NVMe and other advances in non-volatile memory technology are generating a lot of buzz in the enterprise technology industry, and rightly so. As providers integrate these technologies into storage systems, they are closing the gap between the dramatic advances in processing power and the performance of the storage systems that support them. The TrueNAS M-Series from iXsystems provides an excellent example of what can be achieved when these technologies are thoughtfully integrated into a storage system.
In the process of refreshing its research on enterprise midrange arrays, DCIG discovered that the iXsystems TrueNAS M-Series all-flash and hybrid storage arrays leverage many of the latest technologies, including:
The TrueNAS M-Series lineup comprises two models: the M40 and the M50. The M40 is lower entry cost, scalable to 2PB, and includes 40GbE connectivity with SAS SSD caching. The M50 scales to 10PB and adds 100GbE connectivity with NVMe-based caching.
Both models come standard with redundant storage controllers for high-availability and 24×7 service. Though single-controller configurations are available for less critical applications.
DCIG analysts are impressed with the way iXsystems engineers have orchestrated the latest technologies in the M50 storage array, achieving maximum end-to-end cost-efficient performance.
The M50 marries 40 Intel® Xeon® Scalable Family Processor cores with up to 3TB of DRAM, a 32GB NVDIMM write cache and 15.2TB of NVMe SSD read-cache in front of up to 10PB of hard disk storage. (The M-Series can also be configured as an all-flash array.) Moreover, iXsystems attaches each storage expansion shelf directly to each controller via 12Gb SAS ports. This approach adds back-end throughput to the storage system as each shelf is added.
This well-balanced approach carries through to front-end connectivity. The M50 supports the latest advances in high-speed networking, including up to 4 ports of 40/100Gb Ethernet and 16/32Gb Fibre Channel connectivity per controller.
TrueNAS is built on BSD and ZFS Open Source technology. iXsystems is uniquely positioned to support the full Open Source stack behind TrueNAS. It has developers and expertise in the operating system, file systems, and NAS software.
iXsystems also stewards the popular (>10 million downloads) FreeNAS software-defined storage platform. Among other things, FreeNAS functions as the experimental feature and QA testbed for TrueNAS. TrueNAS can even replicate data to and from FreeNAS. Thus, TrueNAS owners benefit from the huge ZFS and FreeNAS Open Source ecosystems.
The recent advances in non-volatile memory are a perfect fit with the TrueNAS architecture.
ZFS uses DRAM as a read cache to accelerate read operations. This primary read cache is called the ARC. ZFS also supports a secondary read cache called L2ARC. The M50 can use much of the 1.5TB of DRAM in each storage controller for the ARC, and combine it with up to 15.2TB of NVMe-based L2ARC to provide a huge low-latency read cache that offers up to 8GB/s throughput.
The ZFS Intent Log (ZIL) is where all data to be written is initially stored, then later flushed to disk. The M50 uses NVDIMMs for the ZIL write cache. The NVDIMMs safely provide near-DRAM-speed write caching. This enables the array to quickly acknowledge writes on the front end while efficiently coalescing many random writes into sequential disk operations on the back end.
TrueNAS supports AFP, SMB, NFS, iSCSI and FC protocols plus S3-compliant object storage. It also offers Asigra backup as an integrated service that runs natively on the array. This broad protocol support enables the M50 to cost-effectively provide high-performance storage for:
TrueNAS software licensing is all-inclusive; with unlimited snapshots, clones, and replication. Thus, there are no add-on license fees to negotiate and no additional PO’s to wait for. This reduces costs, promotes full utilization of the extensive capabilities of the TrueNAS M-Series and increases business agility.
The TrueNAS M50 integrates multiple buzz-worthy technologies to deliver large amounts of low-latency storage. The M50 accelerates a broad range of workloads–safely and economically. Speaking of economics, according to the iXsystems website, TrueNAS storage can be expanded for less than $100/TB. That should be music to the ears of business people everywhere.
The original post was written by Ken Clipperton of DCIG and can be found at https://www.dcig.com/2018/12/truenas-m-series-turns-tech-buzz-into-music.html.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。