Comparing IBM Fusion Data Foundation with other storage solutions
There are many options to add persistence to containerized workload. The needs of customers and applications differ. Besides IBM Fusion Data Foundation, there are other options for providing persistence to an OpenShift cluster on IBM Z.
With IBM Fusion, a comprehensive suite for storage infrastructure has been introduced.
| Solution | Suitable usage scenario | Storage classes | Access options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Storage Operator | Operator used to create PVs from Local Volumes with SCSI-over-FCP and DASD volumes | ||
| iSCSI | manually provisioned | ReadWriteOnce, ReadOnlyMany | |
| Fibre Channel | manually provisioned | ReadWriteOnce, ReadOnlyMany | |
| IBM Block Storage CSI driver | ISV provided driver for storage attachments using iSCSI and FCP | ||
| NFS | Generic and commonly used network attached persistent shared storage | file | ReadWriteMany |
| IBM Storage Scale | Extremely scalable IBM product for file and object storage access. Deployed external to the OpenShift cluster. Component of IBM Fusion, but also available standalone for non-containerized workload | file, object | ReadWriteOnce, ReadWriteMany |
| IBM Cloud Native Storage Access (CNSA) | a cross cluster mount capability to attach an RHOCP cluster to an IBM Storage Scale cluster | file, object | ReadWriteOnce, ReadWriteMany |
| IBM Storage Ceph | Scalable and resilient open source storage for storage access (only available for x86) | object, file, and block | ReadWriteOnce, ReadWriteMany |
| IBM Fusion Data Foundation | Versatile multi-purpose container-native storage access based on Ceph. Tightly integrated into the Red Hat OpenShift ecosystem and component of IBM Fusion | object, file, and block | ReadWriteOnce, ReadWriteMany |
| IBM Fusion | IBM storage offering, which wraps IBM Storage Scale and IBM Fusion Data Foundation in a unified install and configuration experience for container workload | object, file, and block | ReadWriteOnce, ReadWriteMany |
| IBM Fusion HCI | IBM storage appliance, which delivers IBM Fusion as a hardware unit | object, file, and block | ReadWriteOnce, ReadWriteMany |
| Use Case | Product offering | workload |
|---|---|---|
| Unified Software Defined Storage for Red Hat OpenShift and Kubernetes workloads | IBM Fusion based on IBM Fusion Data Foundation | Container-based workload (Red Hat OpenShift) |
| Unified Software Defined Storage (File/Block/Object) for hybrid workloads | IBM Storage Ceph (For IBM Z: IBM Fusion Data Foundation) | Generic workload |
| Distributed File and Object storage for AI/Data intense workloads | IBM Storage Scale | Generic workload |
| Object storage for analytics and active archive workloads | IBM Storage Ceph (For IBM Z: IBM Fusion Data Foundation) | Generic workload |
NFS, IBM Storage Scale, and IBM Fusion Data Foundation are the most relevant solutions, especially if storage needs to be share across applications (ReadWriteMany).
- NFS is well-known and popular. NFS can be integrated with the Red Hat OpenShift platform. It has several limitations, such as supporting file storage only or being constrained with regards to scalability and high availability.
- IBM Storage Scale adds valuable capabilities in terms of parallel file systems and data sharing between architectures. A strength of IBM Storage Scale is its amazing scalability in terms of both performance and the amount of data stored. This makes Storage Scale a preferred option for AI applications and data lakes across the globe. Spectrum Scale is not limited to containerized workloads and container-native storage, but also finds its use in classic legacy workload. Data tiering is another signature feature of IBM Spectrum Scale. IBM Spectrum scale also provides sophisticated patterns for high availability and disaster recovery using IBM technologies like IBM Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS). IBM Spectrum Scale focuses on general-purpose file storage, but recently also added S3 Object Storage access to Cloud providers. Spectrum Scale is deployed in a cluster of its own, external to the Red Hat OpenShift cluster, which runs the containerized applications.
- IBM Fusion Data Foundation supports all three common storage classes, file, block, and object storage. One of the biggest advantages of IBM Fusion Data Foundation is that it is closely coupled with the Red Hat OpenShift ecosystem and its user experience. This makes is an excellent choice for general-purpose storage for containerized workload. Under the hood, it is based on well-known and well-accepted open source components such as NooBaa, Rook, and Ceph. With NooBaa, a storage infrastructure can federate to build true hybrid cloud topologies, which span multiple cloud vendors and on-premises deployments. This allows for flexible data tiering. Backup, disaster recovery and high availability are based on a Red Hat software stack, which includes Red Hat Advanced Cluster Manager (RHACM) and Open API for Data Protection (OADP).
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IBM Fusion is IBM’s strategic offering for container-native storage and the delivery vehicle for IBM Fusion Data Foundation. It integrates IBM Fusion Data Foundation and IBM Storage Scale into a unified install and configuration experience. Additional data platform, protection, and cluster services include further value in addition to the core storage platforms.
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IBM Fusion HCI is delivering IBM Fusion as a hardware appliance. In addition to providing physical storage and the Red Hat OpenShift cluster running IBM Fusion, you can also run custom workload. IBM Fusion HCI includes GPUs, which makes it attractive to run x86 based AI workload next to a IBM Z and LinuxONE environment.
Note: IBM Fusion Data Foundation can be licensed by IBM as part of IBM Fusion. Nevertheless,
subscriptions for Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation Essentials and Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation
Advanced can also be purchased by Red Hat in parallel.