DataCore leverages SANsymphony iSCSI and FC to provide storage to containers. This effectively means that the hypervisor layer is bypassed.
The Docker SDS Volume plugin (DVP) is officially 'Docker Certified' and can be downloaded from the Docker Hub. The plugin is installed inside the Docker host, which can be either a VM or a Bare Metal Host connect to a SANsymphony storage cluster.
For more information please go to: https://hub.docker.com/plugins/datacore-sds-volume-plugin
The Kubernetes CSI plugin can be downloaded from GitHub. The plugin is automatically deployed as several pods within the Kubernetes system.
For more information please go to: https://github.com/DataCoreSoftware/csi-plugin
Both plugins are supported with SANsymphony 10 PSP7 U2 and later.
|
Docker Volume Plugin (certified)
The NetApp 'Trident' plugin, previously known as 'NetApp Docker Volume Plugin (nDVP)', is a block volume plugin that connects containers to persistent storage served by NetApp HCI/SolidFire.
The 'NetApp Docker Volume Plugin (nDVP)' plugin is officially 'Docker Certified' and can be downloaded from the online Docker Store.
|
HX FlexVolume Driver
The Cisco HX FlexVolume Driver provides persistent storage for containers running in a Cisco Container Platform (CCP) environment. The driver communicates with an API of the HX Virtual Storage Controller and provides storage request details through use of a YAML file. Storage is presented to containers by HyperFlex through in-guest iSCSI connections. This effectively means that the hypervisor layer is bypassed.
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) is not a hard requirement for running Docker containers and Kubernetes on top of HX, however it does make it easier to use and consume.
The Cisco HX FlexVolume Driver is supported with HX 3.0 and later.
|
|
|
Container Host Compatibility
Details
|
Virtualized container hosts on all supported hypervisors
Bare Metal container hosts
The DataCore native plug-ins are container-host centric and as such can be used across all SANsymphony-supported hypervisor platforms (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, XenServer, Oracle VM Server) as well as on bare metal platforms.
|
Virtualized container hosts on all supported hypervisors
Bare Metal container hosts
The NetApp Trident native plugins are container-host centric and as such can be used across all NetApp HCI-supported hypervisor platforms (VMware vSphere) as well as on bare metal platforms.
|
Virtualized container hosts on VMware vSphere hypervisor
Because Cisco HyperFlex currently does not offer bare-metal support, Cisco Container Platform (CCP) on HyperFlex cannot be used for bare metal hosts running containers.
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) on HyperFlex only support the VMware vSphere hypervisor at this time.
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) is not a hard requirement for running Docker containers and Kubernetes on top of HX, however it does make it easier to use and consume.
|
|
|
Container Host OS Compatbility
Details
|
Linux
All Linux versions supported by Docker CE/EE 18.03+ or higher can be used.
|
RHEL
CentOS
Ubuntu
Debian
NetApp Trident has been qualified for the mentioned Linux operating systems.
Container hosts running the Windows OS are not (yet) supported.
|
Ubuntu Linux 16.04.3 LTS
A Kubernetes tenant cluster consists of 1 master and 2 worker nodes at minimum in Cisco HyperFlex environments. The nodes run Ubuntu Linux 16.04.3 LTS as the operating system.
|
|
|
Container Orch. Compatibility
Details
|
Kubernetes 1.13+
|
Kubernetes 1.9+
NetApp HCI v1.6 and up provide the ability to deploy managed Kubernetes clusters by leveraging NetApp Kubernetes Service (NKS).
The SolidFire driver does not support Docker Swarm.
|
Kubernetes
Cisco Container Platform (CCP) configuration consists of 1 master and 3 worker nodes for the CCP control plane (one VM for each HyperFlex cluster node). The CCP nodes are deployed from a VMware OVF template.
From the CCP control plane Kubernetes 1.9.2+ tenant clusters can be deployed. A Kubernetes tenant cluster consists of 1 master and X worker nodes.
|
|
|
Container Orch. Interconnect
Details
|
Kubernetes CSI plugin
The Kubernetes CSI plugin provides several plugins for integrating storage into Kubernetes for containers to consume.
DataCore SANsymphony provides native industry standard block protocol storage presented over either iSCSI or Fibre Channel. YAML files can be used to configure Kubernetes for use with DataCore SANsymphony.
|
Kubernetes Volume Plugin
The NetApp Trident Volume Plugin for Kubernetes allows deploying Pods with Persistent Volumes. Both Static Provisioning and Dynamic Provisioning are supported.
|
HX-CSI Plugin
NEW
Cisco HyperFlex 4.0 introduces support for the HyperFlex CSI plugin based on the Kubernetes Container Storage Interface (CSI) specification. The HX-CSI plugin is leveraged to provision and manage persistent volumes in Kubernetes v1.13 and later. The Cisco HyperFlex CSI plugin driver is deployed as containers.
Before CSI volume plugins were “in-tree” meaning their code was part of the core Kubernetes code and shipped with the core Kubernetes binaries. Storage vendors wanting to add support for their storage system to Kubernetes (or even fix a bug in an existing volume plugin) were forced to align with the Kubernetes release process. In addition, third-party storage code caused reliability and security issues in core Kubernetes binaries and the code was often difficult (and in some cases impossible) for Kubernetes maintainers to test and maintain. CSI is 'out-of-tree' meaning that with CSI, third-party storage providers can write and deploy plugins exposing new storage systems in Kubernetes without ever having to touch the core Kubernetes code. This gives Kubernetes users more options for storage and makes the system more secure and reliable.
The HX FlexVolume Driver, supported with HX 3.0 and HX 3.5, is hereby deprecated. The HX FlexVolume Driver was an external volume driver for Kubernetes. It ran in a K8S Node VM and provisioned a requested persistent volume that was compatible with the Kubernetes iSCSI volume.
|
|
|
|
VDI |
|
|
|
VDI Compatibility
Details
|
VMware Horizon
Citrix XenDesktop
There is no validation check being performed by SANsymphony for VMware Horizon or Citrix XenDesktop VDI platforms. This means that all versions supported by these vendors are supported by DataCore.
|
VMware Horizon
Citrix XenDesktop
Support for VMware Horizon and Citrix XenDesktop is a function of the underlying hypervisor support; ESXi 6.x is supported by NetApp HCI. In addition to the broad support, there is an additional whitepaper on VMware Horizon 7 on NetApp HCI: https://www.netapp.com/us/media/tr-4630.pdf
|
VMware Horizon
Citrix XenDesktop
Cisco has published Reference Architecture whitepapers for both VMware Horizon and Citrix XenDesktop platforms.
|
|
|
|
VMware: 110 virtual desktops/node
Citrix: 110 virtual desktops/node
DataCore has not published any recent VDI reference architecture whitepapers. The only VDI related paper that includes a Login VSI benchmark dates back to december 2010. There a 2-node SANsymphony cluster was able to sustain a load of 220 VMs based on the Login VSI 2.0.1 benchmark.
|
VMware: up to 139 virtual desktops/node
Citrix: unknown
VMware Horizon 7.6: Load bearing number is based on Login VSI tests performed on small and large compute+storage appliances using 2vCPU Windows 10 1803 desktops and the Knowledge Worker profile. The referenced test result of 110 desktop VMs is based on a NetApp HCI H410C 8-node compute cluster and a NetApp HCI H500S 4-node storage cluster configuration.
For detailed information please view the corresponding whitepaper (NVA-1132-DEPLOY) dated May 2019.
VMware Horizon 7.2: Load bearing number is based on Login VSI tests performed on small and large compute+storage appliances using 2vCPU Windows 10 desktops and the Knowledge Worker profile. The referenced test result of 139 desktop VMs is based on a NetApp HCI H700E Spectre and Meltdown postpatch configuration.
For detailed information please view the corresponding whitepaper (tr-4630) dated July 2018.
|
VMware: up to 137 virtual desktops/node
Citrix: up to 125 virtual desktops/node
VMware Horizon 7.6: Load bearing number is based on Login VSI tests performed on all-flash HX220c M5 appliances using 2vCPU Windows 10 desktops and the Knowledge Worker profile.
Citrix XenDesktop 7.16: Load bearing number is based on Login VSI tests performed on all-flash HX220c M5 appliances using 2vCPU Windows 10 desktops and the Knowledge Worker profile.
For detailed information please view the corresponding whitepapers.
|
|
|
Server Support
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Server/Node |
|
|
|
Hardware Vendor Choice
Details
|
Many
SANsymphony runs on all server hardware that supports x86 - 64bit.
DataCore provides minimum requirements for hardware resources.
|
Super Micro
Quanta Cloud Technology
NetApp HCI uses Super Micro Twin Squared (2U-4node) chassis for H300E/H500E/H700E/H410C compute nodes and H410S-0, H410S-1 and H410S-2 storage nodes.
NetApp HCI uses QCT QuantaGrid 1U servers for H610S storage nodes, and 2U servers for H610C compute nodes.
All types of nodes can be mixed and matched in a cluster.
|
Cisco
NEW
Cisco HyperFlex (HX) compute+storage nodes are based on Cisco UCS C220 M5 and Cisco UCS C240 M5 rack server hardware. M4 server hardware reached End-of-Life (EOL) status on February 14th 2019. This means that end users cannot acquire M4 hardware any longer.
Cisco HyperFlex (HX) compute-only nodes are based on Cisco UCS B200 M4/M5, B260 M4/M5, B420 M4/M5 and B460 M4/M5 blade server hardware. The Cisco C220 M4/M5, C240 M4/M5 and C460 M4/M5 rack servers can optionally be used as compute-only nodes.
Cisco HyperFlex 4.0 introduces support for C480 ML compute-only nodes that serve in Deep Learning / Machine Learning environments.
|
|
|
|
Many
SANsymphony runs on all server hardware that supports x86 - 64bit.
DataCore provides minimum requirements for hardware resources.
|
6 models (3x compute + 3x storage) + several sub-models
There are 3 compute models to choose from:
H410C (Small/Medium/Large)
H610C (Graphic) 2U
H615C (Graphic) 1U
There are 3 storage models to choose from:
H410S (General Purpose) 2U/4nodes
H610S (High Perf Large) 1U
H610S-2F (FIPS 140-2 Drive Encryption) 1U
|
9 storage models:
HX220x Edge M5, HX220c M4/M5, HX240c M4/M5, HXAF220c M4/M5, HXAF240c M4/M5
8 compute-only models: B2x0 M4/M5, B4x0 M4/M5, C2x0 M4/M5, C4x0 M4/M5, C480 ML
NEW
HX220x Edge M5 are 1U building blocks.
HX220c M5 and HXAF220c M5 are 1U building blocks.
HX240c M5 and HXAF240c M5 are 2U building blocks.
A maximum of eight B200 M4/M5 blade servers fit in a Cisco UCS 5108 6U Blade Chassis.
|
|
|
|
1, 2 or 4 nodes per chassis
Note: Because SANsymphony is mostly hardware agnostic, customers can opt for multiple server densities.
Note: In most cases 1U or 2U building blocks are used.
Also Super Micro offers 2U chassis that can house 4 compute nodes.
Denser nodes provide a smaller datacenter footprint where space is a concern. However, keep in mind that the footprint for other datacenter resources such as power and heat and cooling is not necessarily reduced in the same way and that the concentration of nodes can potentially pose other challenges.
|
1 node per chassis
4 nodes per chassis
NetApp HCI 410C compute nodes and 410S storage nodes are delivered in 2U/4-node building blocks. Compute nodes and storage nodes can be mixed within the same chassis.
NetApp HCI H615C compute nodes and H610S storage nodes are delivered in 1U building blocks.
NetApp HCI H610C compute nodes are delivered in 2U building blocks.
Denser nodes provide a smaller datacenter footprint where space is a concern. However, keep in mind that the footprint for other datacenter resources such as power and heat and cooling is not necessarily reduced in the same way and that the concentration of nodes can potentially pose other challenges.
|
HX2x0/HXAF2x0/HXAN2x0: 1 node per chassis
B200: up to 8 nodes per chassis
C2x0: 1 node per chassis
HX220x Edge M5 are 1U building blocks.
HX220c M5, HXAF220c M5 and HXAN220c M5 are 1U building blocks.
HX240c M5 and HXAF240c M5 are 2U building blocks.
A maximum of eight B200 M4/M5 blade servers fit in a Cisco UCS 5108 6U Blade Chassis.
Denser nodes provide a smaller datacenter footprint where space is a concern. However, keep in mind that the footprint for other datacenter resources such as power and heat and cooling is not necessarily reduced in the same way and that the concentration of nodes can potentially pose other challenges.
|
|
|
|
Yes
DataCore does not explicitly recommend using different hardware platforms, but as long as the hardware specs are somehow comparable, there is no reason to insist on one or the other hardware vendor. This is proven in practice, meaning that some customers run their productive DataCore environment on comparable servers of different vendors.
|
Yes
Compute and storage nodes can be mixed and matched as long as best practices are adhered to.
NetApp HCI allows any storage node type to be mixed within a single cluster, however one important rule is mandatory: no one storage node can be more than one-third of the total cluster capacity for high-availabity and self-healing purposes.
|
Partial
Cisco supports mixing nodes with Intel v3 and Intel v4 processors within the same storage cluster. Also M4 and M5 nodes can be mixed within the same cluster. HyperFlex Edge does not support mixed M4/M5 clusters.
Mixing of HX220c and HX240c models is not allowed inside a single storage cluster (homogenous setup).
Mixing of HX2x0c, HXAF2x0c and HXAN2x0c models is not allowed inside a single storage cluster (homogenous setup).
Multiple homogenous HyperFlex storage clusters can be used in a single vCenter environment. The current maximum is 100.
Cisco HyperFlex supports up to 8 clusters on a single HX FI Domain.
|
|
|
|
Components |
|
|
|
|
Flexible
Minimum hardware requirements need to be fulfilled.
For more information please go to: https://www.datacore.com/products/sansymphony/tech/compatibility/
|
Flexible (up to 5 options)
NetApp HCI Compute nodes:
H410C (Small/Medium/Large): 2x Intel Xeon Silver 4110, Gold 5120, Gold 5122, Gold 6138
H610C (Graphic): 2x Intel Xeon Gold 6130
H615C (Graphic): 2x Intel Xeon Silver 4214, Gold 5222, Gold 6242, Gold 6252, Gold 6240Y
H615C compute nodes ship with 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors.
|
Flexible
NEW
M5: Choice of 1st generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Skylake) processors (1x or 2x per node).
Although Cisco does support 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors in its UCS server line-up as of April 2019, Cisco HyperFlex nodes do not yet ship with 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors.
|
|
|
|
Flexible
|
Fixed: H610C
Flexible: H410C/H615C
NetApp HCI Compute nodes:
H410C (Small/Medium/Large): 384GB-1TB
H610C (Graphic): 512GB
H615C (Graphic): 384GB-1.5TB
|
Flexible
NEW
HX220x M5 Edge: 192GB - 3.0TB per node.
HX220c M5: 192GB - 3.0TB per node.
HX240c M5: 192GB - 3.0TB per node.
HXAF220x M5 Edge: 192GB - 3.0TB per node.
HXAF220c M5: 192GB - 3.0TB per node.
HXAF240c M5: 192GB - 3.0TB per node.
|
|
|
|
Flexible
Minimum hardware requirements need to be fulfilled.
For more information please go to: https://www.datacore.com/products/sansymphony/tech/compatibility/
|
Flexible (3 options)
NetApp HCI Storage nodes:
H410S (General Purpose): 6x 480GB/960GB/1.92TB NVMe
H610S (Capacity Optimized): 12x 960GB/1.92TB/3.84TB NVMe
|
HX220c/HXAF220c/HXAN220c: Fixed number of disks
HX240c/HXAF240c: Flexible (number of disks)
NEW
HX220c M5 and HXAF220c M5 1U appliances have 8 SFF disk slots.
HX220x M5 Edge (hybrid/all-flash) are the only systems that support less than 6 drives (3-6).
HX 3.5 adds support for Intel Optane NVMe DC SSDs and Cisco HyperFlex All-NVMe appliances. All-NVMe appliances leverage the ultra-fast Intel Optane NVMe drives for caching and Intel 3D NAND NVMe drives for capacity storage.
HX220c M5 (hybrid):
1 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SATA SSD for system
1 x 480GB SATA SSD, 800GB SAS SSD or 800GB SAS SED SSD for caching
6-8 x 1.2TB/1.8TB/2.4TB SAS 10K HDD or 1.2TB SAS 10k SED HDD for data.
HXAF220c M5 (all-flash):
1 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SATA SSD for system/log
1 x 375GB Optane/400GB/1.6TB SAS SSD, 1.6TB NVMe SSD or 800GB SAS SED SSD for caching
6-8 x 960GB/3.8TB SATA SSD or 800GB SAS/960GB SATA/3.8TB SATA SED SSD for data
HXAN220c M5 (all-NVMe):
1 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSD for boot
1 x 375GB NVMe for system/log
1 x 1.6TB NVMe SSD for caching
6-8 x 1.0TB/4.0TB NVMe SSD for data
HX240c M5 and HXAF240c M5 2U appliances have 24 front-mounted SFF disk slots and 1 internal SFF disk slot. The storage configuration is flexible.
HX240c M5 SFF (hybrid):
1 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SATA SSD for system
1 x 1.6TB SAS/SATA SSD or 1.6TB SAS SED SSD for caching
6-23 x 1.2TB/1.8TB/2.4TB SAS 10K HDD or 1.2TB SAS 10k SED HDD for data
HX240c M5 LFF (hybrid):
1 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SATA SSD for system
1 x 3.2TB SATA SSD for caching
6-12 x 6.0TB/8.0TB/12TB SATA 7.2K HDD
HXAF240c M5 (all-flash):
1 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SATA SSD for system/log
1 x 375GB Optane/400GB/1.6TB SAS SSD, 1.6TB NVMe SSD or 800GB SAS SED SSD for caching
6-23 x 960GB/3.8TB SATA SSD or 800GB SAS/960GB SATA/3.8TB SATA SED SSD for data
AF = All-Flash
AN = All-NVMe
SED = Self-Encrypting Drive
SFF = Small Form Factor
|
|
|
|
Flexible
Minimum hardware requirements need to be fulfilled.
For more information please go to: https://www.datacore.com/products/sansymphony/tech/compatibility/
|
Fixed (10 or 25Gbps)
NetApp HCI compute nodes come in various network configurations: H410C nodes use two RJ45 interfaces (1/10GbE) for management, two SFP+/SFP28 (10/25GbE) interfaces for storage, and two SFP+/SFP28 interfaces for vMotion and virtual machines; alternatively, all network functions can be converged onto two SFP+/SFP28 interfaces. H610C and H615C compute nodes come with two SFP+/SFP28 interfaces that are used for all traffic classes in NetApp HCI. All compute nodes support an additional RJ45 interface for out-band management.
NetApp HCI storage nodes (H410S, H610S) come with two RJ45 interfaces (1/10GbE) for management and two SFP+/SFP28 (10/25GbE) interfaces for storage.
|
Flexible: M5:10/40GbE; M5 Edge:1/10GbE; FC (optional)
Cisco HyperFlex: Both HX220c and HX240c models are equipped with a dual-port SFP+ adapter for handling storage cluster data traffic. M4 Models come with a dual-port 10Gbps adapter, whereas M5 models sport 40Gbps adapters that can be converted to 10Gbps by use of Cisco QSFP to SFP or SFP+ Adapters (QSAs).
Cisco HyperFlex Edge: The HX220c models are equiped with both a dual-port 10Gbps SFP+ adapter and a dual-port 1GbE adapter. Either can be connected and actively used.
HX 3.0 added support for a second NIC in HX nodes on a RPQ basis. HX 3.5 supports this unconditionally and the second NIC is now a part of the HX installer and deployment is automated.
Initial Cisco HX configurations are always packaged and sold with Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect network switches (6200/6300 series). The HX servers can therefore be managed centrally (=Cisco UCS-managed).
Cisco HyperFlex supports FC connections from external SANs.
|
|
|
|
NVIDIA Tesla
AMD FirePro
Intel Iris Pro
DataCore SANsymphony supports the hardware that is on the hypervisor HCL.
VMware vSphere 6.5U1 officially supports several GPUs for VMware Horizon 7 environments:
NVIDIA Tesla M6 / M10 / M60
NVIDIA Tesla P4 / P6 / P40 / P100
AMD FirePro S7100X / S7150 / S7150X2
Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580
More information on GPU support can be found in the online VMware Compatibility Guide.
Windows 2016 supports two graphics virtualization technologies available with Hyper-V to leverage GPU hardware:
- Discrete Device Assignment
- RemoteFX vGPU
More information is provided here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/rds-graphics-virtualization
The NVIDIA website contains a listing of GRID certified servers and the maximum number of GPUs supported inside a single server.
Server hardware vendor websites also contain more detailed information on the GPU brands and models supported.
|
H610C/H615C: NVIDIA Tesla
The following NVIDIA GPU card configurations can be ordered along with the H610C 2U compute model:
1x-2x NVIDIA Tesla M10 (VDI workloads)
The following NVIDIA GPU card configurations can be ordered along with the H615C 1U compute model:
1x-3x NVIDIA Tesla T4 (ML/AI workloads)
GPUs come factory integrated with the compute nodes, and cannot be added at a later point in time. However, NetApp HCI supports an open storage model in which it is possible to connect third-party servers with GPUs to the storage cluster in NetApp HCI.
|
NVIDIA Tesla (HX240c only)
AMD FirePro (HX240c only)
NEW
The following NVIDIA GPU cards can be ordered along with the Cisco HX240c M4 / HXAF240c M4 models (maximum is 2 per node):
- NVIDIA Tesla M10
- NVIDIA Tesla M60
The following NVIDIA GPU cards can be ordered along with the Cisco HX240c M5 / HXAF240c M5 models (maximum is 2 per node):
- NVIDIA Tesla M10
- NVIDIA Tesla P40
- NVIDIA Tesla P100
- NVIDIA Tesla V100
- AMD FirePro S7150X2
NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPU is optimal for HPC workloads.
NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPU is optimal for AI/ML workloads.
|
|
|
|
Scaling |
|
|
|
|
CPU
Memory
Storage
GPU
The SANsymphony platform allows for expanding of all server hardware resources.
|
N/A
Because of the fixed hardware composition of the compute and storage nodes and taking into account the small form factor, none of the allocated hardware resources (CPU, Memory, Network, Storage) can be expanded.
|
HX220c/HXAF220c/HXAN220c: CPU, Memory, Network
HX240c/HXAF240c: CPU, Memory, Storage, Network, GPU
A HX220c node has 8 front-mounted SFF disk slots; In the M4 series 2 disk slots are reserved for SSDs. This effectively means that each node can have up to 6 HDDs installed; M5 series can have up to 8 HDDs installed. Initial configurations have 6 to 8 HDDs installed; exception is the Edge bundle where 3 to 6 HDDs can be installed.
A HX240c SFF node has 24 front-mounted SFF disk slots; 1 disk slot is reserved for SSD. This effectively means that each node can have up to 23 HDDs installed. Initial bundle configurations have either 11 or 15 HDDs installed. Custom configurations have 6 to 23 HDDs installed. In addition a HX240c M5 SFF node has 2 rear SFF disk slots.
A HX240c LFF node has 12 front-mounted LFF disk slots. This effectively means that each node can have up to 12 high-capacity HDDs installed. Initial bundle configurations have either 6 or 12 HDDs installed. Custom configurations have 6 to 12 HDDs installed. In addition a HX240c M5 LFF node has 2 rear SFF disk slots. 1 rear SFF disk slot is reserved for SSD.
A HXAF220c/HXAN220c node has 8 front-mounted SFF disk slots; In the M4 series 2 disk slots are reserved for non-data SSDs. This effectively means that each node can have up to 6 data SSDs installed; M5 series can have up to 8 data SSDs installed. Initial configurations have 6 to 8 SSDs installed.
A HXAF240c node has 24 front-mounted SFF disk slots; 1 is reserved for a non-data SSD. In addition a HXAF240c M5 node has 2 rear SFF disk slots for non-data SSDs. This effectively means that each node could have up to 23 data SSDs installed. However, in M4 systems only up to 10 3.8TB data SSDs can be configured.
HX 3.0 added support for a second NIC in HX nodes on a RPQ basis. HX 3.5 supports this unconditionally and the second NIC is now a part of the HX installer and deployment is automated.
LFF = Large Form Factor
SFF = Small Form Factor
|
|
|
|
Storage+Compute
Compute-only
Storage-only
Storage+Compute: In a single-layer deployment existing SANsymphony clusters can be expanded by adding additional nodes running SANsymphony, which adds additional compute and storage resources to the shared pool. In a dual-layer deployment both the storage-only SANsymphony clusters and the compute clusters can be expanded simultaneously.
Compute-only: Because SANsymphony leverages virtual block volumes (LUNs), storage can be presented to hypervisor hosts not participating in the SANsymphony cluster. This is also beneficial to migrations, since it allows for online storage vMotions between SANsymphony and non-SANsymphony storage platforms.
Storage-only: In a dual-layer or mixed deployment both the storage-only SANsymphony clusters and the compute clusters can be expanded independent from each other.
|
Storage+Compute
Compute-only
Storage-only
NetApp HCIs hardware architecture fully separates compute from storage. This effectively means the platform has the capability to scale compute and storage as needed.
Storage+Compute: Existing NetApp HCI clusters can be expanded by adding additional Compute and Storage nodes, which adds additional compute and storage resources to the shared pool.
Compute-only: Existing NetApp HCI clusters can be expanded by adding additional Compute nodes, which adds additional CPU and Memory resources for VMs to the shared pool.
Storage-only: Existing NetApp HCI clusters can be expanded by adding additional Storage nodes, which adds additional storage performance and capacity resources to the shared pool.
|
Compute+storage
Compute-only (IO Visor)
Storage+Compute: Existing Cisco HyperFlex clusters can be expanded by adding additional HX nodes, which adds additional compute and storage resources to the shared pool.
Compute-only: The IO Visor module is a vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) that provides a network file system (NFS) mount point so that the ESXi hypervisor can access the virtual disk drives that are attached to individual virtual machines. From the hypervisor’s perspective, it is simply attached to a network file system.
The IO Visor module is installed on each storage node as well as each compute-only node in order to allow fast access the to the HX distributed file system (LogFS). Up to 8 hybrid or 16 all-flash Cisco UCS B2x0/B4x0/C2x0/C4x0 nodes can accomodate a compute-only role within a single storage cluster.
Storage-only: N/A; A Cisco HyperFlex node always takes active part in the hypervisor (compute) cluster as well as the storage cluster.
Cisco HyperFlex Edge: The initial configuration cannot be expanded beyond the default configuration, which consists of 3 HX220x Edge M5 rack-servers.
|
|
|
|
1-64 nodes in 1-node increments
There is a maximum of 64 nodes within a single cluster. Multiple clusters can be managed through a single SANsymphony management instance.
|
2-64 compute nodes and 2-40 storage nodes in 1-node increments
Compute nodes: The hypervisor cluster scale-out limits still apply eg. 64 hosts for VMware vSphere in a single cluster.
Storage nodes: For specific use-cases a Request for Product Qualification (RPQ) process can be initiated to authorize more than 40 storage nodes within a single cluster.
|
vSphere: 2-32 storage nodes in 1-node increments + 0-32 compute-only nodes in 1-node increments
Hyper-V: 2-16 storage nodes in 1-node increments + 0-16 compute-only nodes in 1-node increments
NEW
Supported Cluster Minimums and Maximums:
vSphere non-stretched: 3-32 storage nodes + 0-32 compute-only nodes
vSphere stretched: 2-8 storage nodes + 0-8 compute-only nodes
Hyper-V non-stretched: 3-16 storage nodes + 0-16 compute-only nodes
At maximum a single storage cluster consists 32x HX220c, 32x HX240c, 32x HXAF220c or 32x HXAF240c nodes.
Cisco HX Data Platform supports up to 8 hybrid storage clusters on one vCenter, that equates to 256 hybrid storage nodes.
A hybrid/all-flash storage node cluster can be extended with up to 8/16 Cisco B200 M4/M5, C220 M4/M5 or C240 M4/M5 compute-only nodes. These nodes require the 'IO Visor' software installed in order to access the HX Data Platform.
IO Visor: This vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) provides a network file system (NFS) mount point so that the ESXi hypervisor can access the virtual disk drives that are attached to individual virtual machines. From the hypervisor’s perspective, it is simply attached to a network file system.
Cisco HyperFlex Edge: The storage node cluster configuration consists of 2, 3 or 4 HX220x Edge M5 rack-servers.
|
|
|
Small-scale (ROBO)
Details
|
2 Node minimum
DataCore prevents split-brain scenarios by always having an active-active configuration of SANsymphony with a primary and an alternate path.
In the case SANsymphony servers are fully operating but do not see each other, the application host will still be able to read and write data via the primary path (no switch to secondary). The mirroring is interrupted because of the lost connection and the administrator is informed accordingly. All writes are stored on the locally available storage (primary path) and all changes are tracked. As soon as the connection between the SANsymphony servers is restored, the mirror will recover automatically based on these tracked changes.
Dual updates due to misconfiguration are detected automatically and data corruption is prevented by freezing the vDisk and waiting for user input to solve the conflict. Conflict solutions could be to declare one side of the mirror to be the new active data set and discarding all tracked changes at the other side, or splitting the mirror and merge the two data sets into a 3rd vDisk manually.
|
4 Node minimum (2 storage + 2 compute)
Minimum configuration is 1 chassis with 4 nodes, consisting of 2 storage nodes and 2 compute nodes.
When leveraging a 2-node or 3-node storage cluster, 2 NetApp Witness nodes are deployed as virtual machines for arbitration purposes.
|
2 Node minimum
NEW
Next to acquiring individual nodes Cisco also offers a bundle that is aimed at small ROBO deployments, HyperFlex Edge.
Previously Cisco HyperFlex Edge clusters consisted of 3 HX220x Edge M5 hybrid nodes with 1GbE or 10GbE connectivity. This configuration couldnt be expanded.
HX 4.0 introduces Cisco HyperFlex Edge clusters consisting of 2, 3 or 4 HX220x Edge M5 all-flash nodes with 1GbE or 10GbE connectivity. 2 node clusters are monitored by Cisco Intersight Invisible Cloud Witness, eliminating the need for witness VMs and the infrastructure to manage those VMs as well as life cycle management.
|
|
|
Storage Support
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
General |
|
|
|
|
Block Storage Pool
SANsymphony only serves block devices to the supported OS platforms.
|
Block Pool
Element OS aggregates all storage resources into a single pool of storage from which block storage volumes can be provisioned.
|
Distributed File System (DFS)
The Cisco HX platform uses a Distributed Log-structured File System called StorFS.
|
|
|
|
Partial
DataCores core approach is to provide storage resources to the applications without having to worry about data locality. But if data locality is explicitly requested, the solution can partially be designed that way by configuring the first instance of all data to be stored on locally available storage (primary path) and the mirrored instance to be stored on the alternate path (secondary path). Furthermore every hypervisor host can have a local preferred path, indicated by the ALUA path preference.
By default data does not automatically follow the VM when the VM is moved to another node. However, virtual disks can be relocated on the fly to other DataCore node without losing I/O access, but this relocation takes some time due to data copy operations required. This kind of relocation usually is done manually, but we allow automation of such tasks and can integrate with VM orchestration using PowerShell for example.
Whether data locality is a good or a bad thing has turned into a philosophical debate. Its true that data locality can prevent a lot of network traffic between nodes, because the data is physically located at the same node where the VM resides. However, in dynamic environments where VMs move to different hosts on a frequent basis, data locality in most cases requires a lot of data to be copied between nodes in order to maintain the physical VM-data relationship. The SDS/HCI vendors today that choose not to use data locality, advocate that the additional network latency is negligible.
|
None
NetApp HCI is based on a shared nothing storage architecture. NetApp HCI enables every drive in every storage node throughout the cluster to contribute to the storage performance and capacity of every volume presented by the Element software storage layer. When a VM is moved to another compute node, data remains in place and does not follow the VM because data is stored and available across all nodes residing in the cluster.
Whether data locality is a good or a bad thing has turned into a philosophical debate. Its true that data locality can prevent a lot of network traffic between nodes, because the data is physically located at the same node where the VM resides. However, in dynamic environments where VMs move to different hosts on a frequent basis, data locality in most cases require a lot of data to be copied between nodes in order to maintain the physical VM-data relationship. The SDS/HCI vendors today that choose not to use data locality, advocate that the additional network latency is negligible.
|
None
The Cixco HX platform uses full dynamic data distribution. This means that data is evenly striped across all nodes within the storage cluster, thus data is at maximum one hop away from the VM. Nodes are connected to each other through the low latency Cisco Fabric Interconnect (FI) network.
Whether data locality is a good or a bad thing has turned into a philosophical debate. Its true that data locality can prevent a lot of network traffic between nodes, because the data is physically located at the same node where the VM resides. However, in dynamic environments where VMs move to different hosts on a frequent basis, data locality in most cases requires a lot of data to be copied between nodes in order to maintain the physical VM-data relationship. The SDS/HCI vendors today that choose not to use data locality, advocate that the additional network latency is negligible.
|
|
|
|
Direct-attached (Raw)
Direct-attached (VoV)
SAN or NAS
VoV = Volume-on-Volume; The Virtual Storage Controller uses virtual disks provided by the hypervisor platform.
|
Direct-Attached (Raw)
Direct-attached SSD (NVMe & SATA): The Element software takes ownership of the unformatted physical disks and creates a pool of block storage that is offered to clients via iSCSI.
|
Direct-attached (Raw)
SAN or NAS
Direct-attached: The software takes ownership of the unformatted physical disks available each HX node.
External SAN/NAS Storage: Cisco HyperFlex supports the connection to external Fiber Channel (FC), Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), iSCSI and NFS storage through the Fabric Interconnect (FI) switches. Direct connect configurations are not supported. NFS Servers have to be listed on the VMware HCL.
|
|
|
|
Magnetic-only
All-Flash
3D XPoint
Hybrid (3D Xpoint and/or Flash and/or Magnetic)
NEW
|
All-Flash (SSD-only)
NetApp has exclusively released all-flash models for the NetApp HCI platform. These models facilitate a variety of workloads including those that demand ultra-high performance.
|
Hybrid (Flash+Magnetic)
All-Flash
Hybrid hosts cannot be mixed with All-Flash hosts in the same HyperFlex cluster.
|
|
|
Hypervisor OS Layer
Details
|
SD, USB, DOM, SSD/HDD
|
SSD
Compute Node: 2x 240GB M.2 6Gb/s SATA MLC SSDs are used for system boot. VMware ESXi boots from these drives.
|
Dual SD cards
SSD (optional for HX240c and HXAF240c systems)
Each HX node comes with two internal 64 GB Cisco Flexible Flash drives (SD cards). These SD cards are mirrored to each other and can be used for booting.
The HX240c and HXAF240c models also offer the choice to boot from a local 240GB M.2 SSD drive that is connected to the motherboard.
|
|
|
|
Memory |
|
|
|
|
DRAM
|
NVRAM (PCIe card) or NVDIMM
DRAM
PCIe card-based NVRAM is utilized in H410S storage nodes.
NVDIMM is utilized in H610S storage nodes.
|
DRAM
|
|
|
|
Read/Write Cache
DataCore SANsymphony accelerates reads and writes by leveraging the powerful processors and large DRAM memory inside current generation x86-64bit servers on which it runs. Up to 8 Terabytes of cache memory may be configured on each DataCore node, enabling it to perform at solid state disk speeds without the expense. SANsymphony uses a common cache pool to store reads and writes in.
SANsymphony read caching essentially recognizes I/O patterns to anticipate which blocks to read next into RAM from the physical back-end disks. That way the next request can be served from memory.
When hosts write to a virtual disk, the data first goes into DRAM memory and is later destaged to disk, often grouped with other writes to minimize delays when storing the data to the persistent disk layer. Written data stays in cache for re-reads.
The cache is cleaned on a first-in-first-out (FiFo) basis. Segment overwrites are performed on the oldest data first for both read- and write cache segment requests.
SANsymphony prevents the write cache data from flooding the entire cache. In case the write data amount runs above a certain percentage watermark of the entire cache amount, then the write cache will temporarily be switched to write-through mode in order to regain balance. This is performed fully automatically and is self-adjusting, per virtual disk as well as on a global level.
|
NVRAM/NVDIMM: Write Buffer
DRAM: Metadata
PCIe card-based NVRAM is utilized in H410S storage nodes.
NVDIMM is utilized in H610S storage nodes.
|
Read Cache
|
|
|
|
Up to 8 TB
The actual size that can be configured depends on the server hardware that is used.
|
NVRAM/NVDIMM: Non-configurable
DRAM: Unknown
NVRAM (PCIe): 8GB for H410S storage nodes.
NVDIMM: 32GB for H610S storage nodes.
|
Non-configurable
|
|
|
|
Flash |
|
|
|
|
SSD, PCIe, UltraDIMM, NVMe
|
SSD, NVMe
The Element software uses a log-structured approach in writing to disk. This optimizes utilization and performance of SSDs, significantly improves the lifespan of SSDs, and, most importantly, enables the use of less expensive consumer-grade MLC SSDs.
The H610S Storage Node introduces support for NVMe U.2 SSDs.
MLC = Multi-Level Cell
|
SSD, NVMe
Cisco HyperFlex supports the use of NMVe SSDs for caching in All-Flash systems and for caching as well as persistent storage in All-NVMe systems.
|
|
|
|
Persistent Storage
SANsymphony supports new TRIM / UNMAP capabilities for solid-state drives (SSD) in order to reduce wear on those devices and optimize performance.
|
All-Flash: Metadata + Persistent Storage Tier
Write buffer is provided by the PCIe card (NVRAM).
Read cache is not necessary in All-flash configurations.
|
Hybrid: Log + Read/Write Cache
All-Flash/All-NVMe: Log + Write Cache + Storage Tier
In all Cisco HX hybrid configurations 1 separate SSD per node is used for houskeeping purposes (SDS logs).
In all Cisco HX hybrid and all-flash configurations 1 separate SSD per node is used for caching purposes. The other disks (SSD or HDD) in the node are used for persistent storage of data.
In a hybrid scenario, the caching SSD is primarily used for both read and write caching. However, data written to SSD is only destaged when needed. This means that current data stays available on the SSD layer as long as possible so that reads and writes are fast.
Distributed Read Cache: All SSD caching drives within the HyperFlex storage cluster form one big caching resource pool. This means that all storage nodes can access the entire distributed caching layer to read data.
In an all-flash scenario, the caching SSD (SAS) is primarily used for write caching. Reads are always accessed directly from the capacity SSD (SATA) layer, so a read cache is not required.
|
|
|
|
No limit, up to 1 PB per device
The definition of a device here is a raw flash device that is presented to SANsymphony as either a SCSI LUN or a SCSI disk.
|
All-Flash: 6 SSDs/12 NVMe per storage node
All-Flash SSD configurations:
H410S (General Purpose): 6x 480GB/960GB/1.92TB SSD
H610S (Capacity Optimized): 12x 960GB/1.92TB/3.84TB NVMe
With H410S/H610S nodes there is a choice between Encrypting and Non-Encrypting drives.
|
Hybrid: 2 Flash devices per node (1x Cache; 1x Housekeeping)
All-Flash: 9-26 Flash devices per node (1x Cache; 1x System, 1x Boot; 6-23x Data)
All-NVMe: 8-11 NVMe devices per node (1x Cache, 1x System, 6-8 Data)
NEW
In Cisco HyperFlex hybrid configurations each storage node has 2 or 3 SSDs.
HX220c / HX220x Edge:
1 x 240GB SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SSD for system
1 x 480GB/800GB SSD for caching
HX240c:
1 x 240GB SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SSD for system
1 x 1.6TB SSD for caching
Fully Distributed Read Cache: All SSD caching drives within the HyperFlex storage cluster form one big caching resource pool. This means that all storage nodes can access the entire distributed caching layer to read data.
In Cisco HyperFlex all-flash configurations each storage node has 8-26 SSDs.
HXAF220x Edge:
1 x 240GB SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SSD for system/log
1 x 400GB/1.6TB SSD for caching
6-8 x 960GB/3.8TB SSD for data
HXAF220c:
1 x 240GB SSD for boot
1 x 240GB SSD for system/log
1 x 375GB Optane/400GB/800GB/1.6TB SSD for caching
6-8 x 800GB/960GB/3.8TB SSD for data
HXAF240c:
1x 240GB SSD for boot
1x 240GB for system/log
1x 375GB Optane/400GB/800GB/1.6TB SSD for caching
6-23 x 800GB/960GB/3.8TB SSD for data
|
|
|
|
Magnetic |
|
|
|
|
SAS or SATA
SAS = 10k or 15k RPM = Medium-capacity medium-speed drives
SATA = NL-SAS = 7.2k RPM = High-capacity low-speed drives
In this case SATA = NL-SAS = MDL SAS
|
N/A
|
Hybrid: SAS or SATA
NEW
Magnetic disks are used for storing persistent data in a deduplicated and compressed format.
HX220c M5 / HX220x M5 Edge:
- 6-8 x 1.2TB/1.8TB/2.4TB SAS 10K SFF HDD for data
HX240c M5:
- 6-23 x 1.2TB/1.8TB/2.4TB SAS 10K SFF HDD for data
- 6-12 x 6TB/8TB/12TB SATA 7.2K LFF HDD for data
SAS = 10k or 15k RPM = Medium-capacity medium-speed drives
SATA = NL-SAS = 7.2k RPM = High-capacity low-speed drives
LFF = Large Form Factor
SFF = Small Form Factor
|
|
|
|
Persistent Storage
|
N/A
|
Persistent Storage
HDD is primarily meant as a high-capacity storage tier.
|
|
|
Magnetic Capacity
Details
|
No limit, up to 1 PB (per device)
The definition of a device here is a raw flash device that is presented to SANsymphony as either a SCSI LUN or a SCSI disk.
|
N/A
|
HX220x Edge M5: 3-6 capacity devices per node
HX220c: 6-8 capacity devices per node
HX240c: 6-23 capacity devices per node
Option for 3-6 HDDs in HX220x M5 Edge hybrid nodes.
Option for 6 HDDs in HX220c M4 nodes.
Option for 6-8 HDDs in HX220c M5 nodes.
Option for 6-23 SFF HDDs or 6-12 LFF HDDs in HX240c M4/M5 nodes.
SFF = Small Form Factor
LFF = Large Form Factor
|
|
|
Data Availability
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reads/Writes |
|
|
|
Persistent Write Buffer
Details
|
DRAM (mirrored)
If caching is turned on (default=on), any write will only be acknowledged back to the host after it has been succesfully stored in DRAM memory of two separate physical SANsymphony nodes. Based on de-staging algorithms each of the nodes eventually copies the written data that is kept in DRAM to the persistent disk layer. Because DRAM outperforms both flash and spinning disks the applications experience much faster write behavior.
Per default, the limit of dirty-write-data allowed per Virtual Disk is 128MB. This limit could be adjusted, but there has never been a reason to do so in the real world. Individual Virtual Disks can be configured to act in write-through mode, which means that the dirty-write-data limit is set to 0MB so effectively the data is directly written to the persistent disk layer.
DataCore recommends that all servers running SANsymphony software are UPS protected to avoid data loss through unplanned power outages. Whenever a power loss is detected, the UPS automatically signals this to the SANsymphony node and write behavior is switched from write-back to write-through mode for all Virtual Disks. As soon as the UPS signals that power has been restored, the write behavior is switched to write-back again.
|
NVRAM (mirrored)
NVRAM serves as a very performant storage medium for a read/write mirrored journal that is split between two NetApp HCI storage nodes.
When an application sends a write request, it is mirrored between the NVRAM on two NetApp HCI storage nodes for high availability and redundancy. Once both copies are stored, the primary node acknowledges the write completion to the host. Once the write is acknowledged, the system will copy the data from NVRAM to the persistent storage layer (SSD).
|
Flash Layer (SSD, NVMe)
The caching SSDs contain two write logs with a size of 12GB each. At all times 1 write log is active and 1 write log is passive. Writes are always performed to the active write log at the SSD cache layer and when full it gets de-staged to the HDD/SSD capacity layer.
During destaging the data is optimized by deduplication and compression before writing it to the persistent HDD/SSD layer.
|
|
|
Disk Failure Protection
Details
|
2-way and 3-way Mirroring (RAID-1) + opt. Hardware RAID
DataCore SANsymphony software primarily uses mirroring techniques (RAID-1) to protect data within the cluster. This effectively means the SANsymphony storage platform can withstand a failure of any two disks or any two nodes within the storage cluster. Optionally, hardware RAID can be implemented to enhance the robustness of individual nodes.
SANsymphony supports Dynamic Data Resilience. Data redundancy (none, 2-way or 3-way) can be added or removed on-the-fly at the vdisk level.
A 2-way mirror acts as active-active, where both copies are accessible to the host and written to. Updating of the mirror is synchronous and bi-directional.
A 3-way mirror acts as active-active-backup, where the active copies are accessible to the host and written to, and the backup copy is inaccessible to the host (paths not presented) and written to. Updating of the mirrors active copies is synchronous and bi-directional. Updating of the mirrors backup copy is synchronous and unidirectional (receive only).
In a 3-way mirror the backup copy should be independent of existing storage resources that are used for the active copies. Because of the synchronous updating all mirror copies should be equal in storage performance.
When in a 3-way mirror an active copy fails, the backup copy is promoted to active state. When the failed mirror copy is repaired, it automatically assumes a backup state. Roles can be changed manually on-the-fly by the end-user.
DataCore SANsymphony 10.0 PSP9 U1 introduced System Managed Mirroring (SMM). A multi-copy virtual disk is created from a storage source (disk pool or pass-through disk) from two or three DataCore Servers in the same server group. Data is synchronously mirrored between the servers to maintain redundancy and high availability of the data. System Managed Mirroring (SMM) addresses the complexity of managing multiple mirror paths for numerous virtual disks. This feature also addresses the 256 LUN limitation by allowing thousands of LUNs to be handled per network adapter. The software transports data in a round robin mode through available mirror ports to maximize throughput and can dynamically reroute mirror traffic in the event of lost ports or lost connections. Mirror paths are automatically and silently managed by the software.
The System Managed Mirroring (SMM) feature is disabled by default. This feature may be enabled or disabled for the server group.
With SANsymphony 10.0 PSP10 adds seamless transition when converting Mirrored Virtual Disks (MVD) to System Managed Mirroring (SMM). Seamless transition converts and replaces mirror paths on virtual disks in a manner in which there are no momentary breaks in mirror paths.
|
1 Replica (2N)
NEW
NetApp HCI Double Helix data protection is a RAID-less data protection solution designed to maintain both data availability and performance regardless of failure condition. Helix data protection is a distributed replication algorithm that spreads at least two redundant copies of data across all drives in the system. This approach allows the system to absorb multiple failures across all levels of the storage solution while maintaining data redundancy and QoS settings.
If a drive should go down, NetApp HCI automatically rebuilds redundant data across all remaining drives in the cluster in minutes to maintain high availability with minimal impact to performance due to the platforms architecture. The more nodes in the cluster, the faster the activity occurs and the lower the overall impact. No matter where the failure occurs (drive, node, backplane, network or software failure), the recovery process is the same.
Element OS 12.2 introduces periodic health checks on SolidFire appliance drives using SMART health data from the drives. A drive that fails the SMART health check might be close to failure. If a drive fails the SMART health check, a new critical severity cluster fault appears.
|
1-2 Replicas (2N-3N)
HyperFlexs implementation of replicas is called Replication Factor or RF in short (RF2 = 2N; RF3 = 3N). Maintaining 2 replicas (RF3) is the default method for protecting data that is written to the HyperFlex cluster. It applies to both disk and node failures. This means the HX storage platform can withstand a failure of any two disks or any two nodes within the storage cluster.
An Access Policy can be set to determine how the storage cluster should behave when a second failure occurs and effectively a single point of failure (SPoF) situation is reached:
- The storage cluster goes offline to protect the data.
- The storage cluster goes into read-only mode to facilitate data access.
- The storage cluster stays in read/write mode to facilitate data access as well as data mutations.
The self-healing process after a disk failure kicks in after 1 minute.
Replicas: Before any write is acknowledged to the host, it is synchronously replicated to the active Log on another node. All nodes in the cluster participate in replication. This means that with 3N one instance of data that is written is stored on one node and other instances of that data are stored on two different nodes in the cluster. For all instances this happens in a fully distributed manner, in other words, there is no dedicated partner node. When a disk fails, it is marked offline and data is read from another instance instead. At the same time data re-replication of the associated replicas is initiated in order to restore the desired Replication Factor.
|
|
|
Node Failure Protection
Details
|
2-way and 3-way Mirroring (RAID-1)
DataCore SANsymphony software primarily uses mirroring techniques (RAID-1) to protect data within the cluster. This effectively means the SANsymphony storage platform can withstand a failure of any two disks or any two nodes within the storage cluster. Optionally, hardware RAID can be implemented to enhance the robustness of individual nodes.
SANsymphony supports Dynamic Data Resilience. Data redundancy (none, 2-way or 3-way) can be added or removed on-the-fly at the vdisk level.
A 2-way mirror acts as active-active, where both copies are accessible to the host and written to. Updating of the mirror is synchronous and bi-directional.
A 3-way mirror acts as active-active-backup, where the active copies are accessible to the host and written to, and the backup copy is inaccessible to the host (paths not presented) and written to. Updating of the mirrors active copies is synchronous and bi-directional. Updating of the mirrors backup copy is synchronous and unidirectional (receive only).
In a 3-way mirror the backup copy should be independent of existing storage resources that are used for the active copies. Because of the synchronous updating all mirror copies should be equal in storage performance.
When in a 3-way mirror an active copy fails, the backup copy is promoted to active state. When the failed mirror copy is repaired, it automatically assumes a backup state. Roles can be changed manually on-the-fly by the end-user.
DataCore SANsymphony 10.0 PSP9 U1 introduced System Managed Mirroring (SMM). A multi-copy virtual disk is created from a storage source (disk pool or pass-through disk) from two or three DataCore Servers in the same server group. Data is synchronously mirrored between the servers to maintain redundancy and high availability of the data. System Managed Mirroring (SMM) addresses the complexity of managing multiple mirror paths for numerous virtual disks. This feature also addresses the 256 LUN limitation by allowing thousands of LUNs to be handled per network adapter. The software transports data in a round robin mode through available mirror ports to maximize throughput and can dynamically reroute mirror traffic in the event of lost ports or lost connections. Mirror paths are automatically and silently managed by the software.
The System Managed Mirroring (SMM) feature is disabled by default. This feature may be enabled or disabled for the server group.
With SANsymphony 10.0 PSP10 adds seamless transition when converting Mirrored Virtual Disks (MVD) to System Managed Mirroring (SMM). Seamless transition converts and replaces mirror paths on virtual disks in a manner in which there are no momentary breaks in mirror paths.
|
1 Replica (2N)
NetApp HCI Double Helix data protection is a RAID-less data protection solution designed to maintain both data availability and performance regardless of failure condition. Helix data protection is a distributed replication algorithm that spreads at least two redundant copies of data across all drives in the system. This approach allows the system to absorb multiple failures across all levels of the storage solution while ma
If a storage node should go down, NetApp HCI automatically rebuilds redundant data across all remaining nodes in minutes to maintain high availability with minimal impact to performance due to the platforms architecture. The more nodes in the cluster, the faster the activity occurs and the lower the overall impact. No matter where the failure occurs (drive, node, backplane, network or software failure), the recovery process is the same.
|
Logical Availability Zone
HyperFlex 3.0 introduced the concept of Logical Availability Zones (LAZs). It is an optional feature and is turned off by default. LAZ is not user-configurable at this time; the system intelligently assigns nodes to a specific LAZ (4 nodes per LAZ).
Logical Availability Zones (LAZs): When using LAZs, one instance of the data is kept within the local LAZ and another instance of the data is kept within another LAZ. Because of this, the cluster can sustain a greater number of node failures until the cluster shuts down to avoid data loss.
|
|
|
Block Failure Protection
Details
|
Not relevant (usually 1-node appliances)
Manual configuration (optional)
Manual designation per Virtual Disk is required to accomplish this. The end-user is able to define which node is paired to which node for that particular Virtual Disk. However, block failure protection is in most cases irrelevant as 1-node appliances are used as building blocks.
SANsymphony works on an N+1 redundancy design allowing any node to acquire any other node as a redundancy peer per virtual device. Peers are replacable/interchangable on a per Virtual Disk level.
|
Protection Domains
Block failure protection can be achieved by assigning chassis to different Protection Domains (aka Zones).
Protection Domains: Protection domains at the chassis level allow scaling of NetApp HCI clusters in such a way that
the failure of an entire chassis can be sustained even if there is more than one storage node in the chassis. The minimum allowed configuration is 3 chassis with 2 storage nodes each. The system automatically lays out data correctly when the configuration is compatible with Protection domains.
Beginning with Element OS 12.0, protection domain layouts can be customized to cover zones of storage nodes within a rack, or between multiple racks. This enables more flexibility in data resiliency and improves storage availability, especially in large scale installations.
|
Not relevant (1-node chassis only)
Cisco HyperFlex (HX) compute+storage building blocks are based on 1-node chassis only. Therefore multi-node block (appliance) level protection is not relevant for this solution as Node Failure Protection applies.
|
|
|
Rack Failure Protection
Details
|
Manual configuration
Manual designation per Virtual Disk is required to accomplish this. The end-user is able to define which node is paired to which node for that particular Virtual Disk.
|
Protection Domains
Rack failure protection can be achieved by assigning chassis to different Protection Domains (aka Zones).
Protection Domains: Protection domains at the chassis level allow scaling of NetApp HCI clusters in such a way that
the failure of an entire chassis can be sustained even if there is more than one storage node in the chassis. The minimum allowed configuration is 3 chassis with 2 storage nodes each. The system automatically lays out data correctly when the configuration is compatible with Protection domains.
Beginning with Element OS 12.0, protection domain layouts can be customized to cover zones of storage nodes within a rack, or between multiple racks. This enables more flexibility in data resiliency and improves storage availability, especially in large scale installations.
|
N/A
HyperFlex 3.0 introduced the concept of Logical Availability Zones (LAZs). It is an optional feature and is turned off by default. LAZ is not user-configurable at this time and therefore cannot be used to align each rack to a different LAZ.
Logical Availability Zones (LAZs): When using LAZs, one instance of the data is kept within the local LAZ and another instance of the data is kept within another LAZ. Because of this, the cluster can sustain a greater number of node failures until the cluster shuts down to avoid data loss.
|
|
|
Protection Capacity Overhead
Details
|
Mirroring (2N) (primary): 100%
Mirroring (3N) (primary): 200%
+ Hardware RAID5/6 overhead (optional)
|
Replica (2N): 100%
|
Replicas (2N): 100%
Replicas (3N): 200%
|
|
|
Data Corruption Detection
Details
|
N/A (hardware dependent)
SANsymphony fully relies on the hardware layer to protect data integrity. This means that the SANsymphony software itself does not perform Read integrity checks and/or Disk scrubbing to verify and maintain data integrity.
|
Read integrity checks
During writing of the data checksums are created and stored. When read again or accessed during system operations, the checksum is validated. If an issue is detected, the system automatically accesses the secondary copy and repairs the invalid copy.
|
Read integrity checks
While writing data checksums are created and stored. When read again, a new checksum is created and compared to the initial checksum. If incorrect, a checksum is created from another copy of the data. After succesful comparison this data is used to repair the corrupted copy in order to stay compliant with the configured protection level.
|
|
|
|
Points-in-Time |
|
|
|
|
Built-in (native)
|
Built-in (native)
|
Built-in (native)
HyperFlexs native snapshot mechanism is meta-data based, space-efficient (zero-copy) and VMware VAAI / Microsoft Checkpoint-integrated.
|
|
|
|
Local + Remote
SANsymphony snapshots are always created on one side only. However, SANsymphony allows you to create a snapshot for the data on each side by configuring two snapshot schedules, one for the local volume and one for the remote volume. Both snapshot entities are independent and can be deleted independently allowing different retention times if needed.
There is also the capability to pair the snapshot feature along with asynchronous replication which provides you with the ability to have a third site long distance remote copy in place with its own retention time.
|
Local + Remote
NetApp HCI snapshots can be created and then replicated in real-time to a remote NetApp HCI cluster over an IP network when paired.
Up to 32 local Snapshot copies can be created for every individual volume.
|
Local
|
|
|
Snapshot Frequency
Details
|
1 Minute
The snapshot lifecycle can be automatically configured using the integrated Automation Scheduler.
|
5 minutes
If a Netapp HCI snapshot is scheduled to run at a time period that is not divisible by 5 minutes, the snapshot will run at the next time period that is divisible by 5 minutes. You cannot schedule a snapshot to run at intervals of less than 5 minutes.
|
GUI: 1 hour (Policy-based)
Timing options of the HX native snapshot capability include:
- Hourly
- Daily
- Weekly
and works in 15 minute increments.
|
|
|
Snapshot Granularity
Details
|
Per VM (Vvols) or Volume
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
Although DataCore SANsymphony uses block-storage, the platform is capable of attaining per VM-granularity if desired.
In Microsoft Hyper-V environments, when a VM with vdisks is created through SCVMM, DataCore can be instructed to automatically carve out a Virtual Disk (=storage volume) for every individual vdisk. This way there is a 1-to-1 alignment from end-to-end and snapshots can be created on the VM-level. The per-VM functionality is realized by installing the DataCore Storage Management Provider in SCVMM.
Because of the per-host storage limitations in VMware vSphere environments, VVols is leveraged to provide per VM-granularity. DataCore SANsymphony Provider v2.01 is certified for VMware ESXi 6.5 U2/U3, ESXi 6.7 GA/U1/U2/U3 and ESXi 7.0 GA/U1.
|
Per VM (Vvols) or Volume
Although NetApp HCI uses block-storage, the platform is capable of attaining per VM-granularity by leveraging VMware Virtual Volumes (Vvols).
NetApp HCI has VVols certification for VMware ESXi 6.5 U1 up to ESXi 7.0U1. NetApp VASA provider for SolidFire Element OS 2.10.1 is compatible with NetApp HCIs H410S and H610S storage nodes.
|
Per VM or VM-folder
The Cisco HX Data Platform uses metadata-based, zero-copy snapshots of files. In VMware vSphere these files map to individual drives in a virtual machine.
|
|
|
|
Built-in (native)
DataCore SANsymphony incorporates Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and leverages this as an advanced backup mechanism. As the term implies, CDP continuously logs and timestamps I/Os to designated virtual disks, allowing end-users to restore the environment to an arbitrary point-in-time within that log.
Similar to snapshot requests, one can generate a CDP Rollback Marker by scripting a call to a PowerShell cmdlet when an application has been quiesced and the caches have been flushed to storage. Several of these markers may be present throughout the 14-day rolling log. When rolling back a virtual disk image, one simply selects an application-consistent or crash-consistent restore point from just before the incident occurred.
|
Built-in (native)
With regard to NetApp HCI volume back-ups can be created in two data formats:
- Native: a compressed format readable only by NetApp HCI storage systems.
- Uncompressed: an uncompressed format compatible with other systems.
|
External
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any backup/restore capabilities of its own. Therefore it relies on existing 3rd party data protection solutions.
VMwares free-of-charge backup software that comes with any vSphere license, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), has been declared End-of-Availability and is not supported for VMware vSphere 6.7 and up.
Veeam is a strategic partner of Cisco.
|
|
|
|
Local or Remote
All available storage within the SANsymphony group can be configured as targets for back-up jobs.
|
Locally
To remote sites
To remote cloud object stores (Amazon S3, OpenStack Swift)
Volumes can be back-ed up and restored to other NetApp HCI clusters, as well as secondary object stores that are compatible with Amazon S3 or OpenStack Swift.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any backup/restore capabilities of its own. Therefore it relies on existing 3rd party data protection solutions.
VMwares free-of-charge backup software that comes with any vSphere license, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), has been declared End-of-Availability and is not supported for VMware vSphere 6.7 and up.
Veeam is a strategic partner of Cisco.
|
|
|
|
Continuously
As Continuous Data Protection (CDP) is being leveraged, I/Os are logged and timestamped in a continous fashion, so end-users can restore to virtually any-point-in-time.
|
5 minutes
NetApp HCI backups are based on volume snapshots. If a Netapp HCI snapshot is scheduled to run at a time period that is not divisible by 5 minutes, the snapshot will run at the next time period that is divisible by 5 minutes. You cannot schedule a snapshot to run at intervals of less than 5 minutes.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any backup/restore capabilities of its own. Therefore it relies on existing 3rd party data protection solutions.
VMwares free-of-charge backup software that comes with any vSphere license, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), has been declared End-of-Availability and is not supported for VMware vSphere 6.7 and up.
Veeam is a strategic partner of Cisco.
|
|
|
Backup Consistency
Details
|
Crash Consistent
File System Consistent (Windows)
Application Consistent (MS Apps on Windows)
By default CDP creates crash consistent restore points. Similar to snapshot requests, one can generate a CDP Rollback Marker by scripting a call to a PowerShell cmdlet when an application has been quiesced and the caches have been flushed to storage.
Several CDP Rollback Markers may be present throughout the 14-day rolling log. When rolling back a virtual disk image, one simply selects an application-consistent, filesystem-consistent or crash-consistent restore point from (just) before the incident occurred.
In a VMware vSphere environment, the DataCore VMware vCenter plug-in can be used to create snapshot schedules for datastores and select the VMs that you want to enable VSS filesystem/application consistency for.
|
Crash Consistent
File System Consistent (Windows)
Application Consistent (MS Apps on Windows)
By default NetApp HCI creates crash consistent restore points.
The NetApp HCI VSS hardware provider integrates VSS shadow copies with NetApp HCI Snapshot copies and clones. The provider runs on Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 editions and supports shadow copies created using DiskShadow and other VSS requesters. A GUI-based configuration utility is provided to add, modify, and remove cluster information used by the NetApp HCI VSS hardware provider.
Utilizing VSS Snapshot capabilities with the NetApp HCI VSS hardware provider makes sure that Snapshot copies are application consistent with business applications that use NetApp HCI volumes on a system. A coordinated effort between VSS components provides this functionality.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any backup/restore capabilities of its own. Therefore it relies on existing 3rd party data protection solutions.
VMwares free-of-charge backup software that comes with any vSphere license, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), has been declared End-of-Availability and is not supported for VMware vSphere 6.7 and up.
Veeam is a strategic partner of Cisco.
|
|
|
Restore Granularity
Details
|
Entire VM or Volume
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
Although DataCore SANsymphony uses block-storage, the platform is capable of attaining per VM-granularity if desired.
In Microsoft Hyper-V environments, when a VM with vdisks is created through SCVMM, DataCore can be instructed to automatically carve out a Virtual Disk (=storage volume) for every individual vdisk. This way there is a 1-to-1 alignment from end-to-end and snapshots can be created on the VM-level. The per-VM functionality is realized by installing the DataCore Storage Management Provider in SCVMM.
Because of the per-host storage limitations in VMware vSphere environments, VVols is leveraged to provide per VM-granularity. DataCore SANsymphony Provider v2.01 is VMware certified for ESXi 6.5 U2/U3, ESXi 6.7 GA/U1/U2/U3 and ESXi 7.0 GA/U1.
When configuring the virtual environment as described above, effectively VM-restores are possible.
For file-level restores a Virtual Disk snapshot needs to be mounted so the file can be read from the mount. Many simultaneous rollback points for the same Virtual Disk can coexist at the same time, allowing end-users to compare data states. Mounting and changing rollback points does not alter the original Virtual Disk.
|
Entire Volume
Administrators are enabled to perform VM and single file restores by mounting a volume snapshot created by NetApp HCI.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any backup/restore capabilities of its own. Therefore it relies on existing 3rd party data protection solutions.
VMwares free-of-charge backup software that comes with any vSphere license, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), has been declared End-of-Availability and is not supported for VMware vSphere 6.7 and up.
Veeam is a strategic partner of Cisco.
|
|
|
Restore Ease-of-use
Details
|
Entire VM or Volume: GUI
Single File: Multi-step
Restoring VMs or single files from volume-based storage snapshots requires a multi-step approach.
For file-level restores a Virtual Disk snapshot needs to be mounted so the file can be read from the mount. Many simultaneous rollback points for the same Virtual Disk can coexist at the same time, allowing end-users to compare data states. Mounting and changing rollback points does not alter the original Virtual Disk.
|
Entire VM: Multi-step
Single File: Multi-step
Restoring a volume is a single action via API or GUI. However, restoring either VMs or single files from volume-based storage snapshots requires a multi-step approach.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any backup/restore capabilities of its own. Therefore it relies on existing 3rd party data protection solutions.
VMwares free-of-charge backup software that comes with any vSphere license, VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP), has been declared End-of-Availability and is not supported for VMware vSphere 6.7 and up.
Veeam is a strategic partner of Cisco.
|
|
|
|
Disaster Recovery |
|
|
|
Remote Replication Type
Details
|
Built-in (native)
DataCore SANsymphonys remote replication function, Asynchronous Replication, is called upon when secondary copies will be housed beyond the reach of Synchronous Mirroring, as in distant Disaster Recovery (DR) sites. It relies on a basic IP connection between locations and works in both directions. That is, each site can act as the disaster recovery facility for the other. The software operates near-synchronously, meaning that it does not hold up the application waiting on confirmation from the remote end that the update has been stored remotely.
|
Built-in (native)
NetApp HCI supports replication to another NetApp HCI via Element Real-Time Replication or to an ONTAP AFF/FAS cluster via SnapMirror. The SnapMirror feature also allows replication to systems running ONTAP Select or Cloud Volumes ONTAP.
|
Built-in (native)
Cisco HyperFlex is capable of protecting individual VMs and groups of VMs by using a-synchronous remote replication techniques.
Once protection has been set up on a VM, Cisco HyperFlex periodically takes a replication snapshot of a running VM on the local cluster and replicates (copies) the snapshot to the paired remote cluster. In the event of a disaster at the local cluster, the most recently replicated snapshot of each protected VM is used to recover and run the VM at the remote cluster.
Optionally Cisco HyperFlex can quiesce the virtual machines through VMware vCenter integration before taking the replication snapshot.
|
|
|
Remote Replication Scope
Details
|
To remote sites
To MS Azure Cloud
On-premises deployments of DataCore SANsymphony can use Microsoft Azure cloud as an added replication location to safeguard highly available systems. For example, on-premises stretched clusters can replicate a third copy of the data to MS Azure to protect against data loss in the event of a major regional disaster. Critical data is continuously replicated asynchronously within the hybrid cloud configuration.
To allow quick and easy deployment a ready-to-go DataCore Cloud Replication instance can be acquired through the Azure Marketplace.
MS Azure can serve only as a data repository. This means that VMs cannot be restored and run in an Azure environment in case of a disaster recovery scenario.
|
To remote sites
NetApp HCI supports replication to another NetApp HCI via Element Real-Time Replication or to an ONTAP AFF/FAS cluster via SnapMirror. The SnapMirror feature also allows replication to systems running ONTAP Select or Cloud Volumes ONTAP.
|
To remote sites
Cisco HyperFlex remote replication happens between two clusters. Clusters can be either all-flash or hybrid. Mixed configurations are supported. This means that remote replication can take place between an all-flash cluster and a hybrid cluster.
|
|
|
Remote Replication Cloud Function
Details
|
Data repository
All public clouds can only serve as data repository when hosting a DataCore instance. This means that VMs cannot be restored and run in the public cloud environment in case of a disaster recovery scenario.
In the Microsoft Azure Marketplace there is a pre-installed DataCore instance (BYOL) available named DataCore Cloude Replication.
BYOL = Bring Your Own License
|
N/A
NetApp HCI provides native DR and replication capabilities (Element Real-Time Replication) does not support replication to hyperscale public cloud targets (AWS, Azure, GCP).
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not support replication to hyperscale public cloud targets (AWS, Azure, GCP) at this time.
|
|
|
Remote Replication Topologies
Details
|
Single-site and multi-site
Single Site DR = 1-to-1
Multiple Site DR = 1-to many, many-to 1
|
Single-site and multi-site (limited)
Single Site DR = 1-to-1
Multiple Site DR = 1-to many, many-to 1
A NetApp HCI cluster can be paired with up to four other clusters.
Volume pairings are always one-to-one.
|
Single-site
Cisco HyperFlex remote replication happens between two clusters. Both clusters must be either all-flash or hybrid. Mixed configurations are not supported. This means that remote replication cannot take place between an all-flash and a hybrid cluster.
|
|
|
Remote Replication Frequency
Details
|
Continuous (near-synchronous)
SANsymphony Asynchronous Replication is not checkpoint-based but instead replicates continuously. This way data loss is kept to a minimum (seconds to minutes). End-users can inject custom consistency checkpoints based on CDP technology which has no minimum time slot/frequency.
|
Continuous (Synchronous, Asynchronous)
NetApp HCI Real-Time Asynchronous Replication is not checkpoint-based but instead replicates continuously. This way data loss is kept to a minimum (seconds to minutes). The actual RPO is dependent on line latency that exists between the source and the destination site.
ONTAP SnapMirror is snapshot-based and has a minimum replication interval of 15 minutes.
|
5 minutes (Asynchronous)
Replication intervals can range between 5 minutes and 24 hours.
|
|
|
Remote Replication Granularity
Details
|
VM or Volume
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
Although DataCore SANsymphony uses block-storage, the platform is capable of attaining per VM-granularity if desired.
In Microsoft Hyper-V environments, when a VM with vdisks is created through SCVMM, DataCore can be instructed to automatically carve out a Virtual Disk (=storage volume) for every individual vdisk. This way there is a 1-to-1 alignment from end-to-end and snapshots can be created on the VM-level. The per-VM functionality is realized by installing the DataCore Storage Management Provider in SCVMM.
Because of the per-host storage limitations in VMware vSphere environments, VVols is leveraged to provide per VM-granularity. DataCore SANsymphony Provider v2.01 is VMware certified for ESXi 6.5 U2/U3, ESXi 6.7 GA/U1/U2/U3 and ESXi 7.0 GA/U1.
|
VM (Vvols) or Volume; Snapshots-only
NetApp HCI Snapshot technology allows only snapshots created on the source cluster to be replicated. Active writes from the source volume are not replicated.
|
VM
Cisco HyperFlex allows for each virtual machine to be individually protected by assigning its protection attributes.
|
|
|
Consistency Groups
Details
|
Yes
SANsymphony provides the option to use Virtual Disk Grouping to enable end-users to restore multiple Virtual Disks to the exact same point-in-time.
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
|
No
|
No
A new per-cluster construct called a Protection Group, groups protected VMs and assigns them the same protection attributes. A VM can be protected simply by adding it to a protection group for which attributes have already been defined.
A virtual machine can only belong to one protection group.
Currently HyperFlex Protection Groups exist for administrative purposes only. Protection Groups should not be confused with Consistency Groups. VMs are configured as part of a Consistency Group in order to guarantee that all VMs in the group reflect exactly the same point-in-time and thus guaranteeing write-fidelity across VMs.
|
|
|
|
VMware SRM (certified)
DataCore provides a certified Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) for VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM). DataCore SRA 2.0 (SANsymphony 10.0 FC/iSCSI) shows official support for SRM 6.5 only. It does not support SRM 8.2 or 8.1.
There is no integration with Microsoft Azure Site Recovery (ASR). However, SANsymphony can be used with the control and automation options provided by Microsoft System Center (e.g. Operations Manager combined with Virtual Machine Manager and Orchestrator) to build a DR orchestration solution.
|
VMware SRM (certified)
NetApp provides a certified Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) for VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM). NetApp SolidFire SRA 2.0.1.16 shows official support for SRM versions 8.2, 8.1, 6.5 and 6.1.
The NetApp SolidFire SRA is compatible with all storage nodes in NetApp HCI.
|
HX Connect (native)
VMware SRM (certified)
NEW
HX Connect provides the following DR Orchestration capabilities for Cisco HyperFlex:
- Test Recovery
- Recovery
- Re-protect
With Test Recovery as well as Recovery network mappings can be used to avoid problems from occurring. Also there is a choice to leave VMs powered off after recovery.
When using HC Connect Test Recovery, replication is not interupted and as such does not impact ongoing data protection processes. The intent is to verify if individual VMs are recoverable.
Recovering virtual machines is restoring a most recent replication snapshot from the target (recovery) cluster. The maximum number of concurrent recovery operations on a cluster is 20. Recovery works for both Protection Groups and standalone VMs.
Re-protect is reversing the direction of protection and is used after disaster recovery has taken place and the DR site is effectively being used for Production purposes. The re-protect process cannot be rolled back. Performing disasater recovery orchestration entirely through the HX Connect user interface requires a separate vCenter server being used in both geoographical sites.
HX Connect does not require separate software licenses.
HX 4.0 introduces new HyperFlex DR PowerShell Runbooks.
HX 4.0 introduces a Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) v1.0.0 for integration with VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 8.1 and 6.5.
|
|
|
Stretched Cluster (SC)
Details
|
VMware vSphere: Yes (certified)
DataCore SANsymphony is certified by VMware as a VMware Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC) solution. For more information, please view https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2149740.
|
N/A
At this time NetApp does not support NetApp HCI clusters that are stretched across data centers.
|
vSphere: Yes
Hyper-V: No
Cisco HyperFlex has no VMware vMSC certification.
Cisco HyperFlex does not (yet) support stretched clustering for Microsoft Hyper-V.
Cisco HyperFlex Stretched Clustering is only supported for fresh HX 3.0+ installs. Upgrade or expansion of HX 2.x based clusters is not supported.
In HX 3.5 vSphere node expansion workflow is included and supported. HX 3.5 also adds support for HX compute-only nodes as well as HX native replication.
Cisco HyperFlex Stretched Cluster hardware restrictions:
- only M5 supported (no M4 or M5+M4 mix)
- only homogeneus models supported (no HX220+HX240 mix)
- no support for self-encrypting drives (SED)
- external storage is supported, but synchronous replication is the responsibility of the external storage solution.
HX Connect UI (HTML5) is used for managing HyperFlex stretched clusters:
- Cross site HX cluster creation
- Non-disruptive online rolling cluster upgrades
- Site awareness
- Site specific Alarm and Events on a single Dashboard
|
|
|
|
2+sites = two or more active sites, 0/1 or more tie-breakers
Theoretically up to 64 sites are supported.
SANsymphony does not require a quorum or tie-breaker in stretched cluster configurations, but can be used as an optional component. The Virtual Disk Witness can provide a tie-breaker role if for instance redundant inter site paths are not implemented. The tie-breaker node (server or device) must be other than the two nodes presenting a virtual disk. Access to the Virtual Disk Witness is leading for storage node behavior.
There are 3 ways to configure the stretched cluster without any tie-breakers:
1. Default: in a split-brain scenario both sides stay active allowing upper infrastructure layers (OS/database/application) to make a decision (eg. clustering principles). In any case SANsymphony prevents a merge when there is a risk to data integrity, and the end-user has to make the choice on how to proceed next (which side is true)
2. Select one side to go inaccessible
3. Select both sides to go inaccessible.
|
N/A
At this time NetApp does not support NetApp HCI clusters that are stretched across data centers.
|
vSphere: 3-sites = two active sites + tie-breaker in 3rd site
The use of a Witness Server automates failover decisions in order to avoid split-brain scenarios like network partitions and remote site failures. The witness is deployed as a small VM on a third site.
The RTT to the third site should not exceed 200ms and there should be at least 100Mbps of bandwidth available.
|
|
|
|
<=5ms RTT (targeted, not required)
RTT = Round Trip Time
In truth the user/app with the least tolerated write latency defines the acceptable RTT or distance. In practice
|
N/A
At this time NetApp does not support NetApp HCI clusters that are stretched across data centers.
|
<=5ms RTT / 10Gbps
Cisco HyperFlex Stretched Clustering supports sites that located a few 100KMs from eachother.
RTT = Round Trip Time
|
|
|
|
<=32 hosts at each active site (per cluster)
The maximum is per cluster. The SANsymphony solution can consist of multiple stretched clusters with a maximum of 64 nodes each.
|
N/A
At this time NetApp does not support NetApp HCI clusters that are stretched across data centers.
|
2-16 converged hosts + 0-16 compute hosts at each active site
Cisco HX allows a single cluster up to 64 nodes to be placed across two datacenters in a symmetric configuration (16cn+16co)+(16cn+16co).
sn = converged node (compute+storage)
cn = compute-only node
|
|
|
SC Data Redundancy
Details
|
Replicas: 1N-2N at each active site
DataCore SANsymphony provides enhanced stretched cluster availability by offering local fault protection with In Pool Mirroring. With In Pool Mirroring you can choose to mirror the data inside the local Disk Pool as well as mirror the data across sites to a remote Disk Pool. In the remote Disk Pool data is then also mirrored. All mirroring happens synchronously.
1N-2N: With SANsymphony Stretched Clustering, there can be either 1 instance of the data at each site (no In Pool Mirroring) or 2 instances of the data a each site (In Pool RAID-1 Mirroring).
|
N/A
At this time NetApp does not support NetApp HCI clusters that are stretched across data centers.
|
Replicas: 2N at each active site
In the case of stretched clustering, 2N means that there are two instances of the data available at each of the active sites (effectively RF4). HX Stretched Clustering leverages synchronous data replication.
RF= Replication Factor
|
|
|
Data Services
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Efficiency |
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Engine
Details
|
Software (integration)
NEW
SANsymphony provides integrated and individually selectable inline deduplication and compression. In addition, SANsymphony is able to leverage post-processing deduplication and compression options available in Windows 2016/2019 as an alternative approach.
|
Software
NetApp HCI includes data reduction technology, that compresses and deduplicates all incoming data cluster-wide across all volumes.
Compression is completely inline, with no performance impact. During a write, a block is compressed, and during the recycling process blocks are recompressed to provide even greater efficiency.
An internal garbage collection process cleans up blocks that are no longer referenced by any metadata, including Snapshot copies.
|
Software
The deduplication and compression techniques used by the HX Data Platform have a very low performance impact.
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Function
Details
|
Efficiency (space savings)
Deduplication and compression can provide two main advantages:
1. Efficiency (space savings)
2. Performance (speed)
Most of the time deduplication/compression is primarily focussed on efficiency.
|
Efficiency and Performance
Deduplication and compression can provide two main advantages:
1. Efficiency (space savings)
2. Performance (speed)
Most of the time deduplication/compression is primarily focussed on efficiency.
NetApp HCI focusses on both aspects.
|
Efficiency and Performance
Deduplication and compression can provide two main advantages:
1. Efficiency (space savings)
2. Performance (speed)
Most of the time deduplication/compression is primarily focussed on efficiency.
Key performance metrics of the Cisco HyperFlex (HX) platform architecture include minimizing storage latency and maximizing storage throughput. With HX a write is logged in low-latency flash (NVMe SSDs) and immediately acknowledged to the client, minimizing latency. A full dedup lookup and verification is not performed prior to acknowledging a write, because this can potentially increase latency. However, incoming data is compressed before logging to NVMe flash using a lightweight algorithm to minimize impact to latency. As many typical write patterns that might benefit from dedup also compress well, this reduces the amount of data written to the write log and thus optimizes NVMe flash capacity.
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Process
Details
|
Deduplication: Inline (post-ack)
Compression: Inline (post-ack)
Deduplication/Compression: Post-Processing (post process)
NEW
Deduplication can be performed in 4 ways:
1. Immediately when the write is processed (inline) and before the write is ackowledged back to the originator of the write (pre-ack).
2. Immediately when the write is processed (inline) and in parallel to the write being acknowledged back to the originator of the write (on-ack).
3. A short time after the write is processed (inline) so after the write is acknowleged back to the originator of the write - eg. when flushing the write buffer to persistent storage (post-ack)
4. After the write has been committed to the persistent storage layer (post-process).
The first and second methods, when properly integrated into the solution, are most likely to offer both performance and capacity benefits. The third and fourth methods are primarily used for capacity benefits only.
DataCore SANSymphony 10 PSP12 and above leverage both inline deduplication and compression, as well as post process deduplication and compression techniques.
With inline deduplication incoming writes first hit the memory cache of the primary host and are replicated to the cache of a secondary host in an un-deduplicated state. After the blocks have been written to both memory caches, the primary host acknowledges the writes back to the originator. Each host then destages the written blocks to the persistent storage layer. During destaging, written blocks are deduplicates and/or compressed.
Windows Server 2019 deduplication is performed outside of IO path (post-processing) and is multi-threaded to speed up processing and keep performance impact minimal.
|
Deduplication: inline (pre-ack)
Compression: inline (pre-ack) + post process
Deduplication can be performed in 4 ways:
1. Immediately when the write is processed (inline) and before the write is ackowledged back to the originator of the write (pre-ack).
2. Immediately when the write is processed (inline) and in parallel to the write being acknowledged back to the originator of the write (on-ack).
3. A short time after the write is processed (inline) so after the write is acknowleged back to the originator of the write - eg. when flushing the write buffer to persistent storage (post-ack)
4. After the write has been committed to the persistent storage layer (post-process).
The first and second methods, when properly integrated into the solution, are most likely to offer both performance and capacity benefits. The third and fourth methods are primarily used for capacity benefits only.
NetApp HCI leverages global inline deduplication and global inline as well as post compression techniques. Incoming writes are broken into 4K blocks, assigned a hash (BlockID), compressed and then written to the NVRAM of two storage nodes in order to protect the data. When the internal Block Service identifies that the BlockID already exists, which means that the data has already been committed to the persistent flash layer, it does not destage the data twice. When destaging unique compressed 4K blocks from NVRAM to the persistent flash layer, blocks going to the same SSD are consolidated into 1MB chunks.
|
Deduplication: Inline (post-ack)
Compression: Inline (post-ack)
Deduplication can be performed in 4 ways:
1. Immediately when the write is processed (inline) and before the write is ackowledged back to the originator of the write (pre-ack).
2. Immediately when the write is processed (inline) and in parallel to the write being acknowledged back to the originator of the write (on-ack).
3. A short time after the write is processed (inline) so after the write is acknowleged back to the originator of the write - eg. when flushing the write buffer to persistent storage (post-ack)
4. After the write has been committed to the persistent storage layer (post-process).
The first and second methods, when properly integrated into the solution, are most likely to offer both performance and capacity benefits. The third and fourth methods are primarily used for capacity benefits only.
Key performance metrics of the Cisco HyperFlex (HX) platform architecture include minimizing latency and maximizing throughput.
The HX approach is aimed at minimizing latency of writes (and thus improving workload performance) by avoiding a dedup lookup prior to logging a write and acknowledging the write to the client. Further, maximum throughput is improved by eliminating flushing of duplicate blocks to the backend storage.
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Type
Details
|
Optional
NEW
By default, deduplication and compression are turned off. For both inline and post-process, deduplication and compression can be enabled.
For inline deduplication and compression the feature can be turned on per node. The entire node represents a global deduplication domain. Deduplication and compression work across pools and across vDisks. Individual pools can be selected to participate in capacity optimization. Either deduplication or compression or both can be selected per individual vDisk. Pools can host both capacity optimized and non-capacity optimized vDisks at the same time. The optional capacity optimization settings can be added/changed/removed during operation for each vDisk.
For post-processing the feature can be enabled per pool. All vDisks in that pool would be deduplicated and compressed. Each pool is an independent deduplication domain. This means only data in the pool is capacity optimized, but not across pools. Additionally, for post-processing capacity optimization can be scheduled so admins can decide when deduplication should run.
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
|
Always-on
NetApp HCIs data deduplication and compression features are always on and cannot be disabled as it is an integral component of the platform architecture providing both performance and efficiency. The fact that the storage subsystem has been completely separated from the compute subsystem in NetApp, deduplication and compression does not substract from compute resources. It also provides end-user simplicity.
|
Always-on
Cisco HyperFlex (HX) data deduplication and compression features are always on and cannot be disabled as it is an integral component of the platform architecture providing both performance and efficiency. It also provides end-user simplicity.
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Scope
Details
|
Persistent data layer
|
Read and Write caches + Persistent data layers
Deduplication and compression is used for optimizing read/write cache and persistent storage capacity.
|
Read and Write caches + Persistent data layers
Cisco HyperFlex provides finely detailed inline deduplication and variable block inline compression that is always on for objects in the cache (SSD and memory) and capacity (SSD or HDD) layers.
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Radius
Details
|
Pool (post-processing deduplication domain)
Node (inline deduplication domain)
NEW
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
For inline deduplication and compression raw physical disks are added to a capacity optimization pool. The entire node represents a global deduplication domain. Deduplication and compression work across pools and across vDisks. Individual pools can be selected to participate in capacity optimization.
The post-processing capability provided through Windows Server 2016/2019 is highly scalable and can be used with volumes up to 64 TB and files up to 1 TB in size. Data deduplication identifies repeated patterns across files on that volume.
|
Storage Cluster
NetApp HCI inline deduplication works globally, which means that deduplication happens across all nodes within a storage cluster.
|
Storage Cluster
Cisco HyperFlex inline deduplication works across all nodes in a cluster. Because currently a Cisco Hyperflex storage cluster matches a vSphere cluster 1:1, dedup is provided per vSphere cluster.
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Granularity
Details
|
4-128 KB variable block size (inline)
32-128 KB variable block size (post-processing)
NEW
With inline deduplication and compression, the data is organized in 128 KB segments. Depending on the optimization setting, a write into such a segment first gets compressed (when compression is selected) and then a hash is generated. If the hash is unique, the 128 KB segment is written back and the hash is added to the deduplication hash-table. If the hash is not unique, the segment is referenced in the deduplication hash table and discarded. The smallest chunk in the segment can be 4 KB.
For post-processing the system leverages deduplication in Windows Server 2016/2019, files within a deduplication-enabled volume are segmented into small variable-sized chunks (32–128 KB), duplicate chunks are identified, and only a single copy of each chunk is physically stored.
|
4 KB fixed block size
NetApp HCI deduplication and compression use 4K fixed block segments.
|
4-64 KB fixed block size
The Cisco HyperFlex deduplication chunk size based on the underlying block size of a data object. This means the deduplication chunk size can be 4K, 8K... 64K, depending on whatever the block size is you chose when creating the data object (eg. VMDK).
|
|
|
Dedup/Compr. Guarantee
Details
|
N/A
Microsoft provides the Deduplication Evaluation Tool (DDPEVAL) to assess the data in a particular volume and predict the dedup ratio.
|
Workload/Data Type dependent
NetApp uses pre-defined reduction ratios per workload for NetApp HCI based on testing. A capacity guarantee is provided to customers as part of the purchase. In exceptional scenarios a higher ratio may be agreed upon between NetApp and the individual customer organization.
|
N/A
At this time Cisco does no guarantee a minimum savings. Cisco states that reduction rates will vary per workload and use case.
As a guideline, Cisco provides the following info:
- Inline deduplication on average provides 20-30% space savings.
- Inline compression on average provides 30-50% space savings.
- In non-persisent VDI use cases, total reduction rates can deliver up to 95% space savings.
|
|
|
|
Full (optional)
Data rebalancing needs to be initiated manually by the end-user. It depends on the specific use case and end-user environment if this makes sense. When end-users want to isolate new workloads and corresponding data on new nodes, data rebalancing is not used.
|
Full
NetApp HCI automatically rebalances data across nodes when a node is either added or removed. There is no user-intervention required for these redistribution activities.
|
Full
Cisco HyperFlex inline deduplication works globally, which means that deduplication happens across all nodes in a cluster.
|
|
|
|
Yes
DataCore SANsymphonys Auto-Tiering is a real-time intelligent mechanism that continuously positions data on the appropriate class of storage based on how frequently the data is accessed. Auto-Tiering leverages any combination of Flash and traditional disk technologies, whether it is internal or array based, with up to 15 different storage tiers that can be defined.
As more advanced storage technologies become available, existing tiers can be modified as necessary and additional tiers can be added to further diversify the tiering architecture.
|
N/A
The NetApp HCI storage architecture is based on a single storage layer (SSD) and hence does not include multiple persistent storage layers to distribute data across.
|
N/A
The Cisco HyperFlex storage architecture does not include multiple persistent storage layers, but rather consists of a caching layer (fastest storage devices) and a persistent layer (slower/most cost-efficient storage devices).
|
|
|
|
Performance |
|
|
|
|
vSphere: VMware VAAI-Block (full)
Hyper-V: Microsoft ODX; Space Reclamation (T10 SCSI UNMAP)
DataCore SANsymphony iSCSI and FC are fully qualified for all VMware vSphere VAAI-Block capabilities that include: Thin Provisioning, HW Assisted Locking, Full Copy, Block Zero
Note: DataCore SANsymphony does not support Thick LUNs.
DataCore SANsymphony is also fully qualified for Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 R2 and 2016/2019 ODX and UNMAP/TRIM.
Note: ODX is not used for files smaller than 256KB.
VAAI = VMware vSphere APIs for Array Integration
ODX = Offloaded Data Transfers
UNMAP/TRIM support allows the Windows operating system to communicate the inactive block IDs to the storage system. The storage system can wipe these unused blocks internally.
|
vSphere: VMware VAAI-Block (full)
NetApp HCI iSCSI is fully qualified for all VMware vSphere VAAI-Block capabilities that include: Thin Provisioning, HW Assisted Locking, Full Copy, Block Zero. NetApp HCIs VAAI-Block capabilities are certified with VMware vSphere 6.0-6.7.
VAAI = VMware vSphere APIs for Array Integration.
|
vSphere: VMware VAAI-NAS (full)
Hyper-V: SMB3 ODX; UNMAP/TRIM
The Cisco HX platform is fully qualified for all VMware vSphere VAAI-NAS capabilities that include: Native SS for LC, Space Reserve, File Cloning and Extended Stats.
The Cisco HX platform does not support cross volume/snapshot operations as it is a Software Defined NAS array.
VAAI = VMware APIs for Array Integration
ODX = Offloaded Data Transfers
UNMAP/TRIM support allows the Windows operating system to communicate the inactive block IDs to the storage system. The storage system can wipe these unused blocks internally.
|
|
|
|
IOPs and/or MBps Limits
QoS is a means to ensure specific performance levels for applications and workloads. There are two ways to accomplish this:
1. Ability to set limitations to avoid unwanted behavior from non-critical clients/hosts.
2. Ability to set guarantees to ensure service levels for mission-critical clients/hosts.
SANsymphony currently supports only the first method. Although SANsymphony does not provide support for the second method, the platform does offer some options for optimizing performance for selected workloads.
For streaming applications which burst data, it’s best to regulate the data transfer rate (MBps) to minimize their impact. For transaction-oriented applications (OLTP), limiting the IOPs makes most sense. Both parameters may be used simultaneously.
DataCore SANsymphony ensures that high-priority workloads competing for access to storage can meet their service level agreements (SLAs) with predictable I/O performance. QoS Controls regulate the resources consumed by workloads of lower priority. Without QoS Controls, I/O traffic generated by less important applications could monopolize I/O ports and bandwidth, adversely affecting the response and throughput experienced by more critical applications. To minimize contention in multi-tenant environments, the data transfer rate (MBps) and IOPs for less important applications are capped to limits set by the system administrator. QoS Controls enable IT organizations to efficiently manage their shared storage infrastructure using a private cloud model.
More information can be found here: https://docs.datacore.com/SSV-WebHelp/quality_of_service.htm
In order to achieve consistent performance for a workload, a separate Pool can be created where selected vDisks are placed. Alternatively 'Performance Classes' can be assigned to differentiate between data placement of multiple workloads.
|
IOPs Limits (maximums)
IOPs Guarantees (minimums)
QoS is a means to ensure specific performance levels for applications and workloads. There are two ways to accomplish this:
1. Ability to set limitations to avoid unwanted behavior from non-critical clients/hosts.
2. Ability to set guarantees to ensure service levels for mission-critical clients/hosts.
NetApp HCI supports both methods through pre-defined performance policies per volume. These policies can be changed at any point in time and on-the-fly.
NetApp HCI provides the following three-dimensional QoS settings for every individual volume/Vvol:
- Minimum IOPS: The minimum number of IOPS guaranteed for the volume.
- Maximum IOPS: The maximum number of IOPS allowed for the volume.
- Burst IOPS: The maximum number of IOPS allowed over a short period of time for the volume.
The IOPS values entered are normalized to a 4K IO size. The configuration screen shows the calculation for 8K, 16K and 256K IO sizes, as well as MBps for Maximum Bandwidth.
|
N/A
Quality-of-Service (QoS) is a means to ensure specific performance levels for applications and workloads. There are two ways to accomplish this:
1. Ability to set limitations to avoid unwanted behavior from non-critical VMs.
2. Ability to set guarantees to ensure service levels for mission-critical VMs.
Cisco HyperFlex currently does not offer any QoS mechanisms.
|
|
|
|
Virtual Disk Groups and/or Host Groups
SANsymphony QoS parameters can be set for individual hosts or groups of hosts as well as for groups of Virtual Disks for fine grained control.
In a VMware VVols (=Virtual Volumes) environment a vDisk corresponds 1-to-1 to a virtual disk (.vmdk). Thus virtual disks can be placed in a Disk Group and a QoS Limit can then be assigned it. DataCore SANsymphony Provider v2.01 has VVols certification for VMware ESXi 6.5 U2/U3, ESXi 6.7 GA/U1/U2/U3 and ESXi 7.0 GA/U1.
In Microsoft Hyper-V environments, when a VM with vdisks is created through SCVMM, DataCore can be instructed to automatically carve out a Virtual Disk (=storage volume) for every individual vdisk. This way there is a 1-to-1 alignment from end-to-end and QoS Limits can be applied on the virtual disk level. The 1-to-1 allignment is realized by installing the DataCore Storage Management Provider in SCVMM.
|
Per volume
Per vdisk (Vvols)
Because NetApp HCI presents block-based storage volumes, QoS Policies can be applied to VMware datastores, Raw Device Mappings (RDMs). This also extends to individual vdisks when Vvols is leveraged.
|
N/A
Quality-of-Service (QoS) is a means to ensure specific performance levels for applications and workloads. There are two ways to accomplish this:
1. Ability to set limitations to avoid unwanted behavior from non-critical VMs.
2. Ability to set guarantees to ensure service levels for mission-critical VMs.
Cisco HyperFlex currently does not offer any QoS mechanisms.
|
|
|
|
Per VM/Virtual Disk/Volume
With SANsymphony the rough hierarchy is: physical disk(s) or LUNs -> Disk Pool -> Virtual Disk (=logical volume).
In SANsymphony 'Flash Pinning' can be achieved using one of the following methods:
Method #1: Create a flash-only pool and migrate the individual vDisks that require flash pinning to the flash-only pool. When using a VVOL configuration in a VMware environment, each vDisk represents a virtual disk (.vmdk). This method guarantees all application data will be stored in flash.
Method #2: Create auto-tiering pools with at least 1 flash tier. Assign the Performance Class “Critical” to the vDisks that require flash pinning and place them in the auto-tiering pool. This will effectively and intelligently put as much of the data that resides in the vDisk in the flash tier as long that the flash tier has enough space available. Therefore this method is on a best-effort basis and dependent on correct sizing of the flash tier(s).
Methods #1 and #2 can be uses side-by-side in the same DataCore environment.
|
Not relevant (All-Flash only)
The NetApp HCI platform is not available as a hybrid (flash+magnetic) configuration and as such has no need for a ' Flash Pinning' feature.
|
Not relevant (global cache architecture)
Cisco HyperFlex distributed platform architecture includes a global caching structure. This effectively provides guest VMs access to every cache drive in the entire cluster at all times. The HyperFlex core architecture design prevents performance hotspots from occuring in hybrid configurations and is able to deliver additional performance in all-flash configurations.
|
|
|
|
Security |
|
|
|
Data Encryption Type
Details
|
Built-in (native)
SANsymphony 10.0 PSP9 introduced native encryption when running on Windows Server 2016/2019.
|
Built-in (native)
|
Built-in (native)
|
|
|
Data Encryption Options
Details
|
Hardware: Self-encrypting drives (SEDs)
Software: SANsymphony Encryption
Hardware: In SANsymphony deployments the encryption data service capabilities can be offloaded to hardware-based SED offerings available in server- and storage solutions.
Software: SANsymphony provides software-based data-at-rest encryption that is XTS-AES 256bit compliant.
|
Hardware: Self-encrypting drives (SEDs)
Software: Element OS encryption
NEW
Hardware-based encryption: NetApp HCI allows encryption of all data stored within the cluster. Self-encrypting drives are available on H410S/H610S storage nodes, with FIPS-certified drives in H610S-2F storage nodes.
All drives in NetApp HCI storage nodes leverage AES 256-bit encryption at the drive level. Each drive has its own encryption key, which is created when the drive is first initialized. When you enable the encryption feature, a cluster-wide password is created, and chunks of the password are then distributed to all nodes in the cluster. No single node stores the entire password. The password is then used to password-protect all access to the drives and must then be supplied for every read and write operation to the drive.
Enabling the encryption-at-rest feature does not affect performance or efficiency on the cluster. Additionally, if an encryption-enabled drive or node is removed from the cluster with the API or web UI, Encryption-at-Rest will be disabled on the drives.
Software-based encryption: Element 12.2 introduces software encryption at rest, which can be enabled when creating a new storage cluster (and is enabled by default when creating a SolidFire Enterprise SDS storage cluster). The encryption feature encrypts all data stored on the SSDs in the storage nodes and causes only a very small (~2%) performance impact on client IO.
|
Hardware: Self-encrypting drives (SEDs)
Software: N/A
Hardware: Cisco optionally provides self-encrypting harddisks (SEDs) for HX configurations.
Currently Cisco HyperFlex does not provide native software-based data-at-rest encryption.
|
|
|
Data Encryption Scope
Details
|
Hardware: Data-at-rest
Software: Data-at-rest
Hardware: SEDs provide encryption for data-at-rest; SEDs do not provide encryption for data-in-transit.
Software: SANsymphony provides encryption for data-at-rest; it does not provide encryption for data-in-transit. Encryption can be enabled per individual virtual disk.
|
Hardware: Data-at-rest
Software: Data-at-rest
NEW
Hardware: NetApp HCI provides encryption for data-at-rest through the use of self-encrypting drives (SEDs); NetApp HCI does not provide encryption for data-in-transit.
Software: NetApp HCI provides encryption for data-at-rest through the use of Element OS; NetApp HCI does not provide encryption for data-in-transit.
|
Hardware: Data-at-rest
Software: N/A
Hardware: Cisco HyperFlex SEDs provide encryption for data-at-rest; Cisco HyperFlex SEDs do not provide encryption for data-in-transit.
Software: N/A
|
|
|
Data Encryption Compliance
Details
|
Hardware: FIPS 140-2 Level 2 (SEDs)
Software: FIPS 140-2 Level 1 (SANsymphony)
FIPS = Federal Information Processing Standard
FIPS 140-2 defines four levels of security:
Level 1 > Basic security requirements are specified for a cryptographic module (eg. at least one Approved algorithm or Approved security function shall be used).
Level 2 > Also has features that show evidence of tampering.
Level 3 > Also prevents the intruder from gaining access to critical security parameters (CSPs) held within the cryptographic module.
Level 4 > Provides a complete envelope of protection around the cryptographic module with the intent of detecting and responding to all unauthorized attempts at physical access.
|
Hardware: FIPS 140-2 Level 1 (SEDs)
Software: N/A
FIPS = Federal Information Processing Standard
FIPS 140-2 defines four levels of security:
Level 1 > Basic security requirements are specified for a cryptographic module (eg. at least one Approved algorithm or Approved security function shall be used).
Level 2 > Also has features that show evidence of tampering.
Level 3 > Also prevents the intruder from gaining access to critical security parameters (CSPs) held within the cryptographic module.
Level 4 > Provides a complete envelope of protection around the cryptographic module with the intent of detecting and responding to all unauthorized attempts at physical access.
NetApp HCI 1.7 supports FIPS 140-2 drive encryption for FIPS-compliant drives when installed in the H610S-2F storage node. FIPS drive encryption requires all drives in the storage cluster to be
FIPS-capable.
|
Hardware: FIPS 140-2 Level 2 (SEDs)
Software: N/A
The Cisco HyperFlex platform itself is hardened to FIPS 140-1, and the encrypted drives with key management comply with the FIPS 140-2 standard.
FIPS = Federal Information Processing Standard
FIPS 140-2 defines four levels of security:
Level 1 > Basic security requirements are specified for a cryptographic module (eg. at least one Approved algorithm or Approved security function shall be used).
Level 2 > Also has features that show evidence of tampering.
Level 3 > Also prevents the intruder from gaining access to critical security parameters (CSPs) held within the cryptographic module.
Level 4 > Provides a complete envelope of protection around the cryptographic module with the intent of detecting and responding to all unauthorized attempts at physical access.
|
|
|
Data Encryption Efficiency Impact
Details
|
Hardware: No
Software: No
Hardware: Because data encryption is performed at the end of the write path, storage efficiency mechanisms are not impaired.
Software: Because data encryption is performed at the end of the write path, storage efficiency mechanisms are not impaired.
|
Hardware: No
Software: Yes (very limited)
NEW
Hardware: Because data encryption is performed at the end of the write path, storage efficiency mechanisms are not impaired.
Software: Element OS encryption causes only a very small (~2%) performance impact on client IO.
|
Hardware: No
Software: N/A
Hardware: Because data encryption is performed at the end of the write path, storage efficiency mechanisms are not impaired.
Software: N/A
|
|
|
|
Test/Dev |
|
|
|
|
Yes
Support for fast VM cloning via VMware VAAI and Microsoft ODX.
|
Yes
Support for fast VM cloning via VMware VAAI.
|
Yes
Native clone creation is VMware VAAI and Hyper-V integrated.
Cisco HyperFlex ReadyClones is a storage technology that enables the rapid creation and customization of multiple cloned VMs from a host VM. The clones can then be used as standalone VMs. A ReadyClones MAC address and UUID are different from those of the original VM.
|
|
|
|
Portability |
|
|
|
Hypervisor Migration
Details
|
Hyper-V to ESXi (external)
ESXi to Hyper-V (external)
VMware Converter 6.2 supports the following Guest Operating Systems for VM conversion from Hyper-V to vSphere:
- Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10
- Windows 2008/R2, 2012/R2 and 2016
- RHEL 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x
- SUSE 10.x, 11.x
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS
- CentOS 6.x, 7.0
The VMs have to be in a powered-off state in order to be migrated across hypervisor platforms.
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) supports conversion of VMware VMs and vdisks to Hyper-V VMs and vdisks. It is also possible to convert physical machines and disks to Hyper-V VMs and vdisks.
MVMC has been offcially retired and can only be used for converting VMs up to version 6.0.
Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2016 also supports conversion of VMs up to version 6.0 only.
|
Hyper-V to ESXi (external)
VMware Converter 6.2 supports the following Guest Operating Systems for VM conversion from Hyper-V to vSphere:
- Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10
- Windows 2008/R2, 2012/R2 and 2016
- RHEL 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x
- SUSE 10.x, 11.x
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS
- CentOS 6.x, 7.0
The VMs have to be in a powered-off state in order to be migrated across hypervisor platforms.
|
Hyper-V to ESXi (external)
ESXi to Hyper-V (external)
VMware Converter 6.2 supports the following Guest Operating Systems for VM conversion from Hyper-V to vSphere:
- Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10
- Windows 2008/R2, 2012/R2 and 2016
- RHEL 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x
- SUSE 10.x, 11.x
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS
- CentOS 6.x, 7.0
The VMs have to be in a powered-off state in order to be migrated across hypervisor platforms.
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) supports conversion of VMware VMs and vdisks to Hyper-V VMs and vdisks. It is also possible to convert physical machines and disks to Hyper-V VMs and vdisks.
MVMC has been offcially retired and can only be used for converting VMs up to version 6.0.
Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2016 also supports conversion of VMs up to version 6.0 only.
|
|
|
|
File Services |
|
|
|
|
Built-in (native)
SANsymphony delivers out-of-box (OOB) file services by leveraging Windows native SMB/NFS and Scale-out File Services capabilities. SANsymphony is capable of simultaneously handling highly-available block and file level services.
Raw storage is provisioned from within the SANsymphony GUI to the Microsoft file services layer, similar to provisioning Storage Spaces Volumes to the file services layer. This means any file services configuration is performed from within the respective Windows service consoles e.g. quotas.
More information can be found under: https://www.datacore.com/products/features/high-availability-nas-cluster-file-sharing.aspx
|
Built-in (native)
NetApp ONTAP Select is an optional service provided with NetApp HCI. Deploying a single/dual node cluster of ONTAP Select within the NetApp HCI environment allows provisioning of file shares (SMB and NFS) via the ONTAP Select user interface on top of the NetApp HCI block storage. The ideal use cases are home directories and departmental file shares.
ONTAP Select is installed as part of a post NetApp Deployment Engine (NDE), customer-driven workflow.
NetApp HCI v1.8 allows the automatic configuration of NetApp ONTAP Select 9.7 file services as part of the NetApp HCI deployment process streamlined by NetApp Deployment Engine (NDE). NDE v1.8 deploys a single-node NetApp ONTAP Select cluster. A second node can be added afterwards to form an HA-pair with the first node.
NetApp ONTAP Select nodes are VMware virtual machines deployed on top of the NetApp HCI Compute node cluster. The NetApp ONTAP Select clusters initial licensing supports 2-8TB of raw storage capacity. ONTAP Select datastores are mapped to VMware virtual disks (VMDKs) that reside on the NetApp HCI storage cluster.
NetApp ONTAP Select requires a separate license (Standard or Premium).
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any file serving capabilities of its own.
Inside a Guest VM all native file service features of the Microsoft Windows and/or Linux operating system can be leveraged to host network shares.
Linux requires Samba Server components to provide SMB file shares.
Depending on the OS of the Guest VM providing file services, quotas can been set on the share or the filesystem level.
|
|
|
Fileserver Compatibility
Details
|
Windows clients
Linux clients
Because SANsymphony leverages Windows Server native CIFS/NFS and Scale-out File services, most Windows and Linux clients are able to connect.
|
Windows clients
Linux clients
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any file serving capabilities of its own.
Inside a Guest VM all native file service features of the Microsoft Windows and/or Linux operating system can be leveraged to host network shares.
Linux requires Samba Server components to provide SMB file shares.
Depending on the OS of the Guest VM providing file services, quotas can been set on the share or the filesystem level.
|
|
|
Fileserver Interconnect
Details
|
SMB
NFS
Because SANsymphony leverages Windows Server native CIFS/NFS and Scale-out File services, Windows Server platform compatibility applies:
SMB versions1,2 and 3 are supported, as are NFS versions 2, 3 and 4.1.
|
SMB
NFS
Supported SMB versions: 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1.1
Supported NFS versions: v3, v4.0, v4.1, pNFS
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any file serving capabilities of its own.
Inside a Guest VM all native file service features of the Microsoft Windows and/or Linux operating system can be leveraged to host network shares.
Linux requires Samba Server components to provide SMB file shares.
Depending on the OS of the Guest VM providing file services, quotas can been set on the share or the filesystem level.
|
|
|
Fileserver Quotas
Details
|
Share Quotas, User Quotas
Because SANsymphony leverages Windows Server native CIFS/NFS and Scale-out File services, all Quota features available in Windows Server can be used.
|
User Quotas
User quotas can be configured and applied on a volume in order to restrict space usage for specific users and/or user groups.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any file serving capabilities of its own.
Inside a Guest VM all native file service features of the Microsoft Windows and/or Linux operating system can be leveraged to host network shares.
Linux requires Samba Server components to provide SMB file shares.
Depending on the OS of the Guest VM providing file services, quotas can been set on the share or the filesystem level.
|
|
|
Fileserver Analytics
Details
|
Partial
Because SANsymphony leverages Windows Server native CIFS/NFS, Windows Server built-in auditing capabilities can be used.
|
N/A
NetApp ONTAP Select currently does not have advanced file analytics capabilities.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any file serving capabilities of its own.
Inside a Guest VM all native file service features of the Microsoft Windows and/or Linux operating system can be leveraged to host network shares.
Linux requires Samba Server components to provide SMB file shares.
Depending on the OS of the Guest VM providing file services, quotas can been set on the share or the filesystem level.
|
|
|
|
Object Services |
|
|
|
Object Storage Type
Details
|
N/A
DataCore SANsymphony does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own.
|
N/A
NetApp HCI does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own. However, NetApp StorageGRID can be leveraged as VMware virtual machines (minimum of 3 nodes) to deliver S3-compatible object storage. No direct integrations exist between NetApp HCI and NetApp StorageGRID.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own.
|
|
|
Object Storage Protection
Details
|
N/A
DataCore SANsymphony does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own.
|
N/A
NetApp HCI does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own. However, NetApp StorageGRID can be leveraged as VMware virtual machines (minimum of 3 nodes) to deliver S3-compatible object storage. No direct integrations exist between NetApp HCI and NetApp StorageGRID.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own.
|
|
|
Object Storage LT Retention
Details
|
N/A
DataCore SANsymphony does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own.
|
N/A
NetApp HCI does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own. However, NetApp StorageGRID can be leveraged as VMware virtual machines (minimum of 3 nodes) to deliver S3-compatible object storage. No direct integrations exist between NetApp HCI and NetApp StorageGRID.
|
N/A
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any object storage serving capabilities of its own.
|
|
|
Management
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interfaces |
|
|
|
GUI Functionality
Details
|
Centralized
SANsymphonys graphical user interface (GUI) is highly configurable to accommodate individual preferences and includes guided wizards and workflows to simplify administration. All actions available from the GUI may also be scripted with PowerShell Commandlets to orchestrate workflows with other tools and applications.
|
Centralized
NetApp HCI management, capacity monitoring, performance monitoring and efficiency reporting is performed through the vSphere Web Client interface.
|
Centralized
Cisco Intersight (SaaS), Cisco UCS Manager, Cisco HX Data Platform HTML Web Interface, Cisco HX Data Platform vCenter plugin.
Cisco Intersight (SaaS) uses a subscription-based license with multiple editions.
|
|
|
|
Single-site and Multi-site
|
Single-site and Multi-site
Centralized management of one or multiple NetApp HCI clusters can be performed from a single dasboard. This means that global implementations with multiple sites in multiple countries can be easily managed. NetApp HCI vCenter Plug-in can be used to manage NetApp HCI cluster resources from other vCenter Servers using vCenter Linked Mode.
|
Single-site and Multi-site
Administration of one or multiple Cisco HyperFlex clusters can be performed by utilizing either the standalone HTML5 UI called HX Connect or the VMware vSphere Web Client plug-in.
HX Connect is a HTML5 UI for native management and monitoring with intuitive dashboard for cluster health, capacity and performance. HX Connect is localized for Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Centralized management of multicluster HX environments can be performed through Cisco Intersight (SaaS).
Alternatively centralized management can be performed through the vSphere Web Client by using Enhanced Linked Mode.
Enhanced Linked Mode links multiple vCenter Server systems by using one or more Platform Services Controllers. Enhanced Linked Mode enables you to log in to all linked vCenter Server systems simultaneously with a single user name and password. You can view and search across all linked vCenter Server systems. Enhanced Linked Mode replicates roles, permissions, licenses, and other key data across systems. Enhanced Linked Mode requires the vCenter Server Standard licensing level, and is not supported with vCenter Server Foundation or vCenter Server Essentials.
|
|
|
GUI Perf. Monitoring
Details
|
Advanced
SANsymphony has visibility into the performance of all connected devices including front-end channels, back-end channels, cache, physical disks, and virtual disks. Metrics include Read/write IOPs, Read/write MBps and Read/Write Latency at all levels. These metrics can be exported to the Windows Performance Monitoring (Perfmon) utility where other server parameters are being tracked.
The frequency at which performance metrics can be captured and reported on is configurable, real-time down to 1 second intervals and long term recording at 2 minutes granularity.
When a trend analysis is required, an end-user can simply enable a recording session to capture metrics over a longer period of time.
|
Advanced
Individual volume details include: Actual IOPS, Average IOP Size, Burst IOP Size, Client Queue Depth, Latency (microseconds), Read Bytes, Read Latency (microseconds), Read operations, Write Bytes, Write Latency (microseconds), Write operations, Total Latency (microseconds), Throttle, Volume Utilization.
Furthermore, Performance Utilization show the percentage of cluster IOPS being consumed.
HCI v1.3 and up enable Active IQ cloud monitoring to also display performance data for Virtual Volumes (VVols) configured on a NetApp HCI cluster.
|
Basic
IOPS, Throughput (MBps) and Latency (ms) for Reads and Writes can be viewed for the entire Storage Cluster, for individual Hosts and for individual Datastores.
|
|
|
|
VMware vSphere Web Client (plugin)
VMware vCenter plug-in for SANsymphony
SCVMM DataCore Storage Management Provider
Microsoft System Center Monitoring Pack
DataCore offers deep integration with VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, as well as their respective systems management tools, vCenter and System Center.
SCVMM = Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager
|
VMware vSphere Web Client (plugin)
The Netapp Element plug-in for VMware vCenter allows day-to-day storage management tasks to be performed from within VMware vCenter, such as:
- Viewing of event logs and report overviews.
- Creation of a datastore or a volume with individualized min, max, and burst QoS per application.
- Management of accounts, clusters, remote replication, data protection and VVols.
- Registration of alerts about the health of NetApp HCI in the alarm section.
VMware ESXi 6.0, 6.5, 6.7 or 7.0 is required to use the NetApp Element Plug-in for vCenter Server.
|
VMware vSphere Web Client (plugin)
Next to the vSphere Web Client plug-in, Cisco HyperFlex provides a standalone HTML5 Web GUI called HX Connect.
|
|
|
|
Programmability |
|
|
|
|
Full
Using DataCores native management console, Virtual Disk Templates can be leveraged to populate storage policies. Available configuration items: Storage profile, Virtual disk size, Sector size, Reserved space, Write-trough enabled/disabled, Storage sources, Preferred snapshot pool, Accelerator enabled/disabled, CDP enabled/disabled.
Virtual Disk Templates integrate with System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), VMware Virtual Volumes (VVol) and OpenStack. Virtual Disk Templates are also fully supported by the REST-API allowing any third-party integration.
Using Virtual Volumes (VVols) defined through DataCore’s VASA provider, VMware administrators can self-provision datastores for virtual machines (VMs) directly from their familiar hypervisor interface. This is possible even for devices in the DataCore pool that don’t natively support VVols and never will, as SANsymphony can be used as a storage-virtualization layer for these devices/solutions. DataCore SANsymphony Provider v2.01 has VVols certification for VMware ESXi 6.5 U2/U3, ESXi 6.7 GA/U1/U2/U3 and ESXi 7.0 GA/U1.
Using Classifications and StoragePools defined through DataCore’s Storage Management Provider, Hyper-V administrators can self-provision virtual disks and pass-through LUNS for virtual machines (VMs) directly from their familiar SCVMM interface.
|
Full
|
Partial (Protection)
|
|
|
|
REST-APIs
PowerShell
The SANsymphony REST-APIs library includes more than 200 new representational state transfer (REST) operations, so automation can be leveraged more extensively. RESTful interfaces are used by products such as Lenovo XClarity, Cisco Embedded Resource Manager and Dell OpenManage to manage infrastructure in the enterprise.
SANsymphony provides its own Powershell cmdlets.
|
REST-APIs
CLI
NetApp HCI was designed from the ground up to be 100% programmable. Therefore NetApp HCI provides rich and at the same time easy-to-comprehend REST-APIs.
|
REST-APIs
CLI
RESTful APIs are accessible through a REST API explorer to enable automation as well as integration with third party management and monitoring tools.
|
|
|
|
OpenStack
OpenStack: The SANsymphony storage solution includes a Cinder driver, which interfaces between SANsymphony and OpenStack, and presents volumes to OpenStack as block devices which are available for block storage.
Datacore SANsymphony programmability in VMware vRealize Automation and Microsoft System Center can be achieved by leveraging PowerShell and the SANsymphony specific cmdlets.
|
OpenStack
Orchestration (vRO plug-in)
Ansible playbooks
Element OS provides a driver for the OpenStack Block Storage (Cinder) service. Features include:
- Volume create/delete
- Volume attach/detach
- Extend volume
- Snapshot create/delete
- List snapshots
- Create volume from snapshot
NetApp HCI currently supports Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13-16.
NetApp HCI also provides a plug-in for VMware vRealize Orchestration (vRO). The plug-in models the storage API methods as vRO workflows so scheduling and automating NetApp HCI storage administration tasks becomes easy.
There are also Ansible playbooks for Element OS and VMware vSphere.
|
Cisco UCS Director
Cisco UCS Director can be used for the following managing parts of Cisco HyperFlex systems:
- Inventory collection
- Discovery of clusters, disks, datastores, and controller VMs
- Datastore provisioning and management
- Automation and orchestration of VM and application container provisioning
- Status reporting
Cisco UCS Director contains predefined HyperFlex workflows, including:
- create HyperFlex ReadyClones from template
- create HyperFlex Datastore (name and size)
- edit HyperFlex Datastore (size)
- delete HyperFlex Datastore
- (un)mount HyperFlex Datastore
Last year Cisco HyperFlex already demonstrated support for OpenStack. However, Cisco has not officially listed OpenStack support for Cisco HyperFlex at this time.
|
|
|
|
Full
The DataCore SANsymphony GUI offers delegated administration to secondary users through fine-grained Role-based Access Control (RBAC). The administrator is able to define Virtual Disk ownership as well as privileges associated with that particular ownership. Owners must have Virtual Disk privileges in an assigned role in order to perform operations on the virtual disk. Access can be very refined. For example, one owner may have the privilege to create a snapshot of a virtual disk, but not have the ability to serve or unserve the same virtual disk. Privilege sets define the operations that can be performed. For instance, in order for an owner to perform snapshot, rollback, or replication operations, they would require those privilege sets in an assigned role.
|
N/A
The NetApp HCI platform does not provide any end-user self service capabilities of its own.
A self service portal enables end-users to access a portal where they can provision and manage VMs from templates, eliminating administrator requests or activity.
Self-Service functionality can be enabled by leveraging VMware vRealize Orchestration (vRO). This requires a separate VMware license. NetApp HCI officially supports vRealize Orchestration (vRO) through a plug-in.
|
N/A (not part of HX license)
Cisco HyperFlex does not provide any end-user self service capabilities of its own.
A self service portal enables end-users to access a portal where they can provision and manage VMs from templates, eliminating administrator requests or activity.
Self-Service functionality can be enabled by leveraging Cisco UCS Director. This requires a separate Cisco license.
|
|
|
|
Maintenance |
|
|
|
|
Unified
All storage related features and functionality are built into the DataCore SANsymphony platform. The consolidation means, that only one product needs to be installed and upgraded and minimal dependencies exist with other software.
Integration with 3rd party systems (e.g. OpenStack, vSphere, System Center) are delivered seperately but are free-of-charge.
|
Unified
All storage related features and functionality are built into the NetApp HCI platform. The consolidation means, that only one core product suite needs to be installed and upgraded and minimal dependencies exist with other software.
|
Partially Distributed
Primarily with regard to backup/restore the HX Data Platform relies on other components that need to be installed and upgraded next to the core vSphere platform. As a result some dependencies exist with other software.
|
|
|
SW Upgrade Execution
Details
|
Rolling Upgrade (1-by-1)
Each SANsymphony update is packaged in an installation Wizard which contains a fully guided upgrade process. The upgrade process checks all system requirements and performs a system health before starting the upgrade process and before moving from one node to the next.
The user can also decide to upgrade a SANsymphony cluster manually and follow all steps that are outlined in the Release Notes.
|
Rolling Upgrade (1-by-1)
NEW
NetApp HCI clustered architecture allows nondisruptive storage software upgrades (Element OS) on a rolling node-by-node basis. Upgrades can be performed during production hours with little to no workload impact.
Element OS 12.2 introduces maintenance mode, which enables taking a storage node offline for
maintenance such as software upgrades or host repairs, while preventing a full sync of all data. If one or more nodes need maintenance, I/O impact can be minimized to the rest of the storage cluster by enabling maintenance mode for those nodes before beginning.
Software upgrades on compute nodes are orchestrated by VMware Update Manager (VUM). This procedure covers driver upgrades.
|
Rolling Upgrade (1-by-1)
Cisco provides GUI-based non-disruptive rolling upgrades of the HX Data Platform as well as the UCS server firmware.
HX 3.5 adds a 1-click upgrade of ESXi along with HX Data Platform (HXDP) and server firmware. This is a true 'one button' workflow approach.
Whats especially noteworthy is the fact that no vMotions are required while executing the software upgrade, which differentiates Cisco HyperFlex from all other platforms.
|
|
|
FW Upgrade Execution
Details
|
Hardware dependent
Some server hardware vendors offer rolling upgrade options with their base software or with a premium software suite. With some other server vendors, BIOS and Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) updated have to be performed manually and 1-by-1.
DataCore provides integrated firmware-control for FC-cards. This means the driver automatically loads the required firmware on demand.
|
Manual (written procedure)
NetApp HCI provides the option to update firmware, including BIOS and BMC, on compute nodes by booting into a firmware update boot media (USB drive, virutal media via BMC). Today, this process is manual and performed on one compute node at a time. NetApp Support can assist administators with performing this task.
On storage nodes, firmware is updated in conjuction with an update of the Element OS software.
|
1-Click
Cisco provides GUI-based non-disruptive rolling upgrades of the HX Data Platform as well as the UCS server firmware.
HX 3.5 adds a 1-click upgrade of ESXi along with HX Data Platform (HXDP) and server firmware. This is a true 'one button' workflow approach.
|
|
|
|
Support |
|
|
|
Single HW/SW Support
Details
|
No
With regard to DataCore SANsymphony as a software-only offering (SDS), DataCore does not offer unified support for the entire solution. This means storage software support (SANsymphony) and server hardware support are separate.
|
Yes
The entire solution is owned by NetApp, so support for all solution components (storage, compute hardware, solution software) can be provided by a single point of contact. Support for the hypervisor is provided by a third-party like the vendor (VMware) or a partner who provides VMware support.
|
Yes
The entire HW/SW solution is owned by Cisco, so support for all solution components can be provided by a single company.
|
|
|
Call-Home Function
Details
|
Partial (HW dependent)
With regard to DataCore SANsymphony as a software-only offering (SDS), DataCore does not offer call-home for the entire solution. This means storage software support (SANsymphony) and server hardware support are separate.
|
Full
NetApps call-home function is called 'Active IQ' and is fully integrated into the platform. The feature is configured automatically during NetApp HCI installation. NetApp HCI telemetry is dispatched to both vCenter and Active IQ.
Active IQ is a proactive and preventative service that continuously monitors and evaluates the health of a customer’s hyperconverged infrastructure.
Active IQ is a basic support service and is included with every support plan.
|
Full
Both software and hardware failures are reported back to the Cisco Support Center. Enhanced auto-support with Smart Call Home integration further enables automated support service requests to be generated for important events. In addition Cisco HyperFlex provides the option to collect support logs through HTTPS.
|
|
|
Predictive Analytics
Details
|
Partial
Capacity Management: DataCore SANsymphony Analysis and Reporting supports depletion monitoring of the capacity, complements pool space threshold warnings by regularly evaluating the rate of capacity consumption and estimating when space will be depleted. The regularly updated projections give you a chance to add more storage to the pool before you run out of storage. It also helps you do a better job of capacity planning with fewer surprises. To help allocate costs, especially in private cloud and hosted cloud services, SANsymphony generates reports quantifying the storage resources consumed by specific hosts or groups of hosts. The reports tally several parameters.
Health Monitoring: A combination of system health checks and access to device S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) alerts help to isolate performance and disk problems before they become serious.
DataCore Insight Services (DIS) offers additional capabilites including log-analytics for predictive failure analysis and actionable insights - including hardware.
DIS also provides predictive capacity trend analysis in order to pro-actively warn about licensing limitations being reached within x days and/or disk pools running out of capacity.
|
Partial (Capacity)
NEW
The NetApp Active IQ provides capacity forecasting for NetApp HCI systems.
Element OS 12.2 introduces periodic health checks on SolidFire appliance drives using SMART health data from the drives. A drive that fails the SMART health check might be close to failure. If a drive fails the SMART health check, a new critical severity cluster fault appears.
|
Partial
The Cisco HX Data Platform does not natively have predictive analytics capabilities, however each Cisco HyperFlex system automatically includes a Cisco Intersight 'Base' edition at no additional cost.
Cisco Intersight contains a recommendation engine that uses the telemetry information (metadata) from Cisco HyperFlex nodes to proactively identify potential issues in customer environments in order to prevent future problems and improve system uptime.
Cisco Intersight 'Base' edition provides access to a portal that delivers centralized monitoring and basic inventory of managed systems, organizational capabilities including tagging and search, and the capability to launch native endpoint management interfaces including Cisco UCS Manager.
Cisco Intersight 'Essentials' edition enables end-users to centralize configuration management through a unified policy engine, determine compliance with the Cisco UCS Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), and initiate firmware updates. The Essentials edition provides a single interface for monitoring, management, and operations, with the capability to launch the virtual keyboard, video, and mouse (vKVM) console directly from Cisco Intersight.
|
|
