Load DynamiX Storage Performance Analytics Solutions Introduce New Level of Workload Visibility Into Storage Infrastructure

Load DynamiX, Inc. announced products and software modules, extending its storage performance validation solutions to include real-time and historical workload visibility.

 Load DynamiX 5.0 includes a new automated workload acquisition and analysis solution (comprised of Workload Sensors, a Workload Data Importer, and a Workload Analyzer application) that provides comprehensive insight into application workload behavior and its impact on storage infrastructure performance. These offerings mean that Load DynamiX, with its clear understanding of production workload I/O profiles, helps storage professionals right-size storage purchases and quickly mitigate performance issues.

“Most organizations know surprisingly little about the demands their applications present to their storage systems. Storage managers routinely specify systems with expensive performance headroom to account for their lack of workload knowledge,” said Howard Marks, founder, DeepStorage.net. “Load DynamiX Workload Sensors and Workload Analyzers will, for the first time, give enterprises a full picture of their application’s storage behavior and use that data to see how their applications will work on next generation storage systems.“

Load DynamiX 5.0: Introducing storage performance analytics
Load DynamiX 5.0 offers storage teams an automated and simple way to acquire storage array and storage network workload data, and analyze that data for a holistic approach to architecting, optimizing, and troubleshooting storage infrastructure. The storage performance analytics capabilities within Load DynamiX Enterprise 5.0 include solutions for real-time and historical workload acquisition and analysis. These solutions build upon traditional company’s strengths in storage workload modeling and workload generation.

Workload Acquisition
Company’s Enterprise 5.0 has added two ways to acquire actual production storage workloads, analyze those workloads, and automatically create workload models.

Workload Sensors
Company’s Workload Sensors are hardware-based sensor devices that enable storage engineers and operations teams to capture network switch data and statistically analyze the workloads in real-time. Using the switch SPAN ports or optical TAPs on 10GE and FC switches, this data can be captured and then be imported into the Workload Analyzer module of Load DynamiX Enterprise for further analysis and to generate a highly accurate workload for replay in a test lab. This capture/analyze/replay capability dramatically accelerates storage performance problem identification and resolution.

Workload Data Importer is part of Load DynamiX Enterprise 5.0 and imports any production array I/O data from the storage array logs and other tools for workload profiling. It automates and simplifies the workload modeling and creation process and provides out-of-the-box policies for most major storage vendors or the ability to add profiles from emerging vendors.

Workload analysis
Before now, IT organizations had no fast and simple way analyze and characterize production workloads and their changing behaviors. Once acquired, production workload data can then be evaluated for performance planning and faster troubleshooting.

Company’s Workload Analyzer is a module of Load DynamiX Enterprise that allows storage engineers to analyze temporal and spatial workload behavior via powerful visualization to better understand workload I/O patterns that affect storage performance. The Workload Analyzer processes the data from both the Workload Data Importer and the Workload Sensors. It creates a detailed workload profile that can be used to automatically generate a highly accurate workload. These workloads can then be applied to any file, block or object storage system via a Workload Generation Appliance to fully evaluate its performance, to conduct what-if scenario analysis with modified workloads, and to efficiently troubleshoot performance problems.

“For years now, Load DynamiX has been leading the industry in storage performance validation and testing in pre-production environments,” said Philippe Vincent, president and CEO, Load DynamiX. “But capturing and analyzing production workload data in an automated way remained elusive. It was an art form that our customers were continually challenged with. With our 5.0 release and its advanced storage performance analytics, we provide unparalleled insight into workload behavior and its effect on performance that turns the art form into science.“

“The new Load DynamiX workload acquisition and analysis products are very innovative,” said Christopher King,  former infrastructure architect, LinkedIn. “They will improve understanding of application workload behavior, which will help me more intelligently evaluate new storage technologies, make better storage deployment decisions, and accelerate problem resolution.“

Resources:
What are workloads and why should you care? By George Crump, Storage Switzerland
Storage Workload Analysis-the Load DynamiX Way. By Logan Harbaugh , Storage Strategies NOW