Spectra Logic Spectra nTier300, Installation Manual

Page: 12 / 88

Chapter 1 – Spectra nTier300 VTL Overview
12
ƒ
RAID-protected data disks.
The nTier300 VTL includes from two to twelve high-
performance 1 TB disk drives mounted on individual drive sleds. Depending on the
number of drives installed, the disk drives provide the RAID-protected storage
capacity used by the operating system, VTL, and SIR, including the VTL database,
SIR index, and SIR repository.
ƒ
RAID write caching.
Cache memory on the nTier300 VTL RAID controller stores
data from the host before it is written to the disk drives. Because writing data to
memory is typically faster than writing to disk, using write caching improves the
overall performance of the RAID storage. Once the data is written to the cache
memory, the host can move on to another operation while the data is written to
disk.
ƒ
BlueScale
®
web interface.
The BlueScale web interface is used to configure the
nTier300 VTL IP addresses, monitor the hardware status, and view hardware system
messages.
ƒ
Integrated server.
The powerful, integrated server uses a high-performance, dual-
core CPU running the FalconStor VTL software.
ƒ
Gigabit (1000BaseT) Ethernet connectivity. Two on-board Gigabit Ethernet ports
provide connections to Ethernet networks. These ports provide iSCSI network
connectivity to the RAID storage, as well as connectivity for the FalconStor VTL
Console and the Spectra BlueScale web interface.
ƒ
Optional 10-Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, or SCSI connectivity.
An optional
host bus adaptor (HBA) can be installed to provide Fibre Channel, or SCSI
connectivity to a tape library. The optional 10-Gigabit Ethernet NIC or Fibre
Channel HBA can be used to connect a backup server to the VTL.
ƒ
High availability. In addition to the RAID-protected data storage, batteries provide
power to protect the data in the RAID write cache memory for up to 72 hours in the
event of a power failure. The N+1 redundant power supplies and the disk drives in
the nTier300 VTL are hot-swappable for uninterrupted operation.
ƒ
Rack-mount hardware. The nTier300 VTL is designed to mount in a standard
4-post, 19-inch rack using just 4U (7 inches) of rack space. Rack-mounting
hardware is included with the nTier300 VTL. Alternatively, the nTier300 VTL can be
placed on a level tabletop or other horizontal surface.