Storage | News

Gridstore Refreshes NASg Grid Storage System

• By Leila Meyer
• 03/29/11

Gridstore has debuted a new version of its network attached storage grid system, NASg 2.0. NASg is designed to make enterprise-class data storage accessible to small- to mid-sized organizations and to eliminate storage sprawl and multiple single points of failure.

NASg consists of a grid of storage nodes and a processing grid working together. The system is scalable and supports an unlimited number of storage nodes, so organizations can start small and grow their storage as needed. Each node is virtualized and assigned to one or more volumes, and each volume appears as a networked drive on the Windows network. Applications, users, and other systems interact with NASg volumes the same way they would with any other networked drive.

The NASg processing grid aggregates the processing power of the clients and servers attached to the grid and distributes the storage processing across the clients, enabling advanced redundancy progressing (higher than RAID 6). When an application or user writes a file to a NASg volume, it slices the file into fragments and then writes the slices to the grid in parallel, a process known as striping. When reading a file, NASg recombines the slices into the original file and recalculates any missing slices as needed. This approach is more efficient than RAID, which copies the entire file, sometimes multiple times. The grid approach reduces storage and processing overhead while increasing reliability.

Gridstore NASg is intended to be simple to install and use. New Gridstore NASg storage nodes are enabled out-of-the-box to automatically detect and attach to the Gridstore running on the network. Administrators simply connect the power and network cables and flip the switch, and NASg does the rest. New storage nodes appear in the Microsoft Management Console where they can be allocated to the storage pool. Administrators can manage the system from any computer on the network, or even off site, making the system suitable for managed service providers (MSPs).

Key features of the Gridstore NASg GS-1000 storage node include:

• Dual 1.6 GHz Intel Atom cores;
• 1 GB DDR2 RAM;
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 1 TB or 2 TB SATA hard disk drive (300 Gbps);
• 25 to 28 watts power consumption per storage node;
• 1U form factor with 9.84 inch depth (1U x 19" x 9.84");
• Windows 7 embedded operating system; and
• Full integration with Microsoft Active Directory.

Gridstore NASg 2.0 will be available on April 11. Pricing starts at $499 for a 1 TB storage node and $599 for a 2 TB storage node. Further information about Gridstore NASg 2.0 can be found here.