Seagate just reinvented the disk interface using Ethernet

Post by whalesalad » Mon, Oct 28, 2013, 5:52 AM UTC

oofabz wrote: post #113

whalesalad wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well on an internal network ipv4 is more than enough. With subnets you can put a LOT of hosts on your private network without any problems.

IPv4 is not just about larger address space. It has better autoconfiguration, better multicast, better MTU, and it has a constant size header to make routing easier. Unlike IPv4, it works well with no centralized server assigning IP addresses - between link-local addresses and multicast, you get everything you need to communicate locally, automatically. It is a good protocol and we should use it because it is good, n…

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'm actually really interested in learning more about IPv6 now for all those reasons you mentioned.

Post by astrodust » Tue, Oct 29, 2013, 5:15 PM UTC

nathanb wrote: post #76

astrodust wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're misreading this. Nobody will just bolt a few thousand of these drives to a switch and call it done. That's not practical. On the other hand it opens up a massive opportunity for people to create their own storage fabric using these drives as building blocks. That means instead of having to hit up EMC for a big drive array, you will eventually be able to get an open-source implementation of same if you…

I think you're missing the value prop of the BigStorageCos like EMC and NetApp. If all they provided was a disk shelf and loose cluster coupling, nobody would buy that. The big win (for those companies which consider it a win) is in data management and namespacing. Storage virtualization, if you will. I can have a hundred disks spinning behind a storage controller which lumps them together into three storage volumes.…

Obviously EMC, NetApp and others in that space provide value, but what they do with existing drive technology is simply out of reach of most startups. The barrier to entry is way too high.

With this new technology it opens the door for innovation in this space. Using commodity components you can build out new EMC-type systems with a different focus. The amount of hardware engineering you have to do is minimized, and more of it can be done strictly in software. Lower cost, more rapid iteration, all that.

I'm not saying this will happen tomorrow, but in ten years the storage market could be turned inside out by this approach.

Re: Seagate just reinvented the disk interface using Ethernet

Re: Seagate just reinvented the disk interface using Ethernet