Tintri on its way!

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KapsZ28

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Last week we placed an order for a Tintri T820 to run along side our NetApp. Main reason for the purchase is to increase performance to a Windows Server 2012 R2 RDS Farm that is currently running on our NetApp using Flash Pool for SSD caching and still not getting the performance it needs.

I did a bit of research looking at many different storage vendors and also with the help of some well known [H] members, concluded that Tintri was by far the best bang for the buck. And I am not just talking about good pricing, I am also talking about some great innovation with 99-100% of data being read and written to SSD while also having the large capacity from mechanical drives. Plus we are a Service Provider and the QoS they offer will be a great fit for us to guarantee IOPS, and price accordingly.

I can't wait to get it and run some performance tests. :D
 
I want to know the results of those tests and how it works out for you.

Lop -- we're getting a demo unit sent to us. I may hit you up on some things if you're available.
 
Will definitely post some results. And although it is the T820, we are getting it with the optional 10 Gb SFP+.
 
It's always nice to get new gear/tech. Let us know how it works out for you.
 
We'll be using T820's in our new hosting environment as well. VERY excited about that. July can't come soon enough.

One of our partner software vendors uses the T820 as well. They see sub millisecond latency across their databases.
 
Looking forward to seeing the results.. I am running a Pure Storage array alongside our NetApp. Would love to know how they compare.
 
That is not a problem, but I am pretty sure the two aren't comparable. Plus there is so much more you get out of Tintri verse NetApp. We have a FAS8040 and our tier 1 storage is 48x 900 GB 10k RPM drives with 600 GB of SSD for Flash Pool. When it was first setup, which I probably still have some benchmarks for, it seemed impressive. The numbers are OK at best now at around 50% capacity. I am specifically getting the Tintri because the NetApp can't provide the performance I need. Not without dumping a ton into a SSD shelf which still won't give us all the benefits Tintri can.
 
Seems a bunch of people want to see the two compared. Please let me know what kind of numbers you are looking for and I will get the results once our Tintri is setup.
 
OSUmaxx said:
This!

But specifically interested in the management comparisons.
Click to expand...

The best response to that is "what management?"

Tintri setup is 3 steps:
1. Rack it.
2. Give it an IP and new management password.
3. Point it at Virtual Center.

From there, you mount the NFS datastore and manage VMs. There are no raid groups, no shares, no luns, no volumes - everything is done at the VM layer. Replication is right click - protect - set schedule and retention. Clones are the same. Snapshots/backups are ditto. Replication between VMs (keeping dev/test copies up to date with a production machine) is right click, pick source, pick point in time, hit go.

Want to adjust QoS? Drag the bar on the IOPS graph, or type in your new max/minimum. Want to find out what caused a latency spike? Click on it - it'll tell you what VM did it.

In fact, all of that is also possible from the vSphere Web Client - you never even log into the array. :)

Note: Configuration for RHEV-M / Hyper-V / OpenStack is slightly more involved, either due to delegation rules and AD (Hyper-V) or due to driver install and interface configuration (RHEV/OS).
 
lopoetve said:
The best response to that is "what management?"

Tintri setup is 3 steps:
1. Rack it.
2. Give it an IP and new management password.
3. Point it at Virtual Center.

From there, you mount the NFS datastore and manage VMs. There are no raid groups, no shares, no luns, no volumes - everything is done at the VM layer. Replication is right click - protect - set schedule and retention. Clones are the same. Snapshots/backups are ditto. Replication between VMs (keeping dev/test copies up to date with a production machine) is right click, pick source, pick point in time, hit go.

Want to adjust QoS? Drag the bar on the IOPS graph, or type in your new max/minimum. Want to find out what caused a latency spike? Click on it - it'll tell you what VM did it.

In fact, all of that is also possible from the vSphere Web Client - you never even log into the array. :)

Note: Configuration for RHEV-M / Hyper-V / OpenStack is slightly more involved, either due to delegation rules and AD (Hyper-V) or due to driver install and interface configuration (RHEV/OS).
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Also, a question specific to SRM. I see that Tintri has a qualified SRA, which is nice. I prefer storage replication typically - are there any issues there at all, assuming a Tintri box on both ends of course? Or is vShpere replication the preferred method?

I won't bother you with too many more questions before I dig in to their website a bit more to get some of the basics down. I did sit through a quick demo at one point and it seemed really simple, which is always great. Thanks for the info-
 
That's with Tintri replication - it's as easy as vSphere replication, but actually uses the storage appliance itself. We just replicate and snapshot individual VMs, not whole volumes :)
 
lopoetve said:
Note: Configuration for RHEV-M / Hyper-V / OpenStack is slightly more involved, either due to delegation rules and AD (Hyper-V) or due to driver install and interface configuration (RHEV/OS).
Click to expand...

Speaking of is there any media or documentation on how Tintri works with Hyper-V? Would love to see it.
 
Child of Wonder said:
Speaking of is there any media or documentation on how Tintri works with Hyper-V? Would love to see it.
Click to expand...

Sure. There are several whitepapers on it IIRC, and our setup guide. Mainly, it's SMB3 with failover clustering and SCVMM or HVM. Takes a set of AD groups and delegations for it to work right, and SMB signing is coming shortly.

https://knowledge.tintri.com/@api/deki/files/239/760-0006-0001-C_SCVMM_and_Hyper-V_Setup_Guide.pdf

http://www.tintri.com/sites/default/files/field/pdf/document/microsoft-at-a-glance.pdf
 
lopoetve said:
Sure. There are several whitepapers on it IIRC, and our setup guide. Mainly, it's SMB3 with failover clustering and SCVMM or HVM. Takes a set of AD groups and delegations for it to work right, and SMB signing is coming shortly.

https://knowledge.tintri.com/@api/deki/files/239/760-0006-0001-C_SCVMM_and_Hyper-V_Setup_Guide.pdf

http://www.tintri.com/sites/default/files/field/pdf/document/microsoft-at-a-glance.pdf
Click to expand...

Cool. I had done a search a few weeks back and came up empty.

Supports SMB3 multichannel and failover? (end of my thread jack, I swear :))
 
Child of Wonder said:
Cool. I had done a search a few weeks back and came up empty.

Supports SMB3 multichannel and failover? (end of my thread jack, I swear :))
Click to expand...

Really sure on failover, multichannel - I think so? I'd have to double check. Hyper-V is the one I know the least about; I tend to be VMware/Xen/OpenStack/KVM far more.
 
lopoetve said:
That's with Tintri replication - it's as easy as vSphere replication, but actually uses the storage appliance itself. We just replicate and snapshot individual VMs, not whole volumes :)
Click to expand...

I'll be in touch in the upcoming months. Thanks for the answers.

OP - apologies for the thread jack!!!
 
UPS got delayed in CA. Looks like I will have to wait until next week to start playing with our new toy.
 
I know someone who invested several million in an Atlantis build. It was a sunk cost.
 
Well, I am not really sure what is the best route to do a decent comparison, but the disk speed test I usually look at was not what I was expecting.

NetApp



Tintri

 
Most of those generate either 100% compressable or 0% compressable data, which skews the results like mad. Have your SE feed you a copy of Tingle - it generates mixed data in terms of compressibility, which matches real-world.
 
Tingle, what is that? If I google it, it comes up as a dating site. :)

Also, don't I need to install a VAAI plugin on my ESXi hosts? I'm guessing it would be available on the support site, but I don't have access yet.
 
I know someone who tried to google for the man page of the linux 'touch' command. He typed in 'man touch'. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!
 
best smb3 implementation comes right from microsoft

everybody else has cheap tweaked samba replica lol

for our depts we've been packaging pairs of dell r720xd's running windows server 2012 r2 standard and doing ca & generic smb3 shares

block back end dataon sas jbods initially later replaced with starwind and internal sata disks / ssds

microsoft talks to microsoft

rdma and no support issues!!

Child of Wonder said:
Cool. I had done a search a few weeks back and came up empty.

Supports SMB3 multichannel and failover? (end of my thread jack, I swear :))
Click to expand...
 
KapsZ28 said:
Tingle, what is that? If I google it, it comes up as a dating site. :)

Also, don't I need to install a VAAI plugin on my ESXi hosts? I'm guessing it would be available on the support site, but I don't have access yet.
Click to expand...

It's a load generating applicance :) It's on the support page.
 
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