StorPool is a software defined storage solution targeted at cloud application and infrastructure providers. The software runs on a cluster of commodity servers, aggregating the internal storage of those servers into a shared volume. The solution, for now, is only compatible with Linux based systems. For many online application or cloud providers this should not be an issue.
What makes the StorPool solution unique is the flexibility that permeates every aspect of the product. For example, many converged solutions require a lockstep addition of storage and compute. Each time you need to add capacity or processing power you have to buy both, in the form of another server, fully loaded. Most data centers, especially service providers, don’t scale that way. There are times when they need to scale just the compute aspects of their infrastructures and others where they simply need more storage.
StorPool customers can use a converged infrastructure when the data center needs both compute and storage resources. But, if one is needed more than the other, the organization can add dedicated storage nodes or dedicated clients (hosts with no storage). This ability to mix and match between converged, dedicated compute or dedicated storage is rare.
Read more at Storage Switzerland.
