NCSA Mass Storage System Upgrade

In November 1999, the NCSA mass storage system (UniTree) was upgraded and expanded to better meet the performance and storage demands of NCSA's HPC user community. The system has been under evaluation since that time to determine the improvements offered to users.

According to High Performance Data Management (HPDM) team leader Michelle Butler, retrieval performance has increased dramatically since late 1999. The storage performance has not shown the same level of increase because the center initially used one HiPPI interface for storage. Three HiPPI interfaces are used in round-robin for retrievals. (Both graphs report mssftp usage only.) In mid-January 2000, however, the HPDM group changed to using all three HiPPI interfaces for both storage and retrieval. February data are currently being analyzed but Butler is confident that users are seeing good performance when getting and putting files.

Mass Storage Statistics Now Available

HPDM UniTree administrators now offer several ways to review UniTree system statistics. (This page is on a secure server so you need your Kerberos login and password to authenticate.) Among the choices are staging times, transfer rates, and user usage with a variety of date options (yesterday, last seven days, last 30 days, or specific dates). Staff expect this resource to become part of the under-development user portal in the future.

Reseachers on NCSA systems can use these data to determine if the rates on their files fall within the norm. If you have questions about interpreting the graphical information, contact staff in the NCSA Consulting Office.

Upgrade Details

The salient features and upgrades include the following:

• An eight 250MHz R10000-processor SGI Origin2000 with 8 gigabytes of memory makes up the UniTree system.
• It uses three HiPPI interfaces in a round-robin scheme to maximize network throughput to NCSA's high-performance computing systems.
• It runs UniTree Central File Manager (UCFM), version 2.1, from UniTree Software Inc.
• The UniTree disk cache has been doubled to 2 terabytes.
• Tape drive upgrades include the addition of eight new StorageTek 9840 tape drives as well as upgrades to the existing ten IBM Magstar 3590 tape drives.
• Backed by a StorageTek PowderHorn 9310 Automated Tape Cartridge system and a IBM Magstar 3494 Tape Library, the system can easily store and retrieve several terabytes of data per day.

NCSA Resources

Below are links to NCSA-provided resources on UniTree, including accessing UniTree, User Guides, Frequently Asked Questions, and other pages.

• SCD's UniTree summary page
• NCSA UniTree system page

Vendor Resources

For more information about the hardware components in the system, check the vendor-provided sources listed below:

• UniTree Software Inc
• UniTree Technical overview
• StorageTek 9840 Tape System
• StorageTek PowderHorn 9310 Tape Library
• IBM Magstar 3494 Tape Library
• IBM Magstar 3590 Tape System
• SGI Origin Server