Xsan Technology Overview June 2005
Technology Overview Xsan Contents Page 3 Introduction Page 4 SAN Basics DAS and NAS Architectures Why a SAN with a SAN File System? Page 7 Product Overview How Xsan Works Key Features Page 9 File System Capabilities Cluster File System High-Availability Features Volume Management Data Access Control Remote Administration Tools Compatibility and Interoperability Page 16 Deploying Xsan Xsan for Post-Production Workflows Xsan in the Data Center Xsan for High-Performance Computing Page 19 Support a
Technology Overview Xsan 3 Introduction Now everyone in your organization can have fast, concurrent access to terabytes of centralized data: introducing Xsan, the SAN file system for Mac OS X. By adding Xsan to its lineup of server and storage products—Xserve G5, Xserve RAID, and Mac OS X Server—Apple now offers a powerful, scalable SAN solution with breakthrough ease of use and affordability. Xsan cuts production costs “ Xsan is the holy grail of storage for Final Cut Pro.
Technology Overview Xsan SAN Basics Over the past decade, virtually every industry has experienced exponential growth in storage requirements. Beyond a demand for capacity, organizations are increasingly concerned with data protection, as well as near-instant and reliable access to missioncritical files. Three basic types of storage networking architectures have emerged to address these needs: directed-attached storage (DAS), network-attached storage (NAS), and the storage area network (SAN).
Technology Overview Xsan 5 Network-attached storage (NAS) A NAS is a storage device with a built-in computer. This “NAS appliance” connects to a local area network and, like a DAS, shares storage with clients over Ethernet using a network file system. A NAS appliance typically features a specialized server operating system designed to make file-sharing setup and maintenance easier than with most general-purpose servers.
Technology Overview Xsan 6 High-performance, concurrent file sharing Unlike NAS or DAS systems, which use network file-sharing protocols to deliver stored data to clients, a SAN typically uses a high-speed Fibre Channel interconnect. SCSI data and commands are sent across the SAN over high-speed Fibre Channel protocols for faster file access and more efficient sharing. This allows many users in a workflow to work with the same data at the same time, facilitating collaboration and increasing productivity.
Technology Overview Xsan 7 Product Overview How Xsan Works Xsan teams with best-in-class Apple products—Xserve RAID, Xserve G5, Power Mac G5, Mac OS X, and Mac OS X Server—to provide an affordable, end-to-end SAN solution for demanding storage environments. Here’s how the Xsan solution works. Xsan Storage Area Network SAN volume Metadata controller Fibre Channel switch Servers Ethernet LAN Client systems SAN volume.
Technology Overview Xsan 8 Key Features Xsan is a specialized file system that enables you to manage terabytes of consolidated storage and provide high-availability, high-performance data access across your network. Its features include the following. • • • • • Components of an Xsan solution Xsan extends the value of these highperformance Apple products: Mac OS X Server is Apple’s easy-to-manage, UNIX-based server operating system, which has more than 100 popular open source projects built in.
Technology Overview Xsan 9 File System Capabilities Xsan features enterprise-class SAN capabilities that meet your organization’s requirements for data consolidation and fast, shared access to storage volumes. Take a closer look at these powerful features. Cluster File System Xsan is a 64-bit cluster file system that provides concurrent data access over highspeed Fibre Channel to multiple systems on the network.
Technology Overview Xsan 10 High-Availability Features Xsan is designed for high availability, with features that make it well suited for missioncritical environments. Metadata controller failover and Fibre Channel multipathing eliminate single points of failure, and bandwidth reservation allows you to keep bandwidth available for critical applications. Always Available SAN volume Standby metadata controller Automatic failover to redundant metadata controller.
Technology Overview Xsan 11 File system journaling Xsan is a journaled file system that can be recovered in seconds in the event of a server failure. Journal data includes a record of file system transactions, eliminating the need for time-consuming integrity checks after an unplanned shutdown of the entire network or of the metadata controller. Your storage can be back online immediately.
Technology Overview Xsan Stripe 1 Stripe 2 Stripe 3 Stripe 4 Stripe 5 Stripe 6 Stripe 7 Stripe 8 Stripe 9 Stripe 10 Stripe 11 Stripe 12 ... ... ... Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Striping at a higher level Xsan stripes data across the individual LUNs that make up a storage pool. This improves performance because multiple pieces of the file are written in parallel, instead of one piece at a time.
Technology Overview Xsan 13 You can use Xsan administration tools to set user and group permissions, as well as access privileges, at several levels: • Restrict user access to folders on a volume by specifying owner, group, and general access permissions. • Unmount a SAN volume from selected client computers. • Restrict a client computer to read-only access to a volume. • Remove a client from a SAN. Disk quotas LDAP integration also makes it easy to manage disk space quotas.
Technology Overview Xsan 14 Remote Administration Tools Xsan includes Xsan Admin, a set of tools for managing and monitoring your SAN. An intuitive graphical user interface enables you to perform complex administration tasks—such as creating storage pools, managing SAN volumes, setting up affinities, and assigning quotas—that would otherwise be accessible only from a command-line interface. Command-line tools are also included for UNIX-savvy administrators.
Technology Overview Xsan 15 Compatibility and Interoperability Xsan lets you create a SAN that is compatible with your existing infrastructure—giving you the flexibility to build a system that’s right for your organization, while maximizing the return on your storage investment. Support for native Mac OS X applications Xsan is designed to support most native Mac OS X and UNIX applications and delivers incredible performance on Power Mac and Xserve systems.
Technology Overview Xsan 16 Deploying Xsan Xsan relies on a proven architecture that’s ideal for video post-production workflows, data centers, and high-performance computing environments. What’s more, the Apple solution is available at a fraction of the cost of competitive solutions.
Technology Overview Xsan 17 • Storage consolidation. A consolidated storage repository eliminates the need for high-speed DAS devices attached to individual workstations. Consolidation also increases total available storage and reduces hardware costs, while facilitating project management, access control, and storage security. • Tremendous capacity. With Xsan and Xserve RAID, you can work with files and volumes of up to 2PB,1 making it easy to share enormous media files.
Technology Overview Xsan 18 Xsan for High-Performance Computing Xserve G5 cluster node Using affordable Xserve G5 cluster nodes, scientists and engineers have built powerful computational clusters, including some of the fastest supercomputers in the world.
Technology Overview Xsan 19 Support and Training Xsan comes with 90 days of toll-free telephone support for installation, launch, and basic troubleshooting, as well as lifetime access to Apple’s online support resources, such as the AppleCare Knowledge Base and discussion forums. In addition, to keep critical data available day and night, you can purchase the AppleCare Xsan Support plan for round-the-clock support.
Technology Overview Xsan 20 Purchasing Information Pricing Apple Maintenance Program This optional program makes it easy to manage software expenditures while benefiting from the latest technologies and improvements. With one payment, you automatically receive major Xsan software upgrades for three years. For more information, including program terms and conditions, visit www.apple.com/server/maintenance. The U.S. suggested retail price of Xsan is $999. The education price is $499.
