Unknown $2 Billion Company Selects JetStor Storage From AC&NC

The organization
This customer is a provider of beauty and wellness products. Founded over thirty years ago, the enterprise annually garners several billion dollars in revenues by marketing scores of nutritional and health goods via sales channels on five continents. The company is based in the American southwest.

The challenge
To process thousands of transactions every week, the enterprise deploys sophisticated systems like an SAP ERP)platform, Oracle databases, and e-commerce solutions as well as a myriad of standard business applications. Together, they generate hundreds of terabytes of data every week.

The company’s challenge is backing up its torrents of data quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively on its SAN. These data must always be available should information be lost in the production environment and for governance requirements and internal audits.

“It’s a fundamental practice for companies – large and small – to backup data,” said the firm’s global systems architect. “For a firm like ours with markets worldwide, we need solutions that safely store all of our data without taxing our IT budgets and staff. We want to invest our time and resources in our business, not backups.“

The solution
One JetStor SAS 816FD 16-bay RAID Array, one JetStor SAS 816JD Dual 12G 16-bay JBOD, two JetStor SAS 716F 16-bay RAID Arrays, two JetStor SAS 716J 6G 16-bay JBODs, one JetStor SAS 716J 12G V2 JBOD, two JetStor SAS 712F 16-bay Arrays, one JetStor SAS 712J 16-bay JBOD, one JetStor SAS 516F 16-bay RAID Array, two JetStor SAS 516J 16-bay JBODs from Advanced Computer & Network Corporation (AC&NC).

System configuration : 

• One JetStor SAS 816FD 16-bay Array
• One JetStor SAS 816JD 16-bay 12G Dual JBOD
• Two JetStor SAS 716F 16-bay RAID Arrays
• Two JetStor SAS 716J 6G 16-bay JBODs
• One JetStor SAS 716J 12G V2 16-bay JBOD
• Two JetStor SAS 712F 16-bay Arrays
• One JetStor SAS 712J 16-bay JBOD
• One JetStor SAS 516F 16-bay Array
• Two JetStor SAS 516J 16-bay JBODs

Benefits realized
JetStor platforms store a petabyte of backup and archival data on the company’s SAN and at a remote backup site. These data are always available in the event production data are lost or internal audits are performed. The solutions deliver the performance needed for backups and can support SSDs should additional speed ever be necessary.

“Before acquiring additional storage, we carefully evaluate available products, which is why we continue to invest in JetStor arrays,” said the global system architect. “Since we bought our first JetStor platforms in 1999, they’ve proven to be high-value solutions that deliver very competitive costs per GB.“

Reliability contributes to the value of JetStor platforms and reduces their ownership costs. They are engineered for non-stop availability with cableless designs, hot-swappable dual power supplies, dual controllers, and drives. Their support for power management saves energy and extends service life. For additional protection, their RAID Manager application sends email notifications to administrators when issues are detected or maintenance is required.

“JetStor arrays fit our requirements in that once they’re installed, they don’t require much attention,” added the global systems architect. “They also provide the scalability we require to meet our ever-increasing troves of data. We can easily add JetStor JBODs to seamlessly expand the function-rich storage in our data center.“

How we did it
When the company needed additional storage for backups on its SAN, the latest solutions it deployed were the JetStor SAS 816FD Array and then the JetStor SAS 816JD 12G Dual JBOD. Both have 8TB HDDs in each of their 16-bay chassis, providing total capacity of 256TB, or a quarter of a petabyte.

“As with all of our JetStor solutions, deployment was straightforward,” explained the global systems architect. “Our data center team racked and configured the 3U devices. After our engineers confirmed the installation, we created RAID-5 groups for data protection should a drive fail.“

The JetStor SAS 816FD Array has redundant 8Gb FC links to multiple Brocade FC switches, ensuring availability should a link or even a switch fail. Redundant 8Gb FC connect the JetStor SAS 816JD JBOD to the 816FD platform.

The two JetStor SAS 716F RAID arrays, the two JetStor SAS 716J 6G JBODs, and the JetStor SAS 716J 12G V2 JBOD are similarly configured in the SAN. They each have 4TB drives in their 16-bay chassis. The hot-swappable drives on all of the company’s JetStor solutions ensure operations are not disrupted should a drive ever fail.

The IT staff uses the browser-based RAID Manager application to configure, manage, and monitor all JetStor RAID systems. “

We use the console even to remotely manage JetStor platforms at a second backup site,” said the global systems architect. “We always have visibility into, and control over, our backup architecture.“

Conclusion
To backup the terabytes of data it generates every day, the company requires storage capacity that keeps pace. JetStor arrays and JBODs provide the scalability and economy needed to ensure backups are cost-effective and do not drain IT budgets.

“For nearly two decades, we’ve been coming back to AC&NC for our backup storage needs because its JetStor solutions continue to offer a successful combination of performance, availability, and economy,” concluded the global systems architect. “AC&NC delivers a highly competitive line of products that effectively meets our storage need. Going forward, AC&NC will remain a trusted vendor of ours.“