EMC Revs Powerful NAS Server

EMC has created a network attached storage (NAS) gateway to target environments with thousands of file systems.

Tom Joyce, EMC vice president of platforms, confirmed the Celerra NSX NAS will rev up to 300,000 network file system (NFS)
operations per second.

As previously reported by internetnews.com, the machine will come with new X-Blade server technology and clustering to help corporations consolidate NAS systems and share files.

Administrators can deploy Celerra NSX in a four-blade configuration, scaling performance online up to eight X-Blades. NSX supports up to 16 terabytes of usable capacity per X-Blade, with a maximum capacity of 112 terabytes.

The system can’t ferry files on its own. It will be supported by Dart 5.4, the latest Celerra operating system, which features several new bits software to efficiently manage data movement. Dart 5.4 will run on any Celerra system, but it has been optimized for NSX.

Joyce said new perks will help users merge direct attached storage (DAS) with iSCSI, . This combination will help automate data movement from one tier to another in environments with several large file systems. EMC had deployed iSCSI on Celerra gatewayds in “one-off” scenarios, but is now regularly offering the deployment.

To bolster NSX, EMC has also created new virtual file system technology to ease the management of file systems as customers scale capacity. The software makes several separate file systems appear as one, to be managed through a single graphical user interface in NSX.

Additional Celerra NSX benefits include redundant hot-swappable components, N+1 clustering, dual control stations, and dual uninterrupted power systems
(UPS).

Celerra Manager has also been upgraded to monitor and notify
administrators when the file system is full, based on historical usage patterns.

EMC also rolled out new Centera FileArchiver (CFA) software, which will help customers migrate data from a Celerra NAS system to the Centera content addressed storage (CAS) archive.

NSX systems will be available from EMC in May. A four-X-Blade NSX system will cost $278,250 and includes Celerra Manager and SnapSure replication software, dual management stations and power systems (UPS).

The software make NSX the most powerful NAS system on the market, as Joyce said the NSX will deliver more than four times the performance of the current leading NAS gateway, Network Appliance’s GF980C.

NSX is part of EMC’s move to gain share in the lucrative NAS space, where the Hopkinton, Mass., concern plays second fiddle to NetApp. NetApp and EMC own 37 percent and 34 percent of the NAS market, respectively, according to IDC.