Boosting ActiveStor Performance: A Seagate and Panasas Collaboration

In 1994, two pivotal, intersecting events transformed the landscape of high-performance computing (HPC): the introduction of the first Beowulf cluster and the launch of Linux kernel 1.0.0. The Beowulf Project, initiated by Thomas Sterling and Donald Becker at NASA, led to the development of the first distributed commodity-based server cluster with commodity networking, catalyzing a significant transition to more cost-effective and adaptable clustered HPC systems. Additionally, the release of Linux kernel 1.0.0 by Linus Torvalds on March 14, 1994, foretold the rise of Linux as the preferred operating system for HPC cluster clients. Linux currently stands as the primary operating system on the world’s top 500 supercomputers.

In the storage realm, the widespread adoption of distributed file systems for HPC applications facilitated faster access to extensive data volumes, emphasizing the growing need for parallel access, especially in data-intensive applications. This need spurred the growth of parallel file systems, enabling multiple cluster clients to concurrently read and write from a single file across a network of storage devices. The Parallel Data Labs (PDL) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) played a pivotal role in this development. In 1999, just five years after the launch of Linux, Garth Gibson, PDL member and co-founder of RAID, established Panasas^® and introduced PanFS^® as the first commercially available parallel file system with Linux support.

At the same time, the field of drive technology was also undergoing a significant transition. The conventional utilization of hard drives was being complemented by the increasing adoption of solid-state drives. As advancements in both technologies continued, designers and users of storage systems faced the task of devising solutions that optimized capacity, performance, and cost-effectiveness.

While achieving price parity between these drive technologies remains an aspirational goal, ongoing innovation actively addresses this challenge. Seagate^®, with its pioneering MACH.2™ technology, seamlessly integrates high-capacity and high-throughput features into its top-performing X class Exos^® enterprise dual-actuator hard drive, resulting in a potential doubling of performance compared to an enterprise single-actuator drive.

Today, the next-generation Panasas ActiveStor Ultra high-performance storage solution brings together the PanFS parallel file system with Sea-gate’s Exos 2X18 dual-actuator hard drive for nearly doubled performance. These solutions share and combine the strengths of the hyperscale market with PanFS shared-nothing, N-redundant parallel file system and MACH.2 disk drive technologies. A diverse array of new and old applications stands to benefit from this advancement, including those driving innovations in genomics and bioinformatics, accelerating AI-powered modeling and simulation in product development and manufacturing, enhancing energy exploration, and shaping the latest advancements in visual EFX.

Seagate Exos 2X18 Enterprise Dual-Actuator Hard Drive with MACH.2 Technology

Seagate Technology is the leading innovator of mass-capacity data storage solutions. In 2019, Seagate introduced its MACH.2 Multi-Actuator technology, offering three core benefits over other drives. MACH.2 doubles IOPs, granting users more efficient random access to data. MACH.2 also enhances sequential bandwidth performance of streaming applications, ensuring smoother operations. Finally, MACH.2 enables dual-channel access from two independent streams, the first time parallelism has been introduced in hard drive technology. The integration of MACH.2 technology into the X class Exos 2X18 enterprise dual-actuator hard drive not only fulfilled the goal of providing users with two independent pathways without the cost of two drives but also streamlined the process, delivering nearly twice the performance right out of the box.

Unlike single-actuator systems where all heads move together, dual-actuator systems double drive performance by incorporating a second actuator atop the first one, allowing independent motion between the top and bottom sets of heads. This unique design enables the drive to function optimally in both random I/O environments when seeking data from both actuators, and sequential modes by facilitating the smooth and rapid movement of large amounts of data. It would take over 20 years of additional incremental development of single-actuator drive technology to match the significant enhancement of performance that MACH.2 achieves.

With customer budget constraints and the significant value associated with each drive slot, the Exos 2X18 drive excels in optimizing crucial metrics such as $/TB, IOPs/watt, and watt/TB. Consequently, it provides notably superior value and lowers the total cost of ownership in comparison to the purchase of two separate drives. The Exos 2X18 drive showcases industry-leading reliability, exceeding customer requirements by a factor of 20. This makes it an ideal solution for high-performance hyperscale storage solutions and in data centers with demanding HPC applications.

Panasas ActiveStor Ultra with Dual-Actuator Technology

Panasas, a leading figure in scale-out NAS and parallel file systems, introduced PanFS as a pioneering storage system built on a parallel file system architecture. Even after more than 20 years, PanFS not only delivers exceptional performance, but also ensures remarkable consistency for workloads spanning various file sizes and access patterns, including CFD simulation and AI/ML training environments, CryoEM and bio-informatics, data-intensive computational science applications, and mixed AI-augmented HPC workloads.

PanFS and its DirectFlow^® client driver allow direct, parallel access to files stored on Panasas systems. Notably designed for minimal administration, PanFS incorporates comprehensive automated monitoring and self-healing features. Moreover, its ground-breaking, patented per-file erasure coding offers file-level fault tolerance and recovery.

Panasas ActiveStor Ultra stands out as a hybrid storage appliance, incorporating both hard drives and SSDs that harness PanFS features for intelligent data placement. This innovative approach allows each storage device to perform operations best suited to its capabilities. Notably, small file access never stalls due to large files, as they are stored on separate devices.

Similar to the intersection of Beowulf and Linux in 1994, the collaboration between Panasas and Seagate signifies a noteworthy advancement in HPC technologies. The seamless integration of Seagate Exos 2X MACH.2 technology drives with Seagate’s extensive ecosystem initiatives, coupled with the flexibility of the Panasas PanFS architecture and software innovation, enables the latest generation of ActiveStor Ultra to achieve a substantial leap forward in high-performance storage, significantly enhancing the acceleration of HPC applications

For more details, visit www.seagate.com/innovation/multi-actuator-hard-drives.html/ and www.panasas.com/products.

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