USN 1 P E

PESIT Bangalore South Campus

Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of Information Science & Engineering

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT TEST 1

Date : 19/08/2015 Max Marks: 50
Subject & Code : Storage Area Networks / 10IS765 Section: 7th A & B
Name of faculty: Mr. Animesh Giri Time: 11:30 AM 1:00 PM

SOLUTION SCHEMA

1. Explain the core elements and key characteristics of Data Centre elements with a neat diagram
(10 Marks)
Answer:

Data Centre: It is a facility that contains storage, compute, network, and other IT resources to
provide centralized data-processing capabilities.

Core elements of a data center

Application
Database management system (DBMS)
Host or Compute
Network
Storage
These core elements work together to address data-processing requirements

Key Characteristics of a Data Center

Key management activities include

Monitoring

B.E 7th Semester

 Continuous process of gathering information on various elements and services
running in a data center
Reporting
Details on resource performance, capacity, and utilization
Provisioning
Configuration and allocation of resources to meet the capacity, availability,
performance, and security requirements

2. What is Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)? Explain in detail the ILM Implementation
(10 Marks)
Answer: Information Lifecycle Management

A proactive strategy that enables an IT organization to effectively manage the data throughout its
lifecycle

Information Lifecycle Management Process

Policy-based Alignment of Storage Infrastructure with Data Value

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Benefits of Implementing ILM
o Improved utilization
o Tiered storage platforms
o Simplified management
o Processes, tools and automation
o Simplified backup and recovery
o A wider range of options to balance the need for business continuity
o Maintaining compliance
o Knowledge of what data needs to be protected for what length of time
o Lower Total Cost of Ownership
o By aligning the infrastructure and management costs with information value

3. Define Intelligent Storage Systems? Explain with a neat diagram the components of an
Intelligent Storage Systems. (10 Marks)

Answer: It is a feature-rich RAID array that provides highly optimized I/O processing capabilities.

Provides large amount of cache and multiple I/O paths that enhances the performance
Has an operating environment that provides
Intelligent cache management
Array resource management
Connectivity to heterogeneous hosts
Supports flash drive, virtual provisioning, and automated storage tiering

Key Components of an ISS

Key Components of an ISS

Intelligent Storage System

Host
Front End Back End Physical Disks
Cache
Connectivity
Storage
Network

EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Module 4: Intelligent Storage System 5

B.E 7th Semester

 4. Discuss the feature of Midrange Storage Systems and High-end Storage Systems with a neat
diagram. (10 Marks)

Answer:

Midrange Storage Systems

Referred as active-passive arrays, and generally aimed at small and medium-sized enterprise
applications

Performs I/Os to LUNs only through active paths

These arrays typically have two controllers, each with cache, RAID controllers, and disks drive
interfaces
Less front-end ports, storage capacity, and cache as compared to high-end arrays
Support local and remote data replication

High-end Storage Systems

Referred as active-active arrays, and generally aimed at large enterprise applications

Performs I/Os to LUNs through all the available paths

These arrays provide the following capabilities:
Large storage capacity and cache
Fault tolerant architecture
Connectivity to mainframe and open systems
Multiple front-end ports and interface protocols
Ability to handle large amount of concurrent I/Os
Support local and remote data replication

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 5. Explain the following concepts briefly with an appropriate diagram. (10 Marks)

i) RAID-0

Answer: Striped array with no fault tolerance,

o Data is distributed across the HDDs in the RAID set.

o Allows multiple data to be read or written simultaneously, and therefore improves performance.

o Does not provide data protection and availability in the event of disk failures

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 RAID 0

1
5
9

RAID 2
Controller 6
10

3
Host 7
11

2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

ii) RAID-1

Answer: Data is stored on two different HDDs, yielding two copies of the same data.

Provides availability.

o In the event of HDD failure, access to data is still available from the surviving HDD.

o When the failed disk is replaced with a new one, data is automatically copied from the surviving
disk to the new disk.

o Done automatically by RAID the controller.

o Disadvantage: The amount of storage capacity is twice the amount of data stored.

Mirroring is NOT the same as doing backup!

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 RAID 1

RAID
Block 01 Block 0
1
Controller

Host

2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

iii) Parity

RAID 3

Block 0
3
2
1 RAID0
Block
Controller
Block
Parity1
Generated
Block 2
Host
Block 3
P0123

2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

iv) Hot Spares

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 Hot Spares

RAID
Controller

2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

6. List out various disk drive interface used in Direct Attached Storage (DAS) and explain SCSI-3
architecture with a neat diagram. (10 Marks)

Answer:

DAS Connectivity Options

o ATA (IDE) and SATA

o Primarily for internal bus

o SCSI

o Parallel (primarily for internal bus)

o Serial (external bus)

o FC

o High speed network technology

o Buss and Tag

o Primarily for external mainframe

o Precursor to ESCON and FICON

o Developed by Shugart Associates & named as SASI (Shugart Associates System Interface)

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o ANSI acknowledged SCSI as an industry standard

o SCSI versions

o SCSI1

o Defined cable length, signaling characteristics, commands & transfer modes

o Used 8-bit narrow bus with maximum data transfer rate of 5 MB/s

o SCSI2

o Defined Common Command Set (CCS) to address non-standard

implementation of the original SCSI

o Improved performance, reliability, and added additional features

o SCSI3

o Latest version of SCSI

o Comprised different but related standards, rather than one large document

SCSI3 Architecture

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 7. Write a short on

i) Cache Vaulting

Answer:

Cache is exposed to the risk of uncommitted data loss due to power failure. This problem can be addressed in
various ways: powering the memory with a battery until AC power is restored or using battery
power to write the cache content to the disk. In the event of extended power failure, using batteries is not a
viable option because in intelligent storage systems, large amounts of data may need to be committed to
numerous disks and batteries may not provide power for sufficient time to write each piece of data to its
intended disk. Therefore, storage vendors use a set of physical disks to dump the contents of cache during
power failure. This is called cache vaulting and the disks are called vault drives.
When power is restored, data from these disks is written back to write cache and then written to the intended
disks.

ii) Disk Partitioning and Concatenation

Answer:

Responsible for creating and controlling host level logical storage

Physical view of storage is converted to a logical view

Logical data blocks are mapped to physical data blocks

One or more Physical Volumes form a Volume Group

LVM manages Volume Groups as a single entity

Logical volumes are created from the volume group

B.E 7th Semester

 LVMExample: Partitioning and Concatenation

Hosts

Logical Volume

Physical Volume

Partitioning Concatenation

EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Module 2: Data Center Environment 11

Disk partitioning was introduced to improve the flexibility and utilization of HDDs. In partitioning, an HDD is
divided into logical containers called logical volumes (LVs) (see Figure 2-11). For example, a large physical
drive can be partitioned into multiple LVs to maintain data according to the file systems and applications
requirements. The partitions are created from groups of contiguous cylinders when the hard disk is initially set
up on the host. The hosts file system accesses the partitions without any knowledge of partitioning and the
physical structure of the disk. Concatenation is the process of grouping several smaller physical drives and
presenting them to the host as one logical drive

iii) File System (10 Marks)

File System
File System Blocks

Users
File System
Files

1 2 3

Creates/ Reside in Mapped to

Manages

Disk Physical
Disk Sectors Extents LVM Logical Extents

6 5 4
Mapped to Mapped to Mapped to

EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Module 2: Data Center Environment 12

B.E 7th Semester

A file is a collection of related records or data stored as a unit with a name. A file system is a hierarchical
structure of files. File systems enable easy access to data files residing within a disk drive, a disk partition, or a
logical volume. A file system needs host-based logical structures and software routines that control
access to files. It provides users with the functionality to create, modify, delete, and access files. Access to the
files on the disks is controlled by the permissions given to the file by the owner, which are also maintained by
the file system. A file system organizes data in a structured hierarchical manner via the use of directories,
which are containers for storing pointers to multiple files. All file systems maintain a pointer map to the
directories, subdirectories, and files that are part of the file system. Some of the common file systems are as
follows:
FAT 32 (File Allocation Table) for Microsoft Windows
NT File System (NTFS) for Microsoft Windows
UNIX File System (UFS) for UNIX
Extended File System (EXT2/3) for Linux
Apart from the files and directories, the file system also includes a number of other related records, which are
collectively called the metadata. For example, metadata in a UNIX environment consists of the superblock, the
inodes, and the list of data blocks free and in use. The metadata of a file system has to be consistent
in order for the file system to be considered healthy. A superblock contains important information about the
file system, such as the file system type, creation and modification dates, size and layout, the count of available
resources (such as number of free blocks, inodes, etc.), and a flag indicating the mount status of the file
system. An inode is associated with every file and directory and contains information about file length,
ownership, access privileges, time of last access/modification, number of links, and the addresses for finding
the location on the physical disk where the actual data is stored.

B.E 7th Semester