"Countdown by simple means - or the rule" 3-2-1 "for disk storages"
Good day, dear readers!
Long time I did not write on Habré - and there was no time, and there were not too many thoughts either ... But thoughts are a dynamic flow, if there is something “at the entrance”, then there will be a “way out”. And now, watching the trends in IT, looking around, we have thoughts: all of us, infrastructure engineers, are slowly and truly rolling in Software Defined Computing, i.e. The paradigm of proprietary iron is replaced by software solutions on top of standard components. We have SDN (Software Defined Networking), SDS (Software Defined Storage), and SDC is essentially an abstraction based on a hypervisor or containerization ...
Today I would like to touch on SDS solutions - and already beyond the limits of Microsoft solutions, I would like to look at third-party partner solutions and see if there is life there at all ... Immediately draw your attention to the fact that I will be telling the story of the Windows world out of old habit and a larger area of ​​expertise than the red-eye story ... (smile)
The first thing that occurred to me was StarWind. I remember the StarWind software solutions well since the days of Windows Server 2003 (- kingdom is binary), then it was a simple and effective way to make inexpensive block storage from a simple server with hard disks, rather than muddle-buy an expensive storage ... Everything flows, everything changes - do not enter the same river twice. This functionality eventually appeared in Windows Server itself, and now the era of clouds is in the yard, and the cloud always stretches and stretches over the infrastructure - and I remembered StarWind, I think: “I'll see the dike, maybe they have something interesting? .. "And I did not lose, the solution is really interesting and his name is StarWind Virtual SAN.
')
What is StarWind Virtual SAN? Well, as you might guess, this is a software data storage system (DSS), which is deployed on the basis of a standard x86 computer / server. Obvious plus solutions are that the components, in this case hard drives, are standard pieces of iron available on the market. And this means that you can analyze the current needs for performance and fill the Wirth-SHD with those disks that you need: you want - good old HDD spindles, you want - fast and reliable SDD, you want - mix. And ultimately, such a solution will most closely match the organization’s business objectives, and by using standard, non-proprietary components, it will significantly and significantly reduce the cost of the solution in comparison with a standard iron storage system from the vendor. And what is important, due to the use of such a solution, we avoid the situation with a vendor lock-in, which can often bring problems for a business. Trends in the market are such that iron companies are slowly being blown away and disappearing - and the business is unlikely to be happy that the data storage system on which its data is no longer maintained or does not exist, and pulling out or transferring data can be a big problem and a threat to business. Yes, and business is a different size, not every company can afford an expensive storage system and an expensive administrator of such a system, yet the money is decided. And everyone wants reliability and confidence in the future - from young to old. For small companies, this solution is ideal for financial performance. However, the specifications and capabilities of StarWind Virtual SAN are also of interest to companies.
Everyone knows a long time ago that if you want reliability and continuity of applications and business, then clusters should be used. Absolutely true, but the cluster, as a rule, requires a common dedicated storage, storage system - and it costs money. The beauty of StarWind Virtual SAN lies in the fact that the solution is built on the basis of the replication technique - and this in turn removes the need for shared storage: Shared-Nothing Cluster class solutions (Figure 1). Such clusters are cheaper in terms of both capital and operating costs. That is, to create a reliable cluster, 2 servers filled with disks are enough - that's all! Do you want to expand, scale your decision - because the business is growing? No problems! StarWind Virtual SAN allows you to increase and add replication objects on the fly without stopping business processes to infinity (technically this is true, but you need to calculate the need and number of elements, because replication creates a load on the network and this load should be taken into separate network segments in order not to interfere with production data).
Figure 1. Cluster without shared storage based on StarWind Virtual SAN
And in view of the simple rule of not storing all the eggs in one basket, there naturally arises the need to back up data beyond the physical limits of your organization - all of a sudden Zeus will be angry with you - and this is kaput! But just then clouds can help us very well, in particular, using the good old memory of Microsoft Azure. The StarWind Virtual SAN solution is available in the Azure Marketplace. And this means that I can configure a replica of my data not only between my local servers or between my sites and city sites, but also add an instance of StarWind Virtual SAN that will be in the cloud - and Zeus is unlikely to destroy the hut and pogrom…
Figure 2. StarWind Virtual SAN in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace
In Azure, you can use various VM configurations with StarWind Virtual SAN, which means that you can flexibly choose for yourself solutions with an optimal price / quality ratio.
Let's imagine a situation: you have a company that has several offices throughout the country. You need to ensure the relevance and synchronization of data between all sites. You also need to have a third-party independent platform for backing up your data and their subsequent recovery in the event of force majeure (whether it is technogenic, economic, doesn’t matter, because our data is everything). And, of course, the task is to minimize the budget for such a decision and the timing of its implementation. The cost of maintenance should also be minimal, because from a business point of view, any such solution is an investment that a business wants to return / pay back (there is still such a special parameter to measure such things - ROI, Return On Investment). So what will you do? You can, of course, not long to contact the vendor, to describe such a situation - and get a solution from him. But, as a rule, it will be very expensive, for many it is simply unprofitable for financial reasons. Yes, and the likelihood zalochki, binding to the vendor is great, which for business is more a risk than an opportunity. If you offer StarWind Virtual SAN as a solution, then the solution can be flexibly configured based on your needs, your system administrator can calculate it, and he can learn how to work with it quickly enough independently, which will further reduce operating costs. Is business growing? Power and instances of StarWind Virtual SAN grow symmetrically - as well as costs, since there is no need to buy excess hardware - this is a common situation when using traditional iron-based storage systems. In my opinion, a simple, flexible and elegant solution. And you can try it for free and understand - is it suitable for you or not? I recommend to try, it will not be superfluous in terms of knowledge and capabilities - which I recommend and wish you!
Well, somehow I see the situation in the world of Software Defined Computing with regard to software repositories. Now there is a crisis in the courtyard, not only want to save, but also have to - take note, because a software solution on open components will always be easier and cheaper than a closed and iron counterpart ...
Until new meetings, with you was
Fireman
George Hajiyev
Long time I did not write on Habré - and there was no time, and there were not too many thoughts either ... But thoughts are a dynamic flow, if there is something “at the entrance”, then there will be a “way out”. And now, watching the trends in IT, looking around, we have thoughts: all of us, infrastructure engineers, are slowly and truly rolling in Software Defined Computing, i.e. The paradigm of proprietary iron is replaced by software solutions on top of standard components. We have SDN (Software Defined Networking), SDS (Software Defined Storage), and SDC is essentially an abstraction based on a hypervisor or containerization ...
Today I would like to touch on SDS solutions - and already beyond the limits of Microsoft solutions, I would like to look at third-party partner solutions and see if there is life there at all ... Immediately draw your attention to the fact that I will be telling the story of the Windows world out of old habit and a larger area of ​​expertise than the red-eye story ... (smile)
The first thing that occurred to me was StarWind. I remember the StarWind software solutions well since the days of Windows Server 2003 (- kingdom is binary), then it was a simple and effective way to make inexpensive block storage from a simple server with hard disks, rather than muddle-buy an expensive storage ... Everything flows, everything changes - do not enter the same river twice. This functionality eventually appeared in Windows Server itself, and now the era of clouds is in the yard, and the cloud always stretches and stretches over the infrastructure - and I remembered StarWind, I think: “I'll see the dike, maybe they have something interesting? .. "And I did not lose, the solution is really interesting and his name is StarWind Virtual SAN.
')
What is StarWind Virtual SAN? Well, as you might guess, this is a software data storage system (DSS), which is deployed on the basis of a standard x86 computer / server. Obvious plus solutions are that the components, in this case hard drives, are standard pieces of iron available on the market. And this means that you can analyze the current needs for performance and fill the Wirth-SHD with those disks that you need: you want - good old HDD spindles, you want - fast and reliable SDD, you want - mix. And ultimately, such a solution will most closely match the organization’s business objectives, and by using standard, non-proprietary components, it will significantly and significantly reduce the cost of the solution in comparison with a standard iron storage system from the vendor. And what is important, due to the use of such a solution, we avoid the situation with a vendor lock-in, which can often bring problems for a business. Trends in the market are such that iron companies are slowly being blown away and disappearing - and the business is unlikely to be happy that the data storage system on which its data is no longer maintained or does not exist, and pulling out or transferring data can be a big problem and a threat to business. Yes, and business is a different size, not every company can afford an expensive storage system and an expensive administrator of such a system, yet the money is decided. And everyone wants reliability and confidence in the future - from young to old. For small companies, this solution is ideal for financial performance. However, the specifications and capabilities of StarWind Virtual SAN are also of interest to companies.
Everyone knows a long time ago that if you want reliability and continuity of applications and business, then clusters should be used. Absolutely true, but the cluster, as a rule, requires a common dedicated storage, storage system - and it costs money. The beauty of StarWind Virtual SAN lies in the fact that the solution is built on the basis of the replication technique - and this in turn removes the need for shared storage: Shared-Nothing Cluster class solutions (Figure 1). Such clusters are cheaper in terms of both capital and operating costs. That is, to create a reliable cluster, 2 servers filled with disks are enough - that's all! Do you want to expand, scale your decision - because the business is growing? No problems! StarWind Virtual SAN allows you to increase and add replication objects on the fly without stopping business processes to infinity (technically this is true, but you need to calculate the need and number of elements, because replication creates a load on the network and this load should be taken into separate network segments in order not to interfere with production data).
Figure 1. Cluster without shared storage based on StarWind Virtual SAN
And in view of the simple rule of not storing all the eggs in one basket, there naturally arises the need to back up data beyond the physical limits of your organization - all of a sudden Zeus will be angry with you - and this is kaput! But just then clouds can help us very well, in particular, using the good old memory of Microsoft Azure. The StarWind Virtual SAN solution is available in the Azure Marketplace. And this means that I can configure a replica of my data not only between my local servers or between my sites and city sites, but also add an instance of StarWind Virtual SAN that will be in the cloud - and Zeus is unlikely to destroy the hut and pogrom…
Figure 2. StarWind Virtual SAN in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace
In Azure, you can use various VM configurations with StarWind Virtual SAN, which means that you can flexibly choose for yourself solutions with an optimal price / quality ratio.
Let's imagine a situation: you have a company that has several offices throughout the country. You need to ensure the relevance and synchronization of data between all sites. You also need to have a third-party independent platform for backing up your data and their subsequent recovery in the event of force majeure (whether it is technogenic, economic, doesn’t matter, because our data is everything). And, of course, the task is to minimize the budget for such a decision and the timing of its implementation. The cost of maintenance should also be minimal, because from a business point of view, any such solution is an investment that a business wants to return / pay back (there is still such a special parameter to measure such things - ROI, Return On Investment). So what will you do? You can, of course, not long to contact the vendor, to describe such a situation - and get a solution from him. But, as a rule, it will be very expensive, for many it is simply unprofitable for financial reasons. Yes, and the likelihood zalochki, binding to the vendor is great, which for business is more a risk than an opportunity. If you offer StarWind Virtual SAN as a solution, then the solution can be flexibly configured based on your needs, your system administrator can calculate it, and he can learn how to work with it quickly enough independently, which will further reduce operating costs. Is business growing? Power and instances of StarWind Virtual SAN grow symmetrically - as well as costs, since there is no need to buy excess hardware - this is a common situation when using traditional iron-based storage systems. In my opinion, a simple, flexible and elegant solution. And you can try it for free and understand - is it suitable for you or not? I recommend to try, it will not be superfluous in terms of knowledge and capabilities - which I recommend and wish you!
Well, somehow I see the situation in the world of Software Defined Computing with regard to software repositories. Now there is a crisis in the courtyard, not only want to save, but also have to - take note, because a software solution on open components will always be easier and cheaper than a closed and iron counterpart ...
Until new meetings, with you was
Fireman
George Hajiyev
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/273597/
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