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Deploying FlashGrid with Standard SSD on Azure

  • Updated
  • Products: FlashGrid Cluster on Azure

By default, FlashGrid clusters are deployed using Premium SSD storage.  Premium SSD storage is designed for IO intensive enterprise workloads, with consistent performance, low latency and high availability.

In some circumstances, the use of Standard SSD may be preferred - they provide a cost-effective solution best suited for workloads that require reliability but do not need high IOPS.  FlashGrid will support the use of Standard SSD only for non-production environments where performance is not critical.

To deploy a cluster with disks other than Premium SSD, you must modify the parameters described below in the cluster configuration file (used by FlashGrid Launcher or its REST API).   

Configuration rules:

  • Do not modify the disk type used for lvm volumes
  • Do not modify the disk type used for the GRID or GRID_tmp disk group
  • All database volumes in a disk group must use the same disk type
  • The corresponding quorum volume(s) in a disk group should use the same disk type, though it is not mandatory.
  • The volume type is specified in the vol_type parameter, and must be either:
    • premium (default)
    • standard_ssd
  • When choosing standard_ssd, you must also modify the corresponding option for web_show to False in the database section of storage_profiles

Example

In the following example, a cluster configuration was generated from the Flashgrid Launcher GUI with

  • 3x1024GiB disks for the DATA disk group
  • 3x1024GiB disks for the FRA disk group

This example shows how to change the DATA group to use standard_ssd disks

Before:

For easier viewing and an explanation of required changed, the layout of of the JSON code has been modified from the default, and line numbers added):

1  storage_profiles = 
2  {
3  'database': 
4  [
5   {'device': 'fgvg/u01', 'fs_mount_point': '/u01', 'vol_size': 100, 'vol_type': 'lvm'},
6   {'device': 'fgvg/gridtmp', 'dg_name': 'GRIDtmp', 'vol_size': 5, 'vol_type': 'lvm'},
7   {'device': 'lun1', 'dg_name': 'GRID', 'vol_size': 5},
8   {'device': 'lun2', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1024, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
9   {'device': 'lun3', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1024, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
10  {'device': 'lun4', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1024, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
11  {'device': 'lun5', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 512, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
12  {'device': 'lun6', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 512, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
13  {'device': 'lun7', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 512, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True}
14 ],
15 'quorum': 
16 [
17  {'device': 'lun1', 'dg_name': 'GRID', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'},
18  {'device': 'lun2', 'dg_name': 'GRIDtmp', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'},
19  {'device': 'lun3', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'},
20  {'device': 'lun4', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'}
21  ]
22 }

Summary of changes

  • On lines 8, 9 & 10, which define the volumes in the DATA disk group for database nodes
    • change vol_type parameter to standard_ssd
    • change web_show parameter to False
  • On line 19, which defines the volumes in the DATA disk group for quorum nodes
    • change vol_type parameter to standard_ssd

After:

1  storage_profiles = 
2  {
3  'database': 
4  [
5   {'device': 'fgvg/u01', 'fs_mount_point': '/u01', 'vol_size': 100, 'vol_type': 'lvm'},
6   {'device': 'fgvg/gridtmp', 'dg_name': 'GRIDtmp', 'vol_size': 5, 'vol_type': 'lvm'},
7   {'device': 'lun1', 'dg_name': 'GRID', 'vol_size': 5},
8   {'device': 'lun2', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1024, 'vol_type': 'standard_ssd', 'web_show': False},
9   {'device': 'lun3', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1024, 'vol_type': 'standard_ssd', 'web_show': False},
10  {'device': 'lun4', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1024, 'vol_type': 'standard_ssd', 'web_show': False},
11  {'device': 'lun5', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 512, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
12  {'device': 'lun6', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 512, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True},
13  {'device': 'lun7', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 512, 'vol_type': 'premium', 'web_show': True}
14 ],
15 'quorum': 
16 [
17  {'device': 'lun1', 'dg_name': 'GRID', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'},
18  {'device': 'lun2', 'dg_name': 'GRIDtmp', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'},
19  {'device': 'lun3', 'dg_name': 'DATA', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'standard_ssd'},
20  {'device': 'lun4', 'dg_name': 'FRA', 'vol_size': 1, 'vol_type': 'premium'}
21 ]
22 }

 

Upload the modified configuration file to the FlashGrid Laucher, Validate and then Launch the FlashGrid cluster.

 

Checking disk configuration

Once deployed, you can confirm the disk configuration by using the flashgrid-dg and flashgrid-health-check commands. Any disks that are not Premium SSD will be flagged in the flashgrid-health-check output as shown below -- the warning message is an advisory only, and can be ignored so long as the expected configuration is being shown.

 

[fg@rac1 ~]$ flashgrid-dg show -G DATA
FlashGrid 22.3.10.30914 #8ddf36c2698cd715e733fa9573a61c3ddf1c0152
[..]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FailGroup ASM_Disk_Name Drive                     Phys_GiB ASM_GiB Status
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RAC1      RAC1$LUN2     /dev/flashgrid/rac1.lun2  1024     1024    ONLINE
RAC1      RAC1$LUN3     /dev/flashgrid/rac1.lun3  1024     1024    ONLINE
RAC1      RAC1$LUN4     /dev/flashgrid/rac1.lun4  1024     1024    ONLINE
RAC2      RAC2$LUN2     /dev/flashgrid/rac2.lun2  1024     1024    ONLINE
RAC2      RAC2$LUN3     /dev/flashgrid/rac2.lun3  1024     1024    ONLINE
RAC2      RAC2$LUN4     /dev/flashgrid/rac2.lun4  1024     1024    ONLINE
RACQ      RACQ$LUN3     /dev/flashgrid/racq.lun3  1        1       ONLINE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[fg@rac1 ~]$ flashgrid-health-check
HealthCheck 22.3.1.76186 #42ddae9304ea7b579a5685d55759134495cec383
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[..]
Check: Azure disk type
rac1: WARNING
lun 3: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS
lun 2: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS
lun 4: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS
rac2: WARNING
lun 3: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS
lun 2: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS
lun 4: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS
racq: WARNING : lun 3: expected Premium_LRS, actual StandardSSD_LRS