NAS Blade From Fujitsu Siemens

Fujitsu Siemens Computers is introducing the new NAS Blade in response to the requirements of SMEs for affordable, embedded shared storage in their Blade Server environments, especially where rack space is at a premium. The new PRIMERGY Network-attached storage (NAS) Blade NX650 is designed to fit into the BX600 S3 Blade Server chassis, providing simple, network-wide access to shared stored data.

 
The PRIMERGY NX650 NAS Blade provides between 438 GB and 1.4 TB of shared storage capacity for application servers, and with prices starting at EUR 5775 for a pre-configured system including twin PRIMERGY NX650 Server and Storage Blades, is a cost-effective alternative to investing in more expensive external storage subsystems. The PRIMERGY NX650 NAS Blade is available immediately.
 
In developing the PRIMERGY NX650 NAS Blade, engineers at Fujitsu Siemens Computers ensured that its online storage capacity is not only available to all Server Blades within a PRIMERGY BX650 chassis but also to other servers on the same network – therefore placing its high-speed disk-based storage capacity at the heart of a network.
 
Says Jens-Peter Seick, Senior Vice President Enterprise Server Business at Fujitsu Siemens Computers: “The idea of creating a Datacenter in a Box meant that we could directly meet customer needs for appropriate local storage within the blade chassis , without the extra complexity of implementing a Storage Area Network. The NX650, which slots in to a blade chassis, enhances the feature richness of our robust PRIMERGY BX600 Blade Servers, making them very suitable for small to medium enterprises .”
 
In addition to its small physical size, the PRIMERGY NX650 NAS Blade is simple to manage in comparison to larger Storage Area Network (SAN) installations and is delivered with a choice of pre-installed configurations – meaning that it can slot straight into a production system.
 
The NX650 is flexible to meet the needs of a wide range of deployment scenarios. Its optional full iSCSI support enables the NX650 to be used as the centralized storage for application servers, using LAN controllers within Server Blades, and built-in support for iSCSI boot means it can provide centralized storage for both virtual and physical servers running on individual Server Blades.
 
The PRIMERGY NX650 runs Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, a task-tailored operating system that delivers quick and easy deployment as well as simplified management via a web-based console, as well as fast data recovery and background shadow copy creation. It also comes with a trial version of BrightStor ARCserver backup software, providing comprehensive protection for business-critical data.
 
Technical details
In entry-level configuration, the unit consists of two single blades, an NX650 Server Blade based on a PRIMERGY BX620 S4, and an NX650 Storage Blade. For the Server Blade, the native operating system is Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 with a single 2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5405 processor, 4 GB of main memory, 2x 2.5-inch 36 GB mirrored hot-pluggable SAS hard drives, 6x on-board Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) LAN ports and one SAS/RAID controller with 512 MB cache and intelligent Battery Back-Up (iBBU) functionality. The system can be expanded with an additional CPU and 3x 4 GB main memory. The NX650 Storage ships with three 2.5-inch SAS hot-pluggable 146 GB hard drives, optionally expandable to 5 HDDs offering maximum storage capacity of 730 GB, configured by default to the RAID 5 standard. The next step in system expansion is to add a second NX650 Storage Blade, therefore doubling disk capacity to 1.4 TB of online storage.