Storage types
The Storage Scale solution offers three different storage types: scratch, persistent, and evaluation.
Scratch storage
A scratch configuration uses virtual server instances with instance storage. If a virtual server instance with instance storage is powered off then all the data that is stored on the instance storage volumes is rendered inaccessible after a subsequent power up of the virtual server instance. Therefore, use of scratch storage is not recommended for long-running or mission-critical workloads.
Persistent storage
A persistent configuration uses bare metal servers with locally attached NVMe storage. In addition to higher resilience, persistent storage provides higher performance and capacity than scratch storage.
Evaluation storage
Evaluation storage is based on Storage Scale Developer Edition. This option supports all advanced features of Storage Scale Data Management Edition but is limited to 12 TB of storage.
With evaluation storage, you can try out the Storage Scale solution on IBM Cloud® without a license. The automated deployment is done on virtual server instances with instance storage, with Storage Scale Developer Edition packages, and is available only for prototyping and testing purposes.
Storage type comparison
Scratch (default) | Persistent | Evaluation | |
---|---|---|---|
Storage cluster nodes | Virtual server instances | Bare metal servers | Virtual server instances |
Storage cluster node count | Min 2 Max 64 |
Min 2 Max 32 |
Min 2 Max 64 |
Compute cluster node count | Min 3 Max 64 |
Min 3 Max 64 |
Min 3 Max 64 |
Protocol node count | Min 2 Max 32 |
Min 2 Max 32 |
Min 2 Max 32 |
Client node count | Min 2 Max 2000 |
Min 2 Max 2000 |
Min 2 Max 2000 |
AFM node count | Min 1 Max 16 |
Min 1 Max 16 |
Min 1 Max 16 |
Storage cluster OS support | RHEL 8.10 (custom or stock images) |
RHEL 8.10 (custom or stock images) |
RHEL 8.10 (custom image) |
Compute cluster OS support | RHEL 8.10 (custom or stock images) |
RHEL 8.10 (custom or stock images) |
RHEL 8.10 (custom image) |
Protocol nodes | RHEL 8.10 (custom image) |
RHEL 8.10 (custom image) |
RHEL 8.10 (custom image) |
Client nodes | RHEL 7.9, 8.8, 8.10, 9.2 Cent 7.9(stock image) |
RHEL 7.9, 8.8, 8.10, 9.2 Cent 7.9(stock image) |
RHEL 7.9, 8.8, 8.10, 9.2 Cent 7.9(stock image) |
Storage Scale edition and version | Storage Scale Data Management Edition v5.2.1.1 | Storage Scale Data Management Edition v5.2.1.1 | Storage Scale Developer Edition v5.2.1.0 |
IBM Customer Number required? | Yes | Yes | No |
Customer support available? | Yes | Yes | No |
For more information about Storage Scale editions, see IBM Storage Scale product editions.