Microsoft Azure StorSimple Virtual Array overview

1138 Pages·2017·40.16 MB·English

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Introduction to the StorSimple Virtual Array
11/6/2017 • 11 min to read • Edit Online
Overview
The Microsoft Azure StorSimple Virtual Array is an integrated storage solution that manages storage tasks between
an on-premises virtual array running in a hypervisor and Microsoft Azure cloud storage. The virtual array is an
efficient, cost-effective, and easily managed file server or iSCSI server solution that eliminates many of the issues
and expenses associated with enterprise storage and data protection. The virtual array is particularly well-suited for
the storage of infrequently accessed archival data.
This article provides an overview of the virtual array - here are some other resources:
For best practices, see StorSimple Virtual Array best practices.
For an overview of the StorSimple 8000 series devices, go to StorSimple 8000 series: a hybrid cloud solution.
For information about the StorSimple 5000/7000 series devices, go to StorSimple Online Help.
The virtual array supports the iSCSI or Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It runs on your existing hypervisor
infrastructure and provides tiering to the cloud, cloud backup, fast restore, item-level recovery, and disaster
recovery features.
The following table summarizes the important features of the StorSimple Virtual Array.
FEATURE STORSIMPLE VIRTUAL ARRAY
Installation requirements Uses virtualization infrastructure (Hyper-V or VMware)
Availability Single node
Total capacity (including cloud) Up to 64 TB usable capacity per virtual array
Local capacity 390 GB to 6.4 TB usable capacity per virtual array (need to
provision 500 GB to 8 TB of disk space)
Native protocols iSCSI or SMB
Recovery time objective (RTO) iSCSI: less than 2 minutes regardless of size
Recovery point objective (RPO) Daily backups and on-demand backups
Storage tiering Uses heat mapping to determine what data should be tiered
in or out
Support Virtualization infrastructure supported by the supplier
Performance Varies depending on underlying infrastructure
Data mobility Can restore to the same device or do item-level recovery (file
server)
Storage tiers Local hypervisor storage and cloud
FEATURE STORSIMPLE VIRTUAL ARRAY
Share size Tiered: up to 20 TB; locally pinned: up to 2 TB
Volume size Tiered: 500 GB to 5 TB; locally pinned: 50 GB to 200 GB
Maximum local reservation for tiered volumes is 200 GB.
Snapshots Crash consistent
Item-level recovery Yes; users can restore from shares
Why use StorSimple?
StorSimple connects users and servers to Azure storage in minutes, with no application modification.
The following table describes some of the key benefits that the StorSimple Virtual Array solution provides.
FEATURE BENEFIT
Transparent integration The virtual array supports the iSCSI or the SMB protocol. The
data movement between the local tier and the cloud tier is
seamless and transparent to the user.
Reduced storage costs With StorSimple, you provision sufficient local storage to meet
current demands for the most used hot data. As storage
needs grow, StorSimple tiers cold data into cost-effective cloud
storage. The data is deduplicated and compressed before
sending to the cloud to further reduce storage requirements
and expense.
Simplified storage management StorSimple provides centralized management in the cloud
using StorSimple Device Manager to manage multiple devices.
Improved disaster recovery and compliance StorSimple facilitates faster disaster recovery by restoring the
metadata immediately and restoring the data as needed. This
means normal operations can continue with minimal
disruption.
Data mobility Data tiered to the cloud can be accessed from other sites for
recovery and migration purposes. Note that you can restore
data only to the original virtual array. However, you use
disaster recovery features to restore the entire virtual array to
another virtual array.
StorSimple workload summary
A summary of supported StorSimple workloads is tabulated below.
SCENARIO WORKLOAD SUPPORTED RESTRICTIONS
ROBO File sharing Yes See maximum limits for file
server.
See system requirements for
supported SMB versions.
SCENARIO WORKLOAD SUPPORTED RESTRICTIONS
Cloud archiving Archival file sharing Yes See maximum limits for file
server.
See system requirements for
supported SMB versions.
The StorSimple Virtual Array is best suited for infrequently accessed data. While the virtual array has a local cache
to boost performance, users should assume that the device services files at the lowest tier of storage (the cloud).
Each virtual array can write and read to Azure storage at approximately 100 Mbps. That link is shared across all the
requests coming into the device and can become a bottleneck as shown in the diagram below.
When multiple concurrent users access the virtual array, they all share the connection to Azure leading to a lower
performance. There is no guaranteed performance per user and the device processes individual requests as they
arrive.
StorSimple Virtual Array is not suitable for workloads that require high availability. The virtual array is a single
node device that experiences downtime when software updates are installed. Administrators should plan for a
maintenance window of 30 minutes 3-4 times per year.
Workflows
The StorSimple Virtual Array is particularly suitable for the following workflows:
Cloud-based storage management
Location-independent backup
Data protection and disaster recovery
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You can use the StorSimple Device Manager service running in the Azure portal to manage data stored on multiple
devices and in multiple locations. This is particularly useful in distributed branch scenarios. Note that you must
create separate instances of the StorSimple Device Manager service to manage virtual arrays and physical
StorSimple devices. Also note that the virtual array now uses the new Azure portal instead of the Azure classic
portal.
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With the virtual array, cloud snapshots provide a location-independent, point-in-time copy of a volume or share.
Cloud snapshots are enabled by default and cannot be disabled. All volumes and shares are backup up at the same
time through a single daily backup policy, and you can take additional ad-hoc backups whenever necessary.
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The virtual array supports the following data protection and disaster recovery scenarios:
Volume or share restore – Use the restore as new workflow to recover a volume or share. Use this approach
to recover the entire volume or share.
Item-level recovery – Shares allow simplified access to recent backups. You can easily recover an individual
file from a special .backup folder available in the cloud. This restore capability is user-driven and no
administrative intervention is required.
Disaster recovery – Use the failover capability to recover all volumes or shares to a new virtual array. You
create the new virtual array and register it with the StorSimple Device Manager service, then fail over the
original virtual array. The new virtual array will then assume the provisioned resources.
StorSimple Virtual Array components
The virtual array includes the following components:
Virtual array – A hybrid cloud storage device based on a virtual machine provisioned in your virtualized
environment or hypervisor.
StorSimple Device Manager service – An extension of the Azure portal that lets you manage one or more
StorSimple devices from a single web interface that you can access from different geographical locations. You
can use the StorSimple Device Manager service to create and manage services, view and manage devices and
alerts, and manage volumes, shares, and existing snapshots.
Local web user interface – A web-based UI that is used to configure the device so that it can connect to the local
network, and then register the device with the StorSimple Device Manager service.
Command-line interface – A Windows PowerShell interface that you can use to start a support session on the
virtual array. The following sections describe each of these components in greater detail and explain how the
solution arranges data, allocates storage, and facilitates storage management and data protection.
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The virtual array is a single-node storage solution that provides primary storage, manages communication with
cloud storage, and helps to ensure the security and confidentiality of all data that is stored on the device.
The virtual array is available in one model that is available for download. The virtual array has a maximum capacity
of 6.4 TB on the device (with an underlying storage requirement of 8 TB) and 64 TB including cloud storage.
The virtual array has the following features:
It is cost effective. It makes use of your existing virtualization infrastructure and can be deployed on your
existing Hyper-V or VMware hypervisor.
It resides in the datacenter and can be configured as an iSCSI server or a file server.
It is integrated with the cloud.
Backups are stored in the cloud, which can facilitate disaster recovery and simplify item-level recovery (ILR).
You can apply updates to the virtual array, just as you would apply them to a physical device.
NNOOTTEE
A virtual array cannot be expanded. Therefore, it's important to provision adequate storage when you create the virtual array.
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Microsoft Azure StorSimple provides a web-based user interface, the StorSimple Device Manager service, that
enables you to centrally manage StorSimple storage. You can use the StorSimple Device Manager service to
perform the following tasks:
Manage multiple StorSimple Virtual Arrays from a single service.
Configure and manage security settings for StorSimple Virtual Arrays. (Encryption in the cloud is dependent on
Microsoft Azure APIs.)
Configure storage account credentials and properties.
Configure and manage volumes or shares.
Back up and restore data on volumes or shares.
Monitor performance.
Review system settings and identify possible problems.
You use the StorSimple Device Manager service to perform daily administration of your virtual array.
For more information, go to Use the StorSimple Device Manager service to administer your StorSimple device.
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The virtual array includes a web-based UI that is used for one-time configuration and registration of the device with
the StorSimple Device Manager service. You can use it to shut down and restart the virtual array, run diagnostic
tests, update software, change the device administrator password, view system logs, and contact Microsoft Support
to file a service request.
For information about using the web-based UI, go to Use the web-based UI to administer your StorSimple Virtual
Array.
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The included Windows PowerShell interface enables you to initiate a support session with Microsoft Support so
that they can help you troubleshoot and resolve issues that you might encounter on your virtual array.
Storage management technologies
In addition to the virtual array and other components, the StorSimple solution uses the following software
technologies to provide quick access to important data, reduce storage consumption, and protect data stored on
your virtual array:
Automatic storage tiering
Locally pinned shares and volumes
Deduplication and compression for data tiered or backed up to the cloud
Scheduled and on-demand backups
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The virtual array uses a new tiering mechanism to manage stored data across the virtual array and the cloud. There
are only two tiers: the local virtual array and Azure cloud storage. The StorSimple Virtual Array automatically
arranges data into the tiers based on a heat map, which tracks current usage, age, and relationships to other data.
Data that is most active (hottest) is stored locally, while less active and inactive data is automatically migrated to the
cloud. (All backups are stored in the cloud.) StorSimple adjusts and rearranges data and storage assignments as
usage patterns change. For example, some information might become less active over time. As it becomes
progressively less active, it is tiered out to the cloud. If that same data becomes active again, it is tiered in to the
storage array.
Data for a particular tiered share or volume is guaranteed its own local tier space (approximately 10% of the total
provisioned space for that share or volume). While this reduces the available storage on the virtual array for that
share or volume, it ensures that tiering for one share or volume will not be affected by the tiering needs of other
shares or volumes. Thus a very busy workload on one share or volume cannot force all other workloads to the
cloud.
Tiered volumes created for iSCSI have a maximum local reservation of 200 GB regardless of the size of the volume.
NNOOTTEE
You can specify a volume as locally pinned, in which case the data remains on the virtual array and is never tiered to the
cloud. For more information, go to Locally pinned shares and volumes.
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You can create appropriate shares and volumes as locally pinned. This capability ensures that data required by
critical applications remains in the virtual array and is never tiered to the cloud. Locally pinned shares and volumes
have the following features:
They are not subject to cloud latencies or connectivity issues.
They still benefit from StorSimple cloud backup and disaster recovery features.
You can restore a locally pinned share or volume as tiered or a tiered share or volume as locally pinned.
For more information about locally pinned volumes, go to Use the StorSimple Device Manager service to manage
volumes.
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StorSimple uses deduplication and data compression to further reduce storage requirements in the cloud.
Deduplication reduces the overall amount of data stored by eliminating redundancy in the stored data set. As
information changes, StorSimple ignores the unchanged data and captures only the changes. In addition,
StorSimple reduces the amount of stored data by identifying and removing duplicate information.
NNOOTTEE
Data stored on the virtual array is not deduplicated or compressed. All deduplication and compression occurs just before the
data is sent to the cloud.
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StorSimple data protection features enable you to create on-demand backups. Additionally, a default backup
schedule ensures that data is backed up daily. Backups are taken in the form of incremental snapshots, which are
stored in the cloud. Snapshots, which record only the changes since the last backup, can be created and restored
quickly. These snapshots can be critically important in disaster recovery scenarios because they replace secondary
storage systems (such as tape backup), and allow you to restore data to your datacenter or to alternate sites if
necessary.
Next steps
Learn how to prepare the virtual array portal.