Magnitude 3D

Xiotech's Magnitude 3D is a block-level storage platform that features clustered connectivity, support for Fibre Channel or iSCSI connections, and support for multiple types of drives, including Fibre Channel, SATA, and solid state disks. Each of the drive types are connected to the controllers via Fibre Channel connectivity, allowing for the mixing and matching of drive types in the same system for multi-tiered storage implementations.

At the heart of the storage platform is the vendor's Dimensional Storage Cluster architecture, which they describe as a "loosely coupled" platform in which all drive bays are attached to one or two Dimensional Controller Nodes (DCNs). These DCNs are deployed in active/active configurations and are able to communicate configuration and management directives directly with each other by three possible paths: through out-of-band Ethernet connections, a front-end Fibre Channel connection, or through a specially designated area of the shared storage pool itself. The DCNs virtualize the attached storage pool, presenting it to host servers as virtual "VDisks." A single management appliance (the Intelligent CONtrol Management Platform, or ICON Manager) provides a browser-based, out-of-band management interface to the platform.

A key feature of the storage architecture is support for failover/failback, both within an individual controller and across controllers in the cluster, without requiring special software or configurations on the host servers. Each controller exposes its ports in pairs, such that if one port fails, communications to that port can be transparently routed to the other; similarly, if the entire controller fails, its traffic can be routed to the other controller in the cluster. This capability is made possible via the vendor's "Moving Target" technology, in which each host port has an assigned world wide port name (WWPN) as a target ID. When an event occurs that makes that physical port unavailable to the host, the target ID (WWPN) of the failed port is transparently moved to another physical port. Because the failover capabilities are based on the controller-based forwarding of FC traffic to working ports, the host servers require no server-side software or configurations to support it. And because of this, controllers can be removed as needed for planned downtime without interrupting data access. When the failed component is replaced or corrected, a click in the ICON's browser-based interface allows for the re-establishment of the original communications configuration when the administrator is ready.

As of this writing, two Magnitude 3D product families (3000 series and 4000 series) are available; each with three available models.

The Magnitude 3D 3000e Edge is a single controller platform that supports up to 84 TB of storage and includes up to two 2 Gb/sec FC and two iSCSI host ports. The Magnitude 3D 3000e includes dual controllers, supports up to 84 TB of storage and includes up to four 2 Gb/sec FC host ports and four iSCSI ports listed as optional. Finally, the Magnitude 3D 3000s includes dual controllers, supports up to 168 TB of storage and includes up to eight 2 Gb/sec FC host ports and four iSCSI ports. Disk bays are available in SATA, FC, and Solid State flavors.

The Magnitude 3D 4000 series models are similar to the 3000 series with the key exception that the 4000's all support 4 Gb/sec FC connectivity. Additionally, the 4000 series--as the flagship offering of the product line--may receive the benefit of additional and newer features over the 3000 line (the vendor notes that system sales have been transitioned to the 4000 series, but continues to make software and capacity upgrades available for existing systems).

New in the product family is the Virtual View plugin for the ICON Manager interface. Virtual View provides integration with VMware APIs, allowing for the management of virtual storage infrastructure through the ICON Manager, including creation and expansion of virtual disks, LUN assignment, and datastore creations for ESX systems and clusters. Virtual View is available for the Magnitude 3D 4000 series (as well as the vendor's Emprise 7000 system), but not the 3000 series. The initial version of Virtual View provides mapping of systems and parameters across the array, VMware ESX and virtual machine layers; while a subsequent version (expected at end of June, 2008) is expected to add integration and automated configuration. Virtual View is a free, downloadable plugin for existing customers.

The Magnitude 3D products are available now, with base pricing starting at $85,000. Visit the Xiotech Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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