When is SSD a MUST HAVE for server? thoughts? Discussion :D
-
@ardeyn said:
Any opinions on VSAN's that have SSD caching? I mean, they give you a lot of other stuff, but what would you get in terms of performance?
Good question for @original_anvil and he does this. But it gives you a ton, the same as you would get, more or less, with any caching system. Getting high performance cache close to where it is used (the closer the better) the bigger the performance leap. VSAN has the same bottlenecks from the disks that any other storage technology does. If your VSAN is pure SSD, then an SSD cache would do pretty little (nothing) but if your VSAN is spinning disks, then an SSD cache would have the normal acceleration advantages.
If you were willing to have your SSD cache do write commits without getting data flushed to the VSAN and replicated to other nodes, you could get insane performance improvements, of course, but that would come with extreme risk that would pretty much defeat the VSAN's purpose. But from a read perspective, the speed ups are identical to any other.
-
@scottalanmiller Thanks for bringing me in!
@ardeyn So, yeah, as Scott said, StarWind Virtual SAN (aka StarWind VSAN), allows using SSDs as one of the tiers of the cache, Level 2 to more exact. So, combination of RAM as the L1 caching and Flash cache gives really good performance boost. The exact numbers actually depends on the workload set, so I just don`t want to misslead you here. BTW, the data within the cache synchronizes across all the nodes, so we are free to claim that we do Fault Tolerance in the cache level. Anyway, here is a bit more information about Server Side caching:
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/caching-pageLet me know if there is anything else that I might be useful for you.
-
@original_anvil That seems pretty interesting. Does look like a good alternative to all flash, if on a tight budget.
-
SSD cache is almost always a great alternative to all flash. All flash, unless it is extremely cheap, generally does not deliver that much value (special case databases not withstanding.) SSD caching is extremely effective and generally very cheap in comparison to all flash. So something like 90% of the performance gain while something like 30% of the increase in cost. A good tradeoff nearly all of the time.
-
@scottalanmiller Happen to know if you can enable cachecade on a Dell R720XD after you have an array created on the main drives?
-
@wrx7m said:
@scottalanmiller Happen to know if you can enable cachecade on a Dell R720XD after you have an array created on the main drives?
After? No, not sure about that. The xByte team would know that one.
-
Thanks for the mention @scottalanmiller , @wrx7m - Just talked to the engineers. Short answer is yes. If you put the SSDs into the rear backplane, the system will automatically ask if you want them to be cachecade disks when you configure them. If you add then into other slots, you can change them into a cahcecade array when you are editing the controller settings. You press F2 to select the type on the settings.
-
That's awesome @Lyndsie_xByte thanks for following up so quickly.
-
@Lyndsie_xByte Thank you! That was very quick! I didn't even know you could cachecade on the front.
-
@Lyndsie_xByte said:
Thanks for the mention @scottalanmiller , @wrx7m - Just talked to the engineers. Short answer is yes. If you put the SSDs into the rear backplane, the system will automatically ask if you want them to be cachecade disks when you configure them. If you add then into other slots, you can change them into a cahcecade array when you are editing the controller settings. You press F2 to select the type on the settings.
I should be able to do a hot add, right? Then configure from iDRAC? I would like to do it without taking down the server, if possible.
-
Yes, should be able to. iDrac should work or a software utility.
-
We use Edge SSD that we got form Xbytes and very ahppy with it. Sure SSD cost more but man they are fast. And like Scott said you can do RAID 5 with SSD so you get more storage than RAID 10 but still blow the doors of any spinning drives.
-
@vandis33 said:
We use Edge SSD that we got form Xbytes and very ahppy with it. Sure SSD cost more but man they are fast. And like Scott said you can do RAID 5 with SSD so you get more storage than RAID 10 but still blow the doors of any spinning drives.
I wish something like this existed for HP.
-
@vandis33 said:
We use Edge SSD that we got form Xbytes and very ahppy with it. Sure SSD cost more but man they are fast. And like Scott said you can do RAID 5 with SSD so you get more storage than RAID 10 but still blow the doors of any spinning drives.
Same here. Blazing.
Which reminds me I should get back to that thread I created about the blazing drives.
-
@Dashrender said:
@vandis33 said:
We use Edge SSD that we got form Xbytes and very ahppy with it. Sure SSD cost more but man they are fast. And like Scott said you can do RAID 5 with SSD so you get more storage than RAID 10 but still blow the doors of any spinning drives.
I wish something like this existed for HP.
-
@travisdh1 said:
@Dashrender said:
@vandis33 said:
We use Edge SSD that we got form Xbytes and very ahppy with it. Sure SSD cost more but man they are fast. And like Scott said you can do RAID 5 with SSD so you get more storage than RAID 10 but still blow the doors of any spinning drives.
I wish something like this existed for HP.
I'm still looking around the site, but mainly I am looking for an Edge SSD type solution for HP (i.e. a fully supports non HP branded SSD drive that I can do blind hot swapping with.)
-
HP doesn't have any blind swapping limitations on third party drives. At least not as far as I've ever seen.
-
@Dashrender said:
@travisdh1 said:
@Dashrender said:
@vandis33 said:
We use Edge SSD that we got form Xbytes and very ahppy with it. Sure SSD cost more but man they are fast. And like Scott said you can do RAID 5 with SSD so you get more storage than RAID 10 but still blow the doors of any spinning drives.
I wish something like this existed for HP.
I'm still looking around the site, but mainly I am looking for an Edge SSD type solution for HP (i.e. a fully supports non HP branded SSD drive that I can do blind hot swapping with.)
Ah, all I know about HP servers at the moment is that ServerMonkey offers used models like xByte does. Sounds like HP is just harder to find 2nd hand equipment that works properly, uck.
-
@scottalanmiller said:
HP doesn't have any blind swapping limitations on third party drives. At least not as far as I've ever seen.
What was/is the issue with using off the shelf SSDs in HP servers then? Other than MLC/TLC have shorter lifespans than SLC (and I'm not sure that Enterprise class drives are even SLC)?
-
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
HP doesn't have any blind swapping limitations on third party drives. At least not as far as I've ever seen.
What was/is the issue with using off the shelf SSDs in HP servers then? Other than MLC/TLC have shorter lifespans than SLC (and I'm not sure that Enterprise class drives are even SLC)?
They don't have the trays or firmware to talk to the OS.
