The iQ series from iQstor Networks is a line of disk arrays for SAN implementations served in multiple flavors, including FC ports/FC drives; FC ports/SATA drives; and iSCSI (Ethernet) connectivity to FC or SATA drives. Each of the IQ2000 series modules houses up to 15 drives (in varying capacities depending on the array model, more below) and can be shipped with single or dual storage controllers; while the newest product from the vendor--the iQ5200--packs up to 52TB of capacity into a 4U enclosure.

Features shared in common across the iQ2000 series enclosures (currently including the iQ2280, iQ2880, and iQ2850) include support for RAID levels 0, 1, 1+0, 3, 5, 50, and 6; support for multiple RAID sets and online RAID expansion; support for up to 1024 LUNs and global hot spares; hot swappable disk drives; and automatic drive failure detection and rebuild. Software-wise, each of the enclosures comes equipped with the vendor's wizard-based iQstor System Manager (a browser-based GUI with support for storage hardware discovery, monitoring of status and events, configuration of virtual disks and RAID sets, firmware upgrades, and more); and the vendor's Volume Manager Based Virtualization (VMV), an abstraction layer that allows for the creation of virtual storage pools visible to hosts as if they were direct attached disks. Up to 512 virtual disks can be defined per controller (with a maximum capacity of 2TB in each virtual pool), with the data from each virtual pool striped across all physical disks for simultaneous access.

Some of the additional--and optional--operational features available for the disk arrays include (note that not all features are available for all enclosures; contact the vendor for exact differences):

- Managed Snapshot Services (MSS): Allows for point-in-time copies of virtual disks. Up to 126 snapshots are supported per virtual disk, and snapshots can be write-enabled for direct access.

- Volume Copy Services (VCS): Providing mirroring capabilities (duplicate physical copies of a volume) within an iQstor system.

- Intelligent Capacity Management Services (ICM): Automated, policy-based virtual disk space expansion.

- Remote Replication, available in Synchronous (RRS) and Asynchronous (RRA) flavors

- Database Application Agents (DAA): Provides the ability to "pause" database activities while the MSS system takes its snapshot, to preserve simultaneous transactional integrity.

- Symmetrical Data Access (SDA): Allows multiple hosts to read/write to the same LUN from differing data paths via the employment of cache-coherency features in active/active controller deployments.

Currently available arrays in the iQstor line include:

- iQ2280: With four 4 Gb/sec FC host ports and loaded with SATA II drives.

- iQ2880: Also with four 4 Gb/sec FC host ports, but can be loaded with either FC (10 or 15K) or SATA drives. An expansion unit is also available (the J2880), itself connected via FC ports and supporting either FC or SATA drives. Up to 15 expansion units can be attached to the system, for a total capacity of up to 240TB (using SATA drives).

- iQ2850: Ships with four Gig Ethernet iSCSI ports per controller (up to 8 per system), and loaded with either FC or SATA drives. The iQ2850 also supports the J2880 expansion units (in the same manner as the IQ2880).

As mentioned above, the newest entry in the vendor's product line focuses on high-capacity deployments, packing in up to 52 TB of SATA capacity in a 4U enclosure. Dubbed the iQ5200, systems based on this new enclosure can scale up to a bit over 1 PB under a single management interface (an expansion unit will be available); with features including single, or dual active/active controllers w/auto failover and both FC and iSCSI interface ports (four each per controller).

The iQ Series disk arrays are available now; with the exception of the iQ5200, which is expected to be available in 1Q/2009 with a base price of $34,995.

Visit the iQstor Networks Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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