SANbric 1.8TB Rugged Rotating Removable Storage

VMETRO’s SANbric storage system enables commercial Fibre Channel disks to be used for high-speed, streaming data recording applications in harsh environments. The SANbric is a rugged removable storage device providing 1.8 Terabytes of storage capacity in a JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) configuration. It enables the power, flexibility and ease of use of Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) to be fully exploited.

The SANbric is a sealed metal enclosure housing up to six high-performance hard drives. The unit makes use of dual-port, enterprise-class, Fibre Channel drives, allowing high-speed data recording in high-altitude rugged environments.

Each corner of the unit is fitted with a molded rubber bumper to protect the unit during conventional bench-top handling. The Shock Isolation Unit (SIU) is designed to isolate the SANbric from harsh operating environments. Each SANbric is shipped in an individual case with custom foam, wheels, and extendable handle for easy transport and shipping. The SANbric utilizes two 50-pin D-subminiature (DD-50) connectors on the rear of the unit for blind mate connection when inserted into its chassis. One connector provides power and console port communication, while the other contains the Fibre Channel ports.

The SANbric houses six 3.5” disks. The disks utilize dual-port 2Gbps Fibre Channel links for data transfer. Each set of ports is connected in a Fibre Channel loop orientation, designated A-loop and B-loop. The B-loop always encompasses all six internal drives. The A-loop can be configured in either “full” or “split” orientation. When in full loop mode, the A-loop contains all six drives. When in split-mode, the A-loop is divided into two groups of three disks. The first three disks appear on the A-loop port, while the second set of three disks appear on the A2-loop port.

The internal controller allows the user to select either full loop or split loop as the default configuration. The internal circuit boards of the SANbric continuously monitor the internal environment, including each hard drive case temperature and internal pressure. Based on this data, the internal microcontroller can activate thermal compensation devices (i.e. external fans or internal heater elements), or quickly shut down the internal drives if a critical environmental condition occurs. The microcontroller communicates with the user over a standard RS-232 serial port, allowing the user access to the various sensor data and set-up the operational parameters.

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