Cost Savings
StorHouse manages a hierarchy that includes MAID as its principal storage
layer plus high-speed RAID, conventional ATA RAID, and high-density tape.
StorHouse right-sizes RAID for storing highly active data unsuitable for
MAID and uses tape for backup and compliance. This approach meets the
stringent performance requirements of an online repository at the lowest
possible cost of storage. Furthermore, performance and system costs can
be easily adjusted based on changing user needs or technology upgrades.
Additional savings accrue with the COPAN Systems MAID
storage tier. As standard operation, the Revolution 200T keeps a maximum
of 25% of all drives powered on at any given time. Drives are powered
on only when required for writing or accessing data. Cost savings stem
from reduced electronics, a smaller storage footprint through higher density
packaging, and lower power consumption requirements for device operation
and cooling.
Enhanced Performance
StorHouse has proven software features that enhance robotic library performance.
Because the Revolution 200T emulates a virtual tape library, a disk spin-up
is analogous to a cartridge mount. StorHouse optimizes COPAN Systems MAID
performance, subject to the 25% spinning constraint, by maximizing requests
to powered-on drives. (For a powered-off drive, access is delayed by the
6 to 10 seconds required for the drive spin-up.) By queuing requests and
managing when drives are powered off, StorHouse will typically satisfy
more than 90% of data requests from powered-on drives at standard disk
access speeds.
A Single Repository for
File and Relational Data
The Revolution 200T is an integral part of the StorHouse online, enterprise
repository for NFS, NTFS, and CIFS file system data and relational data.
This solution can scale to billions of application files or relational
rows and petabytes of storage to accommodate the ongoing explosive growth
of information, particularly in data warehouse environments. The StorHouse
file system interface achieves scalability by using an embedded relational
database to store and track file locator information. The StorHouse relational
component achieves scalability with a patented table and index segmentation
method that supports rapid access to both scalar data and binary objects
for set retrievals.
Summary
StorHouse is a scalable, highly accessible, and cost-effective commercial-off-the-shelf
(COTS) system that provides a complete data aging solution for file system
and database applications. It supports compliance requirements as well
as ILM processes and procedures for storing data affordably according
to its changing value over time. StorHouse components provide the standard
interfaces and all data, storage, and database management features. The
Revolution 200T storage layer contributes better performance, added cost
savings, increased reliability, and greater accessibility to aged data
with low-to-mid-level access requirements.
