Red Hat releases new cloud-friendly Red Hat Storage

Red Hat, best known as the leading business Linux vendor, announced on September 10th, the general availability of a new release of Red Hat Storage Server (RHSS) to help its enterprise customers "realize the true potential of deploying an open software-defined storage solution without compromising on enterprise grade capabilities, performance, and manageability."

This latest release, RHSS 2.1, combines Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.4 with the latest GlusterFS community release, oVirt, the open source virtualization platform, and XFS File System to deliver open software-defined storage.

Red Hat argues that, in particular, the new version of RHSS is ideal for OpenStack users. That's because it will provide a private cloud stack with RHSS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack that is integrated, engineered, and supported by a single vendor.

Red Hat Storage Server 2.1's new features include:

• Integration with the latest OpenStack release with object storage capabilities is now accessible using the Object Storage (Swift) API layer in the OpenStack Grizzly release.
• Storage back-end for OpenStack’s Block Storage (Cinder) and Image Service (Glance).
• Geographical replication technology enhances global data protection and availability by providing timely replication of unstructured data over a WAN link to a disaster recovery site to support stringent data recovery objectives. 
• Full Windows Server Message Block (SMB) 2.0 protocol compatibility, integration, and support for Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and performance enhancements.
• Red Hat Satellite integration to easily install, provision, and maintain Red Hat Storage Servers and provide a solution to enterprises requiring absolute control over and privacy of the maintenance and package deployments.

Put it all together and Ranga Rangachari, Red Hat's VP and general manager of Red Hat Storage, said in a statement that the program "redefines and revolutionizes the way enterprises manage their unstructured data, while setting the open source standard for software-defined storage. The new features in Red Hat Storage servers are designed to help customers optimize business continuity service levels, drive business agility, and further simplify and improve operational efficiency across private, public, and open hybrid clouds.”

That's fine for the CTO. For the CFO, In a Red Hat sponsored IDC white paper, the Economics of Software-based Storage, IDC found that Red Hat Storage Server can generate up to 52 percent in storage system savings and an additional 20 percent in operational savings.

Find that hard to believe? Red Hat also announced the new Red Hat Storage Test Drives on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This gives enterprise customers the chance to play with Red Hat Storage Server on AWS before investing in it. Then, after you've put this new storage technology to the test you can decide for yourself if it really delivers the cost savings you need in a petabyte storage world.

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• Red Hat's Big Data strategy: A full stack approach
• Red Hat throws its hat into the Big Data ring