IBM XIV Storage System
IBM XIV Storage System
The IBM XIV Storage System is a high-end disk system designed to support information infrastructures of organizations requiring high performance, scalability, and availability. It is comprised of a collection of modules of standard Intel/Linux components. Each module is an independent computer with its own RAM, interconnections, disk drives and other subcomponents, laid out in a grid and connected together in parallel using either InfiniBand (XIV Gen3 systems) or Ethernet (second generation systems).
Traditional storage systems distribute volumes across subsets of the modules' disks in a clustered fashion. The XIV storage system uses algorithms to distribute volumes across all modules in 1MB logical data chunks (partitions), so that all of the modules' resources are evenly used. In addition, each partition has a mirrored copy stored on another module, so that if a partition fails, its mirrored copy is made available.
The IBM XIV Storage System capacity is increased by adding additional modules. When capacity is increased, the additional modules are configured and optimized by the XIV hardware. The system currently supports storage configurations from 27TB to 161TB.
The IBM XIV Storage system was developed at XIV, a company funded and headed by engineer and businessman Moshe Yanai. The first customer system was installed in early 2005. XIV was acquired by IBM in December 2007.
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