Brain & Wendel - Episode 8 - Reference Architectures

Hi Friends,

In this episode Wendel and I discuss Reference Architectures.  What are they?  Why do you need them?  What good are they for?  And how we do reference architectures at Nimble.  Be sure to check out the last 30 seconds for show bloopers!  :-)

-Brain

Non-iTunes:
Episode 8: Reference Architectures

iTunes

Neil versus PVS - Part I - Shadow Copy

Hi Friends,

Oh my goodness, have you ever had one of those days where NOTHING wants to work?  Wow, that's today!  Every time I take one step forward I take two back.  Why is Citrix PVS torturing me so?  I don't know, maybe I pissed it off...  Any who, time for you to enjoy the fruits of my agony.

This is a weirrrrrrrd one.  So I finished installing PVS on my Windows 7 master image and decided to use PvDisk.  So this is before I even got to creating my vDisk.  PvDisk starts to do it's magic and BOOM!  Error, failure, no go, do not collect $200!  I look in the log and I got some weird error that said something like failed to initializebackup.  I searched my buddy Google, but really couldn't find anything.  So I figure maybe it's something to do with PvDisk right?  So I re-create my Windows 7 machine, install XenDesktop without installing PvDisk.

Everything's working cool, I'm creating my vDisk, the machine reboots so it can run the XenConvert and BOOM!

I took a look at the log and the error was surprisingly similar to the PvDisk error.  Hmmm maybe I'm onto something?  The error was something like Failed to initialize backup.  That looks familiar!  So I look around and I find this Citrix article CTX134075.    Well according to this article the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) needs to be running.  So I took a look and sure enough it was disabled.

I go to create a new vDisk, the machine reboots so it can run the XenConvert and BOOM!  What the heck?!  This time the error says something like failed to addtosnapshotset.  UGH!  So I look around on Google and found this thread.  Apparently there's TWO Shadow Copy Services!

I go into Services and sure enough there's a second one called Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider.  I turn that service on, create a new vDisk and then the XenConvert started to work!!

I don't know if the PvDisk error is fixed now, but I get a sneaking suspicion it is.  I'll let you know when I re-install it.

So if you're getting weird snapshot errors with PVS/PvDisk, take a look at your Shadow Copy Services, both of them, they might not be running.

Until Next Time!
-Brain

Happy 1st Birthday Glick's Gray Matter!

Hi Friends,

I can't believe a year has already passed and my blog has been viewed over 35,000 times!!  If you would have asked me how many people would want to read what I had to say, I definitely wouldn't say that many!

Thank you to my wonderful Wife for all of her blog ideas and just being great and thank you to all my readers, without you there wouldn't be a Glick's Gray Matter!

If you keep reading, I'll keep writing!

-Neil (The Brain)

Brain & Wendel - Episode 7 - Proactive Customer Support

Hi Friends,

Happy Friday!  This week Brain and Wendel interview Nimble Storage Vice President of Customer Support, Rod Bagg.  Learn about the excellent steps Nimble Storage has taken to help customer's before they even know there is a problem!  Definitely not a show to miss, I learned a ton of information.

iTunes Download

Non-iTunes Link: 
Episode 7: Proactive Customer Support


-Brain

Brain & Wendel - So Much Fun You'll Forget It's Educational!

Hi Friends,

I was out on Holiday, but I'm back!  I have great news, two more Brain & Wendel shows have been posted to iTunes.  You can get them here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brain-and-wendel-show/id688439206

If you don't have an Apple product, never fear, you can download the MP3 here:
http://www.mrkieran.com/Podcasts/podcast.xml

In Episode 5 we talk about VMworld, past, present and future.  Iron Tom is our special guest who is an Oracle and Linux guru and was at VMworld for the first time this year.  It's great to get his perspective on the show!  We also discus the software defined datacenter.  What does it mean and what does it mean to you?

In Episode 6 we talk about Big Data.  Larry Lancaster is our special guest, the Chief Data Scientist at Nimble Storage who enlightens us regarding Big Data and products like Hadoop and Vertica.  Big Data is becoming big news, so be sure to check this episode out to learn what all the

Until Next Time!
-Brain

How to Add Nimble Storage to Citrix XenServer

Hi Friends,

When I bring up XenServer a lot of people feel that it's down for the count in the hypervisor world, but I still think there's life in it!  :-)  It recently went open source and can be downloaded from either Citrix or XenServer.org.  I'm still asked from time to time about how to use Nimble Storage with XenServer, so I thought it would be a good idea to create some blogs on the topic.  I'd really be interested in hearing if you use XenServer, in what part of your business and what made you decide to use it.

Well then, on to creating some LUNs!

First let's create our initiator group so our Nimble array knows who our XenServer host is.

1.  Let's grab our initiator IQN from XenServer so we can create our initiator group on the Nimble array.  Click on your XenServer server, click on the General tab and copy down the iSCSI IQN.

2.  Next go to your Nimble Storage array and click on the manage and select initiator groups.  Click on New Initiator Group.

3.  Give our initiator group a name and click on the Add Initiator button.  Enter in the iSCSI iqn that you copied from XenServer and than click on OK and OK again.

Excellent, now the array and XenServer will be able to talk.  Now lets create a volume!

4.  Click on Manage and select Volumes.

5.  Now click on New Volume.

Okay, from here your mileage will vary since there are a bunch of different things you can do to optimize your volume, so I'm going to point out the highlights.

6.  Give your volume a name and select the initiator group you just created.  Click Next.

7.  Enter the size of your volume.  Click Next.

8.  Next create your protection policy.  This is just a test, so I'm not going to create one.

Outstanding, the volume and initiator group is created, we're ready to add storage to XenServer!  

9.  In the Nimble Array, go to Manage, Array.

10.  Here we're looking for the storage network our array and XenServer should be talking over.  Copy the Target Discovery IP Address, we're going to need it soon.

11.  Go to XenCenter, click on your server, then click on the Storage tab and then the New SR button.

12.  Select Software iSCSI as your Virtual disk storage.  Click Next.

13.  Give the new SR or Storage Repository a name.

14.  Remember that Target Discovery IP Address you wrote down from the Nimble Array?  Paste it into the Target Host.  Next click on Discover IQNs and Discover LUNs.  The LUN you just created should be discovered.  Click Finish.

15.  Now since this is a new LUN being attached XenServer, it will most likely want to format the LUN so XenServer can use it.

WARNING:  Make sure you don't have any data on this LUN that you want keep!

That's it!  You've just created a new LUN that can be used by XenServer.

Until Next Time!
-Brain

The Brain & Wendel Show - Episode 4 - Metrics and Analytics Made Fun!

Hi All,

You heard right, the next episode of The Brain & Wendel show is now available on iTunes!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brain-and-wendel-show/id688439206

If you don't have an Apple product, never fear, you can download the MP3 here:
http://www.mrkieran.com/Podcasts/podcast.xml

In today's episode Brain & Wendel talk about metrics and analytics.  I know, a real snoozer.  But in true Brain & Wendel style you'll be grinning before the end of the episode!

We discuss Nimble Infosite for storage analytics and VMware vCenter Operations Manager for virtual machine analytics.

So much good stuff, how can you say no?!  :-)

Enjoy!
-Brain

UCS 101 - Creating Service Profiles and Installing an OS

Hi Friends,

Today I'm going to show you how to install an OS on one of your UCS blades or rack-mount servers.  My buddy Wen has a great blog that shows you how to boot from a Nimble iSCSI LUN, so I'm going to show you how it's done from local disk with XenServer.  XenServer has a cool feature called IntelliCache that uses local disks to intelligently cache the work being done by the hypervisor.

Let's get started.  I'm going to assume you don't have a service profile yet for this new server.

1.  Click on the Servers tab.  Now choose the method you're like best to create a service profile.  I'm going to create a clone, but if you prefer you can always create a new one.  Right click on a profile you wish to clone and select clone.

2. Give the clone a new name and which organization it will belong to.

3.  When the clone is completed you'll get a pop up that tells you.  Click OK to continue.

4.  Find the service profile you just created and now it's time to make some decisions with regards to your environment.  For example, the Fabric ID, the MTU, Adapter Policy and VLAN of each vNIC.  Remember, you can add or remove vNICs per your need.  Isn't that cool?!

5. For example.  I've decided to modify one of my VLANs on one of my vNICs.  In a previous blog I showed you how to easily create VLANs with the Cisco UCS.  Take a look if you need help on that step.

6.  If you're not already clicked on your new service profile, click on it and select Boot Order from the tab on the right hand side.  Here we're going to select how we want the blade or rack-mount to boot.  Since I cloned this service profile I already have CDROM first and Local Storage second.  If you decide to build your service profile you can select these once you get to the Boot Order portion.

7.  It's time to associate your newly created service profile with a blade or rack-mount server.  Click on the Equipment tab and select which server you'd like to use.  Notice in the middle of the page this server has not been associated with a profile.  Be careful, you don't want to take your co-workers server!  :-)  On the right you can see a picture of what the actual server I'm going to install on looks like.  Snazzy, very snazzy!

8.  Now click on that Associate Service Profile link and we'll choose the one we created.  Click OK.

9.  You'll probably get a message like this telling you the UCS needs to reboot the blade.  Click Yes to continue.  Remember, double check that this is your blade!

10.  Notice the Associate Service Profile is now grayed out.  You've successfully associated your service profile to the blade or rack-mount server.  Now lets go to the KVM and get our OS started!  Click on the KVM Console link.

11.  Once the KVM comes up, click on the Virtual Media tab and select Add Image.  We're going to point UCS at an ISO image.

12.  Put the ISO where it's convenient for you.  Here I'm just getting it from the local desktop.  Click Open.

13.  Make sure the ISO is mapped and click on the Reset button to begin the install.

Warning:  This will OVERWRITE whatever is on that local disk, make sure there's nothing there you want to keep!



 14.  The build begins, now just follow the prompts.

I hope you enjoyed my blog on creating service profiles and installing on OS on Cisco UCS.

Until Next Time!
-Brain

Brain & Wendel Are Back!

Hear Brain and Wendel talk about Virtualization.  Particularly VMware vSphere and Citrix XenServer.

http://t.co/clRoDuTAOR

Hard Drives Are Dead! Long Live Hard Drives! Wait... What??

Hi All,

Happy Friday!  Today's title probably makes no sense, but keep reading and it will soon all come together.  If you've read my blog or heard me present you'll know I usually begin to rant about how SSD's are so popular right now that you'd think they were the cure to all disease!

This is my friend Mr. SSD.  I have nothing against him, I actually think he's REALLY cool.  He's one of those guys you knew in high school that was just really cool and no matter what he said or did people just thought it was the coolest thing.  Even though my friend here is fast and has no moving parts, I don't think he's going to replace our friend here Mr. Hard Disk so quickly.

Mr. Hard Disk was your buddy in high school that would loan you some cash if you were low, drive you around cause he already had a car and was just an all around reliable and good guy.  Hard drives are just like that friend.  They've been around for quite some time now, they're reliable, they're affordable and I don't think will be going anywhere for awhile.

Remember Mr. SSD might seem like the coolest thing since sliced bread, but he does have a dark side.  He's more expensive, he has a finite life span and the current generation of SSD's aren't the fastest when it comes to sequential writes, which Mr. Hard Disk does quite well!

Am I saying just use hard disks?  No, no, no!  They're both good friends to have because they have synergistic qualities when they're used together.  Combine the random write and cached read capability of SSD and the sequential write, plus cost of hard disks and you my friend are hanging with the cool crowd!  What I'm referring to is hybrid storage and Nimble Storage does it great!  You get the speed of SSD with the price of HDD.

And to those people that say, "Brain, you're crazy, hard disks are dead!"  I give you my good friend, Mr. Tape!

For YEARS people have been telling me that tape is dead, tape is dead!  Tape is still here my friends and tape will be here for years to come.  It fills a space in the backup market that it does well for a good price.  Personally I think tapes and hard disks will be around for many years.  Will they be used in conjunction with newer technologies?  Absolutely!

Remember, just cause it's old doesn't mean it should be discarded.

Until Next Time!

-Brain

How to Upgrade Your Nimble - It Can't Be That Easy! Can It? Part II

Hi Friends,

A little while back I posted this blog:

How to Upgrade Your Nimble - It Can't Be That Easy! Can It?

I showed you one way to easily upgrade your Nimble storage array if you didn't have access to the Internet.  If you thought that way was easy, this other way will knock your socks off!

Regardless of what my doubtful friend here thinks, let's take a look at the process.

1.  Follow the steps like in the previous article, except you don't need to get the software first.  Click on Administration and Software.  So instead of Uploading the software, just click on the Download button.  Notice there's nothing listed in the Downloaded area in this step.

2.  The array will contact Nimble and you'll get a list of software versions you can download.  Here my choice is 1.4.7.  Select the version you want and click the Download button.

 

3.  Watch as the software is downloaded, or get a cup of coffee.  Don't take too long because it'll be done before you know it!

4.  The update has been downloaded and is ready for update!  You can wait or click on the Update button to immediately update your array.  The choice is yours.

That's it!

Yep, that's it!

I told him it would knock his socks off!

Until Next Time!

-Brain

Size Matters!

Hi Friends,

I'm here today to answer the age old question, does size matter?  Without a doubt, size matters!  When it comes to sizing your VDI storage.  :-)

Okay, now get your mind out of the gutter and let's talk about block size!  Yeah I know, the gutter is probably more fun, but unless I want to start a trashy romance blog, let's stick to technical stuff.

So IOPS, what the heck are IOPS?  IOPS are input and output operations per second.  Okay....  So what's are IOPS?  Basically it's a performance measurement commonly used, particularly for hard drives.  And since storage is made up of hard drives, I hear the term a lot!  So much so that it's become one of the leading metrics people use to size their environments when they're getting ready implement a new storage system for VDI.

Unfortunately IOPS are only part of the story.  Take my friend here. He's strong, and confident he can lift 10 IOPS of work.  And if IOPS were the only performance metric we needed to worry about, my friend here could lift 10 IOPS all day!

Ah, but IOPS are not the only thing we need to worry about friends.  What about Reads vs. Writes?

How about Sequential vs. Random work load?  And the Hypervisor?

And what about Block Size??

As my friend here has demonstrated, all of these performance metrics can squash your storage performance if you haven't sized for them.  Due to the random nature of desktops, block size can be 4KB one moment and 64KB another!  Although it might not sound like much, 10 IOPS of 4KB work is a lot less the 10 IOPS of 64KB work.

The beauty of Nimble Storage is the CASL OS and it's extreme flexibility.  Unlike my friend here who as a lot on his mind now, CASL is optimized to handle the randomness and extremes of a VDI workload.

So remember size DOES matter! If you start to get yourself in a position where IOPS are becoming the predominant topic of a sizing discussion, remember my flat friend and get that conversation on track!

Until Next Time
-Brain