IBM has recently announced the IBM FlashSystem 5045, this sits in the FlashSystem family between the FS5015 and FS5200, replacing the FS5035. This upgrade to the FS5000 family brings significant functionality to the lineup, allowing the Safeguarded Copy functionality to be applied to a FlashSystem containing either SAS SSDs or SAS HDDs. Up to this point Safeguarded Copy had been available for the FS5200 and above, the introduction of the FS5045 brings this functionality to a system able to support both small and large form factor SAS SSDs and HDDs, meaning it is an ideal cost effective, high capacity and cyber resilient storage solution.
Headline figures
Maximum IOPs – 1.2 Million
Maximum bandwidth (reads) – 12 GB per second
Response times – < 70 microseconds
Effective maximum capacity within single enclosure – 550 TBs (2U enclosure)
Maximum high density expansion enclosure capacity – 8
Maximum front-end host ports – 8
Maximum cache per system – 128 GB
Cores per control enclosure – 12
So why should I consider upgrading to the FS5045?
The IBM FlashSystem 5045 is an ideal solution for your main system storage, for example as your VMware datastore storage, or as direct attached storage for an IBM Power system. The FlashSystem family has remote copy services meaning your storage can also act as your HA replication solution, thus streamlining your HA/DR.
With the addition of the FS5045 this brings Safeguarded copy to a system that has the capability to support hard disk drives. Where I feel the FS5045 will set itself apart from the rest of the lineup is as storage for your backup solutions. The option to use HDDs allows for the use of high capacity and low-cost drives to be used where read/write speeds aren’t as much of a priority, making it ideal for backups, for example as a Veeam backup repository or as storage for a Virtual Tape Library (VTL).
Many people are of the impression that their backups will be sufficient in the event of a cyber-attack, the opposite is the case. The backup solution is often also targeted in such events and in the event of a ransomware attack the initial attack is often carried out months prior to the attack being fully executed and the organisation becoming aware. As a result, your backups will already be compromised. The FS5045 has features to help combat this, Safeguarded copy allows for incremental immutable copies to be taken of your storage which can be locked and moved to a secure system in the event of corruption or a maliciousattack. These can then be checked for any malicious software and made safe if required before restoring back to your core storage.
FlashSystem storage also has the ability to identify data changes that might indicate a potential cyber-attack in real-time meaning that you can detect any malicious activity and begin work to identify the threat and remove it before the attack is fully executed.
If you are interested in learning more about the IBM FS5045 or other solutions in the FlashSystem lineup, or already have a FlashSystem and are interested in using it to potential please contact [email protected] and a member of our team will respond with you and put you in contact with one of our storage experts.
