HPE RA for deploying HPE 3PAR StoreServ with File Persona and Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Using AvePoint DocAve RBS Provider for SharePoint

Technical white paper

Technical white paper

Contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3

Solution overview ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Solution hardware components .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

HPE ProLiant Server ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

HPE Networking Switch .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Solution software components .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10

Deploying RBS in a SharePoint 2013 farm ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Reference architecture ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Create a SMB file share on HPE 3PAR File Persona ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Install and configure RBS with HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18

Bill of materials ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

Terminology................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 21

For more information ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Technical white paper Page 3

Executive summary Many organizations today are looking for disk usage optimization, increased server performance, and cost reduction across various enterprise applications, such as Microsoft® SharePoint. A large portion of the content stored in a typical SharePoint farm is unstructured content, also known as Binary Large Object (BLOB) data. SQL Server, the database server for SharePoint, can quickly grow in size and is not optimized for storing unstructured content like documents, images, and videos that dominate a typical SharePoint farm. The unstructured content degrades SQL Server performance, increases use of valuable resources, and drives rapid growth of SharePoint databases, leading to in turn additional administrative overhead that is time consuming and expensive to manage.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage with HPE 3PAR File Persona and a remote BLOB storage provider such as AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager, offer a unique solution to this problem. Together, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and AvePoint can externalize BLOB content to more cost-effective storage tiers (e.g., 7.2K Nearline SAS HDDs) while keeping critical applications like SharePoint and SQL Server on faster storage tiers (e.g., SSDs, 10K SAS HDDs). In return, this solution maximizes SharePoint and SQL Server performance for end-users, allowing BLOB content to be easily managed and stored on more economical storage tiers without compromising the availability or resiliency of SharePoint content, unlike solutions that use low cost external NAS.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage is enterprise tier-1 storage at a midrange price delivering a tightly integrated, easily scalable, converged solution for provisioning both block storage volumes and file shares from a single storage platform. This document details a storage optimization solution for SharePoint 2013 farms that combines the features of HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage with AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager with real-time or scheduled BLOB content externalization to deliver a scalable, highly available, enterprise-class, on-premises storage solution.

Target audience This white paper is intended for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and AvePoint partners and customers who seek a simplified solution for the deployment and delivery of Microsoft SharePoint for document management, with on-premises storage using HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage. Readers of this white paper should have a functional understanding of Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, and AvePoint DocAve concepts and terminology.

Introduction HPE 3PAR File Persona extends the spectrum of primary storage workloads natively addressed by HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage from virtualization, databases, and applications via the Block Persona to also include workloads such as home directories and user shares, content management and collaboration, and data preservation and governance via the File Persona. This includes the ability to store SharePoint BLOB content on easily accessible SMB file shares along with the SQL Server database served by the block storage, all on a single storage platform.

HPE 3PAR File Persona is a native feature of the HPE 3PAR OS. This feature provides an easily deployable file sharing solution that can help externalize SharePoint BLOB content to more economical storage tiers, using third-party Remote BLOB Storage (RBS) providers, such as AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager. Having an on-premises BLOB storage solution enables IT to place data in the organization’s own data center to meet unique data sovereignty and compliance requirements.

Advantages to deploying HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage with your RBS provider solution include the following:

• Reduce SharePoint content bloat: The primary document types stored in SharePoint are PDFs, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint files, image files, and large Excel spreadsheets. These documents are known as either unstructured content or BLOBs and are normally well over a megabyte in size. BLOBs can quickly consume capacity on expensive storage tiers that SQL Server databases are typically deployed on and use storage resources that are optimized for database access patterns. This problem is prevented by moving BLOBs out of SQL Server and onto an external SMB share hosted on low-cost, high-density storage where files are stored on a more efficient native file system.

• Greater scalability options for SharePoint and SQL Server environments: BLOBs kept in the SharePoint content database places immediate limitations on the scalability of SharePoint, because content databases (SQL Server) are typically deployed on performance optimized, expensive, limited capacity storage tiers (e.g., SSD). Moving BLOBs outside the primary database allows you to use a wider variety of storage types (e.g., 7.2K Nearline SAS HDDs) while improving the performance of the core application database.

• Increase application performance without purchasing more servers: Having many BLOBs in SQL Server causes several issues such as consuming extra processing power, increasing backup and recovery times, hindering end-user productivity and inability to scale the environment unless hardware upgrades or additional servers are purchased. By using RBS and HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, you can prevent many of the administrative headaches of growing SharePoint and SQL Server environments.

• Leverage underlying storage features: HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage delivers enterprise tier-1 storage features at a midrange price, extending the architectural benefits of HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system for block workloads to RBS workloads on SMB file shares.

Technical white paper Page 4

Solution overview Together, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and AvePoint offer a viable solution for customers who want to externalize BLOB content. Externalizing BLOB content reduces storage costs and optimizes platform performance for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 and Microsoft SQL Server 2014.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage with HPE 3PAR File Persona With the HPE 3PAR File Persona enabled, HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage offers a tightly integrated, converged storage for provisioning both block volumes for structured data, and file and object shares for unstructured data, such as SMB file shares for storing SharePoint BLOB content. Converged storage management is provided by a single instance of the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console (SSMC) and scriptable HPE 3PAR Command Line Interface (CLI). To enable the File Persona feature in HPE 3PAR OS, you must have two-port 10GbE or four-port 1GbE network interface cards installed or on-board RCIP port enabled for File Persona in the HPE 3PAR StoreServ system.

Enabling the HPE 3PAR File Persona on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage offers many advantages:

Solution highlights • RBS provider solutions running on HPE 3PAR File Persona benefit from the inherent HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage resiliency. Other external

file solutions fall short because they often do not come with the same enterprise resilience that HPE 3PAR StoreServ does.

• Block and file services can use a single group of thinly provisioned storage, giving granular control over how and where SharePoint content is stored.

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage has sufficient resources to support block workloads alongside file workloads such as BLOB externalization jobs that are created by DocAve Storage Manager.

• AvePoint DocAve allows customers to leverage the integrated File Persona feature in HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage without the need to purchase additional hardware for separate file servers.

As your environment grows and as you continue to evolve your infrastructure, a truly converged primary storage platform will allow you to address a wide variety of workloads, as illustrated in figure 1.

Figure 1. HPE 3PAR StoreServ converged file and block storage

AvePoint DocAve software platform AvePoint DocAve Software is a full-featured, enterprise-class governance and infrastructure management platform for SharePoint. The platform features products with migration, integration, management, optimization, data protection, and reporting capabilities for SharePoint. This white paper focuses on the RBS provider and data protection features in AvePoint’s DocAve software platform.

Technical white paper Page 5

Some key benefits include:

• Performance improvement: Optimize SQL Server storage and increase platform performance by removing BLOBs from SQL Server databases.

• Cost reduction: Reduce SharePoint total cost of ownership (TCO) by leveraging lower cost storage tiers while your SQL Server still runs on more expensive, fast performing storage tiers.

• Business continuity: Maintain business continuity by providing end-users with uninterrupted access and interaction with externalized content, regardless of where it resides.

• Full-featured management: Seamlessly protect and manage externalized content with native SharePoint functions, third-party customizations, and the fully integrated DocAve Software Platform.

What problem does the Hewlett Packard Enterprise and AvePoint solution address? BLOB data can consume lots of disk space and uses server resources that are optimized for database access patterns. Therefore, it can be helpful to move BLOB data out of the SQL Server database. BLOBs cause the SQL Server database to become bloated, decreasing performance, increasing server and storage costs, and causing longer backup and recovery times. All of this contributes to an underperforming SharePoint deployment that can affect TCO and end-user productivity.

The solution to this problem is to deploy an RBS provider that can take advantage of a simple, cost-effective storage medium, offering both block and file storage in a single platform along with enterprise tier-1 features, such as HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage.

How does it work? AvePoint DocAve is the third-party RBS provider used in this white paper. AvePoint provides the mechanism for moving BLOB data out of the SQL Server database and storing it on a specific storage repository, such as an SMB file share created with HPE 3PAR File Persona.

The Solution Hardware Components and Solution Software Components sections of this paper provide details on the necessary components to build out this solution.

Figure 2 illustrates a high-level view of the data flow for externalizing SharePoint BLOB content and backing up the SharePoint farm detailed in this white paper.

Figure 2. SharePoint farm with AvePoint’s RBS provider—data flow

1. SharePoint users upload content (*.pdf, *.pptx, *.vsdx, video file, etc.) to the SharePoint Web front end (WFE).

2. The SharePoint WFE and SQL Server are deployed in Windows® VMs on the HPE ProLiant Server.

3. AvePoint’s RBS provider is installed in the SharePoint WFE and intercepts the users’ uploaded content before it is written into the SQL Server database. The RBS provider splits up the BLOB content into metadata/BLOB ID and BLOB data.

4. The metadata and BLOB ID are written to the SQL Server database on the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage (Block Data).

5. The BLOB data is written to the BLOB store located on an SMB file share hosted on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage (File data).

For more details on integrating RBS into a SharePoint solution, see the DocAve 6.6 Storage Manager User Guide.

Technical white paper Page 6

Solution hardware components The Reference Architecture detailed in this white paper includes the following major hardware components:

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage—storage for SQL database (Block Persona) and SharePoint BLOB content (File Persona)

• HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server—server platform for SQL Server and SharePoint application

• HPE 5920 Switch—network connectivity between Hewlett Packard Enterprise storage and servers in the data center

HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage The HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage shown in figures 3 (controller node) and 4 (add-on drive enclosure) offers enterprise tier-1 storage at a midrange price. With hardware-assisted thin storage, it is the only platform that guarantees a 50 percent reduction in capacity requirements.1 HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage is also the first product family with a common architecture, capable of 6-Nines high availability that meets midsize and large business needs.2 HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage spans to the largest global enterprise, giving you access to the same features as the world’s largest service providers.3 You can start small and grow without painful upgrades down the road.

Key features • Grow with freedom in any direction: HPE 3PAR OS delivers a tightly integrated, converged solution for provisioning block storage volumes

as well as file shares from a single capacity store.

• Scalable storage: HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage provides affordable entry pricing and unique, non-disruptive scalability to four nodes.

• High availability: With the “HPE 3PAR Get 6-Nines Guarantee”, Hewlett Packard Enterprise ensures 99.9999 percent data availability with all HPE 3PAR 8400 Storage with four nodes.4 It gives you the peace of mind to expand deployment of mission-critical applications to midrange storage.

• Effortless management: HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console provides a modern look and consistent feel for all HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, offering the ability to manage block, file, and object access from a single interface for maximum agility.

For more product information and configuration options, visit hpe.com/storage/3ParStoreServ.

Figure 3. HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage controller node with SFF drives

Figure 4. HPE 3PAR 8000 LFF Drive Enclosure with LFF drives

1, 2, 3, 4 HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8000 Storage

Technical white paper Page 7

HPE ProLiant Server The HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server shown in figure 5 is purpose-built for flexibility, efficiency, and manageability. It is designed to adapt to the needs of any environment, from large enterprise to remote office or branch office, offering enhanced reliability, serviceability, and continuous availability, backed by a comprehensive warranty.

With the HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server, you can deploy a single platform to handle a wide variety of enterprise workloads such as SQL and SharePoint solutions.

Key features • Future-proof design with flexible options: Choose the features and functions you need now; add more as necessary, as your business needs

grow; the modular chassis, networking, and controller designs allow for easy upgrades. Pay for what you need, when you need it.

• Industry-leading performance and energy efficiency: For delivering faster business results and quicker returns on your investment. Up to 70 percent performance from the Intel® Haswell E5-2620 v3 processors and power savings features, such as, ENERGY STAR®-rated systems and 94 percent efficient HPE Flexible Slot Power Supplies to drive down energy costs.5

• Agile infrastructure management: For accelerating IT service delivery; streamline management with HPE OneView—the revolutionary software-defined management platform that delivers automation simplicity across servers, storage, and networking.

For more product information and configuration options, visit hpe.com/servers/proliant.

Figure 5. HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server

HPE Networking Switch The HPE 5920 Switch Series shown in figure 6 is part of the HPE FlexNetwork architecture’s HPE FlexFabric solution module and are ideally suited for deployments in large enterprise data centers. The HPE 5920 Switch Series is also designed for content delivery networks, especially when they are used to reduce network congestion at the I/O, associated with the heavy use of server virtualization, burst multimedia, and enterprise applications like SQL and SharePoint.

With the increase in virtualized applications and server-to-server traffic, businesses now require ToR switch innovations to meet their needs for higher-performance server connectivity, Ethernet and storage traffic convergence, capability to handle virtual environments, and ultra-deep packet buffering—all in a single device.

Key features • High-performance 10GbE switching: Enables you to scale your server-edge 10GbE ToR deployments with 24 high-density 10GbE ports

delivered in a 1RU design. Delivers a 480 Gbps (357.12 Mpps) switching capacity in addition to incorporating 3.6 GB of packet buffers.

• Ultra-deep packet buffering: Provides up to a 3.6 GB packet buffer to eliminate network congestion at the I/O that is associated with the heavy use of server virtualization, file services, and other critical services.

• Jumbo frames: With frame sizes of up to 10,000 bytes on Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit ports, high-performance remote backup, replication, and disaster-recovery services can be enabled.

• Higher scalability: HPE Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology simplifies the architecture of server access networks; up to four HPE 5920 switches can be combined to deliver unmatched scalability of virtualized access layer switches and flatter, two-tier FlexFabric networks using IRF, which reduces cost and complexity.

For more product information and configuration options, visit hpe.com/us/en/networking.html.

5 HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server

Technical white paper Page 8

Figure 6. HPE 5920 Switch

Solution software components The reference architecture detailed in this white paper includes the following major software components:

• HPE 3PAR File Persona—native feature of HPE 3PAR OS providing file and object access.

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console—browser-based configuration and administration of File and Block Persona.

• AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager—provides the RBS provider used to move SharePoint BLOB content to SMB file shares.

HPE 3PAR File Persona The HPE 3PAR File Persona is a licensed feature of the HPE 3PAR OS that enables a rich set of file protocols such as SMB, NFS, and Object Access API plus core file data services on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage. As a feature of the HPE 3PAR OS, the File Persona inherits the industry-leading architecture and Block Persona benefits of HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage. This solution extends the spectrum of primary storage workloads natively addressed by HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage from virtualization, databases, and applications via the Block Persona to also include client workloads such as SMB file shares for storing SharePoint BLOB content.

File persona is supported on the HPE 3PAR StoreServ 7000c, 8000, and 20000 series platforms. It requires the installation of 1GbE (E7X97A) or 10GbE (E7X96A) Ethernet cards or enable the on-board RCIP Ethernet port. For more product information and configuration options, visit hpe.com/storage/3ParStoreServ.

HPE 3PAR File Persona concepts and terminology HPE 3PAR File Persona comprises the following managed objects:

• File Provisioning Group (FPG)

• Virtual File Server (VFS)

• File Stores

• File Shares

HPE 3PAR File Persona is built upon the resilient mesh-active architecture of HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage and benefits from the HPE 3PAR storage foundation of wide-striped logical disks and autonomic common provisioning groups (CPGs). A CPG can be shared between file and block to create file shares or logical unit numbers (LUNs) to provide true convergence.

Figure 7 represents the four managed objects for HPE 3PAR File Persona within HPE 3PAR OS.

Technical white paper Page 9

Figure 7. HPE 3PAR File Persona logical view

• File Provisioning Groups control how files are stored and retrieved. Each FPG is transparently constructed from one or multiple virtual volumes, and is the unit for replication and disaster recovery for File Persona. A node pair can support up to 16 FPGs.

• Virtual File Servers is conceptually like a server. As such, it presents virtual IP addresses to clients, participates in user authentication services, and can have properties for things such as user or group quota management and antivirus policies. An HPE 3PAR node pair can support up to 16 VFSs, one per FPG. VFSs also provide antivirus quarantine and file snapshot capabilities, and implement quotas for users and groups.

• File Stores are the slice of a VFS and FPG where snapshots are taken, capacity quota management is performed, and antivirus scan service policies customized. Up to 256 File Stores can be supported on a node pair, 16 File Stores per VFS.

• File shares provide data access to clients via SMB, NFS, and Object Access API, subject to the share permissions applied to them. Multiple file shares can be created for a File Store and at different directory levels within a File Store. File shares and VFSs are managed as normal operations via HPE 3PAR SSMC. File Stores and FPGs are typically explicitly managed for advanced operations only.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console Effective array management helps lower cost of ownership by simplifying the management of the storage array and improving data center performance. By developing an effective storage management interface, Hewlett Packard Enterprise allows customers to save time and reduce the number of IT staff needed to maintain the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage systems.

HPE 3PAR SSMC dashboard shown in figure 8 provides contemporary browser-based interfaces for monitoring HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage for both the Block Persona and the File Persona. SSMC streamlines management tasks using a simple to use interface and is designed through a user-centered methodology by focusing on the common tasks for mainstream users. This fresh approach to storage management better enables the IT operations staff to concentrate on other areas of the data center.

SSMC user tasks are accomplished in seconds and not minutes. Automation, combined with a consumer-inspired user experience, simplifies basic tasks and everyday processes on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage.

For more product information, see the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console 2.2 User Guide.

1

SMB, NFS, REST API

File Shares

File Stores

Virtual File ServersVFSVFS

FPGFPG

File Provisioning Groups

System-wide striping

CPGs

n

1 16

1

1 16

16

Technical white paper Page 10

Figure 8. HPE 3PAR SSMC dashboard

AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager DocAve Storage Manager, the enterprise-class infrastructure management platform for SharePoint, helps organizations reduce accumulating storage costs and optimize platform performance for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Server 2010. With real-time or scheduled SharePoint BLOB content externalization, BLOB content can be externalized to more efficient file-based storage.

Some of the key features of DocAve Storage Manager are:

Key features • Determine which BLOB files are transferred to file-based storage according to any combination of content properties, including file size, type,

and created or modified dates.

• Enable users to upload unsupported file types and documents larger than the 2 GB file size limitation to the SharePoint farm with “Alternate File Access” feature.

• Offload to any network addressable file share, File Transfer Protocol system, or cloud-based storage system for hierarchical storage management in real-time or on a scheduled basis.

• Manage offloaded content as if it were residing directly in SharePoint’s SQL Server databases, using all of SharePoint’s management and collaboration tools.

• Track storage consumption, including the percentage of extended data and the amount of data still living in SQL.

• Revert content from the BLOB store to original SharePoint content database with a simple click.

For more information, visit avepoint.com.

Technical white paper Page 11

Deploying RBS in a SharePoint 2013 farm For purposes of discussion and example, this paper focuses on deploying RBS into a SharePoint 2013 farm. The example VM configuration supports a typical 1,000-user SharePoint deployment with high-availability. Given the varied resource requirements for SharePoint, examples are presented showing the resources required (cores, memory, storage, and network) to support a broadly applicable workload. For additional help with the setup of a new SharePoint farm or reconfiguration of an existing SharePoint farm, contact your Hewlett Packard Enterprise reseller or Hewlett Packard Enterprise sales representative for more details.

Optimal use of RBS RBS is a solution created for a specific set of conditions. The optimal environment for using RBS is one where the following conditions are true:

• You want to optimize SQL Server performance by storing fewer large BLOBs (256 KB or larger) for read-intensive or read-only access.

• The resources on the computer that is running SQL Server is becoming a performance bottleneck and you are unable to upgrade server hardware or increase the number of SQL Server systems at this time.

• You are looking for ways to optimize SQL Server disk I/O by moving BLOBs out of database into secondary storage.

Least effective use of RBS RBS is not an appropriate solution for all environments. The least beneficial environment for using RBS is one where the following conditions are true:

• You want to store many small BLOBs (256 KB or less) for write-intensive access.

• The resources on the system that is running SQL Server do not create a performance bottleneck.

• The cost of potential increased IT operational complexity introduced by RBS is greater than expensive drive space.

Although the presence of many small BLOBs can decrease performance, the cost of storage is usually the most important consideration when you evaluate RBS. The predicted decrease in performance is usually an acceptable trade-off for the cost savings in storage hardware. In addition, RBS does not change the sizing recommendations/requirements for SharePoint databases. When calculating the size of the SharePoint content database it is also important to include the size of the respective RBS content (total dataset size). For more information, see RBS planning and Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint 2013 on Microsoft’s TechNet website.

Reference architecture Figure 9 provides a topology view of the connectivity and major hardware components described in this paper and their role in the overall SharePoint RBS solution that includes HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage and AvePoint’s DocAve Storage Manager. For additional details on the virtualized server configuration, see the virtualization strategy section of this paper.

See the bill of materials for a detailed description and part numbers.

Technical white paper Page 12

Figure 9. Topology view of connectivity and major hardware components and roles

HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage The storage for block SharePoint content database (SQL Server) and file (SharePoint BLOB storage) workloads is an HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 with four controller nodes with 10GbE connection for file I/O and 16 Gb Fibre Channel connection for block I/O.

File workloads have been configured to use 48 4 TB NL SAS drives for low-cost storage for SharePoint BLOB storage. Block workloads have been configured to use 16 480 GB SSDs for more demanding and higher-performance transactions.

Table 1 provides additional details on the configuration of the HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 used for the storage repository.

Table 1. HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400 Storage configuration

STORAGE CONFIGURATION DETAILS

Storage platform

• Product model

• Number of controller nodes

• Fibre Channel host ports (built-in)

• Ethernet host ports

• HPE 3PAR OS version

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8400

• 4

• 8 x 16 Gb/sec

• 8 x 10 Gb/sec

• 3.2.2

Common Provisioning Group (CPG) configuration

• CPG 1

– Number and type of drives

– RAID Level

– Workload description

• CPG 2

– Number and type of drives

– RAID Level

– Workload description

48 x HPE 3PAR 8000 4 TB 6G SAS 7.2K LFF HDD

RAID 6

SharePoint BLOB storage in SMB file share

16 x HPE 3PAR 8000 480 GB 6G SAS MLC SFF SSD

RAID 1

SharePoint content databases (SQL)

Technical white paper Page 13

HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Servers HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Servers were used to create the virtualized SharePoint farm using Microsoft Windows Server® 2012 R2 Hyper-V.

Table 2 provides additional details on the physical hardware used in the virtualized environment.

Table 2. HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server configuration

SERVER CONFIGURATION DETAILS

Number of physical servers 2

Server platform

• Product model

• CPU

• Memory

• Number and type of drives

• Fibre Channel HBA

• Ethernet HBA

HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Rack Server

2 x Intel® Xeon® E5-2620 v3

256 GB

2 x HPE 450 GB 12G SAS 15K 2.5in SC ENT HDD

2 x HPE SN1100E 16 Gb 2P FC HBA

2 x HPE Ethernet 10 Gb 2P 530SFP+ Adapter

HPE 1GbE 4-port 331FLR Adapter

Operating system/version Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V

HPE 3PAR VSS hardware provider version (installed on VMs) 2.5.0

Virtualization strategy Figure 10 provides a high-level view of the software layout describing a simple SharePoint farm with a BLOB externalization solution that leverages the high-availability and redundancy features of SQL Server and SharePoint 2013. HPE 3PAR StoreServ with File Persona provides a UNC path for BLOB content using the SMB 3.0 protocol. The SharePoint Web Front End and Application services are split onto different VMs to allow better balance and tuning of VM resources. Redundant services are deployed on VMs hosted on two different physical servers. The App server roles could be Search/Query or other App services that are heavily used to support the business. The SQL Server deployment leverages two VMs on different hosts and could be configured as a cluster or configured using mirroring or SQL Server Always On. AvePoint DocAve provides the RBS Provider used to externalize the BLOBs. The SharePoint farm in this example will likely support a very broad range of typical customer environments and could also scale up or out as needed, as user populations and service needs change over time.

Figure 10. VM configuration

Technical white paper Page 14

Table 3 provides additional details on the virtualized environment and shows recommended values for the different VMs. It should be used as a starting point when configuring the VMs.

Table 3. VM configuration

VM PURPOSE # CORES MEMORY (GB) OS DISK (GB) DESCRIPTION

WFE role and DocAve Agent Service

8 12–16 80 The Web front end (WFE) of a SharePoint 2013 farm is the front line in the communication to the clients. The DocAve Agent has one service, the DocAve Agent service.

App server roles, DocAve Agent Service and DocAve Managers

8 16–32 80 Dedicated server for SharePoint services such as Crawl (Index) and Query. Typically used for scaling out services on a farm. The DocAve Managers include the Storage Manager and DocAve Agent Service.

SQL Server and DocAve Agent Service

4 16–32 80 SQL Server is the repository of all content and site structure of a SharePoint farm. Also included is the DocAve Agent Service.

Create a SMB file share on HPE 3PAR File Persona These prerequisites must be in place before deploying HPE 3PAR File Persona.

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ 7000c, 8000, or 20000 Storage

• HPE 3PAR OS 3.2.2

• License for HPE 3PAR File Persona

• Installation of 1GbE (E7X97A) or 10GbE (E7X96A) Ethernet adaptors or use of the onboard RCIP port

After the prerequisites for installation are met, use HPE 3PAR SSMC to enable and configure HPE 3PAR File Persona. For detailed configuration information, see the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console 2.2 User Guide.

SMB protocol HPE 3PAR StoreServ OS version 3.2.1 MU2 introduced the HPE 3PAR File Persona for SMB and NFS access to the StoreServ array. SMB is the most widely used protocol for shared directory access and brings a robust feature set for enterprise file sharing. HPE 3PAR File Persona supports SMB 3.0, 2.1, 2.0, and 1.0.

For the reference architecture, each controller node in the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage is configured with dual port 10GbE NICs and a dedicated FPG/VFS/File Store/SMB file share, providing an optimal file share solution with minimal hardware footprint and support for future file services growth.

The HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage Best Practices Guide will provide additional details on configuring Block and File storage on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage.

Create file share HPE 3PAR SSMC offers two management modes for File Persona for a streamlined management experience.

Normal mode (Figure 11—default view) • Hides more complex configuration and management options

• Uses default values for hidden objects during creation

• Simplifies admin choices for everyday operations

Technical white paper Page 15

Figure 11. File Persona menu—normal mode

Advanced mode (Figure 12—enabled in the SSMCs global settings screen) • Displays more complex configuration and management options

• Allows admin user to specify all values for all objects during creation

• Provides greater control for less commonly performed operations

Figure 12. File Persona menu—advanced mode

Creating, editing, and deleting file shares Use the File Shares screen for creating, editing, and deleting file shares for the File Persona on an HPE 3PAR storage system. The tasks for creating and editing allow you to specify the properties and settings of file shares on a storage system. For example, you can specify file share names, share type (SMB or NFS), share path (parent File Store and Virtual File Server), and additional settings such as client filters and access permissions.

1. On the SSMC dashboard, select File Persona > File Shares.

2. Do one of the following, depending on your desired action:

a. Click + Create file share or select Create on the Actions menu.

b. In the list pane, select (highlight) the file share and then select Edit or Delete on the Actions menu.

3. Follow the instructions on the dialog that opens.

For detailed additional information, see the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console 2.2 User Guide.

Figure 13 shows the “Create file share” window.

Technical white paper Page 16

Figure 13. Creating SMB file share

Install and configure RBS with HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage Before you implement RBS, Microsoft recommends you review Plan for RBS in SharePoint 2013.

Use these key prerequisites to deploy and configure RBS with a SharePoint 2013 farm.

Environment • A ready-to-use SharePoint 2013 farm

• A ready-to-use SQL Server 2014 machine

• HPE 3PAR File Persona licensed, configured and SMB file share(s) created

• Download the installation files and licensing for AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager

• Install prerequisites for DocAve Storage Manager, followed by the installation of the DocAve Manager and DocAve Client6

Roles and permissions • The farm account must have local administrator rights on all of the SharePoint 2013 Web Front Ends.

• The farm account must also be assigned with dbcreator and securityadmin server roles on the SQL Server 2014 instance.

• Enable all applicable DocAve Agent permissions. This includes the service account for the SharePoint Web Application and assigning the db owner role for the content databases that will have RBS enabled.

6 AvePoint DocAve 6.6 Installation User Guide

Technical white paper Page 17

DocAve Storage Manager Configuration The following steps are required to use DocAve Storage Manager. For complete details, how-to, and recommendations, see AvePoint’s DocAve 6.6 Installation User Guide.

• Configuring the BLOB Provider: To use AvePoint DocAve Storage Manager, AvePoint’s RBS provider must be enabled in SharePoint. Once the RBS provider is enabled and configured, you are able to externalize SharePoint BLOB content to an external storage solution such as SMB file shares using HPE 3PAR File Persona. AvePoint’s RBS provider intercepts SharePoint database traffic and redirects all of the SharePoint BLOB traffic to the SMB file shares; leaving a stub in the SharePoint content database detailing the new location of the SharePoint BLOB data.

• Configuring logical devices: Storage Manager stores the uploaded BLOB content to an external device (leaving only a stub of the data in SharePoint). Therefore, you must first configure one or more physical devices (Figure 14) and then set up a logical device (Figure 15). The physical device tells the RBS provider where to store the BLOB content. The logical device allows you to group one or more physical device into a single storage pool. Both are required to make the solution work.

Figure 14. DocAve Storage Manager—Create Physical Device on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage

Figure 15. DocAve Storage Manager—Create Logical Device on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage

Technical white paper Page 18

• Configuring Orphan BLOB Cleanup and configuring the Processing Pool (Scheduled Storage Manager Only): If Storage Manager stubs are removed from SharePoint, the BLOB content remains in the external storage. These BLOBs, separated from their stubs, are called orphan BLOBs. Configure the Clean Up Orphan BLOBs function to have DocAve remove orphan BLOB content in external storage periodically after the corresponding stubs are moved from SharePoint.

The Processing Pool feature allows you to control the maximum number of Scheduled Storage Manager jobs that can be run at the same time. Normally, a Scheduled Storage Manager job is resource-intensive, so running multiple Storage Manager jobs simultaneously may affect server performance. To avoid this problem, use the Processing Pool feature.

• Configuring Real-Time Storage Manager or configuring and running Scheduled Storage Manager jobs: Real-Time Storage Manager takes BLOB content being updated into SharePoint SQL Server and redirects that content to an external device. This is done in real time; that is, BLOB content is never actually uploaded into SQL Server. The shredded storage service in SharePoint 2013 divides the uploaded document into BLOB chunks before the data arrives to the RBS provider to process. The size criteria is for the BLOB chunk size instead of the original document size. This also means the user needs to adjust the FileWriteChunkSize properties of the SharePoint 2013 farm to ensure the BLOB chunk size is equal or bigger than the size specified in the size criteria in the Real-Time Storage Manager.

• Scheduled Storage Manager rules and settings define which content in the selected SharePoint farm gets offloaded, where this content is saved, processing pool information, notification settings, and job schedule. The size criteria in the Schedule Storage Manager is based on the original document size instead of the BLOB chunk size.

Recommendations The following are key recommendations for deploying this solution:

• Choose the HPE 3PAR File Persona-supported platform that meets your needs: Microsoft SQL Server contains the SharePoint BLOB content that will be externalized using AvePoint’s DocAve Storage Manager. This feature communicates over SMB to a specific UNC path. The File Persona is supported on all HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage models providing SMB file shares for the BLOB storage along with the block storage for the SQL Server databases at the same time on the converged controllers, allowing you to match your capacity and performance needs to the appropriate HPE 3PAR File Persona platform.

• Enable File Persona on all node pairs: Take advantage of processing power and high availability by enabling File Persona on all controller nodes in the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system.

• File Persona network bandwidth and redundancy: It is best to use dual port 10GbE NIC for File Persona to get more network bandwidth. There should also be multiple network connections from the node pairs, preferably connected to at least two network switches for redundancy.

• DocAve Agent permissions: Verify that the DocAve Agent has the necessary permissions enabled. For more information, see the DocAve 6.6 Installation User Guide.

• Add DocAve 6.5 to your anti-virus exclusion list: In some cases, your anti-virus software may negatively impact the performance of certain DocAve jobs.

• Use separate servers for DocAve Manager and DocAve Client: While it is possible to have the DocAve Manager and DocAve Agent on a single server, it is not recommended. For the best performance, install the Manager’s services across separate servers.

• File Persona storage layout: For the best combination of performance, resiliency, and efficient capacity utilization, use RAID 5 for SSD and SAS drives and RAID 6 for Nearline SAS drives.

• Transparent failover: For achieving the transparent failover, enable continuous availability and use SMB 3.0 protocol for non-disruptive operations to file shares used for BLOB storage.

Technical white paper Page 19

Bill of materials Table 4 provides the part numbers for the major storage, server, and networking hardware components used in this Reference Architecture. However, this is not a list of all the necessary components needed to build and rack a complete solution. For a complete solution, contact your Hewlett Packard Enterprise reseller or Hewlett Packard Enterprise sales representative for more details.

Table 4. Bill of materials

QUANTITY DESCRIPTION MODEL NUMBER

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage

1 HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8000 4N Fld Int Base H6Z02A

4 HPE 3PAR 8000 2-pt 10Gb Eth Adapter E7Y70A

2 HPE 3PAR 8000 LFF (3.5in) Fld Int Drv Encl E7Y72A

48 HPE 3PAR 8000 4TB SAS 7.2K LFF HDD K2P87A

16 HPE 3PAR 8000 480GB SAS MLC SFF SSD K2Q95A

HPE ProLiant Server

2 HPE DL380 Gen9 8SFF CTO Server 719064-B21

2 HPE DL380 Gen9 E5-2690v3 FIO Kit 719044-L21

2 HPE DL380 Gen9 E5-2690v3 Kit 719044-B21

16 HPE 32GB 2Rx4 PC4-2133P-R Kit 728629-B21

4 HPE 450GB 12G SAS 15K 2.5in SC ENT HDD 759210-B21

2 HPE DL380 Gen9 Universal Media Bay Kit 724865-B21

2 HPE 9.5mm SATA DVD-RW Jb Gen9 Kit 726537-B21

4 HPE SN1100E 16Gb 2P FC HBA C8R39A

4 HPE Ethernet 10Gb 2P 530SFP+ Adptr 652503-B21

2 HPE 1Gb Ethernet 4P 331FLR Adapter 629135-B22

2 HPE 2U Security Bezel Kit 666988-B21

4 HPE 500W FS Plat Ht Plg Pwr Supply Kit 720478-B21

HPE Networking Switch

1 HPE 5920AF-24XG Switch JG296A

2 HPE A58x0AF 650W AC Power Supply JC680A

2 HPE 5920AF-24 Bk(pwr)-Frt(prt) FN Tray JG297A

Technical white paper Page 20

Summary Rapidly growing SharePoint content databases due to unstructured data being stored within them is an increasing concern for enterprise customers. Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, Photoshop images, Acrobat® PDFs, and so on, can all lead to bloated SQL Server databases consuming valuable storage resources and impacting overall performance of SharePoint farm deployments.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage with AvePoint DocAve allows customers to reduce accumulating storage costs and optimize platform performance for SharePoint farms. This solution provides real-time or scheduled BLOB content externalization to lower-cost storage tiers, reducing the overall hardware footprint (no need for separate file servers) without affecting the enterprise class performance and resiliency of the deployed solution.

Key points: • Optimize SharePoint and SQL Server performance: Increase platform performance by externalizing unstructured data, known as BLOBs,

from SQL Server databases running on expensive storage tiers (SSDs, 10K SAS HDDs) to lower-cost storage tiers (Nearline 7.2K SAS HDDs).

• Reduce SharePoint total cost of ownership (TCO): AvePoint DocAve allows customers to leverage the integrated File Persona feature in HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage without the need to purchase additional hardware for separate file servers.

• Maintain business continuity: HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage and AvePoint DocAve allows IT administrators to choose where corporate data will be processed and stored. Block and File workloads can take place on an HPE 3PAR all-in-one solution located securely in the customer’s data center to help meet unique data sovereignty and compliancy requirements and provide end-users with consistent resiliency and disaster recovery between your SharePoint content database and the file share hosting BLOB content. Other external file solutions are less ideal because they often do not come with the same enterprise resilience that HPE 3PAR StoreServ does.

• Enterprise tier-1 storage at a midrange price: Get tier-1 features, “Six-nines” availability, and data mobility at a midrange price. HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage meets the needs of mid-size customers and spans to the largest global enterprise, giving you access to the same features, as the world’s largest service providers. You can start small and grow without painful upgrades down the road.

• Fewer data silos with multipurpose storage: HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage optimizes storage usage by provisioning both block storage volumes and file shares from a single storage system without expanding the storage hardware footprint. Unlike existing solutions, this truly converged solution extends the architectural benefits that the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system already delivers for block workloads to file shares and object access in a way that is simple to deploy and easy to administer, reducing the overall TCO.

• Seamless integration: HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage seamlessly integrates with SharePoint farms deploying RBS solutions such as AvePoint providing a robust, scalable, cost-effective data management solution for SharePoint.

Technical white paper Page 21

Terminology Table 5 provides definitions for the terminology used throughout this white paper.

Table 5. Terminology and definitions

TERMINOLOGY DEFINITION

Binary Large Object (BLOB) In SharePoint 2013, a binary large object (BLOB) is a large block of data stored in a database that is known by its size and location instead of by its structure—for example, an Office document or a video file. By default, these BLOBs, also known as unstructured data, are stored directly in the SharePoint content database together, with the associated metadata, or structured data.

DocAve Agent DocAve Agents are responsible for running DocAve jobs and interacting with the SharePoint object model via the DocAve Agent service. Agents enable the DocAve Manager to communicate with its respective servers, allowing Storage Manager to function properly.

DocAve Logical Device Logical devices allow DocAve to treat multiple physical devices as a single logical unit when saving DocAve data.

DocAve Physical Device Physical devices allow DocAve to store data to a configured target. E.g., SMB file shares using File Persona.

DocAve Software Software Suite from AvePoint that provides an enterprise-class infrastructure management platform for SharePoint, helping organizations use SharePoint in a more sustainable, secure, and productive way.

DocAve Storage Manager DocAve Manager provides the RBS provider and consists of three services, Control service, Media service, and Report service. These services are responsible for combining multiple real-time and scheduled business rules to externalize BLOB content based on file size, type, or other document properties.

HPE 3PAR File Persona A licensed feature of the HPE 3PAR OS that can be enabled on HPE 3PAR StoreServ 7000c, 8000, and 20000 Storage systems to provide a rich set of file protocols, file data services, and Object Access API.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console (SSMC) Provides contemporary browser-based single management interface for monitoring and administering Block Persona and File Persona on HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage systems.

File Provisioning Group (FPG) Is an instance of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise intellectual property Adaptive File System. It controls how files are stored and retrieved. Each FPG is transparently constructed from one or multiple virtual volumes, and is the unit for replication and disaster recovery for File Persona. Up to 16 FPGs are supported on a node pair.

File Shares Provides data access to clients via SMB, NFS, and Object Access API, subject to the share permissions applied to them. Multiple file shares can be created for a File Store and at different directory levels within a File Store.

File Stores File Stores are the slice of a VFS and FPG where snapshots are taken, capacity quota management is performed, and antivirus scan service policies are customized. Up to 256 File Stores are supported on a node pair, 16 File Stores per VFS.

Real-Time Storage Manager Offload BLOB contents directly to the specified storage location in real time, and optimize your SQL performance as well as provide a truly seamless SharePoint end user experience.

Remote Blob Storage (RBS) Enables applications, such as SharePoint 2013, to store BLOBs in a location outside the content databases. Storing the BLOBs externally can reduce how much SQL Server database storage space is required. The metadata for each BLOB is stored in the SQL Server database and the actual BLOB is stored in the RBS store.

Scheduled Storage Manager Scan your existing SharePoint documents periodically and offload them to the specified storage location to optimize your SQL performance as well as provide the truly seamless SharePoint end user experience.

SMB File sharing protocol provides central management of data using the client/server method. SMB is the default protocol used by Windows and OS X clients.

Stubs After Storage Manager job is run and the BLOB content is off-loaded onto external storage, leaving the stubs of the actual data behind in the content databases.

Virtual File Server (VFS) VFS is conceptually like a server. It presents virtual IP addresses to clients, participates in user authentication services, and can have properties for things such as user or group quota management and antivirus policies. Up to 16 VFSs are supported on a node pair, one per FPG. VFSs also provide antivirus quarantine and file snapshot capabilities, and implement the quotas for users and groups.

Technical white paper

Sign up for updates

Rate this document

© Copyright 2015–2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Acrobat is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. ENERGY STAR is a registered mark owned by the U.S. government. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

4AA6-2827ENW, April 2016, Rev. 1

For more information HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage • HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage

• HPE 3PAR File Persona

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console

• HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage Best Practices Guide

HPE ProLiant servers HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Servers

HPE Networking HPE 5920 Switch Series

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 SharePoint 2013 on Microsoft TechNet

AvePoint DocAve • SharePoint Storage Management

• Optimize SharePoint Storage with BLOB Externalization

Learn more at hpe.com/storage/3parfilepersona

Our solution partner