Scalable Clusters of Windows Unified Data Storage Server
Sanbolic software enables Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003 R2 to scale performance modularly by having a cluster of servers accessing a common file system on either internal disk drives or on an external storage array

Using Melio file system, multiple Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 file servers can be clustered into a common file system on external SAN storage. All storage servers have concurrent read and write access to the shared storage using Sanbolic’s clustered file system, so a file call can be processed by any of the Storage Servers. Microsoft DFS namespaces can be used to fail over, load balance, and distribute CIFS file calls among the Storage Servers and provide a single network address to clients on the network. Alternatively, a hardware load balancer can be used to balance both NFS and CIFS network calls in environments where multiple client operating systems are used. Additional servers and additional storage arrays can be added dynamically to the cluster to expand I/O performance or storage capacity without I/O interruption while client systems continue to access data.

I/O performance scales linearly as additional Windows Storage Server 2003 machines are added to the cluster. Clusters of up to 64 machines have been demonstrated, and larger clusters are possible. The system can provide aggregate throughput of several gigabytes per second. The external storage connected to the Windows Storage server cluster can incorporate multiple tiers of disk arrays. Sanbolic’s file management product, SILM, can migrate or copy files across storage tiers based on administrative based policy settings.

Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003 R2 introduces the capability to present internal and external storage as an iSCSI target. Using this feature, Melio FS and LaScala volume manager allow the internal disk drives of multiple Windows Storage Server 2003 machines to be clustered into one large storage pool. The storage pool then can be made accessible to clients using CIFS or NFS though the Windows Storage Servers, or to application servers using block-level iSCSI
access.

Industry standard servers with multiple internal drives running Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 can be used as modular “building blocks” in creating a scalable storage system that can support hundreds of terabytes of storage. I/O and storage capacity can be added modularly to the active cluster. The cluster has a single file system, hence a single namespace for file serving, and it is administered using familiar Windows Server tools. The large storage pool can also be accessed by application servers over iSCSI. If the application servers are running Sanbolic’s Melio File System and LaScala volume manager, the block storage pool can be centrally configured and assigned to application servers, and application servers can have shared read/write access to data in the storage pool over the iSCSI connection.

For more information regarding Scalable Clusters of Windows Unified Data Storage Server solution please email sales@sanbolic.com or call +1 617 833 4242.