In this ever-evolving world of increasing complexity and scale, the need for an easy-to-use, intelligent storage system is clear. Organizations that use new applications and solutions require dependable storage, and often face the challenge of doing more with less. Dell EMC PowerStore addresses this challenge by packaging a powerful storage system into a cost- and space-efficient profile.

PowerStore achieves new levels of operational simplicity and agility. Built with a container-based microservices architecture, it uses advanced storage technologies and integrated machine learning (ML) to unlock the power of your data. A versatile platform with a performance-centric design, PowerStore delivers the following key benefits:

• Multidimensional scale
• Always-on data reduction
• Support for next-generation storage media

PowerStore brings the simplicity of public cloud to on-premises infrastructure, streamlining operations with an integrated ML engine and seamless automation. It offers predictive analytics to easily monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot the environment.

Further, PowerStore is highly adaptable, providing the flexibility to host specialized workloads directly on the appliance and modernize infrastructure without disruption. It also offers investment protection through flexible payment solutions and data-in-place upgrades.

The PowerStore platform is available in two different product model types: PowerStore T and PowerStore X.

PowerStore T models

PowerStore T models are unified storage arrays that can service block, file, and VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) resources along with numerous data services and efficiencies. PowerStore T models are ideal for traditional and modern workloads, such as relational databases, electronic medical record applications, and content repositories.

PowerStore X models

PowerStore X model appliances allow for running applications directly on the appliance through the included AppsON capability. An on-board VMware ESXi hypervisor runs embedded applications alongside the PowerStore operating system, all in the form of virtual machines (VMs).

This feature is in addition to the traditional storage functionality of PowerStore X model appliances, which supports serving external block and vVol storage to servers with FC and iSCSI. Its innovative design is perfect for storage-heavy applications, providing both additional compute and high-performance storage to an existing environment or any scenario where density, performance, and availability are primary factors.

The following outlines additional features of the PowerStore T and PowerStore X models:

Figure 1.   PowerStore T and PowerStore X details

Intelligent clusters

Beyond the power of a single PowerStore model appliance, up to four PowerStore T appliances can be grouped into an intelligent cluster. Each appliance can scale up to 2.8PB of effective capacity, and a cluster can scale out to over 11PB of effective capacity. 

Intelligent clustering allows users to add compute power, capacity, or connectivity resources independently while enabling management of multiple appliances from a single control plane. Users can migrate resources seamlessly between appliances and intelligently load balance new applications based on storage metrics.

Key features

Some of the key PowerStore value propositions are as follows:

• Active/active architecture: PowerStore uses both nodes to serve host input/output (I/O) and run data operations in an active-active manner. This design efficiently uses all available hardware resources and optimizes performance, cost, and density in data centers.
• NVMe platform: PowerStore is designed to use the latest storage and interface technologies to maximize application performance and eliminate bottlenecks. PowerStore can maximize performance with NVMe flash storage and supports Intel Optane storage class memory (SCM) which approaches the speed of DRAM. PowerStore supports front-end NVMe connectivity with NVMe over Fibre Channel for a complete end-to-end NVMe solution.
• AppsON: Integration of the PowerStore container-based architecture with onboard VMware ESXi results in a new level of consolidation for enterprise storage. This consolidation provides the benefits of a local, on-array application environment and integrates with the VMware vSphere management environment and server resources. This ability allows users to bring applications closer to storage by running applications as VMs that run directly on PowerStore, benefiting from the core storage services that PowerStore provides.

AppsON enables agility for application deployments and allows seamless movement between the PowerStore appliances and VMware ESXi servers. Each PowerStore appliance is a 2U appliance with two active-active HA nodes, deployed as two ESXi hosts in a vSphere cluster, with shared storage, helping to reduce the server and networking footprint for space-efficient edge and remote deployments. At the same time, each appliance offers high availability for VMs running on the AppsON deployment.

Complemented by joint engineering work with VMware and Intel, AppsON uses intellectual property to bypass the hypervisor. This ability enables bare-metal NVMe performance with full support for plug-and-play functionality and PCIe fault containment.

The AppsON model also simultaneously acts as a regular external storage array, allowing users to both run VMs on the embedded hypervisor while also being able to serve storage to servers through FC/iSCSI/NVMeoF protecting existing infrastructure investments.

• VMware integration: PowerStore is designed to have deep integration with VMware vSphere including VAAI, VASA, event notifications, snapshot management, vVols, and VM discovery and monitoring in PowerStore Manager.
• Unified offering: PowerStore has a single architecture for block, file, and vVols. This architecture uses the latest technologies to provide flexible functionality without sacrificing the cost-effective nature of enterprise storage. PowerStore provides storage in multiple formats to applications, ranging from physical and virtual volumes to containers and traditional files. This ability provides maximum workload flexibility and enables IT to simplify and consolidate infrastructure.
• A modern, simple interface: PowerStore Manager, the PowerStore management interface, is built with data center administrators in mind. With browser native HTML5, PowerStore Manager can be used across various operating systems (OS) and web browsers without requiring an external management server or appliance.
• Inline data reduction: Data reduction technologies play a critical role in environments in which storage administrators are attempting to do more with less. PowerStore data reduction supports this effort by optimally reducing the amount of physical storage that is required to save a dataset, with PowerStore guaranteeing a 4:1 data reduction ratio. PowerStore data reduction provides space savings by using software data deduplication and compression through hardware assist. These storage services are always enabled, and intelligently controlled by the PowerStore OS.
• Native data protection: Data security and availability are critical concerns for many organizations, and PowerStore storage offers multiple solutions to address this need. Snapshots provide point-in-time copies of block, file, and VM 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. Data at Rest Encryption (D@RE) ensures that user data on the system is protected from physical theft and can substitute drive disposal processes, such as shredding.