EMC Rolls Out Another Data Domain Midrange System

EMC keeps moving right along in developing the technology it acquired with Data Domain. It’s also putting Intel’s Xeon multicore processors to work for the first time.
On July 19, the storage and security giant introduced a new midrange deduplication storage system from its Data Domain division-the DD670-along with a new disk library and a deduplication expansion module for its mainframe disk library line.
EMC acquired Data Domain for $2.3 billion in July 2009. In April 2010, EMC launched a Data Domain Global Deduplication Array that is capable of backing up a whopping 12.8TB of data per hour (a rate of 3.5G bps), has a top usable capacity of 280TB and can handle up to 270 concurrent write streams.
The DD670, which runs on Intel Nehelem Xeon 5500 processors, can move workloads about twice as fast as Data Domain’s previous-generation midrange market, Shane Jackson, EMC Senior Director of Product Marketing, Backup Recovery Systems Division, told eWEEK.
Since it now packs double the processing power, that certainly makes sense.
The DD670 offers up to 5.4TB per hour of aggregate in-line deduplication throughput, Jackson said. “This is the maximum throughput we registered through the system,” Jackson told eWEEK. “We loaded up a bunch of media servers with a normal load of backup and archive work, something that would be normal for a Data Domain system, and tested that performance using a benchmark tool.”
The DD670 can hold up to 76TB of raw capacity or up to 2.7PB of logical capacity with 50 times data reduction, using DD’s inline deduplication, Jackson said.
A single DD670 system can handle replication workloads from other Data Domain appliances from up to 90 remote locations, he said. Altogether, the package with DD’s remote feeders constitutes a fully automated disaster recovery system, he said.
The base model DD670 features a maximum 12TB of disk capacity in a 2U (3.5-inch) rack mount chassis, which uses either 1TB or 2TB SATA (Serial ATA) drives.
All Data Domain systems include a variety of connectivity and file system and application support options for storage fabrics. These include NFS (Network File System), CIFS (Common Internet File System), Symantec OpenStorage and EMC Data Domain Boost over 1 or 10 Gigabit Ethernet and VTL over Fibre Channel.
Encryption and an 8G-bit Fibre Channel connectivity option are also now available for the DD670, Jackson said.
The new DL5000 disk library scales from a minimum of 8TB up to 1.4PB of usable storage, which, using compression and deduplication, yields up to 2.8PB of logical capacity, he said. The DL5000 has been benchmarked at up to 10.2TB per hour of data “ingest” performance. The two models in the product line, the DL5100 and DL5200, contain one and two processing engines, respectively, and also run on Xeon dual-core chips.
The disk library engine includes new hardware compression cards and three 8G-bit Fibre Channel ports. The dual-engine DL5200 offers active engine failover, which provides a highly available system that can continue operating after a single engine failure.
EMC’s new Deduplication Storage Expansion option for DLm960 mainframes enables users to have longer on-site retention and optimized replication functionality, Jackson said.
The DD670, expansion shelves with 2TB drives and the Deduplication Storage Expansion option for DLm960 will become available in the third quarter of 2010, EMC said. The DL5100 and DL5200 virtual tape libraries are available now, Jackson said.