Nas and San who finer storage virtualization products

In general, San virtualization products are more prevalent than NAS virtualization products. NAS Virtualization products provide a "global namespace" feature, usually in a very large data sharing access environment to fully benefit, the majority of users have limited environmental complexity, and do not need to choose such products to solve the data sharing access path/directory too complex problems.

In contrast, San virtualization products can be useful and more widely available even in small environments with only a 2~3 disk array and only hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Current status of NAS virtualization products

As mentioned previously, NAS virtualization products are relatively small compared to the area of San virtualization, influenced by the scope of the product, with several vendors brocade, EMC, F5, and NetApp.

Brocade

Brocade Storage Virtualization products have tapestry Storagex and FME (File Management engine Storage Management engine) two software kits, although the latter typically pack application servers for sale.

Tapestry Storagex and FME main programs are running on the Windows platform, the basic functions of which are very similar, can be through the virtualization of data access path to the disparate data storage devices to redirect data to simplify data access and management, and on this basis, Provides more flexible applications such as data migration and lifecycle management.

However, Tapestry Storagex can support CIFS and NFS two kinds of agreements, FME only support CIFS, only for the Windows network environment, but with the Windows network environment AD, DFS, there is a further integration.

EMC

EMC's data virtualization products, a data Management application Server (FMA) based on Rainfinity Global data virtualization technology, based on a global namespace, provides data management, capacity management, performance management, and provides IP replication and migration for data distributed across multiple NAS, data servers , tiered storage and other applications.

F5

F5, known for its network management devices, also has a data virtualization product, the Acopia Arx series, with basic functionality that is similar to Brocade Tapestry Storagex, and EMC rainfinity, with ARX4000, ARX2000 and ARX500 three models, respectively, using 4U, 2U and 1U chassis, the first two can provide 12 gbe,arx500 only 2 gbe,arx4000 can also provide 10GbE, data throughput also to ARX5000 the highest, followed by ARX2000 , and ARX500.

F5 also offers a Arx Virtualization Application Server suite with VMware ESX 4.0 environments, allowing users to save a single physical device.

NetApp

NetApp, which specializes in Nas, also provides a data virtualization product called Virtual File Manager, which is licensed from the Brocade Tapestry Storagex, with the same functionality and support.

Current status of San virtualization products

San virtualization products are at the core of San virtualization software, but on the product profile, there are currently two types of pure software and matching hard drives.

Pure software-type products allow users to freely match the server host used to perform virtualization software, depending on their needs, but relatively cumbersome to install the deployment program, but also to cope with possible soft disk compatibility issues.

Soft, hard drive products sold together to limit the user's choice of flexibility, the user can only be provided by the manufacturer of the product model to choose from, but the product is sold when the relevant soft disk configuration are ready, deployment procedures relatively simple many, and compatibility is also more secure. The current market of San virtualization products, mostly with the hard drive together with the type of sale of the majority.

In the product with the hard drive, it can be divided into two types: the gateway and the application server, the gate type itself does not provide the data storage space (the containing disk space is only for storage system, not provided to the front-end for data storage), it is necessary to bridge other disk arrays on the back end to provide space; Application server-type products themselves, It contains a certain amount of disk space, even if the back end does not bridge other disk devices, can also provide storage space for front-end host use.

EMC

Industry leader EMC currently has Invista and Vplex two SAN storage virtualization offerings.

Invista is a 2005-year storage virtualization software that has been deployed in a rather special way, with most of the same storage virtualization software installed on a stand-alone server and then connected to a SAN network as a gateway, Invista is installed on the Connectrix series of intelligent San switches. San virtualization relative to the form of a gateway must handle all I/O jobs from the host to the entity LUN, and EMC claims that Invista, because it is attached to the exchanger, simply handles the I/O redirect job, resulting in an I/O delay of only the former 1/2~1/3.

Through the intermediary of Invista, the San Exchanger can be connected to the back-end heterogeneous storage device disk space, integrated into Invista's disk volume, and then provided to front-end host access. You can also provide disk replication, called dynamic volume mobility, that can be used to assist data migration efforts.

Vplex is the new product that EMC just launched in 2010, is a guide/gate type storage virtualization product, with basic functionality similar to other virtual gates, which also integrates the disk space of back-end EMC or non-EMC storage devices into the virtual disk area for front-end hosts.

The difference is that the Vplex guide uses a dual-active scale-out architecture, the basic unit is a set of two 1U-guide components of a group of engines, the largest can be composed of 4 pairs of guides (a total of 8) of the cluster, thus providing a very strong load balancing management and fault-tolerant ability.

Vplex full range is divided into local, metro and GEO, such as three product levels, the latter two levels through the Vplex guide in the synchronous/asynchronous replication function, will be deployed in the off-site two sites Vplex management of the disk space, integrated into a resource pool unified use, It realizes I/O load balancing and fault tolerance across the remote.

DataCore

Founded in 1998, DataCore is a veteran storage virtualization software vendor, formerly the company's storage virtualization software, divided into entry-level sanmelody and advanced Sansymphony two. The former is based on Ethernet, which supports iSCSI, and has a limited capability and capacity, which supports Fibre Channel (FC) interfaces and provides richer functionality. By the beginning of the 2011 sansymphony-v, the first two products were integrated into one.

Sansymphony-v is version 8.0 of the Sansymphony family, the main program must be installed on the Windows Server 2008 R2 platform (including server Core) to make the Windows Server a gateway or application server that provides storage virtualization services, Consolidate the back-end bridging disk space into a single virtual storage pool, set up individual virtual disk areas on the storage pool as required, and mount to the front-end host via FC, ISCSI, FCoE, and other transport interfaces.

SANSYPHONY-V provides a new integrated operating interface, new built-in continuous data protection (CDP) and improved remote replication, a full range of 5 authorization levels, ranging from VL1 to VL5, allowing for increased deployment size and completeness of functionality.

Falconstor

Falconstor's Ipstor is also a proven legacy storage virtualization software that has now been published to 6.x. In sales, falconstor Ipstor software with Dell's R710 or T710 series servers, packaged for sale by the NSS-VS application server.

The Nss-vs series has the gate and the application server two types, the former system ontology only contains the storage controller, needs the external disk array to provide the storage space, the latter contains a certain number of internal connection hard disk, may for the front-end host storage use.

The full range is divided into 2U chassis NSS VS630 and NSS VS700, as well as 5U chassis NSS VS750, etc. three. VS630 only supports iSCSI host interfaces, while the remaining both support iSCSI and FC interfaces, and for increased availability, a full range of cluster architectures with dual controllers are supported. In terms of software functionality, unlike San virtualization products, in addition to consolidating back-end space into virtual disks, it also supports synchronous mirroring, remote replication, Thin provisioning, snapshots, and more.

IBM

IBM's storage virtualization has SVC and Storwize V7000. SVC is the industry's well-known storage virtualization products, since 2003, the current system software has developed to the 5.1.0.x version, the sale is with IBM's X-Series server to become the application server mode.

The basic mode of SVC hard disk is a two-node cluster module, which provides iSCSI and FC two host interfaces, and the newer models also support 10GbE iSCSI interfaces. Each 2 Svc constitutes an I/O Group, and an SVC cluster can contain up to 4 pairs of dual-node modules (16 nodes). The latest SVC hard drive also uses SSD as an internal hard drive to execute system programs to improve processing efficiency.

As for Storwize V7000 is a new product published in 2010, its core software uses the code of the SVC, but it is installed on different types of hard drives and is paired with a graphical management interface similar to the XIV series.

The original SVC was simply the role of the turnstile, you must provide disk space for the front-end host by bridging the back-end disk array, while the Storwize V7000 uses the controller chassis + the type of the disk cabinet, and the 2U size controller chassis contains two sets of controllers, equivalent to a two-node SVC gate module, FC and iSCSI host interfaces are supported, as well as disk slot space with 24 2.5-inch or 12 3.5-inch hard drives, and the back-end can connect up to 9 groups of extended disk enclosures through the SAS interface.

That is, the storwize V7000 itself can provide up to 240 2.5-inch or 120 3.5-inch hard disk storage space, as well as the virtual disk capabilities that extend the bridging of other model disk arrays from the SVC. Functionally, in addition to typical San virtualization features, automated tiered storage features called Easy tier are available.

HDS

HDS's San virtualization offerings, with the old USP V, USP VM series, and the new VSP series. These products adopt the Controller chassis + the type of the disk cabinet, the controller can support FC, FCoE with the mainframe FICON or Escon and other host interface, and has a very strong host connectivity and disk expansion capabilities, can support a large scale of the application environment.

The latest VSP series supports the Scale-out architecture, which enables a cluster of 2~8 virtual storage guides (VSD) with a maximum of 192 FC and Ficon, or up to 96 FCoE, with up to 2,048 2.5-inch hard drives or 1 on the back end. 280 3.5-inch hard drives, as well as bridging 3PAR, EMC, HP, IBM and other disk devices.

Earlier HDS also has a lower-order NSC 55 storage virtualization product, but it is no longer on the original online product list.

HP

HP's San virtualization offerings, including the P9000/XP series, which is licensed from the HDS Vsp/usp family, have the same basic functionality as HDS products, as well as an earlier xp12000/xp10000-derived SVS 200 series that can be considered a compact version of the XP series, But it is not listed on the HP website's product list.

NetApp

NetApp's SAN storage virtualization products, is the company's V-series Gateway, which functions the same as the company's FAS series, except that the backend is not used to bridge the company's own expansion disk cabinets, but rather to bridge 3PAR, EMC, HDS, HP, IBM and other manufacturers of disk storage devices, Provide storage space to the front-end host by consolidating the form of virtual disks, and provide NetApp's diverse advanced software capabilities on these virtual disk spaces.

Nexenta

Nexenta is one of the less well-known storage virtualization software vendors in the country, and the company's nexentastor is an integrated storage application based on the Open-solaris platform and ZFS data Systems, which currently has 2.2 and 3.0 two versions.

Nexentastor is a purely software approach to sales, and functions like NetApp's products, while supporting access to blocks and data levels, which can be shared to front-end hosts on a ZFS data system and through data sharing protocols such as CIFS/NFS. And, on the other hand, can simulate disk space as FC or iSCSI LUNs and mount to front-end hosts through the inclusion of FC and iSCSI target capabilities.

In addition, Nexentastor offers a wealth of advanced application features, including snapshots, clones, synchronous/asynchronous remote replication, Thin provisioning, high availability, and more.

(Responsible editor: admin)