INFOBrief
Dell | EMC ATA DAE2
Key Points
· The Dell™/EMC® ATA DAE2 enclosure provides low cost, high capacity storage for expanding Dell/EMC CX200, CX400 and CX600 arrays while maintaining a scalable, building block architecture, high availability, and data integrity features. The ATA DAE2 enclosure offers customers an alternative to high performance yet higher cost fibre channel (FC) enclosures and drives.
· Maximize rack density and save valuable data center floor space by expanding Dell/EMC CX-Series arrays up to 3.75TB in a 3U footprint using fifteen 250GB[1] drives.
· The ATA DAE2 enclosure provides an affordable, flexible, seamless path to leveraging the most benefit from a storage system, by enabling a separation of high-performance FC storage from a lower-performing ATA storage. This flexibility provides storage architecture options that help maximize both application demands with company ROI.
· Help lower the total cost of storage with simple yet powerful management software. The ATA DAE2 is fully compatible with the entire Navisphere® software suite as well as EMC VisualSAN and EMC Control Center/Open Edition software.
· The ATA DAE2 enclosure offers cost-effective continuous availability, maintaining availability features such as redundant hot-swappable components, redundant FC-AL loops and RAID sets.
· Superior service and support – Dell offers professional consulting, installation, and implementation services to help ensure the ATA DAE2 is brought online quickly and is configured to meet your business requirements. And every ATA DAE2 is backed with Gold level Dell Premier Enterprise Support Services to help ensure that the system remains up and running for years to come.
Background
The Del/EMC ATA DAE2 enclosure is the first incorporation of Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) drives in a Dell/EMC array, sharing the same chassis as the 2Gb FC-DAE2. No special software is needed to use the ATA drives, and customers now have the flexibility to utilize high-performance FC drives, or less expensive ATA drives in a single array and footprint to match the needs of the different applications.
Comparing Fibre Channel with ATA
Understanding the differences in the performance and other features are key considerations when attempting to maximize a storage architecture. Understanding those differences can help users to determine the ‘right’ (see FC2 versus ATA comparison below) disk format to match their data needs.
Table 1
Disk Format Characteristics
/ FC2 Drives / ATA Drives /Max Bus Speed / 200MB/s / 133MB/s
Connection Type / Shared Bus / Master/Slave
Seek Time (read) / ~4ms / ~12ms
Capacity / 146GB / 250GB plus
RPM / Up to 15,000 / 5400
The characteristics of FC2 drives and ATA drives can easily be matched to the user’s and/or an application’s profile to create a flexible and efficient storage architecture. The key is that with a Dell/ EMC array, it is possible to have both together.
Product Description
The Dell/EMC ATA DAE2 enclosure is used as inexpensive expansion storage for Dell/EMC CX200, CX400 and CX600 arrays. The ATA DAE2 enclosure is based on the same chassis as the DAE2, and supports fifteen 250GB, 5400RPM ATA drives (see Figure 1) in 3U of rack space for up to 3.75TB raw capacity per enclosure. The drives are hot swappable, as are the redundant power supplies with integrated blowers.
Figure 1
The long handle on the front of the ATA drives make them easily distinguishable from the FC2 drives, although both fit in a 1” drive carrier.
The ATA DAE2 can interoperate seamlessly with the robust FC2 drive enclosures within the same CX series array using Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops (FC-AL). The first enclosure must have a minimum of 5 FC drives, but beyond that users can mix and match performance and capacity drives as business requirements demand. RAID groups and hot spares cannot be shared between drive types.
All software applications that are qualified with the Dell/EMC CX200, CX400 and CX600 are supported with the ATA enclosure. The ATA DAE2 enclosure is managed through the same software as the other Dell/EMC products, including the Navisphere suite, EMC VisualSAN (See Figure 2), and EMC Control Center/Open Edition.
Figure 2
Screen Shot of EMC VisualSAN Graphical User Interface
Table 2
ATA DAE2 and DAE2 (Fibre Channel) Enclosure Comparison
Arrays Supported / CX200, CX400, CX600 / CX200, CX400, CX600 /
Disk Drive Type / ATA / Fibre Channel /
Drive Capacity / Speed / 250GB (5400RPM) / 36GB (15K RPM), 73GB (10K or 15K RPM), 146GB (10K RPM) /
Power Consumption / 300VA (294 W) max / 400VA (392 W) max /
Chassis Dimensions / Same /
RAID Support / Same /
Markets/Applications
The flexibility offered by the ATA DAE2 enclosure is what makes it a viable alternative for all Dell/EMC CX200, CX400 and CX600 customers. It is suitable for use in day-to-day production level activities that do not require the high performance that Fibre Channel drives provide.
Typical Applications
· Backup to Disk
The backing up of data for data recovery (DR) purposes is a high priority in today’s environment, and increasingly, companies are looking to store at least some of their data to on-line tape stores; i.e., disk. Major independent software vendors (ISVs) partners have heard customers requesting this capability and have integrated it into their products. Initial uptake has been slowed by the cost differences between the performance disk drives and tape media. ATA closes this gap and will help drive increased use of backup to disk applications.
Advantage of Backup to Disk vs. Backup to Tape
o Restore performance advantage. This can be an improvement from minutes and hours to a few seconds. Most tape drives on the market have a “time to data” of close to two minutes. This time includes the amount of time to move the tape from its slot, load it into the drive and seek an appropriate place on tape. By contrast, disk has a time-to-data of seconds. In the instance of restoring a large file system that has its backups on 30 different tapes, the two minutes per tape can add significant time to the restore. With the data kept on disk, it can be accessed directly, as opposed to using tape library robotics and possible human intervention.
o Restore precision. A specific file can be accessed as opposed to an entire tape of files from a certain user, workgroup, or time slot.
o Capacity utilization. With compression technologies, data is written to tape sequentially. When the data traffic ends, the tape is placed in the robotic tape library whether it is 100% full or 10% full. When data is written to disk, the disk is continuously available, so the disk can be written to at a later time (if not completely filled initially).
o Footprint. The CX200, CX400 or CX600 with the ATA DAE2 enclosure can build the online disk and “backup to disk” in the same array in the same footprint. Conventional disk and tape applications require two separate products, each with their own floor space.
o Reliability. Disk media is more reliable than open systems tape media. If data is written to tape and the tape is faulty, then the data is lost. With the known flaws in tape media, customers often write out two copies of data to two different tapes for safety purposes. Not only does this procedure waste money on tape media, it wastes valuable time cycles during the backup window.
· Target for SnapView™ / MirrorView™
Many users postpone implementing local and remote replication because of the cost of the storage for a less productive asset. Using ATA drives, the cost of these targets and capacity is now more affordable than previously available options. Clones are an ideal use of the less-expensive ATA drive since they are created for disaster recovery (DR) purposes. Since they are not accessed for production use, performance is less of an issue.
· Data Tub
A situation where a user needs the largest pool of storage for the least cost in the smallest space. Typical examples of a data tub would be for file and print, or image archiving. With these applications, speed is rarely the top priority, and data growth is explosive.
· Fixed Content Pools
Static content pools consisting of unchanging data objects with long-term value are ideal solutions for the ATA DAE2 enclosure. These solutions often require large amounts of space, at a low price. Examples include document images, scientific data – research & simulations, graphics, videos, photos, recordings, and many others.
· HSM Applications
Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) systems move production data to less expensive media types as the data ages and its use becomes less frequent. The lower cost ATA DAE2 enclosure can be a middle step between the high performance Fibre Channel drives, and slower media types such as optical or tape.
· Non-performance Critical Applications
Applications that simply do not require high performance, or where the disk subsystem is not the bottleneck can benefit from the use of the ATA DAE2 enclosure in real dollar savings and increased ROI. The lowest cost per MB while still keeping the information online is the primary goal.
· Scratch space
The ATA DAE2 enclosure can be used by applications that require scratch space for temporary work space that is project based.
Key Customer Benefits
Cost-effective Continuous Availability
The ATA DAE2 enclosure introduces a solution to incorporate ATA drives for high capacity and low cost while maintaining availability features such as redundant hot-swappable components, redundant FC-AL loops and RAID sets.
Outstanding Price/Capacity Ratio
The ATA DAE2 enclosures’ use of ATA drives (high capacity, lower cost than FC) positions the Dell/EMC solutions as clear leaders in the modular storage array market.
Rack Density
With fifteen drives in a single 3U enclosure, the ATA DAE2 enclosure saves valuable rack and floor space in the data center or distributed environments. In fact, in just 7 rack units, it is possible to pack a 30-drive, 5.9TB storage system complete with dual storage processors (CX200 or CX400) and standby power supplies. Assuming 146GB (15 drives) in the DPE and 250GB ATA drives (15 drives) in the ATA DAE2 enclosure this yields a rack density of 842 GB per rack unit!
Investment Protection
The ATA DAE2 interoperates with all previous generation Dell/EMC arrays. Add the CX200 to an existing SAN with Dell/EMC FC4700, FC4500, or FC5300 arrays without zoning restrictions.
Helps Reduce the Total Cost of Owning Storage
Simplified storage management is critical for helping lower the total cost of ownership of enterprise storage. Navisphere Manager Suite and EMC VisualSAN are available for configuration and management of the ATA DAE2. The ATA DAE2 has also been tested and qualified for integration with leading backup-to-disk vendors.
Improved Performance over Tape
Exploding data growth and business needs demand online access for longer periods of time. The use of ATA drives improve response times for files that must be “restored” from minutes or hours, to seconds.
An Inexpensive Data Tub Storage Pool
The ATA DAE2 enclosure uses less expensive ATA drives for applications where performance is not a critical factor. Solutions like HSM, file and print, tape emulation, tape caching, snapshot, and clone space are all potential ATA DAE2 usages.
Service and Support
Support Services
In addition to typical installation and implementation of the ATA DAE2 enclosure, Dell/ EMC systems come with a robust standard support program that includes Dell Gold-Level Premier Enterprise Support Services featuring:
· 7x24 High Level engineer- to- engineer telephone support with direct access to Gold Queue
· Technical Account Management Team managed escalations and reporting
· 7x24 4-Hour On-site Support[2]
· Case management services through Enterprise Expert Center
· Remote Software & Storage Support – Unlimited Resolutions
· Storage System Remote Monitoring
· Ability to define your call priority
· Coordinated seamless support between Dell and key third party providers
· Change notification
· Optional upgrade for On-Site Troubleshooting, On-site-Engineers, On-site Parts, and customized Platinum-Level Support
· Three-year Limited Warranty[3]
· 7x24 toll-free hardware technical phone support
· Extensive 7x24 E-support, online services
For services information, please visit www.dell.com/EMC/Services.
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Enterprise Product Group Page 1 August 2003
[1] For hard drives, GB means 1 billion bytes; accessible capacity varies with operating environment.
[2] Service may be provided by third-party. Technician will be dispatched if necessary following phone-based troubleshooting. Subject to parts availability, geographical restrictions and terms of service contract. Service timing dependent upon time of day call placed to Dell. U.S. only.
[3] For a complete copy of our Guarantees or Limited Warranties, please write Dell USA, L.P., Attn: Warranties, One Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682. For more information, visit www.dell.com/us/en/gen/services/service_service_plans.htm.