SANsymphony is a storage management and virtualization platform that provides for the pooling and management of disk resources from heterogeneous vendors.

At the core of the SANsymphony platform is the dedicated Storage Domain Server (SDS; also known as the Storage Domain Node) that runs the SANsymphony software and is deployed inline between hosts and available storage resources, which can be any combination of individual physical disks and/or the LUNs served by more advanced disk arrays. The storage nodes can be deployed on "a wide range of commercial Intel-based server platforms," and provide for the hosts a virtual vision of the available physical storage that is in actuality managed by the SANsymphony software itself. Capacity can therefore be added to the physical pool non-disruptively to the end users; and the overall performance of the SANsymhpony platform can be improved by adding more storage domain nodes (N+1 redundant configurations are supported for HA deployments). The vendor notes that their platform works with storage gear from multiple vendors (EMC, IBM, HDS, STK, HP, Fujitsu, Compaq, Sun, Dell, LSI, MTI, etc.) and connections over multiple protocols (Fibre Channel, iSCSI, Ethernet, IP LANs / WANs); as well as being accessible from multiple operating systems, including UNIX, Windows, Linux, NetWare, and MacOS.

Management of the storage resources can also be virtualized, via the use of Network Managed Volumes and Storage Domains.

"Network Managed Volumes" allow for the creation and management of volumes that appear to the hosts as if they are the largest possible disk addressable by their underlying O/S. Such volumes in fact begin by using only a small portion of the physical resources available in the actual storage pool; with automatic allocation of additional physical resources performed by the software as the consuming application requires it. Alerting is provided should the physical pool become low; and the administrator can then allocate additional physical resources to the pool via drag-and-drop technology, or physically add storage to the pool without downing the Network Managed Volume.

"Storage Domains," on the other hand, provide a means to logically group volumes and resources for prioritized performance purposes. SANsymphony can automatically throttle available bandwidth to lower priority domains should the overall bandwidth be taxed; providing higher overall performance to the higher priority domains.

Other features of the platform include:

- Network-wide read and write caching; made possible via the platform's inline deployment architecture

- Fibre Channel to SCSI protocol bridging

- APIs for 3rd party application integration

- Optional bi-directional data replication features, including point-in-time snapshots or mirroring, via synchronous or asynchronous (IP-based) connections

- Support for host-based alternate pathing drivers; including Fibre Channel drivers for Windows 2000/XP Pro/Server 2003; a Windows MPIO driver (Fibre Channel, iSCSI) for Windows 2000/XP Pro/Server 2003; an AIX driver; and support for 3rd party drivers (see vendor for details).

The latest edition brings 8GB Fibre Channel SAN Support for faster transaction processing and better throughput to large databases. DataCore's dual-mode driver grants both host initiator and target connectivity for Emulex and Q-logic high speed 8Gb/s host bus adapters.

Thin provisioning updates introduce "hot-swap" migration, live data migration and over-subscription monitoring services to monitor physical disk space.

Contact DataCore Software for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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