Today, NetApp launches their latest product offerings in the FAS line, the FAS2500 and FAS8080EX, as well as adds some AWESOMENESS to their all-flash offerings, a.k.a., All Flash FAS, or AFF.
The New FAS2500 Series Solution
The FAS2500 series, product models Alpine, Tenaya, and Tioga after the product code names, is now announced! So what is the product offering, and why would I want it?
FAS2500 Positioning
NetApp FAS2500 Series: Delivering best-in-class value and capability.
— FAS2500 Series Datasheet
NetApp FAS 2552 | Find Your Win
The FAS2500, as you can imagine, is positioned as the next generation of the 2200 series in the FAS-V portfolio. Here is a comparison of the models:
| New Product 2520 (Tioga) 2552 (Tenaya) 2554 (Alpine) | Replaces 2220 2240-2 2240-4 |
For the most part, many of the specs are designed to be the same to maintain backwards compatibility with existing shelves and system, thereby increasing the return on investment (ROI) of existing customers. Here are the specifications per HA pair:
| Form Factor Memory NVRAM Max Spindles Onboard 1GbE Onboard CNA Onboard 10GBT Convert to Shelf Optional I/O | FAS2220 2U 12GB Memory 1.5GB NVRAM up to 60 disks (8) 1GbE -- -- No options: (4) 10GbE — | FAS2520 2U 36GB Memory 2.5GB NVRAM up to 84 disks (4) 1GbE -- (8) 10GBaseT No options: -- — | FAS2240 2U or 4U 12GB Memory 1.5GB NVRAM up to 144 disks (8) 1GbE -- -- Yes options: (4) 10GbE (4) 8GbFC | FAS255x 2U or 4U 36GB Memory 2.5GB NVRAM up to 144 disks (4) 1GbE (8) 8/16/10 CNA -- Yes options: -- -- |
So what's new?
FAS2500 Goodness!
The first thing you will notice right away is the new bezel? Now, most people I have met don't really care much about the bezel, but I like them!
NetApp FAS2500 Series Bezel
In my mind, the key differentiator of the 2500 series is its optimization for NetApp unified fabrics. For the entry-level business, the 2520 offers 4 x 10Gb Base-T copper connections. Yup. Boom!
NetApp FAS2520 Controller with (4) 10GBaseT Ports
For most future customers of the 2500 series, I would guess (though I could certainly be wrong), the big news is the FAS2552 and FAS2554 controllers, both of which now come standard with 4 x Converged Network Adapter (CNA or UTA) ports! Boom!
The new FAS255x comes with (2) 1GbE ports (if you want to do management on a LIF, perhaps?), the standard e0M gigabit port, and . . . wait for it . . . (4) 8/16GbFC or 10GbE CNA ports!
The new FAS255x comes with (2) 1GbE ports (if you want to do management on a LIF, perhaps?), the standard e0M gigabit port, and . . . wait for it . . . (4) 8/16GbFC or 10GbE CNA ports!
NetApp FAS 255x Controller with (4) 8/16/10Gbps CNA Ports
What could possibly be better? The FAS2500 series now supports two-node switchless Clustered DataONTAP solutions! Wahoo!
If you don't know much about cDOT, check out this video:
If you don't know much about cDOT, check out this video:
How Scalable is the FAS2500 Solution?
We all know data is exploding. The Internet of Things is really pushing that. So how can the FAS2500 help you? With Clustered DataONTAP and non-disruptive operations (software upgrades, storage retirement, etc.), you can scale at will!
| NAS/SAN Scale Out Maximum spindles Maximum raw capacity Maximum flash pool Maximum memory Cluster Interconnect | FAS2520 1-4 Nodes (2 Pairs) 168 672TB 8TB 72GB 10Gb BaseT | FAS2552 1-8 Nodes (4 Pairs) 576 2.07PB 16TB 144GB 10GbE (SFP+) | FAS2554 1-8 Nodes (4 Pairs) 576 2.30PB 16TB 144GB 10GbE (SFP+) |
The New FAS8080EX Mission-Critical Solution
FAS8080EX Positioning
NetApp FAS8080 EX: Reach new levels of performance, availability, and scalability for business-critical applications.
— FAS8080 EX Datasheet
The FAS8080 EX, codename Agusta, is the successor to the FAS6250/90, also as you might imagine. And here are the specifications, by way of comparison:
| Form Factor CPU Cores Memory NVRAM Max Spindles Max Flash Cache Max Flash Pool Maximum SSDs Maximum Aggregate PCIe Expansion Slots Onboard 1GbE Onboard 8/16/10Gb CNA Onboard 10GbE Onboard 8GbFC Onboard 6Gb SAS NAS Scale Out Maximum spindles Maximum raw capacity Maximum flash pool Maximum memory SAN Scale Out Maximum spindles Maximum raw capacity Maximum flash pool Maximum memory Cluster Interconnect | FAS6290 12U (4) 6-Core @ 2.93GHz (24 cores) 192GB Memory 4GB NVRAM up to 1440 disks 16TB 24TB 240 400TB 24 4 -- 8 8 8 1–24 Nodes (12 HA Pairs) 17,280 69PB 288TB 2.30TB 1–8 Nodes (4 HA Pairs) 5760 23PB 144TB 768GB (2 or 4) 10GbE (SFP+) | FAS8080 EX 12U (4) 10-Core @ 2.8GHz (40 cores) 256GB Memory 32GB NVRAM up to 1440 disks 16TB 72GB 240 400TB 24 8 8 8 -- 8 1–24 Nodes (12 HA Pairs) 17,280 69PB 432TB 3.07TB 1–8 Nodes (4 HA Pairs) 5760 23PB 144TB 1TB (2, 4 or 6) 10GbE (SFP+) |
Storage scale-out to more than 17,000 drives and 4M IOPS of performance combined with the industry-leading management capabilities of Data ONTAP enables the FAS8080 EX to process petabytes of data for complex resource exploration, faster semiconductor chip design, or optimally managing logistics for billion-dollar-plus product operations. Nearly 70 PB of data in a 24-node cluster can be managed from a single console to reduce the cost of operations and simplify ware- housing years of business-critical data.
— FAS8080 EX Datasheet
In other words, this things kicks butt and takes names—can't wait to get my hands on one of these puppies!
The All-Flash FAS (AFF)
An all-flash FAS system brings together the extreme performance characteristic of an all-flash array with the rich feature set and proven enterprise-grade reliability of the NetApp® Data ONTAP® operating system. This provides customers with the ability to serve workloads that require high performance at low latencies, with the added benefit of Data ONTAP’s multi-protocol, scale-out, and efficiency and data management capabilities.
— NetApp All-Flash FAS Technical FAQ
I am super-excited about the AFF offering from NetApp. Here is some of the awesomeness about these new configurations. Did you know that NetApp is the market leader when it comes to Flash? They hold hundreds of flash-related patents, and then there's this:
NetApp All-flash FAS | Find Your Win
What's New and Different About All-Flash FAS?
Here are just a few things that you will find, a highlight reel, if you will:
- The increased memory storage (see above) enables faster response times and allows routine SSD tasks to be done by the controller, eliminating SSD overhead
- Inline compression and in-memory write coalescing mitigates SSD wear in huge way
- NetApp unconditionally warranties all SSDs — up to 5 years!
- Low-cost replication to spinning disk using traditional SnapMirror and SnapProtect software
- Scales to over 4M IOPS with sub-millisecond latency!
- No protocol limitation as with other vendors—use it the way you need to!
- Find Your VDI Win—starting at just $55/desktop! NetApp Technical Report 4307
NetApp Flash Offerings Comparison | Find Your Win
What are you most excited about?
Find out more about these awesome offerings at our CrowdChat at 12:45pm EST today!
Find out more about these awesome offerings at our CrowdChat at 12:45pm EST today!
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