Data Storage Solutions – StorTrends 2501i

Architected for Performance

The StorTrends® 2501i is an affordable 2U, rack-mount storage appliance that offers support for both block and file data. It merges Ethernet-based Storage Area Networks (IP-SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) on a single storage platform.

The StorTrends 2501i supports iSCSI, enabling block applications like Microsoft® Exchange and Oracle® to be deployed or stored on the same server as traditional file services and storage. This system is designed with performance in mind, and includes features for enterprise-level storage management such as Advanced Snapshots, Volume Replication, Failover, WAN optimization and much more.

StorTrends utilizes several sophisticated techniques to optimize the speed of long distance WAN connections. It uses an intelligent mix of standards-based transport protocols to overcome the inefficiencies and high latencies of TCP protocols in WANs and provide excellent bandwidth utilization. Additional performance gains are made through data reduction technologies such as compression, data deduplication and bandwidth throttling.

StorTrends block application true enterprise-level features to departmental and SMB users. The StorTrends 2501i offers twelve hotswappable drive bays with advanced NL-SAS support, as well as highly distinguishing software features. Dual-dialect StorTrends® iTX software enables transfer of both block and file data over the existing Ethernet network, along with a host of advanced features that until now only existed in systems costing many times more than the StorTrends 2501i.

The Volume replication feature of the StorTrends 2501i allows data to be stored on multiple StorTrends appliances at multiple sites, for high availability and disaster recovery in the event of a catastrophe. StorTrends’ Advanced Snapshot capability features Redirect-onWrite(ROW) technology with near-zero performance degradation when writing or rolling back snapshots. Administrators can schedule up to 1,022 read-write and 1,022 read-only snapshots per volume, and up to 16,384 snapshots per box. A maximum of 256 volumes per appliance is supported.

Asynchronous replication bundles I/Os within snapshots and sends them to the remote server, boosting network utilization efficiency and reducing bandwidth cost. When combined with the revolutionary WAN Data Services (WDS) feature included in the Asynchronous Replication module, the system employs data deduplication, compression and link optimization to reduce data transmission and bandwidth usage by several factors over conventional replication speeds.

For improved reliability and disaster prevention, the StorTrends 2501i features a redundant power supply, as well as Smart UPS support, which allows the appliance to seamlessly switch over to UPS power in the event of a power failure and initiate a graceful shutdown. StorTrends appliances can be managed by the integrated ManageTrends™ web-based GUI, which provides discovery and management of multiple StorTrends appliances deployed across the network.