This chapter provides an overview of configuration planning considerations.
VSM 6 consists of a base unit and optional capacity upgrades.
The base unit is a VSM 6 in its minimum configuration, including:
A standard Sun Rack II cabinet, Model 1242
Depending on country, two VLE50HZ-POWER-Z or two VLE60HZ-POWER-Z power Power Distribution Units (PDUs)
Two Sun SPARC T4-2 servers in a specific configuration and factory preconfigured for VSM 6
Two disk shelves, in a specific configuration depending on date of manufacture:
For VSM 6 units built starting in December 2013, the base unit has two Oracle Storage Drive Enclosure DE2-24C disk shelves. Each DE2-24C disk shelf has three 73GB or 200GB Flash SSDs and 21 4TB SAS HDD drives, representing 370TB approximate user capacity (configured, with 4:1 compression).
For VSM 6 units built before December 2013, the base unit has two Sun J4410 disk shelves, each with three 73GB Flash SSDs and 21 3TB SAS HDD drives, representing 270TB approximate user capacity (configured, with 4:1 compression).
Storage capacity upgrades are either base capacity upgrades that are factory-built when the base unit is assembled, or field capacity upgrades that are installed in the field.
A storage capacity upgrade kit is packaged as two disk shelves. Up to three upgrade kits can be installed in a VSM 6 base unit, for a total of four, six, or eight disk shelves in the unit.
Note:
The capacity upgrade must use the same disk shelf product that is used in the base configuration. You cannot mix Oracle DE2-24C and Sun J4410 disk shelves in a VSM 6.For a VSM 6 with Oracle DE2-24C disk shelves, a capacity upgrade kit has two Oracle DE2-24C disk shelves, each containing 24 4TB SAS HDD drives, representing 400TB approximate user capacity (configured, with 4:1 compression).
Total approximate user capacity (configured, with 4:1 compression) for a base unit with one, two, or three capacity upgrade kits installed is as follows:
VSM 6 with four Oracle DE2-24C disk shelves: 800TB
VSM 6 with six Oracle DE2-24C disk shelves: 1200TB
VSM 6 with eight Oracle DE2-24C disk shelves: 1600TB
For a VSM 6 with Sun J4410 disk shelves, a capacity upgrade kit has two Sun J4410 disk shelves, each containing 24 3TB SAS HDD drives, representing 300TB approximate user capacity (configured, with 4:1 compression).
Total approximate user capacity (configured, with 4:1 compression) for a base unit with one, two, or three capacity upgrade kits installed is as follows:
VSM 6 with four Sun J4410 disk shelves: 600TB
VSM 6 with six Sun J4410 disk shelves: 900TB
VSM 6 with eight Sun J4410 disk shelves: 1200TB
The FICON upgrade option may include up to eight Long Wave SFPs that replace some or all of the Short Wave SFPs in the VSM 6 VTSS's FICON HBAs. There are eight SFPs total in a VSM 6 VTSS. They can be all Long Wave, all Short Wave, or mixed to balance Long and Short Wave SFPs between servers.
The ZIL SSD upgrade adds two 200GB SSDs to the VSM 6 storage pool. These SSDs are dedicated to the ZFS intent log (ZIL) to improve synchronous write performance by speeding up specific synchronizing events.
This upgrade is only available for VSM 6 configurations with four or more disk shelves installed.
The ZIL performance upgrade for VSM 6 systems with 4TB disks is for VSM 6 units with approximate production dates of December 2013 to present. The Oracle service person can confirm the VSM 6 configuration.
The ZIL performance upgrade for VSM 6 with 3TB disks is for VSM 6 units with approximate production dates of November 2012 through November 2013. The Oracle service person can confirm the VSM 6 configuration.
This upgrade is recommended for certain VSM 6 configurations with Host workloads involving small (1MB to 2MB) VTVs and a high number of simultaneous VTV mount operations. For these workloads, adding SSDs to the VSM 6 storage pool significantly improves performance.
Designing an optimized VSM 6 system to meet specific customer requirements requires close collaboration between Oracle personnel and key customer decision makers who are involved with selecting and implementing the system. Planning for more complex system implementations may require consultation with the Oracle Advanced Customer Services (ACS) group.
Configuration planning activities, tasks, and participants include:
Define customer requirements.
Assess budgetary constraints.
Design an optimized VSM 6 system based on defined requirements and constraints.
See the VSM 6 Planning Spreadsheet for more detailed configuration information and a sample configuration to use for reference during the planning process. The spreadsheet is available to the account team from Oracle VSM Support.
Estimate capacity requirements and propose a system configuration.
Create a high-level conceptual diagram of the proposed VSM 6 system configuration.
Create a detailed engineering diagram of the proposed VSM 6 system configuration.
Present the VSM 6 system physical and functional configuration plans to key decision makers.