Introducing ObjectScale 1.4.0: Elevating Enterprise Object Storage
Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:00:00 -0000
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Dell Technologies is excited to unveil the latest iteration of its object storage solution, Dell ObjectScale 1.4.0. Engineered to cater to the rigorous requirements of enterprise-level storage, Dell ObjectScale 1.4.0 boasts a software-defined and containerized architecture. This advanced design ensures exceptional reliability, performance, and scalability, further solidifying Dell Technologies' dedication to delivering superior storage solutions.
Dell ObjectScale offers diverse deployment options that cater to a plethora of infrastructural needs, providing flexibility and efficiency in management and scaling enterprise object storage.
New features in Dell ObjectScale 1.4.0
Dell ObjectScale 1.4.0 introduces a host of new features and enhancements aimed at improving serviceability, security, and manageability:
Monitoring and reporting enhancements
The enhanced management API offers comprehensive monitoring capabilities, allowing for better visibility into cluster status, node-based inventory details, and component health. Additionally, new audit messages for cluster user set password events and new alerts for successful and failed jobs have been introduced. Users can now access various functions through the ObjectScale portal or a REST client, enhancing serviceability and oversight. This enhancement benefits administrators by enabling proactive maintenance and troubleshooting and ensuring optimal performance.
Dell ObjectScale portal improvements
The portal now provides a complete inventory of all nodes, disks, pods, and PVCs, coupled with enhanced Grafana UI dashboards for in-depth data visualization and performance monitoring. This improvement aids in efficient resource management and planning, allowing administrators to make informed decisions and optimize cluster performance.
S3 bucket deletion
A new API facilitates the deletion of buckets containing data, streamlining the process and offering better monitoring capabilities. Previously, a standard S3 bucket could only be deleted if it was empty. The new feature allows for the deletion of non-empty buckets through a background task with configurable speed and resource consumption. This feature is particularly beneficial for use cases requiring frequent updates or deletions of stored data as it simplifies operations and enhances flexibility.
ObjectScale replication – improved performance
Enhancements to the replication framework deliver improved throughput for both small and large objects. These enhancements mitigate the growth of replication backlogs and optimize resource utilization, thereby ensuring data protection without adversely affecting customer applications.
Upgrade and installation enhancements
The refined deployment and installation process, including a reduced package size and streamlined upgrade process, improves the customer experience. The appliance and software bundle deployments provide a 1-click upgrade feature for the application layer, simplifying upgrades and reducing operational complexity and downtime.
ObjectScale ‘As An Application’ improvements
Version 1.4 provides management IAM support for deployments on Red Hat OpenShift, offering a simplified management user experience and a common IAM model across all ObjectScale deployment models. This enhancement is beneficial for organizations using OpenShift as it provides consistent and simplified management across different deployment environments.
Storage reclamation process improvements
The garbage collection (GC) process reclaims space from discarded full chunks or chunks containing a mixture of deleted and non-deleted object fragments no longer referenced. Enhancements to the GC process and verification scanner improve the efficiency of the storage reclamation process. This benefit is crucial for long-term data retention and storage optimization as it ensures efficient use of storage resources and reduces costs.
Security: cipher security update
ObjectScale has upgraded its cryptographic module to BSAFE Crypto-J 6.3, ensuring FIPS 140-2 compliance for Data-at-Rest Encryption. This enhancement is essential for maintaining stringent security measures, providing robust encryption and enhancing data protection.
Platform latest version support
Dell ObjectScale 1.4 now supports the latest versions of Red Hat OpenShift (4.14) and Kubernetes (v1.27), allowing for platform upgrades to the most current releases. This benefit ensures compatibility with and access to the latest features and improvements, enhancing overall system performance and security.
Conclusion
Dell ObjectScale 1.4.0 offers a sophisticated, enterprise-grade object storage solution that is flexible, scalable, and secure. With its robust architecture and integration with Kubernetes, it provides a compelling option for organizations seeking to optimize their object storage infrastructure.
Author: Cris Banson
Related Blog Posts
Introducing the Latest Release of Dell ObjectScale: Unleash the Power of Object Storage
Wed, 11 Oct 2023 14:49:26 -0000
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Get ready to embark on a revolutionary storage journey as Dell introduces the latest release of Dell ObjectScale 1.3.0. This cutting-edge object storage solution is redefining the possibilities of enterprise-class storage, showcasing Dell Technologies' unwavering commitment to reliability, high performance, and scalability. With its software-defined and containerized architecture seamlessly integrated within Kubernetes, ObjectScale empowers organizations to adapt swiftly to the ever-evolving business landscape.
New Features in ObjectScale 1.3
The latest release of ObjectScale 1.3 introduces a range of innovative features and enhancements that make significant strides in advancing the field of enterprise object storage solutions.
New deployment option with the powerful ObjectScale Hardware Appliance
ObjectScale can now be deployed on the newly introduced ObjectScale XF960 All Flash Array appliance. The Dell ObjectScale XF960 is an advanced, scale-out object storage solution tailored for enterprise applications and modern workloads like Generative AI and analytics. It enables accelerated innovation with fully managed Kubernetes, robust S3 compatibility supported by the latest generation of PowerEdge's all-flash performance, power/cooling efficiencies, and comprehensive ObjectScale security measures, including consensus-based protection and SED drives.
The XF960 configuration includes the following features:
- A compact 2U form factor
- Dual Intel Processors with 32 cores per processor
- 256GB of memory
- 24 NVMe TLC 30.72TB drives (for the initial release)
- Dual mirrored boot drives for redundancy
- Network connectivity with 100Gb Back-end and 25Gb Front-end speeds.
The XF960 offers hardware alerting features that empower customers or services to address any arising issues proactively or reactively. These alerts are presented on the ObjectScale Portal interface, ensuring prompt action is taken to resolve potential hardware-related concerns.
Object Lock without versioning
Object Lock serves as a protective measure against inadvertent deletions and unintended overwrites. In the S3 protocol, enabling Object Lock requires the presence of versioning. When Object Lock is enabled alongside versioning, it adheres to the standard S3 protocol, applying locking capabilities to individual object versions, each capable of having a distinct lock type.
With the introduction of ObjectScale 1.3, ObjectScale extensions expand the scope of the conventional S3 protocol. This expansion allows for Object Lock to be applied at the bucket level, even in the absence of versioning. Enabling Object Lock without versioning causes the Object Lock functionality to operate at the bucket level rather than on versions of the bucket. Consequently, overwrite and delete operations are effectively prevented.
Efficient handling of large objects
ObjectScale facilitates the seamless uploading of large objects through the multipart upload (MPU) process using the S3 protocol. MPU enables the construction of large objects from smaller parts that can be uploaded at any time and in any order.
With the introduction of ObjectScale 1.3, significant enhancements have been made to improve efficiency, reduce timeouts, and optimize memory usage during MPU processing. Replicated objects can now reach a size of up to 50TiB, with support for up to 50,000 parts.
Bucket Logging capability
Bucket Logging is a beneficial feature that systematically captures all requests directed to a source bucket and archives them in a designated target bucket using a consistent format. This feature can be easily configured either through the intuitive ObjectScale Portal user interface or the powerful S3 API. Moreover, this feature offers support for prefixes on the log objects generated in the target bucket, facilitating clear differentiation between source buckets when multiple buckets are logging to the same target. The logs are meticulously organized in a fixed format within the target bucket, with each object precisely indicating the time of delivery.
ObjectScale replication failure alert and Delete Marker replication
In the event of an object replication failure, an alert is automatically generated, furnishing administrators with a comprehensive error code and a detailed description of the failure to facilitate problem resolution. Moreover, the release encompasses the inclusion of the Delete Marker replication setting in the destination bucket, thereby ensuring consistency between the source and destination buckets while promoting space efficiency through space reclamation.
Security: Optional protection features
To fortify the security of the object environment, ObjectScale 1.3 incorporates a range of optional features:
- Privileged Actions Approval System (PAAS): This workflow-based system mandates approval from a secondary management user before executing high-risk management actions. Its purpose is to prevent any single user from obtaining unrestricted privileges and bypassing security controls.
- Platform Protection Mode: This feature places the ObjectScale system in a lockdown mode, providing robust protection to the platform configuration and infrastructure against alterations by malicious actors. Any predefined configuration action or operating system access requires approval through PAAS. Authorized users can obtain tokens that permit them to open a SSH shell while SSH sessions are prohibited otherwise.
- Account Protection Mode: This mode protects data by enforcing approvals through PAAS for certain predefined data access, account configuration, and bucket configuration changes. It is implemented as a configuration setting on an IAM account and operates on a per-account basis.
ObjectScale Portal user interface enhancements
The latest release brings forth several enhancements to the user interface, encompassing:
- Timeframe Filters now accessible on the ObjectScale and Object Store dashboards
- The ObjectScale Portal application divided into multi-frontend applications, enabling the development of future features seamlessly
- Password change notifications now displayed in days
- Successful login now showcases the user's last login time on the dashboard
- All active user sessions can be viewed and closed, applicable to management users, users from external authorization providers, and approver entity users
- A Performance Monitoring Dashboard exhibiting performance charts for latency, bandwidth, throughput, requests by response codes, and requests by request type methods (Get, Post, Put, Delete, and Head)
Improved storage efficiency
Enhancing space efficiency involves refining the process of space reclamation, thereby reducing the portion of capacity occupied by garage data and its associated metadata. This empowers customers to more accurately estimate their capacity requirements based on actual data needs, fostering a more sophisticated and intellectually driven approach.
SNMP integration
ObjectScale alerts and events can be conveniently accessed via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and logged externally to a centralized server, allowing for a comprehensive system management approach. Customers have the flexibility to configure SNMP through the ObjectScale Portal user interface as well as the REST API, enhancing their control over the system.
Conclusion
Dell ObjectScale offers a sophisticated solution for deploying and managing enterprise-grade object storage. With its well-designed architecture, robust protective features, and seamless integration with Kubernetes, it presents a compelling option for organizations in pursuit of flexibility, scalability, performance, and security in their object storage solutions.
Author: Cris Banson
Exploring the Latest Advancements in Dell ObjectScale 1.2.0
Wed, 28 Jun 2023 13:22:49 -0000
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Dell ObjectScale is an object storage solution that represents the evolution of Dell Technologies' commitment to delivering enterprise-class, reliable, and high-performance storage. With its software-defined and containerized architecture, ObjectScale operates seamlessly within Kubernetes, empowering organizations to become more agile and responsive to ever-changing business requirements.
ObjectScale adheres to a set of core design principles that define its exceptional capabilities:
- Global namespace with eventual consistency
- Scale-out capabilities
- Secure multitenancy
- Optimum performance for small, medium, and large objects
In this blog post, we delve into the exciting new features introduced in the Dell ObjectScale 1.2.0 release.
Feature enhancements
This new code release introduces a range of feature enhancements, including:
- Simpler deployment options and enhanced user experience: The latest release of ObjectScale brings forth a range of improvements to simplify the deployment process and enhance user experience. Key updates include:
- New deployment option: A faster deployment option, known as the “Software Bundle,” enables the installation of ObjectScale and Kubernetes on a cluster of nodes with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4. This option streamlines the setup process and accelerates the journey toward efficient object storage.
- Support for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform: ObjectScale continues to offer the "As an Application" deployment option, providing seamless integration with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12. This compatibility ensures that users can leverage the power of ObjectScale within their existing OpenShift environments.
- Streamlined user interface: The ObjectScale Portal boasts a redesigned user interface, offering an intuitive and streamlined workflow for bucket provisioning and management. This enhancement simplifies object storage administration, making it more accessible to users.
- Enhanced performance and efficiency: ObjectScale 1.2.0 introduces several notable performance improvements to optimize efficiency across various use cases:
- Increased write performance: Users can now enjoy write performance of up to 2 GB/s per node, which enables faster data ingestion and storage.
- Support for larger objects: ObjectScale now supports objects as large as 30 TB, including replication of these huge objects. This six-fold increase in the maximum object size surpasses the limits set by Amazon S3, making ObjectScale an ideal choice for large-scale projects such as HPC, analytics, AI, and their associated backup requirements.
- Flexible erasure coding: The latest release includes more flexible erasure coding options, including support for a minimum of four nodes with a 12+4 EC policy. This enables greater data protection and fault tolerance.
- Logical capacity usage reporting: ObjectScale now provides reporting of logical capacity usage for Dell APEX, facilitating better resource management and planning.
- Expanded Zero Trust features: ObjectScale 1.2.0 strengthens ObjectScale security and access control capabilities. Highlights include:
- Active Directory and LDAP support: System users can now benefit from Active Directory and LDAP support, which enables seamless integration with existing user management systems. This simplifies user administration and enhances security.
- Comprehensive IAM model: ObjectScale introduces an improved Identity and Access Management (IAM) model, accommodating local or management users, external authentication providers, configurable login workflows, user persona roles, password policies, and account lockout configurations. These advancements offer enhanced flexibility and control over access management.
- Improved reliability and supportability: The latest ObjectScale release focuses on enhancing reliability and supportability:
- Enhanced maintenance mode handling: ObjectScale now allows up to two nodes to be simultaneously placed in maintenance mode, simplifying maintenance operations and minimizing downtime.
- Remote Connect Assist: The integration of Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) enables Remote Connect Assist, empowering remote support technicians to securely access the system using remote secure credentials tokens. This facilitates efficient troubleshooting and support.
Conclusion
Dell ObjectScale 1.2.0 introduces improved deployment options and feature enhancements, solidifying its position as a leading software-defined, containerized object storage platform. For more in-depth information, we encourage you to explore the Dell ObjectScale: Overview and Architecture white paper and the ObjectScale and ECS Info Hub. Embrace these advancements and unlock the full potential of Dell ObjectScale for your organization's evolving storage needs.
Author: Cris Banson