News

nStor Announces Ultra 2 SCSI RAID System CR8L

• By Scott Bekker
• 11/11/1998

For maximum configuration flexibility, the CR8L can be used as a low-cost JBOD solution or combined with a PCI RAID controller to offer true RAID functionality with Ultra2 performance.

The CR8L is an OEM-grade eight-bay subsystem, available in either a 19" rack mount (4U) or tower-based configuration. Designed with scalability in mind, the CR8L supports 4GB, 9GB, and 18GB (7,200 or 10,000 RPM) disk drives, providing 144GB of storage per system. Multiple CR8L systems can be combined to provide scalable storage capacities in excess of 2 TB. The high-performance Ultra2 (LVD) SCSI-3 architecture provides data transfer speeds up to 80MB/second and supports 15 SCSI devices per channel, as well as cable lengths up to 12 meters.

Robust features such as a cableless back plane design, support for global and hot spares, and dual, redundant dual power supplies and cooling fans that are hot swappable under load conditions improve data availability and reliability. An advanced Operator Control Panel consisting of an LCD display and keypad entry provides subsystem component status, temperature control monitoring, alarm threshold settings, assignment of SCSI-IDs, password control, diagnostic results, firmware information and protection for critical menu items. The optional PCI RAID controller offers complete RAID functionality for Windows NT.

The optional controller supports RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, 30 and 50, as well as on-line RAID expansion and RAID level migration, which further reduces the cost of ownership by allowing LAN administrators to add additional disk drives or re-stripe data across the drives and to reconfigure from one RAID level to another without costly downtime. Additionally, to further ensure data integrity, the controller incorporates a 233 MHz Intel StrongARM on-board RISC processor with 32MB of cache memory (upgradeable to 64MB) and an integrated battery backup module which enables the cache to be moved to a new controller in the event of a controller failure. The storage management software has management features that allows users to manage their online storage, including remote configure and monitoring, and event notification via e-mail, fax or pager.

The nStor CR8L subsystem also includes support for the open-industry SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosure (SAF-TE) specification, co-developed by nStor (formerly Conner Storage Systems) and Intel Corp. and endorsed by other server and RAID controller manufacturers. Additional information about the SAF-TE specification can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.safte.org. SAF-TE compliant products improve LAN administrator efficiency by providing a common interface standard for continuously monitoring temperature, drive, power and fan status, and communicating that status via a SCSI bus to sophisticated alert management utilities.

Available for immediate shipment, the CR8L system includes an 8-bay rack or tower enclosure, three (3) 4GB, 9GB or 18GB (7,200 or 10,000 RPM) disk drives with slide mounting rails, two (2) 150-watt hot swap power supplies, two (2) hot swap cooling fans, and one- year of nVantage 5 x 9 next day on-site service. Available options include a 3-channel PCI RAID controller with installation and RAID management software, and nVantage renewal and/or upgrade to 7x24 on- site service. --Brian Ploskina, Assistant Editor