Avid ISIS | 7500

Avid ISIS | 7500
Cornerstone of Collaboration
www.avid.com
Avid ISIS | 7500
Contents
Overview3
Avid® ISIS® | 7500 Technology Overview 6
ISIS Switch Blade
7
ISIS System Director 7
ISIS Client Software
8
ISIS Redundant Infrastructure
8
Avid ISIS | 7500 Technology Comparison
8
Integrated File System and Storage Infrastructure 8
Shared File System on General Purpose Storage Hardware
9
Storage and Scalability Summary
9
Conclusion10
2
Avid ISIS | 7500
Overview
Avid ® ISIS | 7500 is highly-scalable storage
system based on a parallel file system that meets
the latency constraints of media applications found
in the most demanding postproduction and
broadcast environments. With tested and proven
ability to scale up to 330 real-time 50Mb/sec clients.
ISIS 7500 easily scales as your workflow or facility
grows, and media assets now become easily
accessible to all users across the enterprise.
Capacity ranges from 32TB to 3PB raw capacity
enough to store up to 2,700 fully protected hours
of uncompressed 10bit HD, or 50,000 hours of
50 Mb/s compressed HD. Avid ISIS 7500 provides
uninterrupted facility-wide media access, powerful,
easy-to-use management tools, and an open
architecture supporting both Avid and non-Avid
editing clients. Avid ISIS 7500 is uniquely capable of
delivering frame accurate media with strict latency
requirements even at high system load. Today’s
collaborative environment, tight budgets and HD
storage and capacity requirements mean that a
media network must deliver more than shared
storage alone. An Avid ISIS 7500 network comprises
scalable storage to accommodate growth needs,
coupled with Quality of Service (QoS) and high
performance 1 Gb/s and 10Gb/s Ethernet.
Deploying Avid ISIS 7500 provides the ideal
storage foundation for even the largest post
production and broadcast environments.
Avid ISIS | 7500 delivers economic scalability and
blazing performance based on logically segmenting
system functions. Media storage is distributed
across Avid ISIS 7500 Storage Blades (ISBs)
and Avid ISIS 7500 Engines (chassis) while
metadata is stored on redundant System Directors.
Integrated 1 & 10Gb/s Ethernet provide superior
connectivity while redundant power and fan systems
complete the infrastructure. Avid ISIS 7500 client
software provides intelligent, distributed media
storage that is highly redundant and scales easily
as capacity is added. Each Avid ISIS 7500
Storage Blade is a micro-server in its own right,
including dual disks, processor, memory and
dual network interfaces. Mirrored protection
provides the highest levels of throughput and
system performance. RAID6 dual parity protection
increases storage efficiency to 75% usable
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Avid ISIS | 7500
capacity and maintains protection from two
simultaneous disk failures. ISBs are allocated
to storage groups configured for mirrored or
RAID6 protection. Maximizing performance
(mirroring) or storage efficiency (RAID6), each
Avid ISIS | 7500 can have multiple storage
groups as required by the desired workflow(s).
The Storage Blades communicate with the clients
to provide explicit guarantees for frame delivery
latency; if an ISB cannot deliver within the
required timeframe, the ISIS client will request
media from the mirrored copy. To provide fast
recovery while still delivering real-time media,
data redistribution in the event of a drive
failure is performed by all ISBs working in
parallel. A pair of Avid ISIS 7500 System
Directors manages the metadata of the file
system storing information such as directory
structure, access rights, and file creation times.
In contrast to most other file systems, the
System Directors do not store the location of the
blocks making up a file, which are determined
algorithmically by the ISIS file system client
software. Thus the meta-data server’s scalability
is independent of the amount of system storage.
Avid ISIS | 7500 offers the following unique
combination features and benefits:
1. Real-time Performance:
ISIS implements several mechanisms enabling it
to deliver real-time performance.
a. It allows a workstation client to explicitly state
the priority and real-time performance needs
through deadlines for each read or write
request. The scheduling algorithms take
these deadlines into account when ordering
disk requests.
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b.It provides a mechanism used by applications
to pre-fetch data into storage system cache
from disks without using host memory. As the
size of the Avid ISIS | 7500 storage system
grows, the amount of cache increases.
c.It implements highly tuned data transfer
protocols built on top of industry standard
Ethernet which minimize memory copies.
These protocols work over 1 Gbs & 10 Gbs
Ethernet. Direct 10 Gb/s connectivity
supports processing of uncompressed
HD resolutions, or delivers multiple streams
of compressed high definition video.
d.The data distribution algorithm implemented
in Avid ISIS | 7500 distributes portions of data
with a pseudo-randomness among the
available storage blades. It also reduces the
probability of hot spots among blades.
e.Only drives that have passed Avid’s rigorous
drive qualification process are used in ISIS
storage blades. This results in the use of drives
that guarantee bounded I/O command times; it
is a requirement that prevents the disruptions of
real-time operations due to specific drive
characteristics such as, retries, ECC, block
mapping, internal diagnostics and calibrations.
f. It additionally delivers real-time performance even
during redistribution of data due to drive failure.
These mechanisms allow ISIS to deliver real-time
performance while maximizing the performance
capabilities of Avid ISIS | 7500 hardware. By
contrast, systems without such mechanisms can
only meet real-time requirements at low utilization
rates. This is why ISIS is able to support a large
number of concurrent clients.
Avid ISIS | 7500
2. Scalability:
The size of an ISIS system ranges from 32 disks
(16 storage blades in one Avid ISIS | 7500 Engine,
2 disks per blade) to 768 disks (24 Avid ISIS 7500
Engines). Customers can start with the smallest
system and grow it by adding more storage without
disrupting their workflows. To avoid burdening the
System Director, Avid ISIS 7500 computes file chunk
location information, both at the Storage Blade and
client. This leverages capabilities of the intelligent
storage blades and allows Avid ISIS 7500 to scale
up in capacity and performance as the system
expands. The Avid ISIS 7500 redistribution
algorithms allow capacity to be added on-the-fly
without interrupting active use. Avid ISIS 7500
also supports the dynamic resizing of workspaces
with a simple slider-bar user interface. A benchmark
of all Avid Unity media network implementations, this
feature allows administrators to quickly and easily
reallocate available capacity between projects
as workloads necessitate.
3. Scalable Recovery Throughput:
The Avid ISIS | 7500 patent pending data distribution
and redistribution mechanisms allow the recovery rate
from disk failures to scale up as the size of a system
increases. Moreover, the impact of a failed disk on user
workload also decreases with increase in the size of the
system. Leveraging the micro-server processing
capacity of each blade, each Avid ISIS 7500 storage
blade participates in data recovery. The elapsed
recovery time is further improved by exploiting the
system awareness of which blocks belong to a file.
Not only are those alone recovered, but recovery of
a 1 TB blade can be completed in 30 minutes in a
12 chassis system.
4. High Reliability and Availability:
Making the system resilient to many component
failures, active hardware components are redundant.
When mirrored protection is used, Avid ISIS | 7500
can protect against loss of data due to a storage
blade failure. ISIS 7500 also implements RAID6,
enabling it to tolerate the failure of two storage blades.
These mirroring and RAID6 implementations are unique.
They preserve the real-time performance and scalable
recovery benefits described above, where storage
blades work in parallel to recover data. Moreover,
Avid ISIS 7500 unique redistribution technology begins
protecting new content immediately upon drive failure.
Designed with the changing storage needs of
customers in mind, an ISIS system can be expanded
while it is online. User workspaces that partition the
storage can also be expanded or reduced while the
system is online. Field replaceable components can be
interchanged without bringing the entire system down.
5. Efficient, Flexible Storage Utilization:
Administrators allocate Avid ISIS | 7500 Storage Blades
(ISBs) to storage groups configured for either mirrored
or RAID6 protection. Storage within a storage group
is assigned to workspaces mounted by client hosts.
Delivering highly efficient use of raw storage capacity,
Avid ISIS 7500 deploys 6+2 RAID6. This provides
dual parity protection plus high performance read/write
operations. Alternatively, storage groups can be
configured for mirroring to deliver the highest level
of performance.
6. Integrated Networking:
Each Avid ISIS | 7500 Engine chassis includes two
integrated hot swappable Ethernet switching
modules that provide 1Gb/s & 10Gb/s Ethernet
networking and 12 Gb/s dedicated interconnection
between Avid ISIS 7500 Engines.
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Avid ISIS | 7500
7. Open Using Industry Standards:
Avid ISIS | 7500 supports integration with industry
standard protocols to simplify use in any IT-centric
environment.
Avid ISIS | 7500 Technology Overview
ISIS Storage Blade
a. ISIS is compatible with Microsoft’s Active
Directory services through the use of the
LDAP protocol, which streamlines
administering ISIS users, user group
accounts, and associated credentials.
b. For client workstations that do not require
real-time QoS, ISIS workspaces can be shared
through a Common Internet File System (CIFS)
layer, using one or more ISIS File Gateways.
This option eliminates the need for loading ISIS
client software on those workstations wishing
only to access ISIS storage for basic file operations.
c. Avid ISIS | 7500 provides support for
selected non-Avid editor applications,
providing a single shared storage environment
for a diverse range of user needs.
8. Ease of Management:
ISIS provides a web-based GUI for the centralized
and integrated management of the file system as
well as hardware infrastructure. This GUI can be
used to configure the system, add and remove
capacity, diagnose system problems, and initiate
remedial action when problems are diagnosed.
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The Avid ISIS | 7500 Storage Blade (ISB) is the
foundation upon which ISIS’ massive scalability and
unrivaled performance are built. Each ISB is comprised
of 2 disk drives, a CPU, memory and dual Gigabit
Ethernet network interfaces. The ISIS micro- server
software runs on the ISIS Storage Blade. Optimized
to store larger media files than are typical of ingest,
edit, and playout workflows, Avid ISIS 7500 files are
stored on disk as fixed size chunks and distributed
across the ISBs of a storage group using the data
distribution algorithm. Balancing throughput and
latency requirements, these chunk sizes are ideally
suited to the media environment. The distributed
approach for mirroring and RAID6 avoids rebuilding
100% capacity of a failed drive. When a write of a
chunk is completed on the primary ISB, the mirrored
copy is written to the alternate location, such as
another ISB in the same Avid ISIS 7500 Engine or
in another Avid ISIS 7500 Engine. Both copies
can be accessed by clients. This allows the ISIS
client to select the copy that meets their latency
needs. All Storage Blades participate in data
redistribution initiated whenever blades are added
to, or removed from, a storage group. This parallel
approach to data redistribution leverages the CPU,
memory and internal network capacity to return to
Avid ISIS | 7500
a fully protected state as quickly as possible. Due
to the additional number of disk drive spindles and
micro servers operating in parallel, time to restoration
decreases as the size of the storage group is
increased. When the configuration grows, each
drive is responsible for a smaller proportion of the
protected data. Managing quality of service of all
storage operations, Avid ISIS | 7500 provides
unequalled delivery of high load with low latency,
while simultaneously performing data redistribution.
ISIS Switch Blade
Providing redundant connectivity to Storage
Blades, additional chassis, clients and external
network switches, each Avid ISIS 7500 Engine
has two integrated switch modules. The iSS2000
is the Standard Switch Blade with 16 Gigabit
Ethernet interfaces to internally interconnect all
ISBs in the chassis. A 12Gb/s internal chassis
interconnect interface is used to provide cost effective
expansion between two Avid ISIS 7500 Engines.
An additional 8 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces provide
interfaces for directly connected clients, System
Directors or switches. A 10Gb/s Ethernet interface
provides high bandwidth connectivity for high
resolution clients or to connect a higher number of
clients using qualified external switches. To expand
beyond 2 engines, the ISIS Expansion Switch Blade,
iXS2000, is used to deliver 11 x 12Gb/s interconnect
interfaces, building an ISIS storage array of up to
24 Engines containing 384 storage blades. All
interconnection between ISIS Engines are built
with 12Gb/s interfaces. ISIS System Directors (SD)
are connected to ISBs through ISIS Switch Blades.
Connectivity to 10GigE high bandwidth editors
and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity is provided via
dedicated external Ethernet switches. certain
Ethernet switches from Cisco Systems Inc. and
Brocade Communications Systems (Foundry).have
been qualified and approved by Avid.
Network design rules recommend deployment of
two separate Virtual LANs (VLANs) for each set of
ISIS Switch Blades (all of the “left” switch blades in
each Engine are on one VLAN and all of the “right”
switch blades on the another VLAN), extending out
to the external switches. All ISBs are connected to
both VLANs, along with both System Directors, while
clients can be connected to a single VLAN or both
VLANs for highest availability. Client workstations
may be connected directly to ISIS switch blade
ports or through external edge switches that are
connected in turn to ISIS switch blade ports. Clients
achieve maximum performance when they are directly
connected or connected via edge switches using
Layer 2 routing. Layer 3 routing is permissible, but,
depending on what other network traffic is on a
routed network, performance may not be guaranteed.
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Avid ISIS | 7500
ISIS System Director
The Avid ISIS 7500 System Director (SD) stores
metadata information for up to 10 million files,
including directory structure, access rights, and file
creation times. Chunk location, however, is determined
by the data distribution techniques implemented in the
client and ISB micro-server. This metadata is protected
by ISIS through the use of multiple copies on mirrored,
hot pluggable disks in each System Director. To provide
maximum metadata availability, system directors are
typically deployed as a redundant pair with dedicated
redundant network connectivity.
ISIS Client Software
The Avid ISIS | 7500 client uses standard operating
system calls for basic read and write operations,
allowing applications that aren’t optimized for ISIS to
access files stored on ISIS. Additional Avid extensions
provide control of QoS and optimal I/O size
parameters. Latency requirements and frame delivery
deadlines are communicated to the ISIS infrastructure
by the ISIS client software installed on the editor
workstations. Avid media editors utilize the frame
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delivery parameters to provide predictable response
without congesting network switches. Whether or not
its latency requirement for a particular chunk of media
can be met, the protocol between the ISIS client and
the microservers on the ISBs allows an ISB to
communicate to the client. Otherwise, if mirrored
protection is used, the client requests the chunk from
the ISB that has the other copy of the chunk.
ISIS Redundant Infrastructure
The Avid ISIS | 7500ZZZ Engine is designed with
multiple levels of redundancy. Redundant power supply
modules with separate power inputs provide power
continuity to all internal devices. All major system
components are redundant and can be hot swapped,
including ISIS Storage Blades, Switch Blades, and
Power/Cooling Blades. Redundant System Directors
are deployed with redundant connections to ISIS.
Client connections are also redundant. In addition, all
ISIS blades have redundant OS and file systems
images. System wide health monitoring reports real time
statistics and provides event notification.
Avid ISIS | 7500
Avid ISIS | 7500 Technology Comparison
Few technologies offer the package of features and
benefits that ISIS offers. Competing technologies fall in
two classes: 1) integrated file system and storage, and
2), shared file system on general purpose storage
hardware, e.g., a RAID array.
Integrated File System and Storage
Infrastructure
Some commercial products that appear to use a
similar architecture to ISIS offer an integrated file
system in a clustered or grid architecture. However,
these cannot enable the facility to express real-time
requirements. While these products claim to deliver
high throughput they cannot, as a result, provide
guaranteed ability to meet real-time constraints
since they have no latency controls. While clustered
or grid systems often claim scalable recovery, their
implementations offer limited performance benefit.
All Avid ISIS | 7500 storage blades participate in
recovery delivering fast redistribution while the
recovery computations of alternative systems are
limited to a few director blades and, therefore,
extend the duration of the unprotected state. A large
ISIS system can recover at the rate of 1 GB/second
whereas typical alternatives only recover at below
200Mbytes/second.
Shared File System on General
Purpose Storage Hardware
General purpose file systems that use commercial
storage arrays for storing data can be implemented
for shared media storage. These systems rely on
RAID storage arrays to provide data protection against
disk failures. This approach clearly separates file
system functionality from data protection functionality,
allowing some of these file systems to run on a
variety of storage hardware. However, when
compared to Avid ISIS | 7500, these systems
have the following drawbacks:
1. No ability to express real-time constraints: Since
file system clients typically access the storage
array using the SCSI protocol and the storage
arrays control disk scheduling, it is difficult to add
functionality to these systems.
2. Since these systems rely on the storage array for
recovery after a disk failure they are limited to the
capabilities of the RAID array controller. While
Avid ISIS | 7500 offers a scalable recovery method
that improves recovery rate as the size of the system
increases, traditional storage arrays are limited in their
recovery rate by the rate at which data can be written
to a single disk typically performing at less than 100
MB/s. Moreover, the rates achieved in practice are far
less than this. In addition, the storage array recovers
the entire failed disk because it does not have
information about which blocks of the failed disk were
in use. The advantage of Avid ISIS file system is that it
is integrated with the storage infrastructure, so only
blocks that were a part of a file need to be recovered.
3. Administrators end up dealing with the file system
and the storage infrastructure as two separate
entities, often requiring a system integrator to
serve as point of contact for problem resolution.
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Avid ISIS | 7500
One ISIS Engine 32 TB
Twelve ISIS Engines 384 TB
Resolution
Mirrored Hours
Streams
Mirrored Hours
DV-25
1052
100
12,624
Streams
330
DV-50 / IMX-50
526
50
6,312
300
DNxHD-145
227
20
2,724
240*
DNxHD-220
150
14
1,800
168+
Uncompressed HD
28
2
336
32^
*120 Clients, 2 streams each
+ 84 clients, 2 streams each
^ 16 10 bit 1080i clients, 2 streams
Conclusion
Avid ISIS | 7500 leads the market in providing collaborative storage solutions for professional media environments
Performance:
Avid ISIS | 7500 delivers the highest possible performance with its unique latency controls and ability to
read from primary or backup copies based on instantaneous load. This allows workgroups of all sizes to
share media assets without compromising productivity.
Redundancy:
Avid ISIS | 7500 architecture prevents media loss and down time due to unavailable media. This ensures that
projects are completed on time and on budget.
Scale:
Avid ISIS | 7500 offers massive scale up to 3 PB to support ever-increasing online media storage requirements.
Allowing creative staff to focus on content creation using their choice of tools and media, Avid is committed
to supporting the broadest range of media formats, resolutions and third party editing products in order to
keep pace with growing media storage demands and ensure your storage solution remains future-proofed.
You can be assured your media assets are protected and accessible at all times with Avid ISIS | 7500.
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Avid ISIS | 7500
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©2014 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements and availability are subject to change
without notice. Avid, Avid DNxHD, and the Avid logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in
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