NVIDIA and DDN Collaborate to Enhance AI Infrastructure with BlueField-3 DPU Integration

Lawrence
Jengar

Jul
24,
2024
05:28

NVIDIA
and
DDN
Storage’s
integration
of
BlueField-3
DPUs
promises
to
revolutionize
AI
infrastructure
with
improved
efficiency,
scalability,
and
security.

As
AI
becomes
integral
to
organizational
innovation
and
competitive
advantage,
the
need
for
efficient
and
scalable
infrastructure
is
more
critical
than
ever.
A
partnership
between
NVIDIA
and
DDN
Storage
is
setting
new
standards
in
this
area.
By
integrating

NVIDIA
BlueField
DPUs
into
DDN
EXAScaler
and
DDN
Infinia,
DDN
Storage
is
transforming
data-centric
workloads,
according
to
NVIDIA
Technical
Blog.

An
Integrated
DPU
Storage
Solution

DDN
Infinia,
a
software-defined
data
platform,
harnesses
the
power
of
BlueField-3
DPUs
to
manage
data-centric
workloads
effectively,
especially
in
accelerated
computing
and
generative
AI.
The
integration
enhances
multi-tenancy,
amplifies
operational
efficiency,
and
bolsters
data
protection.
This
makes
it
an
ideal
solution
for
organizations
keen
on
using
AI
and
cloud
technologies
to
drive
innovation
and
operational
agility.

Their
solution
involves
several
key
components:

• Offloading
  data
  processing
• Accelerating
  storage
  performance
• Improving
  efficiency
• Supporting
  multi-tenancy
• Enhancing
  security
• Enhancing
  scaling

Offloading
Data
Processing

BlueField
DPUs
alleviate
the
CPU
by
taking
over
data
processing
tasks,
which
frees
up
compute
resources
and
boosts
overall
system
performance.
This
offloading
of
storage
and
security
tasks
enables
more
efficient
CPU
usage,
leading
to
significantly
reduced
delays
and
quicker
data
processing.

Accelerating
Storage
Performance

DDN’s
storage
solutions,
empowered
by
BlueField
DPUs,
enhance
storage
performance
for
AI
workloads.
Using
the
advanced
data
processing
capabilities
of
BlueField
DPUs,
these
solutions
achieve
higher
throughput
and
improved
system
responsiveness
to
accelerate
AI
applications.

NVIDIA
GPUDirect
Storage
(GDS)
facilitates
a
direct
data
path
between
GPU
platforms
and
storage,
minimizing
system
memory
traffic,
which
in
turn
enhances
bandwidth
and
reduces
CPU
load
to
optimize
AI
workflows.

Improving
Efficiency

Traditional
storage
systems
perform
various
tasks
such
as
flash
management,
RAID,
access
control,
and
encryption
on
general-purpose
x86
CPUs.
However,
they
are
becoming
inefficient
as
network
speeds
and
security
demands
escalate.

Integrating
BlueField
DPUs
within
storage
servers
and
host
access
significantly
enhances
storage
efficiency
by
offloading
and
accelerating
tasks
like
the
NVMe-oF
storage
protocol,
thus
freeing
up
CPU
cycles
for
other
applications.

Supporting
Multi-Tenancy

The
DDN
Infinia
storage
platform
employs
containerization,
enabling
different
storage
functions
to
run
in
separate
containers.
This
architecture
facilitates





scalability
and
optimizes
the
entire
data
path
by
offloading
tasks
to
DPUs,
reducing
latency.

Multi-tenant
deployment
consolidates
multiple
namespaces
within
a
single
file
system,
improving
capacity
utilization,
reducing
hardware
costs,
and
streamlining
deployment
and
management.

The
hardware-based
isolation
and
resource
allocation
capabilities
of
the
BlueField
DPUs
enable
the
secure
sharing
of
infrastructure
resources
among
multiple
users
and
applications,
improving
resource
utilization
and
operational
efficiency.

Figure
1.
DDN
Infinia
isolates
user
data
securely

Enhancing
Security

The
dedicated
processing
resources
and
memory
of
BlueField
DPUs
provide
a
secure
environment,
preventing
unauthorized
access
and
protecting
against
potential
attacks.
Hardware-accelerated
encryption
ensures
that
data
stored
in
the
storage
system
is
encrypted
at
rest,
safeguarding
sensitive
information.

Access
control
mechanisms
of
the
BlueField
DPU
enable
administrators
to
define
and
enforce
fine-grained
access
policies,
ensuring
that
only
authorized
users
or
applications
can
access
and
modify
the
data
and
secure
boot
capabilities
to
verify
the
integrity
of
firmware
and
software
components
during
the
boot
process,
preventing
tampering
or
unauthorized
modifications.

Offloading
security-related
tasks
from
the
host
CPU
reduces
the
attack
surface
and
frees
up
CPU
resources
for
other
critical
tasks.

With
these
combined
security
features,
BlueField
DPUs
provide
a
robust
and
secure
storage
solution
for
AI
workloads
and
data
from
the
DPU
to
the
CPU.
The
combined
technology
stack
ensures
that
data
remains
protected,
addressing
concerns
around
data
security
and
integrity
in
AI-driven
environments.
Organizations
can
provide
greater
protection
against
cyberthreats
and
unauthorized
access,
enhancing
overall
data
security
and
compliance.

Enhancing
Scaling

DDN
Infinia
is
a
fully
containerized
platform,
structured
around
a
set
of
orchestrated
microservices
that
deliver
the
entire
storage
service.
Using
BlueField
DPUs,
DDN
has
developed
a
completely
new
architecture
that
supports
a
full
cloud-native
stack.
This
innovative
use
of
BlueField
DPUs
enables
the
storage
platform
to
extend
across
the
network.

Specifically,
DDN
Infinia’s
Amazon
S3
object
services
are
containerized
and
can
operate
independently
of
the
Infinia
storage
system
by
using
resources
from
NVIDIA
DPUs
in
NVIDIA
DGX
client
systems.
The
design
shift
completely
revamps
how
data
flows
through
the
storage
system.
Traditionally,
Amazon
S3
object
calls
are
made
locally
to
services
running
on
BlueField.
Conventional
storage
relies
on
commands
sent
over
a
network
(RESTful
calls),
which
can
be
slow.

With
BlueField,
those
calls
are
replaced
with
RDMA
calls
from
the
DPU
to
the
storage
system.
This
offloads
the
storage
tasks
from
the
main
system
and
uses
a
more
efficient
data
path,
significantly
reducing
delays
and
boosting
bandwidth
for
AI
acceleration.
This
reconfiguration
of
the
storage
architecture
transforms
the
Amazon
S3
object
datapath,
significantly
enhancing
performance
and
scalability.

Summary

The
collaboration
between
DDN
and
NVIDIA
is
poised
to
significantly
advance
AI
applications
within
data
center
infrastructures,
setting
the
stage
for
more
efficient
and
secure
AI-driven
workflows.
By
using
the
combined
strengths
of
advanced
data
processing
and
storage
solutions,
organizations
can
expect
enhanced
efficiency,
scalability,
and
security
in
AI
initiatives.

Discover
how
DDN
is
driving
advancements
in
generative
AI
and
accelerating
data
processing
in
the
era
of
accelerated
computing
in
the
following
resources:

Image
source:
Shutterstock