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Highlights
- Scalable – Designed for nondisruptive expansion to more than 1.1 petabytes storage capacity
- Versatile – Supports concurrent block input/output (I/O) and file serving over Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC) Storage Area Network (SAN) infrastructures
- Efficient consolidation – FlexShare helps ensure that critical workloads get priority service
- Application availability – Supports application-level recovery in minutes, not hours
- Performance – Delivers high, consistent performance for mission-critical applications
In an increasingly demanding and competitive business landscape, effective data management is essential to the success of your business. Employees, partners and customers need access to up-to-date information to work productively, make timely decisions and meet business goals. You are under pressure to deliver more storage capacity and at higher levels of service, yet critical resources – staffing, budget, power, cooling and floor space – are often constrained.
These demands call for enterprise-class storage systems with the flexibility to support changing IT requirements, accommodate continuous data growth, satisfy application-level service requirements and unify SAN and Network Attached Storage (NAS) infrastructures at a low overall cost.
The IBM System Storage N7000 series systems are designed to help you tackle the challenge of effective data management using virtualisation technology and a unified storage architecture. The N7000 series is designed to deliver high-end enterprise storage and data management capabilities with midrange affordability. Built-in serviceability and manageability features help support your efforts to increase reliability; simplify and unify storage infrastructure and maintenance; and deliver exceptional economy.
The N7000 series, like all N series systems, provides powerful virtualisation and thin-provisioning capabilities to help you maximise storage utilisation while minimising the use of power, cooling and floor space. At the same time, you can improve staff productivity with an integrated suite of application-aware manageability software offering policy-based automation to otherwise manual tasks.
The IBM N7000 series can unify FC SAN, SCSI over IP (iSCSI) SAN, NAS, primary, nearline and regulatory compliance data retention and archival storage in an integrated architecture. The N7000 also offers massive scalability to support growth and consolidation. The combination of versatility and simplicity of N series systems is intended to help you respond quickly to changing business needs.
In addition, the N7000 series ordered with a Gateway feature can help you get the most from your existing storage equipment. You can improve your return on investment (ROI) while continuing to support different access methods for different business solutions throughout the enterprise.
Common features
- Simultaneous multiprotocol support for Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), iSCSI, Common Internet File System (CIFS), Network File System (NFS), HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- File- and block-level service in a single system
- Upgrade up to 1.176 PB of physical capacity while avoiding service disruption
- Support for FC and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives
- Data ONTAP software
- 16 TB maximum volume size
- Broad range of built-in features
- Multiple supported backup methods including disk- and host-based backup and tape backup to direct, SAN and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) attached tape devices
Hardware summary
- Up to 1.176 PB raw storage capacity
- 16 GB to 64 GB Error Checking, Correction (ECC) memory
- 512 MB to 4 GB nonvolatile memory
- Up to 52 full-duplex 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet ports
- Up to 56 4-Gigabits per second (Gbps)
- FC ports
- 10-GbE adapter card (optional)
- Quad-port 4-Gbps adapters (optional)
- Dual FC LVD SCSI Tape adapter
- Dual redundant hot-plug integrated cooling fans and auto-ranging power supplies
- 19" rack-mount enclosure
IBM System Storage N7000 software features at a glance
| Software | Description | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Single Instance Storage (A-SIS) | Performs block-level data deduplication on NearStore data volumes | Volume data is automatically scanned and deduplicated, resulting in immediate space savings with minimal impact on operations |
| Data ONTAP | N series storage operating system providing full-featured and unified data management for both block and file serving environments | Single architecture and user interface simplify data management and reduce costs for SAN and NAS deployment |
| Disk Sanitisation | The process of physically obliterating data by overwriting disks with specified byte patterns or random data | Helps prevents recovery of current data by any known recovery methods |
| FlexCache | Creates a flexible, horizontally scalable caching layer within your storage infrastructure that automatically adapts to changing usage patterns to eliminate bottlenecks | Intended to improve application response times for large compute farms, speed data access for remote users, or create a tiered storage infrastructure that circumvents tedious data management tasks |
| FlexClone | Instantly creates logical unit number (LUN) and volume clones without requiring additional storage | Accelerated test and development and storage capacity savings |
| FlexShare | Prioritises storage resource allocation to highest value workloads on a heavily loaded system | Ensures that best performance is provided to designated high-priority applications |
| FlexVol | Creates flexibly sized LUNs and volumes across a large pool of disks and one or more Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) groups | Fast, simple and flexible storage provisioning and high-capacity utilisation |
| MetroCluster | An integrated high-availability/disaster recovery solution for campus and metro-area deployments | Ensures high data availability when a site failure occurs |
| MultiStore | Securely partitions a storage system into multiple virtual storage appliances | Enables secure consolidation of multiple domains and file servers |
| NearStore (near-line) | Increases the maximum number of concurrent data streams (per storage controller) | Enhances backup, data protection and disaster preparedness by increasing the number of concurrent data streams between two N series systems |
| Operations Manager | Manages multiple N series systems from a single administrative console | Faster deployment and consolidated management of multiple N series systems |
| Protection Manager | Backup and replication management software for N series disk-to-disk environment | Improves productivity through automation of data protection tasks and delivers higher assurance of data protection than with manual execution of tasks by reducing human errors |
| Provisioning Manager | An easy-to-use application that allows administrators to apply consistent data set provisioning policies across the enterprise, automate complex provisioning processes, check policy conformance and pool storage resources for higher utilisation | Policy-based automation simplifies storage provisioning, ensuring that the provisioning process is repeatable, scaleable and auditable, while mitigating the risk of data loss due to misconfigured storage |
| RAID-DP | Double parity bit, RAID protection (N series RAID 6 implementation) | Protects against data loss due to double disk failures and media bit errors occurring during drive rebuild processes |
| SecureAdmin | Authenticates both the administrative user and the N series system, creating a secure, direct communication link to the N series system | Helps protect administrative logins, passwords and session commands from ‘cleartext,’ snooping by replacing RSH and Telnet with the strongly encrypted Secure Shell (SSH) protocol |
| Single Mailbox Recovery for Exchange (SMBR) | Enables the recovery of a single mailbox from a Microsoft® Exchange Information Store | SMBR can extract a single mailbox or e-mail directly in minutes compared to hours with traditional methods. Helps eliminate the need for IT staff intensive, complex and time-consuming exchange server and mailbox recovery |
| SnapDrive | Provides host-based data management of N series storage from Windows®, UNIX® and Linux® servers | Simplifies host-consistent Snapshot copy creation and automates error-free restores |
| SnapLock | Write-protects structured application data files within a volume to provide Write Once Read Many (WORM) disk storage | Provides storage enabling compliance with government records retention regulations |
| SnapManager | Provides host-based data management of N series storage for databases and business applications | Simplifies application-consistent Snapshot copies, automates error-free data restores and enables application-aware disaster recovery |
| SnapMirror | Enables automatic, incremental data replication between systems: synchronous or asynchronous | Provides flexible, space- and network-efficient site-to-site mirroring for disaster recovery and data distribution |
| SnapMover | Enables rapid reassignment of disks between controllers within a system without disruption | Enables fast, nondisruptive load balancing within an active-active controller system |
| SnapRestore | Rapidly restores single files, directories, or entire LUNs and volumes from any Snapshot backup | Enables near-instant recovery of files, databases and complete volumes |
| Snapshot | Makes incremental, data-in-place point-in-time copies of a LUN or volume with minimal performance impact | Enables frequent, nondisruptive, space-efficient and quickly restorable backups |
| SnapValidator | Maximises data integrity for Oracle databases | Enhances Oracle Database resiliency in compliance with Oracle HARD initiative |
| SnapVault | Exports Snapshot copies to another N series system, providing an incremental block-level backup solution | Enables cost-effective, long-term retention of rapidly restorable disk-based backups |
| SyncMirror | Maintains two online copies of data with RAID-DP protection on each side of the mirror | Protects against all types of hardware outages, including triple disk failure |
Specifications
| N7700 | N7900 | |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Type Model | 2866-A21 | 2867-A21 |
| Gateway Machine Type Model | 2866-A21 (w/FC 9551) | 2867-A21 (w/FC 9551) |
| Controller Configuration | Dual (active/active) | Dual (active/active) |
| Processors Speed and Type | 2.6 GHz AMD Opteron | 2.6 GHz AMD Dual Core Opteron |
| Number of Processors | 4 | 8 |
| Random Access Memory (RAM) | 32 GB | 64 GB |
| Nonvolatile Memory | 1 GB | 4 GB |
| Integrated I/O Ports | ||
| FCl Ports/Speed | 16 (4-Gbps) | 16 (4-Gbps) |
| Ethernet Ports/Speed | 12 (1-Gbps) | 12 (1-Gbps) |
| Storage Scalability | ||
| Maximum Number of FC Loops | 10 | 14 |
| Maximum Raw Capacity | 840 GB | 1176 GB |
| Maximum Number of Disk Drives | 840 | 1176 |
| Maximum Volume Size | 16 TB | 16 TB |
| Maximum Number of Volumes/LUNs | 2048 | 2048 |
| Maximum Number of Storage Enclosures | 60 | 84 |
| Disk Expansion Units Supported | EXN4000 - 4-Gbps FC Disk Storage Expansion Unit: 4-Gbps FC: 300 GB, 15,000 revolutions per minute (rpm); 450 GB, 15,000 rpm 2-Gbps FC: 300 GB, 15,000 rpm; 450 GB, 15,000 rpm EXN3000 – Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Disk Storage Expansion Unit: SAS: 300 GB, 15,000 rpm; 450 GB, 15,000 rpm SATA: 500 GB, 7,200 rpm; 1 TB EXN1000 - SATA Disk Storage Expansion: SATA: 500 GB, 7,200 rpm; 1 TB |
|
| I/O Scalability | ||
| PCI-Express (PCI-e) Expansion Slots | 10 | 10 |
| PCI-x Expansion Slots | 6 | 6 |
| Maximum number of FC Ports | 56 | 56 |
| Maximum number of Ethernet Ports | 52 | 52 |
| Maximum Number of Adapters Supported Per System (below - not to exceed Maximum Number of Optional Adapters) | ||
| 1007 - Quad-Port GbE NIC (copper) | 4 | 4 |
| 1008 - Single-Port 10-GbE TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) NIC | 4 | 4 |
| 1009 - Quad-Port GbE TOE NIC (copper) | 4 | 4 |
| 1010 - Dual-Port iSCSI Target NIC (copper) | 6 | 6 |
| 1011 - Dual-Port iSCSI Target NIC (fibre) | 6 | 10 |
| 1012 - Dual-Port GbE NIC (fibre) | 10 | 10 |
| 1013 - Dual-Port GbE NIC (copper) | 10 | 10 |
| 1014 - Dual-Port 4-Gbps FC Host Bus Adapter (HBA) Disk | 10 | 10 |
| 1015 - Dual-Port 4-Gbps FC HBA Tape | 6 | 6 |
| 1016 - SCSI LVD Tape Adapter | 8 | 6 |
| 1017 - Dual-Port 4-Gbps FC HBA Target | 8 | N/A |
| 1021 - Dual-Port GbE iSCSI Target (fibre) | 10 | 10 |
| 1022 - Quad-Port GbE TOE NIC (copper) | 10 | 10 |
| 1023 - Quad-Port GbE NIC (copper) | 10 | 10 |
| 1024 - Dual-Port SCSI Ultra320 HBA Tape | 6 | 6 |
| 1026 - Dual-Port GbE NIC (copper) | 10 | 10 |
| 1029 - Quad-Port 4-Gbps FC HBA - DISK | 10 | 10 |
| 1030 – Quad-Port 4-Gbps FC Target | 8 | 8 |
| 1031 - Dual-Port 10-GbE TOE NIC | 10 | 10 |
| 1032 - Dual-Port MetroCluster VI HBA | 4 | 4 |
| 1033 – SnapMirror Over FC HBA PCI- | 4 | 4 |
| 1034 - SnapMirror Over FC HBA PCI-x | 4 | 4 |
| 1035 - Quad-Port 4-Gbps FC HBA Tape/Disk | 10 | 10 |
| 1036 - PCIe 2 port 8 Gb FC Target HBA | 10 | 10 |
| 1056 - Performance Acceleration Module (16 GB) | 8 | 10 |
| 1057 - Performance Acceleration Module (512 GB)* | 4 | 4 |
| 1058 - Performance Acceleration Module (256 GB) | - | - |
| 1061 - Quad-port 3 Gbps SAS adapter for Disk Attachment** | 10 | 10 |
| 1063 - Dual-port FCoE adapter (optical) | 10 | 10 |
| 1064 - Dual-port FCoE adapter (cooper) | 10 | 10 |
| 1065 – Dual-port 10 Gbps Ethernet NIC card | 10 | 10 |
*Corequisite: Performance Acceleration Module II software feature per filer/gateway. Requires ONTAP 7.3.2
**For use with the EXN3000 and QSFP-QSFP cabling
Environmental Specifications and Regulations
| N7700 | N7900 | |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Type Model | 2866-A21 | 2867-A21 |
| Gateway Machine Type Model | 2866-A21 (w/FC 9551) | 2867-A21 (w/FC 9551) |
| AC Power/Current (line voltage for standalone systems dependent on local power distribution; system cabinets are 200 to 240 V only) | 100 to 240 V ac, 11A to 5.5A (typical) 24A (max.) @ 100 V ac 200 to 240 V ac, 9A to 5.5A (typical) 12A (max.) @ 200 V ac |
|
| Thermal rating | 6142 BTU/hr. | |
| Weight (max.) | 242 lb (109.6 kg) | |
| Height | 20.8" (52.6 cm), fits into 12U space | |
| Width | 19" IEC rack-compliant (17.6", 44.6 cm) | |
| Depth | 27.4" (69.5 cm), 30.8" (78.2 cm) with cable management bracket | |
| Operating temperature, altitude and relative humidity | 10°C to 40°C (50°F to 104°F); at </= 3,050 m (at </= 10,000) elevation; 20 percent to 80 percent relative humidity, non-condensing (28°C wet bulb temperature) | |
| Nonoperating temperature and relative humidity | -40° C to 65° C (-40° F to 149° F); 10 percent to 95 percent relative humidity, non-condensing, in original container | |
| Operating acoustic noise | 49 dBA sound pressure (LpA) @ normal operating conditions (at 23°C and at sea level) | |
| Min. cabinet clearances | 6" (15.3 cm) front; 12" (30.5 cm) rear | |
| Min. service clearances | 25" (63.5 cm) from front of cabinet; 40" (102 cm) from rear of cabinet | |
| Maximum altitude | 2133 m (7,000 ft.) | |
| Regulations | |
| Filer safety | EN 60950:2002, CE, CSA 60950 and NRTL (UL) CB (all national deviations), EN60825-1:1994, IRAM, GOST-R |
| Disk shelf safety | UL/C-UL; CE |
| Emissions | FCC Class A, EN 55022:1998, EN 61000-3-2, EN 61000-3-3, CE, BSMI, AS/NZ 3548, VCCI |
| Immunity | EN 55024:1998 |
| Storage expansion unit disk drive support | |
| EXN4000 - 4-Gbps FC Disk Storage Expansion Unit (MTM 2863-004) | 4-Gbps FC: 300 GB, 15,000 rpm; 450 GB, 15,000 rpm 2-Gbps FC: 300 GB, 15,000 rpm; 450 GB, 15,000 rpm |
| EXN3000 - SAS Disk Storage Expansion Unit (MTM 2857-003) | SAS: 300 GB, 15,000 rpm; 450 GB, 15,000 rpm SATA: 500 GB, 7,200 rpm; 1 TB |
| EXN1000 SATA disk storage expansion unit (MTM 2861-001) | SATA: 500 GB, 7,200 rpm; 1 TB |
| Storage expansion unit specifications | |
| Disk storage expansion units supported | EXN4000 – 4-Gbps FC Disk Storage Expansion Unit (MTM 2863-004) EXN3000 - SAS Disk Storage Expansion Unit (MTM 2857-003) EXN1000 SATA disk storage expansion unit (MTM 2861-001) Each with 14 low-profile slots for FC and SATA disk drives Legacy Support for Expansion Unit |
| Disk drive storage shelf interface | PCI-x or PCI-e-based Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) |
| Environmental specifications | |
| Power supply/cooling fans | Dual, redundant, hot-pluggable, integrated power supply/fan assemblies (220 V/110 V) |
| AC power/max. current | 100 to 120 V ac/4.4A; 200 to 240 V ac/2.3A 100 to 120 V ac/7A; 200 to 240 V ac/3.5A; 50/60 Hz |
| Operating temperature maximum range | 10°C to 40°C (50°F to 104°F) |
| Recommended operating temperature range | 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F) |
| Operating relative humidity range | 10 percent to 95 percent relative humidity, non-condensing 10percent to 95 percent |
| Recommended operating relative humidity range | 40 percent to 55 percent non-condensing |
| Nonoperating temperature range | -40°C to 65°C (-40°F to 149°F) |
| Nonoperating relative humidity range | 10 percent to 95 percent relative humidity, non-condensing |
| Thermal rating | 1,215 Btu/hr (fully loaded disk storage expansion unit) |
| Operating acoustic noise | 56.4 dBA @ 1m at 23°C, 5.64 bels @ 23°C |
| Dimensions (height/width/depth) | 3U EIA (5.25", 13.3 cm)/19" IEC rack-compliant (17.6", 44.7 cm)/20" (50.85 cm) |
| Weight | EXN4000 – 35.8 kg (78.8 lbs) fully loaded with disk drives, 23 kg (50.6 lbs) empty EXN3000 – 110 lb (49.9 kg) fully loaded with disk drives, 53.7 lbs (24.4 kb) empty EXN1000 – 35 kg (77 lbs) fully loaded with disk drives, 23 kg (50.6 lbs) empty |
| Regulations | |
| Disk shelf safety | UL/C-UL; CE |
| Emissions | FCC Class A, EN 55022:1998, EN 61000-3-2, EN 61000-3-3, CE, BSMI, AS/NZ 3548, VCCI |
| Immunity | EN 55024:1998 |
| Operating system | Data ONTAP 7.2.5 or later |
| Operating system support | Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Linux, Sun Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Mac OS, VMware, ESX |
| Standard software features | Integrated automatic RAID manager, including RAID-DP, Snapshot, Fast Boot, Telnet, e-mail alerts, NIS, DNS, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), FilerView, SecureAdmin, FlexVol, FlexShare, SSH, Maintenance Centre, Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) |
| Network protocol support | NFS V2/V3/V4 over UDP or TCP, PCNFSD V1/V2 for (PC) NFS client authentication, Microsoft CIFS, VLD, FTP, HTTP 1.0, HTTP 1.1 Virtual Hosts |
| SAN protocol support | FCP for SCSI (2 Gb and 4 Gb); fabric-attached and direct-attached; iSCSI |
| Optional licensed functions | NFS, CIFS, HTTP, FCP, iSCSI Protocol, FlexCache, FlexClone, FlexScale, MultiStore, Clustered Failover (CFO), SnapMirror, SnapRestore, SMBR for Exchange, SnapManager for Exchange, SnapManager for SQL Server, SnapManager for Oracle, SnapManager for SAP, SnapManager for Microsoft Office SharePoint®, SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure, SnapManager for Hyper-V™, SnapVault, SnapMover, SnapLock Compliance, SnapLock Enterprise, SyncMirror, MetroCluster, NearStore, SnapValidator, SnapDrive for Windows, SnapDrive for UNIX, SnapDrive for AIX, SnapDrive for HP-UX, SnapDrive for Linux, AIX multipathing, Operations Manager, Disk Sanitisation, A-SIS, Protection Manager, Provisioning Manager |
| Hardware features | Full-duplex 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet onboard console, diagnostic Light Emitting Diode (LED)/Liquid Crystal Display (LCD, Remote Management Card standard, redundant hot-plug cooling fans, redundant hot-plug power supplies, Compact Flash, 19" rack-mount enclosure, optional 220 V 42U 19" system cabinet |
| Maximum RAID group sizes | RAID 6 (RAID-DP) FC – 28 (26 data disks plus 2 parity disks), SATA – 16 (14 data disks plus 2 parity disks) RAID 4 FC – 14 (13 data disks plus 1 parity disk), SATA – 7 (6 data disks plus 1 parity disk) RAID 6 + RAID 1 or RAID 4 + RAID 1 (SyncMirror) |
