ITECH 2201 Cloud Computing Storage Methods and Design

This workbook for Week 7 of ITECH 2201 Cloud Computing course covers storage methods and design. It includes information on memory virtualization, RAID, storage repository design, Intelligent Storage System, NAS, SAN, and more. Additionally, it provides exercises to design storage solutions for new applications and understand the evolution of storage technologies.

ITECH 2201 Cloud Computing
School of Science, Information Technology & Engineering
Workbook for Week 7 (Storage)
Please note: All the efforts were taken to ensure the given web links are accessible.
However, if they are broken – please use any appropriate video/article and refer
them in your answer
Part A (3 Marks)
Exercise 1: Storage Methods(1 mark)
From your lecture and also based on the below given video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sXkTSiAe-A
Write a paragraph about memory virtualization.
____Virtualization is supported by processors, such as the x86 into
implementing a special running mode instructions. This is known as hardware-
assisted virtualization. It is easier to virtualize CPU architecture if it has the
ability to run the Virtualization Model’s unprivileged and privileged instructions in
the user mode of the CPU while the VMM possesses the ability to run in
supervisor mode.___
Watch the below mentioned YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTcxRObq738
Based on the video answer the following questions:
What is RAID 0?
____RAID 0 is a type of basic set of redundant array of independent disksthat
splits up data in an even manner across two or more disks. This is done without
taking the account of parity information, fault tolerance or redundancy. ____
Describe Striping, Mirroring and Parity.
____Striping: It is a process by which a body of data is divided into blocks and
spread into multiple storage devices like the solid state drives or hard disks.
Mirroring: Disk mirroring or RAID 1 is a process of replication of data into two or
more disks.
Parity: Parity is used in RAID drive arrays for calculating the data for fault tolerance
with the utilization of it by calculating the data in two drives and storing the result
in a different drive other than the two drives used before for calculation._____
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Exercise 2: Storage Design(2 marks)
Summarize storage repository design based on the following video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVQH7C3nulY
___Oracle uses the concept of storage repositories for abstractions based on
files. It is a logical disk space available with the help of a file system in a physical
storage hardware.___
Below YouTube link describes the Intelligent Storage System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raTIRsMi7zk
Based on the watched video answer the following questions:
What is ISS?
___Intelligent storage system or ISS are the RAID arrays rich in features that
facilitate highly optimizable Input/Output processing capabilities. It controls the
management, allocation, and utilization of storage resources.___
What are the 4 main components of the ISS?
___1. Front End
2. Front end command queuing
3. Cache
4. Back End____
How cache works in ISS?
____Cache enhances the I/O performances in the Intelligent Storage System. It
is a semiconductor memory with the temporary placement of data reducing the
time required for the services.____
Storage Area Network (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) are widely
used concepts in data storage arena. The following YouTube video links gives
detailed description of these concepts:
− http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csdJFazj3h0
− http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdf6CvGQZrk
− https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxdfGcynfJ0
− https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RsLUTJ_Qtk
Based on the watched videos answer the following questions:
Describe NAS and SAN briefly using diagrams?
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________NAS: It is a method for remote file serving used to access a file by
redirecting it to another device using a remote protocol such as CIFS or NFS.
SAN: This is storage, usually connected via switches allowing different services
to access the storage area.___
What are the advantages of SAN over NAS?
_______The advantage of SAN over NAS is that SAN provides a high
performance over NAS by making a user not be dependent on a device to
access a file, allowing it to run smoothly.___________
What are two common NAS file sharing protocols? How they are different from
each other?
______The two common NAS file sharing protocols are CIFS and NFS.
The difference between these protocols is that NFS is used for Unix or Linux
operating systems and CIFS is accessible by all the public or open variation of
operating systems.____
Part B (3 Marks)
Exercise 3: Storage Design (1 Mark)
Design Storage Solution for New Application
Scenario
An organization is deploying a new business application in their environment.
The new application requires 1TB of storage space for business and application
data. During peak workload, application is expected to generate 4900 IOPS (I/O
per second) with typical I/O data block size of 4KB.
The vendor available disk drive option is 15,000 rpm drive with 100 GB capacity.
Other specifications of the drives are:
Average Seek time = 5 millisecond and data transfer rate = 40 MB/sec.
You are required to calculate the required number of disk drives that can meet
both capacity and performance requirements of an application.
Hint:In order to calculate the IOPS from average seek time, data transfer rate,
disk rpm and data block size refer slide 28 in week 6lecture slide. Once you
have IOPS, refer slide 29 in week 6 to calculate the required number of disks.
Exercise 4: Storage Evolution(2 Marks)
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Watch the following videos for Fiber Channel over Ethernet and answer the
questions that follow:
− http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSFyf-rmjA8
− http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCfJCzfNLrw
What is FCoE and why we need FCoE?
_____Fibre Channel over Ethernet is a technology for computer network
encapsulating the fibre channel frames over the Ethernet networks.
It is needed as it is due to the FCoE that it is possible to remove the traffic over
the fibre channels across the existing high-speed internet or Ethernet
infrastructure.__________
In your opinion how FCoE is cost effective than traditional connection – give brief
explanation.
_______FCoE is cost effective than the traditional connection since it has many
advantages over the traditional connection since less hardware and simpler
management is used in these saving the amount of money and increasing the
scalability of Ethernet.__________
You have read and answered about SAN in part A – based on your
understanding and with some research effort answers the following questions:
What is a Virtual SAN?
_________Virtual SAN is a storage offering based on software definitions from a
VMware enabling the enterprises or organizations to pool the existing storage
capabilities. It also helps to instantly and almost automatically provide virtual
machine storage with the help of simple policies.______________
What is IP SAN protocols and FibreChannel over IP (FCIP)?
_______IP SAN Protocol: It is a dedicated SAN allowing multiple servers to
access a pool of shared block storage devices using protocols depending on the
IET standard IP suite.
FibreChannel over IP: It is a tunnelling protocol used to connect Fibre Channels
by switching over an IP network by providing interconnections with the help of
remote locations.____________
Watch the below video about Introduction to Object-based and Unified Storage
and:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl9X6mzEWO4
Choose the correct answer from the following questions:
What is an advantage of a flat address space over a hierarchical address
space?
a. Highly scalable with minimal impact on performance
b. Provides access to data, based on retention policies
c. Provides access to block, file, and object with same interface
d. Consumes less bandwidth on network while accessing data
What is a role of metadata service in an OSD node?
a. Responsible for storing data in the form of objects
b. Stores unique IDs generated for objects
c. Stores both objects and objects IDs
d. Controls functioning of storage devices
What is used to generate an object ID in a CAS system?
a. File metadata
b. Source and destination address
c. Binary representation of data
d. File system type and ownership
What accurately describes block I/O access in a unified storage?
a. I/O traverse NAS head and storage controller to disk
b. I/O traverse OSD node and storage controller to disk
c. I/O traverse storage controller to disk
d. I/O is directly sent to the disk
What accurately describes unified storage?
a. Provides block, file, and object-based access within one platform
b. Provides block and file storage access using objects
c. Supports block and file access using flat address space
d. Specialized storage device purposely built for archiving
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