It is related to TRIM/UNMAP, which is enabled per default in Server 2012(R2).

References:https://serverfault.com/questions/679211/quick-format-of-lun-in-server-2012r2-hosted-on-a-thin-provisioned-san-vol-take

The workflow for refreshing XtremIO Snapshots, containing Oracle Database files, consists of the following five simple steps:

1. Shut down the database instances with files in the target Snapshot Set.

2. Dismount the ASM disk group (or file systems) involved.

3. Refresh the Snapshot via XtremIO GUI (or CLI or RESTful API).

4. Mount the ASM disk groups (or file system) involved.

5. Start the database instances.

This entire workflow is measured in seconds (not minutes).

Choose an EMC XtremIO system and scale out linearly by adding more XtremIO X-Bricks.

References: https://store.emc.com/en-us/Product-Family/EMC-XtremIO-Products/EMC-XtremIO-All-Flash-Scale-Out-Arra y/p/EMC-XtremIO-Flash-Scale-Out

The XtremIO's RESTful API allows HTTPS-based interface for automation, orchestration, query and provisioning of the system. With the API, third party applications can be used to control and fully administer the array.

Normally you would access the API using some form of programming/scripting language, such as Python or Perl. However for the purposes of learning or testing concepts there are a number of tools that work better, such as HTTPRrequester and curl.

* Curl is a command-line tool that exists in all Linux distributions, and is available for most other Unix OSes as well as Windows.

To use curl to access XtremIO you’ll need to pass it a few options, such as the username/password to access the array (any valid account on the XtremIO XMS will work), the URL of the API, and potentially a few options such as -k to tell curl not to validate the SSL certificate (presuming you don’t have a valid certificate installed), and -s (silent) to stop curl displaying it’s progress as it downloads the response.

* HTTPRequester is a browser extension that is available for both Chrome and Firefox.

As with for curl, you’ll need to provide a username/password, which is done by clicking on the “Authentication…” box, which adds two boxes below the URL for the username and the password.

References:https://blog.docbert.org/using-the-xtremio-rest-api-part-1/

EMC XtremIO(All-Flash) : SAN, inline deduplication, 8K fixed chunk size;

References:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/deduplication-fake-reality-mike-uzan

An example of a generic wrapper function that queries XtremIO REST API using HTTP/POST to create a new object with specified properties.

References: https://www.emc.com/collateral/white-papers/h14980-wp-accelerate-sql-lifecycle-management.pdf

Noting the inefficiencies in VMware’s NMP driver, EMC developed a set of drivers specifically designed to overcome these limitations and improve the performance and reliability of the data passing between an array and a server. EMC developed the PowerPath family of products optimized specifically for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and UNIX Operating Systems as well as PowerPath/VE for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors.

PowerPath is installed on hosts to provide path failover, load balancing and performance optimization VPLEX engines (or directly to the XtremIO array if VPLEX is not used).

Note: VMware, with the cooperation of its storage partners, developed a Native Multipathing Plug-in (NMP). VMware NMP was designed to distribute the load over all the available paths and provide failover protection in the case of path, port or HBA failure, but it has not been fully optimized to work with the controllers in a storage systems. VMware’s NMP Round Robin policy does not have the intelligence that PowerPath has as PowerPath uses testing and diagnostics to continually monitor an environment to determine the optimal path for queuing requests and will adapt to current conditions.

References:https://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/emc-taneja-group-powerpath-tb.pdf