The 10th Generation DS8000 has attracted a lot of interest since its release at the end of 2024 and adoption has been rapid with clients seeing a high value in the HPFE performance improvements, FlashCore Module Compression and zHyperlink performance improvements and expanded support for larger reads. R10.1 has now been announced and contains both new hardware and a range of microcode improvements focused on security and cyber resiliency.
We have announced two new models of the G10 systems completing the family of systems. These are the A00 rack mount system which replaces the DS8910F 993 model and the A08 multi-frame system which replaces the DS8980F.
A00 Rack Mount System
The A00 rack mount system now supports the same scalability as the single frame system doubling the number of I/O enclosure pairs, Host Adapters and HPFE adapters compared to the DS8910F 993. This provides a significant performance and scalability improvement for the rack mounted systems especially given the new NVMe HPFE enclosures and FlashCore Modules with compression.
A08 Multiframe System
The A08 multiframe system provides 4.8TB of system memory enabling clients to consolidate more previous generation systems without compromising on cache hit ratios. It also provides additional processor cores which increases maximum system IOPS and enables up to 12 zHyperlink connections so that up to 6 Z CECs can be attached to an A08.
Security and cyber resiliency are becoming higher and higher focus as we see more instances of cyber attack outages and data breaches. R10.1 provides enhancements across the NIST cyber security framework (Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover) to improve the security and resiliency of the DS8000.
Protect
Dual Controls can be enabled to require that various critical commands be approved by another user before being executed. This protects both against user error and an insider attack.
RACF Passticket support for authentication removes the requirement to use hardcoded passwords in scripts and other software products when using RACF as the LDAP authentication server for the DS8000.
Detect
FlashCore Modules enable the implementation of Ransomware Detection functionality which has been available on the IBM FlashSystem platform since 2024. Taking the same approach as FlashSystems the first release of Ransomware Detection will provide alerts back to IBM only and will be used to help train the model used for detection before adding a user alert capability in a future release.
Recover
The number of Safeguarded Backups has been increased from 500 to 1024 allowing an increase of frequency and/or retention of backups. This allows 10 minute backups to be stored for 7 days or 30 minute backups to be stored for 21 days.
Other Enhancements
R10.1 also includes a number of enhancements previously delivered as part of R9.4 on the DS8900 including Multi-Target Global Mirror, Cascaded Incremental Resynchronisation and support for TLS 1.3.
Summary
R10.1 is the first major release for the DS8000 10th Generation system and with the two new models the family is now complete providing options for everyone from the smallest rack mount to the largest multi-frame system. The new security capabilities will also provide extra reassurance and enhanced protection which is vital as we continue to see an increase in threats and regulatory requirements leading from this.