Isilon is a cluster-based storage array appliance that consists of independent nodes that all integrated together using OneFS to provide high availability file system that can scale up to 20PB’s in a single logical file system.
An Isilon cluster consists of a minimum of 3 nodes and can go up to 144 nodes. Each node consists of front-end ports for client connection and back-end ports for internal cluster communication.
Front-end ports can connect to the client network using standard Gigabit or 10-Gigabit Ethernet connection; Back-end ports use a redundant high speed 8 gigabit Infiniband network for internal cluster communication.
The most common types of nodes are the S-series nodes that deliver high IOPS, the X-series nodes which deliver high throughput, and the NL-series nodes which deliver high-capacity. All three types of nodes can co-exist simultaneously in a single file system on the same cluster
Both S-series and X-series nodes are recommended for client connection, NL-series nodes are not recommended for client connection and should be used for archiving.
Isilon supports multi-protocol access to files using NFS/SMB/FTP protocols.
