The IST Data Center is a state-of-the art facility
for enterprise computing systems infrastructure, designed for maximum
operational availability and self-sufficiency, seismic stability and
physical security.
The IST SAN builds on these features to provide
centralized, highly-available, highly-scalable data storage for a wide
range of applications. With more than 150 Terabytes (TB) of capacity,
and growing continuously, the SAN supports everything from high-performance
mainframe and open-systems databases through application and
file servers to near-line mass storage for imaging and other data
repositories.
Availability: Hardware RAID prevents data
loss due to disk failure. Redundancy of all SAN components eliminates
service disruptions due to maintenance or equipment outage. Automated
monitoring and fault notification, together with 24x7 onsite vendor
support, insure that in practical terms your storage is always
available.
Scalability: On the IST SAN, capacity
allocations in most tiers are made in standard increments of 35GB, up to
multiple TB per host. Clustered server configurations are supported.
Connection of new servers on the SAN is normally completed within three
to five days after an order is processed. Capacity expansions for
existing SAN hosts are often performed same-day. Note that individual
requests for 1 TB or more of new or expansion storage capacity may
require significantly longer lead times.
Performance: Advanced enterprise array
technology, with very large amounts of cache and a variety of disk
configurations available, enables performance optimization for differing
application requirements. Four performance tiers are available:
Premium, Enhanced, Standard, and Economy.
- Premium tier storage is for high I/O enterprise
systems, such as large OLTP database servers. Campuswide applications
like Berkeley Financial System, Student Information System, and BAIRS run
on premium tier storage. It consists of 73 GB, 15K RPM dual-ported Fiber
Channel disk, in a RAID-5 configuration. With 2 GB dedicated cache per
TB of capacity, this tier delivers at least 2500 I/Os Per
Second (IOPS) per TB. Premium tier storage is priced at
$4/GB per month, available as one or more 35 GB
blocks.
- Enhanced tier storage is suitable for
departmental application and midrange database servers. WebCast,
WebFarm, and CalShare run on enhanced tier storage. It consists of 146
GB, 10K RPM dual-ported Fiber Channel disk, RAID-5, with 1 GB dedicated
cache per TB of capacity, providing at least 1200 IOPS
per TB. It's priced at $2/GB per month,
available as one or more 35 GB blocks.
- Standard tier storage is a good, economical
choice for departmental file shares, system monitoring logs and other
large-volume, moderate I/O applications. It consists of 300 GB, 10K RPM
dual-ported Fiber Channel disk, RAID-5, providing at least 500
IOPS per TB. High throughput for large-block sequential I/O is
a characteristic of this tier, appropriate for storing images, streaming
video and other types of high-volume, binary data. It's priced at
$0.50/GB per month, available as one or more 35 GB
blocks.
- Economy tier storage consists of 7200 RPM SATA
disk, RAID-5. It's best for online archives and other very large
volume, low I/O applications. It's priced at
$0.25/GB per month, available as one or more blocks of
100 GB.
Why Use SAN Storage? Compared to local storage on a
standalone computer, the IST SAN provides several important advantages
for server installations:
- Hardware Fault Tolerance: With typical
internal storage, a disk failure means your applications or important
data will be unavailable for a day or so while replacing the disk and
restoring the data from backup. This assumes, if you are supporting the
server, that you've proactively purchased spare disk, a suitable
backup device and media, learned to install and configure these
components in your system, and maintained everything regularly.
Otherwise you could be offline for several days, or permanently.
With IST Storage, every tier is in a hardware-supported RAID
configuration, with 24x7 vendor support for continuous availability.
- Capacity growth: What if you just need to add
capacity? Is there enough space inside the server? Are you
software-mirroring volumes to improve fault tolerance? How do you
manage the data among multiple volumes so that it's still easily
accessible to the application, or directly to users? Perhaps you
anticipate some of these problems, and decide to start with a small
array, with hardware RAID, to protect against outages caused by disk
failures and to streamline volume management. Since external arrays are
substantially more expensive than internal storage, how much capacity
should you buy up front? How do you manage capacity additions later?
What about spare disks and other components?
With IST Storage
you can buy one or more blocks of storage at a time, and pay for more
capacity only when you need it.
- Support: Are you comfortable dealing with
possible controller failures and other higher-level system problems?
They often require a complete rebuild and restoration of the storage
subsystem. How much of your time are you willing or able to devote to
computer system maintenance and administration?
With IST Storage, all support and administration is included in the price.
- Catastrophic failures: What if there's a more
serious problem, say a fire in the building that destroys your server?
Were all your backup media in the filing cabinet next to it? Were the
irreplaceable original reference materials stored in the room across
the hall?
With IST Storage, the SANs are located in the campus
Data Center. Copies of backups are kept both onsite and offsite.
Summary: Storage Area Networks are the most
cost-effective way of deploying highly available, highly scalable data
storage resources for large numbers of computer systems. Enterprise
array technology provides significant improvements over traditional
locally-attached storage in several areas. If you feel uncomfortable
trying to deal with all the issues and considerations in providing data
storage for your important servers, the Storage and Backup Group has a
simple suggestion: let us take care of it all for you.
