How Memory Tiering Solutions Change The VM Game

Managing server hardware costs is a constant challenge for organizations. Take memory, for example: it is essential for virtualized environments, but often comes with a high price tag. This issue is especially pronounced for Tier 2 and Tier 3 cluster deployments, where budget constraints can hinder performance optimization.

VMware by Broadcom recently introduced its innovative Advanced Memory Tiering solution to address this issue and enhance data storage optimization. This breakthrough explores the potential of tiered memory architecture and its implications for IT  purchasing and management strategies. Let’s discuss how this solution fits into the modern IT landscape and why it’s particularly advantageous for Tier 2 and Tier 3 cluster environments.

But First… What Is Memory Tiering?

Memory tiering is a data storage optimization technique that enhances memory usage by categorizing data into different tiers based on access patterns. Frequently accessed data is stored in high-speed memory, while less frequently accessed data is allocated to lower-speed, larger, and more cost-effective memory. This approach utilizes a tiered memory architecture, which creates an expanded memory pool to accommodate varying performance needs.

One key component of memory tiering is the integration of non-volatile memory express (NVMe) devices, known for their high-speed and low-latency performance. These devices serve as a secondary layer to traditional dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). VMware memory management plays a critical role in this process, as the ESXi hypervisor intelligently allocates memory. It places frequently accessed data in the faster DRAM, while less frequently used pages reside in the NVMe tier.

This strategy optimizes data storage and minimizes reliance on expensive DRAM, ultimately reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 45%. Given that memory is one of the most costly components of IT infrastructure, it is no longer practical for organizations to depend solely on high-cost, high-performance memory for all workloads.

Memory tiering enables IT teams to effectively balance performance requirements with cost considerations, making it a crucial solution in today’s data-driven landscape.

Why This Matters

Organizations often encounter a diverse range of workloads, including databases and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) – each requiring different levels of memory access. At VMware Explore 2024, the introduction of Advanced Memory Tiering with NVMe marked a significant breakthrough in data storage optimization. By integrating NVMe into VMware’s memory management strategies, organizations can enhance their tiered memory architecture and reduce TCO for server hardware.

Advanced Memory Tiering leverages NVMe’s capabilities to dynamically adapt to varying workload demands. This intelligent memory tiering approach ensures that organizations can maximize their memory resources while meeting the performance needs of their diverse workloads.

The benefits of Advanced Memory Tiering with NVMe are significant, such as:

1. Cost efficiency: Traditional memory solutions such as DRAM often require significant investments in high-performance memory. However, not all data needs the same access speed. Memory tiering enables organizations to offload less critical data to more cost-effective storage, all while reserving high-performance memory for frequently accessed information.
2. Improved CPU utilization: One major challenge for IT leaders is the imbalance between memory and CPU resources, which can result in idle CPUs due to memory bottlenecks. Memory tiering alleviates this issue by facilitating more efficient data access to ensure better CPU utilization. This balanced approach enhances overall system performance and optimizes resource allocation.
3. Flexibility in cluster environments: Advanced Memory Tiering with NVMe is particularly beneficial for Tier 2 and Tier 3 clusters, where performance demands remain high but budget constraints are more pronounced. IT teams can then allocate resources more intelligently with a tiered memory architecture. This ensures that mission-critical applications receive high-speed memory while less critical workloads benefit from cost-effective storage solutions.

Addressing IT Pain Points

VMware recognizes the complex challenges IT leaders face: rising hardware costs, underutilized CPUs, and unbalanced memory-to-CPU ratios. Memory tiering addresses these issues by intelligently allocating resources, allowing organizations to maximize the value of their existing hardware.

The power of advanced memory tiering technology has become increasingly evident. Beyond mere cost reduction, memory tiering offers significant benefits:

1. Improved Resource Utilization: Underutilized CPUs are a thing of the past. Memory tiering ensures that CPUs have the necessary resources at the right time, significantly increasing efficiency.
2. Balanced Memory-to-CPU Ratios: The struggle to match memory with specific workloads is eliminated. Memory tiering creates a flexible resource pool, allowing for seamless accommodation of diverse memory requirements across various applications.
3. Optimized Performance: VMware’s memory management expertise, particularly through technologies like VMware vMotion, underpins this robust memory tiering solution. It is designed to minimize hardware investments without compromising on performance.

A recent performance analysis across various workloads demonstrated the impressive capabilities of memory tiering. With a minimal performance loss of just 4%, this technology achieved substantial TCO savings of up to 45%.

The Future Of Memory Technologies

The future of memory management is poised for transformation, particularly at VMware. The company focuses on memory tiering as a crucial element in its long-term strategy for accelerator-based memory solutions. This approach addresses immediate performance challenges and lays the groundwork for sustainable advancements in memory technologies.

VMware’s vision centers around tiered memory architecture, which integrates various memory types to optimize data storage and processing efficiency. By expanding memory tiering capabilities and incorporating additional accelerator technologies, VMware aims to enhance memory performance significantly. 

Final Thoughts

Is memory tiering with NVMe right for you? The answer is likely yes. It offers a compelling solution for businesses seeking to optimize data storage, maximize resource utilization, and achieve significant cost savings. This technology enables organizations to manage data placement and access intelligently. For organizations focusing on Tier 2 and Tier 3 clusters, memory tiering provides a clear pathway to improved system performance and reduced expenses. 

As a long-standing VMware by Broadcom partner with VCDX-certified engineering support, WEI can deliver custom memory tiering solutions for your organization. Our expertise in VMware technology enables us to optimize your infrastructure for peak performance. Contact us today for a consultation and discover how memory tiering can transform your operations.

Next Steps: As Cloud Native Master Specialists, the WEI team works with customers to gain a deeper understanding of what your biggest application modernization challenges are so we can develop a complete cloud agnostic Kubernetes solution. With help from WEI, vSphere with Tanzu allows your enterprise to focus on the development, maintenance, and delivery of the best cloud technologies in the world. 

Download our free solution brief to discover the vSphere with Tanzu services that WEI offers as well as an understanding of our deep certification portfolio.