UNITY DESIGN
MIDRANGE SIZER FOR
UNITY
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Unity Design Midrange Sizer for Unity
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Table of Contents
Unity Design: Midrange Sizer for Unity 5
Unity Design: Midrange Sizer for Unity Introduction 5
Sizing a Unity Solution 6
Solution Sizing and Design 6
Inputs for Sizing Unity Solutions 6
Storage Performance Parameters 8
Performance Considerations for Sizing 8
Unity All Flash vs. Hybrid Solutions 14
Sizing Recommendations for Unity 15
Knowledge Check 17
Knowledge Check 1 17
Knowledge Check 2 17
Knowledge Check 3 17
Midrange Sizer: Overview 18
Midrange Sizer Functions 18
Midrange Sizer Options 20
Paths for Sizing Solutions: A Deep Dive 23
Paths for Sizing Solutions 23
Knowledge Check 24
Knowledge Check 4 24
Knowledge Check 5 24
Knowledge Check 6 24
Practice: Sizing Unity Solutions 25
Practice Scenarios for Unity Sizing 25
Scenario 1: Enhanced Storage Solution for a Client 25
Practice: Using Quick Configuration for Sizing 25
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Scenario 2: Change in Storage Requirements of Clients 26
Practice: Editing a Configuration 26
Scenario 3: Storage Solution for MS Exchange 27
Practice: Sizing for Application Performance Requirements 27
Appendix 29
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Unity Design: Midrange Sizer for Unity
Unity Design: Midrange Sizer for Unity
Unity Design: Midrange Sizer for Unity Introduction
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
Identify the inputs required for sizing.
Describe the key sizing and design considerations for Unity
solutions.
Size different Unity configurations, given the use cases of mid-
range storage customers.
Edit the configuration using Midrange Sizer.
Export the configuration.
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Sizing a Unity Solution
Solution Sizing and Design
Inputs for Sizing Unity Solutions
Six inputs should be gathered from a customer environment to properly
size and design Unity solutions.
Server information
Planned server consolidation
Protocols
Types of servers (physical, virtual, mix)
Operating system used
Workload characterization
I/O type (block, file, or mixed?)
Block size
IOPS
Throughput
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Capacity
Current capacity
Anticipated capacity growth
Replication
Requirement for local or remote replication
Tiering
Requirement for tiering
LUNs and workloads to be tiered
Skew
Non-uniform distribution of I/O over capacity
Changing patterns of active data or hot blocks relative to
overall storage capacity
Skew granularity (when modeling performance)
Deep dive: Learn more about skew and its impact on storage
solutions.
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Storage Performance Parameters
Performance Considerations for Sizing
Select the arrows to learn how each performance parameter
influences the sizing of storage solutions.
Performance limits can help optimize in-place systems and plan port
capacity for a proposed system. The maximum performance limits for
Unity models depend on:
Protocols used
I/O size and mix
Access pattern
Here are the performance limits of some Unity All-Flash models with RAID
5 Arrays:
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Workload Protocol Unity XT Unity XT Unity XT Unity XT
380F 480F 680F 880F
Random FC 100,000 200,000 250,000 295,000
80:20 8 KB IOPS IOPS IOPS IOPS
Random NFS 35,000 70,000 90,000 110,000
50:50 8 KB IOPS IOPS IOPS IOPS
Sequential FC 8,000 10,500 18,000 18,000
read MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s
Sequential FC 4,000 6,000 7,000 8,000
write MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s
Sequential NFS 2,000 4,000 5,000 7,000
read MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s
Sequential NFS 1,000 2,500 3,000 3,000
write MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s
Important: Response times at the upper limits may be
unacceptable because CPUs may be at the saturation
point. Check speed.dell.com for updates on performance
limits.
Use the following information about port performance to optimize in-place
systems and plan port capacity for a proposed system:
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Sustained per-port IOPS (for small-blocked mixed random workload)
Sustained per-port MB/s (for large-blocked mixed sequential workload)
The table below shows the ballpark maximum IOPS and bandwidth rates
for different front-end ports that provide Block protocols FC and iSCSI.
The I/O size and type can impact the achieved rates. See the Dell EMC
Unity: Best Practices Guide (delltechnologies.com) for more details.
Port Type IOPS/Port Bandwidth/Port (MB/s)
10GbE iSCSI (4-port 30,000 1,100
I/O module)
10GbE iSCSI (CNA 25,000 900
or 2-port I/O module)
8Gb FC (CNA or 4- 45,000 750
port I/O module)
25GbE iSCSI (4-port 30,000 1,700
mezzanine or I/O
module)
10GBase-T iSCSI 30,000 1,100
(On-board,
mezzanine, or 4-port
I/O module)
16Gb FC (CNA or 4- 45,000 1,500
port I/O module)
10GBase-T iSCSI 3,000 110
(On-board, CNA, or
4-port I/O module)
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Unity XT 380
Efficient utilization of ports on a storage system helps to achieve optimum
performance levels.
Recommendations:
Use the front-end ports and cores on Unity systems for optimal
performance.
If iSCSI is used on a Unity XT 380 system, use CNA ports on the
system. These ports can be used with iSCSI offload to save CPU for
other operations. The Unity XT 480 and later models have mezzanine
cards instead of CNA ports. These cards enable higher performance
than CNA ports.
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Unity systems have a multi-core architecture and port-to-core affinity. Port-
to-core affinity is implemented by associating I/O ports with a core,
thereby load balancing port I/O across multiple cores and maximizing the
system potential. For optimal performance:
Configure the system with as many front-end ports as possible.
If there is a limited number of front-end open switch ports, use a single
port. The Unity multi-core architecture optimizes this configuration by a
round-robin load balancing across cores.
With one port: With workload from a single port running on one core due
to port-to-core affinity, CPU utilization is steady at around 80%. The other
cores at the bottom of the graph spike one by one because they help in
round-robin load balancing.
With four ports: More cores are dedicated to handling the I/O from the
additional ports. As seen in the graph, CPU utilization does not increase. It
stays <80%.
With eight ports: All the cores handle the I/O, and CPU utilization stays
<80%. Maximum efficiency results from the multi-core processing of I/O of
multiple ports.
Graph showing CPU activity for 1, 4, and 8 ports
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Check the sustained per-drive IOPS to assess whether a drive is a
bottleneck. The following table shows the acceptable and excessive IOPS
for some drives, which are given a small-block mixed random workload.
For each drive type, the per-drive IOPS must be at, or below, the numbers
in the second column. If the per-drive IOPS are at or higher than the
number in the last column, the drives may be a performance bottleneck.
The drives may handle more IOPS but with a higher response time.
Drive Type Acceptable IOPS Excessive IOPS
NL-SAS Less than 150 More than 150
SAS 10K Less than 250 More than 250
SAS 15K Less than 350 More than 350
SAS Flash (all Less than 20,000 More than 20,000
types)
As the following table indicates, certain bandwidth levels might indicate a
hardware bottleneck and require corrective action.
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Observed Read or Probable Bottleneck Corrective
Bandwidth Write? Action
~110 MB/s (and Either 1 GbE network port Use more ports;
its multiples) (Unity, client, or network) use 10 GbE
~750 MB/s (and 8 Gb FC port (Unity, Use more ports;
its multiples) client, or network) use 16 Gb
~1,100 MB/s 10 GbE network port Use more ports.
(and its (Unity, client, or network)
multiples)
~1,500 MB/s 16 Gb FC port (Unity,
(and its client, or network)
multiples)
~4,000 MB/s Write 1 SAS bus Spread drives
across more
~7,000 MB/s Read SAS buses.
~10,500 MB/s 2 SAS buses Add a SAS I/O
module for more
SAS buses.
Unity All Flash vs. Hybrid Solutions
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Sizing Recommendations for Unity
Approach Benefits
All Flash Choose the highest Less physical space is
models capacity flash drives that required.
meet the overall capacity Lower power is consumed.
requirements.
Less cooling is required.
Use an All-Flash array if
>50% Flash by capacity The drives have the best
is needed. cost per IOPS and provide
the required performance.
An All-Flash array is a
more cost-effective solution
than a hybrid array in
situations requiring >50%
Flash by capacity.
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Sizing a Unity Solution
Hybrid For a hybrid pool, Minimum 5% Flash
models capacity distribution of component offsets some
tiers is key. skew in the workload and
accelerates metadata for
Size Flash + SAS to
buffer cache misses.
satisfy most workload
requirements. Important: Selecting >50%
Use NL-SAS to capture Flash by capacity when sizing
inactive data. a Hybrid model is not a valid
configuration. In Hybrid
Keep a minimum 5%
models, some I/O may span to
Flash component and
a lower tier and restrict the
increase Flash capacity
to hold an active dataset. output of the Flash drive.
Consider an All-Flash array a
For capacity growth, keep more cost-effective solution if
in mind: >50% Flash by capacity is
needed.
Overall capacity
growth vs. active data
growth. More data
requires more
capacity.
Movement or
expansion of “hot
blocks” of active data.
Flash capacity may
not be enough to
handle all the
workload, and
performance may be
affected.
Longer-term planning
for growth
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Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check 1
1. What is the minimum amount of Flash you should specify for a Unity
Hybrid solution?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
a. 10%
b. 5%
c. 15%
d. 20%
Knowledge Check 2
2. What percentage of Flash in a Unity Hybrid solution would prompt you
to pivot to a Unity All-Flash model?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
a. 5%
b. 25%
c. 45%
d. 55%
Knowledge Check 3
3. When sizing a Unity Hybrid, what should you size for?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
a. Performance only
b. Performance first, capacity second
c. Capacity first, performance second
d. Capacity only
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Midrange Sizer: Overview
Midrange Sizer: Overview
Midrange Sizer Functions
Scroll down to learn more about Midrange Sizer.
Midrange Sizer, an online interactive tool, eases the process of sizing
Unity and SC Series solutions. It helps with system design and selection
of a configuration, including the
Array model
Drive type and count
RAID type and width
Front-end ports
I/O size
URL to access Midrange Sizer: https://midrangesizer.dell.com/
Midrange Sizer dashboard
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Midrange Sizer: Overview
Based on the selected specifications and configuration, Sizer predicts
system performance and calculates the storage capacity output.
Midrange Sizer Output
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Midrange Sizer: Overview
For the selected configuration and system, Sizer exports the details to:
A PDF File for ease of processing by customers
An OSC JSON File to facilitate purchase and ordering decisions
Tip: PDF files can also be imported into Sizer for viewing
and editing.
Exporting a configuration to PDF or JSON files
Midrange Sizer Options
When you log in to Midrange Sizer with your Dell Technologies account, a
dashboard is displayed with multiple options and guidance for sizing
storage solutions. Sizer stores all configurations that are saved with your
user name.
Select the number labels to learn about the dashboard options.
Midrange Sizer dashboard
Midrange Sizer Home
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Midrange Sizer: Overview
1: Help Me Choose a Product: Obtain guidance for product selection,
based on use cases or storage system capability.
2: Quick Configuration: Choose from predefined configurations that
cater to specific requirements or use cases.
3: System Designer: Create, edit, and visualize custom configurations
and estimate their IOPS. Only System Designer supports hybrid dynamic
pools.
4: Live Optics/NAR: Create a storage solution using a performance
archive (NAR file) or a project ID in the Live Optics application.
5: Application Oriented: Size a storage solution based on application
workloads.
6: Simple Performance: Size a storage solution with minimal inputs and
view recommendations for pool configurations. Use this option in cases
where workload details are not fully known.
7: Saved Configurations: View, organize, and share the saved
configurations.
8: PowerSizer Toolbar
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Midrange Sizer: Overview
Help: Get help to use Midrange Sizer.
Settings: View settings to customize Midrange Sizer.
Tell a Friend: Refer Sizer to a coworker.
Feedback: Convey feedback on Sizer.
Import PDF: Import a storage configuration in PDF format.
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Paths for Sizing Solutions: A Deep Dive
Paths for Sizing Solutions: A Deep Dive
Paths for Sizing Solutions
The path to size Unity solutions in Midrange Sizer depends on the inputs
available and the purpose of sizing. To predict performance for the given
system design and workload, use the Quick Configuration or System
Designer path. To design a system to meet the given performance
requirements, use the Application Oriented or Live Optics/NAR path.
Sizing options in Midrange Sizer
Important: The Live Optics/NAR path can be used only with
an existing Live Optics project ID or NAR file.
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Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check 4
1. Select the correct option and then select Submit.
If you don’t have specific capacity, performance, and workload
criteria, the best sizer path to start with is:
Knowledge Check 5
2. How is importing a PDF with a storage configuration into Midrange
Sizer helpful?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
a. It aids Midrange Sizer updates.
b. It simplifies solution upgrades via System Designer.
c. It adds configurations for reuse in different Sizer paths.
d. It simplifies sizing through the Live Optics/NAR path.
Knowledge Check 6
3. Which of the following Sizer paths is suitable to design a system with
specific performance requirements and details of workloads?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
a. Live Optics/NAR
b. System Designer
c. Application Oriented
d. Simple Performance
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Practice: Sizing Unity Solutions
Practice: Sizing Unity Solutions
Practice Scenarios for Unity Sizing
Time to check your understanding!
This topic provides practice in sizing Unity solutions for three customer
scenarios:
Scenario 1: Enhanced storage solution for a Client
Scenario 2: Change in storage requirements of clients
Scenario 3: Storage solution for MS Exchange
Scenario 1: Enhanced Storage Solution for a Client
1. France Avenue Consulting needs 64 TB of usable capacity. They
would prefer to be able to withstand double drive failure but are
opposed to the costs associated with RAID 1/0. The goal is to use
fewer drives to yield lower costs while meeting the performance
requirements. Their current performance details are as follows: 9,649
IOPS, R/W ratio: 67:33, average block size: 32K, and no compression.
Which of the following paths would you use in Sizer to recommend a
Unity configuration and predict its performance?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
a. Live Optics/NAR
b. Quick Configuration
c. Application Oriented
Practice: Using Quick Configuration for Sizing
The web version of this content contains an interactive activity.
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Practice: Sizing Unity Solutions
Scenario 2: Change in Storage Requirements of Clients
2. The saved Unity XT 480F configuration needs to handle the
customer’s virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), but the VDI workload
cannot negatively impact other workloads. The customer prefers to
use the same drive type throughout their new system. The VDI
workload performance data is as follows: 67:33 read/write ratio, 8K
block size, additional 13 TB of capacity, 24,800 IOPS, RAID 6, and no
compression. How should the configuration be changed to meet these
requirements?
Select the correct option and then select Submit.
Midrange Sizer Saved Configurations
a. Change the block size and usable capacity of the Unity
configuration.
b. Add a drive pool of seven 3.84TB SAS FLASH 4 drives with 8K
block size and similar I/O workload.
c. Choose another system model that provides at least 24,800 IOPS
and uses RAID 6.
d. Add four 7.68TB SAS FLASH 4 drives that have 8K block size and
use RAID 6.
Practice: Editing a Configuration
Update the Unity XT 480F solution created using Quick Configuration.
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Practice: Sizing Unity Solutions
The web version of this content contains an interactive activity.
Scenario 3: Storage Solution for MS Exchange
Now review the following scenario and then select NEXT to begin sizing a
solution for the client.
Oak Grove Enterprises needs a storage solution for MS Exchange, but
due to budget cutbacks, they need to keep costs to a minimum. The
following requirements are provided:
Mailbox quota (MB): 100
Users: 10,000
Database Availability Group (DAG) copies: 2
Exchange servers: 2
Average users: 9,450
Heavy users: 500
Power users: 50
Compression: No
Usable capacity (TB): 15
CNA connectivity: 16 Gb FC SFP
Additional I/O connections: 4 x 10GbE TwinAX, 4 x 16GB FC
Practice: Sizing for Application Performance
Requirements
The web version of this content contains an interactive activity.
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Appendix
Skew
What Is Skew?
Skew is the non-uniform distribution of I/O over storage capacity. It is
temporal, which means that regions of high I/O activity often shift over
time. Also, the regions of high and low I/O activity are dispersed across
the logical address range of a storage object, as shown in the image. In
this image, red regions indicate high I/O activity, and blue regions indicate
low I/O activity.
Important: Skew is often represented by a single number,
which may not be an accurate measure. However, it simplifies
the representation of skew and performance modeling. Some
reporting methods also indicate LUN-level skew.
Example of Skew
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Appendix
If the LUNs doing 80% work are 100 GB in size and the other LUNs
are 10 TB each, the capacity-level skew would be very different from
80%.
80% work over 200 GB of an aggregate 80.2 TB would be close to
99% skew, taking into account the capacity—that is, 99% work would
be handled by 1% of capacity.
Impact of Skew on Storage Solutions
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Appendix
Sizing Using Quick Configuration
Go to: the link if you are unable to view the video.
Sizing Using System Designer
Go to: the link if you are unable to view the video.
Application Oriented Path for Sizing
Go to: the link if you are unable to view the video.
Live Optics/NAR Path for Sizing
Go to: the link if you are unable to view the video.
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Unity Design Midrange Sizer for Unity
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