Businesses Optimising Flash Storage in the Year 2015: Strategies and Solutions
In the realm of enterprise database applications, a significant shift is underway with the emergence of Server-Side PCIe Flash storage. This innovative solution, which connects directly to the server CPU via PCIe lanes, offers several key benefits over All-Flash and Hybrid-Flash Storage Arrays.
The Advantages of Server-Side PCIe Flash
The ultra-low latency and high throughput provided by PCIe SSDs are crucial for database applications demanding rapid, predictable access to data. By eliminating network and storage controller overhead, these devices offer ultra-fast data transfer speeds, a boon for database query response and transaction processing.
Moreover, PCIe flash devices deliver very high IOPS and bandwidth, significantly accelerating database performance. Additionally, they boast power-efficient designs, lowering data center operational costs and thermal output compared to spinning disks or hybrid arrays.
By removing the network and controller layers present in external arrays, server-side PCIe flash can also reduce total cost of ownership and complexity for scale-up workloads.
Comparing Server-Side PCIe Flash to All-Flash Arrays
All-Flash Arrays (AFAs) provide centralized storage with high speed and low latency but add network latency and require storage controllers, increasing complexity. While AFAs offer advanced data management features, server-side PCIe flash typically has lower latency but less sophisticated shared data services.
Comparing Server-Side PCIe Flash to Hybrid-Flash Arrays
Hybrid-Flash Storage Arrays combine flash and hard drives, balancing cost and performance but with higher latency than all-flash or PCIe flash options. They are suitable for mixed workloads but cannot match the consistent performance critical for demanding database applications.
As PCIe prices move toward $1/GB, Gartner expects that nearly 50% of all SSD unit shipments to data centers will be PCIe by 2018. This shift is driven by the growing demand for performance-intensive applications, particularly in the database sector.
Oracle ASM and Software-Defined Storage
Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) could previously only use Flash inside of a SAN array, but Software-Defined Storage allows for an All-Flash tier for the database with microsecond latency. This setup can result in a reduction in server count that can range from 38% to 70% depending upon the size of the cluster.
Oracle databases that require shared storage access, such as single instance Oracle Databases and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), can benefit from the use of PCIe Flash with Software-Defined Storage.
Conclusion
In database environments, latency means wait times, which equates to user response times or fewer transactions per second. As such, the standard for efficiency, performance, and scalability will be under close scrutiny in mission-critical enterprise environments. With its ability to deliver dramatic performance improvements for less than $10,000, Server-Side PCIe Flash is poised to revolutionize the way businesses approach storage in the era of big data.
Technology, particularly data-and-cloud-computing, is leveraging Server-Side PCIe Flash to boost database performance significantly. PCIe Flash offers benefits over traditional All-Flash and Hybrid-Flash Storage Arrays, such as ultra-low latency, high throughput, and power-efficient designs, making it an ideal solution for demanding database applications.
