We have built one of the largest data storage facilities in the Czech Republic
23. 3. 2022
23. 3. 2022
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The CESNET association in the Czech Republic has long been building a data storage infrastructure in which it operates various technologies ranging from hierarchical file storage to object storage. The Ostrava storage facility, which is operated in the premises of the IT4I centre, is based on modern CEPH technology. It is a software-defined solution, where data is stored in the so-called. objects, which facilitates sorting and further manipulation.
The solution is largely hardware independent and the entire storage can be scaled very easily. It also has the advantage of extremely efficient operation and advanced protection against solution failure and data loss. The Ostrava storage facility has an aggregate gross capacity of 33,673 petabytes. This is almost eight petabytes more than the second largest storage facility in Pilsen and almost ten times more than the very first (and now decommissioned) datacenter.
e-INFRA represents the infrastructure for science and research in the Czech Republic. It includes a comprehensive system including resources for data transfer, storage and processing of scientific data for all those involved in science and research, regardless of sector. The infrastructure serves both national and international purposes, providing a portfolio of ICT services without which modern research and development cannot take place.
The e-INFRA CZ research infrastructure is being built in cooperation with three national e-INFRA e-infrastructures including CESNET, CERIT-SC and IT4Innovations.
Building this storage facility was one of the most challenging projects in the company’s history. In terms of delivered capacity – over 33 petabytes – this is the largest installation to date.
Physically, it took five days to set up and connect the cluster and required the full deployment of five specialists from the M Computers technical team. The supplied data storage consists of:
The realization of this important contract showed our creativity and, above all, professionalism in the field of designing large solutions and also confirmed our ability to deliver projects of this size to our customers.
It also supported the long-standing cooperation between M Computers and CESNET.
Seagate Exos X18 hard drives, which are specifically designed for hyperscale cloud storage, were used for this project. These hard drives are the flagship of Seagate’s enterprise segment and offer the highest capacity available on the market – 18TB. Their reliability and high performance with enhanced caching make them a logical choice for cloud data centers.
We used Lenovo ThinkSystem SR635 servers as data storage nodes. It is a 1-socket server that contains AMD EPYC 7002 Rome and AMD EPYC 7003 Milan processors. With up to 64 cores per processor and support for PCIe 4.0 I/O, the SR635 offers maximum single-socket server performance in a space-saving 1U design. This server offers 16x DDR4 DIMM slots for RAM and can accommodate up to 16x 2.5″ drives.
A key component of CESNET’s activities is the development of its e-infrastructure. It is a comprehensive national IT infrastructure designed for the needs of Czech science, research, development and education.
The customer, CESNET, has significantly increased its storage capacity by almost 40%compared to its original capacity. It will offer its services on the latest high-performance hardware on the market.
Educational institutions in the Czech Republic will soon be able to use the possibilities of the Ostrava data repository for transferring, storing, archiving and processing scientific data.
M Computers is a purely Czech private technology company that has been successfully operating on the IT market since 2002. Our main products include the supply of computing clusters, high-capacity storage, servers and data storage. We also provide information technology outsourcing and operate a specialized e-commerce business. We partner with strong companies such as Lenovo, IBM, Intel, NVidia and Infortrend. We are currently one of the leaders in HPC, supercomputing and artificial intelligence.