What’s New in PowerStoreOS 3.2?
Thu, 13 Jul 2023 00:15:24 -0000
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Dell PowerStoreOS 3.2 is the second minor release of 2022 for the Dell PowerStore platform. With this release come some great updates for both PowerStore T and PowerStore X systems as well as enhancements that complement the second generation hardware released in PowerStoreOS 3.0. Check out the full list of features below!
PowerStoreOS 3.2
PowerStoreOS 3.2 includes hardware updates for our 1st generation PowerStore appliances as well as full PowerStore X support.
- Platform: PowerStore 500, 1000, 3000, 5000, 7000, and 9000 T models now support the NVMe Expansion shelves by online upgrade of the Embedded Module (or addition of 4-port card for PowerStore 500).
- Data Mobility: File Mobility Network (used for Async File Replication) can now be deleted and reconfigured while preserving any existing replication sessions.
- PowerStore X: Adds full support of PowerStore X appliances in the PowerStoreOS 3.x code base, adding support for vSphere 7.x. Includes added ESXi licensing alerting and resource information.
- Serviceability: A new data collection profile has been added to help support services get the information they need to troubleshoot faster.
- Scalability: Increased limits of volumes provisioned using NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe/oF).
- Upgrades: Single-hop upgrade from PowerStoreOS 2.1.1 to PowerStoreOS 3.2 to simplify the upgrade process for both PowerStore T and PowerStore X appliances.
Platform
Online upgrade of the embedded module
First generation PowerStore 1000-9000 T appliances can now upgrade their embedded module to support NVMe expansion shelves. The upgrade is performed online non-disruptively. The upgraded embedded module removes the SAS back-end ports and features a new 2-port card that uses 100GbE QSFP ports for back-end connectivity to the NVMe expansion shelves.
Note: Any PowerStore with existing SAS expansion shelves cannot be upgraded because the SAS controller is removed on the new embedded module.
Addition of a 4-port card for PowerStore 500
When purchasing the PowerStore 500, the embedded 4-port card is optional. Without the 4-port card, NAS services, multi-appliance clustering, and NVMe expansion shelves are not supported. In PowerStoreOS 3.2, customers can now add the 4-port card to the appliance online and non-disruptively to an existing system to support the extra functionality that the 4-port card provides.
Addition of 2-port card on PowerStore 1200-9200 T
When purchasing a PowerStore 1200-9200 T model system, the 2-port 100GbE QSFP card used for back-end connectivity is optional and only required when used with NVMe expansion shelves. In PowerStoreOS 3.2, customers can install the 2-port card on existing appliances in an online non-disruptive upgrade procedure and then use the back-end connectivity for adding NVMe expansion shelves.
Data mobility
PowerStoreOS 3.0 introduced the File Mobility Network, which provides management and connectivity for Asynchronous File Replication. To change the mobility network settings of an existing configuration, all file replication sessions would need to be deleted before any changes could be made. In PowerStoreOS 3.2, users can now delete and re-configure the File Mobility Network while keeping all asynchronous file replication sessions intact.
PowerStore X support
Platform
PowerStore X appliances can now be upgraded to PowerStoreOS 3.2. (The previous maximum supported version for PowerStore X was PowerStoreOS 2.1.1.) This means that PowerStore X appliances can now benefit from the feature functionality of PowerStoreOS 3.0 and greater. As part of this upgrade, internal ESXi hosts will be upgraded to ESXi 7.0 Update 3e (build 19898904). For information about the PowerStore 3.0 release, see What’s New In PowerStoreOS 3.0?.
ESXi license alerting
PowerStore X systems now alert the user when the internal ESXi host license is about to expire or has expired. Although this update is relatively small and simple, there is nothing worse than having a licensing issue disrupt your production environment. PowerStore administrators can now notify VMware administrators of any licensing issues or alerts that may occur.
Enhanced resource display in PowerStore Manager
In PowerStore X, the chassis is split into two ESXi nodes, and the PowerStoreOS container resides on a virtual machine within the VMware cluster. The physical resources such as CPU and Memory are split up and allocated: half to the PowerStoreOS container virtual machines that drive the data stack, and half to be used on AppsON virtual machines hosted on the PowerStore appliance. In PowerStoreOS 3.2 we’ve made it easier to see how many resources your virtual machines are consuming verses how many the PowerStoreOS container virtual machines are using.
Scalability
Improved limitations for NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe/oF) volumes. The max number of NVMe/oF volumes are now in line with the max number of SCSI volumes allowed per appliance.
Serviceability
When troubleshooting any type of problem, the last issue you ever want to face is a bottleneck when transferring a data collection bundle up to technical support, especially when time is critical. In PowerStoreOS 3.2, we’ve added a new profile to our data collection script called “minimal”. The “minimal” profile is much smaller in size and will collect only the essential information Dell technical support needs to troubleshoot an issue. From a terminal session as service user, the script can be started using the following command:
$ svc_dc run -p minimal
Upgrading to PowerStoreOS 3.2
With any new operating system upgrade, the next question is “Ok, how do I get there?”. Thankfully, PowerStore supports a simplified and fully non-disruptive upgrade path to PowerStoreOS 3.2.
PowerStore T
PowerStore T model appliances running on 2.0.x or greater can upgrade directly to PowerStoreOS 3.2 with a single-hop upgrade. For all PowerStore upgrades, see the Dell PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide on dell.com/powerstoredocs.
PowerStore X
PowerStore X model appliances running on PowerStoreOS 2.1.1 can upgrade directly to PowerStoreOS 3.2 in a single-hop upgrade. Why not from 2.0.1.3 you ask? Well for PowerStore X, we upgraded our internal ESXi hosts to support vSphere 7 in PowerStoreOS 2.1.1. This is a rather large stepping stone which is why PowerStoreOS 2.1.1 is the minimum version required. To view the current list of vCenter Server versions, see the table “VMware Licensing and Support for PowerStore X” in the PowerStore Simple Support Matrix. Finally, make sure to see the Dell PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide on dell.com/powerstoredocs.
Conclusion
The PowerStoreOS 3.2 release offers NVMe expansion shelf support for our first generation PowerStore models, PowerStore X virtualization integration, file mobility network updates, bug fixes, and more. With the easy non-disruptive upgrade path, this is a great time to upgrade any currently deployed system.
Resources
- What’s New In PowerStoreOS 3.0?
- PowerStore Simple Support Matrix
- Dell PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
- Dell.com/powerstoredocs
- Dell PowerStore Info Hub
Author: Ryan Meyer, Senior Engineering Technologist