Texas Memory Systems: RamSan-420

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The Ultimate in Low Latency

The RamSan-420 pumps out over 600,000 random IOPS and 4.5 GB/s of bandwidth with less than 15 microseconds of latency. It is ideal for storing performance-hungry data and accelerating application performance.

Overview
Features
Details
Specifications

The RamSan-420 is a new solid state disk with high performance, high RAM capacity, and a combination of features that help ensure the highest availability of data to its users. The RamSan-420 is a non-volatile RAM-based SSD that sustains 600,000 IOPS (input/outputs per second) and delivers 256 GB of storage capacity in a 4U rack-mount chassis. It also uses RAIDed NAND Flash storage modules for data backup and incorporates Texas Memory Systems’ patented IO² (Instant-On Input-Output) technology.

Solid state disks, like Texas Memory Systems’ RamSan-420, allow organizations to manage very high transaction volumes and larger numbers of concurrent users with fewer servers, less power, and without excessive application tuning, thus increasing performance while lowering cost and administration efforts. RamSan^® solid state disks are used in the financial, telecom, e-commerce, and online-gaming industries, as well as government, military, and research organizations for online transaction processing, data warehousing, and batch processing.

Typically, solid state disks are deployed alongside traditional storage. For example, frequently accessed database tables and indexes may be stored on the RamSan^®, while less performance-sensitive database components remain on existing hard disk based storage. However, the growing size of mission-critical databases and the falling cost of solid state disks have increased demand for high-performance, high-capacity SSDs. The RamSan-420 meets this demand without sacrificing reliability or value.

The RamSan-420 uses DDR2 (double-data-rate) RAM to deliver 600,000 sustained random IOPS and over 4.5 GB/second of sustained random read or write bandwidth, with latency of less than 15 microseconds. It offers 256GB of storage in a 4U chassis. The system can be SAN-attached or direct attached through up to eight 4 Gb/second Fibre Channel ports. Multiple RamSan-420s can be combined to scale performance and capacity.

The RamSan-420 uses RAID protected Flash memory modules to rapidly back up the RAM-based data and ensure non-volatility for the system. In Active Backup mode, the RamSan-420 continuously backs up data to the internal redundant Flash modules without impacting system performance. The RamSan-420 can back up or restore the entire 256 GB of data in just three minutes. Texas Memory Systems’ patented IO² technology further improves system availability by making user or application-requested data instantly accessible after the system is powered on.

The RamSan-420 offers these highlights:

Over 600,000 random IOPS
4.5 GB/s random systained external throughput
IBM Chipkill technology
RAIDed RAM boards
Exclusive Active Backup^® software
Patented IO² (Instant-On Input Output) software
Full array of hardware redundancy to ensure availability

The RamSan-420, TMS' thirteenth generation solid state disk, is simply the most advanced SSD on the market. Its fast DDR RAM storage is ideal for storing performance-demanding data and accelerating application performance. In fact, the RamSan-420 is The World's Fastest Storage^®. No RAID, no cache, or other solid state disk is capable of the raw performance offered by the RamSan-420.

The RamSan-420 raises the bar for shutdown and restore as well, as it uses Flash memory as backup media. This dramatically decreases the amount of time it takes to back up the data in the event of power loss. It also dramatically decreases the recovery and start up times.

Performance
TMS’ numerous customers have seen real world increases from 2x to 25x simply by installing a single RamSan^®. The RamSan-420 can accelerate numerous applications across industries. It is best known for drastic performance gains in OLTP, batch processing, and other intensive operations. The RamSan^® plugs into servers or fabrics through basic Fibre Channel. It appears simply as a very, very fast disk to the network, able to act as any disk or storage system might.

Reliability
There is no tradeoff in reliability for performance. The RamSan-420 includes RAIDed RAM boards for primary storage, hot swappable power supplies, and three independent internal batteries (N+1) to ensure that no power loss or power supply failure will stop the RamSan^® from performing its internal backup procedures to RAID protected Flash memory modules. Redundant cooling fans and redundant data ports are also part of the sophisticated design.

RAID Protection for RAM and Flash Memory Modules
The RamSan-420 protects both the primary storage (RAM) and the backup storage media (Flash) by using RAIDed configurations. The RamSan-420 protects the primary RAM storage media with RAIDed RAM-boards. As part of the RAID protection for each bank of memory there is one set of memory cards that stores parity data.

The RamSan-420 protects the Flash storage media with RAIDed Flash modules. If a Flash module fails, a parity module will provide data protection. The Flash modules are used when the RamSan^® loses power; the data residing on the RAM is transferred to the Flash storage so that data is not lost. By using RAIDed Flash modules, the data is protected from a Flash module failure during a power loss.

Chipkill Technology
The RamSan-420 takes reliability even further by implementing IBM Chipkill technology. Standard error correcting code (ECC) implementations correct single-bit data errors in memory chips but cannot correct the multi-bit errors that can result in data integrity issues. Chipkill technology allows a memory system to correct a multi-bit failure up to and including a total chip failure.

Combining Chipkill and RAIDed memory boards brings unprecedented memory protection for an SSD. The RamSan-420 has 324 GBs of raw memory capacity that is presented as 256 GBs of usable capacity after these protection levels.

Soft Error Scrubbing
All solid state disks can correct a single bit error before sending data to the server as a part of their ECC protection. The RamSan-420, however, goes a step further by scrubbing; rewriting the corrected data to memory and then verifying the rewrite to determine if a memory chip has a failure (a hard error) or if radiation transients caused the single bit error (a soft error). Systems that do not scrub single bit memory errors will either a) report errors to a system log that will eventually encourage replacement of a memory board or b) hide these errors, thus leaving a potentially unsafe memory board in the system. Research on this topic suggests that 90% of single bit errors are soft errors. In these cases, the RamSan-420 will correct the error through the scrubbing process and prevent unnecessary downtime to replace the memory board.

Interoperability
The RamSan^® is designed to look like a disk to the network. Therefore, it is highly interoperable and works in virtually any enterprise environment. It is installed in numerous environments including: AIX, Solaris, Linux, Windows, Tru64, OpenVMS, and HP-UX. Hardware from Fibre Channel vendors including Emulex, Brocade, Mellanox, QLogic and LSI Logic easily interoperate with the RamSan^®.

Manageability
The RamSan-420 includes the most management features of any solid state disk. Administrators can manage the RamSan^® over the network or by directly connecting to the unit. The RamSan^® can be fully configured and monitored from either a Telnet or a browser. The front panel displays system status and allows basic management functionality as well.