Dell VNX5800 VNX Series: Introduction to SMB 3.0 Support - Page 4

Executive summary EMC VNX has incorporated the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol as an open standard for network file service. SMB is a file access protocol designed for the internet and is based on the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol that the Microsoft Windows operating system uses for distributing file sharing, printing, and communication services from a server over a network. SMB 3.0 is supported with Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 systems and has significant improvements over the previous SMB versions. For VNX File Operating Environment (OE) version 7.1.65 and later, the SMB 3.0 protocol is supported on VNX. VNX supports SMB 1.0, SMB 2.x, and SMB 3.0 protocol communications between client and server. VNX supports SMB 3.0 enhancements that include: • Continuous Availability (CA) - Continuous Availability enables applications to be less impacted during a Data Mover or cluster failover. With CA enabled on a share, if the failover period does not exceed the application timeout, application access to all open files that were present prior to the failover is re-established and the failover is transparent to end users. • Multichannel - Multiple TCP connections can now be associated with a single SMB 3.0 session and a client application can use several connections to transfer I/O on a CIFS share. This optimizes bandwidth and enables failover and load balancing with multiple NICs. • Directory Lease - SMB 2 introduced a directory cache that allowed clients to cache a directory listing to save network bandwidth but would not see new updates. SMB 3 introduces a directory lease and the client is now automatically aware of changes made in a cached directory. • Offload Copy - Copying data within the same Data Mover can now be offloaded to the storage, which reduces the workload on the client and network. • SMB Encryption - Provides secure access to the on CIFS shares, protects data on untrusted networks, and provides end-to-end encryption of data in- flight. • Remote Volume Shadow Copy Service (RVSS) - With RVSS, point-in-time snapshots can be taken across multiple CIFS shares, providing improved performance in backup and restore. • Shared Virtual Hard Disk (VHDX) - Available for VNX File Operating Environment (OE) version 8.1.9 and later, VHDX hard disk files hosted by a VNX can be mapped to multiple Hyper-V virtual machines. This benefits clustered configurations where data needs to be served from a disaster recovery site. Organizations with geographically dispersed sites must uphold data availability without sacrificing security. Furthermore, performance implications need to be considered, especially when operations are distributed among remote sites. Administrators responsible for managing a Windows environment in their company EMC VNX Series: Introduction to SMB 3.0 Support 4