ONStor Inc.,  recently announced the launch of their new Cougar 6000 series NAS gateway and claim: 

“Cougar’s advanced multi-core storage network processors are built into a highly available “cluster-in-a-box” design offering 18 cores per filer. This delivers high throughput, smallest footprint per rack unit, excellent power and cooling efficiency, and low cost per terabyte. This enables enterprises to process more data for less and stay in their current data centres longer.”

ONStor and NetApp are head on competitors in the Network Attached Storage business so I thought that I would follow through and find out why ONStor make their cooling and power efficiency claims:

The Hot Aisle asked a few pertinent questions:

How many Watts per TB does Cougar use? ONStor were able to give a really good answer to this question that clearly demonstrates that their design decision to use low power components paid off in the final product.

“Given the lower power draw of a single filer (300W  max) compared to competing products, the Watts per TB is very good.  When  the Cougar filer is used in an ONStor Pantera solution (Cougar filer + 42TB  storage), Watts per TB is ~15, which is significantly lower than the  competition.  For example, the NetApp FAS 3020 is greater than 50 Watts  per TB.”

That adds up to a staggering 2.1 KW extra power load from a similar sized competitive product. Depending on the PUE of your Data Center (say an average modern one at 1.6) this is a total annual energy saving of nearly 30 MW hours. Depending on where you buy your electricity that works out at a $10,000 per annum increase in our electricity bill for the NetApp. I bet that the ONStor design decision to use low power components does not add even $100 to the total product costs!

Is there any special energy efficiency mode like in the Copan offering that allows parts of the equipment to power down?

What is the recommended operating temperature range of Cougar? (For example can it operate at high temperatures such as those found in fresh air cooled sites or sites that set the return air setting above 24º C and use economizers)?

“Yes, Cougar can operate  in fresh air cooled sites.  The recommended operating temperature of  Cougar is 0º - 40º C” [104º F]

Wow, we really have a vendor who gets it. Regular readers of The Hot Aisle know that increasing the return air setting can enable free cooling and economizers to run for more of the year thereby reducing cooling costs.

Are there any special features that make the product specially efficient in it’s use of cooling?

“The  efficiency in cooling is a direct result of the overall power consumption of  approximately 280W per filer.  Since the system power consumption is  quite low, the only type of cooling required is forced air.  The filer  does not need more exotic types of cooling such as active heat sinks on  large parts.

Additionally, the  Cougar design incorporates variable speed fans.  During normal operation, the fans spin at about 60% of their maximum RPM, which results in lower power  draw.  In the event of a temperature condition (e.g. outside ambient  above 40º C) or a failed fan, the fans are then automatically turned up  to full speed.

It’s also important  to mention that the Cougar file does not require any exotic forms of cooling such as active heat sinks that would then be single points of failure.   The Cougar filer employs N+1 redundant fan cooling, meaning that one fan can  fail and the remaining fans will still adequately cool the  system.”

How might Cougar fit into an environment with hot or cold aisle containment?

“The recommendation would be for the front of the Cougar  (i.e. logo side) to be on the cold aisle side.  Cold air is pulled in  through the front and then exhausted out the back, which would then be the hot  aisle side. Given the low power draw of Cougar, the differential between intake and exhaust temperature is less than 5º C.”

Overall a significantly better than average environmental performance and a firm that really understands data center integration and has made the effort to get it right.

For more information, please visit www.onstor.com.