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Enterprise Cloud For Dummies, Nutanix Special Edition
Flash storage
Not so long ago in a datacenter not so far away, solving storage performance issues was about as likely as a Stormtrooper hitting a target. Storage administrators were often witnessed throwing hardware at a problem. They had to add spindles— more spinning disks— to imbue their storage environments with sufficient IOPS to meet workload demand.
And then a funny thing happened on the way to Tatooine. Flash storage started to become a viable option for the enterprise. As this solid state storage became more popular, vendors began to work in earnest on ways to address the two major issues with the technology: cost and longevity.
In recent years, the cost of NAND‐based flash storage has plummeted by double‐digit percentages while capacity has increased. Today, when considering a standard disk‐based form factor, you can buy an SSD that has even more capacity than a disk. Of course, that 16TB behemoth costs far more than the same spinning disk capacity, but it also means you can achieve all‐flash capacity density that is better than that of disk.
Just as important as the ability to leverage flash is the ability to get at data quickly. This is where data locality comes into play. The closer that data is to processors and RAM, the more quickly that data can be retrieved and consumed. This is one area in which even all‐flash storage arrays can be challenged. Storage in such environments sits in a separate silo and must traverse the storage fabric, which adds latency to the computation. The farther away from your application the data lives, the greater the latency and the lower the throughput. As you consider flash or hybrid storage solutions for your datacenter, keep this point in mind. A solution that enables data storage right in the server chassis will enjoy far better overall performance than solutions that require data to traverse a slow network.
Many people today still worry about flash“ wear” that can cause drives to fail in place. As flash has become a staple of the datacenter, however, the wear concern has become a nonissue for most organizations. Drive manufacturers and array vendors have begun to implement all manner of mechanisms
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