MongoDB is a modern distributed database that requires a powerful, highly scalable, and flexible infrastructure. PowerStore is performance-optimized for any workload, and its adaptable platform complements modern distributed databases such as MongoDB. This section highlights the PowerStore features that benefit and extend the MongoDB environment.

Maximizing MongoDB efficiency by bringing it closer to the infrastructure and storage

Bringing applications closer to the data increases density and simplifies infrastructure operations. The unique PowerStore capability integrates with VMware vSphere, resulting in streamlined management in which storage resources plug directly into the virtualization layer. Using VMware as the onboard application environment results in unmatched simplicity, since support is inherently available for any standard VM-based applications. When a new PowerStore X model is deployed, the VASA provider is automatically registered, and the datastore is created, eliminating manual steps and saving time. PowerStore seamlessly integrates the VMware ESXi software into the same hardware. Two ESXi nodes are embedded inside the appliance which has direct access to the same storage resources. This close integration allows applications such as MongoDB to take full advantage of server and storage virtualization with simplified deployment and management. This feature is available on the PowerStore X model exclusively.

Figure 3.   Embedded ESXi in the PowerStore X model appliance

Agile infrastructure, flexible scaling on a high-performing storage and compute platform

PowerStore provides flexible scaling with ease of management that compliments the MongoDB scale-up and scale-out distribution model. The integrated hypervisor dynamically scales up the MongoDB nodes when the workload requires it, while new replica sets, or shards, can be provisioned rapidly on the same or on additional appliances at a local or remote location.

When the application grows and requires more storage from a PowerStore appliance, administrators can scale up the storage capacity by adding disk expansion enclosures without service interruption at any time. The NVMe architecture is designed for the next-generation NVMe-based storage and takes advantage of low-overhead NVRAM cache. PowerStore is engineered to handle the most demanding MongoDB mixed workloads.

Mission-critical high availability and fault-tolerant MongoDB platform

PowerStore is designed for high availability and fault tolerance by incorporating redundant hardware components. Its active/active controller configuration enables both nodes to service I/O concurrently. The system monitors the storage devices continuously and automatically relocates data from failing devices to avoid data loss. The PowerStore X model appliance includes two ESXi nodes and redundant hardware components. The non-disruptive upgrade (NDU) feature further increases overall PowerStore availability. The updates are performed on the nodes in a rolling fashion. NDU supports PowerStore software releases, hotfixes, and hardware and disk firmware.

To support high-value business workloads and service requirements at the application level, it is essential to protect and ensure the availability of the primary member of a replica set. When the primary member of a replica set becomes inaccessible, the replica set cannot process any write operations until the primary member recovers, or a new primary is elected. Furthermore, the election requires most of the members to be available.

With standard VMware vSphere High Availability (HA) integrated into PowerStore, the embedded VMware ESXi hypervisor automatically restarts or migrates failed MongoDB servers to a different ESXi node to resume operations. This helps to restore MongoDB to its full operation capacity and minimizes the chance of the database going offline or read-only.

To achieve an even higher level of redundancy and application availability, you can deploy the MongoDB replica set and sharded cluster across multiple PowerStore appliances in different data centers. PowerStore improves MongoDB availability and provides unparalleled flexibility and mobility to relocate and move across data centers and appliances.

Figure 4.   Geographically distributed MongoDB sharded cluster on multiple PowerStore X model appliances

PowerStore inline data reduction reduces storage consumption and cost

As business data continues to grow, big data has become a critical component in the business analytics world. A tremendous amount of data is pulled from all kinds of sources continuously and run through cloud-scale applications such as MongoDB to gain insights into customers and businesses. When putting MongoDB replica sets on PowerStore, the always-on inline data reduction feature greatly reduces the actual storage used but still maintains the application data availability and protection that is expected from MongoDB.

Efficient and convenient snapshot data backup

PowerStore provides MongoDB with additional data protection through array-based snapshots. A PowerStore snapshot is a point-in-time copy of the data. The snapshots are space efficient and require seconds to create. Snapshot data are exact copies of the target data and can be used for application testing, backup, or DevOps. Because of the tight integration with VMware vSphere, vVol-based VM snapshots can be taken in vSphere through the storage policy using Storage Policy Based Management. When taking the VM snapshots from vSphere, it passes the request to PowerStore to create the vVol-based VM snapshots which have no performance impact on the VMs. You can view the VM snapshot information in PowerStore and vCenter.

Secure data protection with ease of mind

With high-value data driving business applications, data security is a top concern for all organizations. Lost or stolen data can seriously damage the reputation of an organization and result in huge financial costs and loss of customer trust. Dell Technologies engineered PowerStore with Data at Rest Encryption (D@RE) which uses self-encrypting drives. Once activated, data is encrypted as it is written to disk using the 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). PowerStore D@RE provides this data security benefit to MongoDB while eliminating application overhead, performance penalties, and administrative overhead that is typically associated with software-based solutions. PowerStoreOS 3.0 introduces support for external key managers in addition to the array-based, self-managed keys.

PowerStoreOS 3.5 introduces a new Secure Snapshot feature that provides extra protection from accidental or malicious data deletion. Secure Snapshot is a special type of snapshot that users cannot delete manually.

Unified infrastructure and services management (Deep virtualization integration)

PowerStore provides deep integration with VMware management tools and services with Dell Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI), VMware vRealize Operations Manager (vROps), VMware vRealize Orchestrator (vRO), and VMware Storage Replication Adapter (SRA).  For PowerStore X models, the built-in ESXi nodes can be seamlessly integrated into your existing vCenter infrastructure, enabling you to manage all VMware infrastructure and services from a unified management platform.

MongoDB value and future expansion

New business analytics applications like MongoDB are fundamentally changing the way data is used to support the business. Massive amounts of data and technology innovation together provide the opportunity for organizations to transform. As the value and scale of this data grows, it is critical to have a future-proof platform that is easy to manage, provides technical innovation for future growth, and can support the application architecture. MongoDB on PowerStore brings IT organizations the ability to be agile, efficient, and responsive to business demands.