{"id":51701,"date":"2024-01-24T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/?p=51701"},"modified":"2025-04-10T12:43:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:43:51","slug":"tips-on-optimizing-your-open-e-joviandss-as-storage-for-virtualization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/tips-on-optimizing-your-open-e-joviandss-as-storage-for-virtualization\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips on Optimizing your Open-E JovianDSS as Storage for Virtualization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Virtualization is the process of creating a simulated (virtual) computer environment that uses physical resources determined in the configuration implementation \u2013 that\u2019s the short definition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The virtualization system and storage for virtualization should guarantee <\/span><b>high availability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>data safety<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b>good performance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Just to have everything clear &#8211; storage for virtualization is a set of physical devices managed by software where virtual machine images and user data are actually stored. As storage is the foundation of virtualization solutions, hardware, and software used for such implementations must meet the highest standards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In regards to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/download\/data-sheets\/open-e-joviandss-accelerates-your-hyper-converged-infrastructure\/\"><strong>data storage software for virtualization<\/strong><\/a>, Open-E JovianDSS should be taken into consideration. Why? Because it specializes in collaboration with virtualization platforms as storage for them. <\/span><b>80% of Open-E implementations involve virtualization<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is proof of its outstanding usability in this scenario as the software can be set up on physical servers or as a virtual storage appliance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, <strong>Open-E JovianDSS<\/strong> is a perfect choice for any solution with virtualization, whether it\u2019s storage for virtualization or virtualized storage, as it <strong>supports such hypervisors like<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>VMware<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft Hyper-V<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Proxmox<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Xen<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>XenServer<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Citrix<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>XCP-ng<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>&#8230;and more!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In today\u2019s article, we\u2019d like to highlight the technical tips and recommendations for <\/span><b>Open-E JovianDSS as storage for virtualization<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We\u2019ll answer the following questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: -15px; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does it look like in practice?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What issues might you encounter during installation?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the hardware recommendations?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the technical tips and tricks?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Common issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s start with the problems, which are going to be quickly fixed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, when optimizing your<a href=\"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/why-is-open-e-joviandss-a-perfect-storage-solution-for-vmware\/\"> Open-E JovianDSS as storage for virtualization<\/a> you might encounter a couple of issues. Let\u2019s have them listed:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: -15px; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Too low IOPS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disks with too high latency.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor overall performance of storage servers caused by wrong hardware used.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Insufficient total network layer throughput with a large number of machines operating on large data.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No redundancy of network connections between storage and the virtualization system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Storage is not scalable enough for the constantly increasing number of virtual machines.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can see in the list above, the issues that might show up involve hardware. Therefore it is critical to use proper and high-quality hardware. Fortunately, Open-E specialists have provided a comprehensive list of hardware tips to avoid those issues and how to make your storage for virtualization solution with Open-E JovianDSS as optimal as possible, in an uncomplicated and affordable way.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>General hardware recommendations &#8211; virtualization<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, let\u2019s talk about the hardware that is recommended to be used to make such a solution optimal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for the <\/span><b>data groups,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it is recommended to use <\/span><b>HDD SAS disks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, preferably 10k RPM. For more demanding environments, we\u2019d suggest using All-Flash storage based on <\/span><b>dual-port SSD for <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shared storage clusters or All-Flash storage based on high-capacity, multi-layer <\/span><b>3D NAND SSDs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for non-shared storage clusters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For <\/span><b>read cache,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a fast, read-intensive SSD is recommended, as the capacity depends on the hot data footprint (strictly speaking \u2013 the number of virtual machines). When it comes to All-Flash storage, read cache is not required, or you can consider using L2ARC read cache for metadata only.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talking about recommendations for <\/span><b>writelog<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the following recommendations have been collected by our specialists:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: -15px; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the case of data groups on HDD, fast, low latency, write-intensive SSD is recommended.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to extremely low latency and high endurance, a device based e.g., <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KIOXIA FL6 Enterprise SCM NVMe<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is preferred. Read more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/download\/data-sheets\/kioxia-fl6-800-gb-enterprise-scm-nvmetm-ssd\/\">Open-E &amp; KIOXIA solution in the Solution Brief &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For All-flash, it is usually not necessary to use writelog. Using the writelog may be beneficial when the SSD storage is relatively slow (e.g., a small number of QLC NAND disks) and the writelog device is very fast, e.g., Intel Optane (Note: such solutions always have to be tested before implementation).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Random performance may improve when using writelog (SLOG) with All-Flash disks, but sequential performance may be poor. In such a situation, if it\u2019s possible to select zvols for which the priority is a sequential performance, set ZFS logbias to throughput for them. Thanks to this, write operations on these zvols will bypass the SLOG.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For optimization from the <\/span><b>CPU<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s side and for extremely intensive load installations, we recommend a fast processor around 3.0 GHz (the preferred line is Intel Xeon Gold or an equivalent from AMD). For standard load installations, the Intel Xeon Silver CPU with a 2.4 GHz clock is enough. Keep in mind that the number of cores depends on the number of storage controllers, network adapters, and other devices such as NVMe disks that will be included in the storage server.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For <\/span><b>RAM,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you should use a large (at least 64GB) and fast (adapted to the controller in the CPU) RAM for even better IOPS. When it comes to the <\/span><b>storage controller,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> there are no special requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For <\/span><b>network controllers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we recommend high-speed network adapters with RDMA support for the mirror path with the number of ports that allow using the MPIO in the connection to the client.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the case of network <\/span><b>switches,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> they should definitely be of high quality and high speed with Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) support to prevent any bottlenecks in network connectivity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>How should you configure Open-E JovianDSS to make your solution optimal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take a look at the 8 points below and remember them for the future configuration of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/products\/jovian-data-storage-software\/data-storage\/\">Open-E software<\/a> for use as storage for virtualization:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: -15px; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A 2-way mirror or 4-way mirror (especially in the case of a non-shared storage cluster) is a must for optimal redundancy and performance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set up thin provisioning in zvol configurations for optimal use of storage capacity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For better performance and connection redundancy set the MPIO on iSCSI connection to the client system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zvol volblocksize should be matched to the application\/client system requirements.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For higher IOPS, use a lower volblocksize and, for higher throughput, a bigger volblocksize.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When configuring the architecture and storage parameters, don\u2019t forget to use the best practices document dedicated to storage, prepared by the manufacturer of the virtualization platform you are going to use.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use tunings for SAN protocols available in the Open-E JovianDSS Release Notes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use several volumes instead of one and attach up to 4 volumes per target because of a separate command queue for each iSCSI target \u2013 this recommendation applies only to iSCSI TCP connections and does not apply to RDMA connections.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>High Availability implementation precautions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the case of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/products\/jovian-data-storage-software\/non-shared-storage-cluster\/\">Open-E Non-shared Storage High Availability Clusters<\/a>, fast NICs on the mirror path (25+ GbE recommended) can be helpful to achieve a good throughput on the HA cluster replication. NICs with RDMA support are recommended for even better performance in large data operations. The general rule is that network bandwidth should be balanced with storage performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talking about High Availability even further, use static discovery in all SAN initiators and extend timeouts in all SAN. Also, make sure that the resource switch time is within an acceptable range, especially in the case of non-shared storage HA clusters and a large number of disks. If the switchover time is too long due to a large number of disks, it can be fixed by means of the RAID controller.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After you finish the configuration process, <\/span><b>pre-production tests should be conducted<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; performance and basic failover operations\/triggers should be checked (system restart, power off, manual move of resources). Don\u2019t forget that the second ring is recommended in the HA cluster, and up to six ping nodes are recommended.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All in all, virtualization is a technology that provides not only high performance, great efficiency, and flexibility, but also a range of other benefits. Investing in proven storage for virtualization solutions and at the same time, following the strict implementation rules results in building a future-proof, reliable, and high-performing storage solution that will last for years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virtualization is the process of creating a simulated (virtual) computer environment that uses physical resources determined in the configuration implementation \u2013 that\u2019s the short definition.\u00a0 The virtualization system and storage&nbsp;&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,22,27,795,798,10,11],"tags":[97,200,203,296,297,302,304,612,639,644,705,709,711,712],"class_list":["post-51701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-citrix","category-microsoft-hyper-v","category-open-e-joviandss","category-proxmox","category-tips-tricks","category-virtualization","category-vmware","tag-best-practices","tag-data-storage","tag-data-storage-software","tag-hardware-2","tag-hardware-best-practices","tag-hardware-recommendations","tag-hardware-tips","tag-software-as-storage-for-virtualization","tag-storage-for-virtualization","tag-storage-software","tag-virtual-environment","tag-virtual-storage","tag-virtualization","tag-virtualized"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55276,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51701\/revisions\/55276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}