IsilonSD Edge licensing overview
With IsilonSD Edge, you can configure one license per cluster to manage your storage requirements. This license contains a cluster license and a OneFS features license. These two licenses determine the maximum number of nodes, capacity, memory, vCPU, disks, and IsilonSD cluster features that are available to you.
You can install IsilonSD Edge by configuring a FREE license that is bundled with your installation package. However, this license does not support all of the advanced cluster capabilities. Purchase an EDGE or EDGE-FLEX license to access advanced cluster features.
The EDGE license allows you to deploy clusters with the highest data availability guarantees, even with failures in the ESXi hosts or in the individual disk drives. To ensure that this condition is satisfied, the following configuration rules are enforced:
- Each node in the cluster must be on a separate ESXi host.
- The datastores for each node must be on direct-attached disks, and each datastore must be on a separate disk.
The EDGE-FLEX license allows greater flexibility in cluster configuration, but the data availability guarantees are reduced, because a single failure event can have consequences beyond the ability of the OneFS file system to compensate. The following configurations are permitted with an EDGE-FLEX license:
- An ESXi host can support multiple nodes in the cluster.
- The datastores for the nodes can be on vSAN or SAN. You can use a single datastore, if required.
You can deploy clusters using a FREE license following either the EDGE or EDGE-FLEX configuration rules. Any cluster that you have deployed using the FREE license can be supported by Isilon with the purchase of a license. You can purchase an EDGE or EDGE-FLEX license depending on which set of configuration rules you used initially for deploying the cluster.
- A FREE license is supported with all the management server versions. With a FREE license, you are not entitled to any support from Isilon for product-related questions. You can post your questions at the Isilon Community Network for assistance.
- EDGE configuration is supported with management server version 1.0.1 and later.
- EDGE-FLEX configuration is supported with management server versions 1.0.2 and later.
For questions related to the licensing support, contact the eLicensing team. For information regarding the purchase of licenses, contact your Isilon sales representative.
The following table summarizes the availability of the cluster features depending on the type of licenses you have configured for your installation.
Feature
|
Function
|
FREE license
|
EDGE and EDGE-FLEX licenses
|
|---|---|---|---|
CloudPools
|
Creates file pool policies that archive files to the cloud
|
no
|
yes
|
NFS, SMB, HTTP, FTP, HDFS
|
File-sharing and transfer protocols
|
yes
|
yes
|
InsightIQ
|
Monitors and analyzes the performance of a cluster to help you optimize storage resources and forecast capacity
|
yes
|
yes
|
SyncIQ
|
Asynchronously replicates data on another cluster and supports failover and failback between clusters
|
yes
|
yes
|
SmartLock
|
Protects critical data from malicious, accidental, or premature alteration or deletion.
|
no
|
yes
IsilonSD Edge supports the SmartLock software module in enterprise mode only. Compliance mode is not supported. An
IsilonSD cluster may not comply with SEC regulations.
|
SmartConnect Advanced
|
Manages round-robin connections, CPU utilization, connection counting, and throughput balancing
|
yes
|
yes
|
SmartPools
|
Groups nodes and files into pools
|
yes
|
yes
|
SmartDedupe
|
Saves storage space on a cluster by reducing redundant data
|
yes
|
yes
|
SmartQuota
|
Monitors and enforces administrator-defined storage limits
|
yes
|
yes
|
SnapShotIQ
|
Creates snapshots to protect data against accidental data deletion and modification and restores modified or deleted data
|
yes
|
yes
|
Swift
|
Provides object-based storage capabilities
|
yes
|
yes
|
Two-way NDMP backup
|
A Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) in which a data management application (DMA) on a backup server instructs a Backup Accelerator node on the cluster to back up data to a tape media server that is attached to the Backup Accelerator node
|
no
|
no
|
Three-way NDMP backup
|
A Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) in which a data management application (DMA) on a backup server instructs the cluster to back up data to a tape media server that is attached either to the LAN or directly to the DMA
|
yes
|
yes
|