Using MMQ Model for Performance Simulation of Storage Area Network

The infrastructures of SANs are complex, and the implementations/designs of SANs are varied. So finding a proper modeling method to analysis and simulate SAN performance in a systemic/consistent way is very important for the work efficiency of SAN designers and performance tuners. This paper proposes a methodology of using a multi-tier multiserver queue (MMQ) network system to model a SAN system, which can be generalized to different SAN instances neatly, and be used for both performance analysis and simulation. Besides the main idea and high-level MMQ model, the application of this method is illustrated by constructing a software simulator, which is also designed and implemented in a systemic and reusable style. The simulation validation shows that maximum error range is less than 10%. So we can consider this method a sound solution for the quick performance design comparison and analysis of SAN.