NAS management software specifications

Network attached storage (NAS) appliances and gateways must be configured and managed using NAS management software that allows administrators to allocate space, manage RAID and storage behaviors, perform routine maintenance, and other tasks. Management software ideally provides interoperability with a variety of NAS devices from different vendors and can automate many of the routine management tasks that would otherwise demand manual attention. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross section of major NAS management software products.

In spite of the convenience offered by network attached storage (NAS), appliances and gateways must be configured and managed using software tools that allow administrators to allocate space, manage RAID and storage behaviors, perform routine maintenance, and other tasks. Management software ideally provides interoperability with a variety of NAS devices from different vendors and can automate many of the routine management tasks that would otherwise demand manual attention. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross section of major NAS management software products. The following products were selected based on input from industry analysts and SearchStorage.com editors, and specifications are current as of August 2007.

The following specifications have been provided by vendors and are periodically updated. Vendors are welcome to submit their updates and new product specifications to Matt Perkins.

Product Snapshot #1

Product: Adaptec Inc.; Snap Server Manager 

Maximum Storage: 44TB in one Snap Server 
RAID Support: RAID-0; RAID-1; RAID-5 
Hot Spare Support: Yes; it supports global hot spares and local hot spares 
Automated Discovery: Yes; automates the discovery of SnapOS- and GuardianOS-powered Snap Servers (local and remote) in a fraction of the time needed by manual administration. This provides instant environmental visibility, knowledge, and control 
Automated Maintenance: Snap Server Manager automates routine storage maintenance tasks such as configuring storage network settings, updating software and firmware, adding and retiring Snap Server storage assets, monitoring and notification, and capacity utilization reporting. Snap Server Manager can easily schedule maintenance during off-peak hours to minimize business disruptions and can automatically create and send email reports to confirm a successful operation. 
Reporting Features: Yes; Snap Server Manager's comprehensive analysis, in-depth information and reporting capabilities eliminate the need for manual collection and spreadsheets, giving enterprises accurate knowledge about their Snap Server storage assets. With a simple and efficient click of a mouse button, Snap Server Manager offers immediate in-depth information of Snap Server storage assets and how they are being utilized. 
Backup Support: Yes; BakBone NetVault [included with Snap Server Manager],VERITAS NetBackup/Backup Exec, CA BrightStor ARCserve/Enterprise, Legato NetWorker, Microsoft Backup Software for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, and NDMP v2,v3, v4. 
Virtualization Support: Not provided 
Security Features: Provides antivirus support through CA eTrust Antivirus and encryption for data transfers 
Other Key Features: Single console to manage a storage infrastructure with multiple Snap Servers; intuitive GUI provides centralized management of the entire storage infrastructure, including physical devices, global network configuration and administration, and capacity planning; customized groupings so IT managers can administer their Snap Server storage infrastructure in the way that best fits their business: by department, by location, by application, or by user; allows users to simultaneously configure a group of Snap Servers in a single operation to eliminate redundant administrative tasks, reduce errors and assure consistent settings across servers; IT managers can generate business-centric reports based on the server grouping for capacity planning or chargeback purposes. 
Minimum Requirements: Pentium III 133 MHz, 128MB RAM, Snap Server GuardianOS v2.6 or higher, Snap Server SnapOS v3.4 or higher; Java Virtual Machine V1.4.1 
Hardware Compatibility: Snap Server 110, 210, 410, 510, 520, 550, 650, 4200, 4500, 18000 (Included free license allows servers to be viewed and individually configured. Monitoring only Snap Server 1100, 2200, 4100 (No license required for these SnapOS systems) 
OS Compatibility: HP-UX (PA-RISC) 11.x; IBM AIX 5.1, 5.2; Linux running kernel 2.2.1.2 and later with glibc 2.1.2-11 or later; MacOS X 10.2.3 or later; Microsoft Windows Me, NT, 2000, 2003, XP; Sun Solaris (i386 and SPARC) 7,8,9 
Vendor Comment: Snap Server Manager is a Java-enabled management solution that allows enterprises to rapidly deploy, configure, and manage a complete Snap Server storage network from a single console. Snap Server Manager minimizes the IT resources required to manage hundreds of terabytes of data, and lowers overall TCO with business-centric views that allow IT resources to be focused on data availability and protection. 
Availability: Currently available; Snap Server Manager is included with all Adaptec Snap Servers 
Base Cost: Free; Snap Server Manager is included with all Adaptec Snap Servers 
Detailed Specs: http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/software/manage_sw/Snap_Server_Manager/ 
Vendor URL: www.adaptec.com 
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Product Snapshot #2

Product: BlueArc Corp.; BlueArc software suite 

Maximum Storage: Supports up to of 512 usable terabytes tiered storage, supporting both Fibre Channel and Serial ATA drives. This is the current tested capacity limit, not an architectural limit. There is no limit on the number of drives. 
RAID Support: Can manage the backend RAID storage systems in RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and 50. BlueArc's Titan also has the ability to stripe across multiple RAID systems, creating a virtual storage pool for greater capacity and performance. This can be dynamically scaled in both capacity and performance. 
Hot Spare Support: Software supports multiple hot spare drives within the back-end RAID storage. Hot spares are configured per shelf or by RAID group as desired and rebuilt into the RAID groups on failure, with drive rebuilds handled in hardware through the RAID controllers, minimizing the impact on NAS performance during rebuilds. 
Automated Discovery: Titan's management unit can discover new storage as well as additional Titan servers. These are all centrally managed by the management software. 
Automated Maintenance: Management software performs constant monitoring of the Titan servers relaying status and alerts to SNMP, e-mail and call home to BlueArc's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) as configured. The software provides proactive alerts of drive errors, with reporting to the TAC for proactive replacement. In high availability clustered configurations, active-active paired Titan servers are monitored and all services are automatically moved to the surviving server in the event of a failure to ensure continued file services. 
Reporting Features: Management software performs a daily report with full details on all systems. This includes logging of all levels of severity, e-mail, SNMP and call home alerts to the BlueArc technical assistance center (TAC) as configured. Full alert monitoring, reports and graphs are available within the management GUI. Daily reports are also generated by each system for delivery to the customer and BlueArc TAC for long term trending and analysis. 
Backup Support: Supports replication within the Titan between storage tiers as well as between Titans. Replication is supported via synchronous or asynchronous copies, block or file level including incremental copies. Snapshots are used to take point-in-time copies of data prior to replication; Supports NDMP backup schemes via LAN-based and LAN-free tape libraries and media servers. LAN-Free backups minimize the impact on client access as traffic only traverses the backend SAN to a SAN attached tape library. Titan supports backup software and products from ADIC, Atempo, Bakbone, CommVault Systems, Legato, Overland Storage, Quantum/ATL, Spectra Logic, STK (Sun), Syncsort, and Veritas (Symantec). 
Virtualization Support: Block storage is virtualized into a dynamic storage pool across multiple hardware-based RAID arrays. The virtualized storage pool provides thin provisioning or dynamic file system expansion. Virtual Volumes provide user or project constructs that allow administrators to grow and shrink provided storage as well as implement quota limitations; Virtual Servers allow administrators virtual machine like functionality by presenting many fully featured virtual file servers from a single Titan allowing it to be shared across different applications and workgroups each with their own policies, security, IP address, etc.; Global name space virtualization feature provides a virtual view across all Titan servers and file systems as a single unified file structure and mount point, simplifying access and administration. 
Security Features: Role-based access for storage, network or system administration is provided via web-based GUI HTTP/HTTPS or CLI via SSL/SSH. NFS and CIFS user authentication via Access Control Lists, Active Directory, NIS or LDAP is supported. For mixed NFS and CIFS access, appropriate mapping of permissions is supported between the two protocols. CHAP authentication is also available for iSCSI secure authentication. 
Other Key Features: Titan features a 64-bit Object Oriented File system with almost no overhead, eliminating the reduction of usable storage and improves data efficiency and access. Integrated Transparent Data Migration between storage tiers allows data to be migrated via automated policies with no affect on user or application access. Cluster Read Caching provides accelerated read performance for a common data set across N-Way clustered Titan servers, providing linear performance as customers scale out. Write Once Read Many (WORM) file system support for compliance solutions. Advanced NAS features including: N-Way clustering, Hardware-based Snapshots, Accelerated Data Copy, Anti-virus Scanning support, iSCSI MPIO (Multi-path support) 
Minimum Requirements: The management software is provided on a turnkey system called the System Management Unit, or SMU. This is a dedicated server that manages the entire system including up to 16 Titans, proving control, monitoring, and reporting functionality. 
Hardware Compatibility: BlueArc's management software supports all the companies' products including the latest Titan 2200. Brocade SAN switches are managed and monitored for backend SAN connectivity. The management software can virtualize and manage a variety of backend SAN storage systems. 
OS Compatibility: The management software runs on the dedicated System Management Unit running a Red Hat Linux OS base. Any type of client OS is supported through standard CIFS, NFS and iSCSI protocols, no special drivers are required. 
Vendor Comment: BlueArc provides a comprehensive management and feature suite for the high performance Titan 2200 enabling customers to enable massive NAS consolidation, improve application performance, and simply storage administration. Titan's modular server and storage design ensure no forklift upgrade is required as customer's requirements grow or change. 
Availability: Currently available 
Base Cost: BlueArc Titan solutions start at approximately $100,000. Licensed software features are available for additional varying cost. 
Detailed Specs: http://www.bluearc.com/html/products/software_data.shtml 
Vendor URL: www.bluearc.com 
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Product Snapshot #3

Product: EMC Corp.; Celerra Manager 

Maximum Storage: Provides the capability to perform all management functions for a single or multiple Celerra systems. The largest Celerra system today is the NSX, which currently has a maximum capacity of 168 TB usable per system, so managing ten Celerra NSX systems with Celerra Manager would give you over 1.6 Petabytes under a single point of control. 
RAID Support: The Celerra integrated systems and Celerra gateway systems provide multiple RAID levels and disk types in a single array, and support RAID levels 1, 3, 5 and 10, depending on the storage platform. 
Hot Spare Support: Hot spares are an integral part of the fault tolerant capabilities of the CLARiiON and Symmetrix back ends for Celerra. Hot sparing is handled by these storage subsystems, as well as such features as proactive sparing, where disks may be replaced in the background prior to failure, for exceeding a threshold number of soft errors. These functions are transparent to the Celerra system. Celerra Management software monitors this storage and provides usage/status reports. 
Automated Discovery: Storage management solutions for NAS and storage resource discovery include EMC Smarts, EMC Rainfinity Global File Virtualization, EMC Visual SRM, and the EMC Control Center Family -- these products work with Celerra Manager to discover, manage, and report on Celerra systems. In addition, Celerra Manager with Automated Volume Management (AVM) can simplify and automate file system creation, using workload profile, such as high performance, bulk storage, backup to disk, and archive. AVM automatically selects the appropriate drive type, RAID level, striping, and physical assignments based on system defined or user defined workload profiles. 
Automated Maintenance: Can automatically extend file system size, based on parameters set by the administrator. Email/pager alerts can be automatically sent, based on Celerra and resource usage and hardware status, as well as file system monitoring and alerting, with the added capability of predicting time to full for storage resources. EMC systems also employ a "call home" capability that proactively sends alerts to an EMC support center. 
Reporting Features: Provides quota management, current and historical data on resource usage, and allows the export of graphs and lists from any of the reporting screens. EMC Celerra maintains a number of system and error logs which can be viewed from the Celerra Manager Console. Celerra manager has a "system health" icon which is a launch pad to an alerts page. 
Backup Support: Backup is accomplished through support of the standard NDMP protocol or network backups via multiple commercially available backup products, such as EMC NetWorker, Symantec NetBackup, CommVault Galaxy, HP OpenView, Atempo Time Navigator, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM), and many others. Replication capabilities are supported in the Celerra with Celerra SnapSure (local) and Celerra Replicator (remote). In the case of CLARiiON, local and remote replication is accomplished via tight integration with MirrorView; the Symmetrix replicates data using TimeFinder for local replication and SRDF for remote replication. In addition, network-based and host-based replication are fully supported by a number of EMC and 3rd party products. 
Virtualization Support: The Celerra operating system (DART) provides for the creation and management of virtual file servers, so multiple file servers can be consolidated to a single NAS head. EMC also supports namespace technology, including Microsoft DFS Root and Automounter for Unix, which allows for the presentation of a single logical view of multiple independent filesystems. EMC FileMover is an API that enables automated, policy-driven migration of data between tiers of storage. Virtual Provisioning allows improved storage utilization through thin provisioning, automatic increases in file system storage and automatic extensions of those filesystems. EMC Rainfinity Global Filesystem Virtualization gives storage administrators the ability to monitor storage utilization and performance and non-disruptively migrate data to optimize the storage infrastructure. 
Security Features: Uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption to protect the connection between the client computer and the Control Station; uses MD5 to generate checksums to protect the session tokens (cookies) used to identify users after they log in; logs out an inactive Celerra Manager sessions after a time of session inactivity that is user settable; create a distinct administrative user account for each administrator that has permission to log in to Celerra Manager but not the Celerra CLI; scalable anti-virus protection from McAfee, Symantec, Trend, CA and Sophos; fully supports Microsoft MMC Snap-ins, allowing users to take advantage of the full range of Microsoft management, virus-checking and security capabilities. 
Other Key Features: Multi-Protocol File System for iSCSI (MPFSi); Virtual Provisioning (a combination of Thin Provisioning with an additional capability to automatically extend file systems); File Level Retention features (WORM); Support for CIFS, NFS, iSCSI and ftp protocols; Capability of creating checkpoints; User and filesystem tree quotas; IP replication services; Ability to perform virtual tape backups; Data Migration Services; GUI-based wizards for simplified management tasks; High availability networking, Virtual LAN, link aggregation and network trunking. 
Minimum Requirements: The Celerra Manager is installed on any Celerra system. It is accessed via a web browser. 
Hardware Compatibility: Celerra Manager is used to manage all EMC Celerra systems, as well as to monitor and report on EMC CLARiiON and Symmetrix systems being used as back-end storage for the Celerra. 
OS Compatibility: Celerra Manager provides web-based access, and is accessible from any platform that supports Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers. 
Vendor Comment: Celerra Manager allows users to manage a single Celerra IP Storage system or an entire IP Storage infrastructure from any web browser, using a straight-forward web page style interface. It gives the user an intuitive, easy-to-use set of tools and wizards that simplify even the most advanced storage management functions. 
Availability: Celerra Manager is available now and ships with the Celerra system 
Base Cost: Celerra Manager is included with all Celerra systems 
Detailed Specs: http://www.emc.com/products/software/celerra_manager.jsp 
Vendor URL: www.emc.com 
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Product Snapshot #4

Product: Exanet; ExaStore NAS management software 

Maximum Storage: ExaStore clustered NAS system has no practical limits on capacity, file size, or number of files. It can scale transparently to any total capacity, up to 1 Exabyte. Storage space can easily be expanded, through the addition of disks or entire storage arrays. The file system grows to include the new storage without disrupting user access to data. 
RAID Support: Different RAID arrays are supported in different configurations – 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 6. There is a required minimum of 2 LUNs per ExaStore cluster node, and a recommendation of a minimum of one LUN per CPU core (so in a Quad-CPU node it is recommended to configure access to a minimum of 4 LUNs). 
Hot Spare Support: Hot spare support will depend on the underlying RAID array – all RAID arrays that Exanet supports currently do support hot spare disks. 
Automated Discovery: ExaStore automatically discovers LUNs from RAID arrays. 
Automated Maintenance: Most system maintenance activities, including hardware and software upgrades, are performed on-line, with no down time. ExaStore is designed to be fully supported remotely, and includes a built-in "phone home" capability, which continuously monitors the health of the system, and alerts Exanet's global support center to any problem. The file system itself automatically distributes data among the cluster nodes, and is self-tuning, requiring no performance tuning from the administrator. 
Reporting Features: ExaStore includes a centralized, browser-based tool for managing the system. The tool monitors and controls capacity utilization, performance, configuration, and hardware system status. Using SNMP support, it integrates easily into standard system management frameworks, such as OpenView (HP) and Tivoli (IBM). A CLI interface is also provided. ExaStore authenticates users via Active Directory, LDAP and NIS. 
Backup Support: ExaStore can be easily integrated with any network environment, and with major backup products from Veritas, Legato, CA, and others, using vendor-provided backup agents. ExaStore offers a variety of connectivity options for backup: Through the client network to a backup server; over a dedicated "backup-only" network to a backup server; or using a direct FC or SCSI system-to-tape connection. The ExaSync feature enables backup to disk, ensuring very fast, highly reliable, automatic backup and recovery. 
Virtualization Support: All information in an ExaStore system is contained in a single global file system. A client needs to only configure access to one file system to gain access to any of the data in the system. The ExaFS distributed file system is the core infrastructure that turns the multi-node ExaStore system into a single-system image. Each node in a system is a peer and presents an identical view of the file system. Both data and metadata are fully distributed. In addition, ExaFS supports virtual data container entities called virtual volumes which allow the administrator to apply different capacity allocation, security, and data protection policies to every data set separately. 
Security Features: ExaStore is released as a secure platform – supporting SSH/SSL protocols for management. In addition, it supports common file sharing authentication protocols such as Active Directory, NIS and LDAP. 
Other Key Features: ExaFS supports file striping, directory striping and metadata striping out-of-the-box, without any additional configuration or licensing; ExaStore active/active software architecture uses redundant pairs in a clustered configuration, and a patented transparent failover architecture protects file access in case of hardware failure; offers automatic and transparent capacity and client load balancing; ExaStore CDP gives administrators access to a virtually infinite set of data recovery points, through the use of unlimited Snapshots. These can capture block-level changes on a continuous basis, reducing capacity requirements by capturing only the portion of the files that has changed. 
Minimum Requirements: Supported PC hardware with a minimum of 4GB per node, a minimum of 2 nodes, and a supported RAID array. 
Hardware Compatibility: Standard, Intel-based Linux servers comprise the nodes of the ExaStore cluster, and ExaStore supports a variety of standard, off-the-shelf RAID subsystems. Complete list of supported hardware at: http://www.exanet.com/default.asp?contentID=41 
OS Compatibility: ExaStore is natively compatible with NFS, CIFS, and AFP file protocols, enabling Windows, Linux, UNIX and Apple Macintosh OS9/OSX users to freely share data with one another. 
Vendor Comment: ExaStore's intrinsic value lies in its internally developed file system and NAS software, which optimize the performance of industry-standard components. ExaStore is unlimited by design, enabling it to scale to arbitrarily very large systems while maintaining excellent performance, high utilization, and ease of use. 
Availability: Currently available 
Base Cost: Not provided 
Detailed Specs: http://www.exanet.com/default.asp?contentID=3 
Vendor URL: www.exanet.com 
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Product Snapshot #5

Product: NAS Management Software; TagmaStore Product Line 

Maximum Storage: Scalable file systems with up to 512TB in a single storage pool 
RAID Support: Hitachi NAS solutions support RAID6 to ensure high availability 
Hot Spare Support: N/A 
Automated Discovery: No 
Automated Maintenance: N/A 
Reporting Features: It supports SNMP and which system error and warning can be reported 
Backup Support: Using the NAS Blade Backup Restore software, the NAS Blade supports NDMP (Network Data Management Protocol) software, VERITAS NetBackup, and CommVault Galaxy for backup/recovery from a media server. The NAS Blade's Backup Restore is integrated with Hitachi ShadowImage in-system disk-to-disk volume replication software and Hitachi TrueCopy Volume-level remote replication software, allowing for unsurpassed availability and recovery of NAS data. All the software features above also run on AMS/WMS with NAS Option with the exception of Hitachi TrueCopy. 
Virtualization Support: No 
Security Features: Active-Active Cluster for high availability; Symantec Anti-virus agent 
Other Key Features: Not provided 
Minimum Requirements: Not provided 
Hardware Compatibility: Review the following Web pages for hardware compatibility;
USP: http://www.hds.com/products_services/universal_storage_platform/
NSC: http://www.hds.com/products_services/network_storage_controller/
AMS: http://www.hds.com/products_services/adaptable_modular_storage/
WMS: http://www.hds.com/products_services/workgroup_modular_storage/ 

OS Compatibility: Hitachi NAS OS 
Vendor Comment: Not provided 
Availability: Currently available 
Base Cost: Not provided 
Detailed Specs: http://www.hds.com/products_services/nas/nas_management.html 
Vendor URL: www.hds.com 
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Product Snapshot #6

Product: Microsoft Corp.; Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 

Maximum Storage: The maximum amount of storage that can be managed by the integrated Microsoft Management Console (MMC) in each WUDSS system is determined by the maximum amount of storage that each OEM is able to validate through their testing. 
RAID Support: Integrated WUDSS storage management software uses the Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) to configure storage arrays. VDS-based RAID configuration functionality that is supported by the array vendor is supported by the integrated storage MMC in WUDSS. If the array vendor has a Windows-based RAID management software solution, this can also be integrated as a separate software component for the WUDSS NAS platform. 
Hot Spare Support: Hot spares are not currently managed by the native WUDSS storage MMC, but if the OEM has Windows-based management software for hot spares, it can be easily integrated into the WUDSS NAS platform. 
Automated Discovery: If a LUN is assigned to the system, the Windows Disk Manager that has been integrated into WUDSS MMC will see it , and the user can provision the storage capacity that is available. WUDSS management software does not automatically discover other NAS resources, but the WUDSS OEM could provide additional Windows-based discovery and management software if they wish to do so. 
Automated Maintenance: Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) provides automated monitoring and maintenance capabilities for Windows systems like WUDSS. 
Reporting Features: The File Sever Resource Manager (FSRM) is an integrated MMC in WUDSS that supports quotas (set maximum folder sizes), file screening (reject specific file types) and reporting functionality (including automated email notifications) for file shares on the WUDSS NAS system. 
Backup Support: WUDSS can be used to host any Windows-based backup/replication software product. WUDSS also supports the Volume Shadow-Copy Service (VSS), and Distributed File System-Replication (DFS-R). DFS (namespace) management functionality is integrated into the WUDSS management interface. 
Virtualization Support: Storage virtualization is not currently managed by the native WUDSS storage MMC, but if the OEM has Windows-based management software for storage virtualization, it can be easily integrated into the WUDSS NAS platform. 
Security Features: WUDSS supports all of the security features and functionality that is available in Windows Server 2003 R2. WUDSS also supports the installation of any Windows-based security software that an OEM may wish to bundle with this NAS product. 
Other Key Features: New wizards in the NAS management software walk the user through all of the configuration tasks required to provision storage resources. A new "out-of-box" user interface walks the user through the initial configuration tasks required to set up the WUDSS system within a given IT environment (MS domains, clusters, updates, etc). The WUDSS management interface fully supports "unified storage" functionality. WUDSS storage resources can be seamlessly provisioned for block (iSCSI) or file (CIFS, NFS) access. Single Instance Storage (SIS) – (file de-duplication); If this feature is enabled within the management interface, duplicate files within a volume are moved to a common store and replaced with sparse links. Integrated CIFS (SMB) and NFS; ActiveX and Java RDP Support 
Minimum Requirements: The integrated storage management MMC is provided (pre-installed) with the WUDSS system. The minimum requirement to operate the WUDSS management software is a system that supports an ActiveX (Windows) or Java (Unix) RDP client. 
Hardware Compatibility: The OEMs will need to provide hardware compatibility matrix information for the WUDSS NAS products that they ship. 
OS Compatibility: Heterogeneous remote clients can access the WUDSS management software using an ActiveX (Windows) or Java (Unix) RDP client. 
Vendor Comment: Not provided 
Availability: Please contact the individual WUDSS OEMs. 
Base Cost: Please contact the individual WUDSS OEMs. 
Detailed Specs: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/wss2003/default.mspx 
Vendor URL: www.microsoft.com 
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Product Snapshot #7

Product: Neopath Networks; SMARTtouch software 

Maximum Storage: Maximum amount of storage is determined by the backend NAS servers. 
RAID Support: RAID is provided by backend NAS servers. NeoPath does not impose any additional RAID requirement. 
Hot Spare Support: NeoPath File Directors can be configured in an active/passive cluster. 
Automated Discovery: Storage administrator defines what storage resources the File Director will virtualize. 
Automated Maintenance: NeoPath's SMARTtouch software supports automatic failover and failback. SMARTtouch monitors software operation. If the software has failed, it is automatically restarted. 
Reporting Features: File Director's Attribute Accumulator captures file access information. This information is used for policy based migrations. 
Backup Support: Not provided 
Virtualization Support: File Director combines namespace virtualization with non-disruptive file migration to enable companies to implement global namespace, storage server consolidation, storage server aggregation and disaster recovery solutions. 
Security Features: HTTPS and SSH are used to manage the File Director. 
Other Key Features: NeoPath's SMARTtouch software provides network file management services in an non-disruptive and efficient manner. 
Minimum Requirements: File Director is an integrated virtualization appliance. 
Hardware Compatibility: NeoPath supports leading NAS vendors including NetApp, EMC, Windows Storage Server and Linux. 
OS Compatibility: NeoPath supports leading NAS vendors including NetApp, EMC, Windows Storage Server and Linux. 
Vendor Comment: NeoPath's File Director(tm) family of products simplifies and advances the management of networked attached storage (NAS) and other file servers, increasing storage utilization and reducing costs. 
Availability: Currently available 
Base Cost: $45,000 USD 
Detailed Specs: http://www.neopathnetworks.com/products/default.aspx 
Vendor URL: www.neopathnetworks.com 
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Product Snapshot #8

Product: ONStor, Inc.; EverON 2.0 NAS software 

Maximum Storage: 40 PB 
RAID Support: RAID is external (ONStor storage supports RAID 0, 1, 10, 3, 5, 50) 
Hot Spare Support: RAID is external (ONStor supports multiple hot spares) 
Automated Discovery: Discovers external RAID arrays from multiple vendors including EMC, HDS, 3PAR, HP, Compellent, Xiotech, Nexsan. 
Automated Maintenance: Integrated monitoring and event reporting 
Reporting Features: "Health check" data reported to ONStor Support on ongoing basis. Monitoring identifies issues proactively. 
Backup Support: Symantec, EMC/Legato, CommVault, BakBone 
Virtualization Support: Filer virtualization presents virtual resources to users. Storage virtualization presents single virtualized pool to filers. 
Security Features: Access control integrates with Active Directory and NIS. 
Other Key Features: Snapshot, disk-to-disk data replication, NAS system replication, including replication of virtual servers. 
Minimum Requirements: NAS software installs on ONStor-specific hardware platform. 
Hardware Compatibility: Supports storage arrays from ONStor, EMC, HDS, 3PAR, HP, Compellent, Xiotech, Nexsan. 
OS Compatibility: Supports users on Windows, Unix, Linux, and Mac platforms. 
Vendor Comment: Incorporates virtualization that enables completely non-disruptive growth. Users and applications see a permanent mount point that remains unchanged, even as the cluster grows from an entry configuration to 40PB of capacity. 
Availability: v.2.0 Currently available 
Base Cost: $20,000 USD including hardware 
Detailed Specs: http://www.onstor.com/everon_platform_software.php 
Vendor URL: www.onstor.com 
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