When VMware released VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) on July 13, 2010, Hitachi jointly released support for these APIs on our AMS 2000 storage arrays.
The testing that has been done with Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning volumes on an AMS 2300 with VAAI has shown the following results:
- Full copy – 18% performance improvement (speed to copy VM’s)
- Write same – 85% performance improvement (speed to clone VM’s)
- Hardware Assisted Locking – 25% to 35% performance improvement including the removal of SCSI reserves (powering on 1400 VM’s on 4 x Servers simultaneously)
http://blogs.hds.com/hu/2010/08/hds-at-vmworld-2010.html
Hitachi storage integration with VAAI includes:
- Hardware-assisted Locking: Provides an alternative means to protecting the VMFS cluster file system’s meta data
- Full Copy: Enables the storage arrays to make full copies of data within the array without the VMware vSphere host reading and writing the data
- Block Zeroing: Enables storage arrays to zero out a large number of blocks to enhance the deployment of large-scale VMs.
Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning allows organizations to create a storage pool from which capacity can be used as-needed to improve performance and utilization. Additionally, Hitachi Load Balancing active-active symmetric controllers distribute VMware workloads across all paths to ensure optimal performance by eliminating I/O path thrashing, which leads to performance degradation. This integration significantly enhances the customer experience through:
- Improved scalability: More VMs per data store; better storage utilization
- Improved performance: VMware vSphere offloads storage specific tasks to the arrays, freeing up cycles on the host for other workloads
- Improved ROI: Faster time to deployment means less coordination between VMware and storage administrators
- Reduced OPEX and CAPEX costs
http://www.hds.com/corporate/press-analyst-center/press-releases/2010/gl100713.html
See Also: http://storagenerve.com/2010/09/30/vaai-and-automated-storagetiering-with-storage-virtualization/