Kioxia KumoScale V.3.21 Storage Software Built Around NVMe-oF Protocol

Kioxia America, Inc. has released version 3.21 of its KumoScale storage software built around the NVMe-oF protocol.

Designed for cloud-centric deployment at data center scale, KumoScale storage system software delivers high-performance NVMe flash storage-as-a-disaggregated networked service. Combining the speed and responsiveness of born-in-the-cloud software with the staying power of one of the largest flash memory makers, it uses NVMe technology to enable flash-as-a-service in SDS environments for Kubernetes infrastructures, OpenStack infrastructures and bare metal infrastructures.

Kumoscale system architecture simplified

Major features in KumoScale software V.3.21 include a cluster-wide Command Line Interface (Cluster CLI), compatibility with OpenStack Yoga multipathing, and interoperability with Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

KumoScale software cluster-wide CLI
The KumoScale Cluster CLI tool is built on the Python programming language and runs on most popular OS. It provides a user-friendly abstraction of the KumoScale REST (REpresentational State Transfer) API. Production deployments typically automate storage provisioning via KumoScale software compatible APIs such as CSI (Container Storage Interface) or OpenStack Cinder. The Cluster CLI provides a manual alternative, giving administrators full access to both cluster management and storage provisioning functions.

Compatibility with OpenStack Yoga multipathing
The KumoScale software OpenStack integration in V.3.21 adds compatibility for MPIO multipathing in OpenStack Yoga. Multipath connectivity improves data availability by removing network partitions as a single point of failure. MPIO also improves overall NVMe-oF storage performance by making full use of available network bandwidth.

Compatibility with Microsoft Azure Active Directory
KumoScale software Version 3.20 added compatibility with 3d-party OpenID Connect 1.0. OpenID Connect provides an identity layer on top of the OAuth 2.0 protocol. It allows clients to verify the identity of users based on authentication performed by a centralized Authorization Server. The version 3.21 builds on this with the company-tested compatibility with Microsoft Azure Active Directory. This means that Azure AD identities can seamlessly access KumoScale volumes.

It also includes enhancements to the software upgrade process, SSD volume evict enhancements and compatibility with Dell EMC PowerEdge R6525 servers.