Quantum has introduced StorNext H4000, a more powerful hybrid flash/disk appliance that does away with the need for separate metadata controllers and client access nodes by using faster controllers.
StorNext is Quantum’s scalable file system software and hardware range for entertainment and media content production workflows. Quantum added the H2000 hybrid flash/disk product line, positioned above its existing QXS series, in January this year. Now it’s capped that with an even more powerful H4000 product using exactly the same form factor chassis, network ports, SSD and disk drive options as the H2000.
Ed Fiore, Quantum’s GM for Pimary Storage, said: “With this new architecture, we’ve made it easy for any organisation to leverage StorNext to improve collaboration, accelerate their workflows or production pipelines, and manage their unstructured data from ingest through archive – without the need to deploy a storage network.”
Like the H2000, the H4000 comes in either a 2U x 12 3.5-inch slot chassis – H4012 – supporting nearline SAS disk drives; or a 2U x 24 2.5-inch bay box – H4024 – which can be filled with SSDs or 10K rpm disk drive. Both support the PCIe Gen 4 bus, 32Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 12G SAS, 10/25/40/100Gbit Ethernet, and controllers with AMD CPUs.
The H2000 has 16 AMD cores per node, 32GB RAM and 256GB of mirrored flash per controller All these elements are more abundant in the H4000 with 48 cores/node, and 128GB system memory and 512GB of mirrored flash per controller. It’s a much more powerful system.
The H2000 is positioned as a Storage Next cluster capacity enhancement node while the H4000 can do more. Its datasheet states: “The StorNext 7 metadata controller, client access nodes, block services, and hypervisor services can all run on a single H4000 appliance. By converging all of these components into a compact 2U server, the H4000 appliances eliminate networking complexity and administration, delivering a dramatically simplified StorNext user experience.”
Quantum continued: “This efficiency reduces needed rack space by 50 per cent, reducing power and cooling costs, and conserving physical space.”
StorNext file and block services, along with other data services, run as virtual machines on the H4000. Quantum says “By virtualising and containerising the core components of the StorNext 7 software, multiple virtual machines and data services can run on a single appliance, providing more options for using StorNext 7 software in more places than ever before.”
It will make it possible to use StorNext on additional cloud and hardware platforms in the future.
The StorNext 7 software has also been updated to add:
- File system cluster monitoring and management using web services
- System performance charting and graphing
- Enhanced alerting, log management and health monitoring capabilities for hardware components, such as the server enclosures, and drive health
We expect even more powerful H Series systems in the near term, as Fiore also said: “This new architecture unlocks the future potential to run certified applications like the Quantum CatDV media asset management software on the same server, which will further simplify media workflows and other use cases.”
The H4000 Series is available to purchase today, with first customer shipments planned for the end of May. No pricing details were revealed. If you want to pore over the finer details of the H4000, here’s a blog by Quantum marketing director Skip Levens.
