The B800i 8-Bay iSCSI SAN Storage Enclosure from Drobo is an 8-bay storage enclosure, designed for use in iSCSI SAN environments. The enclosure supports standard 3.5" SATA hard drives. It is built on Drobo's BeyondRAID technology, which makes it easy to add or upgrade drives as your storage needs increase. You can even mix and match disks of different capacities. The enclosure is compatible with Windows, Mac, VMware vSphere, and XenServer operating environments.
BeyondRAID offers the data protection that is delivered by advanced RAID technology, without the stringent requirements required to create a RAID array. You won't be locked into using the same size disks, and you won't have to migrate data off the array to add capacity. When the array starts to fill up, simply add another disk -- or replace one of the disks in the array with one of a higher capacity. If a disk fails, simply replace it -- no data will be lost.
BeyondRAID Technology
An iSCSI Drobo can hold up to 32TB of raw storage and beyond. To add capacity, simply insert a new hard drive or replace your smallest drive with a larger one, even when all drive bays are full. Unlike traditional RAID systems, the BeyondRAID technology in Drobo enables you to leverage different drive capacities, allowing for continuous expansion as larger drives become available. With Drobo, expansion is automatic, instantaneous, and access to data is always maintained.
Drobo can protect from single or dual drive failures and has a virtual hot spare capability -- ensuring all drives are used at all times.
Drobo can protect from single or dual drive failures and has a virtual hot spare capability -- ensuring all drives are used at all times.
Optimizing Business Applications
Drobo is ideal for building your first server virtualization cluster and had been certified for VMware vSphere and Citrix Xen Server environments.
Drobo is also a cost-effective way to provide reliable storage for your backup server and has been certified for use with Symantec Backup Exec.
Drobo is also a cost-effective way to provide reliable storage for your backup server and has been certified for use with Symantec Backup Exec.
iSCSI SAN Technology
iSCSI can be used to connect storage directly to servers using a high-speed connection, or it can be used to create a Storage Area Network (SAN) with to 2, 5, or 10 plus servers.
With an iSCSI SAN, centralized storage is provided to each server over a high-speed network and storage can be allocated or expanded instantaneously. Also, any single server does not tie up free space and there are fewer storage devices to maintain.
With an iSCSI SAN, centralized storage is provided to each server over a high-speed network and storage can be allocated or expanded instantaneously. Also, any single server does not tie up free space and there are fewer storage devices to maintain.
Design
All Drobos have carrier-less drive insertion. This means there are no special parts or screws that have to be added to the drives before they are inserted. It's like inserting a cassette tape into a video recorder.
While it can be rack mounted, the Drobo model B800i is compact and quiet, making it ideal for workgroup environments that need storage located in an office or on a desk.
Even the faceplate is magnetic, with the manual on the back. Primary management is by using drive status lights and visual capacity gauge.
And, all Drobos look good too!
While it can be rack mounted, the Drobo model B800i is compact and quiet, making it ideal for workgroup environments that need storage located in an office or on a desk.
Even the faceplate is magnetic, with the manual on the back. Primary management is by using drive status lights and visual capacity gauge.
And, all Drobos look good too!
BeyondRAID -- In Depth
Most modern storage arrays aggregate disks and prevent against single drive failures using a 20-year-old technology called RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). While RAID has served many businesses well, it requires up-front knowledge of its functionality and has many shortcomings. BeyondRAID technology, built into every Drobo, addresses these shortcomings and makes virtualizing disk drives usable by everyone. BeyondRAID provides these enhancements over traditional RAID:
- Thin Provisioning as a fundamental capability allows for infinite capacity expansion by just replacing a drive with a larger one
- Instant Expansion occurs when a new, or larger, drive is inserted without any disruption in service
- Drobo's volumes are Smart Volumes, pulling needed storage from a common pool and then returning deleted blocks back to the common pool
- Mixed Drive Utilization allows you to insert any drive, of any size, or any type, and Drobo will optimally use it -- check out our interactive Capacity Calculator
- Automatic Protection Levels ensures the best algorithm is used to protect from drive failure depending on the number of drives that are inserted without any user configuration
- Dual Disk Redundancy enhances BeyondRAID protection by guarding from multiple drive failures
- Virtual Hot Spare utilizes all drives at all time - no drives sitting idle waiting for one to fail
- Drobos are Data Aware, intelligently handling data for added resiliency, performance, and management
- Drive Re-ordering allows Drobo disk packs to be moved to another Drobo, and even re-ordered, while still functioning -- try that with RAID
Drobo Dashboard Management
Drobo Dashboard is the single tool to centrally manage all of your Drobos. Drobo Dashboard gives you status as if all of your Drobos were right in front of you by providing you the same status lights and capacity gauge that are on the front panel. All administration tasks are a single click away and there's even a built-in data protection tool called Drobo Copy to easily copy data to and from your Drobo. Simply, it's the easiest way to configure and manage business-class storage.
Optional Drobo Care
The Drobo Care service and support program extends your peace of mind beyond the standard warranty terms for 3 years and beyond. With DroboCare, a technician is always available to answer your call and if something happens to go wrong, Drobo will send you a replacement unit right away.