What the H*!! is this GestaltIT Tech Field Day thing?

The crux of the event is this – taking a handful of bloggers and a handful of smaller vendors, locking them in the same room for two days with only blogging and tweeting as their connection to the outside world………. And seeing who comes out alive!

Presentations will be given, demos will be done and most importantly, no holds barred hard questions will be asked, and asked, and asked….. 

In fact, Stephen Foskett the event organiser, and industry legend, told me the other week that he had warned the vendors that the only way he could guarantee that we won’t say they suck, is if they don’t suck!

Why should you care?

Answer: Same reason I care…… It will be one hell of a learning opportunity.

Granted its an invite only event, so we cant all go, but I will be there and will be blogging and tweeting about everything I learn.  So if you want to know more about the technologies and strategies of the companies who will be presenting, then stay tuned this blog and tune in to my Twitter account (@nigelpoulton).

I promise to blog and tweet about everything I learn.  The good, the bad and the ugly.

Proxy

As everybody cant be there in person, feel free to drop me a line via any of the many means by which Im contactable, with any questions you want me to ask the vendors.  If they are good questions then I promise to ask them.

Who will be there – Vendors

Who will be there – Bloggers

Finally

I am genuinely excited about this event. Same kind of excitement I would have if my football team ever made the FA Cup final or England made the World Cup final (well….. may be not quite that excited).  But seriously, this is a landmark event and a great opportunity to learn about some of the less well known vendors and technologies out there.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you would like me to ask…….

Nigel

PS.  Im really looking forward to meeting all in attendance but in particular Xsigo, MDS and 3PAR.

Most will know by now that Im all for converged Ethernet unified fabrics.  Still, Im well aware that some of the vendor offerings are very “Generation 1” and have that version 1.0 feel to them.  Todays launch from Emulex honestly didn’t have that feel to it.  In fact it seems that the products shipping around CEE are getting more and more mature by the day.  So let me take a few minutes to discuss some of the product highlights…..

Architectural Overview

At a high level, the OnceConnect UCNA is a high performance single chip CEE adapter.

Lets qualify that statement…..

High Performance:  Sure, anybody can call their products, especially 10Gbps Ethernet adapters, “high performance”.  However, Emulex can back this up with the fact that this product provides hardware offloads for TCP/IP, iSCSI and FCoE.  This is marketed under the name vEngine (add a “v” to any technology and it automatically sounds cooler). 

Basically this adapter is a workhorse.  It will do the protocol related work for you, freeing up your CPU to do other tasks.  This enables it to be truly high performance, not just for FCoE but also for iSCSI and TCP/IP.  This is great – especially in Hypervisor estates.

Single Chip:  There is a single ASIC on the card that does the above.  No requirement for dedicated ASICs for each protocol.  ASICs also add to the High Performance claim, as ASICs are still very much the way to go with high performance I/O adapters – so called merchant silicon doesn’t quite cut the mustard. 

At the time of writing this article this is the only adapter on the market with all of the above hardware offloads on a single chip.  Although it is only fair to mention that FCoE functionality will be released later this year, but as its already late October, this will be soon.

Pay-As-You-Go and future proofing

The above is all good, but a bit overkill if you don’t need it all just yet.  Well……. You can buy the adapter as a 10Gbps Ethernet adapter, without any of the additional hardware offloads etc, at the pricepoint of a 10Gbps Ethernet adapter.  But in the future, if/when you require iSCSI offload or FCoE then you can easily unlock these features with a license.

Sounds almost perfect for the kind of staged deployments of CEE and FCoE that I think a lot of companies will adopt – Buy future proofed hardware now that allows you to keep your options open.  Deploy the UCNA now as a 10Gbps Ethernet adapter and be in a position to press ahead with FCoE etc in the future without the need to rip and replace your I/O adapters!  What is there not to like about it? 

Remember that we already do this with our switches and storage arrays, and it works well.  Why not apply the same model to I/O adapters.

This is all of course assuming that the progressive licensing doesn’t make the overall cost more expensive!!  From tweeting about this at SNW Europe today this is the biggest concern from fellow tweeters.

Oh and you can run software initiated iSCSI etc over the adapter without licensing the iSCSI offload….. 

All-in-all it seems very flexible to me.
 

NOTE: Of particular interest to me was the fact that the core features, as well as the base cost, of this adapter are 10Gbps Ethernet.  This is very interesting when you consider Emulex are traditionally a Fibre Channel company.  Clearly Emulex are moving with the market here and recognising Ethernet as the dominant technology and building on that.  Emulex also have people on IEEE 802.1 committees such as DCB.  Now that’s what I call not betting against Ethernet.

A must for the Virtual Data Center

In my last post regarding CEE I talked about the importance of CEE and its associated speeds and intelligence in the light of advances being made in Hypervisor based environments. 

I would add to that – features and functions such as those seen on the Emulex OnceConect UCNA are equally as vital….

As the number of VMs per CPU core increases to greater than 10, the I/O and networking components need to keep step.  What is the point of CPU technologies enabling huge numbers of VMs per CPU core if your I/O subsystems can’t keep up!

I think most people can accept the need for FCoE offloads as this is the norm in FC environments – and FCoE is Fibre Channel, just over a different Layer 2.  But….. offloads for iSCSI also become more and more important for iSCSI shops as they also deploy more and more VMs per physical server.
 

RuptureMonkey opinion:  Protocol offloads are absolutely vital to Virtual Data Centers.

Don’t Blink

There is no doubt that the I/O world is changing in front of our very eyes.  Be careful not to blink as you might miss something important.  Technologies such as CEE and protocol offloads (as well as many others) are key. 

Other related stuff

Also mentioned in the launch were technology agreements with IBM regarding 10Gbps Ethernet NICs and 16Gbps native FC HBAs, both for IBM Power Systems.  The 16Gbps FC design win being an industry first!  Technology is marching on and Emulex are certainly up at the front.

This is on top of the recent announcement around the IBM Virtual Fabric for BladeCenter – where Emulex, BLADE Network Technologies and IBM have collaborated to bring to market a very good blade based I/O solution, comparable, and possibly superior to, HP Virtual Connect Flex-10.  I saw IBM Virtual Fabric demonstrated in a VMware environment today and it looks a great technology.  The guys were also kind enough to rip a blade out and let me see inside one of the blades.

Finally, Emulex also announced OneCommand Manager which replaces HBAnywhere, but I havent seen this yet to be able to comment.

Random info:  Apparently World of Warcraft has ~15,000 blade servers. Cool!

Nigel

NOTE: Im using the term CEE. I should probably use DCB, but Im not.  For disambiguation of the interchangeable terms CEE, DCB and DCE see here.
 
 

 
 
Half baked

First up, and in the spirit of honesty, I have to mention that the DCB/CEE related standards are not yet fully baked.  Formal ratification is expected early to mid 2010.  However, enough is defined for major vendors to be shipping the technology.  And more than merely shipping it, some are betting large chunks of their business on it. 
 
 
CEE 10 second overview

Really quickly, CEE is currently a 10Gbps full duplex lossless Ethernet with dynamic prioritisation/bandwidth allocation and some other goodies.

Specifically -

• Priority based Flow Control (802.1Qbb)
• Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS 802.1Qaz)
• Congestion Notification (802.1Qau)

If you know the above technologies, then you will know that they are compelling and pervasive.  If you don’t know them then trust me, they are good.
 
 
The Grand Key

CEE is a key technology of the future.  For starters it is absolutely key to FCoE.  In fact without CEE there would be no FCoE, at least no compelling FCoE.  But CEE is not just for FCoE, its features and benefits can and will increasingly be leveraged by many areas of IT infrastructure…  iSCSI as well as NFS over UDP are just a couple that are commonly talked about.

Point being, FCoE is only one of the many new options made possible by CEE.
 
 
Smarter AND faster

Yes there is non-CEE 10Gbps Ethernet.  For the purposes of this post Im going to refer to it as “Dumb 10Gbps Ethernet” (and Im writing it in pink because its for girls).  This Dumb 10Gbps Ethernet is 10Gbps Ethernet without the goodness of CEE that we just mentioned above.  Sure its cheaper than the CEE version.  But, we all know that cheaper usually isn’t better.  Pay peanuts, get monkeys.   Trust me, in the long run you will want CEE….

Not convinced?  Let me draw a parallel that I hope will help create an “Aha” moment –
 

Just like processor technology, Ethernet can and will get faster and faster and faster.  But, like processor technology, there comes an inflection point – where getting faster and faster, but not smarter and smarter, becomes almost pointless.  The change in focus needs to be towards smarter and not just faster.

Ask yourself the following question – what are the real game changers and compelling aspects of Intel’s current raft of “Nehalem” processors?  Is it the GHz?  Or is it the built-in virtualisation intelligence and all the associated benefits (Im thinking Intel VT….)?

Same goes for Ethernet, speed is not everything, intelligence matters too.  CEE brings both speed and intelligence to the network.

Ask Hypervisor architects and admins if they would like to go back to the old days of non-hypervisor aware CPUs.  Im pretty sure they will tell you where to go.  Same goes, and will go, for people deploying and using CEE.  Once bitten forever smitten.
 

RupturedMonkey statement: “CEE brings intelligence to the network.”

 
 
Hubs versus Switches

In my opinion, the whole Dumb 10Gbps Ethernet versus CEE smacks of the old Hubs .vs. Switches debate of days gone bye. 

Is there anybody wishing they still deployed hubs at the centre of their networks?  No.

Point being…. CEE is here and its changing the game. 
 
 
Cable once and most of most

All of a sudden the possibility of cable once is a reality.  CEE has the capability to run most, if not all, of most companies portfolio of network traffic over a single cable.  But more than that – over a single PCIe card and to single edge switch port.  Who wouldn’t want that? 

But there’s even more – it will simplify changes and network management, as well as bring down the cost of power, cooling and all of that jazz too!
 
 
Unabridged opinions and conclusions

So if you didn’t know previously, you know now – Im liking the look of this whole converged network unified fabric thing.  I see CEE as an essential building block of every modern Data Centre!

So with that, let me finish with a word or two to the naysayers and FUD-slingers –
 

Do yourselves a favour and don’t waste your time and energy trying to slow the unstoppable forward march of technology.  Believe me, it will roll right over you like a steamroller over a cockroach rat something tiny and insignificant   Where would Intel, AMD or any of the major server vendors be if they had resisted the march of VMware?  After all, they would all ship more units if every server image required dedicated hardware…..  Short answer is, they would be in a world of hurt.

RupturedMonkey advice: Don’t get left behind… or rolled over by a steamroller.

Its a brave new world out there, and we as IT pro's as well, as the enabling technologies, need to move with the times.  CEE is doing just that – moving things forward. 

By all means, choose to limp forward with bog standard 10Gbps Ethernet “sans” the goodies of DCB/CEE.  If you do, then good luck to you, but dont look on enviously as the rest of us race forward into the light.

Nigel

Please feel free to share your thoughts below. You can also follow me on Twitter @nigelpoulton.  I only talk about storage and technology and the conversation is often very interesting.

• Over 1,200 servers
• 500 EVA arrays (although there didn't seem quite that many from where I was looking*)
• Over 20PB storage

Also, based on those numbers, way over 1,000 fabric ports.  As Calvin puts it just before we enter the room "its your momas data centre".
 

* I should point out that the far end of the lab was off limits to us, and no I didn't try and get a sneak peak.  From memory the off limits area was about 4 or 5 rows deep.  More than that I cannot say.

So the video below is an exclusive peak into the bowels of a major storage platforms support lab environment.  May I suggest that if you dont like this video then you dont like storage……………………… or you are a comptetitor

Enjoy the footage.

 
Although video footage is not quite the same as being there in person, I hope you get a glimpse of what an impressive facility this is and appreciate exactly what goes into delivering one of the best storage platforms in the world (and for the record Ive always been a fan of the EVA). 

For further written analysis and some great stills, I recommend you pop over to Ray Lucchesi's writeup.

Two final points –
 

1. This is not the only EVA testing facility HP have.  On our first, non-videod tour, Tony mentioned at least one other facility, where they do "level 1 testing".
2. Sadly there was no SSD available for us to shoot.  But remember that we werent allowed to view the entire facility, so may be they had some in the "off limits" area at the back of the lab??

I was impressed!  Thanks again to Calvin and the folks at HP for allowing us in with the cameras so we can share with everyone else – hope you enjoyed it.

Finally, for the record, the EVA currently supports up to 8 SSDs.

Nigel
 

Anyway, the interesting thing from my point of view is that it was just last week that I cheekily said to somebody at HP, via email, that I thought HP should buy Brocade.  So with the current rumour in mind I might as well take a minute to explain why I think this would be a great move, not only for HP and Brocade, but also the wider industry……

First up, there is no doubt that there is a huge push towards convergence in the industry.  One topic Im thinking a lot about at the moment is the converged network (aka unified fabric) bringing together the likes of IP, iSCSI, FC and more, all on to the same cable, PCI adapter, switch ports…..  In this area Cisco are flexing their muscle and driving much of both the changes as well as leading the standards bodies.  Brocade and others are at the table, especially in the designing of the standards etc, but struggle to compete with the might of Cisco when it comes to getting products to market and gaining market share.

Being Brutally Honest.

Question 1: Is it realistic to expect Brocade to compete with Cisco in the unified fabric arena?

My thoughts are heavily influenced by the fact that I have never seen a Brocade Foundry switch (IP) out in the wild.  Now if Ive never seen one in my professional life, and Ive seen hundreds and hundreds of Cisco switches, I have to wonder whether they can ever compete.

Sure Brocade have a great FC capabilities and are very strong in that area of the market.  But they are relatively poor in the IP arena. 

Honest answer – Probably not good enough to compete with Cisco.

Question 2: Is it realistic to expect HP to compete with Cisco, based solely on their existing portfolio in ProCurve?

While I HAVE seen HP ProCurve switches in the wild, I have not seen many. 

Based on the way things have gone and are going in IP networking, and the fact that HP ProCurve does not offer FC, FCoE or DCB then they will probably struggle to compete with Cisco.

Interestingly though, on the unified fabric strengths and weaknesses comparison chart, HP  ProCurve is almost the exact opposite of Brocade – it has relatively good Ethernet/IP capabilities but not FC or FCoE.  When you compare them, its almost as if they are screaming out to be married up.

Introducing the HP ProCade platform

Bring the two together though – the unquestioned market leading capabilities of Brocade in FC and FCoE, and the number 2 player in the IP networking space, merge the technologies together and suddenly a potential challenger to Cisco materialises. 

Im calling it HP ProCade!

May be the HP ProCade Unified Network System (HP PUNS)!  OK may be not, but ProCade definitely has potential.
 

NOTE: Based on existing market share, and the fact that it would be HP doing the buying (I must re-iterate that this is 110% pure speculation) and Brocade doing the dancing, I would expect ProCurve to win over Foundry.

Granted takeovers and technology mergers take time (dont even ask about the Oracle SUN thing which is seeing the SUN side of the bargain destroyed while the European competition people drag their heels) and of course it would not be easy – but then again not many things in life really worth while are easy.  But I think for the industry this would be extremely worthwhile.  Competition is is what drives the industry forward.

Sadly, aside from this potential, I dont see any other serious challenge to Cisco.

Interestingly though, Im willing to bet that Cisco would be worried if HP were to buy Brocade.  Some of the guys on Twitter seem to be coming across as if they feel HP purchasing Brocade would pose a threat to Cisco.  At least far more likely to threaten than anything else on the table at the moment.

In summary, I would LOVE to see HP and Brocade come together and I think it would really give Cisco something to think about.  And for any Brocaders out there reading this, I think HP StorageWorks is in good hands, and I dont think being taken over by HP would be the worst thing in the world.  Im sure we'd all love Brocade to stay independant, but in order to survive and live on and challenge, may be a change is needed!

Thoughts and comments encouraged.

Nigel

I have to say that the event was a rip roaring success and I would highly recommend other vendors do the likewise.  Aside from the excellent people pulling it all together in the background, the event comprised several very influential bloggers, absolutely top notch HP technical and product management staff……. oh and me there to make up the numbers
 

The workshops and discussions will no doubt spawn several blog posts in the near future, including exclusive video footage of a tour round the HP EVA test lab in Colorado Springs (the lab where firmware and software testing takes place) and it is pretty impressive – watch this space!

HP don’t ‘get’ storage

Prior to the event I admit that I felt the HP storage portfolio was bloated and somewhat chaotic – and this despite the fact that I am well versed in two of their more established products – EVA and XP.  I also had a personal opinion, which I know is shared by others, that the StorageWorks group at HP were the poor relation in a large and otherwise wealthy family.  My opinion was that HP didn’t really ‘get’ storage – at least not like EMC or HDS ‘get’ storage.

Actually HP do ‘get’ storage

If I had to choose one thing that I took away from the event, it would be that HP actually do get storage.  They have some seriously good products and some top notch people behind it all.  It was actually a pleasure playing with the kit (really slick interfaces…) and having access to such open, honest and technically gifted people.  I can’t stress enough the open and honest way in which everybody came across.  John Obeto mentioned to me what a breath of fresh air it was compared to the usual marketing folk that are put in front of crowds like us – couldn’t agree more.

So if the last two days are anything to go by, and I think they are, HP storage is in very good hands.  Oh and of course this is all without a certain Mr Dave Donatelli.  So when Dave is finally allowed to get involved with storage at HP – I think things will only get better!
 
Of course whether HP can convince the market and gear up their sales force to make it happen, only time will tell.  However, if you place any value on my opinion, you could do a lot worse than check out some of the HP storage offerings.  And that’s an honest opinion, not just because I had a good time.  I have no issues in pulling HP up if I feel its needed – read on to find one example……..

In future posts I will dig deeper into some of the technical aspects, but for now, the products that I was most impressed with and interested in were –
 

• HP LeftHand
• HP SVSP
• HP EVA

HP do a ton more than those 3 products listed above, and I still think they may have have too many, but for me those listed above are the highlights.

The Lost Symbol

One notable absentee, and therefore an area that remains somewhat a mystery, was Networking.  Nobody present from the networking group, no labs and not technical discussion – except for that which we brought up from the floor. 

Obviously we had limited time there and couldn’t possibly cover everything HP do, but with so many slides and presentations on “Data Centre Convergence”, it was a shame that networking wasn’t covered.  After all, there can be no doubt that changes in the network infrastructure are absolutely key to Data Centre Convergence.  May be one for a future similar event?

On the topic of the openness and honesty of the whole event, the one area where I wondered if I was fobbed off was around the HP ProCurve product range and whether it had support for lossless 10Gbps CEE (802.3Qbb etc…..).  The answer I got was “I should know the answer to that but I don’t, sorry”, which to me was as good as “No”.  However, I may be doing the guy a disservice – after all he was a ProLiant guy and very very good at that but his forte was not ProCurve. 
 

BTW: I was pretty sure the answer to my question is “No” before I asked but thought I would try and generate some discussion around the topic.

In a nutshell – mostly good, some very interesting products and a unique glimpse into the beating heart of the HP StorageWorks division.

Watch this space for technical dives into some of the technologies as well as the video tour of the EVA test lab once Ive edited it and uploaded to the web.

Nigel

You can follow me on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/nigel poulton @nigelpoulton.  I only ever talk about storage and related technologies.

I am also available as a consultant and can be reached at nigelATrupturedmonkeyDOTcom

PS  The technical guys who were invited to and attended the event were (in alphabetical order) –

Rich Brambley  (@rbrambley) http://vmetc.com
Stephen Foskett (@sfoskett)  http://blog.fosketts.net
Robin Harris  (@StorageMojo) http://storagemojo.com
Greg Knieriemen (@Knieriemen)  http://www.storagemonkeys.com
Ray Lucchesi (@RayLucchesi) http://silvertonconsulting.com/blog/ 
John Obeto (@JohnObeto) http://absolutevista.com
Frank Owen (@fowen)  http://techvirtuoso.com
Devang Panchigar  (@StorageNerve)  http://storagenerve.com
Simon Seagrave (@kiwi_Si) http://www.techhead.co.uk
Me (@nigelpoulton)  http://blogs.rupturedmonkey.com

They are all worth checking and following on Twitter if you do the Twitter thing…..

Granted, to some people this will be teling you how to suck eggs, but for others clearly not!  So………. native FC Class 3 networks achieve reliable frame delivery/lossless behaviour through the use of a link layer flow control mechanism called buffer-to-buffer credits (aka BB_Credits) 

NOTE:  Class 3, in FC parlance, basically refers to a connectionless network without acknowledgements.

Class 3 is the most common class of service in todays FC SANs.  It is connectionless without notification – somewhat similar to UDP in LAN environments.  However, and very importantly, if a SAN is well designed and quality components and installation practices used, the lack of acknowledgements is not an issue – in fact it’s actually a bonus.  Why have an ACK related overhead when the network does not lose frames.

At a high level, the FC BB_Credit scheme works on the principle that a sender cannot send frames unless it explicitly knows that the receiver is able to receive and process it.  This behaviour ensures that congestion does not arise and therefore frames will not be discarded.  See the diagram below –

NOTE:  I should point out at this stage that link layer flow control in Enhanced Ethernet networks is based on PFC (802.3Qbb) and not BB_Credits – see my previous post here.  This is one of a small number of differences between FCoE and FC, and as a result BB_Credits are not part of the FLOGI process in FCoE networks.

The FC BB_Credit system is a hop-by-hop system, it has no notion of an end-to-end connection and only works between N_Ports and F_Ports and not between two N_Ports.

Each device on a native FC network establishes its initial BB_Credit pool with the fabric switch that it logs in to (FLOGI).  E.g. An HBA that is plugged in to the fabric and establishes an initial BB_Credit pool with the switch port it logs in to.  Each BB_Credit then represents a single frame that the HBA is able to send.  Correspondingly, each time a frame is sent, the sender must decrease the number of BB_Credits in its pool by 1. 

The number of BB_Credits a device can issue to connected devices is based on how many buffers they have (HBAs and switch ports have physical buffers, send buffers and receive buffers).  More buffers = more credits.  However, more buffers also = more ££$$.

At the other end, receivers transmit R_RDY primitive signals to notify senders of the availability of receive buffers.  This is the means by which senders replenish their BB_Credits.

If senders only had 1 buffer credit and had to wait for that to be replenished after every transmit, this would lead to horrendously low link utilisation.  To more efficiently move data on the FC SAN, multiple frames are sent consecutively so that senders do not have to wait for their pool to be replenished after every frame sent. 

Data can be sent on the transmit line and credits replenished, via R_RDY primitives, on the receive line in full duplex fashion.

And FCoE?

Although the FC Class 3 buffer credit system is different to Priority based Flow Control (PFC) in Enhanced Ethernet and used by FCoE, the end result is essentially the same – a lossless network!  In fact, if the truth be known, the FCoE system of using PFC is actually superior

It appears that people have a natural tendency, especially FC folks, to associate Ethernet with congestions and routinely discarded packets.  But such comments and feelings are referring to your grandmothers Ethernet, and we need to come to understand that FCoE networks are not built on your grandmothers Ethernet, they are built on Data Centre Ethernet/Converged Enhanced Ethernet – which is another beast altogether.  In fact I may go so far as to suggest that if they have Ethernet in heaven it will be DCE/CEE!

Nigel

You can follow me on Twitter (I only talk about storage and virtualisation) –
http://www.twitter.com/nigelpoulton – or @nigelpoulton 

You can also reach me at nigel at rupturedmonkey dot com – Im available to hire as a freelance consultant

Its an interview with Sr Director of IT at the University of Arizona, where they have had Cisco Nexus 5000 kit installed for nearly a year and a half and running FCoE in production.  Towards the end of the video they promise to cover off some FCoE myths too – and there are plenty of them around!!

Promises to be interesting.  If you cant make the live broadcast then it should be available as playback after the event.  If its of interest I’ll keep the link up, if not then in a day or two this post will have mysteriously disappeared in the ether, never to be seen again

The following link has been updated.  Cisco had some technical difficulties and the old link did not work.  This one does!  This post refers to the video featuring Derek Masseth.  Apologies for the old broken link.

http://tools.cisco.com/cmn/jsp/index.jsp?id=92757 

Nigel

You can follow me on Twitter (I only talk about storage and virtualisation) –
http://www.twitter.com/nigelpoulton – or @nigelpoulton 

You can also reach me at nigel at rupturedmonkey dot com – Im available to hire as a consultant for speaking, writing and consulting

Below are some notes to the above videos (especially for those in quiet offices who can’t watch the video yet).

I posted the video in response to Marc Farleys recent video and comments on Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning, as well as other comments that have been made in blogs and on twitter etc….. All of these comments have been slating HDP for being chubby and the likes. Hopefully this post and the video will help set the record straight.

On the topic of HDP being chubby. While I accept that the HDP extent (page) size of 42MB is by far the largest of all the major vendors, I do not think this is necessarily all bad. For a start it maps perfectly with the internal workings of the USP V and VM. Secondly I think there is more metadata overhead the smaller your extent size – internal tables need to be larger and then there’s metadata for replication, snapshots and the likes. The smaller your extent size, the more metatada required. May be that’s OK on a midrange box that won’t be expected to address large amounts of storage and have lots of copy services running in the background……. I just don’t think its as simple as saying “ho ho ho look at Hitachi’s huge allocation unit, that must be lazy coding from the engineers”.

Yes I know that a smaller extent might be more thin friendly, but how many enterprise customers are deploying this for the “thin” oversubscription benefits?

Oh and yes there are situations where two small writes to the same HDP volume will require two separate pages. However, this is not always the case and often not.

See this link for what I’ve written in the past regarding how perfectly aligned 42MB is with the internal structures of the USP V.

Then there’s Zero Page Reclaim. Suggesting that it’s an apology rather than a feature made me smile. I doubt anybody would take such a comment seriously, but I thought it created an opportunity to talk about it again. 

I’m pretty sure that Hitachi is the only vendor to offer it as GA. I’ve seen it and know that it works. Others talk about it but that’s about it (I understand they may be waiting for standards like TRIM). ZPR is a really great feature that allows you to reclaim unused capacity that can be used to offset future capacity purchases. Pretty good during times like these where purse strings are tightly controlled.

In the video I don’t even mention things like dynamic volume expansion or automatic dynamic relevelling etc. But put all of these together and Hitachi has a well stocked Dynamic Provisioning portfolio that stands up against any other vendors.

A few points about the video –

• Yes that’s me – sorry I didn’t have a shave first.
• Why a field of cows? Marc did his video in front of a field of cows so I thought it appropriate I respond like for like
• Why two videos? It was shot as a single video but I’ve never done this before and at 14 minutes was too long for YouTube as a single video
• Why don’t I work for HDS or HP or someone like that? Your guess is as good as mine. I do have to remind myself occasionally that I don’t actually work for HDS
• Yes I know its a bit pants compared to Marcs many videos
  

Questions and comments always welcome.