Looking at replacements for NAS (NFS) storage

[Altoon]

I have some aging NAS  (NFS) storage devices with the following configurations.  I need to be able to tell my customer a price to replace the units as they fail. They are used as datastores in a VMware 6.x environment. Any suggestions?

10TB usable space  SSD drives  2 x 10G network  (There are four of these systems)

50TB usable space  7.2k drives 2 x 10G network  (One system)

75TB usable space  7.2k drives 2 x 10G network  (One system)

The customer has other HP devices in the environment.  It would be nice to stay with one vendor.

Thank you,

Altoon

[SahanaR]

hello @Altoon,

Could yuou please help us with you current NAS box model?

[Altoon]

QNAP SS-EC2479U-SAS-RP  4 units

QNAP TS-EC1680U   2 units

Altoon

[Christine_C]

Hello,

This query is being directed to our Sales team, who can help with specifics and prices. If it helps, I'm including the link to the StoreEasy 1000 quickspecs: https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c04111444 

[CalvinZito]

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@Altoon wrote:

QNAP SS-EC2479U-SAS-RP  4 units

QNAP TS-EC1680U   2 units

Altoon

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@Christine_C left you a URL for the StoreEasy QuickSpec - however the link isn't working for me.  This link does work: https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=a00041171enw. You can learn more about StoreEasy at www.hpe.com/storage/StoreEasy. If you're not aware of HPE StoreEasy, it is based on Windows Storage Server 2016 R2. So whether it is a direct replacement for your use case of your QNAP units is wholly dependent on whether WSS does what you need with NFS. The QuickSpec also gives you information about the different models of the StoreEasy 1000 family.  I have a StoreEasy ChalkTalk that I did a couple of years ago that gives a high level overview, so check it out.  I also have a StoreEasy playlist on YouTube that has the ChalkTalk as well as a number of videos highlighting StoreEasy features that was done by the product management team. You might find some of those helpful.  
Let me know if you have questions - I'm happy to help answer!

[Altoon]

Thank you for forwarding.  When I click on the link I receive a 404 error.

When should I expect to hear from the sales team?  

Respectfully,

Altoon

[Altoon]

Because the StoreEasy's OS is Windows 2016 will I have to reboot the system monthly?  I need storage that works 24x7.  I do not want to have to schedule a monthly outage.

Alton

[CalvinZito]

HPE doesn't have a solution for your environment. StoreEasy running NFS isn't supported for VMware and the other NFS solution we have, 3PAR running its File Persona, isn't for VMware but file shares.  Apologies that I missed when you said it was for VMware. All the best. 

[Altoon]

Thank you for letting me know what you do not have. 

I have some MSA 2040s I use as "direct connect" storage over 10GBaseT using iSCSI.  Is this the HPE solution for VMware storage?  I have not considered this for my other servers because they only have one dual port 10GBaseT nic for everything.  What I read says to keep iSCSI totally separate.  Would running iSCSI with other protocols on the same nic be any different than running access to NFS mounts over the same nic?  (This is what we are doing now.)

Altoon

[CalvinZito]

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@Altoon wrote:

Thank you for letting me know what you do not have. 

I have some MSA 2040s I use as "direct connect" storage over 10GBaseT using iSCSI.  Is this the HPE solution for VMware storage?  I have not considered this for my other servers because they only have one dual port 10GBaseT nic for everything.  What I read says to keep iSCSI totally separate.  Would running iSCSI with other protocols on the same nic be any different than running access to NFS mounts over the same nic?  (This is what we are doing now.)

Altoon

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Our storage for VMware is focused on our array (SAN-based) storage. Yes, MSA is definitely an option. There's also Nimble Storage and 3PAR that have very deep integration with VMware that MSA does not. For example, both Nimble and 3PAR support VMware VVols but MSA doesn't (and I don't think VVols is on the MSA roadmap but that could change). Here's an MSA for VMware best practices white paper that you might find helpful. I'm not deep enough to answer your NIC question but I'll ask my MSA experts and let you know. 

[CalvinZito]

Ok - talking with one of my MSA experts, there are a lot of questions about what your MSA environment is. I'll ask some of those questions and then give some guidance on the question you asked NICs and iSCSI. Here we go:

First, would be good for you to clarify on the connectivity of the MSA 2040.  The MSA 2040 does not support 10GBaseT. 10GBaseT – means running 10G over standard RJ-45 Twisted Pair cabling,  is not capable on the MSA family. MSA does support 10G via Optical and via DAC (Direct Attached Copper). Additionally, MSA does support 1G via RJ-45 SFP

This is likely a minor confusion but something you need to understand for performance.

Second, VMware does not support direct connect iSCSI. They have no qualification/certification plan for direct attach so no storage device can direct attached iSCSI and have official support from VMware. Obviously, you want to keep to a VMware supported configuration.  Note that we support direct connect iSCSI with every other OS supported as they either have a qual/cert plan that HPE testing runs or do not specify against direct attach.

I think the sharing of a device is the key part to understand as not doing things correctly could lead to data loss. 

It is recommended to have your iSCSI traffic on a separate network to avoid overloading the network, both from the standpoint of impacting “normal” network traffic and impacting the iSCSI traffic. Running iSCSI over the standard network and through the same HBA is possible but can add some complications to the IP scheme.

Note that the HPE Converged Network Adapters are designed to run BOTH iSCSI (or FCoE) traffic and Ethernet traffic through the same physical network port.  The configuration of the iSCSI network address and the Ethernet network address are handled in the HBA hardware.

Hope this helps!

[Altoon]

Your answer does help.  It looks like I have some work to do.  I need to reconfigure my network to be compliant.  

The network connection is  10G via DAC.

Back to my original issue.  HPE storage I can use to replace my NAS devices.  I found this link - https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04111443.pdf    It talks about NFS 4.1 and VMware.  Is this an option?

Thank you,

Altoon

[CalvinZito]

The link you had is to the StoreEasy 3000 - it's effectively the same product as the StoreEasy 1000 family with the difference that the 1000 is an appliance (that includes the storage) and the 3000 is a gateway that you can put "in front of" your existing SAN storage. It still runs the same Windows Storage Server 2016 OS that you weren't thrilled about but more importantly, I'm pretty sure we don't recommend it as a solution for VMware. 

You could run the MSA as it is for VMFS-based VMs. I don't know what tools VMware has to convert an NFS-based VM to VMFS but if you are interested in using the MSA for VMFS-based VMs, I can ask my VMware solution manager what tools VMware has to convert an NFS data store to VMFS. I'm guessing it would be with something like vMotion but I'll need to ask. 

And just to be clear about NFS vs VMFS - VMFS is VMware's file system that runs on block-based storage (like an MSA). It was originally how most VMs were deployed but over time some VMware customers wanted to run VMs on their NAS infrastructure so VMware deloped the NFS as an option for storage.  Today, I think it comes down to the network - many are more comfortable using their LAN but iSCSI is just as easy for most customers. 

This article - from someone I've known in the VMware community for over 8 years  - is probably 4 or 5 years old but describes the (then) differences between VMFS and NFS. 

[CalvinZito]

I have to back away from some of my previous statements. I reached out to the StoreEasy product management team and learned that they had qualified StoreEasy to work with VMware/NFS and they, in fact, were on the VMware Hardware Compatibility List.  They also told me that they qualified the 5th generation of StoreEasy but not the 6th. I don't know which products are 5th vs 6th and have asked them to clarify that for me. 

Lastly, while we did get the 5th generation of StoreEasy on the VMware HCL, it is not a recommended use case as VM data stores. I think the use case was more focused as a backup target but I'm asking the team to clarify for me. What version of NFS is your customer using? 

[Altoon]

The NFS version is 3.  The storage is used to host VMs directly.  We use HPE StoreOnce systems for our backups.  Having the same vendor for the rest of the storage would be convenient.  Is there someone at HPE I could discuss the options?  It sounds like the StoreEasy line may not be what I need.

Thank you for answering my questions.  I appreciate it.

Alton O'Neal

[CalvinZito]

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@Altoon wrote:

The NFS version is 3.  The storage is used to host VMs directly.  We use HPE StoreOnce systems for our backups.  Having the same vendor for the rest of the storage would be convenient.  Is there someone at HPE I could discuss the options?  It sounds like the StoreEasy line may not be what I need.

Thank you for answering my questions.  I appreciate it.

Alton O'Neal

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Please send me an email (hpestorageguy at hpe dot com) with details about who you are (location, company, etc.) and I'll see if I can find someone. It sounds like you're a partner - is that correct? If you are, you should have a Partner Business Manager that can help. 
There are lots of HPE options for VMware storage - there just isn't an NFS option that we would recommend for running VMs. The options from HPE you have from my perspective are: MSA, Nimble Storage, 3PAR, SimpliVity, and XP7.  Given your customer already has MSA and was using QNAP, (meaning cost profile), I think we can eliminate XP7 and probably 3PAR from the list. Even Nimble Storage could be too expensive for your customer. I think you're looking MSA unless the customer is looking to replace servers too, then SimpliVity could be an option. 

Drop me an email. 

[Altoon]

Email sent.

Thank you,

Altoon