Several features of PowerMax systems provide exceptional benefits when used for SQL Server databases:
- Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)-based cache is large, persistent, and mirrored, which enables all writes, including SQL Server log writes and batch loads, to be completed faster than writing directly to SSD.
- Dell EMC TimeFinder SnapVX replication provides storage-consistent snapshots. SnapVX technology provides high levels of scale, efficiency, and simplicity. It uses redirect-on-write for added performance and pointer-based management for dedupe-like data reduction. Snapshots have names, versions, dates, and automatic expiration dates for easy identification and management. Snapshots are protected, so they can be reused regardless of changes by the application. They can also be cascaded any number of times. With SnapVX technology, you can create SQL Server database replicas for gold copies, test or development environments, and backups. Snapshots can be restored in seconds and read/write access to snapshot data is always immediate.
- Dell EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) offers many DR topologies for SQL Server databases, including those for two, three, and four sites. SRDF can replicate in synchronous and asynchronous modes and offers multisite cascaded and star configurations. SRDF is closely integrated with SnapVX software to offer a variety of HA and DR solutions including fast recovery from remote copies and backup offload.
- Dell EMC AppSync data protection software offers self-service automated copy management for Microsoft SQL Server and other application environments. It provides automatic application discovery and mapping, storage provisioning and selection for local and remote replications, and easy repurposing for testing, development, and reporting. Copies can be used for instantly restoring a production database. Database recovery from such copies can be started immediately after initiating the restore, improving recovery time object (RTO) greatly for mission-critical applications.