A Cluster-in-a-Box system houses two servers and a common set of direct attached hard drives within one server enclosure. This system simplifies the physical setup and deployment of a two-node High Availability storage cluster since all necessary connections are pre-configured between the inner components. In order to avoid Single Points of Failure (SPOF) all system components are redundant (e.g. power supplies, fans, etc.). The SAS hard drives, which are shared with both cluster nodes, are configured as a mirror (RAID 1) or as a RAID-Z to achieve additional redundancy.

Open-E JovianDSS ensures that both inner servers are fully utilized and enables load balance on both nodes. In case of a node failure, the other takes over all resources in the process of failover and serves them continuously.

It is a compact and complete cluster solution that can be easily installed in a standard rack, taking significantly less space than a standard multi-server solution. The system can be also scaled up in future setups by adding an external JBOD.

To read about functions and capabilities of the cluster, go to Open-E JovianDSS features and benefits.

However, the solution doesn’t prevent the system from major disasters (overall hardware damage, theft, flood, fire, etc.) where the whole CiB is impacted.

Note: Although the system looks like a single server, it runs two operating systems and requires separate Open-E JovianDSS licenses for both internal nodes.

Hardware examples for building a Cluster-in-a-Box:

• SuperMicro SuperStorage 2029P-DN2R24L (2U 24-NVMe-Bay)
• SuperMicro SuperStorage 2028R-DE2CR24L (2U 24-SFF-Bay)
• SuperMicro SuperStorage 6038R-DE2CR16L (3U 16-Bay)
• SuperMicro SuperStorage 6048R-DE2CR24L (4U 24-Bay)
• AIC HA202-PV (2U 24-NVMe-Bay)
• AIC HA401-LB2 (4U 24-Bay)

Example of a ready solution:

• Boston Igloo 4U-20T-Stor