FFLASHARRAY//X Pure Storage - one more implementation

Author: Sławomir Oczkowski

TALEX implemented the Pure Storage FlashArray//X for another client. The American company Pure Storage Inc. manufactures and develops the world's most advanced AFA class (All-Flash Array) data storage arrays, which introduce a number of unique innovations and use very fast direct flash NVMe memory.

The client's company is a large production enterprise, whose needs to maintain data are constantly growing. It has hundreds of virtual machines, several large databases, plus production monitoring and CAD/CAM systems. As a result, the data increments are high, and performance expectations from users even higher.

Following a thorough analysis of the needs of the client and taking into consideration the forecasts of the company development dynamics, a‍ decision was made to perform tests of a Pure Storage FlashArray//X50 R3 in the client's environment using production data. The choice of a specific model and its capacity resulted from the prior analysis and sizing carried out by Talex S.A. specialists, equipped with the professional tools provided by Pure Storage and backed by the knowledge and experience of our experts.

The Pure Storage array model we suggested came out of the tests as a‍ winner, ahead of two solutions delivered by other manufacturers. In doing so, it achieved the best performance and the highest data reduction rate (DRR) factor.

You only need a few days to implement the Pure Storage solution. This time is much shorter than in the case of solutions from other manufacturers, which results in lower implementation costs and making the resource available faster. The engineers from Talex S.A., trained and certified in this area, and backed up by the manufacturer's engineers, carried out this task with ease and in accordance with the planned timetable.

The only issue encountered during the implementation was the necessity to update the VMware vSphere software, which was still being used in version 6.0 in the client's environment. It was necessary to implement the full integration of the Pure Storage Plugin for the vSphere Client and obtain the HTML-5-compliant web interface. The client was warned in advance about the eventual fate of Adobe Flex/Flash, the support for which is being discontinued by its vendor Adobe.

The engineers carrying out the project had to demonstrate competence in the following areas:

• sizing of Pure Storage disk arrays and analysis of the existing environment (at the planning stage),
• launching and configuring the Pure Storage FlashArray//X in the client's server room,
• configuring the zoning of FC SAN fabrics based on the Fabric OS,
• configuring disk resources for the VMware vSphere farm hosts,
• having knowledge of upgrading the VMware vSphere platform software to newer versions,
• migrating virtual machines with Storage VMotion to target VMFS-6 and vVOLs volumes.

It is worth mentioning a key technological innovation implemented in the Pure Storage arrays, which is the ability to perform an upgrade of the array to a higher model within the same line or to a newer product lines in a way that is entirely transparent to production systems, i.e., without the need to interrupt the system operation and access to data by hosts. This unique property guarantees that the traditional data migration process at the OS or virtualization platform does not occur (it takes place automatically during the non-interruptive upgrade of the array).

The manufacturer's offer also includes Evergreen support, which enables the use of purchased devices, at the costs known in advance, for as long as the client requires, even 10 years or longer. As part of the purchased support, Pure Storage offers access to the Pure 1 portal in the cloud, where the client may monitor all working parameters of the devices in use, statistics, historical data, as well as extrapolations for disk use and workload increase based on data collected so far. Apart from the comprehensive analytics of the array, the Pure 1 portal also gives you access to the highest grade technical support from the manufacturer and allows you to ask questions and consult your needs and observations in its dedicated forum. All that in one place and always handy.

For many years, Pure Storage was a leader in Gartner reports. Such is the case of the newest report concerning the classification of Primary Storage Array solutions published in November 2020, in which Pure Storage took the first place, which confirmed not only the innovativeness of its products but also showed that the systems delivered by this manufacturer are readily chosen by clients and do well in the market saturated with competitive solutions.

Being an integrator present on the IT market for many years, we have a high opinion of Pure Storage products and frequently recommend the technologically advanced solutions from this manufacturer to our clients.

You can read more about the solution in the article published in the Pure Storage blog: FlashArray//X – Making NVMe Mainstream