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Direct Drive - Azure's Next-Generation Block Storage Architecture and Ultra Disk Implementation

SNIAVideo via YouTube

Overview

Learn about Azure's next-generation block storage architecture in this technical conference talk from the Storage Developer Conference 2022. Explore the innovative Direct Drive architecture that powers Azure's Ultra Disk offerings, discovering how it addresses the challenges of providing durable, highly-available, and high-performance disk storage at cloud scale. Dive deep into the software and hardware innovations, including custom data plane protocols, RDMA implementation, and non-volatile memory utilization. Master key concepts like slice management, replica sets, fault domains, and throttling mechanisms that ensure optimal performance. Understand the architectural components including VDC Proxy, Gateway Service, and the DDX layer, while gaining insights into error handling, diagnostic support, and performance optimization strategies. Follow along as Microsoft's Greg Kramer breaks down the technical implementation details, design principles, and rationales behind Direct Drive's departure from industry standard practices, providing a comprehensive look at the future of Azure's block storage capabilities.

Syllabus

Introduction
Questions
Single Server Deployment
Simplifying the Experience
Capacity and Performance
New Technologies
Simplify the IO Path
Next Steps
Caution
Two disk types
Shared disks
Slices
Replica Sets
CCS
Fault Domains
Write to a Slice
Promise the Right
Reading
Sequence Numbers
Replicas
Stripes
VDC Proxy
VDC
Data Plane Components
Control Plane
Gateway Service
Block Overview
Notable Design Elements
Custom Data Plane Protocol
Why Custom Data Plane Protocol
Diagnostic Support
RDMA
NonVolatile Memory
Promises
Traditional throttling
Traditional throttling example
Latency bubble example
Completions
Delays
How does DC discover CCs
Error handling
In initiator side throttling
MDS performance
MDS hot spots
Disk subsystem
DDX layer
VMS
NVDIMM
Bite Addressable Nonvolatile Memory

Taught by

SNIAVideo

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