NetApp E-Series

Figure 1) E-Series product line. E-Series is designed to make SANs simple, with dynamic disk pools to eliminate RAID management; robust I/O queuing algorithms optimized for SSDs; proven high availability; and out-of-the-box features including mirroring, replication, point-in-time recovery, and thin provisioning. I get a lot of questions about how E-Series fits in the NetApp portfolio, so I thought I'd start by answering those questions before digging into the specifics of products and use cases. Where E-Series Fits If you're not familiar with the E-Series design and speeds and feeds, Tech OnTap published an introductory article in March 2013, which is a good place to start. Two major criteria differentiate E-Series from FAS: Dedicated storage. FAS is designed as shared storage; lots of different workloads share the same storage system. E-Series is a better fit for applications that need dedicated storage such as SAN-based business apps, dedicated backup targets, and high-density storage repositories. Data management. FAS integrates a wide range of data management, data protection, and storage efficiency features as part of the storage system. However, if you have an application that manages its own data, those capabilities might just sit idle, and E-Series is a great alternative. Where FAS delivers incredible storage efficiency, E-Series is designed to deliver performance efficiency with excellent price/performance from entry to enterprise, maximum disk I/O for minimum cost, and sustained high bandwidth and IOPS. Here are a few additional things that you may want to know about E-Series storage. Many of these are based on misconceptions that come up frequently: Does not run Data ONTAP®. E-Series systems run a separate operating environment called SANtricity® that is unrelated to Data ONTAP. Block only. E-Series is simple, streamlined SAN storage designed to deliver superior price/performance. E-Series does not directly support any NAS protocols. Direct host connections. All E-Series models can support direct high-speed SAS connections to hosts. You can share a single storage system among a small number of servers without the complexity of a network or SAN. SSD capable. All E-Series models can support both SSD and HDD. You can use SSDs as persistent storage or as part of an SSD cache. Highly available. All E-Series configurations can be configured with dual controllers for high availability. In fact, E-Series delivers 99.999% availability, just like FAS. NetApp AutoSupport™ is available for the E-Series platform. Not just for HPC. E-Series cut its teeth in scientific and technical environments and remains a great fit for those applications. However, it's also becoming popular for a wide range of business and general use cases. Plays well with FAS. Increasingly, we're seeing use cases that combine the strengths of FAS and E-Series storage. Check out the other articles in this issue on the EF550 and Oracle OpenWorld highlights for examples.