14 March 2010
Sunday
EMC rolls out new Symmetrix disk arrays
By Beth Pariseau | Apr 15, 2009
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PrintEMC Corp. today unveiled V-Max, a new modular version of its Symmetrix disk arrays with software-based performance improvements. The vendor also plans to add automated storage tiering software to the new system later this year.
The new Symmetrix V-Max follows the DMX-4 in the Symmetrix family, although the DMX-4 will remain on the market. V-Max has a virtual matrix or mesh architecture that connects multiple modular disk arrays, front-end and back-end director servers, and chunks of global memory to a high-speed interconnect similar to a switch. The interconnect protocol can be FICON, Fibre Channel (FC) or iSCSI. By contrast, the DMX-4 uses a direct-matrix architecture in which directors within the chassis are hard-wired directly to a backplane inside the frame.
As with the DMX-4, V-Max can flexibly move data around while hosts are connected using virtual logical unit numbers (LUNs). But the Symmetrix Enginuity OS sees storage resources differently in V-Max. It views and manages hardware assets, including ports and storage devices, in groups rather than as individual elements. V-Max includes new software wizards to make provisioning simpler with this release.
"This is the most significant redesign of [the Symmetrix] software OS ever," said Bob Wambaugh, EMC's senior director of product marketing. "When we did thin provisioning last year, we added a layer of abstraction that allows us to do many things in parallel underneath. It parallels what VMware did in the server world, where pools of physical resources are treated and acted upon concurrently."
With PowerPath integration into VMware, the system can also automatically load balance virtual server workloads within the array. "It kind of ends that whole I/O problem with virtual servers because PowerPath will automatically load balance across the system," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).
'This is about software, not hardware'
With new multicore Intel Corp. processors, parallelized hardware and updated software algorithms, EMC claims up to three times the performance for V-Max over DMX-4. While DMX-4 can move virtual LUNs around individually without taking down the system, V-Max can theoretically perform thousands of these operations concurrently, EMC's Wambaugh said. However, he declined to disclose any specific benchmark performance numbers.
The use of x86 processors rather than specialized silicon is "brand new for the high-end space," wrote Benjamin Woo, vice president of enterprise storage systems research at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, in an email to SearchStorage.com. "There could potentially be some Symmetrix purists who will find this not to their liking. Can't really help these guys. When it's all said and done, this is about software, not hardware."
