Direct-Attached Storage using Fibre Channel Protocol Dramatically Expands vSAN™ Storage Options

ATTO Technology completed the VMware vSAN® ReadyNode certification suite in a way never done before: An ATTO XstreamCORE® intelligent bridge was used to fully disaggregate storage from the server while using Fibre Channel as the transport protocol.

This groundbreaking configuration and its ramifications are detailed in the white paper “DAS Over FC Technology Allows ATTO to Disaggregate Storage and Complete vSAN Certification Suite”.

Traditional options to build out VMware vSAN environments come with limitations. Purchasing new nodes can be costly, replacing drives within existing nodes creates downtime, and adding external JBODs is difficult or impossible. Customers couldn’t fully leverage their vSAN architecture.

We developed and tested a solution to address these problems and the result will allow users to fully leverage their vSAN architecture. This solution utilizes the incredible power and utility of ATTO XstreamCORE intelligent Bridges and enables distributed vSAN architectures that were previously unavailable.

ATTO Technology was able to achieve this innovative solution and complete the vSAN Certification Suite using components that are vSAN certified from partners such as Dell, Lenovo, Intel, HPE, and AIC.

ATTO XstreamCORE intelligent Bridges add flexible, external storage to vSAN by creating a direct-attached storage environment with disaggregation using Fibre Channel as the transport protocol. Optimized for high performance with multiple hardware acceleration engines, XstreamCORE provides industry-leading performance to up to 64 servers with less than 4 microseconds of added latency.