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This document uses the following PowerMax terminology.
Terminology | Equivalent term | Definition |
Dell PowerMax 2500 | PowerMax 2500 is the second-generation entry level NVMe scale-out offering for the PowerMax family. It is designed to provide customers with a small ultra-dense storage footprint (4 PBe in only 5U). | |
Dell PowerMax 8500 | PowerMax 8500 is the second-generation flagship NVMe scale-out offering of the PowerMax family. It features a true disaggregated storage architecture which can deliver up to 18 PBe of capacity to customers. | |
Dell PowerMax family | The ‘PowerMax family’ refers to the Dell NVMe-based, mission-critical data storage offering. The family includes the first-generation offerings, PowerMax 2000 and 8000, and second-generation offerings, PowerMax 2500 and 8500. | |
Disaggregated Storage Architecture | Disaggregated Storage | Disaggregated storage decouples a storage array’s compute and storage components so that they can be scaled and provisioned separately. |
Dynamic Media Enclosure | DME | DME refers to the NVMe-oF attached enclosures that house the physical storage drives of the system. All DMEs in the system can be accessed by all compute nodes using internal NVMe-oF SAN topologies. |
Dynamic Random-Access Memory | DRAM | Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology. DRAM is the highest performing storage medium but also the costliest from a $/GB perspective. DRAM must be continuously supplied with power and periodically rewritten to retain data. |
Effective capacity (in Terabytes) | TBe | This capacity measurement includes the benefits of thin provisioning, inline compression, deduplication, and space-efficient copies. |
Endpoint | Endpoint | A point on a fabric in which an initiator or receiver can be attached. |
Flexible RAID Technology | Flexible RAID | A new RAID distribution model enabled by the disaggregation of compute and storage in the PowerMax system. It provides active/active RAID protection across storage pools in the system DMEs. |
Node | Node | Contains the compute elements of the second-generation PowerMax storage system – CPU, memory, and I/O modules. Roughly equivalent to a first generation PowerMax director. |
Node Pair | Node Pair | Two PowerMax nodes – roughly equivalent to a first-generation PowerMax engine. |
Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) | NVMe | NVMe is a command set and its associated storage-interface standards that specify efficient access to data storage devices and systems based on Non-Volatile Memory (NVM). |
NVMe over Fabric | NVMe-oF | NVM Express over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) defines a common architecture that supports a range of memory and message-based fabrics for the transport of NVMe data and commands. |
NVMe over PCIe | NVMe/PCIe | NVMe/PCIe is an extension of the NVMe base specification that defines the binding of the NVMe protocol to memory-based fabrics using Peripheral Component Interface Express (PCIe). |
NVMe over InfiniBand | NVMe/IB | NVMe/IB is an extension of the NVMe base specification that defines the binding of the NVMe protocol to hybrid memory, message-based fabrics using Ethernet, and the InfiniBand transport protocol. NVMe/IB is an example of a hybrid memory, message based (NVMe/RDMA) fabric. |
NVMe over TCP | NVMe/TCP | NVMe/TCP is an extension of the NVMe base specification that defines the binding of the NVMe protocol to message-based fabrics using Ethernet and the Transport Control Protocol (TCP). NVMe/TCP is an example of a message-based fabric. |
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) | PCIe | A high-performance peripheral I/O bus architecture employed in enterprise servers, storage devices, cloud computing equipment, PCs, mobile devices, industrial computing, and automation systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. It is not an overstatement when said that our modern interconnected world would not exist if not for PCIe. |
PCIe Switched Fabric | PCIe Fabric | A switched fabric architecture that uses PCIe switches to connect the PCIe root to various PCIe endpoints. |
Persistent Memory | PMEM | A type of memory, also referred to as “storage class memory”, which combines the durability of flash storage while approaching the performance characteristics of more expensive DRAM. Instead of using electrons to store information, it uses heat to change the state of the cell, from amorphous to crystalline, changing the resistance of the cell. By doing this, PMEM can retain its data even after the power is off. |
PowerMaxOS 5978 | PowerMaxOS 5978 | The PowerMaxOS 5978 release is the primary storage software that supports the first generation of PowerMax arrays. It can also be installed on legacy VMAX All Flash arrays. |
PowerMaxOS 10 | PowerMaxOS 10 | The PowerMaxOS 10 release is the primary storage software that manages the second-generation PowerMax systems – the PowerMax 2500 and PowerMax 8500. It cannot be installed on previous-generation PowerMax or VMAX systems. |
Scale out | Scale out | ‘Scale out’ refers to adding nodes to grow performance. |
Scale up | Scale up | ‘Scale up’ refers to adding additional capacity into the PowerMax storage pools. |
Unisphere for PowerMax | Unisphere | Unisphere for PowerMax is a graphical user interface that enables management and monitoring of first- and second-generation PowerMax arrays, along with legacy VMAX All Flash, VMAX3, and VMAX 1 or 2 arrays. Unisphere for PowerMax also provides a REST API interface for managing and controlling the storage system. |
Usable capacity (in Terabytes) | TBu | This refers to the amount of physical drive capacity available in the array, considering the RAID efficiency of the RAID type in use. |