The  D-Link  DSN-2100  xStack  Storage  Area  Network (SAN) Array  is designed  to provide a smaller, more value oriented solution for entry-level and SMB customers. The heart  of  the  DSN-2100  is  based  on  the  same  powerful System-on-a-Chip  (SoC)  design  found  in  larger  arrays such as the DSN-3000 series of products, but housed in a smaller chassis. Utilizing a 10Gbit  iSCSI SoC solution that can  handle  over  80,000  I/Os  per  second  and  capable  of supporting 8TBs of raw capacity using 1TB hard drives (and even higher capacity hard drives as they are introduced), the  DSN-2100  SAN  Array  can  easily  be  implemented  as nearline storage or as a supplement to your primary backup and  recovery  device.  This  evolutionary  advancement in  performance  is  a  testament  to  the  tightly  integrated xStack Storage architecture and is a sharp contrast to the discrete implementation of competing products.

iSCSI for IP Networks
SAN  has  been  traditionally  reserved  for  Fibre  Channel networks  until  the  recent  introduction  of  iSCSI  that extends  this  powerful  yet  simple  centralized  backend storage  system  to  IP  networks.  By  utilizing  existing Ethernet  technology,  the  cost  associated  with  separate host bus adapters and  the per-Gigabyte cost  for storage  is signifcantly reduced. iSCSI SANs can leverage the Ethernet infrastructure and standards which are quite familiar to your IT staff.

Four 1GbE Interfaces
The DSN-2000 Series SAN Array implements four 1GbE ports and  supports  IEEE  802.3ad  Link Aggregation Groups  (LAG) for full offoad capability so that all four ports can be grouped together,  totaling  up  to  425MB/s  bandwidth,  for  increased throughput and redundancy.

System-on-a-Chip (SoC) Implementation
By utilizing a SoC design, the DSN-2000 Series SAN Arrays combine both networking and storage functions into a single specialized  Application  Specifc  Integrated  Circuit  (ASIC). The SoC solution combines 10Gbps iSCSI, TCP & IP offoad, embedded processors, and  storage  virtualization frmware onto a  single chip. The  tight  integration of  these  functions eliminate  interoperability,  timing, and support  issues  found in competitive products that offer “discrete implementation” wherein  a  chassis,  a  main  motherboard,  a  RAID  storage controller,  iSCSI  software  or  controller,  network  interface cards,  and  operating  system  software  are  choosen separately and  then assembled. The DSN-2000 Series SAN Array outperforms these discrete implementations and does so at a lower price point. It also delivers mission critical data quickly with state-of-the-art reliability.

RAID for Effciency
The  DSN-2000  Series  SAN  Array  platform  features  8  hot swappable Serial ATA (SATA) disk drive bays supporting 8TB raw capacity using 1TB hard drives (and even higher capacity hard  drives  as  they  are  introduced)  in  RAID  level  0,  1,  1+0 and  5  confgurations.  You  can  quickly  deploy  a  SAN  using inexpensive SATA disk drives and, depending on your growing storage needs, you can simply add more drives as you go. Embedded Centralized Storage Management The  embedded  user-friendly  IP-SAN  Device Manager  (IDM) provides comprehensive storage network management. Boasting a  rich  set  of management  features,  this  suite  of  utilities  allow monitoring and control of your SAN via the SMI-S (Storage Management  Initiative)  command  set.  Combined  with  an embedded secure server, users will be able to remotely confgure and monitor their SAN storage subsystems.

Advanced Management Features
The DSN-2000 Series SAN Array provides additional advanced features  for  effcient  management  of  network  storage  and optimal performance.

Cache Management: Provides adaptive and persistent cache management. This provides write-back, write-through, write coalescing, and multi-stream read-ahead on a volume basis. This  optimizes  cache  utilization  and  performance  in  an application dependent manner.