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Network Direct Attached Storage

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Network Direct Attached Storage (NDAS) is a proprietary NAS type system, originally patented by Ximeta, for connecting external digital storage devices such as hard-disks, flash memory and tape drives via ethernet networks. Of interest, unlike other, more common forms of networked storage such as SAN and NAS, NDAS devices do not use TCP/IP to communicate over the network. They credit this as enabling them to achieve higher through-put rates via the LPX Protocol. NDAS also supports RAID, aggregation and mirroring.

History

  • 2001 - Patent applied for the "Disk system adapted to be directly attached to network" using the NAD architecture.
  • 2002 - Sale and implementation of the NetDisk (up to 80GB) as a low cost alternative to full computer based network storage options.
  • 2004 - Applied for patent to allow multiple client write access to the share block storage device.
  • 2008 - NDAS Device created by Co-World Cs in Germany briefly holds the title of world's fastest network storage device.
  • 2011 - IOCELL Networks takes ownership of the NDAS system and NetDISK patents.

Benefits

  • NDAS Hardware is typically faster to setup and use, particularly when a unit is purchased with a disk installed.
  • The disk drive can be used via multiple interfaces (typically eSATA, USB or Ethernet) though not concurrently, as USB and eSATA allow access by only one host.
  • The disks do not require special formatting so they can be treated as external disks and used on a wide variety of computers.
  • Performance (speed vs. cost) is still better than similarly priced storage devices that implement a Linux based computer.
  • NDAS Devices are inherently safer from external network discover since the protocol is not visible through a router.

Drawbacks

  • The LPX Protocol is not routable, thus limiting access to the local LAN. (Uses with VPN or FTP access to a computer on their network can locate the NDAS drive via that host.)
  • Some firewall programs block the LPX Protocol by default. It required tech support to learn how to open the way for their protocol signature 0x88AD

Issues

Drivers required to operate NDAS devices over a network are not currently shipped with operating systems. The devices are usually accompanied with client driver software for Windows operating systems, which is common.

  • Drivers for Linux based operating systems (e.g. Fedora, Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux) are available from the manufacturer in beta-phase for quite some time. The Linux connection package does have a shared read and write access mode, however it must be used with a multi-client file system. See Using NDAS with RedHat GFS and Sharing NDAS drives using OCFS2 from Oracle
  • Also, environments in which multiple machines wish to access the networked device or in a RAID configuration can result in data loss or corruption.
  • Starting with Mac OS X 10.6.7 (March 2011) the Ximeta drivers no longer works. A remedy has been promised in May 2011 but not yet implemented.


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