Sun staff engineer and technical marketing manager Roger Bitar provides an overview of Flash technology, and discusses its introduction into a new tier of storage infrastructure. In a Sun BluePrints article, Bitar explains how companies can utilize Flash technology and the Solaris ZFS file system to take advantage of the high performance of enterprise solid state drives (SSDs) and other Flash storage devices.

He begins his 17-page article by defining NAND Flash, DRAM, and controller - the three main components of enterprise SSDs based on Flash. NAND Flash is used for primary back-end storage, and requires blocks to be erased prior to writing data. DRAM provides a local buffer to accelerate Flash performance and maintain active data structures. A controller manages the back-end storage and buffer cache, and provides a communication interface to systems.

The low cost of high-capacity hard disks to create hybrid storage pool solutions that help balance system performance, capacity, and cost is making them increasingly popular. The hybrid storage pool places data on the appropriate storage to maximize performance and get costs under control. Using this new approach, a server accesses data stored on a combination of Flash devices and hard disk drives. Communication routes are established over multiple host adapters to parallelize I/O and speed throughput.

Bitmar contends that the combination of Flash devices, along with the Solaris ZFS file system, can help organizations maximize a hybrid storage pool setup. He discusses the Sun flash devices:

• Sun Flash Modules, which combine NAND Flash components, a DRAM buffer, and a Flash memory controller;
• Sun Storage F5100 Flash Array, which is a dense, high-performance, high-capacity, eco-efficient solid state storage solution designed to help accelerate applications; and
• Sun Flash Accelerator F20 PCIe Card, which is a low-profile PCIe card that supports onboard, enterprise-quality solid state-based storage.

He then examines Solaris ZFS, explaining that it provides a seamless and easy way to administer hybrid storage pools and take full advantage of Flash devices' performance and inexpensive hard disk drive capacity. He goes into how it can reduce read and write latency, touching on Adaptive Replacement Cache (ARC), second-level ARC (L2ARC), and the Solaris ZFS Intent Log (ZIL).

Bitmar also advises when deploying hybrid storage pools is beneficial, taking into account the application and performance limiters associated with such a deployment.

"As Flash technology moves into the enterprise, it holds promise for accelerating application performance and reducing datacenter energy consumption," he writes. "By combining high-performance Flash storage with high-capacity hard disk drives into a hybrid storage pool that is automatically managed by Solaris ZFS, IT organizations can rebalance systems, eliminate I/O bottlenecks, and improve the end user experience."

More Information

"Deploying Hybrid Storage Pools With Sun Flash Technology and the Solaris ZFS File System" Publication updated as of 12/19/09 - login or registration required.

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