A GFS (Google File System) Alike Company: Nutanix

By admin, August 20, 2011 1:55 am

I came across an interesting article today that a new storage startup Nutanix can do what Google does for a living, using cheap hardware to simulate a big pool of distributed storage, of course it’s software based raid, something like the hardware based (actually it’s still software based + vendor specific designed array box) NetApps Network Raid, 3PAR and Compellent’s Cluster File System or even the newly launched vSphere Storage Appliance (purely software based). The concept is very nice, but at the end IOPS is still linked to how many spindles you have.

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Yes it may be true that Nutanix’s storage has no boundary, but in my own opinion, only the next Google or Amazon alike company may need this kind of technology to drive down its operational cost, for most SMB (which Nutanix is aiming for), a low end SAN/NAS or even a free iSCSI target like MS iSCSI Target/Windstar shall do the job beautifully for their vSphere hosts. If Nutanix really targets for SMB, then they will definitely need to reduce the price and start to use really cost effective DIY servers as the selling point.

Finally, it’s interesting to know Nutanix is in fact founded by ex-employee of Google who probably the brain behind GFS, no wonder!

2013-05-05

Nutanix新款伺服器,可讓多臺伺服器肚內的儲存硬碟,共組成統一的叢集儲存槽,企業不用額外建置SAN儲存架構

伺服器新創廠商Nutanix在今年初由逸盈科技代理來臺,推出新款伺服器,可透過Nutanix Distributed File System(NDFS)技術,讓多臺伺服器肚內的儲存硬碟,共組成統一的叢集儲存槽,企業不用額外建置SAN儲存架構,伺服器節點也能共享儲存空間。

Nutanix區域銷售經理PK Lim表示,Nutanix產品設計源自於Google、Facebook、Amazon、Twitter等大型資料中心設計概念。

過去,企業資料中心架構,伺服器運算與儲存裝置都需要單獨採購,在伺服器運算設備以外,需要再額外架設SAN儲存環境來共享大量磁碟儲存空間。

但大型的資料中心,例如Google、Facebook、Amazon等,為了加快資料存取的I/O速度,讓伺服器運算的資料不需再儲存至外部硬碟,因此就設計了Google File System技術,讓伺服器肚內的SSD或儲存硬碟可以讓多臺伺服器共享,就可以取代企業傳統的SAN架構。

Nutanix產品取經Google等大型資料中心的儲存架構概念,設計出Nutanix系列伺服器,單臺機器採2U高度,機架式設計,每臺伺服器內含4個運算節點,多臺伺服器可透過網路埠串接,並共用每臺伺服器內的儲存空間。

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Nutanix新型態伺服器採2U機架高度,內含4個運算節點,由逸盈科技代理來臺。

目前Nutanix產品依照系統規格可區分為NX-2000、NX-3000等系列,高階XN-3050最高可內裝3.2TB SATA介面的SSD,每個節點採2路設計,配置Intel Xeon E5-2670系列處理器。因此,一臺2U高度的XN-3050系列裝滿4節點後最高可達8顆處理器、64核心。每個節點提供2個10GbE和2個1GbE網路埠。企業可以依照建置規模,來選擇伺服器內裝的運算節點數量和儲存大小等。

Nutanix也和VMware合作,推出在Nutanix伺服器內預載vSphere 5.1虛擬化平臺的版本,目前已在臺上市。

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