White Paper
NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications Christian Winter, NetApp June 2011 | WP-7137
OVERVIEW This paper shows how Fujitsu and NetApp together can position winning solutions that would be preferred over similar solutions from HP, especially in the Midsize Enterprise (MSE) market, as well as how NetApp can help Fujitsu to increase their market share in the server business. The well-established strategic relationship of Fujitsu and NetApp is key not just for defining joint solutions, but also for taking them to market through the reselling partners of both companies. A set of predefined and well-sized solution offerings (from both a storage and a server point of view) enables all NetApp reselling partners to position, offer, and deploy these bundles in a “one-stop shop� manner. The power and strong market presence of both NetApp and Fujitsu can lead to significant incremental business for Fujitsu servers and NetApp storage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1
THE CHALLENGE ................................................................................................................................. 3
2
GENERAL APPROACH TO FACE THE CHALLENGE ........................................................................ 3 SLASH COSTS AND INCREASE EFFICIENCY .................................................................................................................... 4 COMPREHENSIVE DATA PROTECTION ............................................................................................................................. 4 INFRASTRUCTURE THAT SCALES ..................................................................................................................................... 4 VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................ 4
3
THE SOLUTION: PREDEFINED PACKAGES FOR COMMON WORKLOADS .................................. 4 STANDARD CONFIGURATION PACKAGES ....................................................................................................................... 7 VDI CONFIGURATION PACKAGES ..................................................................................................................................... 8 MICROSOFT SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION PACKAGES............................................................................................... 9 SAP CONFIGURATION PACKAGES .................................................................................................................................... 9
4
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 11
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................... 11
LIST OF TABLES Table 1) Server business market segmentation. .......................................................................................... 3 Table 2) Server class definition. ................................................................................................................... 7 Table 3) Server and storage combinations for smaller SAP environments. ................................................. 9
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1) Generic application server virtualization. ...................................................................................... 5 Figure 2) Microsoft Exchange 2010 deployment example on physical servers. .......................................... 6 Figure 3) Microsoft Exchange 2010 deployment example on virtualized servers. ....................................... 6 Figure 4) Entry screen of FAStChoice. ......................................................................................................... 8 Figure 5) Consolidated all-in-one approach for ERP and ECM. ................................................................. 10
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
1 THE CHALLENGE ®
Windows environments can easily become complex. Is consolidation an issue? “Not applicable to me” customers might think, since they don't have a huge data center with hundreds or thousands of servers. But even smaller environments can easily have several Windows file and application servers, each with either a fair amount of direct-attached storage (DAS) or a small storage area network (SAN). The results are low server and storage utilization—20% is not uncommon—and an infrastructure that will become difficult and expensive to manage over time. Backup and recovery are still complicated, your backup window might become too long, availability is lower than you’d like, and you lack the flexibility to adapt quickly to changing needs.
2 GENERAL APPROACH TO FACE THE CHALLENGE From a business point of view, the main goal is to compete with the dominance of HP, IBM, and Dell, especially in the MSE market segment, where each of those companies offers servers, storage, and services as turn-key-solutions. Table 1) Server business market segmentation.
Vendor
Q3 / 2009 *
Q3 / 2010 *
Growth y/y in %
HP
1.198
1.38
14.9
IBM
0.91
0.88
-2.6
Dell
0.28
0.36
29.7
Oracle
0.24
0.19
-20.8
Fujitsu
0.18
0.18
0.2
Others
0.15
0.16
1.0
Total
2.96
3.16
6.4
*EMEA server business revenue (billions USD). Source: IDC, 2010. This section explains how NetApp can help Fujitsu achieve their desired growth. NetApp and Fujitsu jointly offer a set of bundles to deploy the most common IT applications, like Windows ® ® File Services, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and others. These bundles are tailored to your needs, and they are simple and easy to manage. Also, you can choose to deploy the applications physically or virtually. In either case, there are two major components: servers and unified storage. Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX Rack Servers offer a tailor-made platform to build up dynamic infrastructures for your business processes today and in the coming decade. Built to industry standards, they focus on these core features: energy efficiency; reliability; optimized for virtualization, ease of operation, and maintenance; and flexibility for the future. Thus they meet your requirements for outstanding cost efficiency. Optimal operating costs and long-term usability comply with the IT quality that your customers require. With Fujitsu’s tailor-made service packages, you can rely on the best support for your IT.
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
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To complement the Fujitsu platform, with NetApp unified storage for Windows environments you can increase utilization and reduce costs by as much as 50% by pooling all of your Microsoft data on a single unified storage system. Consolidating your applications onto fewer servers by using server virtualization technologies such as Microsoft Hyper-V™ can further increase the benefits. NetApp eliminates the need for separate file servers, inefficient direct-attached storage, and small heterogeneous SANs, reducing the total amount of storage you need and significantly increasing storage utilization and resiliency. Management is simplified, and all your data is in one place, so data protection is enhanced.
SLASH COSTS AND INCREASE EFFICIENCY NetApp storage is configured to meet all of your file, application, and virtualization storage needs. Management tools make it simple to speed up and automate daily tasks, freeing administrator time. Advanced storage efficiency technologies help you get even more from your storage investment. For instance, NetApp deduplication technology can achieve 30% to 50% space savings for primary storage and up to 95% for backups. Even in medium and small environments, such savings pay back effectively. Using cost-effective and energy-efficient Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX Rack Servers also contributes to that goal.
COMPREHENSIVE DATA PROTECTION Simple backup and restore capabilities are not enough to protect your Windows data. NetApp comprehensive data protection solutions include highly available storage and efficient backup and recovery, and you can implement business continuity for your most critical applications with up to 50% less cost and complexity than competing solutions. Innovative software design lets you protect all your data by using a single set of integrated tools that help you automatically achieve the right level of protection.
INFRASTRUCTURE THAT SCALES Consolidated NetApp storage lets you easily share capacity, prioritize Windows workloads, and automatically grow, shrink, or reallocate storage volumes in minutes, while scaling beyond the limits of your existing DAS or SAN storage and file servers. By combining NetApp storage with servers from Fujitsu and virtualization technologies like Microsoft Hyper-V, you can create a lean but powerful Windows IT environment that can facilitate business growth.
VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE Desktop virtualization is a hot topic throughout the virtualization industry. Organizations view desktop virtualization as a way to control costs and use limited resources to manage desktop infrastructures at any scale while increasing security and deployment efficiency. NetApp and Fujitsu (together with VMware, Cisco, and Wyse) can show today how large scale desktop virtualization (up to 50,000 seats) can be implemented in a scalable and easily expandable manner. Therefore it is desirable to utilize the results and project them onto smaller environments. More details on the 50,000 seat showcase can be found in WP-7108, which is listed in the references section
3 THE SOLUTION: PREDEFINED PACKAGES FOR COMMON WORKLOADS To make the solution both easy and comprehensive, Fujitsu and NetApp offer solution packages for the following application scenarios: •
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Microsoft Exchange
NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
•
Microsoft SharePoint Server
•
Microsoft SQL Server
•
Microsoft Hyper-V
•
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
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The Microsoft Hyper-V option can be viewed as either the primary solution to virtualize any application in general (for example, SAP to a certain extent), or in combination with one of the solution options described in section 2. It is also possible to deploy the applications on the Fujitsu servers physically. Windows File Services are delivered directly by the NetApp unified storage system, and there is no sizing impact on the server side. Figure 1) Generic application server virtualization.
Figure 1 shows a comprehensive virtualized approach. As another example, you can also deploy Microsoft Exchange 2010 on physical servers and use the NetApp CIFS feature for Windows File Services directly, as shown in Figure 2. Even in this very simple configuration, you would need two physical servers, because Exchange 2010 forces you to separate certain roles (Edge Transport Server) from other roles (Client Access, Mailbox, Hub Transport, and Unified Messaging). Therefore you should think about virtualization as well, to reduce the number of physical servers.
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
Figure 2) Microsoft Exchange 2010 deployment example on physical servers.
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Figure 3 shows another example of deploying multiple applications in a virtual environment. Some SAP systems are installed along with an archiving solution, allowing the customer to store records and documents for compliance enforcement, all in one integrated architectural design. Fujitsu servers provide adequate power for all of these apps, and NetApp unified storage enables effective provisioning and management for all classes of datasets (for example, database tables for SAP, and archiving application ® and WORM storage using NetApp SnapLock compliance software). Figure 3) Microsoft Exchange 2010 deployment example on virtualized servers.
Note:
NetApp SnapLock is supported by more than 50 independent solution vendors.
Future characteristics of this approach may also incorporate the new PRIMERGY VSX960 Virtual Storage Appliance from Fujitsu, in which computing power (provided by Fujitsu BX9xx Server Blades) and unified storage (using NetApp Data ONTAP-v™, the Data ONTAP operating system enabled in a virtual machine) are delivered in a single box. Whether a completely virtualized approach is taken, or applications are deployed directly on physical servers, positioning the NetApp applications and integrated
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
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solutions (for example, SnapManager for Exchange) requires Fujitsu servers that these applications and solutions can run on. Proper sizing of VDI environments tends to be complex, because (depending on the hypervisor) additional, dedicated server resources are needed to manage the virtualization layer itself. This subject is covered in "VDI configuration packages" later in this paper.
STANDARD CONFIGURATION PACKAGES Initially five different packages will be available, each one sized for a certain number of users. Because every NetApp FAS system can handle CIFS natively, the combination of NetApp FAS systems and Fujitsu servers makes a powerful unified storage and application infrastructure solution. Table 2) Server class definition.
User Range
Fujitsu Server Class
< 1,000
RX200, 4 cores, 32GB RAM
1,000 – 1,500
RX200, 8 cores, 32GB RAM
1,500 – 3,000
RX300, 8 cores, 64GB RAM
3,000 – 6,000
RX300, 12 cores, 128GB RAM
6,000 – 11,500
RX600, 24 cores, 128GB RAM
Depending on the workload mix of file services, messaging (Microsoft Exchange), and collaboration (Microsoft SharePoint), the right NetApp FAS system must be determined by both I/O characteristics and capacity needs. Even with the same number of users, different storage systems may be recommended based on the NetApp FAStChoice system selector. Note:
These configurations may evolve over time and are subject to change. Also, the proposed server classes are defined by Fujitsu’s advice, and can be modified to meet individual needs.
Figure 4 shows the current version of the Fujitsu version of the FAStChoice tool.
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
Figure 4) Entry screen of FAStChoice.
CONFIGURATION EXAMPLES Example 1 500 users, mixed workload of file services and Microsoft Exchange. NetApp FAStChoice would propose a configuration based on •
Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX200 server (4core CPU, 32GB RAM)
•
NetApp FAS2040A controller pair + DS4243 disk shelf with 300GB SAS disk drives
Example 2 2000 users, mixed workload of file services, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SharePoint. NetApp FAStChoice would propose a configuration based on •
Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX300 server (two 4core CPUs, 64GB RAM)
•
NetApp FAS3210A controller pair + 2 DS4243 disk shelves with 1TB SATA disk drives
As mentioned earlier, the Fujitsu servers are sized to run the applications either natively or virtually on top of a hypervisor. Because of the use of Exchange (Exchange 2010 is assumed), it is necessary to have at least two server instances to separate the Edge Transport Role from the other roles. FAStChoice takes this into account and recommends the corresponding server class to run the two virtual servers. Looking into the sizing guidelines from Microsoft TechNet Library, the proposed server classes meet the recommendations for memory size and CPU.
VDI CONFIGURATION PACKAGES As stated earlier, deploying a VDI solution depends on the virtualization layer it relies on. Although the basic concept is identical among all major vendors (VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft), they differ in the way the virtualization infrastructure has to be set up. Describing deployment best practices for all these solutions is beyond the scope of this paper, which concentrates on describing the components that host the virtual client systems. Based on various best practices and NetApp technical reports (such as TR-
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
3770, TR-3795, and WP-7108), the following parameters are assumed for one physical server hosting the virtual client machines, in order to get a simple scalable deployment scheme: •
Up to 100 virtual client machines (based on Windows 7)
•
96GB RAM
•
8 CPU cores
•
Based on PRIMERGY RX200 ®
In addition, there is the option to have an embedded UFM or USB device (for example, with VMware ESXi 4.1 on each server) as well, so that no local disk storage is needed for installing and running the hypervisor itself. Example 1 Assuming 450 users, all running Windows7 desktops. NetApp FAStChoice would propose a configuration based on • 5 Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX200 servers (8 CPU cores, 96GB RAM each) •
NetApp FAS2040A controller pair + DS4243 disk shelf with 300GB SAS disk drives
Depending on the hypervisor and the desktop virtualization software, additional servers (physical or ® virtualized) might be needed for management purposes, or for hosting the Active Directory Services.
MICROSOFT SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION PACKAGES There is a major difference in load specification regarding SQL Server based applications, compared to applications like Microsoft Exchange. It is necessary to look at the IOPs, not at the number of users. How user activity correlates to disk I/O depends on the application. Therefore various server configurations map to a well-sized FAS system.
SAP CONFIGURATION PACKAGES A special set of configurations for SAP related scenarios is available. Server sizing is based on the SAP SD Standard Application Benchmarks. SAP BASIC Table 3) Server and storage combinations for smaller SAP environments.
Package
User Range
NetApp Storage System
Fujitsu Server Class
Low Entry
Up to 100
FAS2020A (12xSAS)
RX200, 4 cores, 32GB
Small
100 – 200
FAS2040A (12xSAS)
RX200, 4 cores, 32GB
Small-Medium v1
200 – 350
FAS2040A (24xSAS)
RX300, 8 cores, 64GB
Small-Medium v2
200 – 350
FAS3210A (24xSAS)
RX300, 8 cores, 64GB
Medium
350 – 500
FAS3210A (48xSAS)
RX300, 8 cores, 64GB
Note:
These package options are not currently covered by FAStChoice. Therefore individual configuration is necessary, and the information in the table should be considered as an indication.
SAP ADVANCED – READY-4-COMPLIANCE Almost every customer running SAP needs some archiving solution for compliance. Although the need for SAP archiving, in the sense of offloading the database (using ADK files), may not arise in the first or
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
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second year, requirements for compliant archiving using SAP ArchiveLink (for example, electronic invoices, inbound or outbound) are on the table from day one. In order to follow the consolidation approach (using virtual machines), the archiving application can use both existing storage and computing resources. Although there are more than 50 applications that support NetApp SnapLock, this section uses just one of them as an example (because there is no need for an additional SQL Server instance): PBS ContentLink. PBS ContentLink simultaneously supports the new SAP-specific WebDAV 2.0 protocol and the wellestablished SAP ArchiveLink interface. PBS ContentLink has been certified by SAP for the integration scenario BC-ILM 2.0 (Information Lifecycle Management for SAP) together with NetApp FAS systems. This means that a future-proof implementation is possible by using the new ILM for the SAP components Retention Manager and Retention Warehouse. In almost all cases these defined packages fit this option as well, subject to some extraordinary capacity requirements for the archive data. On the license side, SnapLock is needed (either SLE or SLC) for immutability of data, according to country-specific regulations. For more information about NetApp and PBS ContentLink, see: •
PBS ContentLink Connecting SAP and Storage: PBS Software GmbH Web page
•
NetApp Storage for SAP ILM with PBS ContentLink: NetApp SAP ILM Datasheet
In some cases (for example, optical jukeboxes), some archiving solution may already be in place or subject to be purchased. In that case, look into NetApp Jukebox Displacement Program on the NetApp Field Portal. Those Jukebox Displacement bundles are primarily designed to provide solutions that compete against optical storage and our competitors like EMC Centera, HP-iCAS, and FAST-LTA. One of the offered options (ECM Config) might be a good candidate for an all-in-one approach, as illustrated in Figure 5. Based on a FAS2020, there is enough headroom to run a well-defined SAP system (Low Entry category), as well as plenty of capacity for the archival data. On the server side, NetApp strongly recommends using the RX300. Figure 5) Consolidated all-in-one approach for ERP and ECM.
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NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact and Consolidated Deployment of Windows Applications
4 REFERENCES The following sources of information were used in this document: •
50,000 Seat VMware View Deployment: NetApp WP-7108 (August 2010)
•
Deployment Guide for XenDesktop and VMware ESX Server on NetApp: NetApp TR-3795 (Dec. 2009)
•
Exchange 2010 System requirements: Microsoft TechNet Library, Exchange Server 2010 (March 2011)
•
Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX Rack Servers: Fujitsu product Web page (March 2011)
•
NetApp FAStChoice Quick System Selector: NetApp FAStChoice V4.1 (NetApp Field Portal)
•
NetApp FAStChoice 4 Fujitsu: NetApp FAStChoice for Fujitsu (NetApp Field Portal, April 2011)
•
NetApp and VMware View Solution Guide: NetApp TR-3705 (August 2010)
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NetApp Solution for Windows Storage Consolidation: NetApp DS-2897 (August 2009)
•
PBS ContentLink Connecting SAP and Storage: PBS Software GmbH Web page (March 2011)
•
SAP Standard Application Benchmarks: SAP AG Application Benchmark site (March 2011)
•
VMware View on NetApp Deployment Guide: NetApp TR-3770 (February 2011)
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The following people contributed to the creation of this paper: •
Walt OMaley, NetApp Inc., Sunnyvale, USA
•
Dirk Rasche, Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Paderborn, Germany
NetApp provides no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, reliability or serviceability of any information or recommendations provided in this publication, or with respect to any results that may be obtained by the use of the information or observance of any recommendations provided herein. The information in this document is distributed AS IS, and the use of this information or the implementation of any recommendations or techniques herein is a customer’s responsibility and depends on the customer’s ability to evaluate and integrate them into the customer’s operational environment. This document and the information contained herein may be used solely in connection with the NetApp products discussed in this document.
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© 2011 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. No portions of this document may be reproduced without prior written consent of NetApp, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further, faster, Data ONTAP-v, SnapLock, and SnapManager are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Active NetApp and Fujitsu Solutions for Compact andSQL Consolidated Windowstrademarks Applications Directory, SharePoint, Server, andDeployment Windows areofregistered and Hyper-V is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. SAP and ArchiveLink are registered trademarks of SAP AG. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. WP-7137-0511