Dell Unity storage systems take a unique approach to file storage in that file is tightly integrated with block, resulting in a unified storage solution. Dell Unity storage employs storage pools which are used for all resource types directly, meaning LUNs, file systems, and even VMware® vSphere® Virtual Volumes™ (vVols) can be provisioned out of the same unified pools. When provisioning file systems, administrators provision file systems as they would traditionally provision LUNs, by choosing a storage pool. Because Dell Unity storage is truly unified in both its hardware and software architecture, there is no need for the additional management overhead of provisioning LUNs, presenting to an internal gateway, or creating file storage pools. This drastically simplifies management and allows the system to leverage a core set of unified features for both block and file, since both types of storage are implemented and provisioned at the same level using the same hardware.

Figure 1.   Unified storage pool