D-Link's DSN-4200 iSCSI SAN array is a mid-range network storage solution in a 3U rackmount form factor, ideal for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The heart of the DSN-4200 is a powerful 10Gbit iSCSI System-on-a-Chip (SoC) capable of handling over 80,000 I/OS per second. The DSN-4200 supports 32TB of raw capacity using 2TB drives and can be easily implemented as a supplemental backup platform for quick restores, as secondary online storage, or as bandwidth-demanding primary storage for security surveillance and A/V applications.
Storage Area Networks (SANs) have traditionally been reserved for complex Fibre Channel networks. The recent introduction of iSCSI has extended the powerful centralized storage capabilities of SAN technology to IP networks. By utilizing existing Ethernet technology, the costs associated with Fibre Channel switching, separate host bus adapters, expensive storage subsystems and administration is significantly reduced. iSCSI SANs leverage the Ethernet infrastructure and standards that are already familiar to most IT personnel.
The DSN-4200 iSCSI SAN array supports Multi-path I/O (MPIO), Multiple Connections per Session (MCS), and Link Aggregation Groups (LAG) for unmatched network flexibility, performance and resiliency, allowing their 1GbE data ports to be grouped together for full line speeds of up to 850MB/s bandwidth.
The DSN-4200 primary array supports 16 internal SAS/SATA hard drives and with the addition of up to four DSN-4000 expansion arrays, can scale to a total of 160TB of raw storage capacity using 2TB drives.
By utilizing a SoC design, the DSN-4200 combines both networking and storage functions into a single specialized Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). This SoC combines 10Gbps iSCSI, TCP & IP offload, 12 embedded processors and storage virtualization firmware onto a single chip. The tight integration of these functions eliminates interoperability, timing and support issues found in competitive products that offer a "discrete implementation" wherein various components are selected separately, then assembled.