Astute Networks and NEI partnered to build a "stateless" AdvancedTCA server solution using NEI's leading AdvancedTCA servers, Intel technology, and Astute Networks' Caspian 10 Gb iSCSI Storage Blades with remote iSCSI boot. The roles of AdvancedTCA systems are more demanding with an increased variety of applications, operating systems and server processors running in a single chassis. The ability to rapidly deploy, manage, repurpose and upgrade systems for new or changing applications is a growing challenge for NEPs and Telcos.
An AdvancedTCAŽ Solution Note
Building a Flexible AdvancedTCA
Solution with iSCSI Boot
Astute Networks and NEI have partnered to build a "stateless" AdvancedTCA server solution using NEI' leading AdvancedTCA servers, Intel technology, and Astute Networks' Caspian 10 Gb iSCSI Storage Blades with remote iSCSI boot. The roles of AdvancedTCA systems are more demanding with an increased variety of applications, operating systems and server processors running in a single chassis. The ability to rapidly deploy, manage, repurpose and upgrade systems for new or changing applications is a growing challenge for NEPs and Telcos. There are several advantages of creating a "stateless" server model using Astute Networks' iSCSI boot to meet these challenges.
NEI' Stateless AdvancedTCA Server Caspian 10 Gb iSCSI Storage BladeThe stateless server is a simple concept. On a stateless Astute Network's Caspian Storage Blade, built with server there is no disk or fl ash drive to hold the "state" IntelŽ embedded processors, is the fi rst 10 Gb iSCSI (OS, applications, data) of the server. Upon boot up storage solution for AdvancedTCA. It is designed to the state of the server is loaded on the server from a provide iSCSI boot services for diskless and stateless centralized and/or remote source. This enables the server environments. Caspian's iSCSI boot support server to be dynamically allocated without the need allows NEPs and Telcos to centralize their storage across to re-build applications, install operating systems all servers. They can now store a single set of OS boot or migrate data. NEI is a leader in building stateless images and applications fi les that can be shared over AdvancedTCA servers, leveraging Intel technology, all servers in a chassis or across chassis. Centralizing to improve fl exibility and reduce operating costs and storage reduces management overhead, capital cost, management overhead. power consumption and improves recovery time, server deployment time and systems availability compared to Direct Attached Storage (DAS) on CPU blades.
Five Steps to iSCSI Boot1. Create Boot & Application Images on the Caspian blade2. Change boot source in BIOS from local to remote3. Assign AdvancedTCA blades to their boot images4. iSCSI Boot loads the OS image to the stateless server memory5. Launch the application and run as normalAn AdvancedTCAŽ Solution Note
Key Benefi ts of iSCSI Boot and Stateless Servers Diskless Servers - Diskless servers supported by Less Cost/Subscriber - It costs less to support Caspian storage blades lower the cost and power subscribers with stateless servers and iSCSI boot. consumption of AdvancedTCA systems. Caspian's Combined with the increased 10 Gb bandwidth use of 10 Gb iSCSI enables high-performance, of the NEI AdvancedTCA chassis and Caspian high-availability shared storage. storage blades, moving from DAS to external Centralize OS and Application Images - iSCSI boot centralized storage blades increases the number enables the use of centralized OS and application of servers per rack and lowers the cost of storage. images. This makes management upgrades These savings and the ability to support more and control of servers faster and easier. Even subscribers in the same footprint can reduce the in environments with multiple OS images, the cost per subscriber up to 50%.centralized approach is less complex. The same Reduces Management Overhead - Stateless is true for AdvancedTCA applications running on servers implementing iSCSI boot with Caspian server blades. reduce management overhead. Centralizing Rapid Deployment and Re-Purposing of Servers storage reduces the number of OS instances - One of the key benefi ts of stateless servers and and applications that need to be managed. iSCSI boot is rapid deployment and re-purposing of Additonally, Caspian's storage model is centrally servers. iSCSI boot provides a central boot image managed via SNMP unlike external Fibre Channel that allows servers to be added with no build up storage.time. Simply point the new server toward the Improved Availability and Field Service - Centralizing right boot and application LUNs and they are up storage on Caspian's shared storage blades allows and running. For existing servers changing OS or NEPs and Telcos to reduce the number of disk applications is also just as easy. drives in the chassis, which imp... [download for more]
