Open-ESS is the integration of
WildFire's Enterprise Storage Stack into the Open-E
DSSv7 SAN/NAS storage manager.
Open-E DSSv7 is a high-speed SAN/NAS
application that runs on industry standard x86 64-bit
server class hardware. Open-E supports a broad range of
SAN (block) and NAS (file) storage function over a broad
range of networking interfaces.
You can get more information about
Open-E DSSv7 capabilities at:
http://Open-E.com
With ESS pre-integrated into the
Open-E platform, you get the performance, wear, and cost
benefits of ESS and an all-Flash array with the ease of
use of the Open-E fully integrated SAN/NAS platform.
Quick Start If you
are experienced with Open-E, you can just straight to
the
Open-ESS Quick Start Guide.
Getting Started You
should read the Open-E DSSv7 install docs first.
System Planning:
Open-ESS works with all of the same hardware that Open-E
DSSv7 work with. Refer to the Open-E specs for
supported hardware. All DSSv7 features are
available with Open-ESS including options like Fiber
Channel and Replication.
SSD Arrays:
Open-ESS works with an all-SSD primary array. With
the initial release, only a single all-SSD array is
supported. This limitation may be lifted in future
releases.
The all-SSD array consists of either SATA or SAS SSDs
attached to host bus adapters and used with software
RAID. The use of hardware RAID adapters is not
supported. Hardware RAID adapters that are
configured as “pass-thru” adapters will work, but are
not recommended.
RAID-5 and RAID-6 are supported with 0, 1, or 2
hot-spare drives. The minimum array size is four
disks. RAID-0 is not supported as this does not
provide any drive-level failure protection.
RAID-10 is not supported as RAID-5 and RAID-6 are faster
than RAID-10, wear the SSDs slower, and provide much
better value.
Disk Controllers:
For small system, motherboard SATA controllers can be
used. You should check total bandwidth of the
motherboard controllers to get an idea of array
performance. For example, some systems have 10
SATA-3 ports, but only have 2 GB/sec of bandwidth
between the SATA ports and the CPU. In this case
the interconnect will limit the performance of the
array.
WildFire-Storage highly recommends solutions using
LSI (now Broadcom) 3008, 3216/3224, 3408/3416 controller
chips. These chips are frequently included as
on-board controllers on motherboards and are also
available as board-level host-bus-adapter from Broadcom.
With 16 and 24 port controllers, the 8-lane PCI-e bus
may limit bandwidth.
Network Interfaces:
All interfaces supported by DSSv7 are supported by
Open-ESS. Remember that SSDs are fast. In
nearly all cases, the SSDs are faster than the network.
Even with 40 Gigabit Ethernet, the SSDs are faster than
the network. Because of this, hardware selection
does not have to be “perfect” at every level.
Limiting disk IO to a single 8-lane PCI-e slot might be
slower than the SSDs, but this is unimportant if you
have only 10 GigE network ports.
SSDs:
Nearly any SSD can be used with ESS. ESS tends to
normalize the performance of SSDs such that the
performance differences between “high end” versus “entry
level” SSDs are reduced. When looking for an SSD,
you should look for:
- Reliability
- Stable performance during linear writes: SSDs
than have “boost technology” or slow “long term”
write performance should be avoided.
- SSDs that compress data may perform slightly
worse with the initial Open-ESS release.
SSD random write performance is not a relevant spec
for use with ESS. As such, features such as “over
provisioning” do not help ESS performance or reduce
drive wear.
ESS is fully compatible with:
- MLC and TLC Flash
- 3D Flash
Pre-Install Items:
Before you install DSSv7, you should erase your SSDs.
SSD need to start empty. A secure erase from Linux
is best. Note that some new SSDs come with
pre-configured partitions and these should be removed
before you try to use the SSD with Open-ESS.
Installing Open-ESS:
Start with a clean Open-E DSSv7 install to stable boot
media. While DSSv7 will function booting from a
USB stick, USB sticks are famously unstable. The
boot disk should be a small SSD, DOM, or hard drive.
Open-ESS Install Media:
You can download the correct version of Open-E DSSv7 and
the ESS "update package" from these links:
dss7.0up57_b21661.oe_i.iso
upd_70594-DSS-V7-EASYCO-D3-D3MLX-170421.upd
Install Open-E first, and then before
you create a system volume, install the "upd"
package.Once Open-E is installed, you need to install
the “ESS Update Package”. This is done from the
“System software update” function. You access this
function under “Maintenance|Software Update”. This
update requires a reboot.
After the reboot completes, you need
to access the text console. From the console,
access the “Hardware Configuration” tool by pressing
<ctrl><alt>W. You will see a menu with ESS as an
option. Selecting this option, you will see a menu
for ESS administration.
Before you continue, update ESS to the latest release
by selecting:
2) Update ESS
After you update ESS, exit the ESS admin utility and
re-run it to make sure you are using the latest ESS
release.
The test-based ESS utility should then be used to:
a) Enter an ESS license code.
b) Create the ESS array.
After the ESS array is created, you can return to the
DSSv7 web interface to create the primary volume group
and start using DSSv7 functions with ESS backed SSD
storage.
Open-ESS is the integration of WildFire's
Enterprise Storage Stack into the Open-E DSSv7 SAN/NAS storage
manager.
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