Permabit Enterprise Archive Data Center Series Architecture

Next Generation Storage Grid Architecture

The Permabit Enterprise Archive Data Center Series architecture is based on a storage grid design, comprised of storage nodes, access nodes, and network switches. Storage nodes and access nodes scale independently to enable more performance on input (access nodes) or if additional storage capacity is needed individual storage nodes can be added. This flexibility delivers easy, cost-effective expansion to meet future performance and storage needs.

Access Nodes

Access nodes are the interface between the network and the storage nodes. Applications can write directly to the Permabit Archive without requiring costly API’s. Whether using a third party data mover, from vendors such as: Atempo, CommVault, Symantec or ZL Technologies, or writing directly to the archive using standard CIFS and NFS interfaces, the Permabit archive can be used to answer a wide range of general purpose storage requirements.

Access nodes perform digital fingerprinting checking to determine if the data is already in the storage nodes and Scalable Data Reduction (SDR) provides in–line sub–file level data deduplication with compression to dramatically reduce the total amount of storage needed to store data.

Access nodes are paired for high availability; ensuring end users always have access to their data. Rather than waiting for a failover with one node active and the other passive, both nodes share the workload. One node handles incoming and outgoing archive transactions, while the second maintains an active journal of those transactions. Should the primary node fail, the secondary node assumes control and continues writing information seamlessly without user intervention and more importantly without data loss.

Storage Nodes

Data routing and indexing occur in the storage nodes. Each storage node is comprised of 4 disk drives and each storage grid can contain up to 36 storage nodes in a 42U rack. All storage within the grid is virtualized, eliminating the need for storage provisioning or LUN management. As additional storage nodes are added to the grid, the new capacity is automatically incorporated into the storage pool allowing seamless storage growth without user interruption. This feature also aides in decommissioning older hardware. Simply decommission a storage node and the system automatically redistributes the data to other nodes and notifies you when to remove the old node. New technology can be added and older technology can be migrated out without ever having to perform a fork–lift upgrade and time consuming data migration.

Data is distributed across storage nodes using RAIN–EC technology. Patented RAIN–EC technology enables the Permabit Enterprise Archive to scale to multiple petabytes and delivers the most reliable storage technology available in the industry. With RAIN–EC, a storage grid can survive multiple simultaneous component failures without compromising data and recovery from node failures is much faster than RAID technology because all drives in all nodes participate in the recovery process.

Permabit Data Center Series Architecture Features:

• Storage Grid: Allows for independent scalability of access nodes and storage nodes.

• Access Nodes: Provide access via standard NFS and CIFS interfaces to storage nodes. Can be added independently of storage nodes to increase performance.

• Storage Nodes: Provide massively scalable, reliable storage. Can be added independently of access nodes to increase storage capacity.

• Massively Scalable: Can have up to 36 storage nodes per grid for a total of 144 TB of raw capacity.

• Seamless Growth: Can added storage nodes one at a time.

• Mix and Match: Today’s storage technology can work with future storage technology without ever having to perform a forklift upgrade.

Figure 1.    >> Click for larger image