Sun Open Storage
Encyclopedia
Sun Open Storage is an open source
computer data storage platform developed by Sun Microsystems
. Based on industry-standard hardware and open source technologies from Sun Microsystems, Sun Open Storage offers an open storage architecture without vendor lock-in
.
, Sun began releasing many of their software product technologies as open source. This was seen by many as a way to compete with the rise of competing open source platforms, primarily Linux.
The move to create storage products based on software personalities, running on standard hardware are also part of a broader move within the system and storage industries. Companies including Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, NetApp and numerous smaller vendors all have been moving towards storage products based upon standard server hardware and customized software.
Sun's Open Storage products are a combination of their server technologies and customized software. Many of the features of these products reside within the core Solaris. Additional storage specific features have been added to create a complete integrated product. Core features provided by Solaris include the operating environment, the ZFS
file-system, an analytics tool based on Dtrace, the NFS and CIFS protocol interfaces and other core features.
Statements by Sun around their Open Storage products indicated that products based on common hardware and open source Solaris, would remove vendor lock-in for customers.(need source)
Sun believes that open storage products and related services will gain 12 percent of the storage market by 2011. Storage solutions from other vendors are closed systems, in which all the components must come from the vendor.
offers support for SCSI
, iSCSI
, iSNS
, Fibre Channel
, FCoE, InfiniBand
, RDMA, Object storage device
, and SAS
.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
computer data storage platform developed by Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
. Based on industry-standard hardware and open source technologies from Sun Microsystems, Sun Open Storage offers an open storage architecture without vendor lock-in
Vendor lock-in
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs...
.
Background
In 2006, under the direction of then CEO Jonathan I. SchwartzJonathan I. Schwartz
Jonathan Ian Schwartz is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Picture of Health. He was formerly the President and CEO of Sun Microsystems prior to its acquisition by Oracle, and previously the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lighthouse Design, Ltd., a software company focused on...
, Sun began releasing many of their software product technologies as open source. This was seen by many as a way to compete with the rise of competing open source platforms, primarily Linux.
The move to create storage products based on software personalities, running on standard hardware are also part of a broader move within the system and storage industries. Companies including Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, NetApp and numerous smaller vendors all have been moving towards storage products based upon standard server hardware and customized software.
Sun's Open Storage products are a combination of their server technologies and customized software. Many of the features of these products reside within the core Solaris. Additional storage specific features have been added to create a complete integrated product. Core features provided by Solaris include the operating environment, the ZFS
ZFS
In computing, ZFS is a combined file system and logical volume manager designed by Sun Microsystems. The features of ZFS include data integrity verification against data corruption modes , support for high storage capacities, integration of the concepts of filesystem and volume management,...
file-system, an analytics tool based on Dtrace, the NFS and CIFS protocol interfaces and other core features.
Statements by Sun around their Open Storage products indicated that products based on common hardware and open source Solaris, would remove vendor lock-in for customers.(need source)
Sun believes that open storage products and related services will gain 12 percent of the storage market by 2011. Storage solutions from other vendors are closed systems, in which all the components must come from the vendor.
Features
At the storage protocol layer, OpenSolarisOpenSolaris
OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
offers support for SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
, iSCSI
ISCSI
In computing, iSCSI , is an abbreviation of Internet Small Computer System Interface, an Internet Protocol -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage...
, iSNS
ISNS
In computing, the proposed Internet Storage Name Service protocol allows automated discovery, management and configuration of iSCSI and Fibre Channel devices on a TCP/IP network.- Features :...
, Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel, or FC, is a gigabit-speed network technology primarily used for storage networking. Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards , an American National Standards Institute –accredited standards...
, FCoE, InfiniBand
InfiniBand
InfiniBand is a switched fabric communications link used in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers. Its features include high throughput, low latency, quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalable...
, RDMA, Object storage device
Object storage device
An Object-based Storage Device is a computer storage device, similar to disk storage but working at a higher level. Instead of providing a block-oriented interface that reads and writes fixed sized blocks of data, an OSD organizes data into flexible-sized data containers, called objects...
, and SAS
Serial Attached SCSI
Serial Attached SCSI is a computer bus used to move data to and from computer storage devices such as hard drives and tape drives. SAS depends on a point-to-point serial protocol that replaces the parallel SCSI bus technology that first appeared in the mid 1980s in data centers and workstations,...
.
Software
- OpenSolarisOpenSolarisOpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
- ZFSZFSIn computing, ZFS is a combined file system and logical volume manager designed by Sun Microsystems. The features of ZFS include data integrity verification against data corruption modes , support for high storage capacities, integration of the concepts of filesystem and volume management,...
, NFS, and CIFS - StorageTek Archive Manager
- StorageTek Availability Suite
- NexentaStorNexentaStorNexentaStor is a proprietary derivative operating system built by the developers of the open-source Nexenta OpenSolaris-distribution that has been optimized for use virtualized server environments NAS and iSCSI and Fibre Channel applications built around the ZFS file system...
Hardware platforms
- Sun Fire X4500Sun Fire X4500The Sun Fire X4500 data server integrates server and storage technologies. It was announced in July, 2006 and is part of the Sun Fire server line from Sun Microsystems....
- Sun StorageTek 5800 System
- Sun Storage 7000 Unified Storage