Red Hat Storage 2.0 expands virtualisation storage options

Red Hat has released the fourth update to version 2.0 of its Red Hat Storage integrated appliance. Red Hat Storage is built on a combination of GlusterFS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and provides a pre-configured server appliance for network-attached storage (NAS).

With Red Hat Storage 2.0 Update 4, the software now supports storing virtual machine images on the Red Hat Storage Server instead of in a storage area network (SAN) array or in scalable software-based storage. The virtual machine images can be stored in a POSIX-compatible filesystem and will be managed with the company's Enterprise Virtualization Manager.

Server-side Quorum is a new feature that allows administrators to guard against failures in network partitions. Administrators can set the maximum number of failures a trusted storage pool can sustain before the server marks it as being unavailable to protect it against data loss. Administrators can also prevent root users from having root privileges on certain volumes by assigning them the privileges of nfsnobody, a process that is known as "root squashing".

Other new features in the update include the ability to configure the FUSE queue length and support for disk encryption that allows users to create "bricks" that restrict access on encrypted volumes. A complete list of all the new features in the release, as well as a list of all package updates and technology previews included with it, is available in the Release Notes. A number of security issues have also been resolved in the update.

Red Hat Storage 2.0 Update 4 is available for Red Hat subscription customers and can be downloaded as an evaluation version from the company's web site. It is available as a Storage Software Appliance (SSA) and as a Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA). For the AGPL-licensed implementation of GlusterFS, see the Gluster.org web site.

(fab)