IBM Storwize V5010 LFF

Abstract

IBM Storwize V5000 is a highly flexible, easy to use virtualized storage system that enables midsize organizations to meet the challenges of rapid data growth and limited IT budgets. As an intermediate Storwize family offering, Storwize V5000 enables organizations to consolidate and provide new capabilities to their infrastructures.

This product guide describes the Storwize V5000 Storage System that is available from Lenovo. It also provides essential pre-sales information to understand the structure of the offering, its key features and specifications, components and options, and configuration guidelines.

This guide is intended for technical specialists, sales specialists, sales engineers, and IT architects who want to learn more about Storwize V5000 and consider its use in their solutions.

Introduction

IBM Storwize V5000 for Lenovo (Machine Type 6194) is a highly flexible, easy to use virtualized storage system that enables midsize organizations to meet the challenges of rapid data growth and limited IT budgets. As an intermediate Storwize family offering, Storwize V5000 enables organizations to consolidate and provide new capabilities to their infrastructures.

Storwize V5000 control enclosure models include two node canisters, each with 8 GB cache for a system total of 16 GB cache. Standard is 6 Gb SAS and 1 Gb iSCSI connectivity, with an option for 8 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) or 10 iSCSI or Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity.

The LFF enclosure models support up to 12 3.5-inch drives, while the small form factor (SFF) enclosure models support up to 24 2.5-inch drives. High-performance disk drives, high-capacity nearline disk drives, and flash (solid-state drives [SSDs]) are supported. Drives of the same form factor can be intermixed within an enclosure, which provides the flexibility to address performance and capacity needs within a single enclosure. You can also intermix large form factor (LFF) and SFF expansion enclosures behind an LFF or SFF control enclosure.

A Storwize V5000 system scales up to 480 drives with the attachment of up to 19 Storwize V5000 expansion enclosures. All Storwize V5000 functional capabilities are provided through IBM Storwize Family Software for Storwize V5000. The Storwize V5000 SFF enclosure is shown in the following figure.

Figure 1. Storwize V5000 SFF enclosure

Did you know?

A single Storwize V5000 system can be scaled up to 1.92 PB of raw storage capacity. With external virtualization, the system can manage up to 32 PB in total.

Storwize V5000 offers hybrid block storage connectivity with support for 6 Gb SAS, 1 Gb iSCSI, and 10 Gb iSCSI or FCoE or 8 Gb FC at the same time.

Storwize V5000 systems can be clustered to help deliver greater performance, bandwidth, and scalability. A Storwize V5000 clustered system can contain two Storwize V5000 systems and up to 960 drives.

Storwize V5000 for Lenovo includes three or five years of Software Subscription and Support (model dependent).

Key features

The Storwize V5000 storage system provides the following features:

• Scalable enterprise storage with a dual active/active intelligent array node canisters with 8 GB cache each for high availability and performance.
• Flexible host connectivity to match diverse client needs with support for a mix of 6 Gb SAS, 1 Gb iSCSI, and 10 Gb iSCSI or FCoE or 8 Gb FC connectivity at the same time.
• A 6 Gb SAS drive-side connectivity with support for 12x 3.5-inch LFF or 24x 2.5-inch SFF drives in the control enclosure, which are scalable up to 240 LFF drives per system with the attachment of Storwize V5000 LFF Expansion Enclosure (12x LFF drives each) or up to 480 SFF drives per system with the attachment of Storwize V5000 SFF Expansion Enclosure (24x SFF drives each) to satisfy growing needs for storage capacity and performance.
• With two-way system clustering, the size of the system can be doubled to a maximum of 960 drives.
• Further scalability can be achieved with virtualization of external storage. When Storwize V5000 virtualizes an external disk system, capacity in the external system inherits the functional richness and ease of use of Storwize V5000.
• Flexibility in storing data on high-performance SAS SSDs, performance-optimized enterprise SAS hard disk drives (HDDs), or capacity-optimized enterprise NL SAS HDDs; mixing and matching drive types and form factors within a single system to perfectly meet performance and capacity requirements for various workloads.
• Storwize V5000 combines various IBM technologies, including thin provisioning, automated tiering, external and internal storage virtualization, clustering, replication and multiprotocol support.
• VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (VVol) integration brings advanced storage management functions to the virtual machine level for finer VM storage service level control and policy-driven automation.
• Intuitive, web-based next-generation GUI for easy system set up and management.
• Extensive interoperability with support for most major server platforms and operating systems.

The Storwize V5000 LFF enclosure is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2. Storwize V5000 LFF enclosure

The Storwize V5000 supports the complete range of data storage requirements, from highly used applications to high-capacity, low usage applications.

The following 2.5-inch drives are supported:

• High-performance SSDs: 200 GB, 400 GB, 800 GB, 1.6 TB, and 3.2 TB SAS
• Performance-optimized, enterprise class disk drives:

– 300 GB and 600 GB 15K rpm SAS
– 600 GB, 900 GB, 1.2 TB, and 1.8 TB 10K rpm SAS

• High-capacity, archival-class nearline disk drives: 2 TB 7.2K rpm NL SAS

The following 3.5-inch drives are supported:

• Performance-optimized, enterprise class disk drives:

– 300 GB and 600 GB 15K rpm SAS

– 900 GB, 1.2 TB, and 1.8 TB 10K rpm SAS

• High-capacity, archival-class nearline disk drives: 4 TB, 6 TB, and 8 TB 7.2K rpm NL SAS

All drives are dual-port and hot-swappable. Drives of the same form factor can be intermixed within the appropriate enclosure, which provides the flexibility to address performance and capacity needs within a single enclosure.

Up to 19 Storwize V5000 expansion enclosures are supported by a single Storwize V5000 control enclosure. You can intermix 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch expansion enclosures behind a 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch control enclosure. This configuration delivers the added flexibility to mix 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives within a single system.

More drives and expansion units are designed to be dynamically added with virtually no downtime, which helps to quickly and seamlessly respond to ever-growing capacity demands.

The V5000 storage system offers high levels of system and data availability with the following technologies:

• Dual-active, intelligent node canisters with mirrored cache
• Dual port drives with automatic drive failure detection and RAID rebuild with global hot spares
• Redundant hardware, including power supplies and fans
• Hot-swappable and customer replaceable components
• Automated path failover support for the data path between the server and the drives

The Storwize V5000 supports the following management interfaces:

• Web-based graphical user interface (GUI) via HTTPS that requires only a supported browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox), so there is no need for a separate console or plug-in
• Command line interface (CLI) via SSH
• Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S)
• SNMP and email notifications

Components and connectors

The following figures show the front of the Storwize V5000 SFF and LFF enclosures.

Figure 3. Front view of the Storwize V5000 SFF enclosure

Figure 4. Front view of the Storwize V5000 LFF enclosure

The following figure shows the rear of the Storwize V5000 Control Enclosure.

Figure 5. Rear view of the Storwize V5000 Control Enclosure

The following figure shows the rear of the Storwize V5000 Expansion Enclosure.

Figure 6. Rear view of the Storwize V5000 Expansion Enclosure