Novatek Science and Technology Center introduces modular software-defined storage

2022: Implementation of Modular Software-Defined Storage for R&D Center

On January 26, 2022, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced the introduction of a modular software-defined storage system based on HPE Apollo and Scality RING for the scientific and technical center of PJSC NOVATEK - LLC NOVATEK NTC. With its help, the employees of the scientific and technical center can simultaneously carry out several complex mathematical iterations with a wide range of parameters, obtain more accurate calculations in less time, thereby optimizing the profitability of investments in drilling and development of wells.

According to the company, the development of gas fields and the production of natural gas are priority areas of activity of PJSC NOVATEK. As a result of detailed seismic studies, 3D modeling generates large amounts of data that need to be stored, processed and interpreted to detect resource deposits and their development. The higher the volume, quality and accuracy of the data, the higher the efficiency of investments of PJSC NOVATEK in gas fields. Drilling legislation and regulations also require documentation and indefinite archiving at all levels, thus further increasing the volume of information.

Over the past few years, our company has grown, and now we need to carry out from eight to ten projects per year. Therefore, we need computing clusters and storage systems for online data processing. The HPE solution meets the requirements for flexibility, speed and scalability. commented by Yevgeny Dunaev, head of the system architecture department of the Information Technology and Communications Department of the IT department of NOVATEK NTC LLC

The company chose modular software-defined storage based on HPE Apollo and Scality RING. With Scality RING middleware storage, the Science and Technology Center can upload the results of a completed task while downloading data for calculations. In addition, it became possible to prepare data and analyze the results, while the cluster considers another task. These operations no longer require primary storage. Thus, instead of one study and calculation, STCs can perform several operations simultaneously, which significantly reduces the total processing time of seismic data.

The solution provides long-term storage of primary field material used in calculations and results of seismic data processing. The architecture of the updated system also includes the ability to quickly scale horizontally and built-in support for the main network protocols - NFS, FTP, SMB. At the same time, HPE Proliant and HPE Apollo optimize IT performance and reliability. All HPE equipment is fully integrated and troubleshooting requests are created automatically using predictive HPE InfoSight capabilities. This allows the IT team at the Science and Technology Center to respond faster to faults and reduce hardware downtime. It also optimized rack density in the data center and reduced power consumption.

As part of the project, the HPE Pointnext Services team was engaged in consulting, planning, developing and implementing the solution, as well as providing testing systems and virtual instructions for the correct deployment of equipment in the data center.