The EMC Isilon NL400 is a midrange NAS platform with a maximum raw capacity of 210 TB per node. The array is designed specifically for environments that require near-line storage.
The Isilon NL400 NAS platform from EMC Corp. is designed for near-line storage needs. Near-line storage is reliable, high-capacity storage for data that is typically not used on a regular basis; it provides large-volume archiving or backup capability at the expense of access time. The NL400 is currently the only product in EMC's Isilon NL-Series.
The array has a maximum raw capacity of 210 TB per node, and has 36 total drive slots. It holds up to 36 hard disk drives (HDDs) in capacities of 1 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB. When set up with 4 TB HDDs, it can be configured with either 36 HDDs, or 35 HDDs and one 800 GB flash solid-state drive (SSD). If set up with 6 TB HDDs, a configuration of 35 HDDs and one 800 GB SSD can be used. The array also accepts 3 TB and 4 TB self-encrypting drive (SED) HDDs, and 800 GB SED SSDs in conjunction with 4 TB SED HDDs.
An NL400 configured with 1 TB to 4 TB HDDs, and without any SSDs or SEDs, requires Isilon OneFS OS version 6.5.5.4 or higher. An array configured with any kind of SEDs requires OneFS version 7.1 or higher, while an array configured with 6 TB HDDs requires version 7.2 or higher. The product has an initial minimum order quantity of at least three nodes, and a cluster can contain as many as 144 nodes, meaning the capacity can be anywhere from 108 TB to 30.2 petabytes (PB) depending on drive configuration.
The Isilon NL400 contains 12 GB, 24 GB or 48 GB of memory per single node, and runs on an Intel Xeon processor with a 6 Gbps Serial ATA drive controller. It has four networking ports per node, which can be configured as four 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), or two 1 GbE and two 10 GbE ports.
The Isilon NL400 platform supports a variety of software and management options:
Isilon SmartDedupe deduplicates redundant data across multiple sources.
SmartPools implements an automated tiering system to move frequently used data into performance-based pools.
SmartConnect provides greater data reliability by supporting load balancing and dynamic network file system failover across nodes.
The Isilon NL400 contains 12 GB, 24 GB or 48 GB of memory per single node, and runs on an Intel Xeon processor with a 6 Gbps Serial ATA drive controller.
All software options must be licensed separately. However, a version of SmartConnect called SmartConnect Basic is included in the OneFS OS and it does not require licensing.
The Isilon NL400 works with a wide range of data protection software options:
SyncIQ performs asynchronous replication over LANs and wide-area networks.
SnapshotIQ provides backup and recovery functionality across multiple nodes.
SmartLock protects against accidental data deletion or alteration using a software-based write-once read-many approach.
The array has a starting price of less than $35,000 and comes with a one-year standard hardware-only limited warranty. The optional enhanced warranty upgrade provides a 9-to-5 next-business-day on-site response, technical support with response times based on severity and next-business-day replacement part delivery.
The Premium warranty upgrade for the Isilon NL400 provides on-site response, technical support and replacement part delivery tiered based on severity. Critical priority issues receive a 30-minute online response, and a four-hour on-site response time and replacement parts delivery.
