Storage · Dual Controller

NetBytes SNS Dual Controller — 3U 16-bay enterprise HA

Dual active-active controllers with 32GB cache each and a full licence pack. Unified SAN and NAS across iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS and SMB, expandable to 208 drives.

• 3U — 16 bays — Expand to 208 drives
• Dual active-active — Controllers
• 32GB cache each — With CacheGuard
• iSCSI / FC / NFS / SMB — Unified SAN + NAS
• Certified — VMware, Hyper-V, Veeam

About SNS Dual Controller Storage

For workloads that cannot pause

This is for organisations that require non-stop data access and enterprise-grade high availability. A 3U 16-bay chassis with dual controllers, expandable to 208 drives, combining performance, scalability and resilience for mission-critical workloads.

The architecture is active-active: both controllers serve I/O, and if one fails the other continues without an interruption that the application notices. That is the whole point of the platform, and it is what separates it from a single-controller array with a good backup plan.

Data services are included rather than licensed separately — snapshots, replication, thin provisioning and tiering are part of the configuration.

The platform

What the specification covers

• Dual controllers — active-active architecture, 32GB cache each, with CacheGuard protection
• Protocols — iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS and SMB, unified SAN and NAS in one system
• Data services — thin provisioning, snapshots, replication, tiering, predictive data migration
• Scalability — JBOD shelves supporting up to 208 drives
• Certified with VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer and Veeam
• Availability — redundant controllers, PSUs and fans, with hot-swap design throughout

Enterprise features

Six things the platform is bought for

• High availability — Dual active-active controllers with CacheGuard and redundant components, for continuous availability.
• Unified storage — Block protocols (iSCSI, Fibre Channel) and file protocols (NFS, SMB) in one system.
• Advanced data services — Snapshots, replication, thin provisioning and predictive migration, included rather than licensed on top.
• Scalability — Expand from 16 bays up to 208 drives using JBOD shelves.
• Certified ecosystem — VMware, Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer certified, and validated with Veeam for backup integration.
• Performance — 32GB of cache per controller, accelerating reads and writes and smoothing latency.

Where it fits

The array you specify when downtime has a number attached

Most storage decisions are about capacity and speed. This one is about what happens during a controller failure, a firmware update or a maintenance window — and whether the applications on top of it notice.

If your recovery time objective is measured in minutes, a single-controller array plus a restore plan does not meet it. That is the case this platform answers.

• No single point of failure in controllers, power or cooling
• Fibre Channel alongside iSCSI, where the existing fabric requires it
• Hot-swap design throughout, so service does not mean an outage
• Replication to a second site for disaster recovery
• Room to grow to 208 drives without changing platform

• both controllers serving I/O
• cache per controller
• full data service licence pack
• validated for backup

SNS Dual Controller — FAQ

What buyers ask before sizing

• What is the main benefit of dual controllers? — Answer: Active-active controllers remove the single point of failure. If one controller fails, the other continues operations seamlessly.
• Which protocols are supported? — Answer: iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS and SMB — both SAN and NAS functionality in a single platform.
• How many drives can I expand to? — Answer: The base 3U chassis has 16 bays, expandable to 208 drives with JBOD shelves.
• Is it virtualisation certified? — Answer: Yes — VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer certified, and validated with Veeam for backup integration.
• Are all data services licensed? — Answer: Yes. Snapshots, replication, thin provisioning and the advanced features are included with the NetBytes configuration.

Size it first

Work the numbers before you specify

The calculators run the same arithmetic our engineers do, so you can arrive with a starting configuration rather than a blank page.

• RAID capacity planner — Usable capacity, redundancy overhead and rebuild exposure across RAID levels.
• VM density & host sizing — Host count, memory and overcommit worked through before you specify a node.
• All sizing tools — Six calculators running the same arithmetic our engineers do.

Related range

The rest of the storage range

When availability is not the binding constraint.

• SNS rack storage — Capacity-first storage from 8 to 60 bays with ZFS integrity.
• SNS flash storage — All-flash 2U for databases, VDI and analytics.
• SNS tower storage — Quiet 4 and 8 bay storage for branch and edge sites.