Sunday, July 19, 2009

Dell replaces entry-level EqualLogic boxes





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Dell replaces entry-level EqualLogic boxes



Plus a new NAS box


By Chris Mellor • Get more from this author


Posted in Storage, 17th June 2009 09:16 GMT


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Dell has replaced the PS5000 entry point to its EqualLogic iSCSI
storage arrays with the PS4000. It is also announcing a new NX3000
network-attached storage (NAS) box.



The EqualLogic line, which has recorded stunning sales results recently, consisted of the PS6000 and PS5000.










The PS6000 was announced in March and features a faster CPU than the
PS5000, double the memory and cache and support for solid state drives
(SSDs). The PS5000
was announced in February last year, shortly after Dell bought
EqualLogic. The PS product line includes one or two controllers,
snapshots, thin provisioning and replication together with fast and
simple set-up.




Although Dell hasn't announced the demise of the PS5000, the
PS4000's speeds and feeds render the PS5000 generally redundant, with
one exception. The 48-SATA drive PS5500E, the high-capacity 48TB model,
has no PS4000 equivalent.



There are three PS4000 models, all available now and all with 16
bays. The low-end PS4000E can have 8 or 16 7,200rpm SATA drives and up
to 16TB capacity, the same as the PS5000E. The PS4000X features 16
10,000rpm SAS drives and a 9.6TB maximum capacity using 400GB drives.
From July Dell will make 450GB and 600GB drives available. This product
compares to the 16 X 10K SAS drive PS5000X and its maximum 6.4TB
capacity.



The PS4000XV has faster 15K SAS drives, again 16 of them, in 300 or
450GB form and maxing out at 7.2TB. This compares to the older PS5500XV
with the same speed SAS drives and a maximum 4.8TB capacity. All three
PS4000 models support up to 256 volumes and 128 snapshots per volume.
Host connectivity is through two GbitE copper or one 10/100 BitE copper
cable per controller.



Two PS4000s can be combined into a SAN group and capacity can be
further scaled out, Dell says, by adding PS6000s. It didn't say you
could do this by adding PS5000s. The PS4000 can be used by small and
medium business, and for branch offices with data replicated to a
central PS6000 for disaster recovery. PS4000 contents are protectable
with RAID 5, 6, 10 and 50 arrangements. The line supports the Advanced
Multi-Path I/O functionality in vSphere 4.0, meaning there can be
storage I/O load balancing with the virtual machine (VM) host. They
also support VMware VM backup and restore.



Prices start with the PS4000E at €14,300 ($10,000) for a single controller, 8 x 250GB drive configuration.



The NX3000, of which details are in short supply, is a new in-house
Dell NAS product, and not one based on EMC's Celerra, which Dell
rebadges as the NX4.
The NX3000 is a PowerVault 3000 server-based appliance, bundled with
disks and software, and can act as a NAS gateway to a PS6000 or PS4000
SAN. It is apparently shipped with deduplication software.



Dell's current top-of-the-line in-house NAS box is the $17,800
NX1950 featuring NAS and Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN protocol support,
with from 6TB to 18TB capacity using MD1000 SAS storage enclosures. ®



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