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PowerFlex rack is a software-defined storage platform that delivers flexibility, elasticity, and simplicity with predictable performance and resiliency at scale by combining compute as well as high-performance storage resources in a managed unified network. This rack-scale engineered system, with integrated networking, enables customers to achieve the scalability and management requirements of a modern data center.
PowerFlex appliance is a PowerEdge server which has been configured to be a node in a software-defined storage deployment. This offering allows customers the flexibility and savings to bring their own compatible networking.
PowerFlex custom nodes are validated server building-blocks configured for use with PowerFlex. They are available with thousands of configuration options and are available for customers who prefer to build their own environments.
PowerFlex software is also available in the public cloud as Dell APEX Block Storage for Public Cloud. It offers the same on-premises benefits of high-performance, linear scalability, and high resilience as in cloud. It also adds cloud-specific benefits, such as large volume sizes, extreme performance based on NVMe drives, and predictable scalability. The Dell APEX Block Storage self-healing architecture simplifies and increases the availability of infrastructure. It is designed to remain running even when it encounters failures. With fast rebuilds, Dell APEX Block Storage recovers rapidly from failures and keeps operating, without degrading performance or compromising availability. You can also extend this availability and configure it to protect your application availability across multiple availability zones.
An important component outside of PowerFlex that enables a flexible consumption model for Kubernetes is the PowerFlex CSI driver, developed as a part of the Dell Kubernetes strategy. After loading the CSI driver for PowerFlex into Kubernetes, it can be used to provision persistent volumes from the underlying PowerFlex storage resource. If the Kubernetes deployment is running low on PowerFlex storage resources, you can add PowerFlex storage nodes to increase the system capacity and performance.
The CSI driver connects the PowerFlex system and Kubernetes deployments. It is a storage Broker agent which dynamically provisions volumes from PowerFlex through the PowerFlex API gateway to the Kubernetes cluster. Once the volume is available on PowerFlex, it is immediately mapped to the requesting pod. If a pod is destroyed or rescheduled, the CSI plug-in ensures that the volumes are remapped upon rescheduling of that pod.
Customers running Kubernetes clusters on PowerFlex use the Dell Container Storage Modules (CSM), which extend the CSI driver capabilities. These modules perform the following:
These modules include snapshot, observability, authorization, application mobility, and resiliency.
PowerFlex supports multiple operating systems, different deployment options on-premises, and public cloud deployment models (available in AWS and Azure). PowerFlex is validated with leading Kubernetes distributions as shown in the following figure.
Figure 4. PowerFlex for different Kubernetes distributions