Introduction
This blog compares the performance of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One Block (VSP One Block) Administrator API and Hitachi Storage Advisor Embedded API across commonly used storage operations.The Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform E790 (VSP E790) storage system is a predecessor to the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One Block 28 (VSP One B28) storage system. We conducted a comparative analysis to measure the performance improvement in the newer VSP One B28 model. This analysis examined the key operations run on the VSP One Block Administrator API (VSP One B28) versus the Hitachi Storage Advisor Embedded API (VSP E790).
VSP One B28 offers a cost-effective solution by integrating embedded management software, eliminating the need for a separate external management server. This self-contained approach not only simplifies storage management, but also saves customers from investing in additional hardware and software, resulting in significant cost savings. Unlike Platform REST API (PFREST), the embedded management software directly interacts with the Storage Virtualized Operating System (SVOS). As a result, the response time is faster than the legacy PFREST.
The following figure shows the high-level architecture for VSP One Block Adminitrator API:

Test Procedure and Data Collection
The performance of the VSP One Block Administrator API (VSP One B28) was compared to the Hitachi Storage Advisor Embedded API (VSP E790) to understand the response times for several operations.
The following are the selected operations that customers typically use on a daily basis:
Volume creation time (without data)
Volume expansion time (without data)
Volume deletion time (without data)
Pool creation using DDP parity group
Pool expansion using DDP parity group
Pool deletion
Attaching LDEVs to a host over two LUN paths
Detaching LUNs from a host over two LUN paths
Note: Each test was repeated 15 times, and the average response time was calculated.Response times were calculated from the creation and completion times of the triggered asynchronous jobs.
Performance Comparison
The following table shows the comparison of the API performance:

*For VSP E790 storage system, only normal or legacy parity groups were used.
Hardware
The following table shows the hardware details of both storage systems:

Conclusion
The performance tests demonstrate that the VSP One Block Administrator API (VSP One B28) outperforms the Hitachi Storage Advisor Embedded API (VSP E790) in all tasks except pool creation. In this case, there cannot be an ‘apple-to-apple’ comparison because VSP One Block Administrator created a pool on a DDP-enabled parity group, whereas the Hitachi Storage Advisor Embedded API (VSP E790) created a pool on a legacy parity group.