Module: Physical Layer

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

• Describe compute system components and types
• Describe storage system architectures
• Describe network connectivity and the types of network
communication

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Cloud Computing Reference Model
Physical Layer

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Physical Layer Overview
• The physical layer comprises physical
compute, storage, and network resources
• Compute systems execute software of
providers and consumers
• Storage systems store business and
application data
• Networks connect compute systems with
each other and with storage systems
– Networks also connect multiple data centers
or multiple clouds to one another

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 Lesson: Compute System
This lesson covers the following topics:
• Key components of a compute system
• Software deployed on compute systems
• Types of compute systems

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Introduction to Compute System
• A computing platform (hardware, firmware, and software) that
runs platform and application software
– Executes the provider’s as well as the consumers’ software
– Typically x86-based servers or hosts
• Compute systems are provided to consumers in two ways:
– Shared hosting: Multiple consumers share compute systems
– Dedicated hosting: Individual consumers have dedicated compute
systems
• Typically providers use compute virtualization and offer
compute systems in the form of virtual machines

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Key Components of a Compute System

• An IC that executes software programs by performing

Processor arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations

• A volatile data storage device containing the programs for

Random-Access Memory execution and the data used by the processor

• A semiconductor memory containing boot, power management,

Read-Only Memory and other device-specific firmware

• A PCB that holds the processor, RAM, ROM, network and I/O
Motherboard ports, and other integrated components, such as GPU and NIC

• A collection of microchips on a motherboard to manage specific

Chipset functions, such as processor access to RAM and to peripheral
ports

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Software Deployed on Compute Systems

Self-service portal • Enables consumers to view and request cloud services

Platform software • Includes the software that the provider offers through PaaS

Application software • Includes the applications that the provider offers through SaaS

Virtualization software • Enables resource pooling and creation of virtual resources

• Enables a provider to manage the cloud infrastructure and

Cloud management software services

• Includes a consumer’s platform software and business

Consumer software applications

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Types of Compute Systems
• Tower compute system
• Rack-mounted compute system
• Blade compute system

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Tower Compute System
• Built in an upright enclosure called a “tower”
• Has integrated power supply and cooling
• A group of towers occupies significant floor
space, requires complex cabling, and
generates noise from cooling units
• Deploying in large environments may involve
substantial expenditure

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Rack-mounted Compute System
• Designed to be fixed on a frame called a
“rack”
– A rack is a standardized enclosure with
mounting slots for vertically stacking compute
systems
• Simplifies network cabling, consolidates
network equipment, and reduces floor space
use
• Administrators may use a console mounted
on the rack to manage the compute systems

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Blade Compute System
• Comprises an electronic circuit board with
only the core processing components
• Multiple blades are housed in a blade chassis
– The chassis provides integrated power supply,
cooling, networking, and management
• Blades are interconnected via a high speed
bus
• Modular design increases compute system
density and scalability

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 Lesson Summary
During this lesson the following topics were covered:
• Key components of a compute system
• Software deployed on compute systems
• Types of compute systems: tower, rack-mounted, and blade

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 Lesson: Storage System
This lesson covers the following topics:
• Types of storage devices
• Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)
• Storage system architectures

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Introduction to Storage System
• A storage system is the repository for saving and retrieving
electronic data
• Providers offer storage capacity along with compute systems,
or as a service
– Storage as a Service enables data backup and long-term data
retention
• Cloud storage provides massive scalability and rapid elasticity
of storage resources
• Typically, a provider uses virtualization to create storage pools
that are shared by multiple consumers

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Types of Storage Devices

●
Stores data on a circular disk with a ferromagnetic coating
Magnetic disk drive ●
Provides random read/write access
●
Most popular storage device with large storage capacity

●
Stores data on a semiconductor-based memory
Solid-state (flash) drive ●
Very low latency per I/O, low power requirements, and very high
throughput

●
Stores data on a thin plastic film with a magnetic coating
Magnetic tape drive ●
Provides only sequential data access
●
Low-cost solution for long term data storage

●
Stores data on a polycarbonate disc with a reflective coating
Optical disc drive ●
Write Once and Read Many capability: CD, DVD, BD
●
Low-cost solution for long-term data storage

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Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)
RAID
A storage technology in which data is written in blocks across multiple disk
drives that are combined into a logical unit called a RAID group.

• Improves storage system performance by serving I/Os from

multiple drives simultaneously
• Provides data protection against drive failures
• Three key techniques used for RAID: striping, mirroring, and
parity

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RAID Technique: Striping
Striping
A RAID technique to spread data across multiple drives in order to use the
drives in parallel.

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RAID Technique: Mirroring
Mirroring
A RAID technique to store the same data simultaneously on two different
drives, yielding two copies of the data.

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RAID Technique: Parity
Parity
A RAID technique to protect striped data from drive failure by performing a
mathematical operation on individual strips and storing the result on a
portion of the RAID group.

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Common RAID Levels

RAID 0 ●
Striped set with no fault tolerance

RAID 1 ●
Disk mirroring

RAID 1+0 ●
Nested RAID (striping and mirroring)

RAID 3 ●
Striped set with parallel access and a dedicated parity disk

RAID 5 ●
Striped set with independent disk access and distributed parity

RAID 6 ●
Striped set with independent disk access and dual distributed parity

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Data Access Methods

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Storage System Architecture
• Storage system architectures are based on the data access
methods
• Common storage system options are:
– Block-based
– File-based
– Object-based
– Unified

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Block-based Storage System
• Enables creating and assigning storage volumes to compute
systems
– Compute system discovers the volumes as local drives
– Required file system can be created on the volumes

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File-based Storage System
• A dedicated, high
performance file server with
storage (also known as
Network-attached Storage)
• Enables clients to share files
over an IP network
– Supports data sharing for
UNIX and Windows users
• Uses a specialized OS that is
optimized for file I/O

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NAS Deployment Options
• The two common NAS deployment options are:
– Traditional NAS (scale-up NAS)
– Scale-out NAS
• Traditional NAS
– Capacity and performance of a single system is scaled by
upgrading or adding NAS components
• Scale-out NAS
– Multiple processing and storage nodes are pooled in a cluster that
works as a single NAS device
– Addition of nodes scales cluster capacity and performance without
disruption

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Object-based Storage System
• Stores file data in the form
of objects based on data
contents and attributes
– Uses a flat, non-
hierarchical address
space
• Object contains user data,
related metadata, and
user-defined attributes
– Objects are uniquely
identified using object ID

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Object-based Storage System (Cont'd)

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Unified Storage System

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 Lesson Summary
During this lesson the following topics were covered:
• Types of persistent data storage devices
• RAID and RAID techniques: striping, mirroring, and parity
• Storage system architectures: block-based, file-based,
object-based, and unified

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 Lesson: Network
This lesson covers the following topics:
• Types of network communication
• Compute-to-compute communication
• Compute-to-storage communication
• Storage area network (SAN) classification
• Inter-cloud communication

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Introduction to Networking
• Networking enables data transfer and sharing of IT resources
between nodes across geographic regions
• Cloud consumers require a reliable and secure network to
connect to a cloud and access cloud services
• Network connectivity also enables resource aggregation and
service mobility across cloud data centers
• Multiple clouds may be inter-connected to enable workloads to
be moved or distributed
– For example: cloud bursting in a hybrid cloud model

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Types of Network Communication
• Based on the nodes connected by a network, the network
communication is broadly categorized as:
– Compute-to-compute communication
– Compute-to-storage communication
– Inter-cloud communication

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Compute-to-compute Communication
• Interconnecting physical compute
systems enables compute-to-compute
communication
• Compute-to-compute communication
typically uses IP-based protocols
• Compute systems connect to a network
through physical network card(s)
• Physical switches and routers are
common interconnecting devices

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Compute-to-storage Communication
Storage Area Network (SAN)
A network that interconnects storage systems with compute systems,
enabling the compute systems to access and share the storage systems.

• Based on the protocols they support, SANs can be classified as:

– Fibre Channel SAN (FC SAN)
– Internet Protocol SAN (IP SAN)
– Fibre Channel over Ethernet SAN (FCoE SAN)

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FC SAN
FC SAN
A SAN that uses Fibre Channel (FC) protocol to
transport data, commands, and status information
between compute and storage systems.

• FC provides block-level access to storage

• FC offers data transfer speeds up to 16 Gbps
• Theoretically, an FC SAN can connect
approximately 15 million nodes

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FC SAN Components

●
Provide physical interface to a node for communicating with
Network adapters other nodes
●
Examples: FC HBAs and storage system front-end adapters

●
Optical fiber cables are predominantly used to provide connectivity
Cables and connectors ●
Connectors enable cables to be swiftly connected to and
disconnected from ports

●
FC switches and directors
Directors have a modular design, a higher port count, and better
Interconnecting devices
●

fault-tolerance
●
Switches either have a fixed port count or a modular design

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Fabric Connect and Addressing
• A fabric created with FC switches connects all nodes and
enables them to communicate
• Each switch in a fabric contains a unique domain identifier (ID)
• Each network adapter is physically identified by a 64-bit World
Wide Node Name (WWNN)
• Each adapter port is physically identified by a 64-bit World
Wide Port Name (WWPN)
• Each adapter port in a fabric has a unique 24-bit FC address
– Fabric assigns FC addresses to adapter ports dynamically

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Fabric Port Types

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Zoning
Zoning
An FC switch function that enables node ports within a fabric to be logically
segmented into groups and to communicate with each other within the
group.

• Both node ports and switch ports can be zone members

• Benefits:
– Provides access control
– Restricts RSCN traffic

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Types of Zoning
• WWN zoning
• Port zoning
• Mixed zoning

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IP SAN
IP SAN
A SAN that uses Internet Protocol (IP) for the transport of storage traffic. It
transports block I/O over an IP-based network.

• Key drivers of IP SAN are:

– Leveraging an existing IP-based network instead of building a new
FC SAN infrastructure
– Many robust, mature security options are available for IP networks
– Many long-distance, disaster recovery (DR) solutions already
leverage IP-based networks
• Two primary IP SAN protocols are: iSCSI and FCIP

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iSCSI Networking
iSCSI
iSCSI encapsulates SCSI commands and data into
IP packets that are transported over an IP-based
network.

• iSCSI network components are:

– iSCSI initiators
• Example: iSCSI HBA
– iSCSI targets
• Example: storage system with iSCSI port
(Native iSCSI)
• Example: iSCSI gateway (Bridged iSCSI)
– IP-based network

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iSCSI Name
• iSCSI name is a unique iSCSI identifier that identifies initiators
and targets in an iSCSI network
• The two common types of iSCSI names are:
– iqn: iSCSI Qualified Name
• Example: iqn.2014-02.com.example:optional_string
– eui: Extended Unique Identifier
• Example: eui.0300732A32598D26

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FCIP Networking
FCIP
FCIP is an encapsulation of FC frames into IP packets that are transported
between disparate FC SANs over an IP-based network through FCIP tunnel.

• An FCIP entity (e.g. FCIP gateway)

exists at either end of an FCIP tunnel
– Encapsulates FC into IP
– Transfers IP packets to remote gateway
– Decapsulates FC from IP
• Widely used in disaster recovery
implementations

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FCoE SAN
FCoE SAN
A converged enhanced Ethernet (CEE) network that uses the FCoE protocol
to transport FC data along with regular Ethernet traffic over high speed
Ethernet links. FCoE encapsulates FC frames into Ethernet frames.

• Transfers both compute-to-compute and FC storage traffic

using the same network components
– Reduces complexity of managing multiple discrete networks
– Reduces the number of adapters, cables, and switches, along with
power and space consumption required in a data center
• Based on an enhanced Ethernet standard that ensures lossless
transmission of FC traffic over Ethernet
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FCoE SAN Components: CNA and S/W FCoE
Adapter

Component Description
Converged network adapter • Provides functionality of both NIC and FC HBA in a single device
(CNA) • Encapsulates FC traffic onto Ethernet frames (FCoE traffic)
• Consolidates both FC and regular Ethernet traffic over CEE links
Software FCoE adapter • A software on the compute system performs FCoE processing
• Supported NICs transfer both FCoE and regular Ethernet traffic

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FCoE SAN Components: FCoE Switch and
Storage Port

Component Description
FCoE switch • Contains Fibre Channel Forwarder (FCF), Ethernet Bridge, and a set of ports for
FC, Ethernet, or FCoE connectivity
• FCF encapsulates FC frames into Ethernet frames (FCoE frames) and
decapsulates FCoE frames to FC frames
FCoE storage port • Connects to FCoE switch, enabling end-to-end FCoE environment

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Inter-cloud Communication

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 Lesson Summary
During this lesson the following topics were covered:
• Types of network communication
• Compute-to-compute communication
• Compute-to-storage communication (SAN)
• FC SAN, IP SAN, and FCoE SAN components and
architectures
• Inter-cloud communication

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 Concepts in Practice
• EMC VMAX
• EMC VNX
• EMC ECS Appliance
• EMC Isilon
• EMC Atmos
• EMC XtremIO
• EMC Connectrix

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EMC VMAX, EMC VNX, and EMC ECS Appliance

VMAX VNX ECS Appliance

• Family of high-end • Family of unified • Hyper-scale storage
enterprise storage storage platforms infrastructure
platforms - Consolidates block, file,
and object access • Supports block, file,
• Block-based storage object, and HDFS
systems for mission- • Built for SMBs and
critical applications enterprises • Provides multi-
tenancy, self-service
• High performance, • Supports file (NFS and portal, and metering
reliability, availability, CIFS), FC, iSCSI, and capabilities
and scalability FCoE access

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EMC Isilon and EMC Atmos

Isilon Atmos
• Scale-out NAS storage platform • Scale-out object-based cloud
storage platform
• Enables pooling multiple nodes to
- Stores data as objects
construct a clustered NAS system
• Seamless scale out
• OneFS operating environment
creates single file system across the • Key cloud features include:
cluster - Global namespace
- REST API-driven storage
- Multi-tenancy, metering, and self-
service across tenants
- Metering and chargeback

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EMC XtremIO and EMC Connectrix

XtremIO Connectrix
• All-flash, block-based, scale-out • Family of networked storage
enterprise storage array connectivity products including:
- Enterprise directors
• Uses a clustered design to grow
- Departmental switches
capacity and performance as - Multi-purpose switches
required
• Multi-purpose switches support FC,
• A powerful OS (XIOS) manages the iSCSI, FCIP, and FCoE protocols
storage cluster
• Simplified and efficient provisioning
and management

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 Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
• Compute system components and types
• Types of storage devices, RAID techniques, and storage
system architectures
• Network connectivity and the types of network
communication

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