White Paper

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft

Environments

Abstract
This white paper discusses EMC Symmetrix VMAX TimeFinder VP
Snap functionality in the context of Microsoft server applications.

May 2012
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Part Number h10685

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 2

Table of Contents
Executive summary.................................................................................................. 4
Audience ............................................................................................................................ 5
Terminology ............................................................................................................ 5
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 6
Using TimeFinder VP Snap with Solutions Enabler .................................................... 8
Creating VP Snaps .............................................................................................................. 8
Querying VP Snap sessions ................................................................................................ 8
Recreating/Terminating VP Snaps ...................................................................................... 9
Restoring VP Snaps ............................................................................................................ 9
Understanding thin pool allocations ...................................................................... 11
Viewing Allocated, Written and Shared Thin Pool Allocations ........................................... 12
Microsoft Server Application Considerations .......................................................... 14
Performance ..................................................................................................................... 14
Space Utilization .............................................................................................................. 14
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 16
References ............................................................................................................ 17
White papers .................................................................................................................... 17
Technical notes ................................................................................................................ 17
Feature sheet ................................................................................................................... 17
Product documentation .................................................................................................... 17

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 3

Executive summary
The EMC TimeFinder family of products has long been used for creating in-array,
logical unit number (LUN) based copies of server application data. These copies are
commonly used for backup and restore, testing, reporting and other important
purposes. The core TimeFinder technology within the Symmetrix VMAX allows for
full volume, independent copies, referred to as TimeFinder/Clone and space efficient
pointer based copies referred to as TimeFinder/Snap.
Starting with the release of Enginuity 5876 the Symmetrix VMAX family will have
support for a new member of the TimeFinder family called TimeFinder VP Snap. VP
Snap is designed for Virtual Provisioning environments and helps to create a
simplified architecture for creating pointer based copies similar to TimeFinder/Snap
technology.
The TimeFinder environment is simplified with VP Snap as it leverages the same
device types and pooling design as exist with TimeFinder/Clone and Virtual
Provisioning. This differs from TimeFinder/Snap, which requires the creation of
separate device types and pooling constructs. The main benefits of TimeFinder/Snap
can also be found in TimeFinder VP Snap, including space efficient, Asynchronous
Copy On First Write (ACOFW) based replicas, which share data when multiple copies
are present.
Ultimately, VP Snap was created to ease administration while maintaining the
benefits inherent in space efficient snapshot technology.

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 4

Audience
This white paper is intended for server and application administrators, storage
architects, customers, and EMC field personnel who want to understand the use of
TimeFinder VP Snap.

Terminology
Term Description
Device A logical unit of storage defined within a Symmetrix array.
Thin Device A host accessible device that has no storage directly
associated with it.
Data Device An internal device that provides storage capacity to be
used by thin devices.
Thin Device Extent The minimum quantum of storage that must be mapped
at a time to a thin device. Extent also is known as a
chunk.
Data Device Extent The minimum quantum of storage that is allocated at a
time when dedicating storage from a thin pool for use with
a specific thin device
Thin Pool A collection of data devices that provide storage capacity
for thin devices.
Bind The process by which one or more thin devices are
associated to a thin pool.
Unbind The process by which a thin device is disassociated from
a given thin pool. When unbound, all previous extent
allocations from the data devices are erased and returned
for reuse.
Pre-allocating or Pre-provisioning User specified operation performed against a thin device
for the purposes of reducing the operational impact of
allocating extents, or for guaranteeing a specified amount
of storage for a thin device in a thin pool

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 5

Introduction
TimeFinder VP Snap allows for the creation of replicas from source thin LUNs to one or
multiple target thin LUNs. The VP Snap session is a pointer based copy referencing
data on the source LUN when accessed. When data is written to the source devices,
an asynchronous copy on first write (ACOFW) process is executed to copy the required
data to the pool in which the target is bound. The new data is then written to the
source devices thin pool. The asynchronous nature of the ACOFW process allows for
the immediate acknowledgement of host writes which helps to provide optimal
performance. The Symmetrix global cache is used to buffer the source writes, while
the reading and writing of data on the source thin pool, along with the writing of data
to the target thin pool, is performed as a background process. Figure 1 depicts the
ACOFW process.

Figure 1 Asynchronous Copy On First Write process

The VP Snap target is fully readable and writable. When the VP Snap target is read
from, the read may come from the source thin pool or the target thin pool, depending
on where the data is located for that specific replicas point-in-time. When the VP
Snap target is written to, the write goes to the bound pool of the thin target. The
target thin LUNs for replication can be bound to the same thin pool as the source, or
bound to a different thin pool. When multiple targets of the same source are to be
used with VP Snap, all targets must be bound to the same thin pool.
When multiple copy sessions exist against the same source, storage allocations can
be shared for data written to the target thin pool based on changes to the source.
These are referred to as shared allocations or shared tracks and help to reduce the
amount of data required in the thin pool when multiple copies are present. Figure 2
depicts multiple targets sharing allocations within a common thin pool.

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 6

Figure 2 Multiple targets sharing thin pool allocations
When the VP Snap sessions are terminated or recreated, any allocations which are
not shared will automatically be freed from the bound thin pool of the target device.
VP Snap sessions can also be incrementally restored while maintaining the point-in-
time of the original copy.
VP Snap allows for up to 32 copy sessions from any one source LUN. These copy
sessions are separate from and do not subtract from traditional TimeFinder/Clone
and TimeFinder/Snap sessions, except when restores are issued. VP Snap uses one
traditional Clone session for the purposes of performing the restore. This session is
released once the restore is complete.

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 7

Using TimeFinder VP Snap with Solutions Enabler
Creating VP Snaps
Solutions Enabler 7.4, in conjunction with the Enginuity 5876 allows for the
creation of VP Snap sessions. VP Snap sessions are managed with the symclone
command similar to traditional TimeFinder/Clone sessions, with the exception of the
vse flag. The vse flag must be specified when creating the initial clone relationship.
Once the session is created the typical symclone activate, query, terminate and
recreate commands can be issued without the vse flag. The steps below represent
the commands and process required for initially creating VP Snap sessions with
Solutions Enabler.
Creating VP Snaps example
1. Bind the target thin devices to the appropriate thin pool:
symconfigure -cmd bind tdev <Dev#> to pool <Name> commit
-sid <SymmID>
2. Create the VP Snap relationship (device file example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <DevFile> create -vse
3. Activate the VP Snap relationship (device file example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <DevFile> activate consistent
Querying VP Snap sessions
When the VP Snap sessions are created or activated, the sessions can be queried.
Either the symclone list command, which is a listing of all sessions within an array, or
the symclone query command, for targeting specific groups or files, can be used. The
output of the query command, exampled in Figure 3, will show a V flag in the C
column to identify a VP Snap session. Activated VP Snap sessions will show a
CopyOnWrite state.
Querying VP Snap session example
1a. To list all sessions within a given array:
symclone sid <SymmID> list vse
1b. To list sessions for a specific grouping of devices (device file
example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <DevFile> query

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Figure 3 Symclone query output against VP Snap sessions

Recreating/Terminating VP Snaps
VP Snap sessions can be terminated or recreated. When sessions are terminated or
recreated, existing allocations within the target thin pool will be deallocated. Any
shared allocations will persist as required for the remaining VP Snap sessions. VP
Snap sessions can be recreated in several ways with Solutions Enabler. One method
requires two commands, a recreate followed by an activate. If no additional scripting
is required between the recreate and activate (for the purposes of application or host
level interaction) an establish command can be used, which will combine both the
recreate and activate automatically.
Recreating VP Snaps example
1. Recreate the relationship (device file example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <Devfile> recreate
2. Activate the VP Snap relationship (device file example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <DevFile> activate consistent
Terminating VP Snaps example
1. Terminate the relationship (device file example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <Devfile> terminate
Restoring VP Snaps
VP Snap sessions can be incrementally restored to their source devices. The restore
operation will create an additional clone session for the restore, while the existing
CopyOnWrite session will be maintained. The additional restore session will count
against the 16 total sessions allowed for traditional TimeFinder Clone. Unlike
traditional Timefinder Clone restore sessions, where the split command can be
used to complete the restore and separate the target from the source, VP Snap
requires a terminate of the restored session. The terminate command in
conjunction with the -restored flag is used for this purpose.
Restoring VP Snaps example

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1. Restore the relationship (device file example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <Devfile> restore
2. Terminate the VP Snap relationship in the restored state (device file
example):
symclone sid <SymmID> -f <DevFile> terminate restored

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 10

Understanding thin pool allocations
When a write is performed to a part of a thin device for which physical storage has not
yet been allocated, the Symmetrix allocates physical storage from the thin pool that
covers that portion of the thin device. Enginuity satisfies the requirement by
providing a block of storage from the thin pool called a thin device extent. A thin
device extent is 768KB in size and will be marked as allocated when any of the tracks
within that extent are written. A track is 64KB in size and is the unit of measurement
for determining which areas of a thin device are considered written. This approach
allows for on-demand allocation from the thin pool and reduces the amount of
storage that is consumed or otherwise dedicated to a particular device.
The distinction between a written track and allocated extent is important when
looking at VP Snap target device allocations. Depending on the nature of the writes
to the source device or the target, there could be a measurable difference between
the written and allocation percentages for those thin devices.
For example, a small random write workload against a source device may initially
show a greater difference between the percent written and the percent allocated for
the VP Snap target thin devices. Figure 4 provides an example of what a random
allocation pattern might look like. With a random write distribution pattern, a single
track allocation will cause an extent allocation. If only one or two tracks are written
per extent, there could be a significant difference between the Written vs. Allocated
percentages.

Figure 4 Random write allocation distribution

If the writes to the VP Snap source devices are sequential, the difference between the
percent written and percent allocated will be much smaller as all tracks will be written
to prior to allocating the next extent. Figure 5 shows an example of a sequential write
pattern.

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Figure 5 Sequential write allocation distribution
When multiple VP Snaps from the same source are created, there will be shared
allocations within the thin pool. The shared allocations in the thin pool will reduce
the total amount of storage required. This can be seen by comparing the total thin
device allocations compared to the actual allocations in the thin pool. The shared
allocations can also be queried and will be the difference between the
aforementioned totals. To provide an example, Figure 6 shows the total thin device
allocations for two sets of active VP Snap targets from the same set of source devices.
The total for all thin devices equals 698.2 GB, which is higher than whats actually
allocated in the thin pool. The actual thin pool allocation, including the difference
realized in shared allocations can be seen in Figure 7. In Figure 7, the actually
allocations in the FC_R1 pool are 582.5 GB, with 115.7 GB worth of shared
allocations.

Viewing Allocated, Written and Shared Thin Pool Allocations

Viewing individual thin device allocations
1. Symcfg list tdev pool <pool_name> -GB
Output in Figure 6

Figure 6 Thin device allocations, not including shared allocations

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Viewing Pool level allocations, including shared allocations
1. Symcfg list thin pool detail GB
Output in Figure 7

Figure 7 Thin pool allocations, including shared allocations

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Microsoft Server Application Considerations
The use of TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Server environments can be used much
the same as other TimeFinder technologies. Replication Manager will be updated to
include support for VP Snap and allow for application (SQL Server, Exchange,
SharePoint, etc.) integration through the use of VDI and VSS at the application and
operating system level. Please check the latest release notes and support matrix for
Replication Manager to ensure support for VP Snap. One of the benefits of VP Snap in
the context of Replication Manager will be the ability to utilize a common set of
pooled devices that can be used for either full clone or space efficient VP Snap
copies.

Performance
VP Snap, much like TimeFinder/Snap, is best used in relatively low write workload
environments. Each write to a protected source device will incur at least 3 times the
backend operations to preserve the point-in-times of the VP Snap copies. The
ACOFW behavior shown in Figure 1 will help to limit the direct response time impact
to host writes targeting VP Snap source devices. But there will be an additional
workload of reads against the source thin pool and writes against the target devices
thin pool based on the application write workload. This additional overhead on the
disks and back end disk adapters (DA) supporting the production workload may have
some impact on performance.

If the VP Snap target is accessed, the reads could be redirected to the source thin
pool which could also potentially impact production performance. If the goal is to
utilize a secondary copy of a database for streaming backup, reporting, development,
QA, etc. while not impacting production devices, full clones dedicated onto their own
thin pool should be considered.

Additionally, when VP Snap target devices are terminated or recreated, the existing
space used by those devices will be deallocated. The deallocation process will
consume CPU cycles on the back end disk adapters. Additionally if the source thin
devices in the VP Snap relationship are not pre-allocated, any extents which are not
allocated will be considered as copied to the thin target. No actual copy process will
occur, but the marking of extents as copied to the VP Snap target will cause CPU
cycles to be used on the back end disk adapters. These temporary overheads should
be taken into consideration if multiple VP Snap sessions will be recreated on a
regular basis throughout production time windows.

Space Utilization
As discussed in the Understanding thin pool allocations section, the nature of the
write workload against the VP Snap environment will impact storage allocations in the
target thin pool. In the context of database applications, like Microsoft Exchange
Server and SQL Server, differences can be seen when comparing the log file and
database file allocation patterns.
To provide an example, Figure 8 shows the Symmetrix devices supporting a single
SQL Server database that has an OLTP workload with small insert and update

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 14

operations. The log resides on device 517, and the database files reside on the
remaining four devices, 4D7, 4E7, 4F7 and 507. The log device, 517, shows a
consistent allocation pattern with respect to the log device workload. The 1.3 GB of
allocations is in-line with the host write workload to the log. Also the allocated
percentages and written percentages are close (1.3 GB and 1.1GB respectively) when
considering the sequential write pattern of a log file. This is the same behavior as
illustrated in Figure 5

Figure 8 SQL Server database device allocations

The database devices (4D7 through 507) show a much larger difference between the
host write workload, the percent written and percent allocated totals. For this
example, each database device had seen roughly 5GB worth of writes according to
the SQL Server virtualfilestats table. Because the writes were small (8KB,) and
random, the VP Snap target exhibited the same pattern explained in Figure 4. For
each 8KB random write, a 64KB track was marked as written and a 768KB extent was
allocated. In total, for the 5GB written from the host, 15.4 GB was marked as written,
and ~84 GB was marked as allocated. It is important to keep in mind, that over time,
the difference in the allocations will diminish, as additional 8KB writes occur on
previously written tracks and previously allocated extents. But for some
environments, where VP Snap sessions are short lived, and the write workload is
extremely random, this kind of allocation pattern may be exhibited.

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 15

Conclusion
TimeFinder VP Snap helps to merge the benefits of TimeFinder Snap with the
functionality and pooling structures inherent with TimeFinder Clone and Virtual
Provisioning. The merging of functionality will assist in simplifying the TimeFinder
environment and ease administration where full volume copies and space efficient
copies need to co-exist in the same infrastructure.

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References
White papers
New Features in EMC Enginuity 5876 for Symmetrix Open Systems Environments
Implementing Virtual Provisioning on EMC Symmetrix with Microsoft Exchange Server
Applied Technology
Implementing Virtual Provisioning on EMC Symmetrix with Microsoft SQL Server
Applied Technology
EMC Symmetrix VMAX Virtual Provisioning Space Reclamation and Application
Considerations
Technical notes
Best Practices for Fast, Simple Capacity Allocation with EMC Symmetrix Virtual
Provisioning
Feature sheet
Symmetrix Virtual Provisioning Feature Specification
Product documentation
EMC Solutions Enabler Symmetrix Array Management CLI Product Guide
EMC Solutions Enabler Symmetrix Array Controls CLI Product Guide
EMC Solutions Enabler Symmetrix CLI Command Reference

EMC TimeFinder VP Snap in Microsoft Environments 17