StoneFly, Inc., supplier of integrated IP storage area network (SAN) systems, unveiled StoneFly RAIDML, a new multi-level (ML) approach to data protection for IP SANs. RAIDML goes beyond conventional No Single Point of Failure (NSPOF) configurations to provide the highest levels of data protection for mission-critical files and applications, along with general file storage.



Now available as an integrated part of StoneFly's Voyager HA IP SAN, RAIDML offers the ability to create NSPOF volumes as well as purely RAID 5 or 6 protected volumes - all in a single storage unit or aggregated across multiple storage units. The creation of different RAID sets in this manner allows administrators to achieve multi-level data protection without increasing costs and without the need for doubling drives to meet NSPOF requirements.

An Economical Alternative
to Conventional NSPOF Approaches
According to BJ Jalali, director of product management for StoneFly, there are several conventional ways to attain NSPOF on storage volumes: mirroring (RAID 1); mirroring and striping (RAID 10 or 0+1); complete subsystem mirroring (RAID 51 or RAID 61); or host-based applications that manage mirroring.

"Today's storage devices have gone a long way toward protecting data through the use of different RAID levels," Jalali says. "However, to date, all conventional NSPOF configurations require 100 percent duplication of actual disk storage, leaving the customer with little choice but to spend more while adding complexity to the data center. StoneFly is very pleased to offer RAIDML as an economical and effective alternative."

Implemented
in StoneFly's Active-Active Controller Architecture
RAIDML is implemented in StoneFly's active-active controller architecture, protecting both NSPOF and traditional RAID sets with comprehensive auto fail-over and fail-back capabilities. RAIDML is supported by the StoneFly StoneFusion operating system, which equips StoneFly IP SANs with a patented storage virtualization engine; StoneFly Reflection for local and campus mirroring; StoneFly Snapshot for fast, efficient data recovery; and advanced features such as Quick Sync to further enhance data protection.

Quick Sync allows customers to rapidly restore RAIDML or mirrored iSCSI volumes in the event of a storage path or site failure. With StoneFusion keeping track of block-level changes to the operational volumes, as system restores occur Quick Sync updates the RAIDML and mirrored volumes quickly by only restoring net changes, thereby bringing the volumes back online immediately - without the time and hassle of an entire restore operation.