NetApp has added new models to its all-flash ASA block storage family, inserted a new FAS hybrid flash filer (the FAS50), introduced new E-series HPC-oriented SANs (the EF300C and EF600C) and expanded ransomware detection, plus recovery guarantees to the block storage range.
The new ASA A20, A30 and A50 are largely the result of component upgrades in CPU, PCIe and memory. They occupy the range at entry level and mid-range in the ASA block storage family, and complement the existing A70, A90 and A1K while replacing the A250 and A400.
The A20 scales from 15TB (terabytes) to 734TB raw capacity with 3.2PB (petabytes) possible with data reduction and up to 19PB possible when clustered. Those figures are 68TB to 1.8PB raw for the A50, with up to 48PB effective capacity in a cluster.
NetApp’s ASA series (All-SAN Array) is its flash block storage offering in hardware form for on-premise deployments with the ability to add cloud capacity. ASA is effectively NetApp’s AFF all-flash array family with NAS functionality turned off.
All the new A series arrays are 2U in form factor. There’s somewhat of an overlap in terms of capacities between the A50 and the existing A70, but the latter comes in a 4U form factor to allow for greater connectivity options, said NetApp chief technologist Grant Caley.
“The [existing] higher spec arrays take cards that provide more I/O options. On the lower spec modular systems, it is integrated.”
According to NetApp, the A20 is 72% quicker than the existing A150, while the A30 and A50 come in as 109% and 171% more rapid than the A250 and A400 they supersede. The A150 and A250 were introduced in May 2023, and had capacities of 0.5PB and 1.1PB respectively.
The upgrade to the ASA products comes a little after NetApp did similarly for its AFF all-flash file storage-oriented products. That delay is just down to the time it takes, said Caley. “There are only so many engineers in the day,” he said. “And AFF is the platform that’s popular with customers.”
Elsewhere, NetApp has effected similar component upgrades to its E-series models, with a new EF300C and EF600C. E-series arrived when NetApp bought Engenio in 2011. They run the SanTricity OS and were spinning disk only, with flash added later as NetApp adapted them for its first foray into flash storage in 2013.
They’re still hybrid flash – which means they can also have HDDs – but the new models can now use high-density QLC flash drives in 30TB and 60TB capacities.
“I call it ‘simple SAN’,” said Caley. “There are just snapshots and replication in a very high density array with massive throughput for HPC-type use cases.”
“And we’re seeing something of an upsurge in HDD popularity as flash costs have risen, mostly for secondary and lower performance workloads.”
There is also a new entrant in the FAS range. This is the successor to the long-established NetApp “filer” range and is still hybrid flash. The new FAS50 slots in between the 2820 and the FAS70 and offers between 100TB and 10.6PB of raw capacity in a high availability system and up to 127PB in a cluster.
Meanwhile, later this year, NetApp will release NetApp OnTap Autonomous Ransomware Protection with artificial intelligence (ARP/AI) for block. These include a repackaging for block storage of NetApp’s ransomware guarantees as Ransomware Detection Program, in which the company promises to help the customer recover free of charge initially if its ransomware detection fails to spot the intrusion.
NetApp is confident it won’t come to this, and points to its ransomware detection and recovery functionality. This comes in the form of machine learning-based anomaly detection that spots unusual patterns involving data encryption, as well as anomalous user activity.
As with previous iterations, when the AI spots anomalous activity it triggers an immediate snapshot to which the customer can recover.
Finally, in BlueXP – NetApp’s hybrid cloud storage management platform – customers will now also be able to simulate ransomware attacks and their recovery process.
