With the introduction of vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA), VMware has taken storage efficiency to the next level. In this blog post, we will explore the ESA architecture, its key components, benefits, and how it enhances storage capabilities in virtualized environments.
Understanding vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA):
vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) is a groundbreaking advancement in storage architecture that is built upon the foundation of VMware vSAN. It introduces innovative technologies and architectural enhancements to maximize storage efficiency, improve performance, and simplify management of vSAN clusters.
The Evolution of Hardware and Demands on Businesses:
To better understand why VMware is introducing the Express Storage Architecture in vSAN 8, let's take a look back and revisit how the industry has evolved over the past decade. A decade ago, spinning media was still the dominant storage device in the enterprise. NAND flash was available, but it was expensive, small in capacity, and lacked high-performing interfaces that matched its capabilities, as the NVMe specification didn't debut until 2013. Servers often had CPUs that had relatively few CPU cores. 1Gb networking was the dominant network speed, with 10Gb networking only found in a minority of use cases. As a result, VMs were sized accordingly with typically 1-4vCPUs. Guest operating systems and applications were still limited in their abilities to multithread.
Fast forward to today. Thanks to the advances in NAND flash, today's modern MLC, TLC, and QLC NAND flash devices hold much more capacity while dropping dramatically in price, all while using an extremely fast and efficient NVMe interface. Server CPU core counts have dramatically increased in recent years, and 25/100Gb networking is not only available but at prices per port that makes it the go-to for network refresh cycles. Customers are asking their applications to do more by assigning more virtual resources to them while demanding data services such as space efficiency and encryption. As if that weren't enough, the workloads are no longer relegated to an on-premises environment. Customers are running workloads everywhere: The edge, the core, and the cloud.
Advances in architecture:
The Express Storage Architecture in vSAN 8 stands on the shoulders of much of the architecture found in Original Storage Architecture (OSA) included in previous versions of vSAN, and vSAN 8.
The advances in architecture primarily come from two areas, as illustrated in below image.
A new patented log-structured file system - This new layer in the vSAN stack - known as the vSAN LFS - allows vSAN to ingest new data fast and efficiently while preparing the data for a very efficient full stripe write. The vSAN LFS also allows vSAN to store metadata in a highly efficient and scalable manner.
An optimized log-structured object manager and data structure - This layer is a new design built around a new high-performance block engine and key value store that can deliver large write payloads while minimizing the overhead needed for metadata. The new design was built specifically for the capabilities of the highly efficient upper layers of vSAN to send data to the devices without contention. It is highly parallel and helps us drive near device-level performance capabilities in the ESA.
Key Components of vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA):
a) vSAN Data Acceleration: ESA leverages intelligent caching mechanisms to enhance storage performance. It utilizes technologies such as Adaptive Read Cache and Write Buffer to optimize data access and reduce latency. These caching mechanisms intelligently place frequently accessed data in flash devices, accelerating read and write operations.
b) Cluster-Level Deduplication and Compression: ESA introduces cluster-level deduplication and compression capabilities, significantly reducing storage capacity requirements. By identifying and eliminating redundant data at the cluster level, organizations can achieve higher storage efficiency and reduce the overall storage footprint.
c) Enhanced Erasure Coding: ESA enhances the erasure coding technique used in vSAN to provide better storage efficiency and resiliency. By optimizing the distribution of data across the vSAN cluster, ESA ensures that data is protected against failures while minimizing the storage overhead traditionally associated with redundant data copies.
d) Integrated Data Protection: ESA integrates data protection features directly into the storage architecture. It offers features such as stretched clusters, data at rest encryption, and RAID-1 mirroring, ensuring data integrity, availability, and security. These built-in data protection capabilities simplify management and reduce the need for additional third-party solutions.
Benefits of vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA):
a) Improved Storage Efficiency: ESA's deduplication, compression, and erasure coding capabilities deliver significant storage efficiency gains. By reducing data redundancy and optimizing data placement, organizations can achieve higher storage utilization and minimize storage costs.
b) Enhanced Performance: The intelligent caching mechanisms in ESA, such as Adaptive Read Cache and Write Buffer, accelerate data access, reducing latency and improving storage performance. This enables organizations to deliver better application performance and responsiveness.
c) Simplified Management: ESA simplifies storage management by integrating data protection features directly into the storage architecture. With built-in data protection capabilities and streamlined management interfaces, administrators can efficiently manage and protect data without relying on additional third-party solutions.
d) Scalability and Flexibility: vSAN Express Storage Architecture offers scalability and flexibility to accommodate the evolving needs of virtualized environments. Organizations can easily scale their vSAN clusters to meet growing storage demands, ensuring seamless expansion without disruptions.
vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) revolutionizes storage efficiency, performance, and management in virtualized environments. By leveraging intelligent caching mechanisms, deduplication, compression, and enhanced erasure coding, ESA enhances storage capabilities while reducing storage costs. With integrated data protection features and simplified management interfaces, ESA simplifies storage administration and ensures high availability and data integrity.
As organizations continue to embrace virtualization and demand more from their storage infrastructure, vSAN ESA stands as a powerful solution that empowers businesses to unlock the full potential of their virtualized environments.
For more details, check the “An introduction to the vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA)” blog post from VMware.
Thank you for reading!
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