Now available on-demand, our recent live CSI Webcast, “Object Storage 201: Understanding Architectural Trade-Offs,” was a highly-rated event that almost 250 people have seen to date. We did not have time to address all of the questions, so here are answers to them. If you think of additional questions, please feel free to comment on this blog. Q. In terms of load balancers, would you recommend a software approach using HAProxy on Linux or a hardware approach with proprietary appliances like F5 and NetScaler? A. This really depends on your use case. If you need HA load balancers, or load balancers that can maintain sessions to particular nodes for performance, then you probably need commercial versions. If you just need a basic load balancer, using a software approach is good enough. Q. With billions of objects what Erasure Codes are more applicable in the long term? Reed Solomon where code words are very small resulting in many billions of code words or Fountain type codes such as LDPC where one can utilize long code words to manage billions of objects more efficiently? A. Tracking Erase Code fragments have a higher cost than replication but the tradeoff is higher HDD utilization. Using Rateless coding lowers this overhead because each Fragment has equal value. Reed Solomon requires knowledge of fragment placement for repair. Q. What is the impact of having HDDs of varying capacity within the object store?  Does that affect hashing algorithms in any way? A. The smallest logical storage unit is a Volume. Because Scale-Out does not stripe volumes there is no impact. Hashing, being used for location would not understand volume size, so a separate Database is used, on a volume basis, to track open space. Hashing algorithms can be modified to suit the underlying disk. The problem is not so much whether they can be designed a priority for the underlying system, but really the rigidity they introduce by tying placement very tightly with topology. That makes failure / exception handling hard. Q. Do you think RAID6 is sufficient protection with these types of Object Storage Systems or do we need higher parity based Erasure codes? A. RAID6 makes sense for a Direct Attached storage solution where all drives in the RAID Set can maintain sync. Unlike filesystems (with a few exceptions) Scale-Out Object Storage systems are "Storage as a workload" systems that already have protection as part of the system. So the question is what data protection method is used on solution x as apposed to solution y. You must also think about what you are trying to do.  Are you trying to protect against a single disk failure, or are you trying to protect against a node failure, or are you trying to protect against a site failure. Disk failures - RAID is great, but not if you’re trying to do node failure or site failure. Site failure is an EC sweet spot, but hard to solve from a deployment perspective. Q. Is it possible to brief how this hash function decides the correct data placement order among the available storage nodes? A. Take a look at the following links: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consistent_hashing"; https://swiftstack.com/openstack-swift/architecture/ Q. What do you consider to be a typical ratio of controller to storage nodes? Is it better to separate the two, or does it make sense to consolidate where a node is both controller and storage? A. The flexibility of Scale-Out Object Storage makes these two components independently scalable. The systems we test all have separate controllers and storage nodes so we can test this independence. This is also very dependent on the Object Store technology you use. We know of some object stores where there is a 1GB RAM / TB of data, while there are others that use 1/10 of that.  The compute is dependent on whether you are using erasure coding, and what codes. There is no one answer. Q. Is the data stored in the Storage depository interchangeable with other vendor's controller units? For instance, can we load LTO tapes from vendor A’s library to Vendor B’s library and have full access to data? A. The data stored in these systems are part of the "Storage as a workload" principle. So system metadata used to track Objects stored as a function within the Controller. I would not expect any content stored to be interchangeable with another system architecture. Q. Would you consider the Seagate Kinetic Open Storage Platform a radical architectural shift in how object storage can be done?  Kinetic basically eliminates the storage server, POSIX and RAID or all of the "busy work" that storage servers are involved in today. A. Ethernet drives with key value interface provides a new approach to design object storage solution. It is yet to be seen how compelling they are for TCO and infrastructure availability. Q. Will the inherent reduction in blast radius by the move towards Ethernet-interface HDDs be a major driver of the Ethernet HDD in object stores? A. Yes. We define Blast Radius by a compute failure that impacts access to connected hard drives. As we lower the Number of Connected Hard Drives to compute the Blast Radius is reduced. For Ethernet drives, you may need redundant Ethernet switches to minimize the blast radius.  Blast radius can be also minimized with intelligent data placements with software as well.

Get the tips needed when implementing multiple cloud storage APIs. The SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) is hosting a Birds of a Feather session – Tips to Implementing Multiple Cloud Storage APIs at the OpenStack Summit in Paris on November 5^th at 9:00 a.m. Room 212/213.

There are three main object storage APIs today; OpenStack’s Swift (open but not standardized), Amazon’s S3 (proprietary yet a defacto standard) and SNIA’s CDMI (an ISO standard). With three APIs to support, it might sound expensive or difficult to support all of them, yet not doing so could be costly when customers want innovation and industry standard solutions and interoperability in your product.

What about the similarities and differences between the APIs, and can they be reconciled? Can these APIs be effectively and efficiently implemented in a single product? I hope you’ll join us at this session to learn about and discuss various ways to cope with this situation. You will discover best practices and tips on how to implement these three protocols in your cloud storage solution.

Register now. I look forward to seeing you on November 5^th at the OpenStack Summit.

 

 

A new, more easily "navigatable" website is now online for the SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI)  technology community. Divided into the activities the SSSI focuses on - Performance, NVDIMM, Non-Volatile Memory Programming, and PCIe SSDs, and with two new tabs linking directly to "News" and "Resources", the new format gives readers quick access to webcasts, white papers, articles, presentations, and technical materials critically needed in the rapidly changing world of Solid State Storage technology. The right navigation bar also highlights SSSI member companies and provides direct links to the SSSI blog you are reading now, the SSSI Twitter feed, and the SSSI LinkedIn Group SSDs - What's Important to You? Check it out, and let us know what you think at asksssi@snia.org or on our social media links!

A new, more easily “navigatable” website is now online for the SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI)  technology community.

Divided into the activities the SSSI focuses on – Performance, NVDIMM, Non-Volatile Memory Programming, and PCIe SSDs, and with two new tabs linking directly to “News” and “Resources”, the new format gives readers quick access to webcasts, white papers, articles, presentations, and technical materials critically needed in the rapidly changing world of Solid State Storage technology.

The right navigation bar also highlights SSSI member companies and provides direct links to the SSSI blog you are reading now, the SSSI Twitter feed, and the SSSI LinkedIn Group SSDs – What’s Important to You?

Check it out, and let us know what you think at asksssi@snia.org or on our social media links!

Get the tips needed when implementing multiple cloud storage APIs. The SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) is hosting a Birds of a Feather session – Tips to Implementing Multiple Cloud Storage APIs at the OpenStack Summit in Paris on November 5^th at 9:00 a.m. Room 212/213. There are three main object storage APIs today; OpenStack’s Swift (open but not standardized), Amazon’s S3 (proprietary yet a defacto standard) and SNIA’s CDMI (an ISO standard). With three APIs to support, it might sound expensive or difficult to support all of them, yet not doing so could be costly when customers want innovation and industry standard solutions and interoperability in your product. What about the similarities and differences between the APIs, and can they be reconciled? Can these APIs be effectively and efficiently implemented in a single product? I hope you’ll join us at this session to learn about and discuss various ways to cope with this situation. You will discover best practices and tips on how to implement these three protocols in your cloud storage solution. Register now. I look forward to seeing you on November 5^th at the OpenStack Summit.    

The Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) is excited to announce a live Webcast as part of the upcoming BrightTalk Cloud Storage Summit on October 16^th – Object Storage 201: Understanding Architectural Trade-Offs. It’s a follow-up to the SNIA Ethernet Storage Forum’s Object Storage 101: Understanding the What, How and Why behind Object Storage Technologies.

Object-based storage systems are fast becoming one of the key building blocks for a cloud storage infrastructure. They address some of the shortcomings and provide an alternative to more traditional file- and block-based storage for unstructured data.

An object storage system must accommodate growth (and yes, the rumors are true – data growth is a huge and accelerating problem), be flexible in their provisioning, provide support multiple geographies and legal frameworks, and cope with the inevitable issues of resilience, performance and availability.

Register now for this Webcast. Experts from the SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative will discuss:

• Object Storage Architectural Considerations
• Replication and Erasure Encoding for resilience
• Pros and Cons of Hash Tables and Key-Value Databases
• And more…

This is a live presentation, so please bring your questions and we’ll do our very best to answer them. We hope you’ll join us on October 16^th for an unbiased, deep dive into the design considerations for object storage systems.

 

The Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) is excited to announce a live Webcast as part of the upcoming BrightTalk Cloud Storage Summit on October 16^th – Object Storage 201: Understanding Architectural Trade-Offs. It’s a follow-up to the SNIA Ethernet Storage Forum’s Object Storage 101: Understanding the What, How and Why behind Object Storage Technologies. Object-based storage systems are fast becoming one of the key building blocks for a cloud storage infrastructure. They address some of the shortcomings and provide an alternative to more traditional file- and block-based storage for unstructured data. An object storage system must accommodate growth (and yes, the rumors are true – data growth is a huge and accelerating problem), be flexible in their provisioning, provide support multiple geographies and legal frameworks, and cope with the inevitable issues of resilience, performance and availability. Register now for this Webcast. Experts from the SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative will discuss:

• Object Storage Architectural Considerations
• Replication and Erasure Encoding for resilience
• Pros and Cons of Hash Tables and Key-Value Databases
• And more…

This is a live presentation, so please bring your questions and we’ll do our very best to answer them. We hope you’ll join us on October 16^th for an unbiased, deep dive into the design considerations for object storage systems.  

Imagine evaporating your existing file server into the cloud with the same experience and level of control that you currently have on-premises. On October 1^st, ESF will host a live Webcast that introduces the concept of Cloud File Services and discusses the pros and cons you need to consider.

There are numerous companies and startups offering “sync & share” solutions across multiple devices and locations, but for the enterprise, caveats are everywhere. Register now for this Webcast to learn:

• Key drivers for file storage
• Split administration with sync & share solutions and on-premises file services
• Applications over File Services on-premises (SMB 3, NFS 4.1)
• Moving to the cloud: your storage OS in a hyperscalar or service provider
• Accommodating existing File Services workloads with Cloud File Services
• Accommodating cloud-hosted applications over Cloud File Services

This Webcast will be a vendor-neutral and informative discussion on this hot topic. And since it’s live, we encourage your to bring your questions for our experts. I hope you’ll register today and we’ll look forward to having you attend on October 1^st.   

 

What the Cloud Storage Initiative Is Doing At SDC

The SNIA Storage Developer Conference (SDC) is less than a week away. We’re looking forward to the conference and in particular want to make note of some exciting news and events that pertain to work the CSI is doing to promote standards that will increase the adoption, interoperability and portability of data stored in the cloud.

SDC Conference session: Introducing CDMI v1.1 – Tuesday, September 16^th, 1:00 p.m. by David Silk. This session introduces the new CDMI 1.1 and provides an overview of capabilities the Technical Work Group have added to the standard, and what CDMI implementers need to know when moving from CDMI 1.0.2 to CDMI 1.1.

Cloud Interoperability Plugfest – Participants at the 12th Cloud Interoperability Plugfest will be testing the interoperability of their cloud storage interfaces based on CDMI. We always have a large showing of CDMI implementations at this event, but are also looking for implementations of Amazon S3, and OpenStack Swift, Cinder and Manila interfaces.

It’s not too late to register for this Plugfest. Find out how here.

SDC 2014 is going to be exciting and educational. It’s “one stop shopping” for IT professionals who focus on the tools, technologies and developments needed for understanding and implementing efficient data storage, management and security. The CSI hopes to see you there.

 

This year’s SNIA Storage Developer Conference (SDC) will take place in Santa Clara, CA Sept. 15-18.  In addition to an exciting agenda with great speakers, there is an opportunity for vendors to participate in SNIA Plugfests. Two Plugfests that I think are worth noting are: SMB2/SMB3 and iSCSI.

These Plugfests enable a vendor to bring their implementations of SMB2/SMB3 and/or iSCSI to test, identify, and fix bugs in a collaborative setting with the goal of providing a forum in which companies can develop interoperable products. SNIA provides and supports networks and infrastructure for the Plugfest, creating a collaborative framework for testing. Plugfest participants work together to define the testing process, assuring that objectives are accomplished.

Still Time to Register

Great news! There is still time to register. Setup for the Plugfest begins on September 13, 2014 and testing begins on the September 14^th.

Register here for the SMB2/SMB3 Plugfest

Register here for the iSCSI Plugfest

What to Expect at a Plugfest

Learn more about what takes place at the Plugfests by watching the video interview of Jeremy Allison, Co-Creator of Samba, as he candidly talks about what to expect at an SDC Plugfest.

Learn more about the Plugfest registration process. If you have additional questions, please contact Arnold Jones (arnold@snia.org).