Active Data Management
Active Data Management is the use of advanced algorithms to dynamically profile the server's IO. FlashSoft™ applies its algorithms to identify the application's ("hot data"), which is cached on high performance solid-state device (SSD) installed in the server, so the majority of the server's IO executes completely in the compute tier, increasing application performance, supporting larger workloads, and removing overhead on storage systems.
Profiles: hardware & software
- The specific model SSD being used
- The server volumes the SSD will accelerate
- The server operating system, VMs & applications
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Parameters: configurable & auto-tunable
- Hot data identification: read-ahead & read-around methods
- Disk parameters: write-back, write-through, read-only
- Performance management - data flushing and queuing
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Algorithms: continuously monitor IO & tune caching
- Write stream recognition
- Alignment of data with SSD block structure
- Performance and efficiency management
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Reports: cache performance & SSD status
- Analysis of SSD cache performance
- Trouble reporting and predictive analytics
- Exceptional IO behavior versus profile
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Flash Virtualization®
When it is economically or logistically impractical to use flash for primary storage, Flash Virtualization® enables a small amount of flash memory in the server to deliver the performance benefits of a much larger amount of flash-based storage. FlashSoft is an all-software solution that enables any SATA, SAS or PCIe SSD as a server-tier cache.
Flash technology can accelerate application performance by reducing I/O latency. However, the impact on application performance depends greatly on where the I/O latency is addressed. When installed in a storage appliance as a high-performance tier, flash can improve the overall performance of the storage system. However, because latency exists between the server and the underlying storage, flash does not increase application performance as effectively from a storage device as it does when it is in the server.
The Server-Tier Solution for Storage Performance
The most cost-effective way to increase storage efficiency and performance may be to add a solid-state cache in the server. Moving hot data I/O to the server tier can greatly reduce I/O between the server and the storage infrastructure, increasing the performance, availability and efficiency of storage systems. The storage systems require no modification when FlashSoft caches I/O in the server.
One of the key dynamics of enterprise storage is that only a small fraction of total data is hot. In other words, even when using FlashSoft to cache hot data, some 90% of total data may never be cached in SSD, but as much as 90% of data I/O may be offloaded to the faster server-tier SSD. With the quantity of enterprise data increasing exponentially, the increase in storage efficiency that FlashSoft can provide could be just as beneficial as the performance and cost savings in the server architecture.
SSD Transparency & Optimization - Performance without Sacrifice
FlashSoft Software enables the SSD-based cache to work seamlessly with the server operating system and its applications. Running FlashSoft requires no modification to applications or the server operating system, and it fully supports existing disk-based storage infrastructure.
FlashSoft software solutions are designed from the ground up to work with any standard SSD or PCIe flash hardware. The software works seamlessly with server operating systems and applications, and is transparent to underlying storage.
FlashSoft Software provides caching in the server with minimal overhead on memory and CPU. Through sophisticated metadata management and a cache designed specifically for flash memory, the solution requires a modest allocation of working memory and less than 5% of server CPU. FlashSoft software can manage a cache up to 1TB in size using only 140MB of system memory.