First iSCSI Product To Merge SAN/NAS Advantages.IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) Corp. announced the first product series based on iSCSI, one of the competing technologies designed to implement storage over IP lines. iSCSI transmits native SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. over a layer of the IP stack. It permits a corporate network to transfer and store SCSI commands and data at any location with access to the WAN or, if transmitted over the Internet, to locations with access to the Internet. It will also allow smaller localized SANs to be built using the common Ethernet infrastructure. Hence, iSCSI enables SANs to be implemented by a broad, mainstream market. The IBM implementation of iSCSI provides the block I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output characteristics of Fibre Channel-based SAN with the IP network availability of NAS (1) See network access server. (2) (Network Attached Storage) A specialized file server that connects to the network. A NAS device contains a slimmed-down operating system and a file system and processes only I/O requests by supporting the popular . In a system supporting iSCSI, a user or software application issues a command to store or retrieve data on a SCSI storage device. The request is processed by the operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. and is converted to one or more SCSI commands that are then passed to software or to a card. The command and data are encapsulated by representing them as a serial string of bytes proceeded by iSCSI headers. The assembled data is then passed to a TCP/IP TCP/IP in full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Standard Internet communications protocols that allow digital computers to communicate over long distances. layer that breaks it into packets suitable for transfer over the network. If required, the assembled data can also be encrypted for transfer over an insecure network. The packets are sent over the network or the Internet. At the receiving storage controller, the packets are recombined and, if necessary, decrypted into the original SCSI commands and data. The storage controller then uses specific iSCSI headers to send the SCSI control commands and data to the appropriate drive. If a request for data has been sent, the data is recovered from the drive, encapsulated and returned to the requesting computer. The entire process is transparent to the user. IBM's 4125 is a family of iSCSI products. The Model 100 is a tower configuration that is pre-loaded with a Linux operating system. iSCSI clients can be Windows NT/2000 and Linux. Transport is 10/100 Mb or GB Ethernet IP. Capacity scales between 108GB and 216GB; processing is accomplished with an 800 MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. pentium II The successor to the Pentium Pro from Intel. Pentium II refers to the CPU chip or the PC that uses it. Code named "Klamath," the Pentium II was a Pentium Pro with MMX multimedia instructions. processor. Ease of use is supported with a web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. interface. The 4125 Model 200 is a rack-mount configuration with the same support details. The capacity in this product scales from 216GB to 1.74TB using two processors. See the Table for comparative characteristics. In a unique move for IBM, the company is focusing on departmental and workgroup customers , xSPs and mid-market users. This is in marked contrast to the conventional IBM enterprise customer target. Their customer profile: includes those who have a pooled storage requirement, who have database-intensive applications and a limited IT staffing availability or limited budget.
Model Summary
IP Storage 2001
4125 - 100 4125 - 200
Scalability 109 GB - 216 GB 216 GB - 1.74 TB
Drives (min - /max) 3 - 6 3 - 48
Engines/Notes 1 1
Processors 1 2
Protocol Attachment
to HDD SCSI SCSI
Redundancy Hot Swap HD Hot Swap HD
Hot Spare Hot Spare
Hot Swap Fans Hot Swap Fans
Redundant PS Redundant PS
Backup External Tape External Tape
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