NetApp - Jay's Blog

Cisco and Unified Computing

The buzz about Cisco and their new approach of Unified Computing is building. As far as I’m concerned, it can’t arrive soon enough. The exact details are still pretty closely held, but from looking at Cisco Blog Post (Introducing Unified Computing to the Data Center) it is clear that Cisco is looking to make a big step in virtualizing the data center network.

This could be huge, in that it could fill in the last piece of the virtualization trinity. Server virtualization is now mainstream in the data center. The consolidation benefits are unquestioned and the ability to dynamically move workloads between compute resources is compelling if still a bit complicated. Storage is virtualized at some level on a wide scale, especially in the more modern architectures like Data ONTAP.

But the network has been a barrier to true dynamic mobility of applications and data since the VM typically has to make some assumption about a physical network address. On the storage side, volumes on iSCSI or file systems on NFS or CIFS are more dynamically addressed but they generally tend to stay in one place. This could change with a unified computing approach and systems like NetApp Data ONTAP 8 where volumes will move dynamically between nodes in a storage cluster but still be accessible at the same address.

Virtualizing the network with a unified computing approach frees up the last bond that had to be managed that tied applications and data together. In some ways, it is like the transition from a home phone number (tied to your house) to a cell phone number (always with you). Most people now are more easily accessible by cell since their “address” (phone number) moves with them. This kind of freedom of motion with continuity of access has transformed our day-day lives.

In future network-based unified computing environments, VMware’s VMotion and NetApp’s Data ONTAP will bring a level of dynamic agility to the modern data center. When apps and data are not tied to physical systems, yet the network still finds them, is a situation that simplifies maintenance and change management dramatically. This approach could be a great partner to NetApp Unified Storage. Both focus on lowering the cost of operation of the data center and increasing the ability of the infrastructure to rapidly adapt to new business requirements.

It could get interesting...

Flash and Cache Dash

Last fall, I wrote about our plans to incorporate Flash technology into our offering, as well as our expandable memory cache offering, the Performance Acceleration Module.

We made some announcements today moving forward on this strategy that produce some pretty cool results.

We announced that the Texas Memory Systems RamSan-500 product can be used with the NetApp V-Series, effectively creating the industry’s only Enterprise Flash storage system that supports thin provisioning, fast snapshots, remote mirroring, and data deduplication (very important for Flash since this stuff is not cheap). These systems offer a much higher IOP rate on much less storage capacity, and therefore less power, space, and in many cases, price.

NetApp SAN systems are already fast – our SPC benchmarks have us faster than EMC by 20%+ but there are always customers who want more IOPS than any rational amount of 15,000 RPM disk drives can muster. The only solution today to get this level of IOPs is to string more and more drives together. Soon, you have 40TB of 300GB disks not because you need the capacity, but because you need that many disks to deliver the IOPs. This is like having a heard of mice pull a heavy load - at some point you need a different type of storage animal.

V-Series is a well proven solution for bringing the unique NetApp data management capabilities to other storage capacity solutions. Texas Memory Systems builds a screaming IOPs box. Tastes great, less filling.

Faster File Serving at Lower Cost

We also announced a set of new industry-standard benchmark results (SPECsfs2008_nfs.v3 results) on a dual-controller FAS3140 NetApp system using our cache expanding Performance Acceleration Module (PAM) and the results are stunning.

On the baseline system with no PAM cards, we saw throughput of 40,109 ops/sec and an overall response time of 2.59ms. Good results by themselves. We added a 16GB PAM PCIe card to each controller and were able to achieve the same throughput, with a 35% improvement in overall response time (down to 1.69ms) but more importantly, with 50% less Fibre Channel 15,000 RPM disks! This takes 27% out of the cost of this configuration.

But wait, there’s more!

We also ran the benchmark with SATA drives. We have seen a steady increase in use of SATA for enterprise applications as customers realize how fast they can be when used in a NetApp system. In this test, we swapped the 112 FC drives for SATA, kept the PAM cards in place, and got almost the same throughput (40,011 ops/sec) and overall response time (2.75ms) as the baseline, but with 75% more capacity. Also, at a 27% lower cost than the original.

The ability to expand cache via a simple PCIe plug-in board is creating some great results in our customers’ applications. We are still on track to offer a Flash-based version of the PAM this year, and will also be bringing Flash disks (SSDs) in a shelf slot as well.   So this is just the beginning.

We have been talking a great deal about Storage Efficiency – how to store more data in less spindles. We have a broad set of technologies that reduce the amount of capacity you need to store the data. These Flash and cache solutions bring a new dimension to this story by reducing the cost of disks purchased mainly for IOPs rather than capacity. Either way, it costs less, stores more, and goes faster.

A Great Place to Work

We had some big news last week – NetApp was ranked #1 on the "Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune Magazine. This is great recognition for a company that has carefully built and sustained a culture that is truly unique.

It has been interesting in the past week how customers who were unaware of NetApp now seem more interested. Even friends of mine who would start making mental shopping lists when I described what NetApp does are now more curious. And oh, the resumes, LinkedIn requests, calls from Bobby who I shared a candy bar with in 1st grade, etc. It is all pretty cool.

While being #1 is a surprise, it is not a shock. NetApp is truly a great place to work. The unique benefits like paid time off to volunteer or autism and adoption benefits are unique in themselves, but they speak to a culture that cares very deeply about more than just the numbers.

We have a piece of collateral called "Create a Model Company" which is a set of cultural principles that was laid out very early in the company’s history. The principles there find their way into many other documents we produce but they also come up every day in thousands of conversations.

I have been at NetApp a little over 3 years, and my history with Dan Warmenhoven and many of the management team goes back further than that. I had always heard that NetApp had a unique culture, but it was not until I joined did I really understand what made it different. I attended an executive planning session just before I started and heard a presenter being very critical of engineering. He was the engineering guy. Sales leadership was critical of sales. They were also both complimentary about their functions as well as others. Everyone who spoke, was as objective and open about their own problems and successes as they were about those of others. It was really "One Team." At the end of this meeting, Dan asked everyone in the room to comment on the content, pace, and candor of the meeting. The “honesty check” at the end made sure that we had talked about what needed to be discussed and were not hiding something from ourselves or each other. It is a major force is keeping the leadership of the company aligned.

This integrity is widespread in the company. It is always safe to tell "truth to power" at NetApp. I have come to realize this was a missing element in many other places I have worked. It does keep us on track and focused on what really matters – delivering value to our customers.

No company is perfect and we certainly have our faults. But we are not afraid to confront them and change where we need to. Some people may not like honesty and a propensity to change. For them, NetApp is not a great place to work and they usually don’t last. But for me, and the many friends I have made working here, it is a great place to work, and worth the work to keep it great.