HPE bolts hi-capacity SSD support onto StoreServ

HPE is boosting all-flash 3PAR capacity with support for high-capacity SSDs, adding persistent storage for containers, and improving snapshots and file management services.

At HPE Discover in Las Vegas, HPE announced StoreServ is getting:

• Hi-capacity SSD support - 7.68TB and 15.36TB 3D SSDs from, we understand, Samsung using 48-layer technology( see PM1633a)
• Volume Plugin integrated with Docker Engine and enabling persistent storage for containers, giving them access to 3PAR's data services such as encryption, quality of service, snapshots, replication, and deduplication
• Recovery Manager Central (RMC) directly moves application snapshots from flash to disk storage up to 23 times faster than traditional storage backup
• File Lock for 3PAR File Persona makes files immutable and supports policy-based retention
• NTFS security mode and cross-protocol locking for 3PAR File Persona "enhance security for Windows environments and deliver more seamless group file sharing between protocols including SMB and NFS."
• StoreEver Archive Manager software moves 3PAR file data to be tape for archiving while enabling the data to be accessed transparently as if still online.

The 7.68 and 15.36TB SSD support puts SolidFire's 1.92TB drive support in the shade; wherefore art thou, so low-cap SolidFire?

HPE says StorServ supports up 24PB of usable flash capacity (4:1 compaction meaning 6PB raw capacity) and is now "the most dense and scalable all-flash array in the industry" with "12x better density than EMC all-flash systems."

StoreServ, HPE says, has high-cap SSD support enabled by its Adaptive Sparing and Express Layout schemes. It might be more accurate to say that these don't hinder high-cap drive support.

With adaptive sparing, instead of having spare physical SSDS set aside in case a production-use SSD fails, the equivalent spare drive capacity is spread across the existing SSDs as unused "chunklets." If an SSD should fail then its data is reconstructed using a many-to-many rebuild process. Also, the spare space on an SSD is relesed to the SSD utself for use as over-provisioned capacity and this enhances its endurance.

Express Layout provides concurrent access from the storage controllers to the SSDs for higher throughput. There's nothing intrinsic to either of these schemes that says high-cap SSDs may or may not be used.

The RMC application adds support for Oracle Databases, SAP HANA, and 3PAR File Persona to the existing support for VMware, Microsoft SQL, and any Microsoft VSS-enabled application running as a virtual machine.

The mainstream incumbents; Dell-EMC - we might as well start assuming they will merge later this year - HDS, HPE, IBM and NetApp are now in a race to convert as many all-disk and hybrid primary storage arrays to all-flash as they can, so as to prevent competitive incursion into their customer bases. HPE is doing it with a single technology – StorServe AFAs – while the others use multiple product families.

HPE and the others also have to withstand AFA assaults from Pure Storage. The race involves providing better data services as well as arrays with good TB/U ratings and scalability. HPE can put StoreServ on top of both those pedestals for now.

The company was top of IDC's AFA Marketscape in January, and has progressed well in Gartner's and IDC's AFA supplier rankings. The Whitman wonder machine will want to push this progress further.

Pricing and availability

The 7.68 TB SSDs are available worldwide with US street price starting from $20,748. The 15.36 TB SSDs will be orderable and shipping in the second half of the year, street prices starting from $40,000.

The Docker-Integrated Native Docker Volume Plugin will be available this month from the HPE Storage GitHub page here.

HPE Recovery Manager Central (RMC) with support for SAP HANA and 3PAR File Persona is currently available worldwide at no additional charge to customers with an existing RMC licenses and a valid support contract. Licensing for new customers starts at $1000.

RMC for Oracle (RMC-O) will be available in July with list prices starting at $2,500. Customers with an existing Recovery Manager for Oracle license and a valid support contract can upgrade at no additional charge. ®