Storage technologies for IBM Db2 Warehouse
A key decision that you must make for your Db2® Warehouse deployment is the type of storage technology to set up and use.
Db2 Warehouse can run multiple parallel engines. Each engine accesses independent file sets for an optimized, shared-nothing pattern that helps provide high performance.
A Db2 Warehouse MPP deployment requires a
POSIX-compliant cluster file system, which provides servers and other resources with concurrent
access to a single file system. Examples of a POSIX-compliant cluster file system are IBM Spectrum Scale (formerly IBM® General Parallel File System, or GPFS)
and VxFS, which you mount on /mnt/clusterfs, as shown in Cluster file system.
Choose the storage technology that best satisfies your business requirements and constraints, for example:
- Cost. How much does it cost to purchase and operate?
- Scaling capabilities. How fast and easy is it to add or remove resources as needed?
- Ease of operation. Is it easy to set up and administer?
- Performance. How fast can it access data?
- Protection. Does it keep your data secure?
- Attachment method. Should the nodes be attached a network-attached storage (NAS) device or to a storage area network (SAN)? For more information, see Table 1.
Network-attached storage (NAS) | Storage area network (SAN) | |
---|---|---|
Description | NAS is a dedicated file storage device that is connected to a network that allows data to be stored in and retrieved from a central location. | A SAN is a dedicated network that connects all storage devices so that they work as a single storage block. |
Ease of deployment | NAS is easier to deploy on an existing architecture. | Deployment of a SAN requires more knowledge of communication protocols and extra cluster file system configuration. |
Performance | NAS is usually slower because it typically shares data within the communications network. | A SAN provides excellent speed and performance because it is a dedicated storage network. |
Data access | NAS provides file-level data access. | A SAN provides block-level data access. |
Protocols | Files are shared and stored by using standard file system protocols, mainly NFS. | Communication protocols for a SAN include Fibre Channel and iSCSI. |
Deployment of a Db2 Warehouse container | In a NAS environment, because the storage is already configured, deploying a Db2 Warehouse container is straightforward. | In a SAN environment, you must configure storage devices to deploy a Db2 Warehouse container. |
Other traits | NAS offers ease of use and management. | The ability to scale capacity is one of the main reasons for using a SAN. |