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Hewlett Packard Enterprise had been quiet regarding its 3PAR storage for several months, but that changed this week when it introduced a new HPE 3PAR operating system that it contends “provides a futureproof foundation for hybrid IT.”
Future-proofing anything in IT is a tall order because system components change over so frequently that it’s almost impossible to predict what will be useful and reliable—and what will become expendible—years from now. Nonetheless, HPE is challenging this norm with its storage systems.
The company claims the new storage operating system, released Feb. 13, can provide the following functions:
–new 3PAR Adaptive Data Reduction (ADR) delivers comprehensive data compaction to lower capacity costs;
–updates to 3PAR Peer Persistence mitigate risks by enabling disaster-recovery across greater distances;
–off-premises copy management with HPE Recovery Manager Central (RMC) extends data protection beyond the array; and
–expanded automation capabilities for 3PAR StoreServ Management Console (SSMC) improve business agility.
‘Third Wave’ of Flash Storage is Upon Us
As all-flash storage becomes the new normal, HPE Senior Director of Storage Products and Marketing Vish Mulchand told eWEEK that its users are realizing that pure-play all-flash systems cannot address the new requirements arising from a so-called “third wave” of flash evolution.
“It’s important to keep in mind the attributes of Wave 1 and Wave 2 [flash storage] were performance, affordability and enterprise-class data services, ” Mulchand said. “Wave 3 now says that enterprises need to think broader than the storage array. You have your standard Oracle and SAP applications that run in a data center, but you also have to think about running apps in the cloud on containers, Mesosphere, Kubernetes and so on. Those applications also have to run quickly and well. How do you architect for those applications? You optimize with some elements on the server stack, some elements on the storage sack, so you don’t get bottle-necked.
“This end-to-end view is very key now, especially in hybrid environments.”
These new demands go beyond the performance or cost of an individual flash array, meaning that all-flash storage vendors must also help users simplify operations across the data center, mitigate risks from edge to core to cloud and support hybrid IT transformation, Mulchand said.
Path Toward Emerging Technologies
Thus, HPE 3PAR upgrades provide users a “futureproof” solution for these third-wave demands with support for cloud-native applications, data center-wide orchestration, tier-1 resiliency and a path to emerging technologies, such as storage-class memory (SCM) and NVM Express (NVMe), Mulchand said.
HPE goes beyond compression with a unique 3PAR Data Packing algorithm that organizes data writes in a way that avoids the garbage-heavy processes that weigh down other flash storage arrays.
In summary, the latest 3PAR OS enables users to:
–accelerate applications running over iSCSI to reduce latency by up to 40 percent via 3PAR Express Writes optimization;
–better support cloud computing deployments with iSCSI updates that include expanded host connectivity and multi-tenant IP networking; and
–serve more workloads with 3PAR File Persona updates that double scalability, automate provisioning and enable cross-protocol file sharing.
These benefits are available at no extra charge as part of new, all-inclusive licensing that simplifies purchasing and reduces costs by up to 30 percent, Mulchand said.
New Functionality Comes to Licensees at No Extra Cost
As critical workloads migrate to flash, risk mitigation is critical. HPE reduces risk in hybrid IT deployments, starting with transparent application and host failover at the core of the data center via HPE 3PAR Peer Persistence, which now has three-data center support for disaster recovery across greater distances.
For data protection beyond the array, HPE Recovery Manager Central (RMC) provides application-managed snapshots and data movement from 3PAR to secondary HPE StoreOnce Systems.
As part of the right mix of on-prem and off-prem storage, data protected on HPE StoreOnce Systems can now be replicated to the cloud, thanks to Microsoft Azure support for HPE StoreOnce VSA software and existing StoreOnce Catalyst integration into HPE Data Protector and leading ISV backup applications.
In extending data protection to edge computing and software-defined storage, HPE also unveiled Peer Copy, a copy management feature within Recovery Manager Central that enables bi-directional movement of snapshot data between StoreVirtual VSA and 3PAR arrays.
Embedding Automation
As users look to hybrid IT to speed service delivery, HPE continues to embed automation and cloud-based analytic capabilities into 3PAR management tools that complement integration into HPE OneView and HPE Synergy.
The new HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console includes the ability to automate and schedule large-scale data migrations of up to 24 3PAR or supported third-party storage systems. In addition, SSMC now features HPE Smart SAN integration for fully automated, one-click SAN zoning of Fibre Channel networks. Updates to the HPE StoreFront Remote cloud analytics portal provide 3PAR users with best-practice recommendations to proactively reduce risk, manage software updates and assist in capacity planning.
HPE 3PAR next-generation operating system (3PAR OS 3.3.1) is available now at no additional charge for 3PAR users with valid support contracts.