StoneFly's Storage Concentrator: Storage virtualization appliances for IP storage networks. (Top Technology Showcase).StoneFly stonefly, any insect of the order Plecoptera. North American species, of which there are more than 200, are yellowish, greenish, or brownish in the adult stage and have transparent wings, usually two pairs, but seldom fly. Networks' i1000 and i1500 Storage Concentrators combine the functionality of iSCSI-based storage routers, bridges, and extensible logical volume managers to provide all-in-one storage virtualization Treating storage as a single logical entity without regard to the hierarchy of physical media that may be involved or that may change. It enables the applications to read from and write to a single pool of storage rather then individual disks, tapes and optical devices. appliances. By using the emerging iSCSI standard, TCP/IP TCP/IP in full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Standard Internet communications protocols that allow digital computers to communicate over long distances. , and Gigabit Ethernet, they add intelligent, block-level, logical volume management to existing IP networks to pool existing and new storage assets, providing efficient utilization, streamlined management, rapid deployment and reconfiguration of storage, and reduced SAN-based backup and restore times. Storage Concentrators enable users to quickly and easily turn an P network into a storage network, supporting heterogeneous host and storage devices. Enterprise customers can add "storage intelligence" to their enterprise networks to maximize the utilization of storage resources and eliminate waste by freeing stranded storage. Storage Concentrators provide in-band iSCSI block-level virtualization An umbrella term for enhancing a computer's ability to do work. Following are the ways virtualization is used. Hardware Virtualization Partitioning the computer's memory into separate and isolated "virtual machines" simulates multiple machines within one physical computer. (storage pooling) to enable users to access storage without the need to know where the devices are located on the network, or how they're configured. Through storage pooling, Storage Concentrators deliver virtual volumes to hosts connected over industry-standard Ethernet networks, without the need for host-based agents or a separate metadata out-of-band storage management device. Both Storage Concentrators feature an HTML-based GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. to allow administrators to manage storage operations, including controlling distributed Storage Concentrators centrally and securely from anywhere on the Internet. The i1500 adds high-availability features including dual hot-swappable power supplies and RAID mirroring of the OS and metadata. The i1000 and i1500 include iSCSI host support to create a full-function block-storage IP SAN; logical volume management to create a common pool of storage, increasing overall disk utilization rates; advanced storage packet routing and 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) The leading security protocol on the Internet. Developed by Netscape, SSL is widely used to do two things: to validate the identity of a Web site and to create an encrypted connection for sending credit card and other personal data. security; and iSCSI to 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. and Fibre Channel bridging, supporting the most common interface standards for storage systems today. StoneFly's i1000 and i1500 Storage Concentrators are now available through its channel distribution partners and select resellers. www.stonefly.com |
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