Mellanox With Family of Networking Solutions and Software for Connecting Flash Storage to Fabric

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. announced a family of end-to-end networking solutions and software for connecting solid-state storage to the fabric.

The Mellanox ConnectX-4, ConnectX-5 adapter and BlueField family of programmable processors support smart offloads that connect SSDs directly to the network in the most efficient way possible, thereby simplifying system design and reducing both power and storage system costs.
 
The recently launched ConnectX-5 adapter includes hardware offloads for the newly-approved NVMe Over Fabrics standard to remove the storage system processor from the data path. This enables flash-based storage platforms to connect more NVMe SSDs without the burden of adding additional costly CPUs to the system.

Both the ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-5 adapters integrate hardware support of RDMA over both IB and Ethernet, at network speeds ideally matched for flash storage, including 25, 40, 50, and 100Gb/s speeds. Utilizing the newly released Resilient RoCE software, NVMe Over Fabrics solutions using Ethernet can be easily deployed in ordinary enterprise data centers.
 
BlueField combines ConnectX-5 network acceleration, RDMA and NVMe over Fabrics offloads, and a PCIe Gen4 switch, with an array of high-performance 64-bit ARMv8 cores in a compact and efficient SoC. The resulting device offers a networked storage controller for solid state flash arrays; eliminating the need for expensive PCIe switches and costly CPUs in each SSD enclosure and connecting flash devices directly to the network for efficient storage access.

BlueField Architecture
Click to enlarge

These adapters operate seamlessly with the new Spectrum SN2100 Ethernet switch, which supports up to 16 ports at 100GbE, 32 ports at 50GbE, and 64 at 25GbE. Its  half-width, 1U high form factor allows dual-connectivity to storage arrays, flash shelves, and flash-accelerated servers for HA at speeds supporting flash storage.

Mellanox LinkX cables complete the solution with 25, 50, and 100GbE copper and optical cables and transceivers supporting 25, 50, and 100Gb/s speeds over distances from one meter to 100km.
 
“25, 50, and 100GbE are ideal speeds for connecting SSDs to the network,” said Dennis Martin, president, Demartek. “The newest NVMe SSDs can sustain approximately 25Gb/s of read throughput and have lower latency than earlier generations of SSDs, so the higher bandwidth and lower latency of 25, 50 and 100GbE networking is ideal for taking full advantage of their performance.“
 
Both ConnectX-5 and BlueField offload the NVMe over Fabrics protocol translation to hardware, eliminating the need to route each storage system transaction through the CPU. Both devices integrate a PCIe switch supporting both PCIe Gen3 and PCIe Gen4, allowing a direct connection to current SSDs and also to the next generation of SSDs using fewer lanes to move more data.
 
“We’ve seen the rapid evolution of SSDs and have been contributing to the NVMe over Fabrics standard and community drivers,” said Michael Kagan, CTO, Mellanox. “Because faster storage requires faster networks, we designed the highest-speeds and most intelligent offloads into both our ConnectX-5 and BlueField families. This lets us connect many SSDs directly to the network at full speed, without the need to dedicate many CPU cores to managing data movement, and we provide a complete end-to-end networking solution with the highest-performing 25, 50, and 100GbE switches and cables as well.”
 

Multiple partners demo Mellanox networking throughout the Flash Memory Summit:

• Mellanox: 25, 50, and 100GbE networking and RoCE: Booth 138 and in the NVMe Solutions Pavilion
• E8 Storage: Highly-available, distributed NVMe over Fabrics: Booth 113
• Mangstor: Flash appliance supporting NVMe over Fabrics: Booth 601
• Memblaze: FlashRAID featuring NVMe SSDs and Mellanox networking: Booth 319
• Micron: NVMe over Fabrics featuring both Windows and Linux initiators in the NVMe Solutions
• Pavilion; Micron flash products and other solutions in Booth 134 and the Micron Solutions Pavilion in Room 210 of the Santa Clara Convention Center
• The Newisys division of Sanmina: Flash storage systems supporting NVMe over Fabrics as well as SATA and SAS SSD connectivity: Booth 645
• Nimbus Data: Next generation all-flash array supporting iSER over IB and RoCE (and many other storage protocols): Booth 313
• Samsung: Learn about fast flash storage solutions for Ceph, NVMe over Fabrics, Windows Storage Spaces, and more: Visit Booth 307
• SK Telecom: AF (All Flash) Media Server connected with Mellanox OCP network cards: Booth 107
• SANBlaze: SANBlaze Storage Emulation test solutions which support 25, 50 and 100GbE using Mellanox ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-4 Lx: Booth 848