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Today’s HPC environments have increased demand for high-speed storage. With the higher core-count CPUs, larger and faster memory, faster PCIe bus and increasingly faster networks, storage can become the bottleneck in many workloads. Those high-demand HPC requirements are typically covered by parallel file systems that provide concurrent access to a single file or a set of files from multiple nodes, very efficiently and securely distributing data to multiple logical unit numbers (LUNs) across several storage servers.
Those files systems have traditionally leveraged spinning media to provide the highest capacity at the lowest cost. However, more and more often, the speed and latency of spinning media cannot keep up with the demands of many modern HPC workloads, requiring the use of flash technology in the form of burst buffers, faster tiers, or even very fast scratch, local or distributed. The Dell Technologies Validated Design for HPC PixStor Storage leverages Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 arrays for a cost-effective high-capacity tier and NVMe nodes can cover new high-bandwidth demands, in addition to being flexible, scalable, efficient, and reliable.
Frequently, data cannot be accessed using native file systems and other protocols like NFS or SMB must be used. For example, when requiring access data from workstations or laptops with MS-Windows or Apple macOS, or research/production systems that only offer connectivity via standard protocols, the Validated Design for HPC PixStor Storage uses Gateway nodes to allow such connectivity with scalable performance, in an efficient and reliable way.
Furthermore, storage solutions frequently require access to other storage devices — local or remote — to move data to and from those devices where the PixStor Gateway is not the most appropriate choice. When integrating those devices as another tier to the HPC PixStor storage system (e.g., object storage, cloud storage, tape libraries, etc.). Under those circumstances, the PixStor storage solution can provide tiered access to other storage devices using other enterprise protocols, including cloud protocols via Ngenea nodes with ArcaStream software that allows integration while staying cost effective.