Cisco Cisco MDS 9000 4 44-Port 8-Gbps Host-Optimized FC Switching Module 백서
8GFC Deployment
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Another major change over recent years in server technology has been the increased
adoption of server virtualization. With the emergence of VMware ESX, Microsoft
Hyper-V, XenSource, Virtual Iron and others it’s now easier to use one high-powered
physical server to run multiple virtual machines (VMs), each executing their own
application. However, the applications typically virtualized do not require high I/O
bandwidth and therefore, virtualized servers are not prime candidates for 8GFC.
One place where 8GFCs might be justified is with high-end proprietary Unix servers
from HP, IBM, Sun and others. These high-end Unix servers can support I/O throughput
in the range of many hundreds of MB/s requiring the superior bandwidth capabilities
provided by 8GFC. In addition, IBM’s recently introduced Z10 mainframes also can
generate high I/O activity. In this case 8Gbit FICON, based on 8GFC technology, may
provide a boost in performance.
8GFC and applications
As hardware has advanced, applications have also advanced. Application IO demand can
run the gamut of bandwidth needs from a few MB/s to many hundreds of MB/s
depending on the type of application. Regardless of the actual server hardware, only
those applications requiring high bandwidth would benefit from 8GFC performance.
Application I/O requirements are often stated using two measures, I/O operations per
second (IOPs) and I/O bandwidth also called SAN throughput. The more usual metric is
IOPs rate, defined as how many read, and/or write operations per second are required by
an application. On the other hand, I/O bandwidth or storage throughput is defined as the
number of MB/s or gigabytes per second (GB/s) that an application needs to process.
Commonly, an application may need high IOPs but low I/O bandwidth or vice versa.
In a recent Sun Microsystems white paper, application categories were identified and I/O
requirements were specified as follows:
run the gamut of bandwidth needs from a few MB/s to many hundreds of MB/s
depending on the type of application. Regardless of the actual server hardware, only
those applications requiring high bandwidth would benefit from 8GFC performance.
Application I/O requirements are often stated using two measures, I/O operations per
second (IOPs) and I/O bandwidth also called SAN throughput. The more usual metric is
IOPs rate, defined as how many read, and/or write operations per second are required by
an application. On the other hand, I/O bandwidth or storage throughput is defined as the
number of MB/s or gigabytes per second (GB/s) that an application needs to process.
Commonly, an application may need high IOPs but low I/O bandwidth or vice versa.
In a recent Sun Microsystems white paper, application categories were identified and I/O
requirements were specified as follows:
• Transaction processing (OLTP) and Ecommerce applications. These
applications can require the highest IOPs rate with minimal latency but
generally do not need high storage throughput. For OLTP and
Ecommerce applications storage throughput requirements are usually less
than 25 MB/s.
generally do not need high storage throughput. For OLTP and
Ecommerce applications storage throughput requirements are usually less
than 25 MB/s.
• Decision support, data warehousing, and visual database applications.
These applications can require high IOPs and need approximately 75
MB/s of storage throughput to operate.
MB/s of storage throughput to operate.
• Scientific computing and imaging applications. These applications
require medium IOPs and need approximately 125 MB/sec of storage
throughput.
throughput.
• Audio and video media streaming applications. These applications
require low IOPs but depending on compression and the number of