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StorNext File System

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StorNext File System (SNFS), colloquially referred to as "StorNext" is a shared disk file system made by Quantum Corporation. Stornext enables multiple Windows, Linux and Apple workstations access shared block storage over a Fibre Channel network. With the Stornext file system installed, these computers can read and write to the same storage volume at the same time enabling what is known as a "file-locking SAN." StorNext is used in environments where large files must be shared, and accessed simulanesouly by users without network delays, or where a file must be available for access by multiple readers starting at different times. Common use cases include multiple video editor environments in feature film, television and general video post production.[1]

History

The original name of Stornext was CentraVision File System (CVFS). It was created by MountainGate Imaging Systems Corporation to provide fast data transfer between Windows and IRIX computers. Advanced Digital Information Corporation acquired MountainGate in September 1999, added additional client types, and changed the name to StorNext File System. The first new clients were Solaris and Linux. In August 2006 Quantum acquired ADIC.

Infrastructure

StorNext is comprised of both software and hardware elements. On the front end, the filesystem is managed by usually two Metadata controllers, a primary and a failover or a metadata appliance. These MDC's act as the traffic director for the block-level filesystem with no data-overhead typically associated with NAS configured network shares.

Fibre Channel storage is the other key element of a stornext filesystem implementation. This is often referred to as "Production SAN" or "Production Storage Workspace."

Client systems are not required to run the same operating system to access a shared filesystem containing StorNext data. As of January 2008, the operating systems with available client software are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X (as Xsan developed by Apple), Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, and IRIX.

Media & Entertainment Use

The robustness of Stornext has made it an ideal choice for television and feature film post-production as many multiple editors can access the same set of video data non-destructively. [2][3]


Archive Integration

The StorNext File System is the foundation for Quantum's StorNext Storage Manager, a hierarchical storage management system that is used for data archival with a back end robotic tape library. This is key for large media environments that have multi-year video data retention requirements

See also

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References