Your Browser is Out of Date

Nytro.ai uses technology that works best in other browsers.
For a full experience use one of the browsers below
Dell Unity XT: Introduction to the Platform
Executive summary
Overview
Audience
Revisions
We value your feedback
Introduction Dell Unity Family Overview Hardware Overview Dell UnityVSA Dell Unity Cloud Edition Conclusion References

Overview

Home > Storage > Unity XT > Storage Admin > Dell Unity XT: Introduction to the Platform > Overview

Overview

  • In this constantly changing world of increasing complexity and scale, the need for an easy-to-use intelligent storage system has only grown greater. Customers using new applications and solutions require dependable storage and are often tasked with the challenge of “doing more with less”. The Dell Unity family addresses this challenge by packaging a powerful storage system into a cost and space-efficient profile. Some of Dell Unity’s highlight features include:

    • Dual-Active Architecture – Dell Unity uses both Storage Processors (SP) to serve host I/O and run data operations in an active/active manner to make efficient use of all available hardware resources and optimizing performance, cost, and density in customer data centers.
    • Truly Unified Offering – Dell Unity delivers a full block and file unified environment in a single 2U enclosure. Use the same Pool to provision and host LUNs, Consistency Groups, NAS Servers, File Systems, and Virtual Volumes alike. The Unisphere management interface offers a consistent look and feel whether you are managing block resources, file resources, or both.
    • A Modern, Simple Interface – Unisphere, Dell Unity’s management interface has been built with the modern-day data center administrator in mind. Using browser-native HTML5, Unisphere can be used across various Operating Systems and web browsers without the need of additional plug-ins. The interface has been designed to mimic the practical flow of an administrator’s daily life, organizing provisioning and management functions into easy-to-find categories and sections.
    • Flexible Deployment Options – With Dell Unity, a deployment offering exists for a range of different use cases and budgets, from the virtual offering of Dell UnityVSA to the purpose-built Dell Unity platform. The purpose-built Dell Unity system can be configured as an All Flash system with only solid-state drives, or as a Hybrid system with a mix of solid state and spinning media to deliver the best on both performance and economics.
    • Inline Data Reduction – Data reduction technologies play a critical role in environments in which storage administrators are attempting to do more with less. Dell Unity Data Reduction aids in this effort by attempting to reduce the amount of physical storage needed to save a dataset, which helps reduce the Total Cost of Ownership of a Dell Unity storage system. Dell Unity Data Reduction provides space savings by using data deduplication and compression. Data reduction is easy to manage, and once enabled, is intelligently controlled by the storage system.
    • Optional I/O Modules – A diverse variety of connectivity is supported on the purpose-built Dell Unity platform. Also, I/O Modules that support iSCSI and NAS may be used for both simultaneously.
    • Expanded File System – At its heart, the Dell Unity File System is a 64-bit based file system architecture that provides increased maximums to keep pace with the modern data center. Provision file systems and VMware NFS Datastores in sizes as large as 256TB, and enjoy creating multiple millions of files per directory and subdirectories per directory.
    • Native Data Protection – Security and availability of data are critical concerns for many customers, and Dell Unity offers multiple solutions to address this need. Unified Snapshots provide point-in-time copies of block and file data that can be used for backup and restoration purposes. Asynchronous Replication offers an IP-based replication strategy within a system or between two systems. Synchronous Block Replication benefits FC environments that are close together and require a zero-data loss schema. Data at Rest Encryption ensures user data on the system is protected from physical theft and can stand in the place of drive disposal processes, such as shredding.
    • VMware Integration – Discovery of a VMware environment has never been easier, with Dell Unity’s VMware Aware Integration (VAI). Use VAI to retrieve the ESXi host and vCenter environment details into Unisphere for efficient management of your virtualization environment. Support for VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) and later enables the provisioning and use of VMware Virtual Volumes (vVols), a virtualization storage technology delivered by VMware’s ESXi. Dell Unity supports vVols for both block and file configurations.
    • Multiple Management Paths – Configure and manage your Dell Unity system in the way you are most comfortable. The Unisphere GUI is browser-based and provides a graphical view of your system and its resources. Use Unisphere CLI (UEMCLI) over SSH or over a Windows host to run CLI commands against the system. Dell Unity also has a full REST API library available. Any function possible in Unisphere is also possible using Dell Unity REST API. Developing scripts or integrating management of your Dell Unity system into existing frameworks has never been easier.

    For hardware details about the X00/F and X50/F Dell Unity models, see the Dell Unity: Introduction to the Platform white paper available on the Dell Technologies Info Hub.

    For a software overview on all Dell Unity Family systems, see the Dell Unity: Operating Environment (OE) Overview white paper available on the Dell Technologies Info Hub.