The IBM Storage Scale System (formerly ESS) system based on IBM Storage Scale software is offered by IBM to meet large-scale file storage requirements. Storage Scale System uses IBM Storage Scale installed on either AMD Servers in the case of the Storage Scale System 3200/3500 or IBM Power servers with either captive storage or attached to all flash external or diskbased storage systems for earlier models and the 5000 models. Storage Scale software may be used with other available storage systems and servers. Two server-based systems make up an Storage Scale System node pair and the clustered distributed file system GPFS allows multiple node pairs in a configuration. A global namespace for access to large numbers of files is a key feature. Standard hardware and software are integrated to provide the systems and advanced features.
The IBM Storage Scale System integrates standard hardware and software elements to provide file storage over standard protocols. The standard hardware includes AMD or IBM Power server systems with internal or external storage. The software elements include Storage Scale (General Parallel File System) and Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager). IBM Storage Scale System has been certified as a storage target for HortonWorks Data Platform.
Object access is supported with the incorporation of Swift open source software installed on GPFS nodes. Objects are stored as files within GPFS. The extended S3 API for Swift is added to support applications written for S3 and AWS.
IBM Storage Scale software can be installed on different servers and utilize multiple storage systems in the case of earlier Storage Scale System models. Additionally, Storage Scale can be installed on AWS for customers that run or develop analytics software in the public cloud. There are multiple editions of Storage Scale software that vary in the licensing and included functions. An explanation of the various editions is included in the Evaluator Group Storage Scale System product analysis document.
IBM Storage Scale System Product Review Includes:
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