Pure Storage Inc. kicked off its virtual Accelerate event today by unveiling Purity 6.0, a new version of the operating system powering its flagship FlashArray line of all-flash arrays that introduces unified block and file storage capabilities. 

The upgrade also brings with a few other notable enhancements, including a feature called ActiveDR and better public cloud integration.

FlashArray systems offer effective capacities of up to 5.2 petabytes and are used by organizations to power core workloads such as databases that store their data as blocks. The new Purity 6.0 release adds the ability to support file-based workloads as well. According to Pure, that means that enterprises can unify block and file workloads on FlashArray instead of setting up a separate environment for each as is the usual practice, which reduces costs while easing maintenance tasks. 

The most notable file-based use case FlashArray can now address is desktop virtualization. Virtual desktops have become a key component of enterprises’ business operations with the shift to remote working.

However, the FlashArray product family will continue to focus mainly on block-based workloads. Pure Storage said that Purity 6.0 is designed to accommodate organizations that “primarily run block storage” but also require separate network-attached storage for certain applications.

The file storage capability is based on software the company obtained through its acquisition of Compuverde AB in early 2019. Later that year, while development was still ongoing, Pure Storage co-founder John Colgrove shared a technical view of the capability in an interview (below) on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE studio. 

“The Compuverde file system — we’re going to put that on top of our FlashArray line and make that a unified architecture where you can support block and file,” Colgrove, who serves as Pure Storage’s Chief Technology Officer, explained. “File protocols are a lot more complex than block protocols: Implementing all the SMB protocol is not an easy thing, it takes a bunch of time.” Buying Compuverde, he explained, allowed Pure Storage to shorten the development process and “get a very complete protocol stack for that product.”

Purity 6.0 also brings with it a new disaster recovery feature called ActiveDR. It’s an active-passive replication tool that continuously copies data from a company’s main FlashArray environment to a backup. Because the backup is continuously made up-to-date, Pure Storage is claiming a “near-zero” recovery point objective, meaning only a minimal amount of information can be lost in outage if at all.

Other enhancements in the release include a new version of Purity’s CloudSnap backup feature that will enable companies to set up backup environments in Google Cloud Platform. There’s also support for RSA two- and multi-factor authentication, as well as public volume tags to help administrators better manage storage resources. 

The release of Purity 6.0 comes about a month after Pure Storage introduced a new round-number release of FlashBlade Purity, the version of the operating system in its FlashBlade product family. 

Photo: Pure Storage