Nexsan SASBoy

Overview:

• High I/O per second and MB/s performance
• High-capacity SAS: Up to 8.4TB in only 3U
• Combines SAS, SATA and SSD disks in the same system
• AutoMAID® level 3 technology saves up to 60% in energy costs
• Includes both FC and iSCSI interfaces
• Single or dual redundant controllers
• Anti-vibration design maximizes drive reliability
• Horizontal mid-plane maximizes airflow

SASBoy, a member of the Flexible Storage Platform™, is a high-performance enterprise-class storage system ideal for transactional applications that demand high I/O per second. With 14 high performance SAS drives, it's optimized for customers whose infrastructures support Microsoft Exchange, Oracle, SQL and other databases, as well as those that involve large file servers, virtual server environments or large amounts of small files. Equally important, SASBoy includes FC and iSCSI connectivity and allows customers to combine SAS, SSD and SATA drives within the same system to address different application requirements.

By employing the latest SAS technology, SASBoy attains enterprise-level, tier-one performance. At the same time, however, SASBoy takes advantage of Nexsan's built-in cost advantages, enabling it to deliver very high tier-one performance at a price typically associated with mid-market solutions.

As with all Nexsan solutions, SASBoy is built for enterprise-class applications, providing tier-1 full redundancy and high performance at tier-2 prices. It's very easy to install and use. SASBoy includes technologies that provide a combination of cost-effective high density, space efficiency and Nexsan's AutoMAID® (Massive Array of Idle Disks) level 3 energy-saving technology, which enables SASBoy to save up to 60% in energy costs.

SASBoy Elevated Open

About SASBoy

The SASBoy provides organizations with exceptional performance and unparalleled energy savings in a compact package to meet real world business needs. The highly flexible SASBoy features FC and iSCSI connectivity to enable cost-effective high performance access to large amounts of information ensuring faster response times for business critical applications. SASBoy is equally capable of delivering high IOPS for transactional applications and sustaining maximum MB/s throughput for high bandwidth applications.

Best In Class Performance

SASBoy incorporates advanced features such as dual RAID engines, cache mirroring, a high performance ASIC, and active/active failover to deliver uncompromising availability and reliability with high performance. With transaction speeds up to 50,000 IOPS from cache and 2,500 IOPS from disk, SASBoy’s high performance provides exceptional value that enhances all digital information storage applications, such as live online data, file serving, tiered storage, medical imaging storage and other business critical applications where performance is a must.

Combine Performance With Capacity

By reliably mixing SAS and SATA disks in the same SASBoy chassis, the user is provided separate storage tiers for different applications. Use the SAS storage tier for performance intensive applications and the SATA storage tier for capacity intensive applications.

Energy Savings Without Performance Compromise

Even with high performance SAS drives, systems do not always access data 24x7. SASBoy understands these idle times and offers the energy saving benefits of Nexsan’s revolutionary AutoMAID™ technology. AutoMAID™ (Massive Array of Idle Disks). AutoMAID allows SASBoy to reduce energy needs without compromising performance. User selectable, the AutoMAID can reduce energy over multiple settings to conserve energy yet provide near-instantaneous access to data. SASBoy’s unique combination of high performance with energy saving capabilities sets it apart enabling organizations to maximize the use of their investment while reducing its cost of operation.

Simple To Use

Like all Nexsan storage arrays, the SASBoy is supported by Nexsan’s simple management software, NexScan®. NexScan provides an intuitive, centralized management and monitoring tool platform allowing access from any standard internet browser ensuring users have complete control over configuration and optimization of your storage environment.

• Real-time event, hardware and thermal monitoring dynamically presented.
• Performance statistics monitoring; event logging, rebuild and verify utilities.

Features & Benefits:

Features	Benefits
14 Drive Capacity	Populate with 8 to 14 300/450/600GB SAS drives or combine with 1TB SATA drives
14 2TB SATA Disks in 3U of Rack for 28TB	Easy to access 14 front loaded disks in 3U for 28TB of high capacity RAID
Hot-pluggable Disk Expansion	Install new disks into empty bays and create a new RAID set for added capacity without any downtime
Single or Dual Controllers	Use a single controller or use dual active/active RAID controllers for high availability
Multiple HA Access Modes	Features APPA, 4PAA, APAL (also DCNR) connection and controller failover modes with full LUN access security
2 RAID Engines per Controller	Two RAID engines per controller and four engines in a dual controller configuration ensures maximum throughput across all drives.
Fully Redundant	All active components (RAID controllers, modules, fans, power supplies and drives) are redundant and individually hot-swappable.
Global Disk Spare	Automatically starts rebuilding a RAID set by using a designated spare drive without requiring user intervention
Dual FC and iSCSI Support	Dual FC and iSCSI ports and connectivity are a standard feature for flexible system deployment
Supports Multiple RAID sets and LUNs	Support diverse servers and applications with multiple RAID sets and multiple volumes per RAID set for a total of 254 LUNs
2GB Battery Backed Cache	Increased performance with up to 2GB cache per controller with 72hr of data retention
Mix SATA and SSD Disk Types	Combine SATA and SAS drives in the same storage system to address diverse applications
Redundant Power Supplies	Two redundant power supplies with tachometer-monitored blowers are standard to provide maximum power, cooling and high availability
No Special Software Needed	Completely OS independent and standards based - no special software drivers required
Embedded GUI	Simple management using the embedded browser based web GUI over the 10/100/1000 IP port, supports email alerts and SNMP traps
Nexsan Storage Tools	Manage and configure multiple Nexsan RAID storage systems from a single interface
AutoMAID - 60% Savings	Reduced energy consumption and costs by 60% through AutoMAID® technology.

AutoMAID™ Energy Saving Technology:

Nexsan's evolutionary AutoMAID (Automatic Massive Array of Idle Disks) energy saving technology transparently places disk drives into an idle state to vastly reduce power and cooling costs. AutoMAID delivers the cost-effecdtive benefits of MAID 2.0 without the limitations of slow access times and special host software.

AutoMAID is granular to an individual drive or RAID set and offers multiple levels of energy savings. AutoMAID is user selectable enabling users to determine the right level of response time performance to energy savings. AutoMAID is the first MAID 2.0 architecture that supports VTL, full file format D2D and standard high performance RAID implementations.

Key Points

• AutoMAID reduces power and cooling costs
• Nexsan’s AutoMAID delivers the benefits of MAID without the limitations
• Available on Nexsan Assureon, SATABoy, SATABeast, and SATABeast Xi

AutoMAID Defined

• AutoMAID automatically reduces power consumption and heat generation on idle drives
• Trade-off between response times and power savings are user configurable
• AutoMAID behavior happens automatically and transparently to host – no software changes required
• Typical configuration settings:
  • Level 1: Heads Unloaded
    • 15% to 20% savings
    • Sub-second recovery time
  • Level 2: Heads Unloaded, slows to 4000 RPM
    • 35% to 45% savings
    • 15 second recovery time
  • Level 3: Stops spinning (sleep mode; powered on)
    • 60% to 70% savings
    • 30 to 45 second recovery time

AutoMAID Safety Features

• In maximum power saving mode, drive spin up is sequenced to reduce power surges
• Drives automatically wake up for periodic surface scan to ensure data integrity (user configurable)
• AutoMAID has no impact on performance if left on in data-intensive server applications
• Only two simple configuration settings – "timeout" and "power savings desired"

    

Technical Specifications:

Front View

Rear View

SATABoy Specifications
Disk Bays	14
Rack U	3U
Controllers	One Standard, Dual Optional
Dual Optional Controllers	Active/Active fault-tolerance and increased performance with optional second controller
Supports E60X Expansion	No
Battery Protected Cache per Controller	2GB Standard
Host Ports	2 FC 4Gbit and 2 iSCSI 1Gbit Ports per Controller
Storage Expansion Ports for NXS-E60X	N/A
Sustained Data Rates (with Dual Controllers)	1100+ MB/s Reads
Hardware RAID 6	Included
RAID Levels	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6
Volumes and LUNs	256 volumes per system / 254 LUNs per port
Power
Standard Dual Redundant Power Supplies	2 Redundant Standard 500 watt 115/240 Auto-sensing
Dimensions and Weight
Height	5.25 inches / 13.34 cm. (4U)
Width	19 inches / 48.26 cm.
Depth	20 inches / 50.8 cm.
Maximum Installed Weight w/ mounting rails, all drives and controllers	approx - 49 Kg / 108 lbs
Rack Mount	Fits into a standard 19 inch rack
Environmental
Operating Temperature Range	5ºC to 35ºC (41ºF to 95ºF)
Operating Humidity Range	20% to 80% non-condensing
Operating Altitude	0 to 2,133m (0 to 7,000ft)
Non-operational Altitude	0 to 12,192m (0 to 40,000ft)

Management:

From Anywhere to Anywhere.

That's because–whether you're across town or halfway around the world–you can manage all Nexsan storage products remotely. Our management capabilities are intuitive and easy to use. They require minimal training. And all of our interfaces provide different levels of security to ensure proper authentication and prevent unwanted users from gaining access.

You can configure Nexsan E-Series, Beast and Boy products through our unique, secure and intuitive Web-based GUI tool. The interface uses standard HTML and is compatible with all mainstream browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Mozilla, Firefox, Safari, etc.) that aren't hardware-, software- or Java™-runtime-specific. The embedded Web-browser GUI operates over the 10/100/1000 port, and supports e-mail alerts and SNMP traps. We also provide a standard serial port for local and direct system configuration.

In addition to the GUI, Nexsan Storage Tools – a comprehensive set of storage management software tools for Windows Server families–make it easy to manage and configure multiple units from a single GUI. Nexsan Storage Tools provide support for Windows Virtual Disk Service (VDS) and Microsoft Management Console (MMC), and include MPIO support for Nexsan RAID storage systems.

Nexsan Storage Tools:

All Nexsan disk arrays, including the SATABoy, SASBoy, SATABeast, SASBeast, and the B-Series come with Nexsan Storage Tools – a comprehensive suite of software, which was purpose-built for mid-sized organizations. Nexsan Storage Tools are available for Windows, Apple OS X, AIX and popular versions of Linux.

Nexsan Storage Tools for Windows

Storage Manager provides a single console from which multiple local and remote Nexsan storage products can be easily and securely managed and monitored. Key features include.

• Management for one or more disk arrays on the LAN or WAN
• Easy to use GUI to configure advanced disk array features
• Red-green-yellow status display of all disk arrays being monitored
• Create and expand volumes
• Use as a stand-alone application or from within Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

Nexsan Data Migration Manager makes it easy to move data onto your new Nexsan disk array or to migrate it from one RAID Disk Set to another – for load balancing, increased storage capacity or any number of other common goals.

Windows VDS Integration and Shell Extensions allow administration of Windows volumes and multiple Nexsan disk arrays directly from Windows management tools. Key features include:

• Seamless integration with Microsoft management tools including: Microsoft Storage Manager for SANs, DISKRAID and DISKPART command-line tools, Microsoft Server Manager and Computer Management, Microsoft Device Manager, Microsoft Disk Management and Windows Explorer
• Create, delete, expand and migrate volumes
• Map LUNs to Windows servers
• Supports both Fibre Channel or iSCSI
• Drill down on all of the Nexsan configuration data from within Microsoft Disk Management

IP Configuration Tool is used to configure Nexsan disk arrays. Features include:

• Automatically detects any Nexsan disk array on the local subnet
• Display status of each disk array (red-green-yellow)
• View and change IP settings
• View and change disk array details such as System name, unique ID and firmware version

Host Identification Tool displays the identifiers of local storage adapters such as Fibre Channel WWPNs and iSCSI IQNs.

MultiSan IO (MSIO) Manager and Drivers provides Multi-path I/O (MPIO) drivers and management software for Windows servers to deliver greater aggregate bandwidth and fault resilience. Features include:

• See detailed information about what paths, target disks and connections the Nexsan DSM (device specific module) has discovered
• Configure the path load balancing policy, path failover strategy and path priorities
• Monitor the health of multipathing, troubleshoot issues and view logs
• Configure alerts, email alerts and other options
• Manage MultiSan IO from a GUI or from a command line

Supports popular versions of Windows including:

• Windows XP (all 32-bit versions)
• Windows Server 2003 (all 32-bit and x64 versions)
• Windows Vista (all 32-bit and x64 versions)
• Windows Server 2008 (all 32-bit and x64 versions)
• Windows 7 (all 32-bit and x64 versions)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (all x64 versions)

See the Nexsan Support site for details

For Linux Nexsan Storage Tools for Linux provides an IP configuration tool to set up the disk array from a Linux system. Nexsan does not need to ship any specific software to enable interoperability and compatibility with Linux. Key features include: IP Configuration Tool is used to configure Nexsan disk arrays Multi-path I/O capabilities built in to Linux delivers greater aggregate bandwidth and fault resilience. No special software is needed Supports popular versions of Linux including Redhat, Centos, SUSE, Fedora, Mandriva, Unbuntu, KNOPPIX, Debian, Linux Mint and Slackware. See the Nexsan Support site for details

For OS X Nexsan Storage Tools for OS X provide an IP configuration tool to set up the disk array from an OS X system. Nexsan does not need to ship any specific software to enable interoperability and compatibility with OS X. Key features include: IP Configuration Tool is used to configure Nexsan disk arrays Multi-path I/O capabilities built in to OS X delivers greater aggregate bandwidth and fault resilience. No special software is needed

For VMware Although Nexsan disk arrays are qualified with VMware, Nexsan does not ship any specific software to enable interoperability and compatibility with VMware ESX. Key features include: Multi-path I/O capabilities built into ESX 4.1 and ESXi 4.1 deliver greater aggregate bandwidth and fault resilience. No special software is needed Map LUNS to Hosts with built-in VMware ESX administration tools

For AIX For AIX, Nexsan provides a Multi-path I/O driver. Key features include: Multi-path I/O drivers leverage the advanced Multi-path I/O capabilities of AIX to deliver greater aggregate bandwidth and fault resilience

Boy and Beast Product Family:

Feature	SASBoy (SAS drives)	SASBeast (SAS drives)	SASBoy (SAS+SATA drives)	SASBeast (SAS+SATA drives)	SATABoy	SATABeast
Drive Types	SAS 300GB, 450GB, 600GB - 15000 RPM	SAS 300GB, 450GB, 600GB - 15000 RPM	SAS 300GB, 450GB, 600GB 15000 RPM and SATA 1TB 7200RPM	SAS 300GB, 450GB, 600GB - 15000 RPM and SATA 2TB and 1TB	SATA 1TB, 750GB, 500GB	SATA 2TB, 1TB, 750GB, 500GB
Drive Bays / Rack U	14 Drive Bays / 3U	42 Drive Bays / 4U	14 Drive Bays/ 3U ( 4SAS w/10 SATA or 7SAS w/ 7SATA)	42 Drive Bays / 4U (SAS or SATA in groups of 14)	14 Drive Bays / 3U	42 Drive Bays / 4U
Controllers	1 Standard Dual Optional Dual RAID Engines per Controller	1 Standard Dual Optional Dual RAID Engines per Controller	1 Standard Dual Optional Dual RAID Engines per Controller	1 Standard Dual Optional Dual RAID Engines per Controller	1 Standard Dual Optional	1 Standard Dual Optional
Battery Protected Cache per Controller	2GB Standard	2GB Standard	2GB Standard	2GB Standard	512MB, 1GB or 2GB	512MB, 1GB or 2GB
Host Ports	2 FC or 2 SAS and 2 iSCSI Ports per Controller	2 FC and 2 iSCSI Ports per Controller	2 FC or 2 SAS and 2 iSCSI Ports per Controller	2 FC and 2 iSCSI Ports per Controller	2 FC or 2 SAS and 2 iSCSI Ports per Controller	2 FC and 2 iSCSI Ports per Controller
Sustained Data Rates (with Dual Controllers)	820 MB/s Reads	1100+ MB/s Reads	820 MB/s Reads	1100+ MB/s Reads	540 + MB/s Reads (with single controller)	1100 MB/s Reads
Hardware RAID 6	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
RAID Levels	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6	0, 1, 1+0, 4, 5, 6
LUNs	254 per Controller	254 per Controller	254 per Controller	254 per Controller	254 per Controller	254 per Controller
Redundant Power Supplies	2 Redundant Standard 500 watt	2 Redundant Standard	2 Redundant Standard	2 Redundant Standard	2 Redundant Standard 400 watt	2 Redundant Standard 760 watt
Global "Hot Drive Spares"
Hot-pluggable Controllers, Drives, Power Supplies
Multiple RAID sets and LUNs per RAID set
254 LUNs per Controller
LUN Masking, ACL, Read Only Access
Nexsan WorldView Multi-unit Manager
Nexsan NexScan Onboard Browser Based GUI
Nexsan Tele-Guard Phone Home Manager
3 yr. Warranty, Advanced Exchange, 24x7 Support

Support:

Three Years Advance Replacement Warranty
Nexsan Technologies storage systems are warranted for three full years from the date of shipment. Upon verification of failure, replacement equipment will be shipped out to our customers. Return material authorizations will accompany all equipment shipped and can be issued either by our phone, fax, or email. (warranties are non-transferable without prior consent from Nexsan) Several levels of service upgrades are available for purchase.

Onsite spares Program
For maximum convenience and protection of critical storage devices, this program provides customers with on location spares. This program enables our customers to have in their facility all commonly used spare parts to facilitate rapid restoration of operations. . Along with our optional 24x7 telephone support, customers can now be assured of rapid resolution to any problem. Defective components can then be advance replaced for constant availability.

Next Business Day Onsite
Next Business Day support provides Monday through Friday, 8:00AM – 5:00PM (your local time excluding Nexsan holidays) on-site service with "Next Business Day�? response. Replacement parts are shipped via overnight service and if requested, a service representative will be onsite between 8:00AM - 5:00PM the following business day. Software related issues are generally managed remotely from our support center.

24 x 7 x 4hr Onsite
Gain the fastest and most comprehensive level of support, which delivers 24x7 with 4 hour response. Replacement parts are hand delivered with a service representative that will be onsite within 4 hours following diagnosis of hardware failure. Software related issues are generally managed remotely from our support center.

24 x 7 Telephone Support
For your convenience 24 x7 access to the Nexsan technical support team is also available as an upgrade to either the standard warranty or Next Business Day onsite upgrade.

Regulatory Approvals
CE, UL, CUL

Documentation:

Nexsan SASBoy Datasheet (.PDF)

Nexsan Beast and Boy Specification Datasheet (.PDF)