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Acopia Networks Inc. is adding the ability to build high-performance file server clusters and distributed storage grids to its ARX family of file switches, an addition that is designed to help customers better scale, manage and deploy network file virtualization across their environments.
Due to ship next week, Version 2.0 of Acopias Adaptive Resource Switch line, spanning the ARX500, ARX1000 and ARX6000, features software enhancements such as performance load balancing, an enterprisewide namespace capability for files to extend virtualization across multiple switches and storage devices, and two new utilities for simplifying management of ARX services, said officials of the Lowell, Mass., company.
The new utilities are ARN-Manager and ARN-Site Analyzer. ARN-Manager is a GUI application designed to allow users to more easily configure and monitor services as they run. ARN-Site Analyzer is a site inventory tool for assessing the structure of data and systems of existing file servers to improve ARX performance and manageability.
At the local level, the products new load balancing capabilities optimize file server clustering by creating a dynamically changing grid of existing file servers for appropriate levels of access.
Analogous to file routing, Acopias global network file services support nondisruptive operational failover between data centers to hide disruptions when new storage is provisioned or data is moved between systems, according to officials.
Yury Gutgarts, CIO of Archive Systems Inc., in Fairfield, N.J., has run Acopias new ARX release in his production network for the last month. The company uses the technology to provide operational failover between its primary and backup sites.
In addition, to simplify management of its storage environment, Archive uses Acopias technology to virtualize its SAN (storage area network) for capacity reallocation and provisioning.
“Were a very big consumer of storage, and as an ASP [application service provider], we provide data replication, so we need that storage to be managed,” said Gutgarts. “[ARX 2.0] allows us to do three things: backup on a timely basis, manage our storage volumes and provide full replication capabilities for us in case one of our facilities becomes unavailable to the client.”
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