Promise RAID
Affordable Enterprise-Class Storage
The Promise VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem is a fully redundant high performance RAID solution developed to meet the needs of mission critical enterprise and creative applications. At the heart of the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem is a mature RAID engine. The hardened RAID code is the central technology that controls how user data is stored on a group of hard drives. With more than 13 years and four generations of code, the Promise RAID engine delivers cutting-edge performance and data integrity features that rival all competitors in its class.
The Promise VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem provides flexible configuration and can scale along with your business. With up to 16TB per 3U rack-optimized shelf, Bonjour support and a pro aluminum design, the Promise VTrak RAID is an ideal storage solution for direct-attached or SAN-based server and workstation applications, qualified for use with Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Final Cut Studio 2, and Xsan 2.
Each VTrak RAID 3U subsystem supports up to 16 integrated 3.5-inch 1Tb 7200-rpm SATA or 450GB 15,000-rpm SAS drives and supports up to four J-Class expansion chassis for capacities up to 80TB for secondary storage applications. High performance and reliability is delivered through dual redundant active-active RAID controllers, 4Gb Fibre Channel connections to the host, hardware RAID 5 and RAID 6 support and 2GB of cache per controller.
The VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem delivers outstanding performance for general server and video storage workloads, reaching up to 1400MB/s of sequential read performance and 617MB/s of sequential write performance in a RAID 5 configuration with redundant controllers. When configured with Apple's Xsan 2 clustered file system and Final Cut Studio 2, the 32-drive VTrak subsystem delivers up to 6 streams of 8-bit uncompressed high definition video, 22 streams of ProRes HQ compressed HD video and 26 streams of 8-bit uncompressed SD video. You can start with a four drive configuration and scale the RAID subsystem with additional SATA drives, high performance SAS drives, or an expansion units as your requirements change.
Apple Xsan 2 and Final Cut Studio 2 Qualified Providing industry leading performance, reliability and scalability to some of the world’s most demanding storage environments, VTrak E-Class RAID subsystems are qualified for use with Apple Xsan 2 and Final Cut Studio 2. VTrak E-Class features dual active/active RAID controllers with automatic Fail over/Fail back capabilities and 4Gb Fibre Channel connectivity, The Promise VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem delivers multiple streams of uncompressed high def video without dropped frames.
Active/Active Controllers and I/O Modules
The advanced subsystem design includes fully redundant, active/active hot-swappable controllers and load balanced power and cooling units. All system components are monitored for continuous operation and send instant user notification in case of failure or malfunction. The active/active RAID controllers balance the workload across the data paths in normal operation and provide redundant data paths and high availability in the unlikely event of a controller failure.
4Gb Fibre Channel SAN Performance and Reliability
Dual 4Gb Fibre Channel host interface ports per controller provide connectivity for direct attached storage and widely deployed storage area networks. With full auto negotiation functionality VTrak E-Class RAID subsystems are perfect for adding capacity to existing Xserve RAID installations and creating new high performance 4Gb per second volumes under Xsan.
SAS and SATA Hard Drive Support
Supporting both SAS and SATA drives allows deployments of tiered storage on a single flexible storage platform. Each standard 3U 19" rack unit supports up to sixteen 15,000-rpm 3.5" SAS or 7,200-rpm SATA 3Gb/s drives. If your application requires large sequential data transfers, like video editing, SATA drives are a perfect fit. If your application requires the efficient random access of many small files such as database and web transactions then SAS drives would provide optimum performance.
VTrak Expansion Chassis
The Promise VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem supports the addition of 16-bay J-Class expansion chassis, doubling the storage capacity . Dual I/O modules with 4x wide SAS interconnects provides redundant connectivity, and 12Gb/s bandwidth. The expansion chassis utilizes the same mechanical design as the VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem, allowing it to share the same key components. With large VTrak deployments worldwide, enterprise users have come to rely on Promise Technology to protect their valuable data. The Promise VTrak E-Class supports attachment of up to four J-Class expansion chassis, providing 80TB of raw capacity using 1TB SATA drives for high capacity storage applications like tiered storage, disk-to-disk backup or archive.
Easy to Install and Manage The VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem features Bonjour discovery and configuration using an embedded browser-based management interface, eliminating the need to install additional software. Simply open your browser and click on the VTrak unit you would like to manage. An easy to use guided setup allows novice users to create and provision the storage in just a few minutes. The VTrak's rich feature set gives advance users powerful tools to rapidly deploy multiple units tuned for applications like Xsan 2 and Final Cut Studio
VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem Features Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Xsan 2 and Final Cut Studio 2 qualified storage Dual active/active RAID Controllers (Apple MPIO capable) Dual 4Gb/s Fibre Channel ports per controller SATA or SAS hard drives (pre-installed & tested) RAID Levels 0, 1, 1E, 5, 6 ,10, 50, 60 Optional Expansion Chassis for up to 80 drives of high capacity storage
Promise VTrak E-Class subsystems come in four configurations:
4TB raw capacity storage;
- Single RAID controllers with 2GB cache per controller;
- Dual 4Gb Fibre Channel SFP ports with 400MBps throughput per channel;
- Four 1TB 7200-rpm SATA hard drive modules; and 32MB on-drive cache.
8TB raw capacity storage;
- Dual redundant active/active RAID controllers with 2GB cache per controller;
- Dual 4Gb Fibre Channel SFP ports per controller with 400MBps throughput per channel;
- Eight 1TB 7200-rpm SATA hard drive modules; and 32MB on-drive cache.
16TB raw capacity storage;
- Dual redundant active/active RAID controllers with 2GB cache per controller;
- Dual 4Gb Fibre Channel SFP ports per controller with 400MBps throughput per channel;
- Sixteen 1TB 7200-rpm SATA hard drive modules; and 32MB on-drive cache.
7.2TB raw capacity storage;
- Dual redundant active/active RAID controllers with 2GB cache per controller;
- Dual 4Gb Fibre Channel SFP ports per controller with 400MBps throughput per channel;
- Sixteen 450GB SAS hard drive modules; and 16MB on-drive cache.
In addition to the VTrak E-Class subsystem offerings, offers J-Class expansion chassis in SATA and SAS configurations.
VTrak J-Class expansion chassis options:
Adds 16TB raw capacity storage to your existing E-Class subsystem;
- Dual redundant active/active I/O modules;
- Sixteen 1TB SATA hard drive modules; and 32MB on-drive cache.
Adds 7.2TB raw capacity storage to your existing E-Class subsystem;
- Dual redundant active/active I/O modules;
- Sixteen 450GB SAS hard drive modules; and 32MB on-drive cache.
RAID Levels:
RAID 0: Striping.
Lays down data in stripes across an array of drives for exceptional I/O performance, but with no data protection.
RAID 1: Mirroring.
Writes identical copies of data on a pair of disks for total redundancy, but with limited performance and inefficient use of drives.
RAID 3: Striping with parity.
Stripes data across two or more drives and stores parity data on a dedicated drive, providing data redundancy and performance that’s faster than that of a single drive.
RAID 5: Striping with distributed parity.
Distributes data and parity information across an array for high throughput, good redundancy, and efficient use of drives.
RAID 0+1: Striping over mirroring.
Stripes data across pairs of mirrored drives for a mix of performance and redundancy.
RAID 10, 30, and 50: Striping over RAID 1, 3, and 5.
Uses hardware RAID to create two or more sets in RAID level 1, 3, or 5, and software RAID to stripe across the sets. This creates a single data volume with the best balance of performance and data protection.
