Nimble Storage CS7000
Flash Performance for Mixed and Mainstream Workloads

Features and Benefits:

Flash Performance for Primary and Secondary Workloads

Cloud Ready

Nimble arrays are Cloud Ready, giving you the flexibility to create a multicloud environment. Easily migrate data between on-premise flash arrays and the public cloud with Nimble Cloud Volumes.

66% Lower TCO than other Hybrid solutions

Achieve an All Flash experience with 66% lower TCO and one-fifth the footprint of legacy hybrid storage.

Dramatic Data Center Footprint and TCO Reduction

Absolute Resiliency

Adaptive Flash Platform:

A Single Storage Architecture for All Your Critical Applications

Key Benefits

• Eliminate silos of storage through the ability to offer multiple storage service levels within the same architecture, from All Flash to hybrid Auto Flash or even No Flash
• Grow seamlessly by scaling compute, cache, or capacity independently and non-disruptively
• Minimize risk with integrated snapshots and consistent backups, SmartSecure™ encryption, and efficient replication for disaster recovery
• Improve IT productivity with push-button deployment and the proactive, analytics based support of InfoSight
• Take a flexible, building-block approach to achieving Cloud scale

Here are some of the key features that come standard in a Nimble Storage array:

Feature	Function	Benefit
Performance and Capacity Efficiency
Flexible Scaling of Flash	Flexibly and non-disruptively expands read cache up to 16TBs per array	Supports the high performance demands of diverse enterprise applications to eliminates storage silos
Adaptive Flash Service Levels	Three user-selectable modes (All Flash, Auto Flash, and No Flash) for tailoring the amount of flash to the performance and latency needs of diverse applications.	Dramatically reduces TCO and flexibly adapts to an all-flash experience for workloads that demand high performance with the lowest latency
Dynamic Caching	Reads active "hot" data from flash which is populated on writes or first read	Accelerates read operations to achieve sub-millisecond latency
Write-Optimized Data Layout	Coalesces random writes and sequentially writes them to disk as a full stripe	Accelerates writes as much as 100x and gets sub-millisecond latency, and optimal disk utilization
Universal Compression	Provides always-on inline compression for all workloads	Reduces capacity needs by up to 75%, depending on the workload, with no performance impact
Thin Provisioning	Allocates disk space to a volume only as data is written	Pools storage, shares free space, and maximizes utilization
Scalability
Performance Scaling	Non-disruptively upgrades controllers or swaps in higher capacity SSDs	Non-disruptively scales performance to manage large amounts of active data
Capacity Scaling	Non-disruptively adds external disk shelves	Non-disruptively increases storage capacity to 100s of TBs per system
Scale-Out	Combines multiple arrays into a scale-out storage cluster	Linearly scales beyond performance and capacity limits of a single storage array while managing these multiple arrays as one
Integrated Data Protection
SmartSnap: Instant Snapshot and Recovery	Backs up and restores data using point-in-time, space-efficient snapshots taken at regular intervals	Retains months of frequent snapshots (improving RPO) with no performance impact—eliminating backup windows and speeding up restores (improving RTO)
SmartSecure Encryption (for data at rest)	Flexible software-based encryption, applied on a per-volume basis	Protects data volumes for enhanced security and compliance. Encrypted volumes can be easily replicated
SmartReplicate: Efficient Replication	Compresses copies and change data to the secondary site for disaster recovery	Deploys affordable and verifiable disaster recovery and efficiently backs up remote sites over the WAN
Zero-Copy Clones	Creates copies of existing active volumes without needing to copy data	Creates clones in seconds and saves disk space – ideal for VDI and test/development
Management and Proactive Wellness
InfoSight Portal	Present single view to InfoSight including case management, alerts/triggers, reports, performance analysis, and capacity planning	Provides deep insights on the state of storage with actionable reports and alerts on set eventsManages existing cases and creates new ones from one locationProactively addresses performance bottlenecks and plans for capacity growth
Proactive Wellness	Monitor and analyze data to identify trends and abnormal operations; send alerts on critical issues	Spot and remedy potential issues, maximizing uptime, performance, and utilization
Secure Remote Support	Allows remote troubleshooting, configuration and problem resolution	Reduce burden on IT staff and quickly resolve problems
Non-Disruptive Upgrades	Upgrade software with no disruption to applications	Maximize uptime and user productivity through continuous availability
Roles-Based Access (RBAC)	Customizes access to system management features, based upon an individual's role	Enhances security around storage and reduces risk to data
VMVision (per-VM monitoring)	Monitors performance on a per-VM basis	Proactively identifies and resolves VM resource contention issues and avoids unnecessary upgrades
Nimble Concierge Services	Enterprise-class service offering that offers dedicated account management for larger Nimble environments	Allows IT staff to be more productive by offloading support and case management, account management and education, availability and scalability, and performance management
VLAN Tagging	Identifies which Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) I/O traffic is associated	Enables multi-tenant environments and complex enterprise class networks, where more efficient use of array network ports is required
Triple-Parity RAID	Offers greater redundancy for stored data	Enhances reliability
End-to-End Checksum	Verifies block-level checksums and descriptors when data is accessed	Improves data integrity with no performance impact; eliminates erroneous data access due to incorrect addressing
Host and Application Integration
Custom Application Profiles	Pre-defines policies for block size, caching, compression, and data protection for Microsoft applications and VMware	Eliminates the need for manual tuning of storage including data protection configuration
Windows VSS Enablement	Provides drivers for the Microsoft VSS™ framework for consistent backups	Takes application-consistent backups and simplifies data protection for Exchange and SQL Server
VMware Integration	Monitors, provisions, and takes snapshots from VMware vCenter™	Manages storage from vCenter and takes consistent backups of virtual machines
VMware Site Recovery Manager Adapter	Supports disaster recovery automation for VMware including failover/failback	Simplifies disaster recovery, including testing failover/failback
Nimble Protection Manager (NPM)	Offers host plug-in for data protection	Ensures application-consistent snapshots
Nimble Connection Manager (NCM)	Enables automatic host connections	Speeds up configuration and deployment of Nimble arrays
VAAI Support	Supports VMware vStorage™ API for Array Integration	Accelerate provisioning and improve performance
Virtual Volume (VVOL) Support	Virtual machine objects can be stored natively on Nimble array storage containers, and VM storage policies can be directly managed via vSphere (Currently available as a tech preview only)	Provides more granularity, per-VM management, and flexibility within VMware environments
REST API Support	Facilitates the extraction of data from Nimble arrays for reporting, rapid provisioning of storage via standard APIs	Simplifies the integration of Nimble Storage arrays into existing customer frameworks
Microsoft ODX Copy Offload	Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) allows data copy and move operations to be handled by the storage array rather than the OS	Speeds provisioning of VMs in Hyper-V environments and reduces network traffic and host CPU overhead
Rapid Provisioning in Microsoft SCVMM	Ability to rapidly provision volumes within the SCVMM interface via SMI-S provider (iSCSI only today)	Eases VM provisioning with Hyper-V environments using Nimble zero-copy cloning technology

CASL Architecture:

Nimble Storage solutions are built on its patented Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL) architecture. CASL leverages the unique properties of flash and disk to deliver high performance and capacity – all within a dramatically small footprint.CASL and InfoSight form the foundation of the Adaptive Flash platform, which allows for the dynamic and intelligent deployment of storage resources to meet the growing demands of business-critical applications.

CASL and InfoSight form the foundation of the Adaptive Flash platform, which allows for the dynamic and intelligent deployment of storage resources to meet the growing demands of business-critical applications.

Watch CASL Architecture Deep Dive
Storage architect Devin Hamilton provides an in-depth look at Nimble’s core architecture. (74:45)

Key Innovations from CASL

• Flexible Flash Scaling
  Flexibly scale flash to satisfy the changing performance demands of today's business-critical applications.
• Adaptive Flash Service Levels
  Tailor the amount of flash allocated to workloads on a per-volume basis. Assign one of three flash service levels (All Flash, Auto Flash and No Flash) to accommodate latency-sensitive critical applications to capacity-optimized applications, for management efficiency and optimal TCO.
• Dynamic Flash-Based Read Caching
  CASL caches "hot" active data onto SSD in real time—without the need to set complex policies. This way it can instantly respond to read requests—as much as 10X faster than traditional bolt-on or tiered approach to flash.
• Write-Optimized Data Layout:
  CASL collects or coalesces random writes, compresses them, and writes them sequentially to disks. This results in write operations that are as much as 100x faster than traditional disk-based storage.
• Inline Compression
  CASL compresses data as it is written to the array with no performance impact. It takes advantage of efficient variable block compression and multicore processors. A recent measurement of our installed base shows average compression rates from 30 to 75 percent for a variety of workloads.
• Scale-to-Fit Flexibility
  CASL allows for the non-disruptive and independent scaling of performance and capacity. This is accomplished by either upgrading the storage controller (compute) for higher throughput, moving to larger flash SSD (cache) to accommodate more active data, or by adding storage shelves to boost capacity. This flexible scaling eliminates the need for disruptive forklift upgrades.
• Scale Out
  Scale capacity and performance beyond the physical limitations of a single array by seamlessly clustering any combination of Nimble Storage hybrid arrays. Eliminate capacity silos and performance hotspots, and easily manage all hardware resources across the cluster as a single storage entity.
• Snapshots and Integrated Data Protection
  CASL can take thousands of point-in-time instant snapshots of volumes by creating a copy of the volumes’ indices. Any updates to existing data or new data written to a volume are redirected to free space (optimized by CASL’s unique data layout). This means there is no performance impact due to snapshots and snapshots take little incremental space as only changes are maintained. This also simplifies restoring snapshots, as no data needs to be copied.
• Efficient Replication
  Nimble Storage efficiently replicates data to another array by transferring compressed, block-level changes only. These remote copies can be made active if the primary array becomes unavailable. This makes deploying disaster data recovery easy and affordable – especially over a WAN to a remote array where bandwidth is limited.
• Zero-Copy Clones
  Nimble Storage arrays can create snapshot-based read/writeable clones of existing volumes instantly. These clones benefit from fast read and write performance, making them ideal for demanding applications such as VDI or test/development.

Scalable Storage Capacity and Performance

Scale-to-Fit

Scale Out

Nimble Storage's Adaptive Flash platform features a scale-out architecture that makes it easy to scale capacity and performance beyond the physical limitations of a single array. Any combination of Nimble Storage CS-Series arrays can be seamlessly configured into a storage cluster that accomodates growing business-critical workloads and supports new ones, without complicating storage management by creating additional silos or breaking the budget with forklift upgrades. Nimble Storage's innovative approach to scale-out storage dramatically simplifies configuration, upgrades, and management.

With Nimble Storage scale-out you get:

• Single-console management of all storage hardware resources as a single entity
• Dynamic load balancing to eliminate performance hot spots
• Multi-array data striping, enabling any application to fully leverage the collective hardware resources of the scale-out group
• Seamless reconfiguration and hardware refreshes, without downtime
• Flexible configuration of any combination of Nimble Storage arrays, maximizing storage ROI

Specifications:

Adaptive Flash Array Specifications
Nimble CS-Series Array1,2	CS1000H	CS1000	CS3000	CS5000	CS7000	Scale-Out3 4x CS7000
Raw Capacity (TB/TiB)4	11-1,198/ 10-1,090	21-1,218 / 19-1,108	21-1,470 / 19-1,337	21-1,470 / 19-1,337	21-1,470 / 19-1,337	5,880 / 5,348
Usable Capacity (TB/TiB)4	7-952 / 6-866	16-982/ 14-893	16-1,185 / 14-1,078	16-1,185 / 14-1,078	16-1,185 / 14-1,078	4,742 / 4,313
Effective Capacity (TB/TiB)4,5	13-1,905 / 12-1,733	32-1,964 / 29-1,786	32-2,371 / 29-2,156	32-2,371 / 29-2,156	32-2,371 / 29-2,156	9,484 / 8,626
Max # of Expansion Shelves (Hybrid/All Flash)	6 / 1	6 / 1	6 / 1	6 / 1	6 / 1	24 / 4
Flash Capacity (TB/TiB)4	0.5-28 / 0.4-25	0.7-28 / 0.65-25	0.7-36 / 0.65-33	0.7-76 / 0.65-69	0.7-108 / 0.65-98	2.9-432 / 2.6-393
RAID Level	Triple+ Parity	Triple+ Parity	Triple+ Parity	Triple+ Parity	Triple+ Parity	Triple+ Parity
Onboard iSCSI/Mgmt 1Gb/10Gb ports per array6	4	4	4	4	4	16
Optional iSCSI 1Gb ports per array6	4 or 8	4 or 8	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	96
Optional iSCSI 10Gb ports per array6	4 or 8	4 or 8	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	96
Optional FC 8Gb/16Gb ports per array	4 or 8	4 or 8	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	96
Max Power Requirement (Watts/ kVA)	500W / 0.56kVA	600W / 0.67kVA	700W / 0.78kVA	800W / 0.89kVA	900W /1kVA	3600W / 4kVA
Thermal (BTU)	1,638	1,965	2,293	2,620	2,948	11,792

ES2 Expansion Shelves
	ES2 Hybrid	ES2 All Flash for Hybrid7
Raw Capacity (TB/TiB)4	21-210 / 18-190	N/A
Usable Capacity (TB/TiB)4	16-169 / 14-1549	N/A
Effective Capacity (TB/TiB)4,3	32-337/ 28-308	N/A
Flash Capacity (TB/TiB)4	0.7-108 / 0.7-98	3.8-184 / 3.5-167
Max Power Requirement (Watts/ kVA)	500 / 0.56	325 / 0.36
Therma (BTU)	1638	1638

Physical and Environmental Specifications
Dimensions	7”H x 17.5”W x 26.5”D 17.8 cm x 44.5 cm x 67.3 cm 4 Rack Units
Weight8	105 lbs. / 48 kg
Weight (ES2)	90 lbs. / 41kg
Weight (ES2-All Flash)	70 lbs / 32 kg
Operating Temperature	10 - 35° C (50 - 95° F)
Non-Operating Temperature	0° C - 40° C (32° F - 104° F)
Operating Humidity	8 - 90%
Non-operating Humidity	5 - 95%

Notes:

1. CS1000, CS3000, and CS5000 support scale up to any model within the CS family. CS1000H supports scale up to the CS3000H.
2. The CS1000H consists of up to 22 HDDs and 2 DFCs (Dual Flash Carriers). All other CS Series models consists of up to 21 HDD drives and 3 DFCs (holding up to 6 SSDs).
3. Scale-out configuration consists of 4x CS7000 arrays, each with six maximum capacity expansion shelves.
4. Raw, usable, and effective capacities are shown in TB (10^12) and TiB (2^40 bytes). Usable and effective capacities take into account space used for parity, spares, SSD cache, and system overhead.
5. Effective capacity is a range from minimum in the base array to maximum in the array plus expansion shelves. Assumes data reduction of two to one (2X) from compression.
6. Each array controller has 2x 10GbE ports built in. Optional ports are 1GbaseT, 10GbaseT or 10GbE SFP+.
7. The ES2-AFS2 (ES2-All Flash for Hybrid) accommodates up to 48 SSDs, which can be populated in packs of 4 at a time.
8. Weight for the CS1000H is 90 lbs. / 41kg
9. When attached to a CS1000H, capacity is 16-167 / 14-152

* Learn More:
Video: Nimble Storage Overview Whiteboard

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Front View

Front Open View

Back View

Documentation:

Download Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash Arrays Datasheet (PDF).

Download Nimble Storage Product Brief Datasheet (PDF).

Download Nimble Storage Technology & Features Primer Datasheet (PDF).

Download White Paper: Redefining Flash Storage (PDF).

Download White Paper: Scale-to-Fit Storage (PDF).