Storage Network Architecture

Foreword

 With the development of host, disk, and network technologies, the storage
system architecture evolves, and the storage network architecture also
develops to meet service requirements. This lesson introduces the storage
network architecture.

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 Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to understand:

 Storage network architecture evolution
 Storage networking technology evolution

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 Contents

1. DAS

2. NAS

3. SAN

4. Distributed Architecture

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DAS

External disk array (DAS) Smart disk array (DAS)

Server Server
CPU CPU
RAM
RAM

Disk
Disk

SCSI card
RAID SCSI card

Controller

JBOD

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Challenges for DAS
Challenges Description

Limited number of ports that can be connected to a host.

Low
Scalability Limited number of addressable disks.

Limited distance.

Inconvenient
The system needs to be powered off during maintenance.
Maintenance

Insufficient Front-end ports and storage space are difficult to share.

Resource
Sharing Resource silos: For example, the DAS with insufficient storage
space cannot share the remaining space of the DAS with excessive
storage resources.

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 Contents

1. DAS

2. NAS

3. SAN

4. Distributed architecture

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NAS
 Network-attached storage (NAS) connects storage devices to the
live network and provides data and file services.
 The most commonly used network sharing protocols for NAS are
Common Internet File System (CIFS) and Network File System  Benefits:
(NFS).  Improved efficiency
OS: Windows  Improved flexibility
 Centralized storage
 Simplified management
OS: Linux  High scalability
 High availability
 Security (user
Switch NAS device authentication and
OS: MAC OS authorization)

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General-Purpose Server and NAS Devices

File system
Application
OS
Printer driver
Network
File system
OS
Network Uni-functional
NAS device

General-purpose server
(Windows or UNIX)

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NAS Protocols
Enterprise Enterprise
office office • NFS
• CIFS
IP IP IP IP
• FTP
Linux Windows
• HTTP
IP IP IP IP
• NDMP

NFS CIFS
FS
CACHE
POOL

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Working Principles of NFS
POR TMAP
Client Server Port mapping
1. RPC request
table

2. RPC response RPC

Client program

Request
RPC
Registration

3. Communication NFS processes:

rpc.nfsd and
Rpc.mountd

NFS share
information

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Typical Application of NFS: Shared Storage for Cloud
Computing
 Cloud computing uses the NFS server as the internal shared storage.

Converged storage
NFS client

Cloud computing server

Internal IP
Firewall

External IP network
network Cloud computing server

NFS server
Cloud computing server

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Working Principles of CIFS

Client Server
SMB NEGOTIATE Request
Protocol Protocol
SMB NEGOTIATE Response negotiation handshake

SMB SESSION_SETUP Request

Security
SMB SESSION_SETUP Response Session setup authentication

SMB TREECONNECT Request

Tree Share
SMB TREECONNECT Response connection connection

...... Network file

File operation
operation
SMB TREE_DISCONNECT Request
Disconnection Disconnection
SMB TREE_DISCONNECT Response

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Typical Application of CIFS: File Sharing Service
 The file sharing service applies to scenarios such as enterprise file servers and
Enterprise office
media assets.
IP Windows IP IP Management

Performance Service Share User

IP IP IP monitoring management management management

NAS service

LAN
DNS

Authentication flow
AD server Management flow
Data flow

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 Contents

1. DAS

2. NAS

3. SAN
 IP SAN Technologies

▫ FC SAN Technologies

▫ Comparison Between IP SAN and FC SAN

4. Distributed Architecture

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NIC + Initiator Software

The initiator software

converts iSCSI packets into
TCP/IP packets, which
consumes host resources.

NIC

TCP/IP-based Ethernet IP SAN

connection

Internal bus
Storage device Ethernet

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TOE NIC + Initiator Software
The initiator software
implements the
functions of the iSCSI
layer, which consumes
host resources.
The TOE NIC implements
TCP/IP conversion, which
TOE NIC does not consume host
resources.

TCP/IP-based IP SAN
Ethernet connection

Internal bus
Storage device Ethernet

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iSCSI HBA

The iSCSI HBA converts

iSCSI packets into TCP/IP
iSCSI HBA packets, which does not
consume host resources.

TCP/IP-based IP SAN
Ethernet connection

Internal bus

Storage device Ethernet

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Logical Port
 Logical ports are created based on bond ports, VLAN ports, or Ethernet ports. The logical ports
are virtual ports that carry host services.
 A unique IP address is allocated to each logical port for carrying its services.

No. Description
Logical port
Indicates that multiple Ethernet ports are 4
1
bonded to form a bond port.
One to One to
5
Indicates that an Ethernet port is added many many
2
to multiple VLANs.
Indicates that a bond port is added to One to
3
One to
3 Bond port VLAN
multiple VLANs. many many
Indicates that a bond port is used to
4
create multiple logical ports.
Many to One to
2
Indicates that a VLAN port is used to one many 6
5
create multiple logical ports. 1

Indicates that an Ethernet port is used to Ethernet port

6
create multiple logical ports.

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VLAN Configuration
 VLAN is a technology that logically divides a physical LAN into multiple broadcast
domains.
 Ethernet ports or bond ports in a storage system can be added to multiple independent
VLANs. You can configure different services in different VLANs to ensure the security
and reliability of service data.

VLAN 1 VLAN 2 VLAN 3 VLAN k

ID = 1 ID = 2 ID = 3 …… ID = k

Ethernet port

Bond port
P0 P1 P2 P3 Storage device
Adding ports to VLANs

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IP Address Failover
 IP address failover indicates that a logical IP address fails over from a faulty port to an available
port. In this way, services are switched from the faulty port to the available port without
interruption. The faulty port can take over services back after being recovered.
 During the IP address failover, services are switched from the faulty port to the available port,
ensuring service continuity and improving reliability of paths for accessing file systems. This
process is transparent to users.
 The essence is a service switchover between ports. The ports can be Ethernet ports, bond ports, or
VLAN ports.

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Ethernet Port–based IP Address Failover
 To improve reliability of paths for accessing file systems, you can create logical ports based on
Ethernet ports.
 When the Ethernet port that corresponds to a logical port fails, the system will:

 Locate an available Ethernet

port of the same type.
 Delete the logical port from
the faulty Ethernet port.
Search
 Create the same logical port Logical port A Logical port A
Logical port A
(IP address a) (IP address a)
on the available Ethernet Port fault Port switchover
port to carry services.
 Ensure service continuity.

Ethernet port A Ethernet port A Ethernet port B

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Bond Port–based IP Address Failover
 To improve reliability of paths for accessing file systems, you can bond multiple Ethernet ports to
form a bond port.
 When the Ethernet ports that are used to create the bond port fails, the system will:

 Locate an available port.

 Delete the logical port created
High-speed
on the faulty port. data
 Create a logical port with the transmission
Search
same IP address on the Logical port A
Logical port A
Logical port A
(IP address a) (IP address a)
available port. Port fault Port switchover
 Switch services to the
available port.
After the faulty port recovers, it Ethernet port A Ethernet port A Ethernet port C

can take over services again. Ethernet port B Ethernet port B Ethernet port D
Bond Port A Bond Port A Bond Port A

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VLAN-based IP Address Failover
 You can create VLANs to isolate different services.
 When an Ethernet port on a VLAN fails, the system will:

 Locate an available port of

the same type.
 Delete the logical port from
Search
the faulty port. Logical port A Logical port A
Logical port A
(IP address a) (IP address a)
 Create the same logical port Port fault Port switchover

on the available port.

 Switch services to the Ethernet port A Ethernet port A Ethernet port B
available port. VLAN A VLAN A VLAN B
ID = 1 ID = 1 ID = 1

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 Contents

1. DAS

2. NAS

3. SAN
▫ IP SAN Technologies
 FC SAN Technologies

▫ Comparison Between IP SAN and FC SAN

4. Distributed Architecture

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FC HBA

The FC HBA converts SCSI

packets into Fibre Channel
FC HBA packets, which does not
consume host resources.

Fibre Channel
FC SAN
protocol-based

Internal bus

Storage device FC network

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FC Network

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Zoning

Zone 1: Server 1 can Zone 2: Server 2 can

access Storage 1. access Storage 2.

Server 1 Server 2

Storage 1 Storage 2

Zone 3: Server 3 can

access Storage 1 and
Storage 3 Storage 2.
Server 3

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 Contents

1. DAS

2. NAS

3. SAN
▫ IP SAN Technologies

▫ FC SAN Technologies
 Comparison Between IP SAN and FC SAN

4. Distributed Architecture

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IP SAN and FC SAN

DAS IP SAN FC SAN

iSCSI
FC FC
IP

SCSI

IP
FC FC
iSCSI

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Comparison Between IP SAN and FC SAN
Item IP SAN FC SAN
Dedicated Fibre Channel networks and
Network architecture Existing IP networks
HBAs
Transmission Limited by the maximum transmission
Not limited theoretically
distance distance of optical fibers
Management and Complicated technologies and
As simple as operating IP devices
maintenance management
Compatibility Compatible with all IP network devices Poor compatibility
High purchase (Fibre Channel switches,
Lower purchase and maintenance costs HBAs, Fibre Channel disk arrays, and so
Cost than FC SAN, higher return on on) and maintenance (staff training,
investment (ROI) system configuration and supervision,
and so on) costs
Disaster recovery Local and remote DR available based High hardware and software costs for
(DR) on existing networks at a low cost DR
Security Relatively low Relatively high

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 Contents

1. DAS

2. NAS

3. SAN

4. Distributed Architecture

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Distributed Storage Networking

Node 1
Frontend service
network
Node 2

Node 3
Management
network
Node 4

Node 5
Backend storage network

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Networking Overview
 Frontend service/Tenant network
 The front-end service/tenant network is used to interconnect the distributed storage with the customer network. It
provides the tenant UI for tenant users to complete operations such as resource application and usage query, and
processes service requests sent by tenant clients or APIs.

 Backend storage network

 The backend storage/internal management network is used for internal interconnection between nodes. It provides
heartbeat communication between high availability (HA) components such as the data service subsystem (DSS), and
internal communication and data interaction between components.

 Management network
 The management network is used to interconnect with the customer's maintenance network. It provides a management
UI for the system administrator to perform service operations such as system configuration, tenant management,
resource management, and service provisioning, as well as maintenance operations such as alarm, performance, and
topology management. In addition, the Mgmt ports of all physical nodes can be aggregated to provide remote device
maintenance capabilities, such as remotely logging in to the virtual KVM of a device and viewing hardware running data
such as temperature and voltage.

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Network Planes

Management Management
Private client node Standard protocol node
access mode FSM access mode FSM

Storage node Compute node Storage node Compute node

REP REP
VBS Application Application
VBS/HDF
EDS EDS
S-SVR

OSD OSD

Third-place Third-place
DR site quorum DR site quorum Management plane:
server server Storage plane:
Replication plane:
Arbitration plane:
Service plane:

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Networking Rules
 Nodes must be placed in a cabinet from bottom to top.
 A deployment solution is usually chosen based on project requirements. The
total power consumption and weight of the storage nodes, switches, and KVM
in a cabinet must be calculated and the number of nodes that can be housed by
a cabinet must be determined based on the equipment room conditions.
 In typical configuration, nodes and switches in the base cabinet are connected
through network cables and SFP+ cables, and nodes in an expansion cabinet
connect to switches in the base cabinet through network cables and optical
fibers.

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 Quiz
1. Which of the following are included in distributed storage networking?
A. Management network

B. Frontend service network

C. Frontend storage network

D. Backend storage network

2. Which of the following protocols are commonly used in SAN networking?

A. FC

B. iSCSI

C. CIFS

D. NFS

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 Summary

DAS

NAS IP SAN
Storage network
architecture evolution
SAN FC SAN

Comparison between
Distributed architecture
IP SAN and FC SAN

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 More Information

Enterprise Technical Huawei Enterprise

Support App Service App

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 Recommendations

 Huawei official websites

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 Popular tools
 HedEx Lite
 Network Document Tool Center
 Information Query Assistant

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