10161-SAN_Challenge_V2.pdf

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SAN Challenge About the SAN Challenge One of the requirements to complete this course is that you must complete a final project called the SAN Challenge. This is a brief essay-style exercise that will be evaluated and graded by your instructor. The goal of this project is to create a high-level design for a centralized, fault- tolerant, and high-speed data storage solution that supports managing data across multiple departments and provides for fast backup of mission-critical data. You will be presented with a case study scenario that is based on the experience of an actual company: MyLife.com, an online service company that provides career management services. Using the information provided below, it is your responsibility to create a solution that meets the needs of MyLife.com. This exercise should take you approximately 1-2 hours to complete. Successful completion will be determined by your ability to receive a 70% or greater on the activity. The scoring of your solutions will be based on the rubric contained in this document and your instructor will conduct the grading. What You Need to Do To complete this assignment, you will create a 1-2 page document that describes a proposed solution for MyLife.com. Your proposed solution must address all of the issues outlined in the section titled “Solution Requirements.” To submit your work to your instructor, follow these steps: • Click the Course Communication Space icon in the lower left corner of the course content interface • Log in to the Course Communication Space • Click the “Lessons” folder • Click the drop box labeled “SAN Challenge”. A dialogue box will appear. • Use the dialog box to locate your solutions document, and upload your document into the “SAN Challenge” drop box. Acceptable file formats include plain text documents (such as Windows Notepad documents), Microsoft Word documents, and RTF documents. Most word processors can save documents as either plain text of TRF documents. Contact your instructor if you need to submit your work in another document format. © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron Objectives Your work in this assignment should demonstrate your ability to: • Use acronyms and terminology associated with Fibre Channel and SAN technologies • Identify the SAN technologies that meet a set of requirements for a storage networking solution, including: • High-availability requirements • Scalability requirements • Performance requirements • Management requirements • Discuss the features and benefits of various storage networking technologies • Present a compelling business case for a storage networking solution Relevant Topics To complete this exercise, you will need to use knowledge that you learned throughout the course: Topic 1: Understanding the Storage Market Topic 2: Storage Network Architectures Topic 3: Fibre Channel Technology Topic 4: Emerging Technologies Topic 5: Storage Networking Applications Topic 6: Storage Management About MyLife.com MyLife.com provides education and referral services to employees, manages, and human resource personnel. They help millions of clients manage their working life more effectively. To allow their company to grow, MyLife.com wants to centralize data storage and management across multiple departments while boosting the reliability, scalability, and performance of their mission-critical databases. They need: • The ability to scale the performance of their mission-critical databases • A major improvement in disk access speed and data retrieval • A significant decrease in time spent backing up and restoring data • A dramatic increase in system reliability and manageability, without incurring the cost of implementing fully redundant server complexes © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron MyLife.com’s Existing Environment MyLife.com has a traditional direct-attached storage (DAS) architecture in which each server has its own dedicated storage: • 25 Microsoft Windows NT servers with SCSI-attached storage • 5 HP-UX servers with SCSI-attached storage • A IBM S/390 mainframe complex with ESCON-attached storage • 2 SCSI tape libraries that support all servers for backup over a 100BaseT Ethernet network All of the servers are located in a single building. Figure 1 illustrates MyLife.com’s existing storage environment. NT servers HP-UX servers Client workstations 100BaseT Ethernet SCSI tape libraries IBM S/390 Figure 1: MyLife.com’s Storage Environment MyLife.com’s Issues The current storage infrastructure suffers from the following problems: • Poor performance for mission-critical databases • Difficult to scale in terms of capacity and performance • Difficult to manage due to multiple OS platforms with direct-attached storage • Poor utilization of existing storage capacity • Limited fault tolerance • Long backup and recovery windows require unacceptable system downtime, as well as overtime pay for IT staff © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron Solution Requirements Below is a list of requirements that your solution for MyLife.com must meet. In your document, be sure to use appropriate SAN Fibre Channel terminology while providing strategies, information, and ideas that will help MyLife.com solve their networking and storage issues outlined below. Focus on identifying technologies that meet each need, rather than specific products. For example, if you determine that the solution requires data replication, you should specify the type of data replication, such as mirroring, snapshot, or remote copy, but you do not need to identify specific data replication products. You can, however, identify specific products if you believe that those products contribute unique features or capabilities to the solution. NOTE: You are not required to draw a topology diagram to illustrate your solution. However, you can include a diagram if you want. Overall Storage Network Architecture Make sure the configuration you have chosen is based on a valid SAN topology, and includes the use of Fibre Channel SAN technologies covered within the course. Be sure to identify: • What types of, and how many, hubs and/or switches are required • Where redundant components and links should be used • A SAN topology that is valid for MyLife.com’s current needs, and that can grow to accommodate a reasonable amount of growth Justification Why should MyLife.com invest in storage networking technologies? Discuss the benefits that your solution provides. Present a brief business case for your solution. Scalability and Performance MyLife.com is growing rapidly, and needs a storage networking solution that can scale quickly, and maintain adequate SAN performance under high traffic conditions. They need to be able to add storage capacity quickly without taking applications offline. IT also needs a way to effectively manage and scale application performance. You must identify a strategy that is scalable and maintains a high level of performance at both the SAN and application levels. What aspects of their existing infrastructure need to change to will allow for this to happen? Availability MyLife.com would like to have a configuration that is 99.999% available. They are looking for a solution that will allow them to quickly recover from component failures. High availability is a priority, although IT cannot afford the expense of a fully disaster-tolerant configuration. What other options does MyLife.com have that will boost the availability of their infrastructure? © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron Management Storage resources for both NT and HP-UX servers should be managed from a single location, and ideally, with a single management application. IT has determined that existing storage capacity is underutilized. Each server “owns” a discrete piece of storage, and systems administrators usually allocate far more storage than the application really needs to prevent potential capacity problems in the future. IT wants to find a way to ensure that available capacity is more fully utilized. How should MyLife.com go about doing this? Connectivity Your solution must support connectivity to the S/390 mainframe using FICON (ESCON over Fibre Channel). Keep in mind that not all Fibre Channel switches support ESCON/FICON connectivity. What component(s) must the solution contain to enable FICON connectivity? Backup/Recovery MyLife.com currently does not have a fast and efficient backup and recovery strategy. Currently, backups take hours, and applications must be taken offline while a backup is in progress. This reduces the availability of their service, and requires IT staff to work overnight. Your solution must provide for reduced backup and recovery times. How can this be accomplished? Investment Protection MyLife.com recently purchased two expensive LAN-attached SCSI tape libraries, and IT management would like to preserve that investment. How can your solution provide a more robust backup and recovery solution while utilizing this existing equipment? © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron Topic Area Description of Achievement Possible Points Points Scored 1. SAN and Fibre Channel Terminology • The student demonstrated a working knowledge of various SAN and Fibre Channel terms 10 2. Storage Networking Technology • The student designed a valid SAN topology • The student selected appropriate SAN technologies 10 3. Justification of Solution • The student clearly stated the benefits of a storage networking solution • The student presented an appropriate business case for their solution 10 4. Scalability and Performance • The student identified a solution that allows MyLife.com to easily scale storage capacity • The student identified a solution that will achieve and maintain a high level of performance at both the SAN and application levels 10 5. Availability • The student identified a solution that allows for a high degree of availability, and which is a viable option for MyLife.com 10 6. Management • The student identified a strategy that allows MyLife.com to achieve higher utilization rates for their storage resources • The student has identified how a storage network can be managed from a single location, using a minimum number of management applications. 10 7. Connectivity • The student identified a solution that can connect to the existing S/390 mainframe using FICON (ESCON over Fibre 10 © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron Topic Area Description of Achievement Possible Points Points Scored Channel) 8. Backup and Recovery • The student identified an improved backup and recovery strategy for mission-critical data 10 9. Investment protection • The student identified a strategy that allows MyLife.com to utilize their SCSI tape libraries 10 10. Overall Viability of Solution • The overall solution provided by the student is a viable solution, and, in theory, could work for MyLife.com 10 Totals: 100 pts © Copyright 2005-06 Brian H. Cameron