NAS management software specifications

In spite of the convenience offered by 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. NAS 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 November 2006. The following specifications have been provided by vendors and are periodically updated. Vendors are welcome to submit their updates and new product specifications to [email protected]. Go to the first product snapshot, or select the desired product below: Adaptec Inc.; Snap Server Manager software Attune Systems Inc.; Maestro Policy IQ software BlueArc Corp.; BlueArc software suite Brocade Communications Systems Inc.; Tapestry StorageX software EMC Corp.; Celerra Manager software Exanet Inc.; ExaStore NAS management software Hitachi Data Systems Inc.; NAS Management Software; TagmaStore Line IBM; System Storage N series software with Operations Manager Microsoft Corp.; Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 NeoPath Networks; SMARTtouch software Network Appliance Inc.; Data ONTAP 7G software ONStor Inc.; EverON NAS software Return to the beginning 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, Legato NetWorker, and CA ARCserve Virtualization Support: Not provided Security Features: Provides antivirus support through CA 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, 4200, 4500, 14000, 15000, 18000 (Included free license allows servers to be viewed and individually configured. Monitoring only: Snap Server 1100, 2200, 4100) 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 Go to beginning ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Product Snapshot #2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Product: Attune Systems Inc.; Maestro Policy IQ software Product specifications are pending, and should be available shortly. Go to beginning ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Product Snapshot #3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 f