HUS VM SAN array platform

The Hitachi Unified Storage virtual machine (HUS VM) is a SAN platform designed for heavily virtualized data centers with large storage requirements. It comes with a large feature set, such as support for block- and file-level storage, automated data tiering and multi-tenant readiness. The HUS VM also supports a hybrid flash configuration, which combines the performance of flash storage with higher-capacity and less expensive hard disk drives (HDDs).

The HUS VM array supports a maximum of 1,152 small or large form-factor HDDs, 576 flash module drives (FMDs) and 128 solid-state drives (SSDs). It has a maximum raw capacity of 64 petabytes (PB), including all internal and external virtualized capacity, but the internal storage capacity depends on the type of storage medium used. The unit can support up to 4.608 PB of raw storage when using 4 TB HDDs with a rotational speed of 7,200 rpm. It can support up to 1.382 PB if used with 1.2 TB 10,000 rpm drives; 2.206 PB with 3.2 TB FMDs; and 51 TB with 400 GB SSDs. The array supports HDDs using SAS drives in sizes from 300 GB to 4 TB, and supports 3.5- and 2.5-inch drives. It also supports SAS FMDs in 1.6 TB and 3.2 TB capacities, and multi-level cell 2.5 inch SSDs in 200 GB and 400 GB capacities. The unit supports RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 6.

The HUS VM uses the same storage virtualization controller as the higher-end Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP), but lacks features for the largest enterprises. The HUS VM has less memory than the VSP G1000, and lacks FICON ports for mainframes.

The HUS VM array supports a wide range of external storage, including almost the entire range of Hitachi external storage modules. It also supports EMC VNX, Fujitsu Eternus, HP 3PAR, IBM System Storage, Generic Profile and others. The array supports up to 48 8 Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) ports per file module, delivering 38.4 GBps of bandwidth to hosts. It supports up to 256 hosts per FC port, and a queue depth of 2,048 per FC port. In addition, the HUS VM supports iSCSI, but not FICON.

Evaluator Group analyst Randy Kerns
discusses the basics of unified storage.

The array uses Hitachi Command Suite management software and Hitachi Universal Volume Manager for storage virtualization. It uses Hitachi Dynamic Tiering for its automated tiering system, which automatically moves data between arrays for better performance and storage management. The HUS VM supports most major operating systems, including Windows, HP-UX, Hyper V, Red Hat and Enterprise Linux, and VMware.

Hitachi does not publish HUS VM pricing, but a fully configured unit with storage may cost more than $200,000. Hitachi's list price for the controller, base software and maintenance contract is approximately $156,000. This does not include storage capacity or additional features like tiering and replication, which must be purchased separately. However, the base software does support thin provisioning.