Panasas

Last updated
Panasas, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Data Storage
Founded1999
Headquarters
San Jose, California
,
USA
Key people
Ken Claffey (CEO)
ProductsPanFS on ActiveStor Ultra
Number of employees
114 (2019)
Website www.panasas.com

Panasas is a data storage company that creates network-attached storage for technical computing environments. [1] [2] Panasas, which operated for 25 years as a parallel file and HPC company, has changed its name to VDURA. [3] The company has changed its name to reflect its new focus as a software provider with a subscription-based revenue model. [4]

Contents

History

Panasas is a computer data storage product company and is headquartered in San Jose, California. Panasas received seed funding from Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) and others. The first Panasas products were shipped in 2004, the same year that Victor M. Perez became CEO. [5] Faye Pairman became CEO in 2011. [6] Tom Shea, formerly Panasas COO, was appointed as CEO in 2020. [7]

Technology

Panasas developed an extension for managing parallel file access in the Network File System, [8] which was later integrated in Parallel NFS (pNFS), part of the NFS version 4.1 specification, published by the Internet Engineering Task Force as RFC 5661 in January 2010. pNFS described a way for the NFS protocol to process file requests to multiple servers or storage devices at once, instead of handling the requests serially. [9]

Panasas supports DirectFlow, NFS, Parallel NFS and Server Message Block (also known as CIFS) data access protocols to integrate into existing local area networks. Panasas blade servers manage metadata, serving data for DirectFlow, NFS and CIFS clients using 10 Gigabit Ethernet. [10] Panasas systems provide data storage and management for high-performance applications in the biosciences, energy, media and entertainment, manufacturing, government and research sectors. [11]

ActiveStor

The ActiveStor product line is a parallel file system appliance that integrates hybrid storage hardware (hard drives and solid state drives), the PanFS parallel file system, its proprietary DirectFlow data access protocol, and the industry standard NFS and CIFS network protocols. [12]

ActiveStor Ultra

ActiveStor Ultra (introduced in November 2018) is the newest generation of the Panasas ActiveStor storage system and features a re-engineered, portable file system that delivers performance and reliability on suitably qualified, industry standard storage hardware platforms. [13]

ActiveStor 20 (now ActiveStor Classic) was announced in August 2016 with increased capacity, using larger and faster disks. [14] [15] In November 2017, Panasas released the ActiveStor Director 100 [16] and the ActiveStor Hybrid 100 (now ActiveStor Prime), which disaggregated the Director Blade, the controller node of Panasas storage system, from the storage nodes. [17] In November 2018, Panasas introduced ActiveStor Ultra, which featured a completely re-engineered portable file system (PanFS® 8) running on industry standard hardware. [18]

DirectFlow

DirectFlow is a parallel data access protocol designed by Panasas for ActiveStor. DirectFlow avoids protocol I/O bottlenecks by accessing Panasas storage directly and in parallel. [19] DirectFlow was originally supported on Linux, and expanded in April 2016 to support Apple's MacOS. [20]

PanFS

Panasas created the PanFS clustered file system as single pool of storage under a global filename space to support multiple applications and workflows in a single storage system. [21] PanFS supports DirectFlow (pNFS), NFS and CIFS data access protocols simultaneously. [22] PanFS 7.0 added a FreeBSD operating foundation and a GUI that supports asynchronous push notification of system changes without user interaction. [23]

In August 2020, Panasas announced a new version of PanFS that features Dynamic Data Acceleration technology, which automatically tunes storage for small files and mixed workloads. While other storage systems assign data to media "tiers" based on how recently files were accessed, Dynamic Data Acceleration assigns data based on file size to most efficiently use the underlying media. The "novel" method is designed to improve performance, eliminate manual tuning and control storage costs. [24] [25] [26] [27]

Related Research Articles

In computing, a file server is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files that can be accessed by workstations within a computer network. The term server highlights the role of the machine in the traditional client–server scheme, where the clients are the workstations using the storage. A file server does not normally perform computational tasks or run programs on behalf of its client workstations.

Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems (Sun) in 1984, allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed. NFS, like many other protocols, builds on the Open Network Computing Remote Procedure Call system. NFS is an open IETF standard defined in a Request for Comments (RFC), allowing anyone to implement the protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Server Message Block</span> Network communication protocol for providing shared access to resources

Server Message Block (SMB) is a communication protocol used to share files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. On Microsoft Windows, the SMB implementation consists of two vaguely named Windows services: "Server" and "Workstation". It uses NTLM or Kerberos protocols for user authentication. It also provides an authenticated inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network-attached storage</span> Computer data storage server

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the technology and systems involved, or a specialized device built for such functionality.

Quantum Corporation is a data storage, management, and protection company that provides technology to store, manage, archive, and protect video and unstructured data throughout the data life cycle. Their products are used by enterprises, media and entertainment companies, government agencies, big data companies, and life science organizations. Quantum is headquartered in San Jose, California and has offices around the world, supporting customers globally in addition to working with a network of distributors, VARs, DMRs, OEMs and other suppliers.

GPFS is high-performance clustered file system software developed by IBM. It can be deployed in shared-disk or shared-nothing distributed parallel modes, or a combination of these. It is used by many of the world's largest commercial companies, as well as some of the supercomputers on the Top 500 List. For example, it is the filesystem of the Summit at Oak Ridge National Laboratory which was the #1 fastest supercomputer in the world in the November 2019 Top 500 List. Summit is a 200 Petaflops system composed of more than 9,000 POWER9 processors and 27,000 NVIDIA Volta GPUs. The storage filesystem is called Alpine.

Gluster Inc. was a software company that provided an open source platform for scale-out public and private cloud storage. The company was privately funded and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with an engineering center in Bangalore, India. Gluster was funded by Nexus Venture Partners and Index Ventures. Gluster was acquired by Red Hat on October 7, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dell EMC Isilon</span> Network-attached storage

Dell EMC Isilon is a scale out network-attached storage platform offered by Dell EMC for high-volume storage, backup and archiving of unstructured data. It provides a cluster-based storage array based on industry standard hardware, and is scalable to 50 petabytes in a single filesystem using its FreeBSD-derived OneFS file system.

A clustered file system (CFS) is a file system which is shared by being simultaneously mounted on multiple servers. There are several approaches to clustering, most of which do not employ a clustered file system. Clustered file systems can provide features like location-independent addressing and redundancy which improve reliability or reduce the complexity of the other parts of the cluster. Parallel file systems are a type of clustered file system that spread data across multiple storage nodes, usually for redundancy or performance.

Grid-oriented Storage (GOS) was a term used for data storage by a university project during the era when the term grid computing was popular.

StorNext File System (SNFS), colloquially referred to as StorNext is a shared disk file system made by Quantum Corporation. StorNext enables multiple Windows, Linux and Apple workstations to access shared block storage over a Fibre Channel network. With the StorNext file system installed, these computers can read and write to the same storage volume at the same time enabling what is known as a "file-locking SAN." StorNext is used in environments where large files must be shared, and accessed simultaneously by users without network delays, or where a file must be available for access by multiple readers starting at different times. Common use cases include multiple video editor environments in feature film, television and general video post production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi Protocol File System</span> Network filesystem technology developed and sold by EMC Corporation

The Multi Protocol File System (MPFS) is a multi-path network filesystem technology developed and sold by EMC Corporation. MPFS is intended to allow hundreds to thousands of client computer nodes to access shared computer data with higher performance than conventional NAS file-sharing protocols such as NFS.

The OneFS File System is a parallel distributed networked file system designed by Isilon Systems and is the basis for the Isilon Scale-out Storage Platform. The OneFS file system is controlled and managed by the OneFS Operating System, a FreeBSD variant.

Blue Whale Clustered file system (BWFS) is a shared disk file system made by Tianjin Zhongke Blue Whale Information Technologies Company in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenMediaVault</span> NAS operating system

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage (NAS). The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is licensed through the GNU General Public License v3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dell Fluid File System</span> Filesystem by Dell

Dell Fluid File System, or FluidFS, is a shared-disk filesystem made by Dell that provides distributed file systems to clients. Customers buy an appliance: a combination of purpose-built network-attached storage (NAS) controllers with integrated primary and backup power supplies attached to block level storage via the iSCSI or Fiber Channel protocol. A single Dell FluidFS appliance consists of two controllers operating in concert connecting to the back-end storage area network (SAN). Depending on the storage capacity requirements and user preference, FluidFS version 4 NAS appliances can be used with Compellent or EqualLogic SAN arrays. The EqualLogic FS7600 and FS7610 connect to the client network and to Dell's EqualLogic arrays with either 1 Gbit/s (FS7600) or 10 Gbit/s (FS7610) iSCSI protocol. For Compellent, FluidFS is available with either 1 Gbit/s or 10 Gbit/s iSCSI connectivity to the client network and connection to the backend Compellent SAN can be either 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel or 10 Gbit/s iSCSI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nexenta Systems</span> Software company

Nexenta by DDN, Inc., is a subsidiary of DataDirect Networks that sells computer data storage and backup software. It is headquartered in San Jose, California. Nexenta developed NexentaStor, NexentaCloud, NexentaFusion, and NexentaEdge. It was founded as Nexenta Systems, Inc., in 2005.

ONTAP, Data ONTAP, Clustered Data ONTAP (cDOT), or Data ONTAP 7-Mode is NetApp's proprietary operating system used in storage disk arrays such as NetApp FAS and AFF, ONTAP Select, and Cloud Volumes ONTAP. With the release of version 9.0, NetApp decided to simplify the Data ONTAP name and removed the word "Data" from it, removed the 7-Mode image, therefore, ONTAP 9 is the successor of Clustered Data ONTAP 8.

References

  1. ↑ Winikoff, Pamela (2024-05-17). "Panasas Rebrands as VDURA; Adopts Software-Centric Focus". Channel Insider. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  2. ↑ "VDURA Announces Appointment to Board of Directors and Unveils Technical Advisory Board". Yahoo Finance. 2024-09-12. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  3. ↑ "Panasas embraces software-defined storage, rebrands as Vdura | TechTarget". Storage. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  4. ↑ "Panasas becomes VDURA as it Rewrites the Rules for AI and HPC Data Storage".
  5. ↑ "Panasas Plots New Path". Byte and Switch. August 10, 2004. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Faye Pairman, President and CEO, Panasas, Inc". HPCWire. 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Panasas Appoints Tom Shea as President and CEO". September 4, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  8. ↑ Mary Jander (May 26, 2007). "Panasas Leads Charge to Parallel NFS". Network Computing. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  9. ↑ S. Shepler; M. Eisler; D. Noveck, eds. (January 2010). Network File System (NFS) Version 4 Minor Version 1 Protocol. IETF. doi: 10.17487/RFC5661 . RFC 5661 . Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Panasas ActiveStor 14 Parallel Storage". Product web page. Panasa. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Scale-Out NAS Storage Vendor | Panasas". www.panasas.com. Retrieved 2015-09-17.
  12. ↑ "Panasas Corporate Overview" (PDF). Panasas. September 14, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Panasas: ActiveStor Ultra Featuring PanFS 8". StorageNewsletter. 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  14. ↑ "Click your heels Dorothy, ... We're not in gen-7 Panasas any more; 8th generation scale-out box lands - The Register.com". The Register . Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  15. ↑ Michael Feldman (August 2, 2016). "Panasas Upgrades ActiveStor Line with Bigger, Faster Drives". Top 500. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Panasas Announces Next-Gen ActiveStor Scale-out NAS Solution". 8 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "Changing HPC Workloads Mean Tighter Storage Stacks for Panasas". 2018-03-13.
  18. ↑ "Panasas ActiveStor chases Lustre users with portable PanFS". SearchStorage. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  19. ↑ "DirectFlow". Panasas. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  20. ↑ "Panasas brings DirectFlow NAS to Mac platform". Post Magazine. 2016-04-12. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  21. ↑ "New Multi-Petabyte, Scale-Out NAS". Storage Newsletter. 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2011-07-08.
  22. ↑ "PanFS". Panasas. Retrieved 2011-07-08.
  23. ↑ "Panasas storage, director blades split into separate devices". SearchStorage. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  24. ↑ Mellor, Chris (2020-08-05). "Panasas auto-tunes filesystem storage for different IO patterns". Blocks and Files. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  25. ↑ "Panasas launches storage tiering by size instead of usage". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  26. ↑ "Panasas storage revs up parallelization for HPC workloads". SearchStorage. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  27. ↑ Burt, Jeffrey (2020-08-24). "Lowering The Temperature Of HPC Storage Tiering". The Next Platform. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
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