Introducing the PowerStore 3200Q!
Wed, 29 May 2024 13:00:00 -0000
|Read Time: 0 minutes
Dell Technologies is proud to introduce the newest member of the PowerStore family: PowerStore 3200Q. This new hardware model leverages the latest in NAND flash technology, NVMe QLC (Quad-Level Cell) SSD drives, offering our customers a lower-cost solution that does not sacrifice performance or enterprise capabilities.
Uncompromising performance – The 3200Q has no performance throttling, delivering sub-millisecond latency with the same IOPS as the existing 3200T model, which uses TLC (Triple-Level Cell) drives[1]. It also offers the same scalability and enterprise feature set, including unified protocol support (block, file, vVols), replication (asynchronous, synchronous, or metro), immutable and secure snapshots, quality of service, VMware and DevOps integration, integrated multicloud and remote backup, cybersecurity, native import features, and more. All of these capabilities come at no additional cost, thanks to PowerStore’s all-inclusive software model.
Energy and space efficient – Best of all, because it offers the same intelligent data reduction as other PowerStore models (along with the new 5:1 Data Reduction Guarantee), 3200Q decreases cost in additional ways, beyond the lower cost drives. The 3200Q’s state-of-the-art efficiency allows you to store more data on less hardware, minimizing both footprint and power consumption. In fact, the power costs for a Dell PowerStore 3200Q appliance can be equivalent to your daily latte![2]
The industry’s most flexible QLC solution
Dell PowerStore 3200Q is the industry’s most flexible QLC solution,[3] leveraging the same architecture and framework as the other members of the PowerStore family. This enables the 3200Q to leverage all the mature, resilient, secure, efficient, performant, and scalable features that PowerStore has to offer. No other QLC offering gives you all these advantages!
Start with what you need
PowerStore 3200Q appliances allow you to start with just what you need and dynamically scale in the future as business needs grow. The 3200Q is available with as few as 11x 15.36TB NVMe QLC SSD drives. With PowerStore’s 5:1 guaranteed data reduction, this provides 580TB of effective capacity (TBe)[4]. If additional capacity is required, you can configure the 3200Q with up to 21x 15.36TB NVMe QLC SSD drives in the base enclosure, providing 1294TBe with the same 2U footprint. This provides a great balance of dense storage capacity, a cost-effective entry point, and flexible configuration options.
Scale-up with one drive at a time
PowerStore’s Dynamic Resiliency Engine (DRE) provides double drive failure tolerance to enable the highest levels of availability. DRE also provides the ability to granularly and non-disruptively expand by adding one or more drives at a time. This provides the flexibility to grow as you need without the wasteful over-purchasing that is often seen on storage systems that require adding drives in larger packs.
In the 2U base enclosure, you can individually scale up to 21x 15.36TB NVMe QLC SSD drives. If more capacity is needed, you can add up to three 2U 24-drive NVMe expansion enclosures, bringing the maximum drive count to 93x 15.36TB NVMe QLC SSD drives in each appliance. With PowerStore’s 5:1 guaranteed data reduction, this provides 5.9PBe in just 8U[5]. Each appliance can support any drive count between 11 and 93 drives. This flexible architecture enables the appliance to dynamically grow the storage capacity proportionally as your requirements grow.
Mix and match scale-out
Up to four PowerStore appliances can be clustered together in a single management domain, with seamless data mobility between appliances. This makes it simple to scale out as you grow. The 3200Q can be integrated into a PowerStore cluster along with other Q and/or T-model appliances, allowing you to grow optimally and flexibly to support different business requirements.
For customers that have existing PowerStore T appliances, you can integrate your new 3200Q appliance into the existing cluster if the cluster is running PowerStoreOS 4.0. Each appliance within the cluster can be deployed with its own unique and independent configuration. For example, a cluster can consist of appliances with different connectivity, drive configurations, expansion enclosures, and even different T models.
Dell PowerStore provides the industry’s most comprehensive capacity accounting and data reduction analytics[6]. The capacity accounting feature provides detailed insight into the reducibility of the data, showing Overall Data Reduction Ratio (DRR), Reducible DRR, and amount of unreducible data on the system. This provides administrators with valuable insight into storage efficiency at the cluster, appliance, volume, and vVol levels. Combining this information with the seamless intra-cluster migration functionality enables administrators to migrate resources to the optimal appliance in the cluster.
The ability to mix and match appliances in a cluster allows the highest level of flexibility by allowing customers the ability to migrate resources between appliances, and the ability to deploy appliances with configurations tailored to their requirements.
Conclusion
The PowerStore 3200Q is the ideal candidate for customers who require an appliance with high capacity, low latency, and lower cost. The industry’s most flexible QLC solution enables you to start with only what you need, scale up to grow on demand, and scale out with mixed and matched appliances. This provides the ability to customize a PowerStore solution that is specifically designed to meet your requirements. The PowerStore architecture provides the 3200Q the ability to power any innovation by delivering more performance, efficiency, resiliency, and multi-cloud capabilities.
Resources
The following resources provide more information about PowerStore:
- Dell PowerStore: Introduction to the Platform
- Dell PowerStore: Clustering and High Availability
- Dell PowerStore: Data Efficiencies
- Dell PowerStore Manager Overview
Author: Wei Chen, Technical Staff, Engineering Technologist
Interested in reading more from this author? Check out Wei Chen on the Info Hub.
-------------------------------------------
[1] Based on internal testing comparing PowerStore 3200Q vs PowerStore 3200T for 8k 70/30 workloads.
[2] Estimate based on Dell analysis using Dell PowerStore 3200Q base appliance power consumption (1056.4 W) and an average electricity price of $.173 per KWH (source: Electricity per KWH in U.S. city average from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, data accessed in February 2024). For estimation purposes only. Actual costs will vary depending on actual product configuration, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors.
[3] Based on Dell analysis of Primary Storage QLC arrays – May 2024.
[4] Effective capacity assumes average 5:1 data reduction. Actual results vary, refer to Power Sizer for capacity data in your environment.
[5] Effective capacity assumes average 5:1 data reduction. Actual results vary, refer to Power Sizer for capacity data in your environment. Maximum capacities are dependent on drive sizes available at time of purchase. Maximum logical capacity supported per appliance is 8 exabytes (EB).
[6] Based on Dell analysis of capacity accounting and reporting capabilities provided by primary storage competitors – May 2024.