Specifications

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Technology Overview
Xserve RAID
Primary storage for Mac, Windows, Linux, Solaris, and NetWare servers
With high-availability features such as redundant power and cooling, protected RAID
storage, global drive hot sparing, and hot-swap components, Xserve RAID delivers fast,
reliable data access—meeting the requirements of the most demanding business-
critical and mission-critical storage deployments. It also provides the capacity and
deployment exibility required for High Performance Computing (HPC) environments.
At the same time, Xserve RAID oers industry-leading capacity, up to 10.5TB.
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Network-attached storage (NAS)
Xserve RAID teams with Xserve, Apple’s easy-to-deploy 1U server, to provide an aord-
able alternative to traditional network-attached storage (NAS) devices. Oering the
compatibility of open standards and Apple’s legendary manageability, this high-
performance, high-capacity solution allows Mac, Windows, Linux, Solaris, and NetWare
clients to share terabytes of information—with no per-user licensing fees. At the same
time, Xserve RAID has the exibility to t easily into existing mixed-platform storage
area networks (SAN).
Near-line and disk-to-disk archive
Xserve RAID oers outstanding value for near-line applications, while providing
the ready data access required by many governmental regulations for email and
HR records. Fibre Channel connectivity provides simple and exible attachment to
existing Fibre Channel networks and SAN infrastructures. Near-line storage users
get the benet of low-cost, high-capacity storage without sacricing high availability
and data protection. Xserve RAID also oers superior throughput and scalability
compared with other systems typically used for near-line storage. With Xserve RAID,
organizations can reduce their overall storage costs, as well as their dependence on
inexible, proprietary systems.
Rich media storage
With a video-optimized architecture and dual independent 2Gb Fibre Channel inter-
face, Xserve RAID is the perfect complement to a Mac Pro video editing workstation.
It provides the fast, consistent performance—an average read throughput of up to
380MB/s
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and write throughput up to 301MB/s
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—required for video post-production.
In fact, Xserve RAID is fast enough to support real-time, uncompressed, high-denition
(HD) and multiple-stream (SD) video editing without dropping a frame. In addition,
with up to 10.5TB of online storage, Xserve RAID makes it easy to manage multiple
video tasks. Even when used for editing in uncompressed 8-bit HD 1080i, this robust
storage system can hold over 25 hours of protected RAID level 5 footage. What’s
more, Xserve RAID scales in both throughput and capacity: Users need only purchase
the performance level and capacity they require today, with the assurance that their
investment will be protected as application and storage needs grow.
Third-party certications
Leading storage infrastructure vendors have
certied Xserve RAID for integration with
existing Fibre Channel hardware and data
management solutions, including:
• QLogic
• Brocade
• LSI Logic
• Cisco
• VERITAS
• ATTO Technology
• Emulex
• McData
In addition to Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server,
Xserve RAID has been qualied for use on
these operating systems:
• Windows Server 2003 Family
• Windows 2000 Professional Edition
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 Server, Advanced
• Windows 2000 Server, Datacenter
• Sun Solaris SPARC v10 and 9
• Sun Solaris X86/X64 v10 (64-bit)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux v2.1, v3, and v4
• Novell NetWare v5.x and v6.x and
Cluster Services
• SUSE Enterprise Server 9