Hypervisors and Server Flash | SNIA

Abstract

Hypervisors and server flash is an important but inconvenient marriage. Server flash has profound technology and programming implications on hypervisors. Conversely, various hypervisor functions make it challenging for server flash to be adopted in virtualized environments. In this talk, we will present specific hypervisor design areas that are challenged by the new physics of storage presented by server flash, and possible solutions. We will discuss the motivation and use cases around a software layer to virtualize server-flash and make it compatible with clustered hypervisor features like VM mobility, high availability, distributed VM scheduling, data protection, and disaster recovery. Finally, we will present some empirical results from one such flash hypervisor (FVP) implemented at PernixData, and its potential long term impact on data center storage design.