Dell Unity Data Reduction is licensed with all physical Dell Unity systems at no additional cost. Data reduction is not available on the Dell UnityVSA version of the Dell Unity platform as data reduction requires write caching within the system. To use data reduction with Block and File Storage Resources such as Thin LUNs, Thin LUNs within a Consistency Group, Thin File Systems, and Thin VMware VMFS and NFS Datastores, the system must be running Dell UnityOS version 4.3 or later. For systems running a version of Dell UnityOS older than this revision, Dell Unity Compression is available. After upgrading the system to Dell UnityOS version 4.3 or later, the data reduction feature will automatically be licensed, with no additional steps needed. Storage resources with compression enabled prior to the upgrade will automatically have data reduction enabled after upgrading to Dell UnityOS version 4.3 or later.

To verify which version of Dell UnityOS your system is running, simply select the View System Status icon found on the top blue menu bar of Unisphere. Alternatively, you can view the license status for Dell Unity Data Reduction by clicking the Update System Status icon, denoted by a gear icon on the top blue menu bar, and finding Data Reduction in the License Management list. An entry of Data Reduction and a green checkmark besides it confirms the feature is licensed on the system.