FAST VP Implementation

Fully Automated Storage Tiering:

FAST allows administrator to define policies and automate the movement of Luns between the Tiers based on the priority.

Advantage of FAST:

1. Based on the load the Luns can be placed to High performance Storage tiers EFD.
2. Low Used storages are moved to SATA disk group.

Storage Tiers: Collection of same type of storage.

There are 3 Kind of storage tiers available in VMAX:

1. EFD
2. FC
3. SATA

VNX contains 3 types of storage Tiers:

1. EFD
2. SAS
3. NL SAS

We won’t focus on FAST implementation for Thick devices because now a days provisioning of Thick devices are not advised.

FAST VP:

FAST VP is used for the implementation of FAST in Virtual provisioning.

Let’s see How FAST VP works:

1. There will be Thin devices being created and allocated to a certain FAST policy.
2. Based on the FAST policy defined the highly utilized data from Sub Lun levels are identified.
3. Sub Lun highly utilized are moved to Storage Tier Flash.
4. Sub Lun underutilized are moved to SATA storage Tier.
5. The FAST VP will identify highly utilized Sub Luns based on the Symmetrix Microcode and FAST controller.

Components of FAST VP:

Components description:

EMC Symmetrix has two components one is Microcode which resided in Symmetrix Operating system and other is FAST controller residing in Service process.

1. Performance Data Collection:

Constant performance and CPU utilization of Thin Luns are determined in Sub Lun Levels.

2. Performance Data Analysis:

Performance data collected are analyzed in the FAST controller.

3. Intelligent Tiering Algorithm:

Data collected through Micro code and Analysis report generated by FAST controller are used by Intelligent Tiering Algorithm to issue a Sub Lun movement to VLUN VP data Movement Engine.

4. Allocation Compliance algorithm:

Enforces upper limit of Storage Tier can be used for Sub Lun Data Movement for each Storage groups.

5. VLUN VP Data Movement Engine:

Based on the Intelligent Tiering algorithm the Extent of data are moved between Tiers.

FAST VP has two modes of operation:

1. Automatic: Data Movement and Data Analysis are continuously performed.
2. Off Mode: Only performance statistics will be collected, No data movements will take place.

Elements of FAST VP:

Storage Tier:

Collection of drive technology like EFD, FC, SATA.

Storage Group:

Collection of host accessible devices.

FAST Policy:

Percentage of storage capacity between the storage tiers can be used by storage group.

Control Parameters for FAST VP:

1. Movement Mode: Automatic or Off
2. Relocation rate: Amount of data that can be moved at a Time. They are measured from 1 to 10, Default value is 5; 1 is the highest value and 10 is the lowest value.
3. Reserved capacity Limit: Percentage of Virtual pool reserved for Non FAST activity. If we reach this level then FAST movement will not be performed.
4. Workload analysis time: Amount of work load analysis samples to be collected.
5. Initial period: Minimum amount of work load analysis needs to be completed before analyzing the sample.

Sample FAST VP control Parameters:

Time Windows for FAST VP:

1. Performance Time Window:

Collecting performance data 24×7. This time window can be changed but not recommended by EMC.

2. Move Time window:

Time window during which sub Luns can be moved.

FAST implementation steps:

1. Enable FAST VP.
2. Set Control Parameters.
3. Create Storage Tier.
4. Create FAST Policy.
5. Associate storage group to FAST Policy.
6. Enable Time Windows setting.

Pre Checks:

Check for FAST VP licenses:

License can be checked using below command:

Symlmf list –type emclm –sid XXX

Always check with EMC before implementing FAST VP and get the suggestion for control parameters setting and time windows setting.

1. Enable FAST VP:

Command to enable FAST VP.

Symfast –sid XX enable –vp

To List the states of FAST VP:

Symfast –sid XX list –state

2. Set Control Parameters settings:

To List control parameters:

Symfast –sid xxx list –control_parms

To change control parameters setting:

symfast -sid XXX set -control_parms -mode AUTO_APPROVE -max_simult_devs 8 -max_devs 240 -min_perf_period 2 -workload_period 24 -vp_data_move_mode AUTO -vp_reloc_rate 5 -pool_resv_cap 20 -vp_allocation_by_fp disable

3. Create Storage Tier:

Symtier is the command used for creating Storage tier.

RAID protection for Tier creation:

RAID 0 = -tgt_unprotected 
RAID 1 = -tgt_raid1 
RAID 5 = -tgt_raid5 -tgt_prot 3+1, -tgt_raid5 -tgt_prot 7+1
RAID 6 = -tgt_raid6 -tgt_prot 6+2 , -tgt_raid6 -tgt_prot 14+2

We had already created three pools named EFD,FC,SATA.

Creating EFD Tier:

symtier -sid xxx create -name EFD_VP_Tier -tgt_raid5 -tgt_prot 7+1 -technology EFD -vp -pool PoolName –EFD

 Creating FC Tier:

 symtier -sid xxx create -name FC_VP_Tier -tgt_raid5 -tgt_prot 3+1 -technology FC  -vp -pool PoolName –FC

 Creating SATA Tier:

 symtier -sid xxx create -name FC_SATA_Tier -tgt_rai6 -tgt_prot 6+2 -technology SATA  -vp -pool PoolName –SATA

 To List Tiers:

Symfast –sid XXX list

4. Create FAST Policy:

Create FAST VP policy.

symfast -sid xxx -fp create -name EFD_VP

Add Storage Tiers to FAST Policy.

symfast -sid xxx -fp add -tier_name EFD_VP_Tier  -max_sg_percent 100 -fp_name EFD_VP

symfast -sid xxx -fp add -tier_name FC_VP_Tier -max_sg_percent 20 -fp_name EFD_VP

symfast -sid xxx -fp add -tier_name SATA_VP_Tier -max_sg_percent 10 -fp_name EFD_VP

Maximum 300% for Storage tier can be allocated to a FAST Policy.

To list FAST VP policy:

Symfast list –sid 606 –fp -vp

 

5. Associate storage group to FAST Policy:

Storage groups will be created while Auto provisioning for a host.

Associate a Storage group to a FAST policy.

symfast -sid xxx associate -sg Storage_group -fp_name EFD_VP -priority 2 

Storage group associated with fast policy will be assigned a priority between 1 to3. 1 is highest, 3 is lowest and 2 is default priority. 

To List association: 

symfast -sid xxx list –association 

6. Enable Time Windows setting: 

To List Time window:

Symtw list –sid XXX

To Change the Move Time Window setting: 

symtw -sid XXX add -type MOVE_VP -days mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat,sun -start_time 18:00 -end_time 24:00 –inclusive

 To Change performance Time Window:

symtw -sid xxx -inclusive -type perf add -days Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat,Sun -start_time 00:00 -end_time 24:00

Mostly Performance time windows are not changed. Default time windows are preferred for performance time window setting.