Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 - backup deduplication system
As our research shows, even high reliability systems allow you to avoid only 74% of downtime, about 20% of which (most often caused by viruses, software errors, administrators or users) are accompanied by data loss. In this regard, the presence of a backup system is a necessary element of the IT infrastructure of any enterprise.
There is a constant increase in the volume of data that needs to be backed up, caused by the accumulation of information, an increase in the number of servers and other computing devices, and an increase in the number of users. The consequence of this process is a lack of space on existing storage systems and an increase in the cost of backup storage. And the backup window itself is very limited and tends to narrow: more and more often, employees get the opportunity to work from home, at a convenient time for them, the geography of the company’s work is becoming wider.
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Thus, a very sharp and relevant question arises: on what to store this data? Currently, there are two main types of end devices in storage systems, these are hard drives and tapes. Their main advantages and disadvantages are given in the table below:
Given the above features, the best solution is to back up to disks with deduplication and the possibility of subsequent copying to tape. It is this solution, designed for small and medium-sized businesses, and is Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4, which is intended for use in infrastructures, where the daily backup does not exceed 50 TB per day.
The deduplication process in this complete Fujitsu solution is as follows. First, the data is divided into blocks of variable length, based on data-dependent separators:
After that, each unique block is assigned its own unique signature and a special signature list is compiled, which contains a list of all unique blocks, as well as their sequence in the original data. Next, the unique blocks and signature sheets are recorded on hard disks with subsequent compression (archiving) of the recorded data. Thus, the required disk space for data storage can sometimes be reduced by an impressive 95%.
There are two models ETERNUS CS800 S4 Entry and Scale. Both models are complete solutions and are delivered on an “all inclusive” basis. This means that they do not require the purchase of any additional licenses. In particular, the basic configuration includes the following functionality:
The Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 model includes one Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 server with one Intel Xeon processor with 6 processing cores and Hyper-Threading technology, 64 GB of RAM, 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and has special software based on Linux. The operating system uses 2 SAS disks of 15,000 r / m and a capacity of 300 GB. The storage system uses 14 SATA disks configured in 2 groups of RAID6 with 7 disks (RAID6 requires 2 disks for checksums). Depending on the modification, disks with a capacity of 500 GB or 1 TB are installed; their usable storage capacity is 4.8 TB and 9.8 TB, respectively.
In addition, the following I / O ports can additionally be installed: 2 x 10 GB Ethernet or 2 x 8 GB Fiber Channel.
The Scale model, unlike Entry, is more flexible and has wide expansion options. It consists of a computational part, which includes the Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 server (2x Intel Xeon 8 cores / 12 threads, 128 GB memory capacity), and ETERNUS DX80 S2 disk storage.
Server:
The main module of the DX80 S2:
DX80S2 expansion module:
The ETERNUS CS800 S4 Scale solution includes two types of ETERNUS DX80 S2 modules: the main one (with two controllers) and additional plug-ins. Each such module has 12 1, 2 or 3 TB SAS 3.5 ″ drives. These disks are grouped into RAID 6 groups of 6 disks (4 + 2), so the effective capacity of each storage module is 8, 16, or 24 TB, depending on the size of the disks used. The basic package includes 1 main module with the ability to install up to 9 expansion modules. Then the maximum amount of data that can be stored on the ETERNUS CS800 S4 Scale is 80 TB for modules with 1 TB drives, 160 TB for 2 TB drives and 240 TB for 3 TB drives. 12 disks of one of the ETERNUS DX80 S2 expansion modules can be used as Hot Spare disks, but then the maximum storage capacity will decrease to 72/144/216 TB, respectively.
In addition, 14 SAS 2.5 "disks with a capacity of 450 GB are installed in the main ETERNUS CS800 S4 Scale server. All of them are combined into 7 RAID1 groups of 2 disks. One of them has an operating system (a special version of Linux), the rest are used for backup metadata storage .
More clearly information about the effective capacity of the Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 is presented in the following table:
As for the input / output system of the Scale model, in the basic configuration it is represented by three Gigabit Ethernet ports. In fact, there are 5 ports, as well as in the Entry version, but 2 of them are used to connect the main ETERNUS DX80 S2 module (used for management and monitoring, the SAS interface is used for data transfer) and are not available for connecting to the enterprise network.
As options for I / O ports for this model, Etherntet 4x10 GB and 8x1GB modules are offered, as well as a 4x8GB Fiber Channel module. Note that all options are set directly at the factory.
Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 storage systems can be connected to an enterprise infrastructure using four protocols - NFS, CIFS, OST and VTL. Depending on the protocol used, CS800 acts as a Network Attached Storage (NAS), Vurtual Tape Storage or Open Storage.
Backup to NAS CS800 is carried out using NFS and CIFS protocols.
The CIFS (Common Internet File System) protocol provides access to files hosted on remote devices in a Windows environment. Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 supports user authentication through both ACL (Access Control Lists) and ADS (Active Directory Services).
The Network File System (NFS) protocol was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and allows all network users to access shared files stored on computers of various types. NFS provides access to shared files through an interface called the Virtual File System (VFS), which runs on top of TCP / IP. In the case of using this protocol, users can manage shared files as if they were stored on a local hard disk. This protocol is commonly used on UNIX and Linux networks, but can also be used with Windows networks.
The Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 solution can be used in an enterprise network as a Virtual Tape Library (VTL). In this case, its disk space for backup applications is represented as LTO or DLT tape cartridges. Thus, data is stored on hard disks through an interface that looks like a tape library with cartridges, drives, and a cartridge changer. And the ability to configure multiple VTL interfaces of various types on ETERNUS CS800 S4 at once makes it easy to integrate it into an existing data processing environment.
In this mode, the CS800 S4 solution can emulate various tape drives, including IBM and HP models (LTO-1, LTO-2, LTO-3, LTO-4 or LTO-5), as well as emulate Fujitsu CS-TL tape libraries, ADIC Scalar i2000 and ADIC Scalar i500.
Also in the enterprise network, Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 can be represented as a storage server for a Symantec NetBackup or Backup Exec media server using a special protocol from Symantec. In this case, the storage server consists of logical storage units (LSU), which are similar to directories in the NAS or tape cartridges in the VTL.
To work in this mode, you must have Symantec NetBackup 6.5.3 (or later) or Symantec Backup Exec 2010 (or later) and an OST plug-in on the media server. In this case, the so-called SPEED mode is used, which is characterized by distributed deduplication. Those. the data is deduplicated on the media server, after which only unique data blocks are copied to the ETERNUS CS800 S4, thereby reducing the load on the network and speeding up the backup process.
Often there may be a situation where the data must be stored on a removable medium for long-term storage. In this case, the Path-to-Tape (PTT) functionality will be very useful. It allows you to save data stored on Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 to tape libraries that are connected to it via the FC port. In this case, copying takes place directly from the CS800 to tape libraries without the need to use any additional device: data is sent to the tape in its original form. Such a backup allows, if necessary, to restore information from the tapes without the participation of CS800 S4. Note that PTT supports a number of backup applications, including:
The considered solution has wide replication capabilities. So you can use the Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 in your remote branch or branch offices (supports “one-to-one” replication) to create a single backup storage in the central branch. At the same time replication is easily configured, and the transmitted data is encrypted. It is important that already deduplicated and compressed data will be transferred between storage systems in different branches. traffic volume will be significantly reduced, or, alternatively, it will be possible to use a data channel with a lower speed.
The Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 solution is also compatible with CommVault Simpana software. In this case, the Simpana Media Agent is installed directly on the solution considered in this article.
This allows the server client to write data directly to the CS800 S4 without involving the Simpana server in the process, thereby reducing the load on the network. It also supports copying data to tape and restoring it from tape to another media agent without being involved in the ETERNUS CS800 S4 process. Also, the Simpana Media Agent installed on the CS800 S4 supports replication of data with similar devices.
The above solution Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 backs up to hard drives with deduplication function. The deduplication process used in them reduces the required disk capacity for data storage to 95% of their original size. At the same time, ETERNUS CS800 S4 has the highest scalability and performance, has wide functionality, which allows it to be used to support a wide range of IT environments now and in the future.
There is a constant increase in the volume of data that needs to be backed up, caused by the accumulation of information, an increase in the number of servers and other computing devices, and an increase in the number of users. The consequence of this process is a lack of space on existing storage systems and an increase in the cost of backup storage. And the backup window itself is very limited and tends to narrow: more and more often, employees get the opportunity to work from home, at a convenient time for them, the geography of the company’s work is becoming wider.
')
Thus, a very sharp and relevant question arises: on what to store this data? Currently, there are two main types of end devices in storage systems, these are hard drives and tapes. Their main advantages and disadvantages are given in the table below:
Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 Deduplication Backup System
Given the above features, the best solution is to back up to disks with deduplication and the possibility of subsequent copying to tape. It is this solution, designed for small and medium-sized businesses, and is Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4, which is intended for use in infrastructures, where the daily backup does not exceed 50 TB per day.
Deduplication in ETERNUS CS800 S4
The deduplication process in this complete Fujitsu solution is as follows. First, the data is divided into blocks of variable length, based on data-dependent separators:
After that, each unique block is assigned its own unique signature and a special signature list is compiled, which contains a list of all unique blocks, as well as their sequence in the original data. Next, the unique blocks and signature sheets are recorded on hard disks with subsequent compression (archiving) of the recorded data. Thus, the required disk space for data storage can sometimes be reduced by an impressive 95%.
ETERNUS CS800 S4 Entry and Scale Models
There are two models ETERNUS CS800 S4 Entry and Scale. Both models are complete solutions and are delivered on an “all inclusive” basis. This means that they do not require the purchase of any additional licenses. In particular, the basic configuration includes the following functionality:
- NAS (CIFS / NFS);
- VTL interface;
- OST (Symantec OpenStorage);
- Deduplication is enabled;
- Replication is enabled;
- Path to Tape license is included.
The Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 model includes one Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 server with one Intel Xeon processor with 6 processing cores and Hyper-Threading technology, 64 GB of RAM, 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and has special software based on Linux. The operating system uses 2 SAS disks of 15,000 r / m and a capacity of 300 GB. The storage system uses 14 SATA disks configured in 2 groups of RAID6 with 7 disks (RAID6 requires 2 disks for checksums). Depending on the modification, disks with a capacity of 500 GB or 1 TB are installed; their usable storage capacity is 4.8 TB and 9.8 TB, respectively.
In addition, the following I / O ports can additionally be installed: 2 x 10 GB Ethernet or 2 x 8 GB Fiber Channel.
The Scale model, unlike Entry, is more flexible and has wide expansion options. It consists of a computational part, which includes the Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 S7 server (2x Intel Xeon 8 cores / 12 threads, 128 GB memory capacity), and ETERNUS DX80 S2 disk storage.
Server:
The main module of the DX80 S2:
DX80S2 expansion module:
The ETERNUS CS800 S4 Scale solution includes two types of ETERNUS DX80 S2 modules: the main one (with two controllers) and additional plug-ins. Each such module has 12 1, 2 or 3 TB SAS 3.5 ″ drives. These disks are grouped into RAID 6 groups of 6 disks (4 + 2), so the effective capacity of each storage module is 8, 16, or 24 TB, depending on the size of the disks used. The basic package includes 1 main module with the ability to install up to 9 expansion modules. Then the maximum amount of data that can be stored on the ETERNUS CS800 S4 Scale is 80 TB for modules with 1 TB drives, 160 TB for 2 TB drives and 240 TB for 3 TB drives. 12 disks of one of the ETERNUS DX80 S2 expansion modules can be used as Hot Spare disks, but then the maximum storage capacity will decrease to 72/144/216 TB, respectively.
In addition, 14 SAS 2.5 "disks with a capacity of 450 GB are installed in the main ETERNUS CS800 S4 Scale server. All of them are combined into 7 RAID1 groups of 2 disks. One of them has an operating system (a special version of Linux), the rest are used for backup metadata storage .
More clearly information about the effective capacity of the Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 is presented in the following table:
As for the input / output system of the Scale model, in the basic configuration it is represented by three Gigabit Ethernet ports. In fact, there are 5 ports, as well as in the Entry version, but 2 of them are used to connect the main ETERNUS DX80 S2 module (used for management and monitoring, the SAS interface is used for data transfer) and are not available for connecting to the enterprise network.
As options for I / O ports for this model, Etherntet 4x10 GB and 8x1GB modules are offered, as well as a 4x8GB Fiber Channel module. Note that all options are set directly at the factory.
Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 usage scenarios
Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 storage systems can be connected to an enterprise infrastructure using four protocols - NFS, CIFS, OST and VTL. Depending on the protocol used, CS800 acts as a Network Attached Storage (NAS), Vurtual Tape Storage or Open Storage.
Network attached storage
Backup to NAS CS800 is carried out using NFS and CIFS protocols.
The CIFS (Common Internet File System) protocol provides access to files hosted on remote devices in a Windows environment. Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 supports user authentication through both ACL (Access Control Lists) and ADS (Active Directory Services).
The Network File System (NFS) protocol was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and allows all network users to access shared files stored on computers of various types. NFS provides access to shared files through an interface called the Virtual File System (VFS), which runs on top of TCP / IP. In the case of using this protocol, users can manage shared files as if they were stored on a local hard disk. This protocol is commonly used on UNIX and Linux networks, but can also be used with Windows networks.
Virtual tape storage
The Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 solution can be used in an enterprise network as a Virtual Tape Library (VTL). In this case, its disk space for backup applications is represented as LTO or DLT tape cartridges. Thus, data is stored on hard disks through an interface that looks like a tape library with cartridges, drives, and a cartridge changer. And the ability to configure multiple VTL interfaces of various types on ETERNUS CS800 S4 at once makes it easy to integrate it into an existing data processing environment.
In this mode, the CS800 S4 solution can emulate various tape drives, including IBM and HP models (LTO-1, LTO-2, LTO-3, LTO-4 or LTO-5), as well as emulate Fujitsu CS-TL tape libraries, ADIC Scalar i2000 and ADIC Scalar i500.
Open storage
Also in the enterprise network, Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 can be represented as a storage server for a Symantec NetBackup or Backup Exec media server using a special protocol from Symantec. In this case, the storage server consists of logical storage units (LSU), which are similar to directories in the NAS or tape cartridges in the VTL.
To work in this mode, you must have Symantec NetBackup 6.5.3 (or later) or Symantec Backup Exec 2010 (or later) and an OST plug-in on the media server. In this case, the so-called SPEED mode is used, which is characterized by distributed deduplication. Those. the data is deduplicated on the media server, after which only unique data blocks are copied to the ETERNUS CS800 S4, thereby reducing the load on the network and speeding up the backup process.
Path-to-tape
Often there may be a situation where the data must be stored on a removable medium for long-term storage. In this case, the Path-to-Tape (PTT) functionality will be very useful. It allows you to save data stored on Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 to tape libraries that are connected to it via the FC port. In this case, copying takes place directly from the CS800 to tape libraries without the need to use any additional device: data is sent to the tape in its original form. Such a backup allows, if necessary, to restore information from the tapes without the participation of CS800 S4. Note that PTT supports a number of backup applications, including:
- Symantec NetBackup
- Symantec Backup Exec
- Secure Backup Oracle
- Atempo Time Navigator
- EMC Networker
Replication
The considered solution has wide replication capabilities. So you can use the Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 in your remote branch or branch offices (supports “one-to-one” replication) to create a single backup storage in the central branch. At the same time replication is easily configured, and the transmitted data is encrypted. It is important that already deduplicated and compressed data will be transferred between storage systems in different branches. traffic volume will be significantly reduced, or, alternatively, it will be possible to use a data channel with a lower speed.
Simpana Media Agent
The Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 solution is also compatible with CommVault Simpana software. In this case, the Simpana Media Agent is installed directly on the solution considered in this article.
This allows the server client to write data directly to the CS800 S4 without involving the Simpana server in the process, thereby reducing the load on the network. It also supports copying data to tape and restoring it from tape to another media agent without being involved in the ETERNUS CS800 S4 process. Also, the Simpana Media Agent installed on the CS800 S4 supports replication of data with similar devices.
Conclusion
The above solution Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S4 backs up to hard drives with deduplication function. The deduplication process used in them reduces the required disk capacity for data storage to 95% of their original size. At the same time, ETERNUS CS800 S4 has the highest scalability and performance, has wide functionality, which allows it to be used to support a wide range of IT environments now and in the future.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/205352/
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