Server Side Flash Acceleration
Application owners that have not deployed server side SSD have generally relied on storage administrators to address I/O issues. Despite their best efforts, storage admins are a resource in high demand and as a result, they may not always be immediately available to address real-time storage performance related problems. In addition, legacy disk storage techniques like over provisioning or short stroking high speed disk drives amount to an expensive band-aid for addressing I/O performance concerns.
Server PCIe SSD and NAND flash, on the other hand, provide application owners with a non-disruptive, targeted approach towards remedying application I/O challenges. What’s more, by configuring flash and/or SSD resources directly at the server, traditional hard drive storage can be re-claimed to function more efficiently as capacity storage rather than performance storage.
PCIe flash offers the lowest latencies and highest I/O transfer rates and is generally reserved for the most performance sensitive application data due to its cost. While much faster than rotational disk drives, SSD is not as fast as flash, however, it offers denser storage capacity and is more modestly priced. When used in tandem, flash and SSD can provide application owners with a powerful solution to increase overall server operational performance while increasing application response times.
Intel’s latest flash and SSD solutions are a good example of how server and application administrators can leverage both of these storage types to maximum advantage.
The Power of 2
Intel’s high performance storage offering consists of a PCIe flash card, entitled the SSD 910, and an SSD drive called the DC3700. Performance hungry application data can exploit 4k random read transfer speeds of 180k IOPS or random writes at 75k IOPS on the 910 series line. Application files can either be statically placed on the 910 flash or it can be used as a caching target for caching software like Intel’s Cache Acceleration Software.
The DC3700 SSD drive is a 2.5” SATA drive that can be installed inside the server chassis and may function as a primary or secondary caching layer for application data. When used alongside the 910 series, for example, users may opt to boot the server operating system directly off the 3700 and reserve its space for application data that has average or medium performance requirements. In this manner, administrators can stratify business data and assign it to the appropriate storage medium.
Built to Last
Intel’s innovations into flash and SSD endurance provides investment protection and high reliability of caching resources as both the 910 and 3700 series are engineered for high endurance. The 910 PCIe flash has been designed with Intel’s High Endurance Technology (HET) and is rated at 30x the endurance of standard MLC flash, and both the Intel 910 and the 3700 SSD should endure up to 10 full drive writes per day over 5 years.
Likewise from a power standpoint, Intel’s full SSD line can withstand power loss to the device and retain a charge long enough to flush data to persistent storage.
Conclusion
Application administrators have the option to deploy flash and SSD technologies to help maintain consistent performance for their most critical physical or virtual business systems. An end-to-end solid state storage solution, like Intel’s flash and SSD line, provides server administrators with the flexibility to designate the specific storage medium for data sets according to their true business value.
Intel is not a client of Storage Switzerland
As a 22 year IT veteran, Colm has worked in a variety of capacities ranging from technical support of critical OLTP environments to consultative sales and marketing for system integrators and manufacturers. His focus in the enterprise storage, backup and disaster recovery solutions space extends from mainframe and distributed computing environments across a wide range of industries.
StorageSwiss.com - The Home of Storage Switzerland 