American multinational firm International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has improved the functionality of the mainframe focused storage by adding cloud tiering.
The transparent cloud tiering is part of the Spectrum Scale feature that aims to cluster files into the object storage. Cloud tiering services have the capability to keep a file as two objects in a cloud with two separate containers.
IBM claims this functionality can do a full restore on the file from the cloud tier. Containers or vaults hold the file’s data, while the other bucket stores the file’s metadata. Hence, when the file is migrated to the cloud, the metadata file is retained on the Spectrum file system for backup.
The reason to keep this metadata is to manage scenarios when the file is destroyed on the cluster. Accidental deletion is unavoidable, and companies need to have a backup to restore the file’s metadata.
With cloud tiering, companies can access the deleted files, then migrate once again to the cloud. This process automatically overwrites the data on the Spectrum Scale cluster, and data is only stored on the cloud. Alternatively, companies can choose to pre-migrate data to retain it on the Spectrum Scale cluster.
In addition to data backup, the introduction of cloud tiering can also increase the memory cache size to 3.4 TB, enabling consolidation into a single DS8900F.
“IBM has done a good job in providing a comprehensive portfolio of storage for IBM Z solutions to address every enterprise data storage requirement and meet the demands of a modern, agile, and secure to the core infrastructure,” said senior analyst David Hill.
The DS8900F comes with the latest z15 model mainframe and the LinuxONE III model product. The integration to TS7770 VTL provided a host of perks including storing up to three times more data. Moreover, it has the ability to compress a high volume of data before sending it.
It also supports Transparent Cloud Tiering into the TS7770, automating data movement to and from the cloud, plus reducing the utilization by 50 percent for the work.
For applications, the Cloud Tiering services provide an option to thumbnail-size and see how much of the front end of the file is kept in the system. By specifying the size, the storage can accommodate both applications in the system.
Tiering also has maintenance features to remove data from the cloud for files that are already deleted or reversioned. Users can change the times and frequencies to do this activity.
