PowerFlex rack is a modular hyperconverged platform that enables extreme scalability and flexibility for next-generation cloud applications and mixed workloads.
PowerFlex rack is a scale-out solution that enables you to add PowerFlex rack nodes with various CPU, memory, and drive options. PowerFlex rack is designed for deployments involving large numbers of virtualized and bare metal workloads.
Together, the components offer balanced CPU, I/O bandwidth, and storage capacity relative to the compute and storage arrays in the PowerFlex rack . All components have N+1 redundancy.
These resources can be scaled up as necessary to meet increasingly stringent application workload requirements. To scale up storage or compute resources, add nodes to the environment. Optionally, add expansion cabinets with more resources - this is the default for the PowerFlex rack network design.
PowerFlex rack provides the following features:
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Integrated scalable network architecture with a choice of the following:
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Topologies depending on scalability needs can be a leaf-spine or aggregation and access architecture
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Network hardware can be either Cisco Nexus switches, or Dell EMC PowerSwitch switches
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Bandwidth depending on your needs
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Complete flexibility in designing the system with the following options:
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PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes
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PowerFlex storage-only nodes
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PowerFlex compute-only nodes
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For the PowerFlex management controller 2.0 , a three-node or more PowerFlex management controller supporting VMware ESXi and PowerFlex is available for shared storage layer, providing high availability for the VM workloads on the PowerFlex management controller. The PowerFlex management nodes are based on PowerFlex R650 nodes and a HBA355i controller.
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Supports 10 GbE, 25 GbE or 100 GbE port bandwidth for backend connectivity
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External servers can access data in the PowerFlex rack
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(Optional) Dual network environment using your existing software-defined network (SDN), such as Cisco ACI
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Supports native asynchronous replication between sites
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Scale beyond 1000 nodes with a leaf-spine network design
- PowerFlex nodes support SSD and NVMe drive technologies
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Improved node maintenance using protected maintenance mode (PMM)
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Supports self-encrypting drives (SEDs) enabled by Dell EMC CloudLink
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Secure and scalable storage using PowerFlex :
- Seamlessly increase storage capacity or performance with horizontal node scaling
- Optional data compression feature that improves storage efficiency
- Optional Data at Rest Encryption (D@RE) feature provides data security using CloudLink as a software encryption layer, or as a key manager for self-encrypting drives
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Engineered system with end-to-end lifecycle management with PowerFlex Manager
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Optional support for multitenancy and routed reachability between PowerFlex compute-only nodes and PowerFlex storage-only nodes on leaf-spine -based PowerFlex rack
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Optional support for management aggregation switches
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Support for fiber channel host bus adapters (HBA) that are connected to storage devices outside of the standard