Storage At LinuxWorld: New Hardware, Software Offerings On Tap

Veritas is slated to introduce Tuesday new agents for its Veritas Cluster Server to increase the availability of IBM DB2, MySQL and Oracle databases in Linux environments, company executives said.

Veritas Cluster has been available for Linux for some time, but this is the first time Veritas has offered database-specific agents for the application, said Arya Barirani, senior manager of product marketing at the company. "The agents let customers create a more turnkey-style environment for databases," he said.

Barirani said the new agents address one of the three building blocks of the utility computing model--availability, performance and automation. "The agents address the availability portion," he said. "In the utility model, you need the databases to be continuously available to minimize customer downtime."

Veritas also for the first time has brought its Foundation Suite to Linux on the IBM mainframe, said Barirani. As a result, Veritas File System and Veritas File Manager now work on IBM's zSeries mainframes being run under Linux. "We're finding the zSeries becoming a significant consolidation point for Linux," he said.

Sistina Software, a Minneapolis-based developer of data sharing software, and CommVault Systems, an Oceanport, N.J.-based developer of data management software, also plan to use LinuxWorld to unveil an OEM relationship that brings together file and block storage management with enterprise data protection for clustered Intel-based blades under Linux, company executives said.

Meanwhile, PyX Technologies, an El Cerrito, Calif.-based developer of client and server software, is slated to introduce iSCSI target and initiator tools that allow iSCSI storage networks to be built in the Linux environment.

Dennis Burke, vice president of sales and marketing at PyX, said his company's new software is available to both OEMs and solution providers. Solution providers can use the software with either new systems or to retrofit on existing systems to configure customer environments for use with iSCSI.

Also at LinuxWorld, San Diego-based Dot Hill Systems demonstrated a Fibre Channel SAN solution for Linux environments. The company's SANnet II FC is being demonstrated in a cluster configuration and with a SAN in the Red Hat booth, company executives said.

While Network Appliance is not exhibiting at LinuxWorld, the company did choose the same week to unveil a strategic partnership with Red Hat under which the two companies will work together to develop and deliver Linux storage protocols and collaborate on support for NetApp storage capabilities in Red Hat environments, company executives said.