Author: sizer-wiki-user

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Sizing Details

Sizing Detail Video

Sizing Details:

First of all you can look at Sizing Details for each cluster or All clusters.

In the top part are the resource requirements  (Cores, RAM, HDD, SSD) from one or more workloads.  These numbers are computed by the workload modules.  Here we have a couple workloads and the resources are totaled under Total

The bottom section is the Capacity calculations for the recommendation.

  • The Raw Capacity row is the total available resources (cores, RAM, HDD, SSD) in the cluster(s).    A few things need to be explained
    • Cores is adjusted by specint weight and if there are memory issues like unbalanced DIMMS
      • here is the tooltip which shows the adjustment.  There are total of 72 physical cores in the recommendation.  This is number of models * number of cpu’s per model  * number of cores per cpu
      • Sizer needs to adjust different core speeds as they can vary widely and SpecINt2006 is the standard used.  Here it is -2.23 vs baseline processor.    More information on how Applied Weight is calculated here Sizing Approaches and Logic
      • Sizer does test for unbalanced dimms and here there is no issue and so adjustment = 0.  More information on how Unbalanced DIMMs is accounted for is here Sizing Approaches and Logic

  • So for Sizer in this example it assumes there are 69.77 “baseline” cores.
  • RAM –  Here Sizer computes total RAM and converts it to TiB.
    • Here there are 3 nodes and each node has 32GB x 8 Dimms for a total of 768GB of RAM in the recommendation
    • A note of trivia, RAM is sold as GB but in reality is GiB.  Since 32GB is less than 32 GiB there is no issue in marketing them in GB as customer is getting more than they expected.  Sizer is very exact though and so we acknowledge its full potential of 32 GiB per DIMM and so here there are 768 GiB in the recommendation
    • Converting to TiB it is 768 GiB/1024 = 0.75 TiB  ( there are 1024 GiB in 1 TiB, while 1000 GB in  1 TB)
  • HDD   Here Sizer computes total HDD and converts it to TiB.
    • Here there are 3 nodes and each node has 4x2TB drives  for a total of 24TB of HDD in the recommendation
    • Converting to TiB it is 24TB * 0.909494702 TiB/TB = 21.83 TiB
  • SSD   Here Sizer computes total SSD and converts it to TiB.
    • Here there are 3 nodes and each node has 2x960GB drives  for a total of 5760GB of SSD in the recommendation
    • We do allocate space for downstroking (80GB per drive) for regular SSDs but no downstroking if Encrypted drives
    • so here need to discount downstroking for 6 drives or 480GB.  Now the net is 5760 GB – 480 GB = 5280 GB.  This is 5.28 TB as there are 1000 GB per TB.
    • Converting to TiB it is 5.28TB   * 0.909494702 TiB/TB = 4.80 TiB
  • Compression Savings is the total amount of compression savings found in the workload modules.
  • Dedupe Savings and ECX Savings (none in this example) are found in the workload modules
  • RF Overhead is the total amount of HDD or SSD needed to meet the RF2 or RF3 requirements that were set in the workload modules.

  • CVM overhead is calculated by Sizer following latest rules.    See the next section.  Also  more information on how CVM Sizing is here Sizing Approaches and Logic
  • Workload total is the same numbers from workload section

  • Usable Remaining Capacity (Assuming RF2)
    • HDD Usable Remaining  Capacity = (Raw + Compression Savings + Dedupe Savings + ECX Savings – RF Overhead – CVM overhead ) / 2
    • SSD Usable Remaining  Capacity =  (Raw + Compression Savings + Dedupe Savings + ECX Savings – RF Overhead – CVM overhead + Oplog ) / 2
    • Notes:
      • If All Flash,  Compression Savings, Dedupe Savings , ECX Savings, RF Overhead,  and CVM overhead that would be attributed to HDD’s is applied to SSDs
      • For SSD Capacity,Oplog is included as part of CVM overhead for SSDs but also added back into Usable capacity as it is a Write log and so is available for user data.

     

  • Usable Remaining Capacity (Assuming RF3)
    • HDD Usable Remaining  Capacity = (Raw + Compression Savings + Dedupe Savings + ECX Savings – RF Overhead – CVM overhead ) / 3
    • SSD Usable Remaining  Capacity =  (Raw + Compression Savings + Dedupe Savings + ECX Savings – RF Overhead – CVM overhead + Oplog ) / 3
    • Notes:
      • If All Flash,  Compression Savings, Dedupe Savings , ECX Savings, RF Overhead,  and CVM overhead that would be attributed to HDD’s is applied to SSDs
      • For SSD capacity, Oplog is included as part of CVM overhead for SSDs but also added back into Usable capacity  as it is a Write log and so is available for user data.

  • Extent Store (Assuming RF2)

    • As the tooltip indicates Extent Store is RAW less CVM.  It represents the amount of storage left after CVM .  Put another way it is amount storage available to the customer  before workloads are added.   Here workloads are not included.   The workload RF copies are not included.  Storage efficiencies such as compression or dedupe is not included.   Extent store is a concept in the Nutanix Bible.
    • HDD Extent Store (Assuming RF2) = (RAW – CVM)/2 = (21.83 – 2.63)/2 = 9.6 TiB
    • SSD Extent Store (Assuming RF2) = (RAW – CVM)/2 = (4.8 – 2.03)/2 =  1.38 TiB

  • Extent Store (Assuming RF3)

  • As the tooltip indicates Extent Store is RAW less CVM.  It represents the amount of storage left after CVM .  Put another way it is amount storage available to the customer  before workloads are added.   Here workloads are not included.   The workload RF copies are not included.  Storage efficiencies such as compression or dedupe is not included.   Extent store is a concept in the Nutanix Bible.
  • HDD Extent Store (Assuming RF3) = (RAW – CVM)/2 = (21.83 – 2.63)/3 =  6.4 TiB
  • SSD Extent Store (Assuming RF3) = (RAW – CVM)/3 = (4.8 – 2.03)/3 =  0.92 TiB

    •  

    • What are the details on CVM overheads?

      • HDD numbers can be seen by clicking the “I” button
      • SSD numbers can be seen by clicking the “I” button
      • In case of AF all the CVM components are applied to SSD CVM
      • In this example here is the HDD

    • In this example here is the SSD

    Refer to Sizing Approaches and Logic for information on how these numbers are calculated

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    Budgetary Quote

    Budgetary Quotes can be generated from Sizer by clicking “Generate Budgetary Quote” button on the scenario. To create a Generate Quote from Sizer make sure that Sizing has been completed (workloads must be added to the Scenario to enable “Generate Salesforce Quote” button).

    Required User Permissions: Nutanix Portal or Salesforce Login

    Steps to generate a  Budgetary Quote:

    1. Go to Scenario and click on next to the scenario name.
    2. Click on “Generate Budgetary Quote” action.
    3. On the “Generate Budgetary Quote” modal, you get the opportunity to review the Financial Assumptions section on this modal.
    4. Click on Generate.

    If quote generation completes successfully, you will see a notification on the page. Budgetary quote will be downloaded on your local system.

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    Sizer Team

    The Sizer team is passionate about building a cool tool for demanding technical users.

    We hope that Sizer is your trusted advisor to determine the Nutanix-based solution that best meets your requirements.

    A bit about our philosophy.

    • We view sizing (determining the best solution that meets your needs) as a journey vs a destination.   There is always product updates, workload changes, and we are continually working with experts to hone our sizing approaches.  So you will see changes on a monthly basis.  We recognize that can be disconcerting but striving for the best is our goal
    • We don’t try “dumbify” the tool.  We know you need controls and the tool is here to guide you.  We do hope we can hit a range of technical users who are up on Nutanix architecture.  So we have defaults but usually allow you to make edits

    We of course hope you like Sizer,  Please send us feedback at sizer@nutanix.com

     

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    May 2018 Sprint

    hi everyone

    • We went live with our May sprint

    1. Numerous updates to various vendor products – Nutanix, Dell XC, Lenovo, Cisco, HPE, Dell PowerEdge

    2. Show Extent Store in Sizing Details

    There has been discussion on Usable Remaining Capacity in Sizing Details compared Extent Store.

    Usable remaining capacity is what is left after accommodating workloads, RF for the workload, snapshots, etc but also include savings such as compression.

    Usable remaining capacity should reflect what the customer will see after deploying their workloads as you defined in Sizer.

    Extent store is what storage is “available” for the customer given the recommendation. That value is simply the raw capacity less CVM. It represents what is available to them without any workloads

    It is not one is right and other is wrong but answering two different questions and so we are providing both those answers
    • In May sprint (now live) you see the usable capacity and now the Extent Store values in the Sizing Details.

    Again usable capacity is what is left after accommodating their workloads, while Extent store is what is in totally available to them

    • In June sprint we will bring over the Extent store into charts

     

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    April 2018 Sprint

    Hi everyone

    We launched the April sprint today. Key things in this sprint

    • Sending a quote for SFDC users now includes support and licenses and not just hardware. We want to tighten the integration with SFDC and more things coming.

    • Added Calm support. Now you can select if you want any workload managed by Calm. Sizer then will collect all the workloads requiring Calm and provide the proper SKUs and quantities in the BOM

    • VDI Financial Analysis. Now for VDI we are providing an extensive TCO analysis

    • Now support NFS in AFS’ application storage along with current SMB protocol

    • Improved Storage Calculator by adding more HDD options

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    March 2018 Sprint

    hi gang

    We went live with our March sprint. We were scheduled for last Thursday but with all the product model changes more testing was needed

    The big things

    1. Designbrewz changes. Designbrewz and Sizer are similar in that they both deal with storage capacity but ask a different question. For Designbrewz it is what is the effective capacity for some many nodes and you define number of hdds and ssds in a node. Nothing about workloads or snapshots. Well Sizer is all about workloads and so it tells you what is available given the customer requirements. So we broke this out into two parts

    – Storage calculator – Here it is a designbrewz calculator where you enter nodes and what is in a node and you get the effective capacity. We introduced that a month ago

    – Sizing Charts – This is now a 1:1 mapping of all the detail in Sizing Details but in nice chart form.

    No more 3rd order differential equations or requirement that you have a Phd in Mathmatics to understand the chart. Just kidding but common question for sure.

    Attached is doc with picture

    2. More sophisticated Auto Controls From user feedback we provided additional controls with Automatic sizing.

    – Threshold adjustment. If you want more headroom for a given resource can use slider to assure you have more. For example dial down CPU from 95% to 85% if want more headroom. Your solution may be under that anyhow but this would assure that is the case

    – Hybrid storage. We have All Flash option for long time and so added this as well. This forces a hybrid

    – Maximum budget. Here put in list price for hardware and you can be assured the price won’t exceed that. We went with list price for hardware as then we can offer this feature cross all the vendors which is important when you clone the scenario. We don’t have discounts or support for example for non-Nutanix vendors.
    –
    3. Async and NearSync. We made a big update for Async DR. Now you can have a local policy and a separate yet different remote policy. We also introduced NearSync so you can have 1 min snapshots

    4. Numerous product updates for all vendors

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    February 2018 Sprint

    hi everyone

    We posted our February sprint last night

    This sprint we did a lot of development for the future. We are enhancing automatic sizing options and enhancing our product data models to allow for lot of product component options from multiple vendors. This is work for the near term future

    What we delivered in February is important though:

    1. Storage calculator like Designbrewz. Later we will replace what is in Designbrewz.com itself

    2. Block Awareness. So for any workload you can have block awareness and we will put the nodes in separate blocks

    Attached a couple graphics on the calculator

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    January 2018 Sprint

    Hi everyone

    We just posted January sprint and this is a HUGE sprint in terms of features you will love

    1. First and foremost you can now clone a scenario and apply it to a different vendor. This is HUGE feature for SW only business model. Do all your hard work capturing the customer requirements in one vendor. Then you can clone that and apply to any other vendor in less than a minute. So easy to compare different vendor recommendations. Full notes in the FAQ

    2. Cluster level filters. Our sizings are getting more complex. Though Sizer has supported multiple clusters for long time, most did not use it. With DR it is more common and other use cases. So now can look at All Clusters or pull in pull down just select what you want and then the Sizing details, dials, DesignBrewz, and Rack View show just that cluster.

    3. List view in dashboard. Now instead of tiles you can have a list view

    4. Updated VDI and RDSH/XenApp for various Windows versions and Office versions

    5. We make core adjustment for Skylake memory

    6. Added Fujitsu as OEM

    7. Dell XC – added XC640-4 and added SED, GPU to various models

    8. Product updates for Lenovo

    9. Product updates for Nutanix

    10. Product updates for HP, Cisco, Dell PowerEdge