Intransa StarterBlock™ Shared External IP Storage Architecture and Equipment Specification November 2008
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Contents 1.
Introduction
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StorStac StarterBlock Description 2.1 Product Description 2.2 Applicable Environments
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Environmental and Physical Requirements 4.1 Power Consumption 4.2 HVAC Requirements 4.3 Floorspace / Rackspace Consumption 4.4 Electrical and Safety Certification Specifications 4.5 Environmental Specifications 4.6 StarterBlock Shared, External IP Storage Specifications
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Shared, External IP Storage Product Requirements 3.1 Requirement Overview 3.2 Scalability 3.3 Connectivity and Data Transfer 3.4 Administration and Management 3.5 Storage Utilization and Operation 3.6 Integration and Certification 3.7 Operation and Playback 3.8 Data Protection 3.9 Connectivity, Application and Protocol Support
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Pricing Considerations 5.1 Capital Expenditure (CapEx) 5.2 Operating Expenditure (OpEx)
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1. Introduction This Architecture and Equipment Specification details high-level, general requirements for Intransa shared, external IP storage when deployed in a physical security environment. Intransa StarterBlock™ shared, external IP shared storage forms the underlying backbone of all of these system requirements, delivering increased reliability, scalable retention, and improved video quality with reduced administration. StarterBlock is a compact, powerful and cost saving storage platform suitable for edge recording direct from IP cameras, or as a CCTV upgrade for one or more DVRs and NVRs.
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2. StorStac StarterBlock Description 2.1 Product Description Intransa StorStac shared, external IP storage is a proven, optimized video recording and playback infrastructure and retention platform for use in video surveillance and other physical security application environments. StarterBlock is the entry product in the StorStac family of video storage. StarterBlock shared, external IP video storage solutions support standard 1GbE (1 Gigabit Ethernet) IP network infrastructures. StorStac provides modular video storage scalability from 2TB (Terabytes, each 1,000GB) to 16TB of RAID protected, hot-swap disks and field replaceable components for non-stop, 24x7x365 retention and playback.
StorStac StarterBlock shown above with protective bezel installed. The compact platform can support 2 or 4TB of RAID protected storage in just 1RU (1.75� high). Top right, StarterBlock is shown without protective bezel, revealing 4 internal hot-swap SATA drives. Bottom right, StarterBlock rear view.
By adding a StarterBlock Storage Enclosure (SSE), an additional 6 or 12TB of RAID protected, hot-swap disk drives are available as video storage in only 3U of rack space. Left, above: SSE with protective bezel installed. Left, SSE without bezel, revealing 12 hot-swap disk drives.
2.2 Applicable Environments StorStac has been designed for and is currently implemented around the world for applications including:
CCTV video surveillance system storage upgrades for increased retention capacity, maximum resolution and frame rate, and improved reliability. StorStac accomplishes this without replacing existing infrastructure including cameras, DVRs/NVRs, and software to
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protect investment, while creating a hybrid environment that delivers the benefits of both IP and analog devices;
Direct-from-IP-camera recording to leverage the capabilities of approved IP network and megapixel cameras, video analytics and video management systems from leading manufacturers and up-and-coming vendors;
All-IP physical security deployments as the storage infrastructure providing storage capacity for access control, biometrics, life safety, physical security information management systems, video analytics, and video surveillance systems.
StarterBlock is ideal for use direct from IP cameras or as a CCTV DVR/NVR upgrade due to its extremely small size, lower cost than most DVR/NVR storage, and high reliability and expansion capabilities. Base systems typically can support 30 days or more of average recording for one or more DVRs, and can be expended to support more cameras, DVRs, or NVRs or to extend retention period with an additional storage enclosure.
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3. Shared, External IP Storage Product Requirements 3.1 Requirement Overview Intransa StorStac StarterBlock shared, external IP storage will provide the features, functions, and basic capabilities required by the cameras, DVRs, NVRs or the Video Management System application and is simultaneously sharable by multiple “host� servers or NVRs running the Video Management System. 3.2 Scalability The shared, external IP storage must be cost effective as an edge recording platform, directly from IP cameras, or to support one or more DVRs and NVRs with 30 days or more average retention. The system must support existing analog infrastructure connected to DVRs, such as cameras, cabling and software to eliminate the risk of moving to IP and reduce costs while providing the benefits of IP storage. Storage capacity of the shared, external IP storage should grow from as little as 2TB of RAID protected, hot swap disk drives modularly up to 8 or 16TB.
StorStac StarterBlock shared, external IP storage systems can grow capacity for video retention by adding a StarterBlock Storage Enclosure (SSEs) without requiring additional, unneeded system performance. The base StarterBlock at top of image at left can grow in capacity by adding an SSE, at bottom.
3.3 Connectivity and Data Transfer Inbound connectivity from DVRs, NVRs, cameras and servers must be over standard Ethernet IP infrastructure. Dual 1GbE Ethernet IP interfaces are required. The shared, external IP storage must also provide data transfer functions either from remote branch office (such as a individual bank branch or retail store) to a central location (such as a security operations center/SOC or video repository), or from one shared, external IP storage system to another. Asynchronous data replication over fault resilient IP communication infrastructure must be provided.
3.4 Administration and Management The shared, external IP storage must be physical security oriented and easy to use and monitor by security practitioners and operators, without specialized IT knowledge. The shared, external IP storage should be easy be maintain, with a configuration and administration interface that uses physical security terminology (frame rate, resolution, retention, compression, number of cameras, etc.) and not complicated IT network or storage terminology to deliver basic functionality. www.intransa.com
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Single Management Tool Regardless of how many instances or the sizes of the shared, external IP storage systems that are deployed, the entire video surveillance storage environment must be manageable through a single, graphical user interface (GUI). Multiple StarterBlock and other StorStac systems connected by IP must be manageable via the same interface.
Web Based Access The shared, external IP storage should provide a Web-based browser access (such as by Microsoft Internet Explorer) GUI that can be integrated with the existing video management system GUI. There must be a single system view and storage virtualization across all storage enclosures. A single image does not represent a GUI with access to all enclosures but rather the ability of any interface/enclosure to access data across any other enclosure.
Storage Estimation Tool The shared, external IP storage must provide a tool for the security practitioner or operator to use in order to estimate the total space needed for specific scenarios (e.g. number of cameras, video quality, FPS, retention).
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The output of this estimating tool should automatically configure the underlying storage arrays without detailed storage knowledge. This estimate should also be automatically monitored and analyzed as the scenario changes and the shared, external IP storage must be able to warn the security practitioner or operator of negative conditions, such as impending disk storage shortages impacting overall retention.
Alerting The shared, external IP storage must provide alerts to the user interface GUI, through email/pager connections, and through SNMP to management frameworks. At a minimum, alerts should be issued by the storage system for system failures, component failures (e.g. disk crashes), “failing” conditions, threshold maximums and pre-set minimum available space, performance, or other system conditions.
Reporting The system should provide reporting for routine metrics including capacity utilization, CPU utilization, storage volume configurations, disk groups, etc. that the security practitioner or operator can use to easily understand storage system status.
3.5 Storage Utilization and Operation The shared, external IP storage must provide the best storage capacity utilization, leveraging advanced features that include load balancing, global hot disk sparing, storage consolidation and virtualization. The shared, external IP storage should not regularly require system shutdown or impose major performance degradation for routine applications such as defragmentation of storage. Transparent to the Video Management System (VMS) application or the NVR(s), the shared, external IP storage must provide several capabilities for the creation and management of storage volumes. Further, all these functions must be accomplished without interruption of service to the application for non-stop operation. The required capabilities include:
Adding or Provisioning Storage Volumes The security practitioner or operator must be able to provision any number of storage volumes (e.g. drive E:, drive F:) of any size in the shared, external IP storage. The addition of volumes to the installed system must happen in real time with zero down time of the system and the recording of video to the storage device must not be interrupted during the process.
Growing or Expanding the Size of Storage Volumes The shared, external IP storage must be able to increase space utilization by growing the size of the storage volume. Growing volumes to accommodate an increase storage demand from a set of cameras due to a number of reasons must be supported by the system in real time. This methodology would allow the user to only use the space immediately required instead of buying and allocating excess capacity in advance. For video management systems that require a “lifetime maximum LUN size” is specified when the storage volume is created, a “thin provisioning” capability must be
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provided to overcome this limitation, optimizing utilization by the shared, external IP storage. For video management systems or NVRs that do not require a “lifetime maximum LUN size” at time of storage volume creation, a “grow volume” capability must be provided to optimize utilization in an ongoing manner.
Moving Storage Volumes Security practitioners or operators must be able to migrate or move storage volumes from one storage system to another.
Concatenating Storage Volumes To support large scale storage needs, the shared, external IP storage needs to support storage volumes be spread across multiple disk groups within the storage system.
Cloning Storage Volumes For upgrades, technology refresh, backup, or disaster recovery operations, the shared, external IP storage must support storage volume cloning, or enable the creation of a full copy of the volume in real time.
Automatic Load Balancing The Shared, external IP storage must provide automatic load balancing, supporting seamless performance delivery when: 1) The security administrator or operator is adding performance capability; 2) When a failure occurs and the storage system automatically fails over to another storage performance controller unit, and automatically load balances between remaining devices to minimize impact on the current video record/playback workload.
Dynamic Reconfiguration Security practitioners and operators must be able to add performance to the surveillance system without interrupting service, including recording and playback. The shared, external IP storage must dynamically accept additional performance controllers and additional storage capacity without requiring a system reboot or interrupting current recording, playback or system performance.
Recording Latency Any frame loss due to recording latency should be measurable on a statistical basis. The shared, external IP storage should support Zero Frame Loss operation. Additionally, the system should provide a toolset to analyze and estimate the necessary number of disk drives or enclosures to ensure a tolerable frame loss ratio as defined by the specific application environment or operator.
Remote Boot The shared, external IP storage system should support remote boot functionality. Remote reboot, also referred to as “iSCSI boot” or “diskless operation”, enables the recording platform (such as a DVR or NVR) to be launched using the shared, external IP storage and eliminating the need for such devices to have local disk
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drives. This reduces cost, improves system reliability and decrease administrative burden. The shared, external IP storage should support booting several servers (DVRs or NVRs) simultaneously without any downtime for the whole system. 3.6 Integration and Certification In addition to video data recording, the shared, external IP storage should support other physical security applications, including storage of files and databases, to allow maximum utilization of the system, now and in the future. rd
The shared, external IP storage must be tested and certified with a wide range of 3 party applications and hardware in this manner to ensure proper integration. These applications should include access control, authentication, biometrics, imaging, infrastructure providers, IP megapixel cameras, IP network cameras, IT, network video recorders (NVRs), physical security infrastructure management systems (PSIMS), physical security utilities, video analytics and video management systems (VMS). The shared, external IP storage must be able to integrate with the other components of the physical security system at both hardware (Ethernet, IP, iSCSI) and software (GUI, API, SNMP) levels.
Intransa shared, external IP storage is certified through the StorAlliance Technology partner labs with nearly 100 physical security, imaging, and IT applications and products (as of November 2008). Intransa StorStac systems are also certified by the independent IPVS Magazine labs. 3.7 Operation and Playback The shared, external IP storage must allow fast access to recorded video data. The shared, external IP storage must be able to provide fast simultaneous retrieval and recording from several locations or video streams without compromising recording speed. The shared, external IP storage recording capability should not be affected by the retrieval process under normal conditions. The system must continue recording video streams while the security practitioner or operation is retrieving/viewing stored video.
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3.8 Data Protection The shared, external IP storage must provide advanced data protection including fault resilient RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disk) protection levels 0, 1, 5, 10 for video loss prevention. The storage must also be designed with OEM-grade components for increased reliability rather than less dependable PC- or consumer grade devices.
Fault Resilient Configurations The shared, external IP storage must support fault resilient hardware and software configurations, with hot swap disk drives and field replaceable components with dual inbound 1GbE Ethernet IP connections to IP cameras, DVRs, NVRs, servers and other network infrastructure. Intransa StorStac shared, external IP storage systems feature hot-swap disk drives with global hot sparing, whether in the StarterBlock base system, or the add-on StarterBlock Storage Enclosure (SSE). Each are shown at left without protective bezels.
A disk group can be made to appear to a VMS, DVR or NVR as a single drive letter or volume (e.g. Drive E:), yet actually be composed of multiple hot-swap disk drives in a base enclosure, StarterBlock Storage Enclosure, or spread across both, with full data protection.
RAID for Data Reliability The shared, external IP storage must allow data redundancy and enable data restoration in case of disk failure by supporting standard RAID protection. The shared, external IP storage must provide automatic data recovery from individual disk failures with no downtime of the overall system. Global sparing should be provided across a single or multiple enclosures to reduce the amount of standby drives required for RAID support.
Disk Drive Reliability The meantime between failures (MTBF) should be as high as commercially available, typically exceeding 1 million hours of operation for OEM-grade disk drives used in the shared, external IP storage solution.
RAID 5 Rebuild Performance After any disk failure, the shared, external IP storage should continue to operate without interfering with the video streams or the VMS, NVR or DVR system. Video channels or recording streams should not be forced off line and frames should not be dropped/lost during a RAID5 rebuild to recover lost video.
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3.9 Connectivity, Application and Protocol Support
Physical Connections The principal physical connection will be standard 1GbE Ethernet. A minimum of two inbound 1GbE interfaces are required per base systems for host connectivity (IP cameras, severs, DVRs, NVRs, network infrastructure, etc.).
Communications Protocols IP supporting 1GbE Ethernet IP network infrastructure is required. The shared, external IP storage should support SNMP and traps.
Video Standards The shared, external IP storage must support recording in all common standards via the surveillance and monitoring applications. These standards included 2CIF, CIF, QCIF, 4CIF and 8CIF compression and standard graphics file formats including JPEG, MPEG, MPEG-1,-2,-4 & BMP in multiple real time/time lapse formats. CCTV still, motion, full motion, time lapse, pan/tilt/zoom day/night/infrared digital and analog camera feeds with multiple FPS and resolution rates is supported. New standards such as H.264 must also be supported.
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Video Management Systems The shared, external IP storage must support leading VMS, PSIM, infrastructure, analytics, access control, compression, and other physical security hardware and software providers. These should include some or all of the following vendor certifications to ensure proper integration and post-sale support.
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All of these vendors have one or more products which have completed Intransa StorAlliance Technology Lab testing and are members of the StorAlliance.
Storage Protocols The system must provide the iSCSI target side of the iSCSI standard infrastructure. Standard IP network infrastructure with 1GbE Ethernet IP should be supported.
WQHL The shared, external IP storage must support Microsoft WHQL certification.
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iSCSI Initiator Support The shared, external IP storage must support standard Linux and Windows iSCSI initiators commonly used by non-proprietary operating system based DVR and NVR systems. These include:
Operating System Microsoft Windows 2008 64bit Microsoft Windows 2008 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 64bit Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Microsoft Windows 2003 SP2 64bit Microsoft Windows 2003 SP2 Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Red Hat RHEL3 Red Hat RHEL4 SUSE Linux 9.2 Solaris 10 for x86
Initiator Windows iSCSI Initiator Default Windows iSCSI Initiator Default Windows iSCSI Initiator Default Windows iSCSI Initiator Default Windows iSCSI Initiator - latest Windows iSCSI Initiator - latest Windows iSCSI Initiator - latest Linux iSCSI Initiator - latest Linux iSCSI Initiator- latest Linux iSCSI Initiator - latest Solaris iscsiadm version- latest
Disk Drive Density Support The shared, external IP storage should be capable of being configured with a minimum of multiple 750GB or 1TB or larger SATA-II disk drives. Enclosures must support at least 4 disk drives in a 1U footprint, 12 drives in 2U, and 16 drives in 3U. All disk technology in the shared, external IP storage should be Enterprise or OEM grade. The shared, external IP storage should be capable of being configured with SATA-II drives.
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4. Environmental and Physical Requirements The shared, external IP storage will provide environmentally-friendly architectures and technologies. 4.1 Power Consumption The security practitioner or operator should consider the consumption of power by the shared, external IP storage as a green IT technology. The system must be as electrically efficient as commercially possible. Low energy consuming IP infrastructure (in place of analog coax or high energy consuming Fibre Channel) is mandatory. High density designs should make maximum disk drive capacities available such as 750GB or 1TB disk drives in tight 1U to 3U spaces to reduce the cost and energy consumption per terabyte. 4.2 HVAC Requirements The security practitioner or operator should also consider HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems) requirements of the shared, external IP storage. The system must radiate a minimum of heat (BTU), within normal IT-grade bounds for efficient storage solutions. Well designed configurations that only require additional processor/throughput capacity (such as Performance Controller Units) or storage enclosures when additional capacity is required (such as Storage Capacity Enclosures) to be added when needed are highly valued. Systems requiring larger footprints with unused capacity or performance and which therefore waste heating and cooling energy by providing more than is immediately required are to be avoided. 4.3 Floorspace / Rackspace Consumption The security practitioner or operation should consider the amount floorspace or rackspace required by the shared, external IP storage. The system must provide high density technology and compact packaging consuming a minimum of RUs (rack units). Usage of global hot spare disk drives required for RAID configurations, and consolidation and virtualization features, to reduce overall floor and rackspace consumed are key features. 4.4 Electrical and Safety Certification Specifications Standard equipment certification must be applicable to the shared, external IP storage. These should be at a minimum:
FCC Class A EN 55033 Class A CE Mark, ICES-003 Class A (Canada) RoHS
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4.5 Environmental Specifications The shared, external IP storage solution should operate in a wide range of normal business environmental specifications.
Temperature - 10 to 35째C (50 to 104째F) Humidity - 10% to 90% non-condensing
4.6 StarterBlock Shared, External IP Storage Specifications
STORSTAC STARTERBLOCK BASE SYSTEMS Each StorStac StarterBlock shared, external IP storage system is available in two Fault Resilient base system configurations.
StorStac StarterBlock Fault Resilient Configuration Base System with 2TB Capacity StarterBlock M4 Fault Resilient Base System, with 2x 1GbE ports, 4 x 750GB hot-swap disk drives with RAID 5 and global sparing, StorStac OS, Video Storage Administrator, StorAR Asynchronous Replication, and StorStac Software
1RU Maximum 215 watts total power consumption
StorStac StarterBlock Fault Resilient Configuration Base System with 4TB Capacity StarterBlock M4 Fault Resilient Base System, with 2x 1GbE ports, 4 x 1TB hot-swap disk drives with RAID 5 and global sparing, StorStac OS, Video Storage Administrator, StorAR Asynchronous Replication, and StorStac Software
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1RU Maximum 215 watts total power consumption
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STARTERBLOCK STORAGE ENCLOSURES (SSEs) One StarterBlock Storage Enclosure (SSE) can be added per base system.
StarterBlock SSE Fault Resilient Storage Capacity Enclosure with 6TB Capacity StarterBlock Storage Enclosure 6TB M12 Fault Resilient capacity expansion, with 12 x 750GB hotswap disk drives with RAID 5 and global sparing.
2RU Maximum 250 watts total power consumption
StarterBlock SSE Fault Resilient Storage Capacity Enclosure with 12TB Capacity StarterBlock Storage Enclosure 12TB M12 Fault Resilient capacity expansion, with 12 x 1TB hotswap disk drives with RAID 5 and global sparing.
2RU Maximum 250 watts total power consumption
For failover and for maximum performance, disk drive types should not be mixed in a realm or file volume.
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5. Pricing Considerations 5. 1 Capital Expenditure (CapEx) CapEx represents the direct costs of acquisition of the initial shared, external IP storage. The video surveillance marketplace is highly competitive and therefore CapEx or product price can be a major factor in customer decisions. For accuracy, CapEx must include all the hardware, software, and any infrastructure needed for the shared, external IP storage to run, plus any installation or integration costs.
Hardware The shared, external IP storage hardware Bill of Materials should include all hardware required to make the full system operational. This includes all enclosures, cables, connectors, power connections, etc.
Software The shared, external IP storage software Bill of Materials should include all software required to make the full system operational.
Installation Installation itemization should include all steps, procedures, or other operations necessary to bring the shared, external IP storage online and available to the Video Management System, DVR or NVR.
5.2 Operating Expenditure (OpEx) These are the costs of managing and maintaining the Shared, external IP storage over the lifetime of the system. These costs include customer support, hardware, software updates, etc.
Annual Maintenance All maintenance costs should be identified including all spares, FRUs, or other support items. Intransa shared, external IP storage includes 3 years of customer hardware protection, including spare parts, telephone support and web access standard.
Software Upgrades All upgrades to the shared, external IP storage software must be itemized for major, minor and maintenance releases during and after the initial warranty period. Intransa shared, external IP storage includes 1 year of customer software protection, including major, minor and maintenance releases standard.
Labor Costs The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculation includes the cost of labor to operate the system. This is the cost of any labor beyond Installation of the system. All such costs must be itemized and either a fixed rate or a “guesstimate� should be provided.
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Intransa, Inc. Corporate Headquarters 2870 Zanker Road, Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95134-2114
866 446 7726 or 408 678 8600 / www.intransa.com / sales@intransa.com
Š 2008 Intransa, Inc. All rights reserved.
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