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From: Hal Abbott
Subject: METIOR Storage Management Software
To: albertk@zeus.cs.kun.nl
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 10:12:04 -0600 (MDT)
Cc: rdv@alumni.caltech.edu
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I saw your comments on comp.arch.storage and felt I should respond
privately with information about our METIOR (TM) Software. It is
currently available on Sun, SGI and Hewlett Packard 9000/700.
METIOR is currently installed at Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, and the Australian Geological Soceity Office (AGSO) in
Australia. It has recently been installed at Mayo Clinic by Martin
Marietta Corporation with their new CTA-2000 tape drive.
Here is the information. If you wish more, you may contact me at 303.789.2506.
Good Luck!
rdv@alumni.caltech.edu^H
METIOR (TM)
METIOR is the first of a new generation of storage
management software products from Automated Network
Technologies (ANT). The company was founded in
February, 1993 by a team of mass storage specialists
who have years of field experience. METIOR is the
product of that experience, including how we sell it.
Our pricing model is as innovative as the software
itself. With an entry-level price of $650, METIOR is
affordable by all. Even site licenses and source-code
licenses are available at rational prices. The team at
ANT has been listening to you, and have delivered the
storage management software product you have been
asking for.
Infinite Disk Capacity
One of the most fundamental problems associated with
computing is automatically solved by using METIOR. It
uses removable media to create the appearance of
infinite disk capacity. To accomplish this, it
automatically copies files from magnetic disk to
removable media. When more space is needed on the
disk, new files are simply written over the space
previously occupied by copied files which are no
longer active. These processes are called migration
(copying) and purging (writing over). Candidates for
purging are based on a combination of a least-
recently-used algorithm and file size. Removable media
may be disk or tape and may be either manually or
robotically mounted. Labeling and location of
removable media is also automatically managed.
Backup as a Constant Background Process
Another fundamental problem which is automatically
solved with METIOR, is backup. As METIOR migrates
files from one hierarchy level to another, the user
has the option to have METIOR simultaneously make
multiple file copies. Multiple file copies are always
maintained on different physical volumes, allowing at
least one to be moved to an offsite location for
disaster recovery. With this option, there is no need
to have backup as a separate process. METIOR's backup
is superior to conventional backup since the time
between the creation of a file and the time when it is
automatically duplicated to removable media is
shorter, thus reducing exposure to data loss. This
interval is selected by the user.
User Restores
When a file is requested, METIOR always attempts to
service the request from the highest level of that
fileUs hierarchy. METIOR is aware of the location of
all copies of all files, but if for any reason a
request fails at one level, it simply attempts the
retrieve again from the next lower level until it is
successful. If the reason for the failure was a disk
crash, the only inconvenience to the requestor is the
delay associated with mounting the removable volume
which contains the file copy, and reading from it. The
only involvement by a systems administrator is that
associated with repairing or replacing the faulty
disk.
Point-and-Click Install and Operate
METIOR was designed, from the beginning, to be easy
to install and to use. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs)
are used throughout. The design goal was to make it
possible for the majority of end users to do their own
installations, even with standard robotic devices, in
less than one hour. Use of GUIs does not mean that
flexibility must be compromised. A command line
interface is also present for those who need or prefer
it. METIOR's interface is unsurpassed!
An Added-Dimension
Evidence of the flexibility of METIOR is its ability
to simultaneously manage up to seven different kinds
of storage devices, plus off-line storage. Within a
large networked community it is unlikely that one set
of general-purpose storage devices will satisfy the
needs of all. It is also unlikely that one set of
rules for migration will satisfy the needs of all.
With METIOR, individual users or workgroups of users
may choose that subset of storage devices, whether
attached or available over the network, which best
satisfies their needs. Hierarchies may have the disks
in the local user workstations at their top level; a
robotic magneto-optical disk attached to a file server
across the network as their second level; some
inexpensive robotic tape, which may be attached to the
same server, as their third level; and a remote
disaster recovery location as their forth level.
Within the same network community, another group of
users uses a high-performance RAID subsystem attached
to a Graphics Supercomputer as the highest level of
the hierarchy. Migrating over a fiber-optic network to
the fileserver, high-performance robotic tape such as
the CTA-2000 is used as level two, and a remote
disaster recovery location is used for the third
level.
Another group is similar to the one above with the
exception of an additional requirement to use WORM for
permanent storage. This necessitates addition of a
RAID device on the fileserver to act as a buffer for
speed-matching the high-performance data, which must
be permanently stored on a lower-performance WORM
device.
Managed Storage for All
Real world examples of demanding environments like
the one represented in the diagram are common.
Multimedia production, animation production, and
medical imaging are just a few .Whether cost,
performance, or permanence of media is the most
important factorQMETIOR lets you make choices for the
right reasons, without compromise. For the stand-alone
user with a DAT or optical drive who wants the same
unlimited disk capacity with automatic backup, METIOR
will give it to you for only $650. Large or small,
METIOR is the answer to your storage management needs.
Open Systems
METIOR was implemented from the proposed IEEE Mass
Storage System Reference Model, Version 5. METIOR is
the only commercial product currently available which
uses this model for its design document.
Fully Distributed
Where most storage management software must run on a
monolithic fileserver, METIOR may be distributed across
multiple processors on the network. In high-performance
environments this will enable I/O demands to be shared
among multiple processors, each with a separate copy
of the storage server software. RPC is used for
interprocess communications, and applications
programming interfaces (APIs) are available for all
modules.
Parallel Processes
METIOR is multi-threaded to take full advantage of
multiprocessors and parallel I/O. ItUs parallelism is
limited only by the processor(s) upon which it is
operating.
Access
The file system may be accessed through native NFS,
FTP, or through the virtual file system interface,
without conflict to non-METIOR processes.
Unlimited Capacity
64 bit addressing is used throughout METIOR. This
allows files as large as 16 Exabits to be stored in
the file system.
Domestic Prices
METIOR..................................$650
10 Node Pack........................$4,500
25 Node Pack........................$9,000
50 Node Pack.......................$15,000
Site License (1st Platform)...$25,000
Site (2nd Platform)...............$10,000
Source Code (1st Platform)..$50,000
Source Code (2nd Platform).$10,000
Robotic Control Software
HP 16 ..................................$3,000
HP 32 Platter.......................$5,000
HP 88 Platter.......................$9,000
HP 144 Platter....................$11,500
HP Site...............................$23,000
HP Source Code ...............$.11,500
Exabyte 10..........................$5,000
Exabyte 60........................$10,000
Exabyte 120.......................$15,000
Exabyte Site.......................$30,000
Exabyte Source Code ........$15,000
Odetics/ATL 5480/2640.....$11,500
Odetics/ATL Site................$23,000
Odetics/ATL Source Code $.11,500
Digital 7 Stacker...................$3,000
Digital Site............................$6,000
Digital Source Code .............$3,000
Metrum 48..........................$29,000
Metrum 600.........................$59,000
Metrum Site.......................$118,000
Metrum Source Code ..........$59,000
StorageTek SCSI ACS..........$29,000
StorageTek Site.....................$58,000
StorageTek Source Code ......$29,000
A registered binary license is a prerequisite for any
source code license. Other restrictions apply.
Multiple identical (manufacturer and capacity) robots
may be attached to the same server for no additional
royalty. Mixed (manufacturer or capacity) robots
attached to the same server are charged as multiple
units, at the prices listed above.
Control software for identical robots attached to the
second and subsequent different servers at the same
site are priced at 50% of the first system.
Integration, Installation and Training are available
from ANT........................Call
Automated Network Technologies
3333 South Bannock Street, Suite 945
Englewood, CO 80110 USA
Phone 303.789.2506
FAX 303.789.2438
Email hal@anthill.com
Authorized Resellers
USA
Martin Marietta Corp.,CS
1 Federal Street
Camden, NJ 08102
Mr. Michael Krans
609.338.3590
AERA Corporation
54 Chestnut Hill Lane, North
Williamsville, NY 14221
Mr. Gary Block
716.636.4117
South Pacific
Dawn Technologies
1 Waltham Street
Artarmon
Sydney, NSW 0264
Australia
(02) 906.1822
Europe
GymData Software & DV-Beratung GmbH
Uber der Hohe 16
76689 Karlsdorf-Neuthard 2
Germany
Mr. Leo Kistner
(0 72 51) 4 48 11
To: habbott@csn.org
CC: albertk@zeus.cs.kun.nl,march@media-lab.mit.edu
In-reply-to: <199407071612.AA11305@teal.csn.org> (message from Hal Abbott on Thu, 7 Jul 1994 10:12:04 -0600 (MDT))
Subject: Re: METIOR Storage Management Software
--text follows this line--
Thanks for the info. I've got several questions for you:
1) What good does the basic software package do you without the
robotic control software? Oh, I guess that gets you the manually
mounted tape version?
2) What's your definition of "infinite disk capacity"? I've seen
software packages with "infinity" being less than the capacity of an
RSS-600! Coding something truly infinitely expandable generally
requires lisp-like large integers, which are difficult to store in the
fixed-size structures usually associated with file systems, so I
suspect that by "infinite" you mean "very large" instead. Are we
talking 64 bits? 128?
3) I'm very interested in hearing more about networked multiple
servers, especially remote disaster recovery sites.
4) One of the examples cited mentions using local workstation disks as
the top level of the hiearachy. I assume that means that the on-disk
format for the disks is not UFS? How is performance impacted?
5) Speaking of performance, let's start with a configuration I know
something about. Take, say, a Sparc 10 server, with a 4MB/s hard disk,
and an attached Metrum drive. How fast can files be written?
6) Is there a limit on the amount of dirty cache, i.e. data stored on
disk but not yet backed up to tape?
7) On a single server, can multiple tape drives be writing in
parallel, or only reading? Unitree supports only one, AMASS has the
restrictions/flexibility I mentioned in c.a.s, don't know about Epoch.
8) On the Sun, which operating systems are supported?
9) Do you provide a library for accessing 64-bit files, or are you
dependent on the operating system for that? My impression is that true
OS support for 64-bit file systems is still a ways off for most Unix
systems, though I think OpenVMS and Windows NT both have it to some
extent.
10) What's the background of your company's principals? Being in
Colorado they could be from Storage Tek, or Metrum, or...
11) No distributor in Japan? Looking for one?
The storage software market is getting crowded, but if you can follow
through on some of these issues, you may solve some of the nagging
problems such as disaster recovery. Good luck!
--Rod
Return-Path:
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 12:19:10 +0200
From: Albert Koppes
To: rdv@alumni.caltech.edu
Subject: AMASS info
Thanks for the info on AMASS.
Epoch have features which are equivalent to these
volume groups you are describing, but without limitation possible on
capacity. It is called staging trails in Epoch terminology.
It is highly probable that the cache disk is the bottleneck, as we
will be using a very limited capacity cache. The reason for this is
that the files will arrive to the system with a regular and predictable
pattern. As soon as a file is received, it will be forced to the optical
disk, and not left under own Epoch control in magnetic disk. In the latter
case, Epoch would decide himself on when to stage out data to optical disk,
depending on the predefined watermarks setup. This would probably cause a
very high amount of write every couple of hours, which would otherwise have
been equally spread by the forced archiving.
Here I have some questions for you on AMASS:
As you seem to be running it on Sun Sparc, do you have any info
on performances for read and write speed?
What is the typical file size you are using?
Does it support an OSF-Motif interface?
What is a typical price for AMASS, including jukebox conrol software?
Do you have the address of a European distributor?
Frank Zeppenfeldt
EUMETSAT
Am Elfengrund 45
62424 Darmstadt-Eberstadt
GERMANY
To: habbott@csn.org
CC: march@media-lab.mit.edu
Subject: Metior Pricing
--text follows this line--
I assume licenses are required for each client of the METIOR server?
For example, if you had one server with a Metrum robot, and ten
workstations using the server, you would need 11 licenses? Is this
true even if the clients are diskless? Can the clients in a package be
of different architectures?
Can a Metior filesystem simply be mounted as an NFS partition from
client machines? If so, I assume the NFS clients wouldn't need METIOR
licenses.
Why is the price for a Metrum RSS-48 so high? That's about half the
price of a 600, even though it's only 1/12 of the capacity.
I'd love it if you could send me some more detailed technical
information:
Rod Van Meter
ASACA Corp.
3-2-28 Asahigaoka
Hino-Shi, Tokyo 191
JAPAN
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From: Hal Abbott
Subject: METIOR Information
To: rdv@alumni.caltech.edu
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 11:34:21 -0600 (MDT)
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To: Rod Van Meter
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 04:03:29 -0700
Subject: Metior Pricing
To: habbott@csn.org
Cc: march@MEDIA-LAB.MEDIA.MIT.EDU
X-Envelope-To: habbott@csn.org
I assume licenses are required for each client of the METIOR server?
For example, if you had one server with a Metrum robot, and ten
workstations using the server, you would need 11 licenses? Is this
true even if the clients are diskless? Can the clients in a package be
of different architectures?
ANSWER--Normally, client licenses are required only where
METIOR is managing the local disk. On a diskless client the server
filesystem would normally be NFS mounted, or files could be
transferred utilizing FTP. I can think of some unusual
circumstances where a diskless client may be part of a data
acquisition system or a distributed system with network attached
peripherals where this would not be true. If the METIOR
filesystem on these devices is being used on the client, through the
virtual file system interface, then a client license would be
required.
ANSWER--The clients may be mixed. We currently support
SunOS 4.1.3, SGI/IRIX 5.2(beta), and HP/UX 9.x. Solaris 2.3 will
be in beta at the end of July or early August. (We have a customer
waiting). Windows NT will be available before the end of the year.
(More customers waiting).
Can a Metior filesystem simply be mounted as an NFS partition from
client machines? If so, I assume the NFS clients wouldn't need METIOR
licenses.
ANSWER--That is correct.
Why is the price for a Metrum RSS-48 so high? That's about half the
price of a 600, even though it's only 1/12 of the capacity.
ANSWER--We look at the price from a different perspective.
>From our point of view, the 600 is aggressively priced.
I'd love it if you could send me some more detailed technical
information:
ANSWER--It is on the way.
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 17:48:01 -0700
Subject: one more...
To: habbott@csn.org
X-Envelope-To: habbott@csn.org
I'm making some additions to the comp.arch.storage FAQ that I hope
will appear in a future version. Is it okay if I use some of your
information and list you as a contact for Metior?
--Rod
ANSWER--Please do. Thank you.
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 17:10:39 -0700
Subject: Re: METIOR Storage Management Software
To: habbott@csn.org
Cc: albertk@zeus.cs.kun.nl, march@MEDIA-LAB.MEDIA.MIT.EDU
X-Envelope-To: habbott@csn.org
Thanks for the info. I've got several questions for you:
1) What good does the basic software package do you without the
robotic control software? Oh, I guess that gets you the manually
mounted tape version?
ANSWER--Exactly. It could be manual optical as well. We believe
one of the major reasons HSM has not flourished in the
mainstream market has been that the entry-level price was a major
obstacle. There was no way for customers to try the software
without making a major dollar commitment. That is no longer true
with METIOR. We also believe that the Windows
NT/Chicago/Cairo will open a new market, even to laptop
computing where the problem is that when files are moved to
removable media, they disappear from the directory--and become
lost. With METIOR on the laptop all files remain listed in the
directory, and the removable media location (which PMCIA?) is
managed automatically.
2) What's your definition of "infinite disk capacity"? I've seen
software packages with "infinity" being less than the capacity of an
RSS-600! Coding something truly infinitely expandable generally
requires lisp-like large integers, which are difficult to store in the
fixed-size structures usually associated with file systems, so I
suspect that by "infinite" you mean "very large" instead. Are we
talking 64 bits? 128?
ANSWER--64-bits. At one gigabyte per second, it would take
more than sixty-three years to fill the filesystem. I am fifty-seven
years old, and will be gone before the filesystem is filled. That
makes it unlimited capacity to me.
3) I'm very interested in hearing more about networked multiple
servers, especially remote disaster recovery sites.
ANSWER--METIOR was truly designed from the proposed IEEE
model, version 4. When version 5 was made available, we
incorporated the changes. Therefore, it is designed to allow all
modules to be distributed. Today, bitfile clients and storage servers
may be freely distributed across the network to allow I/O demands
to be distributed across multiple processors/backplanes within a
network community. This is also how network attached peripherals
are implemented. Unfortunately only the NSL/IBM/Maximum
Strategy RAID controller, which is a closed device, is available for
this purpose.
Using RPC, a layer in any storage hierarchy may be a remote site,
connected through standard links like T1 or SONET. With
METIOR, multiple copies of subsets or all files may be made at
any point in migration. Multiple copies are always on different
physical volumes, which may be automatically accessible as
exported volumes, through the remote links.
4) One of the examples cited mentions using local workstation disks as
the top level of the hierarchy. I assume that means that the on-disk
format for the disks is not UFS? How is performance impacted?
ANSWER--We are concentrating our efforts in this area today.
Currently, performance does not meet our own standards, but we
believe that we will be able to match the performance of UFS
within ninety days. We have achieved that today on the server,
including things like ls-l.
5) Speaking of performance, let's start with a configuration I know
something about. Take, say, a Sparc 10 server, with a 4MB/s hard disk,
and an attached Metrum drive. How fast can files be written?
ANSWER--It has been several months since we have had a 2150 to
test, so I cannot give you observed performance for the 2150.
However, in another life, our development team was the first to
drive the 2150 at full bandwidth using UniTree on SGI. These
systems are installed at Martin Marietta Corp. and at NASA
Goddard. METIOR is faster than UniTree.
ANT is currently under contract to Martin Marietta Corporation for
the purpose of integrating METIOR with their CTA-2000 tape
drive. This system is currently faster than the 2150 when running
on a Sparc 10, and will ultimately achieve sustained write rates of
about ten MBytes/sec. I believe this system will be demonstrated at
the supercomputer show this year.
6) Is there a limit on the amount of dirty cache, i.e. data stored on
disk but not yet backed up to tape?
ANSWER--No. Unlike our competitors we have no two-gigabyte
limitations.
7) On a single server, can multiple tape drives be writing in
parallel, or only reading? Unitree supports only one, AMASS has the
restrictions/flexibility I mentioned in c.a.s, don't know about Epoch.
ANSWER--METIOR has no practical limitations on its
parallelism, reading or writing, in any combination. We are solely
limited by the ability of the hardware.
8) On the Sun, which operating systems are supported?
ANSWER--Today, SunOS 4.1.3. By the end of this month, we will
be in beta on Solaris 2.3.
9) Do you provide a library for accessing 64-bit files, or are you
dependent on the operating system for that? My impression is that true
OS support for 64-bit file systems is still a ways off for most Unix
systems, though I think OpenVMS and Windows NT both have it to some
extent.
ANSWER--METIOR uses our own 64-bit library routines. Along
these lines we offer a utility we call the * Recognizor * which
allow us to manage legacy filesystems without conversion of the
original physical volumes. We are currently using this utility at
Mayo Clinic to manage large amount of tapes which were written
in ArFS.
The Recognizor scans the physical volumes and the current
management system for the metadata and incorporates it into the
METIOR database. from that point forward, when any file is
requested, it is serviced by METIOR.
With the Recognizor, we are able to replace existing Epoch,
AMASS, and UniTree systems with minimal disruption to normal
operations. A future feature-high priority-will be to enable a layer
in the hierarchy, with any device, which will write standard UNIX
or Windows NT filesystems, for export purposes. That layer may
also be used to easily replace METIOR when it becomes the
obsolete legacy system.
10) What's the background of your company's principals? Being in
Colorado they could be from Storage Tek, or Metrum, or...
ANSWER--None of the above. We all come from large scale,
high-performance computing and integration companies. We
converged in Denver with Titan Corporation for about one year. At
Titan, we put their storage business unit in motion with UniTree,
but discovered that, like most defense companies, they had no
understanding of the dynamics necessary to build a commercial
business.
In January, 1993 we departed and founded ANT.
11) No distributor in Japan? Looking for one?
ANSWER--Absolutely. After you have received and digested the
material I have mailed today and still have interest, please contact
me.
The storage software market is getting crowded, but if you can follow
through on some of these issues, you may solve some of the nagging
problems such as disaster recovery. Good luck!
--Rod
ANSWER--Thanks for your interest. We are in the process of
building some strong relationships which we believe will take us to
our ultimate goal of being a major supplier of integrated mass
storage systems.
Our commitment and belief in METIOR is so strong that we have
personally bet our homes on it.
Once again, Thanks for your interest. All the ANTs look forward
to hearing from you.
------Hal
P.S. Did you know that ants never sleep?
Return-Path:
From: Hal Abbott
Subject: Re: METIOR Information
To: rdv@alumni.caltech.edu (Rodney D. Van Meter)
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 21:05:29 -0600 (MDT)
In-Reply-To: <199407090233.TAA05361@alumni.caltech.edu> from "Rodney D. Van Met\
er" at Jul 8, 94 07:33:14 pm
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METIOR is pronounced like meteor, but the meaning is different. METIOR is latin\
for "...to set the standard for." It is also the root of metrology.
The package is on its way to you. I'm looking forward to your reaction.
Best regards--Hal