March 24, 2015 at 15:02Cluster in box, advanced version
The first time we wrote about a cluster in a box almost a year and a half ago , the product itself was put into series almost two years ago.
Since then, reviews have been collected and analyzed, considerable experience has been gained in operating systems in real conditions, and Intel is changing the generation of processors.
It's time to update the model, remove the shortcomings and improve where possible. The Hyperion RS420 G4 model is designed for 12 3.5 "disks, but a significant number of people asked for SSD and SAS 10 / 15K spindles in 2.5" version, so the release of the chassis with 24 baskets under 2.5 "disks suggested itself. Moreover, the demand was so great that version 3.5 "will run only in the summer. front view
Disks for installing the OS were inside, this creates certain inconvenience in the production and maintenance. Yes, there are two of them, but the mirror does not eliminate the need to replace a failed drive. If you take the traditional approach, then you need to find a place on the rear panel to accommodate two 15-mm-thick disk baskets, which is impossible - you will have to cut the expansion slots. There were even ideas to arrange two seats in one basket, one after the other. This drastically simplifies the replacement, but does not remove the need to shut down the system before replacing. Unacceptable option.
However, 15 mm is the standard for nearline drives; our customers have always installed SSDs, so you can get by with a basket for 7 mm drives. At the same time, to make fasteners without using screws, flash vibration is not afraid :) photo baskets
The internal interface on the Intel i350 is stable, but still I wanted to quickly. His place was taken by Mellanox ConnectX 3, this is not only an increase in bandwidth by 10 times, but also RDMA support. 10 gigabits of bandwidth will not be superfluous.
CX3 and let the migration be instant!
The next item that I wanted to improve was the expander. We not only switched to 12G from Avago / LSI, but also made it removable! We remove everything Along the way, the extensibility problem is solved, 4 miniSAS HD ports from each server are displayed outside instead of one on the previous generation. This allows you to make 4 parallel stages from the shelves and build all flash solutions with a huge performance potential. RS420 G5 Significantly changed the board with expansion slots.
As it turned out, nobody needs 10G Base-T, so now 10G SFP + ports are offered by default.
Clusters with software arrays (on Windows Storage Spaces and Linux) became the most widespread, therefore LSI3008 was registered as a mezzanine board by default, reducing cost. RS420 G5 From small amenities - all the baskets received a sticker with a serial number, servers, indicators of placement in the chassis and labels for gluing labels with a signature. The system also entered our Shared DAS lab and is available for experimentation.
Since then, reviews have been collected and analyzed, considerable experience has been gained in operating systems in real conditions, and Intel is changing the generation of processors.
It's time to update the model, remove the shortcomings and improve where possible. The Hyperion RS420 G4 model is designed for 12 3.5 "disks, but a significant number of people asked for SSD and SAS 10 / 15K spindles in 2.5" version, so the release of the chassis with 24 baskets under 2.5 "disks suggested itself. Moreover, the demand was so great that version 3.5 "will run only in the summer. front view
Disks for installing the OS were inside, this creates certain inconvenience in the production and maintenance. Yes, there are two of them, but the mirror does not eliminate the need to replace a failed drive. If you take the traditional approach, then you need to find a place on the rear panel to accommodate two 15-mm-thick disk baskets, which is impossible - you will have to cut the expansion slots. There were even ideas to arrange two seats in one basket, one after the other. This drastically simplifies the replacement, but does not remove the need to shut down the system before replacing. Unacceptable option.
However, 15 mm is the standard for nearline drives; our customers have always installed SSDs, so you can get by with a basket for 7 mm drives. At the same time, to make fasteners without using screws, flash vibration is not afraid :) photo baskets
The internal interface on the Intel i350 is stable, but still I wanted to quickly. His place was taken by Mellanox ConnectX 3, this is not only an increase in bandwidth by 10 times, but also RDMA support. 10 gigabits of bandwidth will not be superfluous.
CX3 and let the migration be instant!
The next item that I wanted to improve was the expander. We not only switched to 12G from Avago / LSI, but also made it removable! We remove everything Along the way, the extensibility problem is solved, 4 miniSAS HD ports from each server are displayed outside instead of one on the previous generation. This allows you to make 4 parallel stages from the shelves and build all flash solutions with a huge performance potential. RS420 G5 Significantly changed the board with expansion slots.
As it turned out, nobody needs 10G Base-T, so now 10G SFP + ports are offered by default.
Clusters with software arrays (on Windows Storage Spaces and Linux) became the most widespread, therefore LSI3008 was registered as a mezzanine board by default, reducing cost. RS420 G5 From small amenities - all the baskets received a sticker with a serial number, servers, indicators of placement in the chassis and labels for gluing labels with a signature. The system also entered our Shared DAS lab and is available for experimentation.
