HPE GreenLake For Block Storage Release 3 Is GA

HPE GreenLake For Block Storage Release 3 marks another step forward in simplicuty and performance for the onprem, cloud-managed service.

HPE has announced general availability for HPE GreenLake for Block Storage Release 3, which is built on the HPE Alletra MP hardware platform. HPE GreenLake For Block Storage is disaggregated, scale-out block storage with a 100 percent data availability guarantee, depending on configuration.

This announcement represents the next step on a multi-step journey to consolidate, standardize, and simplify the HPE block storage portfolio on a common software and hardware stack — all with a unified cloud management experience provided by the HPE GreenLake Cloud Platform.

This block storage offering brings an on-prem cloud experience, efficient scale, and extreme resiliency and performance to modern mission-critical workloads. To get a feel for the ease of use with HPE GreenLake, we recently posted a report on their solution for VMs, HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Business Edition.

HPE Alletra Storage MP delivers a flexible block and file storage solution in a dual-node architecture. The robust Alletra Storage MP is configured with AMD EPYC processors, plenty of NVMe SSD slots, and supports Fibre Channel for block or fast Ethernet for file services. HPE has added options for different core counts and memory configurations.

HPE’s Journey To One

HPE refers to delivering disaggregated storage as the “journey to one,” Release 3 is the next step in that journey. The new release offers multi-node switched models that deliver 2x higher performance and 2.5x more capacity. Other enhancements include a more simple cloud management experience with expanded AI-based performance reporting and analytics and greater cost efficiency with a 4x data compaction guarantee.

Release 3 also unlocks the full power of NVMe for Ethernet networks with NVMe-oF/TCP support – adding to existing Fibre Channel, NVMe-oF/FC, and iSCSi connectivity options.

Disaggregation is made possible by standardized composable building blocks that are comprised of separate compute (controller nodes) and capacity (NVMe expansion shelves/JBOFs), interconnected by a high-speed, redundant NVMe-oF back-end switch fabric.

Speaking of expansion, Release 3 adds support for up to eight JBOF expansion shelves to scale from 15.36TB to around 2.8 PB — without disruption. This includes support for 8 to 24 SSDs per enclosure and the ability to upgrade drives in 2-drive increments and JBOFs in increments of 1.

AI-Driven Cloud Management Experience On-Prem

Management teams are now equipped with AI that meticulously monitors storage systems, providing predictive analytics and performance reporting. This means identifying potential hotspots in data sets due to latency issues or sudden changes in workload patterns, thus allowing for preemptive action.

Enhanced capacity reporting and the introduction of sustainability metrics, such as power consumption trends, reflect a deep understanding of the modern needs of data management.

HPE GreenLake Storage Podcast

Check out our HPE Alletra MP Hardware Deep Dive.

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1 year ago

Harold Fritts

I have been in the tech industry since IBM created Selectric. My background, though, is writing. So I decided to get out of the pre-sales biz and return to my roots, doing a bit of writing but still being involved in technology.