Tony Pearson is a Master Inventor and Senior IT Architect for the IBM Storage product line at the
IBM Executive Briefing Center in Tucson Arizona, and featured contributor
to IBM's developerWorks. In 2016, Tony celebrates his 30th year anniversary with IBM Storage. He is
author of the Inside System Storage series of books. This blog is for the open exchange of ideas relating to storage and storage networking hardware, software and services.
(Short URL for this blog: ibm.co/Pearson )
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Well, it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means! IBM announcements!
Today, I am in New York visiting clients. The weather is a lot nicer than I expected. Here is a picture of the Hudson River through some trees with leaves turning color. Something we don't see in Tucson! Our cactus and pine trees stay green year-round!
The announcements today center around the IBM PureSystems family of expert integrated systems. The PureFlex is based on Flex System components. The Flex System chassis is 10U high that hold 14 bays, consisting of 7 rows by 2 columns. Computer and Storage nodes fit in the front, and switches, fans and power supplies in the back. Here is a quick recap:
IBM Flex System Compute Nodes
The x220 Compute Node is a single-bay low-power 2-socket x86 server. The x440 Compute Node is a powerful double-bay (1 row, 2 columns). The p260 Compute Node is a single-bay server based on the latest POWER7+ CPU processor.
IBM Flex System Expansion Nodes
Do you remember those old movies where a motorcycle would have a sidecar that could hold another passenger, or extra cargo? IBM introduces "Expansion Nodes" for the x200 series single-bay Compute nodes. The idea here is that in a single column, you have one bay for the Compute node, and then on the side in the next bay (same column) you have an Expanions node. There are two choices:
Storage Expansion Node allows you to have eight additional drives
PCIe Expansion Node allows to to have four PCIe cards, which could include the SSD-based PCIe cards from IBM's recent acquisition, Texas Memory Systems.
There are times where one or two internal drives are just not enough storage for a single server, and these expanion nodes could just be the perfect solution for some use cases.
IBM Flex System V7000 Storage Node
I saved the best for last! The Flex System V7000 Storage Node is basically the IBM Storwize V7000 repackaged to fit into the Flex System chassis. This means that in the front of the chassis, the Flex System V7000 takes up four bays (2 rows by 2 columns). In the back of the chassis are the power supplies, fans and switches.
The new Flex System V7000 supports everything the Storwize V7000 does except the upgrade to "Unified" through file modules. For those who want to have Storwize V7000 Unified in their PureFlex systems, IBM will continue to offer the outside-the-chassis original Storwize V7000 that can have two file modules added for NFS, CIFS, HTTPS, FTP and SCP protocol support.
IBM Flex System Converged Network Switch
The Converged Network Switch provide Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) directly from the chassis. This eliminates the need for a separate "Top-of-Rack" switch, and allows the new Flex System V7000 Storage Node to externally virtualize FCoE-based disk arrays.
Patterns of Expertise for Infrastructure
The original patterns of expertise focused on the PureApplication Systems. Now IBM has added some for the Infrastructure on PureFlex systems.
IBM has sold over 1,000 Flex System and PureFlex systems, across 40 different countries around the world, since their introduction a few months ago in April! These latest enhancements will help solidify IBM's industry leadership,
Well, it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means! IBM Announcements!
Today also happens to be [Election Day] in the United States, and some have questioned IBM's logic of making major storage announcements on Election Day. During the campaigns, a major theme was to help Small and Medium size businesses, because these are the engines of economic growth and improved employment.
Hopefully, you all saw today's Launch Webcast on these announcements, but in case you missed it, waiting in line at the polling station to cast your vote, or caught without electricity or Internet access from [Superstorm Sandy], it is now available [On-Demand].
Here is a quick recap:
IBM Storwize V3700 Disk System
The latest addition to the Storwize family is the new [IBM Storwize V3700 disk system] which offers a smaller, entry-level version of the amazingly successful IBM Storwize V7000. Here is a quick [3-minute YouTube video]:
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The 2U control enclosure can have up to four additional 2U expansion enclosures, for a maximum of 120 drives, or 180TB of raw disk capacity. Like the Storwize V7000, the Storwize V3700 supports a [large number of servers and operating systems.]
Many of the features you already know from the Storwize V7000 are carried forward:
Feature
Storwize V7000
Storwize V3700
Protocols (included)
1GbE iSCSI + 8GbFC
1GbE iSCSI
Protocols (optional)
10GbE iSCSI/FCoE
8GbFC, 10GbE iSCSI/FCoE, Statement of Direction for 6Gb SAS
Cache
8GB per canister
4GB per canister, upgradeable to 8GB
Expansion
Up to 4 control enclosures in a clustered system, each with up to 9 expansion enclosures
Up to 4 expansion enclosures
Maximum Number of drives/TB
960 drives/1.44PB
Up to 120 drives/180TB
RAID levels supported
0,1,5,6,10
0,1,5,6,10
User Interfaces
GUI, CLI, SMI-S API
GUI, CLI, SMI-S API
Thin Provisioning
Included
Included
Virtualization
Internal (included), external (optional)
Internal only (included)
Non-disruptive data migration
Two-directional (included)
One-directional (migrate to Storwize V3700, included)
Easy Tier
included
Statement of direction
FlashCopy
Up to 256 targets (included)
Up to 64 targets (included) Statement of Direction for optional 2,040 targets
Remote Mirror
Metro Mirror and Global Mirror (optional)
Statement of Direction (optional)
Real-time Compression
Optional
Not available
The IBM Storwize V3700 is offered at attractive leasing options through IBM Global Financing.
IBM LTO-6 drives and midrange tape libraries
Last month, IBM's [Tape and Storage Hypervisor Announcements] included LTO-6 for the enterprise-class TS3500 tape library. Today, the LTO-6 support is complete with support for midrange tape drives and libraries.
There are two tape drive models. The TS2260 is based on the half-height drive, intended for occasional 9-to-5 usage. The TS2360 is based on the full-height drive, intended for 24x7 access. These drives can read LTO-4 and LTO-5 tape cartridge media, and can write LTO-5 cartridge media. The new LTO-6 tape cartridge media is expected to be available next month.
In addition to the IBM TS3500 Enterprise Tape Library, LTO-6 is now supported on all of the midrange tape libraries: TS2900, TS3100, TS3200 and TS3310.
IBM Linear Tape File System Library Edition V2.1.2
There are two levels of [Linear Tape File System], or LTFS for short. The first is the Single Drive Edition (LTFS-SDE), which allows you to attach an LTO-5, LTO-6 or TS1140 tape drive to a single workstation, and allow you to mount tape cartridges as easy as mounting USB memory sticks. This presents a full file system view that allows you to read, edit, create, and even drag-and-drop files to other file systems. The LTFS-SDE driver is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
The second is the Library Edition (LTFS-LE), which allows you to mount the entire tape library as a file system. Each tape cartridge in the library is presented as a subdirectory folder, that you can access like any file system on disk. This was only available for Linux systems, which could then export the files through NFS, FTP or HTTP protocols to other clients. Now, with release v2.1.2, LTFS-LE supports Windows servers, so that you can share the files with other clients through CIFS as well.
Whether you are a midsize business looking to expand, or a large enterprise with midsize workloads, these products could be just the right solution for you! To learn more, see the [November 6th Storage Announcement Landing Page].
Wow! Since my last blog post on this, we have over 600 registrants!
Smarter Storage for Midsize Businesses
Businesses of all sizes are getting buried in the avalanche of data. Data is coming in at faster rates and in greater volumes. The value of data is increasing. Old processes and technologies aren't working. Midsize businesses have the same issues managing the rapid growth of data as large enterprises, but they don't have the same size budget or staff. They need advanced capabilities at an affordable price that are easy to implement.
Speakers for this webcast include Brian Truskowski, General Manager, IBM System Storage and Networking; Ed Walsh, Vice President of Market and Strategy, IBM System Storage; and Tommy Rickard, IBM Director, UK Storage Development.
Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 Time: 8:00 AM PST / 9:00AM Arizona / 11:00 PM EST Duration: 60 Minutes
[Register now!] Learn how new IBM Smarter Storage solutions can help midsize businesses tame the explosion of information and their IT budgets.
Joining the IBM executive speakers are the following:
Clay Hales, President & CEO InfoSystems Inc.
Lief Morin, President, Key Information Systems, Inc.
Vincent Louvel, Storage Mgr, Agence France-Presse (AKA AFP)
Laurent Cervera, IT Manager, Agence France-Presse (AKA AFP)
Well, it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means! IBM Announcements!
Today, I am pleased to announce that IBM has published a Redpaper on [IBM Smart Storage Cloud].
I worked with the IBM Redbooks residency team to review this paper and ensure it had the right focus. I did not want a Redpaper that just listed all of the IBM technologies available, but rather spend some effort on the business benefits, and realistic use cases with actual client examples, that help illustrate not just what a Smart Storage Cloud is, but why your business may benefit from having one, and how others have already benefited from their deployment.
To help promote this new Redpaper, my colleagues Larry Coyne and Karen Orlando filmed me talking about the book. This has been posted as a [4-minute YouTube video]. This is the first time we have promoted a Redpaper using a video, so let me know what you thinkk in the comment section below.
We have some exciting webcasts in the upcoming weeks!
Smarter Enterprises Need Smarter Storage
In this [InformationWeek webcast], my IBM colleague Allen Marin will present a brief overview of IBM Smarter Storage for the enterprise with a focus on new high-end disk and Virtual Tape solutions.
Allen will take you through the recent enhancements [announced earlier this month], highlighting how the new capabilities can address the requirements of your mission-critical applications, as well as your evolving business analytics, and cloud initiatives.
Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Time: 10:00 AM PDT / 10:00AM Arizona / 1:00 PM EDT Duration: 60 Minutes
[Register now!] All registrants will get the independent Clipper Group Report - "When Infrastructure Really Matters - A Focus on High-End Storage" - free!
Smarter Storage for Midsize Businesses
Businesses of all sizes are getting buried in the avalanche of data. Data is coming in at faster rates and in greater volumes. The value of data is increasing. Old processes and technologies aren't working. Midsize businesses have the same issues managing the rapid growth of data as large enterprises, but they don't have the same size budget or staff. They need advanced capabilities at an affordable price that are easy to implement.
Speakers for this webcast include Brian Truskowski, General Manager, IBM System Storage and Networking; Ed Walsh, Vice President of Market and Strategy, IBM System Storage; and Tommy Rickard, IBM Director, UK Storage Development.
Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 Time: 8:00 AM PST / 9:00AM Arizona / 11:00 AM EST Duration: 60 Minutes
[Register now!] Learn how new IBM Smarter Storage solutions can help midsize businesses tame the explosion of information and their IT budgets.
I hope you can find time in your busy schedule to participate in one or both of these webcasts.
Tony Pearson is a Master Inventor and Senior IT Architect for the IBM Storage product line at the
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