Shared storage  performance and characteristics (iops,latency)  is crucial for overall  vSphere platform performance and users satisfaction. In the advent of ssd and memory cache solutions we have many options to chose in case storage acceleration (local ssd, array side ssd , server side ssd). Lets discuse further server side caching – act of caching data on the server.

Data can be cached anywhere and at any point on the server that makes sense. It is common to cache commonly used data from the DB to prevent hitting the DB every time the data is required. We cache the results from competition scores since the operation is expensive in terms of both processor and database usage. It is also common to cache pages or page fragments so that they don’t need to be generated for every visitor.

In this article I would like to introduce one of the commercial server side caching solution from INFINIO – Infinio Accelerator 3.

Infinio Accelerator increases IOPS and decreases latency by caching a copy of the hottest data on serverside resources such as RAM and flash devices. Native inline deduplication ensures that all local storage resources are used as efficiently as possible,reducing the cost of performance. Infinio is built on VMware’s VAIO (vSphere APIs for I/O Filters) framework,which is the fastest and most secure way to intercept I/O coming from a virtual machine. Its benefits can be realized on any storage that VMware supports; in addition, integration with VMware features like DRS, SDRS, VAAI and vMotionall continue to function the same way once Infinio is installed. Finally, future storage innovation that VMware releases will be available immediately through I/O Filter integration.

The I/O Filter is the most direct path to storage for capabilities like caching and replication that need to intercept the data path. (Image courtesy of VMware)

Licensing

Infinio is licensed per ESXi host in an Infinio cluster. Software may be purchased for perpetual or term use:

• A perpetual license allows the use of the licensed software indefinitely with an annual cost for support and maintenance.

• A term license allows the use of software for one year, including support and maintenance.

For more information on licensing and pricing, contact sales@infinio.com.

System requirements

Infinio Accelerator requires min. VMware vSphere ESXi 6 U2 (Standard, Enterprise,or Enterprise Plus) and VMware vCenter 6 U2.

Note! vSphere 6.5 is supported and on VMware HCL !

Infinio works with any VMware supported datastore, including a variety of SAN, NAS, and DAS hardware supporting VMFS, Virtual Volumes (VVOLs), and Virtual SAN (vSAN).

• Infinio’s cluster size mirrors that of VMware vSphere’s, scaling out to 64 nodes.

• Infinio’s Management Console VM requires 1 vCPU, 8GB RAM, and 80GB of HDD space.

I’m very happy to announce that we received very friendly response from Infinio support and we get an option to download trial version of software – next articles will describe product in more depth and show “real life” examples of use in our lab environment.

Please, stay tuned 🙂