Emerging Storage Options for Server Blade Architectures

1. Emerging Storage Options for Server Blade Architectures Server Blade Summit 2005

2. Storage Options for Server Blade Architectures • Today’s blade server landscape • Where are we going next? • New blade server architectural challenges and their impact in the data center • Blade server storage choices and their key value propositions

3. Blade Server Complexity Back Plane Support Fibre Channel Infiniband Ethernet SAS Design Complexity 2 separate backplane fabrics Multiple “I/O down” ICs per blade CPU(s) F 2 drives per blade (mirrored pair) I Chipset E Memory S 2 Local Mirrored Discs

4. CPU(s) F I Chipset E Memory S Storage Connectivity for Server Blades Back Plane Support Fibre Channel Infiniband Ethernet SAS TYPES OF GATEWAY LAN SAN Storage Connect FC SCSI SAS SATA Gateways are used for near line storage as well as fabric storage iSCSI TOE iSCSI FC FC NAS SAS and iSCSI is used for near cabinet storage DAS SAS FC and iSCSI are SAN connect for block level transfers NAS is used for ease-of-use and access to storage as the file transfer model

5. Blade Chassis Storage “Semi-local” storage shared by a small number of blades It is not truly “DAS” because it is not exclusively owned by a single server It is not truly “SAN” because it is not available to all servers on the Fabric It is a new “intermediate” level in the storage hierarchy It is a compromise between the need to eliminate per-blade storage, yet maintain adequate performance for the virtual memory and high-use cached objects Architectural variances exist Blade Chassis Storage Back Plane Support Fibre Channel Infiniband Ethernet SAS TYPES OF GATEWAY LAN SAN FC SCSI SAS SATA iSCSI TOE iSCSI FC FC NAS CPU(s) F Blade Chassis Storage I DAS SAS Chipset E Memory S

6. Diskless Server Blade Architecture • Server blades are diskless, stateless and used as pool of generic assignable “workers” • Simple “size” parameters such as compute power (CPU), memory capacity, aggregate I/O bandwidth • A Global Resource Manager can assign and select desire boot image, applications or selective links to appropriate data volumes • Chassis Storage provides low latency access to storage for the server blades • It is a compromise between per-blade drives and SAN-resident drives • It is especially critical for per-blade virtual memory (page swap)

7. RAID RAID RAID Impact on Data Center Architecture Cluster of intelligent Gateways SAN or appliances Hard storage assets Racks of server blades server chassis Blade Chassis Storage leaf switch leaf switch Multi-tier network Infrastructure Storage Management & Storage Virtualization Layer server chassis leaf switch Other Storage Elements tape, routers, etc. leaf switch

8. SAS is an ideal storage interconnectfor Blade Server Chassis • Low latency to disks is critical for many applications (Transactional) • Multiple servers running different applications and different OS, will place highly random load demands on disks • Transactional performance is critical where multiple servers collectively present diverse load • Advantage in Price/Performance • Storage amortized over multiple blades provides better cost structure • Reliability (MTBF) is critical • Multiple servers dependent on the storage for boot and application -therefore reliability is critical • Storage disks mechanically will work hard, therefore robustness is critical • Ability to mix and match based on storage needs • SAS – SAS or SAS – SATA

9. server chassis leaf switch leaf switch SAS/SATA Value Proposition SAS/SATA Usage Model High Performance SAS Drives for Data SAS/SATA IC or HBA High Capacity SATA Drives for Backup Reliable SAS Drives for Mirrored Boot Pair • End user ability to match drives to balance storage to the job and trade-off performance, capacity, reliability, and cost • Server vendor can create multiple market segments for the server blades • I/O Vendor will benefit from having single chip or adapter serving multiple segments of server blade market • Server blades for the midrange market will be first to adopt SAS as the replacement to U320

10. SAS and SATA DrivesEnterprise vs. Desktop Applications SATA (ATA) SAS (SCSI, FC) Highest performance capability Lowest cost per gigabyte Best performance for transactional data Most cost effective for reference & sequential-type data Greater scalability First to volume disk interconnect Highest reliability and availability Simplest configuration setup Greatest device flexibility Power management

11. Desktop vs. Enterprise Drive Parameters Enterprise Class Desktop Class Performance Variable Sector Size Indicators Rotational Vibration Reliability Dual Port Data Integrity 13msec@ 7200 No None 5-12 radians/sec/sec 600K hours @ 8x5 duty No No 5.7msec@ 15K Yes LED >21 radians/sec/sec 1.2M hours @ 24x7 duty Yes Yes

12. Contact Information Ken Zarrabi Strategic Marketing & Business Development RAID Storage Adapters, LSI Logic Tel : 408-433-4527 Fax: 408-433-4380 Email: kzarrabi@lsil.com

13. Biography Ken Zarrabi joined LSI Logic in 2002 as a senior product marketing manager for the RAID Storage Adapters division. Mr. Zarrabi has more than 18 years of marketing, engineering and management experience in the high-tech industry. Prior to joining LSI Logic, he created and implemented marketing and business development plans for Adaptec and zDrive. His career experience also includes positions as a director of customer and product engineering at Fujitsu and six years as manager of customer engineering and program management at Quantum. Mr. Zarrabi earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science from the University of Colorado.