

Once that’s done AGFA will come in and start phase 2 which is converting all the data to a different (IDC) format and storing it on NFS shares. We’re coming from a 25TB (Meta)LUN on the CX3 and going to an SMB share for phase 1.


Migrating the archive was a bit more tricky. Enter PowerPath Migration Enabler a couple of hours/days later you’re done! Its a couple of LUNs stored on an EMC CX3 and they are going to an EMC VNX. Migrating the cache files was pretty easy. This means we needed archive storage that could scale easily, wouldn’t leave us with a big migration at the end of the depreciation period and would also protect the data. The archive will always and continuously grow: no scans are thrown away, EVER. This happens when the radiology department starts to scan more and/or use higher resolution images. Cache is fixed in size and only ever needs to grow if the “online retention” drops below a usable number. Next time the medical staff wants to view it, It will have to be retrieved from the archive into cache before it can be used.ĭuring design sessions with the PACS vendor we’ve decided to keep the cache on VNX storage and let Isilon take care of the archive storage. Once this happens for a particular scan it is no longer stored twice (cache + archive) but only stored in the archive. The caches work on a spill and fill principle: oldest data is pushed out, typically after 6-12 months. These new scans are also duplicated to the archive, typically at the end of the work day. New scans are pushed from the scanner into IMPAX and stored on cache for fast retrieval. PACS data can be split roughly in two categories: cache storing recently queried/produced images and an archive that makes up the long term storage.

Data was initially stored on an old EMC CX3 system that needed to be replaced ASAP. Our PACS environment that is going to push images to the Isilon systems is AGFA IMPAX 6. Which is actually easier than you might think! With the Isilon systems operational it was time to put them into production and start the PACS data migration to Isilon. In my previous posts I’ve discussed how to rack and stack your Isilon and how to get it powered up and running.
