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Sun StorageTek 5800 System Architecture The Solution for Unstructured Static Data File Management
The third generation of fixed content storage systems is now available, notably in the Sun StorageTek 5800 system, an on-line, highly reliable storage system developed to solve the unique problems associated with large-scale file storage applications typically classified as fixed, static, or reference data, which consume greater than 20 terabytes (TB) in storage and scale over time as data collections grow. This paper provides an overview of the architecture of the Sun StorageTek 5800, which offers the ability to run data services inside the storage device that can manipulate the stored objects as they are stored or retrieved. The paper considers the nature of data types and the applications for their management, dividing them into file versus structured data, and fixed versus dynamic data and then turns to the requirements for large, fixed content storage systems. The paper pronounces the conventional solutions for unstructured static data as unsuitable and then considers some alternatives that use current technology. These include:
The DAS or SAN option, with either direct attached disks or Fibre Channel (FC) disks, the paper notes, is excessive for this type of data. SANs typically use high-end SCSI or FC 10K or 15K RPM disks that are geared toward a higher number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) for OLTP, databases, and other I/O intensive applications. In order to gain speed, the drives spin faster, require more power, and generate more heat. Storage capacity is compromised for speed. Though ideal for these types of applications, SCSI and FC disks represent a price/performance ratio that is unnecessary for fixed content storage. Furthermore, static, unstructured data applications tend to consume vast amounts of storage, and scale steadily over time, nor do typical storage systems meet the transparent scalability and pay-as-you-grow model required to cost-effectively store data. The issue of scaling is also a complicated one since clients must be redirected, and the data must be manually redistributed. NAS systems, though affordable because they generally use high density serial ATA (SATA) disks, are unsuitable because they are difficult to scale due to the complexity of managing multiple file system mounts. Tape and optical disks systems, the paper continues, are intended for long-term storage, but the access time is much too slow for fixed content application requirements. In addition, fixed content applications generally (with the exception of dark archives) require the data be to always available and on-line, which can reduce the durability of tape or optical disks. Finally, tapes are often not reliable over time so many administrators duplicate tapes and then copy to new tapes every few years to protect the data. What is more, all of these solutions require custom integration of many discrete hardware and software components, as well as application development, which generally lead to proprietary solutions that do not extend through the ages.
The Sun StorageTek 5800 system, which is affordable, reliable, scalable, accessible, extensible and open, offers innovative and unique features that are
designed to fully meet the requirements of fixed content storage and to maximize the business value of fixed content applications, the paper concludes. It is an online, disk-based, highly reliable storage system featuring a fully integrated hardware and software architecture with storage nodes arranged in a symmetric cluster. The Sun StorageTek 5800 offers a new solution that provides online access to data, reduces capital and maintenance costs, improves on existing RAS schemes, and helps relieve the headache of metadata management and search.
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Read an overview of the architecture of the Sun StorageTek 5800, which offers the ability to run data services inside the storage device that can manipulate the stored objects as they are stored or retrieved.
Sun StorageTek 5800 System Architecture
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