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Apple releases Xsan 2.2.2 FileSystem Update for 10.6
Apple has released an update to Xsan, its storage area network (SAN) file system for OS X. Xsan 2.2.2 FileSystem Update is recommended for all Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard-based Xsan 2.2 systems, according to the release notes. The update improves general file system reliability and offers: improved file system reliability when the filesystem is highly fragmented improved file system reliability when unmounting a volume improved file system reliability when running snfsdefrag improved file system reliability when native extended attributes are enabled improved Finder reliability when browsing a volume that is highly fragmented allows Xsan Admin to create new volumes when more than 100 fsm processes are running Xsan 2.2.2 FileSystem Update is a 39 MB download and requires Mac OS X 10.6 client or server. The direct download link tot he software is here.
Data Robotics launches Drobo for Business line, new 12-bay SAN option
Data Robotics has certainly flexed its biz muscle before, but this is nothing short of a full-out assault on the boardroom. Or at least the boardroom's IT closet. The outfit's new Drobo for Business line is being revealed today, with three pieces of hardware making up the initial line. The new trio is primarily aimed at small businesses, but even average consumers in need of some serious at-home storage may find something worth investigating. Though the system designs are obviously built for use in rack-mount arrangements, you'll still find the same BeyondRAID setup that existing Drobo users have grown familiar with. At least initially, the company will be offering an 8-bay file sharing Drobo with remote backup, an 8-bay SAN (iSCSI-attached) Drobo and a 12-bay SAN (also iSCSI-attached) with expanded redundancy features, support for thin provisioning and deprovisioning and new data-aware tiering technology. Those who buy in will also be treated to a bolstered level of DroboCare business support, a refreshed management interface tailor to the needs of SMB, new functionality / redundancy and boosted performance from top to bottom. The former two are available now -- with pricing to start at just north of $2,000 ($8,500 on the 12-bay) -- while the latter can be reserved as we speak for a Q2 delivery. %Gallery-115761%
The T-Mobile Sidekick data failure, and what it means to iPhone users
You may not have heard about the recent loss of data for T-Mobile Sidekick users; after all, this is an Apple-focused site and there probably aren't as many Sidekick owners out there as there are iPhone users. I'll explain the situation, and how it could happen to anyone depending on cloud-based data stores for their mobile devices. The Sidekick is made and supported by Danger, which since April of 2008 has been owned by Microsoft. As such, all of the personal information on the Sidekicks was stored on servers owned and operated by Microsoft. During the last week, Danger / Microsoft had hired Hitachi to do an upgrade to their Storage Area Network (SAN). That's usually not a problem, as the owner of the data (Microsoft in this case) performs a backup of all the data in case of an issue. Well, something went wrong, and it appears that Danger / Microsoft did not have a backup in place. The result is a catastrophe for Sidekick users. T-Mobile sent out a statement last week explaining the situation, and placing the blame directly on Microsoft and Danger: "Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device -- such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos -- that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger."
Fusion-io nabs more funding, teases new PCIe-based ioSAN
Given Fusion-io's dominance in the SSD-on-a-PCIe-card arena, we aren't at all shocked to hear that it just landed a nice fat check in its Series B funding efforts. $47.5 million, to be precise. According to the firm, it'll use the dough to buy bottled unicorns, a kilo of fairy dust and "increase production capabilities" in order to pump out more wares (and hopefully at lower prices). One of those products, we're told, will be the summer-bound ioSAN, which is explained as a "PCI Express-based product that extends the raw power of Fusion-io's solid-state technology across the network." In related news, the company also selected David Bradford to be its CEO, instantly making him one of the most fortunate bigwigs in the world right now.[Via HotHardware]
Fusion-io breaks out roomy, nimble ioDrive Duo SSDs
While it's going to be tough for Fusion-io to get its ioDrive any faster in the near term, it ain't so tough to make the world's fastest storage more capacious. Shortly after pulling The Woz in as its chief scientist, said outfit has just revealed the next-generation ioDrive, predictably coined ioDrive Duo. The PCI Express-based solution throws 160GB, 320GB, 640GB or 1.28TB of stupid fast SSD storage directly onto your motherboard, enabling it to boast sustained read bandwidth of 1,500MB/sec and write bandwidth of 1,400MB/sec. The smallest three will be available next month for prices we don't even want to guess, while the 1.28TB model is slated to ship shortly after OCZ's 1TB Z Drive in the latter half of 2009.[Via HotHardware]
Video: Micron's Washington PCIe prototype SSD card is wicked quick
Up until now, Fusion-io's ioDrive has pretty much put every other SSD-on-a-PCIe-card to shame in terms of sheer performance, but it just might be looking at its first formidable competitor in the Micron Washington. The prototype device was recently showcased on video (posted after the break), and while we're not told how capacious it is, it is understood to be using 64-bit SLC NAND chips. When placed in a Xeon-powered server, the unit is able to achieve 150,000 to 160,000 random write IOPS with a bandwidth of 800MB/sec per card. Micron is convinced that it can reach a bandwidth of 1GB/sec and 200,000 IOPS with this technology, though Fusion-io's CTO proclaims that users can achieve "over 6GB per second" when using eight of its ioDrives in conjunction. Of course, the aforementioned ioDrive is actually shipping, whereas this elusive Washington doodad won't see commercial light until at least 2010.[Via The Register, thanks Vik]
Apple launches Xsan 2
In addition to dropping the price on the Shuffle (and introducing the 2 GB version), today's big Apple store update appears to be the launch of Xsan 2. Xsan is Apple's Storage Area Network (SAN) file system, and while this update isn't as sexy as a new consumer laptop update, it's still pretty cool.Xsan 2 has been received some significant updates; not only is it now fully compatible with both OS X Leopard and OS X Server Leopard (in fact, Leopard is required to run Xsan 2), it is also now qualified to work with third-party RAID storage. Even more exciting (at least for anyone who has been holding out for some kind of Final Cut server solution) is the introduction of what Apple is calling, MultiSAN. MultiSAN, according to Apple, "[allows] users on a single workstation to access multiple SANs at the same time." Using the video editing example, this means that a segment producer could access both a broadcast and b-roll volume from the same machine. Additionally, the administration tools have been redesigned. Administrators can now create pre-set volume workload settings for different file types/purposes. To be clear, this is an enterprise product. Xsan 2 is available now for $999 US. Xsan 2 is qualified to work with the Xserve, Mac® Pro and Apple Fibre Channel PCI-X cards, as well as qualified Fibre Channel switches and RAID storage hardware from third-party vendors.Update: As Tim in the comments pointed out, it appears that Apple's Xserve RAID device is no more. The page now re-directs here, with a link to Promise's RAID solution.
More info on Fusion's ioDrive, the PCIe card with massive flash storage
You may remember the lovable yet rascally ioDrive PCIe card from Fusion which we told you about back in the sun-drenched, salad days of September. Well, we've gotten a few more details on the "SAN in the palm of your hand," and we thought we'd share. As you'll recall, the card is meant to deliver very high, sustained read / write speeds, allowing the ioDrive to perform "nearly a thousand times faster than any existing disk drive." Well, the good folks at Fusion have now given the system a price -- the card starts at $2,400 -- and offered up some fresh info, like that the ioDrive is NAND flash-based, will support multiple terabytes of virtual memory, and has access rates on par with DRAM. Which is real fast. Hit the link for a lot more info, and don't be afraid to peruse the company's .pdf data sheet.
Fusion-io's ioDrive puts power of a SAN on a PCIe card
In a recent demonstration at DEMOFall '07, Fusion-io showed off its newest PCIe device, which reportedly "places the power of a SAN (storage area network) in the palm of your hand." Essentially, this single device boasts up to 640GB of storage capacity, delivers 100,000 IOPS (input / output per second) and can achieve sustained data rates of 800Mb/sec (read) and 600Mb/sec (write)." In marketing terms, the ioDrive can perform "nearly a thousand times faster than any existing disk drive," and it can reportedly be integrated into existing data centers or workstations without any alterations to your infrastructure. Next quarter, the outfit will begin shipping the card in 40GB, 80GB, 160GB and 320GB configurations (with the 640GB flavor to follow suit), but unfortunately, official prices have not yet been divulged. Oh, and be sure to check out a video of the ioDrive's unveiling here.[Via TGDaily]
Free iSCSI initiator for OS X now available
You'd think, judging on the name alone, that iSCSI was an Apple product -- perhaps an easier-to-use, shiny, beveled version of the original SCSI? If wishing made it so: sadly, it's only an implementation of SCSI over IP, allowing hosts to connect to remote drives, RAIDs, SANs or tape libraries over standard Ethernet connections. While early iSCSI gear was noticeably slow compared to Fibre Channel and other storage fabric connections, the latest stuff is quite snappy, especially when combined with 10G Ethernet connectivity.Up until now, the only iSCSI initiators (drivers) available for Mac OS X were paid affairs, usually bundled with hardware or management tools. Now, in advance of the anticipated inclusion of iSCSI with Leopard, the good people at Studio Network Solutions have proffered up a free-as-in-beer version of the globalSAN iSCSI initiator for OS X. No support offered, so download and deploy with caution.[via MacTech]
Broken Saints trailer from Comic-Con
A trailer has popped up on You Tube showing the trailer that was unveiled during the recent comics convention known as Comic-Con in San Diego. Some of the video's segments look like in-game footage and overall the trailer shows some very inspired artistic styles, so color us interested in Broken Saints: The Game. The video might be considered NSFW for a short clip of a naked lady from a distant view, so keep that in mind before clicking on to watch the video embedded in the second half of this post.[Via Codename Revolution]
Nintendo and DS in full force at Comic-Con
Nintendo is not without love for the comic geek, it would seem, as they plan to be out in full force at San Diego's Comic-Con 06 later on this month. While you would think they'd be on-hand with the Wii, attempting to get it as much exposure as possible before its launch later on this year, instead the company is looking to strengthen its already huge grip on gaming with the DS.That's right, no Wii and nothing but DS will be available to cosplaying comic fans in the southern California area during the ultimate show for comics. Those cosplaying as Nintendo characters will also get a chance to win prizes such as DS Lites, software, and other junk. Some of the titles available at Nintendo's booth are Mario Hoops: 3 on 3, Elite Beat Agents, Starfox Command, and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. If you're a DS Fanboy reader attending the show and would like to send us some pictures, we guarantee you'll be *handsomely rewarded.*We're good at making people disappear.
Lots of Xsan 1.3 updates
Attention Xsan users, Apple has just released a number of updates. They include: Xsan Filesystem 1.3 for Mac OS X 10.4 Xsan Filesystem 1.3 for Mac OS X 10.3.9 Xsan Admin 1.3 Update Xsan 1.3 Uninstaller If you're running Xsan, it would behoove you to get these updates (or at least read about them).[via MacMinute]
South Park moving to Xserve SAN arrays for storage
No South Park episodes in the iTMS yet, but TV Squad points out that South Park is switching over to Apple Xserve SAN arrays for keeping track of all the animation craziness that is the show. This ComputerWorld article details the move: "Franzen said he chose Apple hardware based on a 'gut' feeling that its technology would be good, and so far, he has not been disappointed. Franzen said he now expects to add two more Xserve arrays for a total of 15TB of storage and place his disk storage behind a couple of switches from Cisco Systems Inc. in order to make managing his storage easier." That's the kind of gut feeling I like to hear about.
