StorGateTM
for Enterprise Storage and
Enterprise Storage with Disaster Recovery
for
VOS V Series to EMC
Fiber Model
Product Brief
DRA's StorgateTM
for enterprise storage and enterprise storage with disaster recovery is a drop-in solution that provides VOS V Series hosts with seamless access to and
disaster recovery for
VOS data on EMC storage arrays.
StorGate leverages Stratus users' existing enterprise storage and disaster recovery resources and provides superior performance, reliability, and unsurpassed
compatibility.
StorGate meets all requirements for a
certified host. Stratus VOS V Series users
can store and retrieve VOS data on their existing storage arrays while
maintaining full support for their equipment.
In addition, StorGate can provide site-to-site disaster recovery, leveraging
your enterprise disaster recovery solution with no negative impact on the
Stratus.
Key Features
-
Provides drop-in fully supported VOS-to-EMC
connectivity for Symmetrix, Symmetrix DMX, Symmetrix VMAX, and CLARiiON
storage
-
Stores data instantaneously at a
remote site where it is immediately ready to be mounted to a disaster recovery
Stratus module. Data on the remote Stratus module is ready for immediate
fail-back as soon as the primary site is ready
-
Requires no changes to the
application
-
Allows VOS to see EMC storage as
common VOS disk types (D913, D914*)
-
Stores VOS data directly in VOS file format
(Note: VOS does not support data sharing between hosts)
-
Supports PowerPath which
provides dual fiber pathways from StorGate to EMC
-
Meets or exceeds native
VOS disk performance in most applications (using EMC mirroring
with metavolumes)
Subsystem Overview
StorGate
connects directly to
a Fibre Channel port on an
EMC Fibre Channel host adapter, and to the VOS V Series JBOD (D900 disk enclosure) via the
output fiber port or directly to the host via U528 fiber controller.
StorGate "on-the-fly" disk emulation and data translation capabilities allow VOS
V Series users to store and retrieve data on an EMC storage array just as if the
data were stored on standard Stratus disks with no change to the application.
Each StorGate unit provides access
to up to 14 virtual VOS disk volumes on the EMC. Each of these virtual
disks may be any supported VOS 9xx disk type. This means that each StorGate unit
allows a VOS V Series to access up to 868 GB (physical) on an
EMC. Multiple
StorGate units may be attached
to multiple fiber ports on a single VOS V Series host to provide access to as
much EMC storage capacity as desired, up to the maximum allowed by VOS. Multiple StorGate
units may also be used to allow multiple VOS V Series hosts to access one or
more EMC storage arrays. (Although StorGate allows
multiple VOS hosts to store data on a single EMC, VOS limitations prevent
sharing that data between hosts.)
StorGate supports all VOS disk-related
commands and functions. It uses standard RAID partitions to store VOS data
on an the EMC. This allows the EMC to manage VOS virtual
disks as standard RAID storage volumes. Both mirrored and Raid-S volume types
are supported.
Performance
Laboratory tests indicate that for many
applications StorGate provides throughput which equals or exceeds that of
equivalent Stratus disks. In these laboratory tests the best performance was
achieved when the virtual disks on the Target storage array were configured as
Target-specific
mirrored metavolumes. Performance in other environments may vary, and
depends upon a variety of factors. These factors include application data access
patterns, overall Target configuration, and I/O activity by other hosts attached
to the Target.
Optional Feature: PowerPath
Facility
The
optional StorGate PowerPath Facility allows Stratus users to take advantage of
EMC’s PowerPath, a host-based software that works with the storage system to
intelligently manage I/O paths.
PowerPath supports multiple paths to a logical device, enabling the facility to
provide automatic failover in the event of a hardware failure. PowerPath
automatically detects path failure and redirects I/O to another path.
PowerPath also provides dynamic multi-path load balancing for many storage
platforms. It distributes I/O requests to a logical device across all
available paths, thus improving I/O performance and reducing management time and
downtime by eliminating the need to configure paths statically across logical
devices. Check with your EMC representative for support of load balancing
on your storage platform.
PowerPath Facility runs
automatically and without administration required. PowerPath is enabled
through a dual port fiber card as opposed to the single port fiber card that
comes standard with StorGate.
Product Support
DRA products purchased through Stratus
are supported jointly by DRA and Stratus. DRA products
purchased directly from DRA are supported through the Co-active Maintenance
Service (CMS). CMS is a total support agreement which is available "around
the clock, around the world" to participating DRA customers. Product
maintenance, product updates, documentation and training are available through
CMS support. CMS is provided free of charge for 90 days following product
installation, and may be extended by contract thereafter.
* VOS D913 and D914 disks are currently supported on StorGates. Stratus
no longer sells D913 disks, but the D913 disk type remains in VOS. Therefore,
StorGates can be configured as D913s. If StorGates are partnered to StorGates or
SuperSyncs, users may choose to use the D913 disk type, depending on their
capacity needs. However, for most users it will no longer be practical to
partner StorGates to Stratus D913 disks.
