SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

So what is Matrix? Basically, it is the Insight systems management software already on the blades, merged with the orchestration software that came from Opsware (formerly known as Opsware Workflow) that has been given that graphical templating environment to make it easier to provision, patch, and manage servers and their software. HP has created all of the templates for the Opsware tool necessary to manage its various server blades and chassis, its Virtual Connect virtualised I/O for storage and networking, and the usual suspects in terms of operating systems (Windows, Linux, and HP-UX). Thome says that HP is working on templates that will allow Matrix to control Microsoft, Oracle, and other databases, and then popular application software that runs atop all this. Customers can use the Matrix tools to create their own templates for automating homegrown code.

As we previously reported, Cisco has embedded its management code inside the switch atop its chassis, which is known as the UCS 6100 fabric interconnect. HP is putting the Matrix software onto an x64 blade in its BladeSystem chassis. (Not on a service processor inside the chassis, which may or may not make a difference to IT managers.) One of the key features of the Matrix software stack, called Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager v1.30, can manage LAN and SAN connectivity for hundreds of BladeSystem enclosures and can assign failover assignments for up to 200 server-to-network virtual connect domains.

According to HP, a Matrix environment can be extended to manage up to 1,000 systems, which is far more scalable than what Cisco has achieved with California. Using the top-end 40-port version of the UCS 6100 fabric, a California blade system tops out at 320 servers.

HP was also keen to point out that it has its own storage, unlike Cisco. The Matrix system will include a new virtualized direct-attach storage array for the BladeSystem, which is comprised of a SmartArray 700m SAS RAID controller and a six-disk enclosure that plugs into the c7000 chassis. The controller on this blade and its disks connect to the chassis, which in turn maps storage to blades. Each server thinks it owns the disks assigned to it, as if they were plugged into SAS ports on the blade, but they are actually virtual SAS links that can be tweaked.

HP is also announcing an external StorageWorks Modular Disk System 600 array, which has a 5U enclosure that sits near the BladeSystem c7000 chassis and can hold up to 70 3.5-inch SAS or SATA drives. This external unit links to the chassis through an SAS controller, just like the internal one does. A single enclosure, equipped with the proper number of SAS modules, can have up to six MDS600 arrays linked to it, and the storage is mapped to the blades in the same way as with the internal disk enclosure for the c7000. The MDS600 array will be available at the end of April, with a starting price of $10,000. HP's StorageWorks EVA 4400 arrays can be plugged into the Matrix system, too, and these are in fact the default storage devices for Matrix right now.

HP was also keen to point out that the virtual SAN appliance software, which it got through its $360m acquisition of LeftHand Networks last October, will be deployable on a future release of the Matrix blade system, too. This P4000 SAN appliance software will be deployed on HP's SB40c storage blades. HP also says that starting on May 1, all of the former LeftHand products will be available across HP's server line and with HP part numbers.

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