Tag: SSD

Sep 20 2014

Great deep dive technical white paper series on SSD technology

I was updating my Storage Links page today trying to file away a lot of new info that I’ve been digging around for on SSD technology and I came across this great 12-part series from Samsung. It’s a series of 12 technical papers that covers all sorts of different technical areas around SSD technology and is a great read if you want to learn more about SSDs. I also have a ton of other SSD related links in my Storage Links page so head on over there if you want even more great technical info.

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01: Why SSDs Are Awesome: An SSD Primer (Samsung)
02: Understanding SSD System Requirements: SATA Interface Basics (Samsung)
03: NAND Basics: Understanding the Technology Behind Your SSD (Samsung)
04: Understanding SSDs: A Peek Behind the Curtain (Samsung)
05: Maximize SSD Lifetime and Performance With Over-Provisioning (Samsung)
06: Protect Your Privacy: Security & Encryption Basics (Samsung)
07: Communicating With Your SSD: Understanding SMART Attributes (Samsung)
08: Benchmarking Utilities: What You Should Know (Samsung)
09: Why Integration Matters: What Samsung’s Vertical Integration Means to You (Samsung)
10: The Samsung Advantage: Why You Should Choose a Samsung SSD (Samsung)
11: Samsung Data Migration Software: The simplest way to get your new SSD up and running (Samsung)
12: Samsung Magician Software: OS Optimization Feature Overview (Samsung)

 

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Jun 06 2011

Using SSD technology to support memory overcommitment in vSphere

With applications becoming increasingly memory-hungry, memory always seems to be the resource in the shortest supply on a host. In a virtualized server environment, the lack of sufficient physical memory can have a real impact on project ROI, since it will limit the density that you could otherwise achieve.

That’s because, while CPU sockets can support an ever-increasing number of cores, for maximum efficiency, a host has to have a balance of resources available to virtual machines (VMs). If a resource shortage occurs in any one area on a host — such as RAM — the number of VMs that the host can run will be restricted despite plentiful resources in other areas.

The technique of memory overcommitment in a virtualized environment can help mitigate the problem, and using SSD to handle memory overcommitment can produce better results at a lower cost than memory overcommitment on mechanical disk.

Let’s examine the memory limitations of server hardware, how memory overcommitment works, and how solid-state drive (SSD) technology can address the problem.

Read the full article at searchvirtualstorage.com…

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Apr 26 2011

How to avoid VDI boot storm problems using SSD

Desktop virtualization, or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), can bring many benefits to an IT organization, including easier system management and centralized security and data protection. But the storage environment that supports VDI requires some careful planning to avoid the problem of VDI “boot storms” — big slowdowns that can occur when a lot of users log into the system at the same time. There are a few options for addressing the problem, but the one that makes the most sense relies on tactical placement of solid-state drives (SSDs).

The problem of VDI boot storms is a fairly straightforward one. Virtual desktop workloads are predictable; they’re based on the work hours of desktop users, which typically run from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each workday. The overall storage I/O that an average virtual desktop generates is quite low compared with that of a server workload, and so the density of desktop virtual machines on a host is typically much greater than with server virtualization. Conversely, the initial startup of a desktop is very resource-intensive, where the operating system and applications do a large amount of reading from disk while loading and executing.

A boot storm occurs when many virtual desktops all boot up during a short window of time (for example, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.), which causes intense concentrated storage I/O that can easily overwhelm a storage subsystem. If the storage subsystem isn’t designed to handle the heavy I/O load, you can effectively end up with a denial-of-service attack on your storage subsystem.

Read the full article at searchvirtualstorage.com…

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