In the first phase of the SAN rollout, NCSA deployed 60 Tbytes of DataDirect Networks Inc. storage connected to eight 16-port Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) SilkWorm 3800 switches and one 64-port SilkWorm 12000. The SAN connects more than 200 host servers via QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq: QLGC) host bus adapters.
Butler says NCSA selected Brocade because the company was willing to engage NCSA as a development partner rather than as an ordinary customer. "We are trying to break the 12000 so they can build a better switch," Butler says.
Plus, she says, she got "really great pricing." [Ed. note: Hmmm... so we'd guess this particular deal hasn't added much to Brocade's bottom line.] NCSA also wanted to use Brocade's Fabric Access API to pull data into its proprietary management system to monitor the health of each switch down the port level.
NCSA's storage group tested the 12000's processor-failover capability by throwing enough corrupt data. Butler says that feature worked as advertised. However, the group did encounter an issue in trying to upgrade the 12000's firmware to fix a date-related bug in the switch. Since the switch doesn't support nondisruptive code activation, it must be taken offline while the update occurs. "I would say it's a drawback that you have to bring the whole switch down to do a code load," she says. "Even though it's just for 10 minutes, it brings the whole center down." Brocade has promised to deliver hot code-load activation for the 12000 early next year.
But that shortcoming hasn't stopped NCSA from buying three more 12000s (and a fourth on the way), which it will use in server clusters for TeraGrid, a large computing network sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will be distributed among five research facilities -- NCSA, Argonne National Laboratory, the California Institute of Technology, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
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