Gluster Introduces Gluster Storage Platform

New integrated software platform enables deployment of petabyte-scale clustered storage on industry standard hardware in just a few mouse clicks

Milpitas, CA - December 8, 2009 - Gluster, a leading provider of scalable open source storage solutions, today announced the general availability of Gluster Storage Platform. By integrating the GlusterFS file system with an operating system layer and improved management user interface, Gluster provides a complete storage software platform that simplifies the task of deploying petabyte-scale storage to two installation steps and a few mouse clicks. The new platform addresses the complexity of managing ‘big data,’ the demanding scalability requirements of modern applications, and the accelerating growth of virtual server deployments.

Designed to be easy to configure and administer, Gluster Storage Platform also packs a powerful scalability and performance punch. With its ‘no-metadata server’ architecture, Gluster provides the only commercial storage platform that removes this common source of I/O bottlenecks. This approach provides true parallel data access, ensures linear scalability and eliminates the risk of metadata server failure or corruption. Additionally, Gluster Storage Platform provides a cost effective open source solution on commodity hardware that meets enterprise requirements for data availability, ease of management and scalability.

Key Highlights of Gluster Storage Platform

• Clustered storage on a stick – the complete platform image fits on a USB memory stick that can configure a bare server to a clustered storage node in 15 minutes or less
• Unified global namespace – scale to hundreds of petabytes in a single volume across multiple commodity storage nodes
• Web-based installation and management – rapid installation of first storage node with disk formatting performed post-install; integrated management of volumes, data resources and servers plus centralized logging and reporting
• High availability – data can be replicated (mirrored) for high availability; real time self-healing performs error detection and correction within files while they are running and during recovery from hardware failures

Additionally, Gluster Storage Platform ensures continuous operation of virtual machines (VMs). Replicated virtual machines can continuously operate in the event of hardware failure and recovery is performed in the background without requiring a restart or blocking I/O to the live VM. Gluster Storage Platform uses checksum based healing detects and corrects errors within the VM rather than for the entire VM image.

“Gluster Storage Platform is the natural evolution of GlusterFS, combining the power and scalability of clustered storage with unparalleled simplicity,” said Anand Babu (AB) Periasamy, co-founder and CTO of Gluster. “Gluster is the only commercial scale-out storage platform that eliminates metadata server issues and allows non-experts to deploy petabyte-scale storage with the ease of an install wizard.”

Virtual Storage for Virtual Servers

Gluster Storage Platform aggregates disk and memory resources into a single pool of capacity under a global namespace, providing a true virtual storage environment to complement server virtualization. VM images and application data can be stored in the same system in a single volume, eliminating silos of data and centralizing management. Multiple storage building blocks are clustered together in parallel, eliminating I/O bottlenecks and hotspots that often negatively impact VM performance. With Gluster, storage administrators no longer need to manually manage multiple volumes and individual storage connections.

It is now common for mission critical applications to be deployed on VMs. The VM images not only need to be stored, they also need to continue operating in the event of hardware failures and not allow faults to interrupt applications and services. Gluster Storage Platform employs file replication to ensure multiple copies of a VM are available in the event of hardware failure and provides both high availability and sophisticated real time self-healing to ensure continuous VM operation.

Product Availability & Pricing

Gluster Storage Platform is now available with subscriptions starting at $1,500 per storage node per year. For more information, go to http://gluster.com/services/edition-subscriptions.php.

Supporting Resources

Follow Gluster on the web for the latest news and information at:

• Gluster Storage Platform
• Gluster.org Community
• Gluster on Twitter @Gluster

About Gluster

Gluster is exclusively focused on simplifying the task of storing and managing the explosion of unstructured data and transforming the economics of storage. Gluster Storage Platform is an open source clustered storage solution that runs on industry standard hardware, delivering multiple times the scalability and performance of conventional storage systems at a fraction of the cost. The Gluster architecture is modular and stackable, making it extremely easy to install, customize, and manage. Gluster Storage Platform is used in a wide range of industries including digital media, healthcare, video-on-demand, internet, energy, and biotech. Gluster is privately-held and headquartered in Milpitas, California. For more information please visit www.gluster.com.