NetApp in pole position for grid revolution
NetApp in pole position for grid revolution
Network Appliance is preparing to release new software soon that is specifically designed to allow storage to be more flexible within a grid environment, because it believes that Oracle’s system for managing databases is eventually going to become the norm within enterprises.
NetApp has already made significant headway in integrating SAN and NAS solutions into a single networked storage infrastructure, using fibre channel or iSCSI, to allow data to be visible to all environments, and now aims to engage this flexibility more deeply inside grid systems.
McData and NetApp recently announced a strategic agreement together to integrate its SANavigator network management software with NetApp DataFabric Manager software. It will be sold under the NetApp DataFabric Manager and aims to enable both IP and Fibre-Channel based storage to be managed in one centralised location.
NetApp already has plans to involve solutions like this, and even newer ones, within Oracle’s 9i Real Application Clusters, and its latest 10g grid systems.
Jeff Browning, NetApp's global database architect, said: “In our next release we are going to add some functionality that will dramatically improve the customer experience with respect to allowing more flexible use of our storage in a grid environment. Among other things, it will allow customers to leverage a very large number of spindles and to use those spindles in a very flexible way within the grid.”
He couldn’t expand on the specifics because the new software has not been released yet, but he did highlight the benefits of Oracle’s grid concept.
“Grid is definitely the way of the future. Larry (Ellison – Oracle's CEO) has got it right. Grid is what is going to revolutionise the entire industry in this area. It is happening now in our own customer base. It started with 9i, and now 10g is the latest version of grid computing that is taking off.”
Browning added that NetApp is unique in allowing users to manage software visibly in SAN and NAS environments and outlined how useful this is within a grid environment.
“Let's say that you have a transactional database. That transactional database is running on a large high CPU count grid, that means lots of CPUs are thrown at that problem and those CPUs need to be associated with the fibre channel environment because that is a high bandwidth, high performance environment. However, you would also like to be able to back up that data.
“What we allow you to do is take that same data, transfer it to a completely different box so that you can iSCSI it, and use four CPUs to access that data and then back it up from there without any impact on production.”
The combination of a grid system and NetApp’s flexible storage solutions means that the customers is more in control of moving data around and backing it up without damaging the overall performance of the system. Data can be moved more easily.
Telstra is one customer that uses NetApp’s solution under this concept in Australia. NetApp is intending to push aggressively for Linux and grid computing to be adopted by more enterprises in the future, as well as designing newer solutions that will make it easier to manage storage within this infrastructure.
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