Customers frequently ask us about the benefits of the Kaminario K2 compared to those of adding a PCIe Flash memory card to application or database servers. We help them understand when a shared solid-state SAN storage solution such as the Kaminario K2 is going to shine for them and what application scenarios may be a fit for a Flash card. Typically, price and performance are top concerns, but customers also care a lot about data protection, scalability and ease of use.
Not surprisingly, your best SSD solution is driven primarily by your applications. We ask customers to consider:
- How important is speed? Do microseconds matter?
- If the application goes down or data gets lost, what are the risks to the brand and revenue?
- How important is a clustered environment?
- How will user and capacity requirements change over time?
- Is the application a strategic part of the business, or is it a one-off project or niche application?
Direct Attached SSD Storage Solutions
Installing a PCIe Flash card in a server is one of the options for fastest performance, but relying on a single server has limitations. Direct attached storage requires complete duplication for backup and does not have the built-in redundancy and automatic failover of the K2.
There are instances when this may be acceptable. For example, Kaminario has customers in the financial services industry that use the K2 for the bulk of their enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM but will use a single-server SSD storage solution for a niche trading application. Speed is much more critical than scalability and data protection for these users. Another scenario where direct attached SSD storage might be for you is when your application has data coming in from only a few sources and the application requires lots of processing power.
If you are considering a direct attached SSD storage solution, evaluate what makes the most sense for your current and future needs. In particular, think about upgrade paths and what would happen in the event of a system failure — you may need to purchase additional server and storage equipment. With shared storage SSD solutions like the K2, adding or replacing capacity involves inserting a blade server in a chassis much like you insert a fuse in a car.
When You Might Need a Direct Attached PCIe Flash Memory Solution:
- Microseconds matter. The fastest speeds are required, as in niche financial trading applications or in applications that require lots of processing power.
- The risks to your business are low if data is lost or the system is unavailable.
- Your application requirements are not expected to grow, minimizing a need for multiple servers.
When You Might Need a Shared Solid-state SAN Storage Solution from Kaminario:
- You need efficient and cost-effective ways to independently increase capacity and performance.
- You need the option to mix a combination of Flash and DRAM in a single storage solution to get the best price/performance for specific applications and workload types.
- Data protection and high availability are critical to your applications.
- You run server operating systems such as AIX that do not support all PCIe Flash cards.
Shared SAN Storage SSD Solutions
The Kaminario K2 provides you with all the benefits of shared storage and the performance benefits of Flash and DRAM solid-state media, plus additional data protection, manageability and scalability. Its unique Scale-out Storage Performance Architecture (SPEAR) design is a clustered SAN and extremely modular, making it ideal for business-critical applications and databases. This is a key consideration if you are running an e-commerce, ERP or CRM application with multiple servers. These considerations also apply if you are running batch processes that require next-day business results. It is tough to make a case for stand-alone direct attached storage in these scenarios. Assuming that a single server is powerful enough for your application, you have to ask yourself whether the risks regarding availability and future capacity needs are acceptable.
In the long run, the additional up-front investment in shared SSD SAN storage will pay off partly because of changing business realities. The ability to make fast decisions based on accurate and available data is quickly becoming a competitive advantage. In addition, when heavy 7/24/365 usage puts a strain on an application, shared SSD storage is going to be better than a single server at load balancing to create a better user experience.
Join Us to Get More Information
Kaminario solutions consultant Kevin Colton is leading a free webinar on February 8 and February 25 to address these issues and to answer questions about how the K2 can help you accelerate your database applications. You can get more details here.
Tags: application performance, Database Performance, DRAM, Flash, Flash memory, IOPS, K2, Kaminario, PCIe, PCIe cards, RDBMS Performance
