IXsystems Reveals Cutting-Edge Upgrades in TrueNAS M-Series
Revolutionary New Features Boost Performance in Enterprise Storage Platform
IXsystems has recently unveiled its latest enterprise storage platform, TrueNAS M-Series. This innovative release includes NVDIMM cards and NVMe drives, taking performance to a whole new level. The M-Series replaces the high-end Z-Series and offers two models: M40 and M50. The M40 can store up to 2 petabytes (PB), while the M50 can scale to a whopping 10.4 PB.
But that’s not all – the M-Series also complements IXsystems’ X10 and X20 systems, extending their capacity beyond 360 TB and 720 TB, respectively. According to IXsystems co-founder and CEO, Matt Davis, “The M-Series represents a huge leap forward in our technology. It improves upon the already impressive uptime of our X-Series.”
Sleek Design and Multiple Tiers for Maximum Efficiency
TrueNAS runs on OpenZFS, based on Sun Microsystems’ Zettabyte File System and uses x86-based appliances manufactured by IXsystems. The company also offers FreeNAS rackmount systems and the high-performing Z50 TrueFlash appliances. TrueNAS uses DRAM, flash, and spinning disk in a 4U chassis, with the option to configure flash as cache or primary storage. Dual controllers allow for high availability, and the Intel Xeon Scalable processor and PCI Express-based nontransparent bridge interconnect enable lightning-fast data transfer between nodes.
One of the standout features of TrueNAS is its innovative use of DRAM for file system cache. The M-Series takes this a step further by offering customers the option to use NVDIMM cards for caching reads, while the M50 also has optional NVMe flash to boost read performance. In comparison, the X-Series only uses SSD caching.
Storage Industry Leaders Are Impressed
George Crump, president of Storage Switzerland, praised IXsystems’ comprehensive approach to on-premises NAS infrastructure: “They seem to deliver everything you’d want and need. The way they utilize the right cache, use open source as the foundation for their code, and offer support for multiple storage types in one box – not every vendor can do that.”
Scott Sinclair, a storage analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, also weighed in on IXsystems’ strategy, saying, “They can quickly adopt new innovations and show how rapidly the storage industry is embracing NVMe. The jump to NVMe has been much quicker than the adoption of SSDs and all-flash technology.”
Flexibility and Compression for Optimal Performance
One of the key benefits of the TrueNAS upgrade is the increased flexibility for customers in utilizing different tiers. As Davis explains, “We not only leverage flash for cache, but it’s also optional for customers to add a pool of all-flash storage in front of a pool of spinning disk.” TrueNAS also uses compression to improve performance, with optional data services for users to turn off if they choose.
IXsystems Takes Storage Support to the Next Level
IXsystems offers a variety of supported hypervisors, including Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, OpenStack, and VMware vSphere. The company is also known for its support of Docker, Hadoop, MySQL, Red Hat, and Ubuntu. IXsystems was established in 2002 as a spinout of Berkeley Software Design and initially focused on building x86 servers for open source software operating systems. In 2009, the company acquired the FreeNAS code and has been steadily improving and expanding its capabilities ever since. IXsystems also leads the FreeBSD project and contributes to various open source projects, including OpenZFS, FreeBSD, and Slackware Linux. With their constant drive for innovation and quality, IXsystems is changing the game in enterprise storage.