Home > Storage > Unity XT > Virtualization, Cloud & Applications > Dell EMC Unity: VMware vSphere Best Practices > Compression
Dell Technologies Unity compression is available for block LUNs and VMFS datastores in an all-flash pool starting with Dell Technologies Unity OE version 5.4.
Be aware that compression increases the overall CPU load on the system when storage objects service reads or writes of compressible data and may increase latency when accessing the data. Before enabling compression on a storage object, it is recommended to monitor the system and ensure the system has available resources to support compression. (Refer to the “Hardware Capability Guidelines” section and Table 2 in the Dell Technologies Unity: Best Practices Guide.) Enable compression on a few storage objects at a time and then monitor the system to be sure it is still within recommended operating ranges before enabling compression on more storage objects. Additional information regarding compression can be found in the Dell Technologies Unity: Compression white paper.
Compression will only provide space savings if the data on the storage object is at least 25% compressible. Before enabling compression on a storage object, determine if it contains data that will compress; do not enable compression on a storage object if there will be no space savings. Contact your Dell Technologies representative for tools that can analyze the data compressibility. Additional information regarding compression can be found in the Dell Technologies Unity: Compression white paper.