As Unified Storage becomes a larger and larger part of EMC's storage business I've a few thoughts on the new Celerras but I'll admit that I'm interested in what makes my life easier so this will be in multiple posts.
Lets begin with FLR-C.
EMC introduced Celerra WORM (Write Once Read Many) capability into the Celerra Data Access in Real Time OS (DART) a couple of years ago. Off the top of my head I'd say four years ago but that's without looking it up. Celerra WORM evolved over subsequent generations into the current iteration of that functionality which is called Celerra FLR (File Level Retention).
FLR as the name states operates retention policies on an individual file basis meaning the files themselves cannot be deleted while subject to retention.
As of the latest release of DART, FLR now offers two different levels of functionality. FLR-E (Enterprise) and FLR-C (Compliance).
FLR-E I'd use for health and hygiene. If people aren't supposed to be deleting particular files from particular volumes as per business practice then you don't let them. But that doesn't stop a privileged admin from coming along and deleting the file system as part of day to day storage administration even if the admin can't remove individual files.
On the other hand FLR-C meets SEC Rule 17a-4(f) compliance requirements and locks things right way down. Not only can't users modify or delete files under retention but administrators can not remove any file systems with FLR-C managed files present. There's a non spoofable clock in there as well to prevent people from trying to bluff the retention system.
So the question becomes when you offer FLR-C on Celerra why would someone use a Centera for compliance? For me economically the answer to that is pretty easy, when people have a compliance requirement for less than 25TB of file system data the TCO of a Celerra is quite compelling.
Above 25TB or if there are particular application integration requirements (Such as XAM support) then Centera not only has a better TCO but meets the application requirement where a Unified Storage wouldn't.
We'll cover something else in my next post.
