Xinnor, a leading provider of storage solutions, is thrilled to announce the release of xiRAID Opus (Optimized Performance in User Space), a high-performance software RAID engine designed for disaggregated infrastructures and virtualized environments. This release signifies a strategic evolution of the xiRAID brand, with Xinnor rebranding its kernel-space RAID implementation to xiRAID Classic, while introducing xiRAID Opus, based on the SPDK framework and operating in user space.
xiRAID Opus 1.0.0 represents a milestone in storage technology advancement, offering unparalleled performance and features to meet the demands of modern data environments. Operating in user space, Opus offers a streamlined and independent setup compared to Classic, which relies on kernel dependencies. This architectural variance enables Opus to adapt more readily to system updates and simplifies maintenance, as it does not require compatibility adjustments with kernel updates.
Furthermore, xiRAID Opus boasts a broader array of integrated functionalities, including built-in features such as NVMe initiator, NVMe over TCP/RDMA, iSCSI target, and Vhost controller. These features facilitate direct connectivity to modern storage technologies, without relying on external components, enhancing efficiency and flexibility in networking and virtualization scenarios. Additionally, Opus is compatible with ARM architectures, allowing its deployment on ARM-based DPUs like BlueField3 from Nvidia.
In parallel with the launch of xiRAID Opus, xiRAID Classic has received a significant update to version 4.1. This release reaffirms xiRAID Classic’s position as the go-to solution for Linux kernel block devices.
xiRAID Classic new features include:
- support for high availability: the possibility to build a highly available cluster of server nodes with shared storage, where in case of one node failure, the RAIDs are automatically migrated to the survived server, avoiding not only data loss but also service downtime.
- Adaptive merge: Merge feature is the possibility to buffer and combine multiple sequential writes into a single one, to reduce the number of read-modify-writes and ultimately improve performance. While Merge was already available on previous xiRAID Classic releases, with 4.1 Xinnor is upgrading this feature to operate dynamically, meaning that the RAID engine is able to detect the workload and enable or disable Merge, to guarantee the best possible performance.
- CPU affinity: this feature allows the system administrator to reserve some CPU cores to mission critical applications.
“We are excited to introduce both xiRAID Opus and the latest version, xiRAID Classic 4.1, to the market,” said Davide Villa, Chief Revenue Officer at Xinnor. “With the addition of xiRAID Opus, the Xinnor product family is growing, catering to diverse storage needs. While xiRAID Opus is targeted at the user space for disaggregated or virtualized storage deployment, we also remain committed to keep enhancing xiRAID Classic to serve customers who require a fast RAID engine for kernel space applications. Both releases represent a significant leap forward in storage technology, offering unmatched performance, reliability and flexibility for our customers.”
For those eager to explore the full capabilities of xiRAID Opus, Xinnor announces that the comprehensive user manual and the product package are now available for download on the Xinnor website: https://xinnor.io/
