Symmetrix V-Max - Virtual Matrix-topology

Hello Willem,

Some high level highlights of today¿s Symmetrix V-Max announcement.




EMC announced their latest 3rd generation Symmetrix architecture today the labeled the Virtual Matrix Architecture. The announcement was kicked off by Tucci who positioned the event as both the introduction of a new architecture as well and the introduction of the first V-Max product. Donatelli then proceeded to give a bit more detail. The following are the highlights I captured during his presentation.

Symmetrix was introduced 18 years ago, this is the 3rd generation architecture.
The intelligence and the compute resources are contained in a module called the Symmetrix V-Max Engine. Multiple engines can be matrix together with capacity resources in a scale-out architecture.
Claimed to be the first high end array built on a scale out architecture.
Initial product will support up to 8 V-MAX engines but the architecture is designed to support 256.
Positioned as larger, faster and more efficient. 3x the performance, 3x the capacity and 2x the connectivity of the DMX-4.
The messaging encapsulates the performance and efficiency of scale-up with the flexibility and cost of scale out. (EMC words not mine.)
First high end array build with industry standard components.
An architecture designed for the private cloud compute infrastructure and the virtual data center. Supports SSD, 450GB 25K RPM FC Drives and 1TB SATA Drives.
Talked about FAST, Fully Automated Storage Tiering - software that automates the movement and placement of data based on changing needs - optimizing the integration of SSD, FC Drives and SATA Drives within the storage system.
Messaged as a storage architecture that bridges the physical and the virtual world.
My understanding is that the starter price for the DMX-4 and the V-Max will be about the same $250k +/-.
No doubt that this will be a game changer by EMC and begs the question - ¿Is this the physical enabler for Atmos?

Scale-out architecture have been well accepted in the HPC world for many years with the cost, performance, flexibility and efficiency attributes increasing its popularity in the mid tier. However scale out architectures have not gained broad acceptance in the data center. This announcement will change that and will establish storage clustering as a legitimate data center storage option.

For more details check out the blogs release at:

http://thestorageanarchist.typepad.com/weblog/2009/04/1054-overtake-the-future-with-emc-symmetrix-v-max.html#more

Message was edited by:
KD8EWE

Please assign points if you find the right answer...

Thanks

Message was edited by:
KD8EWE

hehehe, only 1 answer there just yet

25k ?

Has to be a typo, at normal disk platter size, the edge of the spindles would spin up near the speed of sound and the vibrations that would result are bad for the drive.

If speed is your concern, think about 15K drives .. that are 2.5 or 1.8 drives in 3.5 case

If speed is an issue, reduce diameter and increase density of data on platters

Hi RRR

25000 RPM FC Drives

Regards

And 25K is not a typo.

Data progression automatically reclassifies the disks. This results in the following classification: High--25K FC drive, Medium--15K FC, drive Low--SATA drive

Data progression defines accessible data as data that can be read or written by a server at the current time. It uses the accessibility to determine the class of storage a page should use. A page is read-only if it belongs to a historical PITC. If the server has not updated the page in the most recent PITC, the page is still accessible.

I have not heard of any 25k RPM drives. Do you have some external reference to such a drive?

What about zero RPM drives (solid state)

And for Sagle...

Total power consumption in a high performance, high speed drive with several 2.5 inch or 2 inch platters will not be less than a 3.5 inch drive with lower spindle speed. To meet the same temperature rise specs, a 2.5 inch drive still needs a heat dissipation area comparable to a 3.5 inch drive. Therefore, the casing size for the 2.5 inch drive will be similar to that of the 3.5 inch drive. A 2 inch drive may still have a 3.5 inch form factor casing. As a result, there will be more room for a powerful voice coil motor (VCM) actuator! A powerful single stage VCM actuator with high bandwidth!

Quincy,

Zero RPM solid state is equal to 40000 RPM Hard Drive!

may be Vmax-4 EMC may change all to Zero RPM solid state... !!!

I read that the edge of a drive would start to reach or get near to the speed of sound, which causes vibration. I would love to see some data on 25K RPM drives. I was not referring to heat or power.

I very well could be wrong.... don't trust everything you read on the internet

The fastest speed I've seen (on paper) was a 20k drive about half a year ago and comparing SSD to disks shouldn't be done, because MBps and IOps are not linear faster compared to eachother.

EMC says IOps is 30 times faster compared to a 15k drive, where MBps is something like 250MBps which is less than 30 times.....

RRR, the 30x was with small random reads, and had a qualifier that was "with reasonable response times".

And if there was a 25k drive, I have a feeling it would cost the same as an EFD drive, and generate a TON more heat, and be more likely to fail. Doesn't sound like it could compete.