I did some NFS testing last year: ================================= Test 1: I wanted to determine the feasibility of using a Deduplication device that was NAS attached to the server Equipment TSM V6 on AIX6 DataDomain - DDR510 1Gb Ethernet
I was using 2GB File devices on an NFS mount from the DDR as primary pool Data Transfer speed was acceptable for testing but was not an objective of the test. Deduplication was around 46% for a couple of Windows workstations and the TSM server. ============================ Test2: Can I run an entire environment on NFS rather than Fiber Channel? Equipment TSM V6 on AIX5.3 NetApp 3040 using 250GB SATA drives and deduplication 1Gb Ethernet 2Gb fiber Channel Test - TSM 5.5 upgrade to V6.1, InsertDB operation for 4GB TSM Database Fiber Channel = 9122MB/hour NFS = 7491MB/hour - The entire TSM environment EXCEPT the binaries & configuration files were located on NFS. This allowed for simple and quick DB backup and recovery using snapshots through the DB2 interface. - Deduplication of the DB was significant but the small test data set I was using may not have been representative of an operation environment. ================================================== Conclusions: - NFS may be viable for some environments and may actually be preferable to local or SAN storage. The simple protection offered by DB2 integrated snapshots can provide that extra level of protection that lets you sleep well. - If you don't have a SAN infrastructure, and don't want to build out a bunch of local disks, the NFS is easly scalable. This testing only applied to an AIX environment. - Deduplication performed on a NAS device is probably superior to the native deduplication of TSM. The TSM server does not have to spend CPU and memory and the TSM database does not have to track it. I stress again - Wanda's trueism - Your Mileage May Vary. You have to know your environment and determine what best fits. I will soon migrate my V5 environment to a couple of 750GB V6 databases and I am hesitant to put it all on the bleeding edge. The library manager might be an excellent candidate for NFS because of the low data volume but need for quick recoverability in the event of problems. ================================================= Some references I used during this testing: SNIA "Running Database Applications on NAS: How and Why?" by Stephen Daniel http://snia.org/images/tutorial_docs/Applications/StephenDaniel_Running_ Database_Application_NAS.pdf NetApp TR-3654 - "Planning for the Unplanned: DB2 9 Disaster Recovery with a NetApp Storage System" http://www.netapp.com/us/library/technical-reports/tr-3654.html NetApp TR-3668 - "Using Integrated Snapshot Backup Feature of IBM DB2 9.5 with NetApp Storage System" http://www.netapp.com/us/library/technical-reports/tr-3668.html NetApp TR-3581 - "Performance Study of IBM DB2 9 on AIX 5L With NFS, ISCSI and FCP using IBM N Series" http://www.netapp.com/us/library/technical-reports/tr-3581.html IBM - "Setup and Configuration of the DB2 Snapshot Backup with IBM N-Series Storage in an SAP Environment" by Thomas Mattha and Sergiy Malikov http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index;jsessionid=(J2EE3417200)ID177681265 0DB11015948196948835748End?rid=/library/uuid/0019590b-658d-2b10-24bd-9c6 882b2b009&overridelayout=true Cheers, Neil Strand Storage Engineer - Legg Mason Baltimore, MD. (410) 580-7491 Whatever you can do or believe you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic. -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ads...@vm.marist.edu] On Behalf Of Dale Jolliff Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 9:31 AM To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] FILE Device class over NFS I have to preface any statements I make here with the following disclosure: I work for EMC, and worked for Data Domain before EMC acquired us. This hopefully will not be construed as any sort of advertising. I have been involved in a number of Data Domain/TSM implementations over the last couple of years. I don't know the exact number off the top of my head, but there are a lot of folks out there using FILE device class via NFS. I see a lot of advantages with FILE device class, especially with 5.5 and the ability to do multiple mounts of a single volume for read access, but you do have to weigh the potential issues of network problems and how NFS behaves. We have recently had a customer open a PMR with IBM about TSM 5 to get an official response from IBM. Unfortunately, (in my opinion) the question to IBM was not optimally stated - the question and response appeared to confuse TSM DISK class storage pools with FILE device class - at least the distinction in the answer wasn't clear to me. I'd agree that TSM DB, LOG and DISK device class storage are not optimal on NFS for version 5. FILE device class over NFS works, and works well - in my experience. That said, I don't see any advantage for IBM to make any statement about NFS support - the primary IBM offering that competes with Data Domain storage doesn't offer an NFS option so far as I'm aware. I'm not suggesting there is an ulterior motive in the vague responses we have gotten, but that's just my take. Play to your strengths :) I can't see IBM saying they don't support NFS for version 6 for DB or LOG volumes for TSM 6 - DB2 specifically supports NFS as storage, and since the DB behind TSM 6 is DB2 ... It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Dale Jolliff - (Not speaking for anyone but myself.) -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ads...@vm.marist.edu] On Behalf Of David McClelland Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 7:18 AM To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] FILE Device class over NFS I couldn't see the original posting in this thread, but I'm interested - the only TSM statement I could find in the docs which looks like it might be NFS-related was: "Tivoli Storage Manager supports the use of remote file systems or drives for reading and writing storage pool data, database backups, and other data operations. Remote file systems in particular may report successful writes, even after being configured for synchronous operations. This mode of operation causes data integrity issues if the file system can fail after reporting a successful write. Check with the vendor of your file system to ensure that flushes are performed to nonvolatile storage in a synchronous manner." (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v1r1/topic/com.ibm.it smai xn.doc/anragd5582.htm#disksub1020) Anyone else seen anything else that addresses NFS support specifically? //DMc -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ads...@vm.marist.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Rhodes Sent: 04 August 2010 12:27 To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] FILE Device class over NFS We don't do this . . .we don't even have a DD (or any other dedup system). But my team lead went to a TSM users group meeting were she found several companies doing NFS to a DD. bkupmstr <tsm-fo...@backup CENTRAL.COM> To Sent by: "ADSM: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Dist Stor cc Manager" <ads...@vm.marist Subject .EDU> FILE Device class over NFS 08/04/2010 12:20 AM Please respond to ads...@vm.marist. EDU Ever get an answer to this one Dale. I guess it wouldn't bode to well for DD if IBM came right out and stated that they don't support it? Hmm +---------------------------------------------------------------------- |This was sent by bkupm...@yahoo.com via Backup Central. |Forward SPAM to ab...@backupcentral.com. +---------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT: E-mail sent through the Internet is not secure. Legg Mason therefore recommends that you do not send any confidential or sensitive information to us via electronic mail, including social security numbers, account numbers, or personal identification numbers. 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