Breakthroughs in performance, scalability and quality of service

The newest enhancements, now available and shipping, further boost I/O performance and double the scale of hyper-converged storage systems to 64 nodes. Customers can now deploy larger-scale 64-Petabyte configurations driving over 100 million IOPS. PSP1 offers new policies governing Quality of Service (QoS) to regulate access to tiered storage split between private and public clouds. These hybrid cloud developments optimally align storage resources to organisational needs and service level agreements (SLAs).

Accelerate Performance Up to 30X for Random Write Intensive Applications such as OLTP
The new software release includes a new Random Write Accelerator, which yields up to 30 times faster performance for random-write-heavy workloads that frequently update databases, ERP and OLTP systems. Even greater performance gains can be realised on RAID-5 protected datasets that spread data and reconstruction information to multiple locations across different disk drives.

SSD-like Speeds from Spinning Disks; Faster Response and Reduced Write-wear for Flash
The remarkable write performance speed-ups are most pronounced when using low-cost spinning disks (e.g., SATA disk drives) where each write incurs significant rotational and seek delays to mechanically update blocks on spinning platters. Higher speed flash-based technologies (SSDs), especially prone to write-amplification and rapid wear, benefit from the Random Write Accelerator as well, delivering up to 3.6 times more IOPS.

Double the Scalability – Hyper-Converged Systems up to 64 Nodes and Over 100 Million IOPs
The new version of DataCore Virtual SAN supports larger scale configurations that can be managed centrally and organised to match business operational needs. With these latest enhancements, customers can now spread their workloads over more servers in a cluster and share resources across multiple clusters in order to improve their response and throughput.

Doubling the possible number of nodes in a DataCore Virtual SAN is particularly valuable for latency-sensitive applications distributed over large-scale clusters, as well as virtual desktop (VDI) deployments for thousands of users.

Scaling out the configuration across more nodes enables better distribution of the workloads and segmentation of the physical storage capacity. DataCore’s zero-touch failover capabilities ensure workloads and applications are not disrupted in the event of a node or storage failure. The internode mirrors can also be stretched over metro-wide distances up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) to improve overall availability and business continuity. Scaling out to more nodes also enhances the overall resiliency of the infrastructure.

Quality-of-Service Enhancements for Private Clouds and Virtual Data Centres
Also new in SANsymphony-V10 PSP1 are Quality-of-Service (QoS) settings to ensure high-priority workloads competing for access to storage can meet their service level agreements (SLAs) with predictable I/O performance. QoS controls regulate the resources consumed by workloads of lower priority.

To minimise contention in multi-tenant environments, the data transfer rate and IOPS for less important applications are capped to limits set by the system administrator. These QoS controls enable IT organisations to efficiently manage their shared storage infrastructure using a private cloud model. Storage resources can be logically segregated, monitored and regulated on a departmental basis. New utilisation tracking capabilities and chargeback reports have also been added.

Hybrid Cloud Storage Infrastructure for Cost Savings and Simplicity
Through new integration with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, SANsymphony-V enables a hybrid cloud storage infrastructure where active data remains on premise and is rapidly accessible, while cold, inactive data can reside in the cloud. The same technology enables backup copies to be stored in Azure for disaster recovery purposes and long-term archive, securely accessible across the world.

SANsymphony-V may be configured to utilise Azure Cloud services, through the DataCore Ready certified Azure StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage Array as a bridge to geo-redundant Azure cloud storage. SANsymphony-V can dynamically auto-tier on-premise storage to StorSimple Arrays as well as pool these arrays just like any other storage. As new data arrives and older data becomes less frequently accessed, the inactive data will be migrated to Azure over an Internet connection.

The DataCore and StorSimple combination can also create backup copies (snapshots) in Azure of the current working set. In case of emergency, the backup copies can be retrieved from other locations equipped with StorSimple Arrays, or by Azure-hosted applications. For hosts with Fibre Channel connections, SANsymphony-V provides the protocol conversion to iSCSI as part of its virtualization services.

Other Notable Enhancements – More Automation, CDP Markers, Metro-Cluster Standby Node
PSP1 also provides new performance-monitoring capabilities, numerous new wizards to automate processes such as software updates, enhanced CDP capabilities for restoring from known good points- in-time, and a number of other improvements and management tools.

In addition, a new standby node capability has been added to allow workloads to be more easily redistributed across nodes or to maintain full performance and redundancy when a node is taken out of service to accommodate upgrades, maintenance or growth. With this new capability, control of that node’s shareable storage resources can be easily transferred to a standby node without disrupting applications and overall throughput, and responsiveness of the system remains intact. Introducing a standby node into an active SANsymphony-V group may be used to offload an overtaxed node. For example, some of the virtual disks and corresponding storage devices from a node near its capacity or performance limits can be redistributed to a third node -- essentially increasing the power of the storage infrastructure by 50 percent or more.

In metro or stretch clusters, transferring control to the standby node has an added advantage. Hosts at the affected site continue to access local storage resources at the fastest possible speed without traversing the metropolitan area network.

“These breakthrough enhancements to our flagship SANsymphony-V solution and our Virtual SAN product deliver advantages not only to conventional data centre operations, but to those IT organisations seeking the benefits of private and hybrid cloud infrastructures,” said George Teixeira, CEO of DataCore. “This latest version is another signal of our commitment to making software-defined storage a reality for enterprises looking for an easier, more cost-effective way to manage and provision storage.”