HPE Alletra MP X10000 - a high-performance object storage for data protection

[PiotrDrag]

In early 2023, HPE introduced a modular data management solution under the HPE Alletra Storage MP brand. HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 joined HPE portfolio half a year ago. This object storage solution, like its block and file counterparts, is supported by the standardized and modular hardware platform, HPE Alletra Storage MP, built from the ground up.

The new HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 object storage has been designed with large unstructured data sets in mind and optimized to enable enterprises to store and process object data faster. The exceptional performance of the X10000 is ideal for data lakes and modern data protection, where high processing performance and short data access times are crucial. That's why these types of systems are increasingly being chosen by enterprises and institutions with large backup collections (as large as petabytes) that can't afford weeks of data restoration in the event of a real disaster.

HPE Alletra Storage MP – hardware foundation of HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000

HPE Alletra Storage MP is built on a disaggregated Software Defined Storage architecture. The term "disaggregated" in this context means the ability to independently scale compute and storage capacities, leading to more efficient resource utilization and eliminating the need for significant redundancy. You simply buy what you need now and expand as necessary in the future. This hardware platform can therefore be used for various applications. In this article, we focus on its object storage incarnation, the HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000.

The minimum configuration consists of two compute nodes equipped with 3 controllers, one storage node, and two switches. In terms of capacity, we are talking about a minimum of 68TB of usable capacity in the starting configuration. More detailed description of HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 can be found here.

Fast restore

The HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 will be perfect for fast recovery scenarios of large data sets after a disaster or data loss. HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 is particularly effective in protecting mission-critical data and ensuring business continuity in large-scale database environments. With an S3-compatible object storage interface and HPE Catalyst-based deduplication and HPE StoreOnce “all-flash” deduplicator (a.k.a. Data Protection gas pedal node), it reduces data storage many times over and streamlines integration with any backup solution.

HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 is certified for backup by industry-leading vendors, including Commvault, Veeam and NetBackup. Combining NVMe storage performance with HPE Catalyst protocol deduplication performance, the solution delivers minimum recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO). This makes it an ideal choice for enterprises requiring fast, reliable and scalable data protection.

Key Features and Benefits:

1. High-Performance and Scalability:
• Equipped with NVMe drives and 100GbE networking, the HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 offers flash-based performance, ensuring sub-millisecond latency and exceptional throughput.
• Its disaggregated architecture enables independent scaling of performance and capacity, making it ideal for both small and large enterprises.
2. Advanced Data Protection:
• The HPE StoreOnce technology leverages Catalyst deduplication to reduce storage requirements by a factor of 15-20x, significantly optimizing storage costs.
• Data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, ensuring compliance with stringent security standards and protecting against ransomware attacks.
3. Integration and Flexibility:
• Seamlessly integrates with backup ISVs such as Commvault, Veeam, and NetBackup, providing flexibility for various enterprise environments.
• Supports both on-premises and hybrid cloud deployments via HPE GreenLake platform, enabling businesses to manage their storage infrastructure through a unified interface.
4. Streamlined Backup and Recovery:
• The solution supports direct write to the X10000 using S3-compatible object storage, ensuring rapid and efficient backup and restoration processes.
• Instant VM recovery capabilities allow enterprises to spin up hundreds of virtual machines directly from backup storage, drastically reducing downtime.
5. Cost-Effective and Efficient:
• By utilizing Catalyst's inline deduplication, the solution minimizes network traffic and reduces WAN bandwidth requirements, leading to lower operational costs.

Deployment modes

There are two options for implementing a solution based on HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000. These options are not mutually exclusive and can be implemented simultaneously.

1. Source to target with Data Protection accelerator node

   In this mode, there is an intermediary gateway in the form of “HPE Data Protection accelerator node”. This is a server with HPE StoreOnce software that includes Catalyst protocol. It consists of 8 SSDs giving 92TB of usable capacity and 8x25Gbps ports providing a total throughput of 200 Gbps. The gateway is used solely for deduplication and storing the associated metadata. Backups are made to the object array via this gateway, which reduces duplicate data on the source and sends only unique data to the object storage. The same path is also used for data recovery if necessary. One HPE Data Protection accelerator node is capable of handling up to 2PB of usable capacity on the object storage. Assuming a data reduction ratio of 15:1, this gives 30PB of backups on the source.

   In this scenario, we gain from a significant reduction in data capacity requirements, at the expense of performance. Nevertheless, the SSD-based HPE Data Protection accelerator node is not really a bottleneck, as its performance is many times greater than HDD-based backup target appliances. Moreover, in this scenario, we can use more than one such gateway, which will significantly increase performance.

    

2. Source to target with S3 direct

In this mode, there is no intermediary gateway in the form of HPE Data Protection accelerator node. Backups are made to the object storage directly using the S3 protocol, as well as recovered via the same path if necessary. In this scenario, we gain efficiency in backup and recovery, at the expense of increased capacity requirements.

Summary

The HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000, combined with technology made famous by HPE StoreOnce and leading backup vendors, offers a robust, scalable and secure solution for modern data protection challenges. Its advanced functionality and integration capabilities make it an attractive choice for enterprises seeking to optimize backup and restore strategies while minimizing costs and maximizing performance.