The architecture of the DS8000® is based on three major elements providing function specialization and three tiers of processing power.
Figure 1 illustrates the
elements:
- Host adapters (also known as front-end adapters) manage the I/O interfaces to other systems. They also manage the Fibre Channel path protocols for host I/Os and for replicating data to remote DS8000s.
- Device adapters (also known as back-end adapters) manage the internal storage devices. They also manage the SAS paths to drives, RAID protection, and drive sparing.
- A pair of high-performance redundant active-active Power servers, functionally positioned between the adapters and a key feature of the architecture.
The front-end and back-end adapters offload the bulk of the work to be done to the Power servers. Each Power server has multiple processor cores managed as a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) pool of shared processing power to process the work done by that server. Each server runs an AIX® kernel that manages the processors, manages processor memory as a data cache, and more. For additional details on DS8000 architecture and design, see the latest IBM® DS8000 Architecture and Implementation redbook.
Major benefits of the DS8000 architecture
include:
- Server foundation
- Promotes high availability and high performance through the use of field-proven Power servers
- Reduces custom components and design complexity
- Positions DS8000 to reap the benefits of server technology advances
- Operating environment
- Promotes high availability and provides a high quality base for the system’s unique software through a field-proven AIX-based operating system kernel
- Provides an operating environment specifically optimized for Power servers (including performance and Reliability Availability Serviceability)
- Provides shared processor (SMP) efficiency
- Reduces custom code and design complexity