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EMC Introduces ScaleIO Nodes

by Adam Armstrong

EMC acquired ScaleIO in 2013 and up until now, EMC has offered ScaleIO as software only. Today with the introduction of ScaleIO nodes, customers can now purchase ScaleIO bundled with on an EMC commodity server. ScaleIO nodes enable customers to quickly deploy a fully architected software-defined, scale-out, server SAN in a pre-validated, tested and configured solution. All support for both the hardware and software come from EMC.


EMC acquired ScaleIO in 2013 and up until now, EMC has offered ScaleIO as software only. Today with the introduction of ScaleIO nodes, customers can now purchase ScaleIO bundled with on an EMC commodity server. ScaleIO nodes enable customers to quickly deploy a fully architected software-defined, scale-out, server SAN in a pre-validated, tested and configured solution. All support for both the hardware and software come from EMC.

With server SAN and software-defined storage rapidly expanding, EMC is seizing the opportunity by offering customers hyperconverged, SDS SAN in the form of software only ScaleIO (for those that want the software on systems them design) or the new ScaleIO nodes where all parts are supported by a single vendor in EMC. While the nodes make ScaleIO easier to consume, EMC is offering their new solutions in up to 18 different configurations (with an all-flash, PF100, on the upper end). The multiple configurations allow for customers choice for their given deployment.

Benefits include:

  • Massive Scalability: EMC ScaleIO Node clusters can scale from 3 to 1000+ nodes across multiple racks.
  • Supreme Elasticity: Storage and compute resources can be increased or decreased in small or large increments, “on the fly,” with no downtime.
  • Extreme Performance: Tested against multiple traditional SAN vendor models, performance scales linearly, enabling customers to achieve as much as 8x better IIOPS performance.  Performance scales linearly, enabling customers to achieve 8x better IOPS performance than traditional SANs. 
  • Unparalleled Flexibility: EMC ScaleIO Node is hypervisor and OS agnostic, offers 4 different chasses types to support different needs and workloads, and provides optional network and rack options.
  • Compelling Economics: Customers can expect higher efficiency resource utilization (power/cooling/space) when compared to their traditional SAN infrastructures. 

Though ScaleIO nodes are offered in various configurations, the nodes are usually optimized for either capacity or performance. The primary configuration are:

  • Full production version of the latest EMC ScaleIO software
  • x86 commodity server
  • Four x86 commodity server configurations, with varying specifications, are available:
    • Capacity Optimized – 2U, 1 Node (2U1N)
      • “Capacity Storage” (CS100)
      • “Capacity Compute” (CC100)
    • Performance Optimized – 2U, 4 Node (2U4N)
      • “Performance Compute” (PC100)
      • “Performance all Flash” (PF100) Optional components orderable from EMC include:
  • Networking
    • Data Switch (Option 1) – 48 x 10GbE + 4 x 40GbE
    • 1U switch to connect to 10G node ports
    • 4 x 40GbE ports to connect to core network
    • 48 x 10GbE ports to connect to node data ports
    • Data Switch (Option 2) – 96 x 10GbE + 8 x 40GbE
    • 2U switch to connect to 10G node ports
    • 8 x 40GbE ports to connect to core network
    • 96 x 10GbE ports to connect to node data ports
    • Management Switch – 48 x 1GbE + 4 10GbE
    • 1U switch to connect to management node ports
    • 4 x 10GbE ports to connect to core network
    • 48 x 1GbE ports to connect to node data ports
  • Management Server
    • 1U server
    • 1 six-core processor
    • 4 x 16GB DIMM
    • 2 x 900GB SAS drives
    • 1 dual port 10GbE SFP+
  • Rack
    • Standard 40U rack (Titan)
    • Dual PDU standard
  • Cable Kit
    • SFP+ Twin-ax for data switches
    • SFP and optical cables for uplink​

Capacity optimized

  • Chassis: 2U1N = 1 node within a 2U enclosure
  • Processor: Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v3 product family
  • Drives: 24 drives per node, consisting of SSDs and / or HDDs
    • SSDs: 400GB or 800GB eMLC SAS
    • HDDs: 1.2TB 10k RPM SAS
  • Networking:
    • Intel X520 NIC card
    • 4 x 10GbE + BMC network ports
  • Power:
    • Maximum Heatload: 1,810 BTU / hr
    • Maximum Power: 531 VA
    • Input Voltage Range: 100 – 240 V AC power
    • Frequency: 60 Hz (North America), 50 – 60 Hz (International)
  • Dimensions:
    • Width: 17.60 in / 44.70 cm
    • Height: 3.44 in / 8.75 cm
    • Depth: 29.33 in / 74.50 cm
    • Maximum Weight: 54.94 lbs
    • Maximum Chassis Count: 17 per rack; 1024 per cluster
  • Environmental:
    • Operating Temperature Range: 41 – 104°F / 5 – 40°C
    • Relative Humidity: 50 – 80% RH

Performance optimized

  • Chassis: 2U4N = 4 nodes within a 2U enclosure
  • Processor: Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v3 product family
  • Drives: 6 drives per node (24 per chassis), consisting of SSDs and / or HDDs
    • SSDs: 400GB or 800GB eMLC SAS
    • HDDs: 1.2TB 10k RPM SAS
  • Networking:
    • Intel X520 NIC card
    • 4 x 10GbE + BMC network ports per node (16 total)
  • Power:
    • Maximum Heatload: 4,262 BTU / hr
    • Maximum Power: 1,250 VA
    • Input Voltage Range: 200 – 240 V AC power
    • Frequency: 60 Hz (North America), 50 – 60 Hz (International)
  • Dimensions:
    • Width: 17.48 in / 44.40 cm
    • Height: 3.44 in / 8.74 cm
    • Depth: 31.10 in / 79.00 cm
    • Maximum Weight: 91.31 lbs
  • Maximum Chassis Count:
    • Single-Phase: 14 per rack; 1024 per cluster
    • Delta: 11 per rack; 1024 per cluster
    • WYE: 12 per rack; 1024 per cluster
  • Environmental:
    • Operating Temperature Range: 41 – 95°F / 5 – 35°C
    • Relative Humidity: 50 – 85% RH​

The move to ScaleIO nodes makes a lot of sense strategically, as most customers we talk to prefer deploying converged solutions like this in a bundled fashion, rather than piecemeal. By EMC offering a complete solution, they both mitigate this concern and another enterprises have around the long-term viability of the plethora of startups in the converged infrastructure space. With the ScaleIO node solutions, large enterprises now have an easy to deploy converged solution that works at scale, which is different than the application or ROBO use cases that we see most converged solutions addressing today. ScaleIO isn't being shy either about proving their claims, EMC has committed to shipping a cluster to the StorageReview lab for testing.

Availability

ScaleIO Nodes are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2016.

ScaleIO

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