SanDisk FlashSoft Cache Software Upgraded

SanDisk Corporation announced an upgrade to its enterprise software portfolio with a new version of its FlashSoft software for Windows Server and Linux operating systems.

FlashSoft 3.2 server-side solid state caching software complements and enhances the performance of existing applications, and server and storage systems.

Benefits of FlashSoft 3.2 software include:

• multiple SSD support, with SSD mirroring for ‘safe write-back’ caching;
• support for up to four caches on a single server;
• acceleration of up to 2,048 volumes per cache;
• maximum cache size increased to 2TB per cache; and,
• support for volume-based storage architectures, including DAS and SAN configurations.

"Solid state storage strategies are changing the economics of data management. The challenge, however, is adding enterprise flash technology without major disruptions to ongoing IT operations," said Jeff Boles, senior analyst and director of lab validation services, The Taneja Group. "SanDisk’s FlashSoft software efficiently integrates solid state cache into servers without changing where data is stored or the features and capabilities of a consolidated storage approach. This ‘disruptionless’ approach dramatically simplifies the introduction of solid state, and allows SanDisk customers to immediately address performance challenges without changing existing storage strategies."

By caching frequently accessed data (hot data) on solid-state memory installed in the server, FlashSoft allows read and write operations for hot data to execute via the solid state device rather than underlying storage. This optimizes server performance by reducing I/O latency from storage. The software dynamically allocates the cache space to volumes based on their I/O activity for optimal efficiency in SSD utilization, while minimizing use of server CPU and memory resources.

FlashSoft supports SanDisk’s own enterprise solid-state devices, and it’s also compatible with all vendors’ enterprise flash-based systems, including those using PCIe, SAS or SATA technology. This provides customers choice and flexibility in selecting the flash hardware best suited to their budget, infrastructure and operational requirements.

"SanDisk continually improves its software products based on feedback from customers, delivering features and benefits that address enterprise requirements for large-scale, business-critical applications," said Tom Shea, VP and GM, software solutions, SanDisk. "The advancements in the FlashSoft 3.2 software allow users to increase application performance while reducing overhead on storage systems, at a lower overall capital expense."

Scalability
In response to its customers using FlashSoft for increasingly larger data sets, SanDisk has improved the FlashSoft caching engine to meet requirements for accelerating data-intensive workloads. FlashSoft 3.2 allows four separate caches on a single server, with each cache on its own SSD. In addition, SanDisk has increased the maximum size of each cache from 1TB to 2TB, and the number of volumes supported by a single cache has increased from 255 to 2,048.

Multiple SSD Support
IT managers require flexibility to expand data center capabilities in the most economical manner. In addition to supporting multiple caches on separate SSDs, FlashSoft 3.2 supports the concatenation (linking) of multiple solid state devices to provide one larger logical SSD. When a larger solid state cache is needed, it gives the option of adding more solid state devices for incremental growth, rather than requiring replacement of the existing SSD. Additionally, when implementing multiple caches, an IT manager can employ higher performing or larger SSDs for caching higher priority workloads, and more economical solid state devices for less demanding applications, providing the appropriate QoS to all data.

Safe Write-Back Caching
FlashSoft has always provided the option of a write-back mode for read-write caching, which can improve performance for certain database applications. FlashSoft 3.2 also supports data mirroring, using two identical SSDs for ‘safe write-back’ caching where data is written to both SSDs concurrently and is available even in the event of an SSD failure. If one SSD fails, FlashSoft automatically flushes the data from the other SSD and switches to write-through mode, providing read-only caching until the SSD failure is remedied.

Product Specs

• Operating System (Windows): Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Operating System (Linux): Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, versions 5.5 and above and 6.0 and above.
• Server Memory Overhead: 140MB.
• Recommended CPU: Dual core or greater, 2GHz or above, 64-bit x86 processor.
• Cache Size: 8GB (min) to 2TB (max) per cache.
• Total Cache Capacity: Up to 4 caches per server.
• SSD: Any SSD (SAS or PCIe recommended).

Pricing and Availability
FlashSoft 3.2 for Windows Server ($3,000 ), FlashSoft 3.2 for Linux ($3,500) and FlashSoft 3.1 for VMware vSphere ($3,900) are available and may be purchased from SanDisk or through authorized resellers. Software maintenance and support is available from SanDisk for all FlashSoft software products.