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Thin provisioning is a new capacity allocation technology. It does not allocate too much space to an application at one time, but allocates a small amount of space to applications many times according to the actual capacity required by the application. When the data generated by the application grows and the allocated capacity space is insufficient, the system will start from the back end againStorage poolPart of supplementary distribution instorage space 。
Chinese name
Thin Provisioning
Summary
Capacity allocation technology
Content
Banks do not have to pay all their reserves at once
In traditionalstorage system When an application requires a part ofstorage space Usually, a large enough space is allocated to the application from the back-end storage system in advance. Even though the application does not need such a large storage space for the time being, because this storage space has been reserved, other applications cannot use the deployed but idle storage capacity.On the one hand, this distribution mode makes the idlestorageThe number is increasing, and the total cost of ownership of the system is rising;On the other hand, users have to purchase more storage capacity to adapt to the environment and further increase the cost.
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In fact, the working principle of thin provisioning is similar to that of partial reserve system. Banks do not need to pay all reserves at once, so no one uses all reserves at oncestorageresources.Thin provisioning technology can help users improve disk performance without reducing performancestorageSpace utilization, delay the time of disk expansion, reduce the number of disks purchased, and improvestoragePerformance, reducing environmental impactstorageTo reduce the overall implementation cost, thereby reducing the overall energy consumption, cooling cost, andCO2 emissions, according toGreen storageRequirements.
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User guidance
Thin provisioning is a solutionstorageThe most effective way of oversupply.By enabling applications to consume only the necessarystorageResources to write blocks or block groups to specific volumes. Thin provisioning optimizes storage utilization, so that you no longer have to purchase or maintain more storage than you actually need.
But as this technology becomesenterpriseAs one of the mainstream technologies, users are beginning to encounter some problems with thin provisioning technology.Depending on its usage and the data environment, thin provisioning may actually cause more problems than it solves.
Warnings should be given to users who have particularly large data requirements.Most systems allow managers to set certainstorageThe resource is used exclusively by the specified application, but ifVirtual StorageIf the pool is suddenly or too quickly filled, it may become overloaded before the manager configures more physical storage resources.The result isdiskAnd application errors make the whole system run extremely slowly.
In order to maintain the increased complexity of thin provisioned environments, they may begin to hinder their functions.Manage a thin provisionedstorageThe network needs certain internal intelligence and logic.In case of failure, the system recovery time may be slower than that of traditional hard disk systems.
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At the same time, realize that all thin provisioning systems are inherently the same.Different features and functions can help or hinder system operation in different surrounding environments.
There is no doubt that thin provisioning technology is very effectivestorageManagement tools, especially inVirtualizationIn case of excessive burden on available resources.But as with any developing technology, uncovering the interior will reveal some incongruities.
Challenges and costs
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Today,enterpriseMore storage management software and tools than ever before.In particular, by enabling administrators to centralize and virtualize their storage resources, SANs can help reduce maintenance and management costs.However, for many enterprises, the overall storage expenditure is still rising, while the cost per GB of hard disks is declining.The surge in capacity requirements of today's information intensive enterprises is driving the growth of storage requirements.But when gigabytes or even terabytes of storage capacity are not utilized, it will be very painful for IT decision-makers to sign orders to purchase more arrays.
The underutilization of storage capacity is a major problem encountered by all industries.In most cases, most of the purchased storage is not used effectively.Low storage utilization drives increased capital and maintenance costs.When unused storage continues to remain available - taking up data center space, consuming power, and increasing the load on data center cooling equipment, underutilization will continue to drag down final benefits.Finally, the problem of underutilization drives enterprises to purchase large amounts of storage when their business expands to the point where they need to add capacity.Assuming the current price trend continues, the price of 1GB storage will be lower than the current price within one year.Therefore, purchasing storage capacity before actual needs will greatly increase the total cost of ownership (TCO) of enterprise storage infrastructure.
How is so much unused storage spaceaccumulationOf?The answer is that the combination of technology and business pressure causes enterprises to over configure, so that the created storage volume is larger than the volume needed immediately.
In terms of business, end users always require more space than they actually need.Excess space is used to prevent unexpected growth.In manyenterpriseMedium, a large capacity is requiredstorageInstead of archiving a series of smaller requests, it may be a successful strategy. Due to the change of business priority, any request may be rejected.Overprovisioning is also an attractive strategy for IT administrators, although it may incur long-term costs.althoughstorageManagement tools have improved, but increasing the size of the allocated volume can be time-consuming and labor-intensive - often leading to downtime for applications that depend on this volume.Provide a small amount of capacity as required, and also require labor-intensive feedback. Through this feedback, business stakeholders can request and obtain additional space in a timely manner.The IT team usually allocates all the items that will be needed in the whole life cycle of a given projectStorage capacity, even if all storage is not required at first.
content validity
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Thin provisioning mode automatically allocates physical when neededstorageResources to alleviate the underlying technical pressure behind excessive preconfiguration virtually eliminating the need for IT administrators to manually preconfigure and allocate applicationsstorageTime taken for capacity.Thin provisioning can be used with all applications - but only when the application administrator andstorageAdministrators get the best use when they have an agreement on storage consumption requirements to ensure that physical storage is always available when needed.Thin provisioning canStorage virtualizationGo to the next logical step.Currently, to allocate space on the SAN, IT administrators can create a volume that can bestorageThe target server uses, and specifies its location and size.When an administrator defines a typical logical volume, the SAN controllerdisc driveReserve physical space on the array to respond.Based on volume sizestorageEach byte of is backed up using the physical location, whether it is used or not.Unused space is actually wasted because it cannot be reused for other volumes and applications.With thin provisioning, administrators can create virtual logical volumes and assign them to servers and applications.But when the data is actually writtenstorage space Only physical storage resources are used for these volumes when.
UnusedstorageIt can still be used by other volumes.By using this technology,administratorsVolumes of any size can be configured on demand - each volume requires physical resources only when in use.For example, imagineadministratorsThere are three main applications that must be supported.Each application is expected to eventually require 1 TB ofstorage, but it may only need 300GB in the first year of operation.By using physical automatic configuration, if not needed immediately,administratorsA total of 3 TB of storage may be allocated.However, with thin provisioning,administratorsThree 1TB logical volumes can be created, but only enough covers need to be providedstoragePhysical storage of the space actually used by the application during the purchase week whether these periods last three months, six months, or a year.Benefits of thin provisioningadministratorsThin provisioning can be used to help improve thementerpriseUtilization rate of storage resources.In view of manyenterpriseThe most common utilization rate in, even moderate improvement will produce great results.In the previous example,administrators1.5 TB ofstorageThree applications are supported, which leaves a lot of room for growth.This simple change can reduce the number of hard disks by half or more, resulting in corresponding savings in supply and cooling.WhenenterpriseYou really need to buy morestorageThe cost per gigabyte of these devices may be lower, ultimately reducing the total cost of ownership of the system.By makingenterpriseCan add a small amount in an incremental mannerstorage, rather than making large capital expenditure, adding storage resources in an incremental manner will also help simplify budget allocation, thus realizing the real-time purchase mode.Thin provisioning helps simplify management and improve productivity because IT staff need to manage fewerstorageEquipment.Thin provisioning can also help reduce or eliminate the need to reconfigure volumes to handlestorageTime spent in changing requirements, resulting in increased end-user productivity, as minimal reconfiguration helps reduce server and application downtime.
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At present, some people still disparage thin provisioning technology, but as the demand for storage efficiency becomes more and more important, thin provisioning technology has become the mainstream and played a very important role.This technology is evolving with the latest development of thin recycling technology, and administrators believe that adopting best practices can avoid the shortcomings caused by adopting thin provisioning.
Thin provisioning is a policy that allocates storage toThe serverIt is initiated by some smaller companies, such as 3PAR (which is currently acquired by HP) and Compellent Technologies (which Dell plans to acquire), which have been acquired by large companies.
According to TheInfoPro's latest 2010 end-user survey report, about 51% of the IT organizations of Fortune 1000 enterprises and medium-sized enterprises have adopted thin provisioning, 25% are implementing or planning to implement it, and only less than 25% say they will not adopt thin provisioning.[1]
