Fujitsu Unified Storage

Fujitsu ETERNUS DX S3 is offering unified storage systems for the scalable entry and mid-range segments. Customers can choose between SAN-only and unified systems. Moreover, SAN-only models can be easily upgraded to the unified models.

 

When deploying the ETERNUS DX S3 systems for unified storage, the architecture is slightly adapted in order to handle both SAN and NAS functionalities. In addition to the conventional SAN control, the same controller module can also process the NAS, as shown in the next figure. Distributed file system is used to control the file management capability in the ETERNUS DX S3. Network File System (NFS) and Common Internet File System(CIFS) are supported as file sharing protocols. In the second version of S3 release more protocols will be supported, such as HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SCP, SFTP and WebDAV.

 

The file system is installed on each controller module and performs shared control for a single NAS volume (Shared VOL). Hence, activeactive connections can be implemented as cluster systems in CM#0/CM#1 from CIFS/NFS client.

 

The main features of NAS volumes are as follows:

  •  Thin Provisioning Volumes (TPVs) are used as NAS volumes
  •  Formatting a single TPV is performed with a single file system
  • The Thin Provisioning Pool (TPP), to which the TPV belongs, can be selected
  •  SAN and NAS volumes can be mixed in the same TPV ensuring efficient operation