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Field CTO - Hybrid Data Center
So you just unboxed, racked, and deployed a new Nutanix cluster, and your boss comes to you and asks how we know it’s ready to handle workloads. I mean, you can be confident in saying that it’s ready, but what if you can provide them with results that show not only can we meet resiliency requirements, but we can also handle the performance required of any workloads?
In the world of infrastructure, you don’t want to wait until something breaks to know if your platform is resilient. You also need to be confident that your systems can handle the workload they’re designed for. Enter Nutanix X-Ray—a powerful, automated testing tool that helps you validate the performance and resilience of your Nutanix platform before disaster strikes.
Nutanix X-Ray is designed to simulate real-world scenarios to stress-test your environment, from storage to compute, and validate your system is functioning optimally. Whether you’re preparing for a major deployment, undergoing an upgrade, or want peace of mind, X-Ray puts your platform through its paces without any of the drama.
X-Ray tests Nutanix environments using pre-defined scenarios focusing on the most critical aspects of a platform’s operation: resiliency, performance, and availability. Each test scenario is designed to mimic real-world operational issues or high-stress periods.
Before you dive into running tests with Nutanix X-Ray, it’s important to understand the system requirements and environment setup needed to use the tool effectively. Here are the key requirements:
1. Nutanix Cluster Compatibility
2. Dedicated Hardware Requirements
Due to the type of testing that X-RAY will be doing, it’s recommended not to have it deployed within the same cluster you’ll be running your tests. Makes sense, right? If you’re doing impactful tests, such as availability tests, where nodes will be powered off, it could be very impactful to the test. The Nutanix caution notes say it pretty well!
3. X-Ray Installation Requirements
X-Ray is deployed as a virtual machine within a Nutanix cluster. The VM acts as the controller, orchestrating tests, collecting data, and generating reports. Additional workload VMs will be spun up and down dynamically to support the workload tests. The specs on these VMs will vary depending on the tests being run.
Networking is important when it comes to an X-Ray deployment. I generally use the Zero-Configuration network option to ease the deployment. Give the X-Ray VM a second NIC, and map the workload VMs to that subnet.
4. Access Permissions
5. Additional Configurations
X-Ray comes with pre-built scenarios that are ready to use, but you also have the flexibility to create custom scenarios that better align with your specific environment and workloads. This requires familiarity with the workloads you want to simulate, so you can configure X-Ray to match those conditions.
Some testing scenarios, like performance validation, will need an understanding of the applications and workloads (e.g., IOPS, data transfer patterns) that are critical to your environment. If you are replicating a production workload, try to match the workload profile as closely as possible.
I ran a sample workload test against my lab cluster, which is based on much older G5 hardware, but still kicking! The test I ran was the HCI Benchmark test, which provides the following:
During this test, which runs for about 15-20 minutes including cleanup, the following happens:
After completion, you can easily see the test results performed by X-Ray in both Summary and Detailed Graphs, which provide both high-level and detailed data about the test and the performance.
There are many tests available to validate the resiliency and performance of the cluster. Many times on deployments, I run several tests to ensure I’m getting the performance that I expect from both the HCI infrastructure, network performance, and even application performance (using HammerDB benchmark tests), but also to show the customer the resiliency of the platform as it relates to power loss, rolling upgrades, and drive failure.
While I didn’t dive deep into X-Ray and all of the tests, I wanted to show how using X-Ray’s robust testing and validation capabilities helps administrators assess resiliency and performance in their Nutanix clusters. Here’s a quick breakdown of its value:
In essence, Nutanix X-Ray offers a proactive way to verify a cluster’s readiness and durability under stress, assuring stakeholders of high-performance and resilient operations.
If you’ve got a Nutanix cluster deployed, did you run X-Ray before releasing it to production?
If you have questions about Nutanix X-Ray or any of the concepts discussed in this article, contact our team at info@eGroup-us.com or complete the form below.
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