IBM U.S. Sales Manual
Revised:  May 25, 2004.

Table of contents  Document options  IBM U.S. Product Life Cycle Dates Technical Description Abstract Planning Information Product Positioning Publications Highlights Security, Auditability, and Control Description      
 
IBM U.S. Product Life Cycle Dates
Program NumberVRMAnnounced AvailableMarketing Withdrawn Service DiscontinuedReplaced By
5765-FS11.01.02003/10/142003/11/14 2004/08/252007/04/015765-FS2

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Abstract

(No Longer Available as of August 25, 2004)

(Program Services Discontinued as of April 1, 2007)

The IBM TotalStorage SAN File System is a member of the TotalStorage Virtualization Family of storage solutions. The SAN File System combines software, hardware, and optional services into an integrated solution designed to provide a network-based heterogeneous file system for data sharing and policy-based storage management in an open environment.

The SAN File System software is designed to support high performance data sharing for heterogeneous servers accessing SAN-attached storage. It provides a common file system for UNIX and Windows servers, with a single global namespace providing data sharing across servers. The SAN File System is designed to support the local file system interfaces on UNIX and Windows servers and can be used without requiring any changes to your applications or databases that use a file system to store data. The SAN File System is designed as a highly scalable solution supporting both very large files and very large numbers of files without the limitations normally associated with Network File System (NFS) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) implementations.

The SAN File System software is designed to lower the cost of storage management and enhance productivity by providing centralized storage and data management for supported servers using the SAN File System. It provides policy-based storage management through the use of customer defined rules that specify what storage is used when a file is created. Storage can be virtualized into storage pools organized by service class, and files are automatically placed on the appropriate storage resource, therefore, reducing administrative overhead.

The SAN File System software has the potential to reduce the overall amount of storage required in many environments by allowing storage resources to be shared more efficiently across servers. A common pool of free space and temporary space can be shared across all of the servers, thus lowering the amount of free space and temporary space that is required. In addition, because files can be shared across servers, storage can be saved by reducing the need to maintain duplicate copies of files.

The SAN File System software also has the potential to improve application availability by reducing or eliminating application downtime for storage and data management tasks. It allows storage volumes to be added, replaced, or removed without disrupting application processing. Application downtime for data backups can be reduced through the use of the file-based FlashCopy function.



 
Product Positioning

The SAN File System is a member of the IBM TotalStorage Virtualization Family and is a modular implementation of IBM solutions designed to help address the complexities and cost of managing files and database systems in SAN-based storage. The SAN File System is designed to be added to existing SANs with minimal disruption.

In addition to the SAN File System, the Virtualization Family includes the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller, and the IBM TotalStorage SAN Integration Server. IBM has also previewed the IBM TotalStorage Multiple Device Manager. The following provides a brief description of each:

  • SAN File System: designed to improve access to and management of files and databases on a SAN

  • SAN Volume Controller: addresses block level management issues and is packaged as an appliance

  • SAN Integration Server: addresses block level management issues and is packaged as a fully integrated storage server

  • Multiple Device Manager: allows you to manage IBM devices and integrate with Tivoli SAN and SRM management to provide an integrated storage management solution

Combined, the Virtualization Family is designed to address the overall problem of managing complexity of the storage environment and allows you to realize the full benefits of your SANs.



 
Highlights

The IBM TotalStorage Virtualization Family of storage solutions is designed to help reduce both the complexity and costs of managing your SAN-based storage.

With the SAN File System you have the potential to reduce storage and data management costs and enable faster and simpler deployment of an e-business on demand environment. The SAN File System is designed to help:

  • improve productivity and reduce the pain for IT storage and server management staff by centralizing and simplifying management through policy-based storage management automation;

  • provide higher storage utilization by reducing the amount of duplicate data and through the sharing of free and temporary space across servers;

  • improve application availability and lower failover costs by reducing or eliminating application downtime for storage and data management tasks;

  • simplify and lower the cost of data backups through application server free backup and leveraging built in file-based FlashCopy images; and

  • allow data sharing and collaboration across servers with high performance and full locking support.



 
Description

The IBM TotalStorage SAN File System -- What It Does

The SAN File System is designed as a highly available file system for SAN-attached storage that provides file sharing and centralized storage management for UNIX and Windows servers. The SAN File System is intended to combine the benefits of file sharing across servers provided by Network Attached Storage (NAS) with the benefits from high performance data access provided by Storage Area Networks (SAN).

The SAN File System will be delivered as an integrated solution consisting of software, hardware and optional services.

SAN File System Hardware

The SAN File System hardware (4146 Model T30) consists of a cluster of IBM TotalStorage SAN File System Metadata Server engines (4146 Model 1RX) and a master console. The SAN File System Metadata Server engines are based on IBM eServer xSeries 345 servers with hardware added for increased redundancy. The SAN File System hardware combines servers into a cluster designed for high availability. The cluster consists of a minimum of two and up to a maximum of eight SAN File System Metadata Server engines.

The master console also runs on an IBM eServer xSeries server. It is designed to provide a unified point of service for the entire SAN File System cluster, simplifying access to, and administration of, metadata servers. The master console has Remote Support and IBM Service Alert (Call Home) capabilities to provide fast, efficient, secure service. It makes a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection readily available, that you can initiate and monitor to enable hands-on access by remote IBM support personnel. It also provides a common point of residence for the IBM Tivoli Storage Area Network Manager, IBM Director, and other tools associated with the capabilities just described, and it can act as a central repository for diagnostic data.

SAN File System Software

The SAN File System software consists of two components: the software that runs on the SAN File System metadata servers and software that runs on your administrative servers, called the SAN File System Client software.

The SAN File System metadata servers provide metadata, information about the files, to the SAN File System Client software running on your administrative servers. Once the SAN File System Client software has the metadata, then the SAN File System Client software accesses the file data directly via the SAN.

The SAN File System metadata servers also provide the management support for the SAN File System. The SAN File System software includes a task-oriented GUI that can be accessed from a Web browser, a command line interface that can be used to create scripts for frequently used commands, and an application programming interface that can be used by other storage and data management applications to manage or monitor the SAN File System. The Application Programming Interface (API) is based on the Common Information Model (CIM) and is encoded in XML with common methods and syntax to the Storage Networking Industry Association's (SNIA) Storage Management Interface Specification (SMI-S).

The SAN File System Client runs on your administrative servers. SAN File System software V1.1 supports administrative servers running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, IBM AIX Version 5.1, 32-bit, and IBM AIX 5.1, 32-bit, in HACMP environments. The SAN File System Client for AIX uses the virtual file system interface within the local operating system to provide file system interfaces to the applications running on IBM AIX 5.1. The SAN File System Client for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server uses the installable file system interface within the local operating system to provide file system interfaces to the applications running on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server.

The SAN File System is designed to support the local file system interfaces on UNIX and Windows servers. This means that the SAN File System is designed to be used without requiring any changes to your applications or databases that use a file system to store data.

Refer to the following Web site for additional information:

http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/4146

Features

The SAN File System software provides the following functions:

  • Uniform Global Namespace
  • Storage Pools
  • Policy-based File Space Provisioning
  • Storage Quota Management
  • Locking
  • Caching
  • Volume Drain
  • FlashCopy Image
  • Data Copy Migration Tool

Uniform Global Namespace: All of the supported administrative servers connected to the SAN File System are able to access the same data using SAN File System's uniform global namespace. A uniform global namespace provides the capabilities for all clients to have a consistent view of the SAN File System directory and files which can enable enhanced workflow and collaboration between applications running on multiple servers.

Storage Pools: The SAN File System provides the capability to assign storage volumes to storage pools where the storage pools can represent different classes of service for storage. Volumes can be added to a storage pool without impacting application processing. Data can be moved between volumes without impacting availability or performance.

Policy-based File Space Provisioning: Storage administrators will be able to create rules for the SAN File System to determine what storage pool is used to allocate space for a file when the file is created. The storage administrator can use any of the file attributes (such as file name, file type, date created, user ID or group ID, and so on) to create these rules. Through the use of the policy based rules, the SAN File System automates the task of allocating space on the desired storage volumes.

Storage Quota Management: The SAN File System provides storage capacity to applications and servers creating new files or extending existing files. The SAN File System allows the storage administrator to define the amount of storage to be used by a specific server or by a specific application (defined as a fileset) and can help the storage administrator monitor the storage utilization by alerting them when the storage reaches a pre-defined capacity. The use of storage quotas can prevent an application from using more storage than permitted. The SAN File System allows for storage utilization quotas to be set higher than the physical storage available to the system or applications. This allows for simplified management of the system by allowing administrators to dynamically add storage without having to reset application level policies. Both hard and soft quotas are supported along with threshold alerts for integration with systems management tools.

Locking: The SAN File System is designed to provide file level locking to the SAN File System clients running on your administrative servers. This function provides data sharing with integrity across heterogeneous application servers. The file level locking uses the same locking permissions (read, write, execute, and so on) that are provided by the local operating systems for locking within one server. In addition to locking the entire file, the SAN File System also supports the ability to do a lock a byte range within a file.

Caching: The SAN File System clients cache the metadata that they get from the SAN File System metadata servers. This allows the applications running on a server to continue to access the file data without additional requests to the metadata servers and also allows applications on one server to share files without additional requests to the metadata servers. The caching of the metadata provides for high performance data access over the SAN without requests flowing to the metadata server. It can also provide continuous access to open files even if a temporary condition prohibits communication with the metadata servers.

Volume Drain: The SAN File System provides a volume drain function that allows you to remove or upgrade storage volumes without disrupting application processing. The volume drain function moves the data off of the specified volume onto other volumes in the same storage pool. The SAN File System manages the access to the data that is being moved so there is no need to stop application processing during the volume drain. Data can be moved between volumes without impacting availability or performance.

FlashCopy Image: The SAN File System provides a file-based point-in-time copy function called FlashCopy image. The FlashCopy image is a logical point-in-time image of a Fileset, a set of files. A copy of the data block is made upon the next update after the FlashCopy image. The FlashCopy image only requires storage for changed blocks, therefore, reducing the amount of storage needed. The SAN File System supports 32 FlashCopy images for each Fileset. The files can be restored to any one of the FlashCopy images.

File-based backup and restore products can back up files using the FlashCopy image while the applications are online and updating a later version of the files. The file-based FlashCopy image can help significantly reduce maintenance windows for data backups and can also help reduce the amount of storage space needed for on-line data backups.

File Copy Migration Tool: The SAN File System provides a file copy migration tool that you can use to copy files into the SAN File System. The file copy migration tool runs on your administrative servers that are the SAN File System clients. The file copy migration tool includes a planning option that creates an estimate of the time needed to copy the files into the SAN File System.

Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act

SAN File System software is capable, when used in accordance with IBM's associated documentation, of satisfying the applicable requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act provided that any assistive technology used with the product properly interoperates with it.



 
Technical Description
Operating Environment Hardware Requirements Software Requirements

Operating Environment

Hardware Requirements

SAN File System software requires SAN File System hardware, 4146-T30, to be ordered. The hardware consists of two to eight SAN File System Metadata Server engines (4146 Model 1RX) and a master console.

SAN File System software V1.1 can be configured with the following storage:

  • IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) models:
    • 2105-F20
    • 2105-800

  • IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller with the storage devices supported by the SAN Volume Controller.

  • IBM TotalStorage SAN Integration Server with the storage devices supported by the SAN Integration Server.

Note: The master console must be in proximity with the SAN File System server. If such location is not feasible, the customer must supply an extra keyboard and display for SAN File System access to the master console functions.

For updated and current support levels, refer to the SAN File System Support Web site, at:

http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/4146

SAN File System software V1.1 runs on Fibre Channel SANs.

Software Requirements

SAN File System supports connectivity with Intel-based servers running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and with RISC-based servers running AIX. The clients run on a supported version of the following operating systems:

  • For IBM AIX 5.1, either 32-bit uni-processor or 32-bit multi- processor with maintenance level 3 installed. For AIX 5.1F, the bos.mp (multi-processor) or bos.up (uni-processor) package must be at level 5.1.0.40 or higher. For AIX 5.1G, the package must be at level 5.1.0.50 or higher. AIX 5.1 32-bit HACMP environments are supported at the specified maintenance level.

  • For Microsoft Windows:
    • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4, or later
    • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Service Pack 4, or later

The application servers, connected to the SAN File System, need either single-pathing or multi-pathing device drivers to communicate with the storage devices used with the SAN File System. A single-pathing device driver provides the means for basic communication between a server and a storage subsystem. A multi-pathing driver allows multiple fibre channel paths to be connected to the storage subsystem and to be managed for functions such as redundant path failover and load balancing. The single-pathing device drivers are the standard device drivers for the supported storage subsystems. The multi-pathing device driver supported by Enterprise Storage Server and SAN Volume Controller is the IBM Subsystem Device Driver (SDD). The SAN File System metadata servers will be delivered with SDD pre-installed. If SDD is also in use on the application servers, the version used on the application servers must be supported by the SAN File System.

Current software support summaries, including specific release and firmware levels, are maintained at:

http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/4146

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) must be installed and available for configuration and use by the SAN File System. The LDAP server must be provided by the customer.

Anti-virus software must be installed on the master console.

Limitations

Version 1.1 of the SAN File System:

Has the limitation that only one type of storage at a time can be supported directly with the SAN File System, either Enterprise Storage Server or SAN Volume Controller or SAN Integration Server. SAN File System does not limit the number, or combination, of storage devices supported by the current release of SAN Volume Controller or or SAN Integration Server when used with the SAN File System.

Is restricted to 126 Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) for both metadata storage and user data storage when using single-pathing and 63 LUNs for dual-pathing.

Has limited file sharing between UNIX and Windows environments because of the difference in file access control between the two types of operating systems.

Requires the shutdown and restart of the SAN File System software on the affected metadata server when installing maintenance upgrades on the metadata servers. SAN File System software can be upgraded one metadata server at a time or across the entire cluster. Filesets being served by the affected metadata server will be unavailable until the metadata server rejoins the SAN File System cluster, making maintenance disruptive to affected applications. An upgrade of the SAN File System server software is expected to require no more than 5 minutes per metadata server.

Should have application software that runs on your application server installed on the application server's local file system and not in the SAN File System.

IBM Tivoli Storage Area Network Manager is included with the master console and has base support for up to 64 ports. Support for more ports can be obtained by contacting IBM and licensing IBM Tivoli Storage Area Network Manager.

Configuration guidelines and notices of temporary or unforeseen problems which can affect operations are documented in the SAN File System Software Release Notes, furnished publications for this product, and/or as listed under configuration requirements and guidelines at:

http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/4146




 
Planning Information

Customer Responsibilities

Planning for and provision of the power and environmental support of the co-requisite SAN File System hardware is a customer responsibility.

Planning considerations for SAN File System Software are listed in the IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide, GA27-4316.

Performance Considerations

The SAN File System is designed to provide performance that is comparable to that of file systems built on direct-attached, high performance storage.

The SAN File System is a solution where all data read and written go directly to the storage subsystem instead of through another file server, and only metadata operations such as create, delete, allocate, and look- up go to the metadata server. Because of this architecture, most applications are expected to see only a moderate difference in performance from direct-attached storage while experiencing the benefits that the SAN File System has to offer. Some I/O operations and workloads that generate large amounts of metadata transactions will see a difference in performance because of the distributed nature of the system, but, in almost all cases, the performance is designed to be better than a NAS only solution. Application servers have a wide range of I/O workloads and patterns, and thus each will perform slightly differently in practice.

Direct storage access is just one of the advanced performance features found in the SAN File System. Other performance features included with the SAN File System are aggressive client side metadata caching, load balancing through name space partitioning across the metadata servers, and file striping across the volumes in a storage pool.

Conversion

Although the SAN File System software comes preinstalled on the hardware, the SAN File System is designed to be set-up and configured by trained personnel, either IBM Services or authorized Business Partners. Alternatively the customer may obtain education from IBM Services to facilitate the setup and configuration.

The installation services available are those for initial set-up and configuration, including system set-up, client install, and definition of policies and data migration as well as customer education. In order to ensure a successful installation, inclusion of the "IBM SAN File System Implementation Services" is critical.

In addition to the installation offering, there are two additional services, "IBM Storage Strategy and Planning" and "IBM Technology Assessment and Consulting Services for Storage Virtualization", that can assist you in defining a storage virtualization strategy for your business.

Refer to the following Web site for additional information on services:

http://www.storage.ibm.com/software/ virtualization/can_help.html




 
Publications

Each new order of SAN File System software and the co-requisite SAN File System hardware comes with publications. The Publications CD-ROM contains an Information Center, the Overview e-learning module, displayable softcopy publications as PDF files, and license information. In addition, a printed copy of the following publications is included in the hardware shipment to facilitate the installation process:

  • IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide (GA27-4316)
  • IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: Basic Configuration for Quick Start

Information Center

The Information Center is an online, topic-based user assistance that is a single-source of customer-based information for SAN File System. It provides search, index, and printing capabilities. It can be launched as a separate Web-browser window from the SAN File System console or downloaded from the publications CD.

The Publications CD-ROM is shipped with new orders of the SAN File System hardware and can be ordered directly from the IBM Publications Center using order number GK2T-0541. The Publications CD contains:

 
IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: GK2T-0539 Information Center IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: Overview PDF files - refer to Displayable Softcopy Publications IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: GC30-9703 License Information IBM TotalStorage SAN File System: GX27-4057 Statement of Limited Warranty IBM TotalStorage Translated GA27-4338 Safety Notices

Below is the order number for the Publications CD-ROM:

 Title                              Order Number
 ---------------------------------  ------------
 IBM TotalStorage SAN File System:  GK2T-0541
 Publications Version 1
 Release 1 (CD-ROM)
 



 
Security, Auditability, and Control

The IBM TotalStorage SAN File System software administration interface uses the security features of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Edition, in conjunction with Web Secure Shell (SSH) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocols and WebSphere.

The customer is responsible for evaluation, selection, and implementation of security features, administrative procedures, and appropriate controls in application systems and communication facilities.

Trademarks

(R), (TM), * Trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

** Company, product, or service name may be a trademark or service mark of others.

Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.
 © IBM Corporation 2004.




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