ONStor Clustered NAS

The ONStor product line is focused on providing NAS storage capabilities for Enterprise networks. Among the products in the line are the Bobcat and new Cougar NAS Series gateways, which enable the integration of existing SAN storage for NAS usage; and the Pantera platforms that include their own storage in FC or SAS/SATA flavors.

For the Bobcat and Cougar, multiple storage hardware is supported and can be combined into a single storage pool that is managed by the gateways; the vendor notes their gateway is compatible with storage hardware from IBM, EMC, HP, HDS, and others. Support for both CIFS and NFS allow file access from Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Mac machines; both protocols are supported concurrently.

At the heart of, and included with, each Bobcat NAS Gateway is the vendor's EverON Software Platform, which in combination with the 64-bit StorFS File System provides the appliance with its file access and management features. The StorFS file system supports file systems and file sizes of up to 100 TB, with up to 100 file systems supported per NAS Gateway cluster.

Key features of the EverON platform in addition to its ability to pool heterogeneous storage include virtual NAS server support (each NAS cluster can be partitioned into up to 32 virtual NAS servers); automatic, "just-in-time" provisioning (AutoGrow); and clustering support (active/active, with health monitoring and transparent failover) for up to 8 NAS nodes. Additional software tools facilitate read-only snapshot-based data capture (EverON Snapshot), and asynchronous data replication to remote sites (EverON Mirror).

The Bobcat NAS Gateways are available in three models, all 1U in size. All offer 4 GbE ports (LC or Copper) for LAN connectivity and dual 2 Gb/sec FC ports (LC) for connecting to storage. The 2240 model ships with 4 GB of ECC Cache Memory; while the 2260 and 2280 both include 8 GB.

New to the vendor's product line are the Cougar NAS Gateways, which are described by the vendor as an active/active dual NAS blade. Two models are initially available, both 2U, and both sporting 8 GbE ports (optical or copper) for the LAN and 8 4 Gb/sec FC ports (LC) for the storage. The 6520 includes 12 GB of ECC Cache Memory, while the 6720 ratches the cache up to 16 GB.

Also available from the vendor are the Pantera Clustered NAS platforms, which combine the NAS gateways with disk arrays. The Pantera models mirror the gateways themselves (i.e., they are offered in a three-model 2000 series or a two model 6000 series), with disk storage sub-system choices including an all FC (interface and drives), and FC host to SAS/SATA drive models.

The ONStor Clustered NAS products are available now, with the Bobcats starting at about $30,000, Pantera starting at about $50,000, and the the new Cougar 6000 Series carrying a starting price of $122,500 for "...a filer inclusive of a comprehensive set of NAS management software."

Contact ONStor for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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