Home > Storage > PowerMax and VMAX > Data Protection > Dell PowerMax: Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability > Overview
Today’s mission-critical environments demand more than redundancy. They require non-disruptive operations, non-disruptive upgrades and being “always online.” They require high-end performance, handling all workloads, predictable or not, under all conditions. They require the added protection of increased data availability provided by local snapshot replication and continuous remote replication.
Dell PowerMax storage arrays deliver these needs. The introduction of NVMe drives raises the performance expectations and possibilities of high-end arrays. A simple, service level-based provisioning model simplifies the way users consume storage, taking the focus away from the back-end configuration steps and allowing them to concentrate on other key roles.
While performance and simplification of storage consumption are critical, other features also create a powerful platform. Redundant hardware components and intelligent software architecture deliver extreme performance while also providing high availability. This combination provides exceptional reliability, while also leveraging components in ways that decrease the total cost of ownership of each system. Important functionality such as local and remote replication of data, used to deliver business continuity, must cope with more data than ever before without impacting production activities. Furthermore, these challenges must be met while continually improving data center economics.
Reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features are crucial for enterprise environments requiring always-on availability. PowerMax arrays are architected for six-nines (99.9999%) availability. The many redundant features discussed in this document are factored into the calculation of overall system availability. This includes redundancy in the back-end, cache memory, front-end, and fabric, and the types of RAID protections given to volumes on the back-end. Calculations may also include time to replace failed or failing FRUs (field replaceable units). In turn, this also considers customer service levels, replacement rates of the various FRUs and hot sparing capability in the case of drives.