Day: August 26, 2015

Latency What Latency – Nimble Storage

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Having just completed a storage/ VMware migration from 4 x Dell Equallogics to a single Nimble CS300 (48TB 2.4TB Cache 1GB iSCSI) I just wanted to share with you my experience.

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The firm runs a number of highly transactional Microsoft SQL servers which accepts data from the likes of Compare the Market and GoCompare. They have approximately 75 vm’s and also a small VDI environment running on the Nimble. Unsurprisingly the Nimble handles all this without breaking in to a sweat, but that’s to be expected right ?

So why do we get so much performance from a 3U box with 12 SATA disks and 4 SSD’s; quite simply CASL

CASL is a CPU-driven storage architecture, so write performance is no longer dependent on spindle speed or spindle count. What’s more, CASL dramatically increases the usable capacity of disk and flash through compression and its unique sequential data layout.

This document provides a great overview on CASL for those that want to know more.

So after the environment had bedded in I took a look at the Nimble interface to see what the steady state IOP and latency figures were for this environment, bearing in mind we have several highly transactional SQL servers, 75 vm’s and a small virtual desktop environment all running on this box, lets take a look below.

IOP figures for an average working day

Screenshot 2015-08-26 21.53.49(2)

  • Random Read: 881 IOPS
  • Sequential Read: 1931 IOPS
  • Random Write: 580 IOPS
  • Sequential Write: 180 IOPS

Latency figures for an average working day ( 1GB iSCSI Network)

Screenshot 2015-08-26 21.53.49

  • Read Latency 0.42msec
  • Write Latency 0.19msec

Pretty impressive figures considering the blended workload, this is about the 11th Nimble I have installed and I am always impressed with the performance of these arrays.

 

Horizon View: Pool Provisioning Fails

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I came across this little beauty the other day and wanted to share the resolution with you, in my case it was the web service on the vCenter server had stopped.

Problem

Provisioning of a desktop pool fails, and you see one of the following error messages in the event database.

  • Cannot log in to vCenter at address VC_Address
  • The status of vCenter at address VC_Address is unknown

Cause

  • The View Connection Server instance cannot connect to vCenter for one of the following reasons.
  • The Web service on the vCenter Server has stopped.
  • There are networking problems between the View Connection Server host and the vCenter Server.
  • The port numbers and login details for vCenter or View Composer have changed.

Solution

  • Verify that the Web service is running on the vCenter.
  • Verify that there are no network problems between the View Connection Server host and the vCenter.
  • In View Administrator, verify the port numbers and login details that are configured for vCenter and View Composer.

Going Agile isn’t about following a text book

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Going Agile isn’t about following a text book

Going Agile isn’t about following a text book

Jonathan Frappier Virtxpert Recently the team I am on has been looking to adopt a more agile like approach to our projects, compared to previous years where it was more or less a waterfall methodology. Now in a text bookagile environment you would start a sprint with a planning meeting on a Friday. In that planning meeting you […] Going Agile isn’t about following a text book

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