總結
While a storage system may appear to be an energy-efficient solution in a benchmark, the actual performance may differ when it’s scaled to meet the specific needs of a business. A more comprehensive approach that looks at right-sizing the solution for performance, energy efficiency, space optimization, and long-term reliability is needed.
在企業級儲存的世界中，永續性已成為關鍵考量因素，但比較儲存產品的能源效率卻比單純的基準測試或認證測試分數更為細微。雖然某些基準可能聲稱要找出最節能的系統，但事實是，這種測試通常無法完全掌握影響實際能源消耗的因素。
單一尺寸並不適合全部
儲存系統提供多種配置選項，包括硬碟大小、快取記憶體和資料保護方案，這些都直接影響電力和空間消耗。單一合成測試結果無法完全捕捉這些變化。舉例來說，設定大型快取記憶體的儲存陣列，可能會使系統偏向優先考慮快取記憶體的效能，這種策略不一定會轉化為實際的能源效率。
其中許多配置都是根據特定客戶需求而客製化。儲存系統若具備更大或更有效率的硬碟、更先進的資料保護機制，或是更強大的快取功能，將消耗的能源會比使用更小的硬碟來得多，而且資料保護最少。因此，有意義的能源效率比較需要標準化特定配置，以滿足客戶的實際需求。
提前注意：效能基準偽裝成能效指標
Trans Optimal Point 熱頻段工作負載測試 （TOPHBWT） 等效能基準測試，可根據特定、有限時間的合成工作負載，測量每瓦 IOPS。雖然這樣的指標可以強調特定情況下的峰值效率，但它不考慮不同客戶可能面臨的各種工作負載配置和營運需求。因此，客戶在解讀此類結果時應謹慎，因為當其配置符合特定需求時，可能無法反映儲存系統的實際能源效率。
值得注意的是，效能基準可能會受到很大的影響，這取決於它們允許快取多少測試資料，這是硬碟 （HDD） 時代的測試假影。從快取中擷取資料時，可加速 I/O 並提高整體基準分數。事實上，應用程式資料並非永遠都能在快取中取得，必須從長期存放的地方擷取，也就是儲存媒體。這意味著擷取資料的真正能源消耗和效能影響，並非完全被 TOPHBWT 等基準所擷取。因此，無論成本、配置和整體能源消耗如何，能夠擴展到非常高 IOPS 數字的系統，似乎比那些無法做到的更節能。但在接受“最高 IOPS = 最高能源效率”方法之前，讓我們再深入探討一下。
以下是一個簡化的範例，顯示資料中心儲存解決方案，可以擴展控制器和/或擴充架的數量，以擴展效能和容量：
表 1：增加陣列控制器或擴充架的年度能源消耗，以符合容量需求。
表 1 說明了假設沒有擴充架，2 到 10 個控制器的陣列配置如何保持每瓦 IOPS 不變。但每年的能源消耗卻有很大的差異。使用對應的 IOPS/Watt 值，比較 2 個具有 8 個擴充架解決方案的控制器與 10 個控制器，沒有擴充架解決方案，顯示 10 個控制器的配置具有最節能的效益，即使它使用近乎兩倍的能源！如果您問我們，那就是個有趣的訣竅。
在本範例中，所需的儲存容量為 4.8PB，超過 10 個控制器系統以外的所有容量。（表 1 的其他例子中至少需要一些擴充架。） 每個控制器數量的第二條線（表 1 中）說明使用擴充架來滿足容量需求時的結果。對於擴展控制器數量和容量的儲存系統，IOPS/Watt 最適合使用較少或無擴充架的配置。儘管擴充架本身消耗了兩個額外控制器不到 25% 的電力，但它們對 IOPS/瓦特指標的價值造成負面影響。這樣的動態能透過增加控制器而非擴充架來激勵供應商擴展容量，以實現最高的 IOPS/瓦，即使不需要額外的 IOPS。這不必要地增加成本和能源消耗，有效地假設解決方案的總能源消耗並不重要。事實上，隨著容量的擴展，需要增加控制器是至關重要的，這可能導致客戶購買浪費、節能的解決方案，能源消耗遠高於其他需求。
This is why Everpure believes in a more comprehensive and transparent approach to storage solution evaluation with our customers—one that establishes workload characteristics and maximum performance requirements first and then examines energy and storage efficiency across various solution options.
選擇合適儲存解決方案的考量
For most enterprise storage purchases, customers care about the trade-offs between a number of different measures: performance, capacity, energy consumption, cost, ease of use, and likely a few others. At Everpure, we believe enterprises should use simple and transparent metrics to evaluate storage solutions. Using metrics such as storage capacity per watt (TB/watt), storage density per rack unit (TB/RU), watts per maximum throughput bandwidth (watts/GB throughput), and $/effective capacity ensures that each configuration meets performance, scalability, and total cost of ownership objectives. An example of how much clearer efficiency comparisons become can be seen in the TB/Watt column in Table 1. The configurations that use the least amount of energy annually and meet the performance and capacity requirements have the highest value. We are convinced that systems designed to use flash like flash instead of like disk will always be more efficient in terms of energy consumption and rack space utilization.
The energy and space efficiency advantages of Everpure center around the fact that we manage flash as flash and can deploy storage devices that will soon be up to five times larger in volume than the largest commodity SSDs that are shipping today but consume roughly the same amount of power (on a per device basis). We’ve been shipping 75TB DirectFlash® Modules (DFMs), which are flash storage devices of our own design, for the last two years and will be shipping 150TB DFMs starting later this year. While some storage drive vendors have announced 60TB SSDs, most storage system vendors are only shipping 15TB and 30TB SSDs in volume. This density advantage enables us to build very efficient multi-PB storage infrastructures at $/GB costs that rival comparably sized HDD-based systems. We have smaller DFM sizes as well, including 2.2TB, 4.5TB, 9.1TB, 18TB, 36TB, and 48TB, that bring many of the same benefits (in terms of how we manage the flash media for efficiency and the reliability of the devices) to smaller systems.
評估能源效率
為了有效比較儲存系統的能源效率，必須評估符合實際應用、工作負載和使用案例的配置。最重要的是系統在部署的特定環境中的運作方式。舉例來說，雖然基準指標可能強調在資料保護最少的高 IOPS 工作負載下系統的最高效率，但大多數企業應用程式需要更平衡的方法，也就是在資料損毀（或網路攻擊）時，在儲存容量、容錯、長期營運成本、資料服務與網路韌性等因素上。
效能、能源消耗和空間效率之間的權衡，是企業的重要考量。在基準中，當擴展以滿足儲存服務、應用程式效能、資料保護和容量需求時，可能顯示為高效率解決方案的功能可能無法達到。僅專注於一個效率指標，可能導致購買過多或過少以滿足所有客戶需求。透過確保能效指標與反映實際部署的配置息息相關，客戶可以根據自己的需求，做出更明智的決策。
IOPS/Watt 基準測試採用 TOPHBWT 等測試，可讓您一窺儲存系統在特定條件下的能源效率，但無法完整掌握。現代儲存解決方案的可配置性，以及客戶的不同需求，意味著能源效率比單一數字更為複雜。將效能和儲存效率指標與實際客戶配置進行標準化，提供了更可靠的系統比較方式。
此外，企業必須謹慎處理僅基於“規格表”比較的廠商索賠，或無法準確反映真實部署的理論配置。可以仔細選擇規格表數字，以突顯理想、通常不切實際條件下的峰值效能或效率。這些比較經常無法考量儲存系統在生產環境中的實際使用方式，因為整體擁有成本、效能、資料保護和可擴充性需求差異極大。客戶應始終詢問基準中使用的配置是否是實際部署的配置，以及它如何隨著時間的推移滿足其業務和應用程式需求。
The Everpure Advantage
At Everpure, our approach is fundamentally different. We begin by collaborating with customers to understand their specific business and application performance requirements. Rather than pushing a one-size-fits-all solution, we focus on right-sizing the system to meet those needs, delivering not just performance but also superior energy and space efficiency. Our storage solutions are designed to use flash like flash, leveraging larger and more efficient flash modules that enable greater density and lower power consumption compared to solutions based on commodity solid-state disk and mechanical hard disk configurations. This allows our systems to consume far less energy and space than competing solutions, making them more environmentally friendly and cost-effective in the long run.
In addition to offering immediate energy savings, our systems are built to last and can be non-disruptively upgraded an unlimited number of times. They’re more reliable, reducing the likelihood of failures and the associated costs of downtime or data loss. Data collected from our installed base over the last 13 years indicates that our customers are routinely achieving 10-year product life cycles with our storage systems, while our competitors routinely encourage their customers to upgrade to new products every four to five years. Furthermore, the longevity of our systems means they generate significantly less e-waste, helping to minimize the environmental impact of outdated technology being sent to landfills. By focusing on durability and sustainability, Everpure ensures that customers benefit not only from cutting-edge performance but also from longer product life cycles, contributing to a more sustainable and responsible IT environment.
企業必須超越地表層比較，並深入了解儲存系統如何與其營運需求保持一致。我們全方位的方法，以正確調整效能、能源效率、空間最佳化和長期可靠性的解決方案為中心，不僅確保客戶能達成業務目標，還能透過減少能源消耗、空間使用和電子廢棄物，為更永續的未來做出貢獻。
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