Dell Storage Center
Fundamentals
Objectives
Tier 1
RAID 10 RAID 5
Tier 2
RAID 5
Tier 3
RAID 6
Free Space
Primary Remote
2
The Storage CenterTM
Technology Independence
Flexible Growth
Configurable Performance
Enterprise Level Features
Online Migration
Core Software
Powerful Options
Robust Interface
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The Storage System Components
• Controllers
• Enclosures
• Switches
• Host Bus Adapters
4
Storage Center v6.7 Features
New Hardware
SC9000 Support for the SC4020 controller includes
V6.7
• Data Compression for all-flash arrays
SC400 V6.6
• Maximum 192 drives
12Gb • SC280 enclosure
• Flex Ports
SC420 • Data Compression
• Live Volume
• Live Volume Automatic Failover
• Import Volumes from PS Series arrays
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• User Interface updates
PS Series (EqualLogic) Data Migration
Easy data migration to SC Series array
Full data protection during transfer
Simple import wizard
Host I/O continues to both Auto-discovers source PS
target and source volumes Series volumes
until transfer is complete* Creates destination volume
on SC array (target any tier)
Use existing PS Series QoS
PS array “Thin Import” definitions (or create new)
SC array
Supported on ALL SC
products with 6.7**
* Online and offline options available.
** Professional Services-assisted online migration also available for select arrays from
other vendors. Contact your Dell representative for details.
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Importing PS Volumes to SC Arrays
Network Requirements:
PS Series Array • iSCSI
• Low-latency, high
bandwidth
PS Series Requirements: SC Series Array
• Firmware v6.0.11 or higher
• Limit volume access by Storage
Center IP or iSCSI initiator name
• Enable Allow simultaneous
connections from initiators with
different IQNs in volume advance
SC Series Requirements:
settings
• SC v6.7 or higher
• Stop all IO from the server to the
volume
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Storage Center Software Overview
Unified
Management
Core
Software + Licensed
Applications + Hardware
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Dell Storage Center - Core
Fluid Data Architecture Disk Virtualization
Tier 1
SSD SSD SSD SSD SSD SSD
Tier 2
15K 15K 15K 15K 15K 15K
LUN 7K 7K 7K 7K 7K 7K
Tier 3
7K 7K 7K 7K 7K 7K
7K 7K 7K 7K 7K 7K
Boot from SAN Cache Free Space
Data
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Dell Storage Center – Core (cont.)
Dynamic Capacity Data Instant Replay
Dynamic Controllers
LUN
2TB 2TB 2TB
Virtual Ports or
LUN
Legacy Ports
Datapage Size Enterprise Manager
LUN
512KB 2MB
4MB
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Dell Storage Center – Core (cont.) AD/LDAP Enhancements
Thin Import Compression
Domain
Group Group
Tier 1
Domain
Legacy Tier 2 Domain Domain
LUN Group
Domain
Group Group
Domain
Group
Savings
Tier 3
LUN
Multi-VLAN Tagging
Before After
Copy, Mirror, Migrate VLAN 1
SupportAssist VLAN 1, 2,3,4
Copy VLAN2
Mirror VLAN 3 VLAN 1,2,3,4
VLAN 4
Migrate
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Dell Storage Center - Applications
Data Progression Live Volume
Tier 1
RAID 10 RAID 5
Tier 2 Live Volume
RAID 5
Tier 3
Primary Secondary
RAID 6
FastTrack Remote Instant Replay
Primary Remote
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Dell Storage Center – Applications (cont.)
Replay Manager
Self-Encrypting Drives
Replays
SQL DB1 SQL DB1
SQL DB2 SQL DB2
SQL DB3 SQL DB3
SQL Logs SQL Logs
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SC Series Software Comparison
SC9000 SC8000 SC4020 SCv2000
Data Performance, Efficiency, Protection
Dynamic Capacity (Thin Provisioning) Included Included Included Included
Virtual Ports (HA) Included Included Included Included
Dynamic Controller (HA failover) Included Included Included Included
Multi-VLAN Tagging for iSCSI Included Included Included Included
Virtual Ports (HA) Included Included* Included Included
Compression – Now available on SSDs! Included Included Included NA
Data Instant Replay (Snapshots) Included Included Included Optional (Local DP)
Remote Instant Replay (Asynchronous) Optional (SP bundle) Optional Optional (DP bundle) Optional (Remote DP)
Remote Instant Replay (Synchronous) Optional (SP bundle) Optional Optional (DP bundle) NA
Data Progression Optional (SO bundle) Optional Optional (Perf. bundle) NA
Live Volume – Now with auto-failover! Optional (SP bundle) Optional Optional ( DP bundle) NA
Fast Track Optional (SO bundle) Optional Optional (Perf. bundle) NA
SED support – Now with SSD+HDD options! Optional (TF Bundle) Optional Optional NA
Fluid Cache for SAN Optional Optional NA NA
Management
EM Foundation/Reporter Included Included Included Included
Application Protection Manager Suite** Optional (TF Bundle) Optional Optional Optional
Enterprise Manager Chargeback Optional (TF Bundle) Optional Optional NA
Services
CoPilot Included Included Included NA
Dell SupportAssist (PhoneHome) Included Included Included Included
* No charge, must be ordered ** Includes new Application Protection Manager (APM) and previous Replay Manager
14 functionality. APM available on SC8000 and SC4020 beginning Q3FY16.
Flash Optimized Solution
Flash optimized solutions are made possible by:
• Introduction of read intensive (RI) MLC SSDs
• Flash optimized Storage Center 6.4 enhancements
Automatic tiering across multiple SSD types
Write intensive (WI) SLC SSDs and read intensive (RI) MLC SSDs
SC220 2U 24 drive Flash Enclosure
12 available slots for 6 pack of:
6 pack 1.6TB
6 pack 400GB • 400GB write intensive SSDs
read intensive
write intensive SSD • 1.6TB read intensive SSDs
SSD
• 1TB 7.2K RPM HDDs
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Typical SAN RAID
Physical Disks Configured as RAID 5
LUN
(RAID 5 Only)
Physical Disks Configured as RAID These disks are
10 never used by
this LUN
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Dell Storage Center RAID
Physical Disks
RAID 5 Page 1 RAID 5 Page 1 RAID 5 Page 1 RAID 5 Page 1 RAID 5 Page 1 RAID 5 Page 2
RAID 10 RAID 10
RAID 5 Page 3
Page 3 Page 3
RAID 10 RAID 10
LUN
RAID 5 Page 2 RAID 5 Page 2 RAID 5 Page 2 RAID 5 Page 2
Page 1 Page 1
Pages Pages
Pages are striped
RAID 10 RAID 10
RAID 5 Page 3 RAID 5 Page 3 RAID 5 Page 3 RAID 5 Page 3
Page 2 Page 2
using both RAID 5
and RAID 10
Dell SC Storage supports RAID 10, RAID 10 Dual Mirror, RAID 5-5, RAID 5-9,
RAID 6-6, RAID 6-10 and RAID 0 (not enabled by default).
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Dual Redundancy
RAID 10 Dual
• Additional mirror of data/parity increases Mirror
availability
• Protects against 2 drive failures in the same
stripe set Data Mirror Mirror
Data Mirror Mirror
RAID 6-6
Data Mirror Mirror
Data Data Data Data Parity Parity
Data Mirror Mirror
RAID 6-10
Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Parity Parity
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Core: Fluid Data Architecture
Creation, access and modification Key attributes
recorded at write
time FC10K
Frequency of access RAID10
Type and Tier of disk drive [Link]
RAID level Metadata
Corresponding volume
Replay Time Stamp
Active (RW) or Frozen (Read Only)
Data virtualized and
managed at page level
More efficient management of data at disk level
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Core: Disk Virtualization Dell Storage Center
Conventional Storage
• Manage all disks as a single pool Free
• Mix and match any capacity, speed
or interface Space
• Non-disruptive changes
• Optimize performance
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Core: Dynamic Capacity
6TB Dynamic Capacity Presented
2TB 2TB 2TB
Capacity presented to
servers can be
3TB Physical Storage
significantly larger than
600GB 600GB 600GB 600GB 600GB the physically available
storage
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Dynamic Capacity Management
Virtual LUN
Actual Physical
Space
• Over provisioned LUNs presented to users could be written to and could potentially fill up
the array’s physical capacity
• Keep LUN size reasonable; it can always be expanded
• For VMware, best practice is to use array thin provisioning
• Monitor Storage Center capacity and alerts
• When presenting a LUN consider its requirements, does it need to use tier 1 or should it
be using tier 3 exclusively
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User Interfaces
Dell Storage Center User Interfaces
Enterprise
Manager
Command
Line
Interface
Web GUI
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Section Review
Core
Software + Licensed
Applications + Hardware
Hard Drives
0 1 2 3
4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11
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Review Questions
1. Fluid Data Architecture – what types of information does Dell track for each page of data?
Creation, access and modification time
Frequency of access
Type and Tier of disk drive
RAID Level
Corresponding volume
Replay Time Stamp
Active (Read/Write) or Frozen (Read Only)
2. Which Dell Storage Center core function manages all disks as a single pool of resources from
which the administrator can select and assign volumes to a server/host?
Disk Virtualization
3. Which core function provides for the ability to allocate space only when data is physically
stored?
Dynamic Capacity
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Review Questions
4. Which RAID types does the Dell SC storage system support?
RAID 5-5, RAID 5-9, RAID 10, RAID 6-6, RAID 6-10, RAID 10 Dual Mirror and
RAID 0 (not enabled by default).
5. The Dell SC storage system manages data at which level, block, page or file?
The Dell SC storage system manages data at the Page level.
6. True or False: On the Dell SC storage system, a physical disk can contain both RAID 5 stripes
and RAID 10 stripes at the same time?
True
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