The IBM System Storage N series offers an additional choice for organizations that are facing the challenges of enterprise data management. The IBM System Storage N series delivers high-end value with midrange affordability. Built-in enterprise serviceability and manageability features help to support customer efforts to increase reliability, simplify and unify storage infrastructure and maintenance, and deliver exceptional economy.

The IBM System Storage N series storage systems offer multiprotocol connectivity by using internal storage or storage provided by expansion units, as shown in Figure 1-1. The N series systems are designed to provide integrated block-level and file-level data access, allowing concurrent operation in IP SAN (iSCSI), FC SAN, NFS, and CIFS environments.

Other storage vendors might require the operation of multiple systems to provide this functionality. N series storage systems are designed to avoid costly downtime, both planned and unplanned, and improve your access to important data, helping you gain a competitive advantage. Features and functions provide data protection and data recovery solutions for customers’ business critical environment as well as foundations for cloud storage solutions.

The N series is a specialized, thin server storage system with a customized operating system, similar to a stripped-down UNIX kernel, referred to as Data ONTAP. With this customized operating system, many of the server operating system functions that you are familiar with are not supported. Data ONTAP improves performance and reduces costs by eliminating unnecessary functions that do not pertain to a storage system.

N series units come with pre-configured software and hardware, and with no monitor or keyboard for user access, which is commonly called a headless system. A storage administrator accesses the systems and manages the disk resources from a remote console by using a web browser or command line.

A typical characteristic of an N series storage systems product is its ability to be installed rapidly, using minimal time and effort to configure the system. The N series product is integrated seamlessly into the network, making it especially attractive when time and skills are limited in the organization of the customer.

The IBM System Storage N series portfolio (Figure 1-2) provides a range of reliable, scalable storage solutions for various storage requirements. These capabilities are achieved by using network access protocols. Examples include Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File System (CIFS), HTTP, and iSCSI, as well as storage area network (SAN) technologies such as Fibre Channel (FC).

By using built-in Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technologies, all data is well protected, with options to enhance protection through mirroring, replication, snapshots, and backup. These storage systems are also characterized by simple management interfaces that make installation, administration, and troubleshooting straightforward.

The most current IBM System Storage N series portfolio can be found at this website:

With this type of flexible storage solution, you can perform the following tasks:

All N series storage systems use a single operating system across the entire platform. They offer a combination of multiple advanced function software features that provide one of the most multifaceted storage platforms in the industry. Such features include comprehensive system management, storage management, onboard copy services, virtualization technologies, and disaster recovery and backup solutions.

N series systems are available as clusters and are also referred to as active-active HA pairs. They consist of two independent storage controllers that provide fault tolerance and high-availability storage for virtual environments. The cluster mechanism provides nondisruptive failover between controllers in the event of a controller failure. Redundant power supplies in each controller maintain constant power. Storage HBAs and Ethernet NICs are all configured redundantly within each controller. The failure of up to two disks in a single RAID group is accounted for by RAID-DP.

The N series active-active HA cluster model can be enhanced by synchronously mirroring data at the RAID level using NetApp SyncMirror. This mirrored active-active configuration maintains two complete copies of all mirrored data. These copies are called plexes and are continually and synchronously updated every time Data ONTAP writes to a mirrored aggregate. When SyncMirror is used with HA clustering, the cluster has the ability to survive the loss of complete RAID groups or shelves of disks on either side of the mirror.

MetroCluster builds on the N series cluster model by providing the capability to place the nodes of the clusters at geographically dispersed locations. Similar to the mirrored active-active configuration, MetroCluster also maintains two complete copies of all mirrored data. These copies are called plexes and are continually and synchronously updated each time Data ONTAP writes data to the disks.

MetroCluster supports distances of up to 100 kilometers. For distances less than 500 meters, the cluster interconnects, controllers, and disk shelves are all directly connected. It is referred to as a stretch MetroCluster configuration.

For distances over 500 meters, MetroCluster uses redundant Fibre Channel switches and interswitch links (ISL) between the sites. This configuration is referred to as a fabric MetroCluster configuration. In this case, the controllers and the storage are connected through the ISLs.

Note that the foregoing figures used in this section are simplified representations and do not indicate the redundant connection between each component. Figure 1-3 illustrates MetroCluster at more than 500 meters.

The IBM System Storage N series also provides a selection of features and functions designed to provide a comprehensive set of robust management and operational tools. Included are high availability features, disaster recovery, and data copy services. Such features help the system administration provide a high level of support for environments requiring IP attached storage solutions.

Table 1-1 provides brief highlights of the available N series software features.

The IBM System Storage N series Gateway product line is a network-based integrated storage solution. It provides Internet Protocol (IP) and Fibre Channel protocol access to SAN-attached heterogeneous storage arrays. The N6000 and N7000 series ordered with a Gateway feature code help you make the most of the dynamic provisioning capabilities of Data ONTAP software across your existing Fibre Channel SAN infrastructure to support an expanded set of business applications.

An N series Gateway implementation can be thought of as a front-end implementation and a back-end implementation. A front-end setup includes configuring the N series Gateway for all protocols (NAS or FCP) and implementing any snap features (such as Snapshot, SnapMirror, SnapVault, and so on). It also includes setting up backup, including NDMP dumps to tapes. The back-end implementation includes all tasks that are required to set up the N series Gateway system up to the point where it is ready for Data ONTAP installation. These tasks include array LUN formatting, port assignment, cabling, switch zoning, assigning LUNs to the N series Gateway system, creating aggregates, and loading Data ONTAP.

The IBM System Storage N series Gateway can provide network shares, exports, or LUNs that are built on flexible volumes that reside on aggregates. The N series Gateway is also a host on the storage array SAN. N series Gateways can take storage array LUNs (which are treated as disks) and virtualize them through Data ONTAP, presenting a unified management interface.

This simple, elegant data management solution can decrease management complexity and improve asset utilization. This solution also can streamline operations to increase business agility and reduce total cost of ownership and enhance data protection. In addition, it can enable rapid recovery and broaden centralized storage usage by provisioning SAN capacity for business solutions requiring NAS, SAN, or IP SAN data access (Figure 1-4).

With Data ONTAP, the N series Gateway now supports attachment of heterogeneous storage systems and IBM expansion units of the type used with N series storage systems.

IBM System Storage N series Gateway provides several key features that enhance the value and reduce the management costs of using a storage area network. An N series Gateway offers the following advantages:

Current N series interoperability matrices, included storage subsystems that are supported as N series back-end, are located at this website:

Currently four disk storage expansion units are available for the IBM System Storage N series storage systems:

Multiple EXN4000s, each with different Fibre Channel disk drive feature codes, can be attached to the same N series storage system on the same Fibre Channel loop. Multiple EXN3500s or EXN3000s, each with SAS or SATA disk drives, can be attached to the same N series storage system on different SAS loops. EXN3200 shelves can be attached to N62xx and N7950 systems supporting Data ONTAP 8.1.1.

For the latest storage expansion unit support information, visit the IBM support website:

The hardware portfolio can be categorized in three major segments: entry systems represented by the N3000 series, mid-range systems represented by the N6000 series, and enterprise systems represented by the N7000 series.

The IBM System Storage N3000 systems are designed to provide primary and secondary storage for midsize enterprises. All of the fragmented application-based storage and unstructured data are consolidated into one single-code system. Easily managed and expandable, this platform can help IT generalists increase their effectiveness.

In a cost-effective package, N3000 systems offer features such as those found in higher-end IBM System Storage N series systems:

N3000 series innovations include internal controller support for the following capabilities:

The N3000 series is compatible with the entire family of N series storage systems. These systems feature a comprehensive line-up of hardware and software designed to address a variety of possible deployment environments.

The IBM N6000 series offers extraordinary performance to help you meet demanding service levels of critical applications that can take priority under peak load conditions with FlexShare quality of service software. The Performance Acceleration Module (Flash Cache), an intelligent read cache, improves throughput and reduces latency to optimize the performance of your storage system. The N6000 series systems support simultaneous host attachment by CIFS, NFS, iSCSI and Fibre Channel protocols. The N6000 series supports up to 960 disk drives with a maximum raw capacity of 2880 TB.

The IBM System Storage N7000 series is designed to offer outstanding performance and expendability. It delivers high-end enterprise storage and data management value with midrange affordability.

For more details about N series hardware and software features, including an in-depth explanation of functions, see the following Redbooks publications: