IBM Storwize


IBM Storwize systems were virtualizing RAID computer data storage systems with raw storage capacities up to 32 PB. Storwize is based on the same software as IBM SAN Volume Controller.
Formerly Storwize was an independent data storage organisation.

Models

Сollateral lines:
The Storwize family offers several members:
  • High-end 7000 line:
  • * IBM Storwize V7000 Gen3 - Capacity on up to 760 modules and the capability to use FlashCore modules
  • * IBM Storwize V7000 Gen2 - Capacity up to 4 PB and the capability to virtualize external storage
  • * IBM Storwize V7000 – Capacity up to 1.92 PB and the capability to virtualize external storage
  • * IBM Storwize V7000 Unified – provides file connectivity
  • Midrange line:
  • * IBM Storwize V5100 - Capacity on up to 760 modules and the capability to use FlashCore modules
  • * IBM Storwize V5030E - capacity on up to 760 modules
  • * IBM Storwize V5010E - capacity on up to 392 modules
  • * IBM Storwize V5030 - capacity on up to 760 modules
  • * IBM Storwize V5020 - capacity on up to 392 modules
  • * IBM Storwize V5010 - capacity on up to 392 modules
  • * IBM Storwize V5000 - capacity up to 960 TB
  • Entry line:
  • * IBM Storwize V3700 – capacity up to 480 TB
  • * IBM Storwize V3500 – capacity up to 48 TB
Each of the above family members run software that is based on a common source codebase, although each has a type specific downloadable package.
In Feb 2020 the Storwize V5000 and V5100 are replaced by the FlashSystem 5000 and 5100 respectively; and the FlashSystem 900 and Storwize V7000 are replaced by the FlashSystem 7200.

Timeline

According to the official availability dates and the days the systems are removed from marketing you can determine the following availability to purchase shown in light green.
The graphics only contains the IBM storage systems starting with 'V',.i.e. V3700, V5000, V5010, V5020, V5030, V5100 and V7000.
These systems vary even beyond their names, therefore the graphics also contains IBM type and model.
All the displayed systems can still get regular service at the end of the timeline.
For the IBM SAN Volume Controller's timeline see there.

Architecture

Storwize V7000 provides a very similar architecture to SVC, using the RAID code from the DS8000 to provide internal managed disks and SSD code from the DS8000 for tiered storage.

Features and software

All Storwize systems offer the following features:
  • Command line interface
  • Graphical user interface for easier use, with all functions available
  • Thin Provisioning known as Space Efficient Volumes
  • Volumes can be resized, i.e. expanded or reduced
  • RAID levels 0,1,5,6,10
  • Distributed RAID, i.e. DRAID-5 and DRAID-6
  • FlashCopy provides Snapshots with several combinations of these attributes: multiple, incremental, independent, space-efficient, immediately writable, or cascaded
  • Data Migration: data can be moved between all virtualized storage with no disruption
  • Performance Management using throttling of bandwidth and transactions either by host or by volume
  • supports interactive and non-interactive ssh-login
  • supports several ways of call home and notifications
  • security functions, e.g. audit log, encrypted access
In addition, other Storwize systems offer the following features :
In addition, the Storwize V7000 Unified offered the following features:
  • File level storage
  • Policy based file placement Active Cloud Engine
  • Global Namespace
  • Async replication on File level

Limitations

Most Storwize systems are intended for certain environments and provide several features, that are not licensed by default.
There are several types of licenses that depend on the chosen model and the subject of the license:
  • licenses per net capacity
  • licenses per enclosures
  • licenses per controller
There are some limitations for each model and each licensed internal code.
These can be read on IBMs web pages. Here are examples for V7000, the V5000 series, and IBM SAN Volume Controller.
In addition, there are more contributors to a working environment. IBM provides this in an interactive interoperabitlity matrix
called .

Supported storage media

As of November 2016, available Storwize media sizes include 2.5" flash SSDs with up to 15.36 TB capacity and 3.5" Nearline-HDDs with up to 10 TB capacity, available for Storwize 5000, 7000 and SAN Volume Controller native attach. IBM Storwize Easy Tier will automatically manage and continually optimize data placement in mixed pools of nearline disks / standard disks / read-intensive Flash and enterprise-grade Flash SSDs, including from virtualized devices.

Hardware

The Storwize family hardware consists of control enclosures and expansion enclosures, connected with wide SAS cables. Each enclosure houses 2.5" or 3.5" drives. The control enclosure contains two independent control units based on SAN Volume Controller technology, which are clustered via an internal network. Each enclosure also includes two power supply units.

Storwize V7000 family

Eight available enclosure models:
  • Type 2076-112 = Control enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives
  • Type 2076-124 = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives
  • Type 2076-212 = Expansion enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives
  • Type 2076-224 = Expansion enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives
  • Type 2076-312 = Control enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives + 10 Gb iSCSI
  • Type 2076-324 = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives + 10 Gb iSCSI
  • Type 2076-524 = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives + 10 Gb iSCSI
  • Type 2076-624 = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives + 10 Gb iSCSI
  • Type 2076-724 = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives, NVMe flash drives or NVMe flash core modules + 10 Gb iSCSI, 25 Gb iSER

Storwize V7000 Gen 3

The IBM Storwize V7000 SFF Enclosure Model 724, announced November 6, 2018, supports NVMe and FC-NVMe on 16 or 32 Gbit/s adapters, and iSER or iSCSI on 25GbE adapters. The Control Enclosure holds 24 2.5" NVMe flash drives or 24 2.5" NVMe FlashCore modules.
  • Two node canisters, each with two 1.7 GHz 8-core Skylake processors and integrated hardware-assisted compression accelerationCache: 128 GiB standard, with optional 256 GiB or 1.15 TiB per I/O group Connection: 32 Gbit/s fibre channel with NVMe support, 16 Gbit/s FC with NVMe support, 25 Gbit/s iSER and on board 10 Gbit/s iSCSI connectivity options
  • Clustering support over Ethernet using RDMA as well as Fibre Channel
  • Ability to cluster with older generations Storwize V7000 systems and with IBM FlashSystem 9100
Software Details:
  • First supported on the Storwize V7000 8.2.0.2 software.

Storwize V7000 Gen 2+

The IBM Storwize V7000 SFF Control Enclosure Model 624, announced 23 August 2016, features two node canisters and up to 256 GiB cache in a 2U, 19-inch rack mount enclosure. 1 Gbit/s iSCSI connectivity is standard, with options for 16 Gbit/s FC and 10 Gbit/s iSCSI/FCoE connectivity. It holds up to 24 2.5" SAS drives and supports the attachment of up to 20 Storwize V7000 expansion enclosures.
IBM Storwize V7000 Gen 2+ is an updated Storwize V7000 Gen 2 with a newer CPU, doubled cache memory and faster FC options, integrated compression acceleration, and additional scalability with the following features:
  • Two node canisters, each with a 10-core Broadwell processor and integrated hardware-assisted compression accelerationCache: 128 GiB standard, with optional 256 GiB per I/O group for Real-time Compression workloadsConnection: 16 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10 Gbit/s iSCSI / Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and 1 Gbit/s iSCSI connectivity options
Software Details:
  • First supported on the Storwize V7000 7.7.1 software.

Storwize V7000 Gen 2

The IBM Storwize V7000 SFF Control Enclosure Model 524, announced 6 May 2014, features two node canisters and up to 128 GiB cache in a 2U, 19-inch rack mount enclosure. 1 Gbit/s iSCSI connectivity is standard, with options for 8 Gbit/s FC and 10 Gbit/s iSCSI/FCoE connectivity. It holds up to 24 2.5" SAS drives and supports the attachment of up to 20 Storwize V7000 expansion enclosures.
IBM Storwize V7000 next-generation models offer increased performance and connectivity, integrated compression acceleration, and additional scalability with the following features:Chassis: 2U rack-mountable
  • Two node canisters, each with an 8-core Ivy Bridge Intel Xeon E5-2628lv2 processor and integrated hardware-assisted compression accelerationCache: 64 GiB standard, with optional 128 GiB per I/O group for Real-time Compression workloadsConnection: 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10 Gb iSCSI / Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and 1 Gb iSCSI connectivity options
  • *Four 1 Gbit/s Ethernet ports standard for 1 Gb iSCSI connectivity and IP management per node canister. One 1 Gbit/s Ethernet port is dedicated for Technician accessStorage: 12 Gbit/s SAS expansion enclosures supporting 12 3.5" large form factor or 24 2.5" small form factor drives
  • * Scaling for up to 504 drives per I/O group with the attachment of 20 Storwize V7000 expansion enclosures and up to 1,056 drives in a four-way clustered configuration
  • * The ability to be added into existing clustered systems with previous generation Storwize V7000 systems
  • * Compatibility with IBM Storwize V7000 Unified File Modules for unified storage capability
  • All models include a three-year warranty with customer replaceable unit and on-site service. Optional warranty service upgrades are available for enhanced levels of warranty service.
Software Details:
  • First supported on the Storwize V7000 7.3.0 software.
  • The 7.4.0 software adds support for protection, encryption at rest and 4 KiB block drives.

Storwize V7000 (Gen 1)

Storwize V7000 consists of one to four control enclosures and up to 36 expansion enclosures, for a maximum of 40 enclosures altogether. It can scale up to 960 disks and 1.44PB raw internal capacity. Hardware details:Chassis: 2U rack-mountable
  • Two node canisters, each with an 4-core Intel Xeon C3539 Cache: 16 GiB memory per control enclosure as a baseConnection: For each control enclosure: Eight 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel ports, four 1 Gbit/s iSCSI and optionally four 10 Gbit/s iSCSI/FCoE host ports or four 25 Gbit/s iSER host portsStorage: Up to 48 TB of physical storage per enclosure using 4 TB near-line SAS disk drives, or up to 28.8 TB physical storage per enclosure using 1.2 TB SAS 10K disk drives
  • Control enclosures support attachment of up to 9 expansion enclosures with configurations up to 360 TB physical internal storage capacities Power: Dual power supplies and cooling components, the control enclosure PSUs each house a battery pack which retains cached data in the event of a power failure.
  • File module - V7000 Unified - provides attachment to 1 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s network-attached storage environments

Storwize V5000 family

Storwize V5100

Storwize V5100 consists of a control enclosure and up to 20 standard expansion enclosures or 8 high-density expansion enclosures. It supports NVMe and FC-NVMe on 16 Gbit/s, 32 Gbit/s adapters, and iSCSI/iWARP/RoCE on 25GbE adapters. It can scale up to 760 disks and 23.34 PB raw internal capacity. Hardware details:Chassis: 2U rack-mountable
  • Redundant dual-active intelligent controllersCache: 64 GiB per control enclosure as a base, expandable up to 1152 GiB per control enclosureConnection: For each control enclosure: Eight 16 Gbit/s Fibre Channel ports, eight 32 Gbit/s FC-NVMe Fibre Channel ports, eight 10 Gbit/s iSCSI and optionally eight 25 Gbit/s iSCSI/iWARP/ROCE host portsPower: Dual power supplies and cooling components, the control enclosure PSUs each house a battery pack which retains cached data in the event of a power failure.

Storwize V5030E

Storwize V5030E consists of a control enclosure and up to 20 standard expansion enclosures or 8 high-density expansion enclosures. It can scale up to 760 disks and 23.34 PB raw internal capacity.

Storwize V5010E

Storwize V5010E consists of a control enclosure and up to 10 standard expansion enclosures or 4 high-density expansion enclosures. It can scale up to 392 disks and 12.04 PB raw internal capacity.

Storwize V5030

Storwize V5030 consists of a control enclosure and up to 20 standard expansion enclosures or 8 high-density expansion enclosures. It can scale up to 760 disks and 23.34 PB raw internal capacity.

Storwize V5020

Storwize V5020 consists of a control enclosure and up to 10 standard expansion enclosures or 4 high-density expansion enclosures. It can scale up to 392 disks and 12.04 PB raw internal capacity.

Storwize V5010

Storwize V5010 consists of a control enclosure and up to 10 standard expansion enclosures or 4 high-density expansion enclosures. It can scale up to 392 disks and 12.04 PB raw internal capacity.

Storwize V5000

Storwize V5000 consists of one to two control enclosures and up to 12 expansion enclosures, for a maximum of 18 enclosures altogether. It can scale up to 480 disks and 960 TB raw internal capacity.
Hardware details:Chassis: 2U rack-mountable
  • Six available enclosure models:
  • * Type 2078-12C = Control enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives
  • * Type 2078-24C = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives
  • * Type 2078-212 = Expansion enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives
  • * Type 2078-224 = Expansion enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives
  • * Type 2078-12C = Control enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives + 10 Gb iSCSI
  • * Type 2078-24C = Control enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives + 10 Gb iSCSICache: 16 GiB per control enclosure as a baseStorage: Up to 48 TB per enclosure using 4 TB near-line SAS disk drives, or up to 28.8 TB per enclosure using 1.2 TB 10K SAS disk drives
  • Redundant dual-active intelligent controllersConnection: For each control enclosure: Eight 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel ports, four 1 Gbit/s iSCSI and optionally four 10 Gbit/s iSCSI/FCoE host ports
  • Control enclosures support attachment of up to six expansion enclosuresPower: Dual power supplies and cooling components

Storwize V3700 family

Storwize V3700

Storwize V3700 consists of one control enclosure and up to 4 expansion enclosures. It can scale up to 240 2.5" disks or 120 3.5" disks and 480 TB raw internal capacity. Hardware details:Chassis: 2U rack-mountable
  • Four available enclosure models:
  • * 2072-12C - Dual Control Enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives
  • * 2072-12E - Expansion Enclosure – up to 12 3.5" drives
  • * 2072-24C - Dual Control Enclosure – up to 24 2.5" drives
  • * 2072-24E - Expansion Enclosure up to 24 2.5" drivesCache: 8 GiB per control enclosure as a base, up to 16 GiB
  • Connection: Control enclosure networking: 4 x 1 Gb iSCSI and 6 x 6 Gbit/s SAS host interfaces with optional 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, further 6 Gbit/s SAS or 10 Gb iSCSI/Fibre Channel over Ethernet host portsStorage: Dual-port, hot-swappable 6 Gb SAS disk drives - Up to 240 2.5" disks or 120 3.5" disks Power: Redundant, hot-swappable power supplies and fans, AC power
  • *in October 2013, IBM announced DC powered models, NEBS and ETSI compliance and remote mirror over IP networks, integrating Bridgeworks SANrockIT technology to optimize the use of network bandwidth.
  • Key hardware features also include:
  1. Dual controllers with up to 480 TB of capacity
  2. 8GB Cache, with optional upgrade to 16 GB
  3. RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10
Storwize V3700 also offers management and interoperability features from previous Storwize systems, include simple management capabilities, virtualization of internal storage and thin provisioning for improved storage utilization and one-way data migration to easily move data onto Storwize V3700.

SAN Volume Controller

An entry-level SAN Volume Controller configuration contains a single I/O group, can scale out to support four I/O groups and can scale up to support 4,096 host servers, up to 8,192 volumes and up to 32 PB of virtualized storage capacity.
Hardware details :Chassis: 2U rack-mountable Processor: one Intel Xeon E5-2650v2 2.6 GHz 8-core
  • Optional compression accelerator cards Memory: 32 GiB Connection: Four 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel portsStorage: Three 1 Gbit/s and optionally four 10 Gbit/s iSCSI/FCoE ports
  • * Supports up to two SSD expansion enclosures Power: Two power supplies and integrated battery units

Flex System V7000 Storage Node

Flex System V7000 released in 2012 and can scale up to 240 2.5" disks per control enclosure, or 960 2.5" disks per clustered system. Hardware details:
  • Redundant dual-active intelligent controllersCache: 16 GiB per control enclosure as a baseConnection: SAN-attached 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet FCoE and iSCSI host connectivity
  • Control enclosures support attachment of up to 9 expansion enclosures with configurations up to 960 drives.Software: This is not supported at v7.3.0.