Hi Jeff -

It's important to point out that there are tools in several other HPC file systems which feature online filesystem defragmentation - these are today in the DataDirect Networks solution portfolio and, by extension, in the Dell portfolio. The DDN GridScaler platform supports high-speed, parallel file system defragmentation as well as many features which panasas does not, such as integrated HSM tools and Native RDMA client protocols to exploit the full potential of InfiniBand networks.

The product is referenced here... http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/shared/snp/en/network_security?c=us&cs=prem&l=en&s=pub&~tab=4

Would love to chat about it when you have some time.

Thanks for the post and raising this as an important issue with scalable storage environments.

Regards,

Jeff Denworth
DataDirect Networks