Home > Storage > PowerStore > Databases and Data Analytics > Dell PowerStore: Elastic Stack > Unified or block-optimized
If file services (NAS) are or may be needed later, select Unified during initial configuration. With unified storage configurations, some PowerStore compute and storage resources on the appliances are reserved for NAS.
If file services will never be required, choose block-optimized during the initial configuration of the PowerStore system.
Once PowerStore T is configured to support a particular storage configuration (Unified or Block Optimized), a reinitialization is required to change the configuration to the other storage configuration. For this reason, if it is uncertain that NAS will be needed, consider configuring Unified storage.
Note: If Unified storage is configured, some internal PowerStore resources are used for file services, limiting the amount of block activity that can be performed in unified storage. However, if block-optimized mode is used, the amount of block activity that the system can provide is greater than unified block. With block optimized, PowerStore can devote the additional CPU and memory that Is no longer needed for file to block activity.
When initially defining a cluster, specify the cluster name and select the required storage configuration: