Document Center


Refine Your Search:   By Solution   |   By Industry   |   By Application
The company deployed Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic SAN with Citrix XenServer server virtualization software running Red Hat Enterprise Linux Premium operating system.
  4PS
Working with Dell Certified Partner Datad, 4PS created an easy-to-manage virtualized infrastructure based on Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell EqualLogic storage. The solution is backed by Dell ProSupport for IT to maximise performance
Filter manufacturer cuts power use by around 60 per cent with virtualized server and storage infrastructure
AccuWeather.com crunches more and more data to produce personalized customer forecasts while reducing its need for electrical power and tech support
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Acme recognized that it needed to reevaluate its disaster recovery strategy. As part of this move, the company started embracing virtualization, using VMware® Infrastructure 3 to virtualize its mission-critical applications and Dell EqualLogic™ virtualized iSCSI SANs to provide an enterprise storage infrastructure that would be easy to deploy, manage and grow.
ACV-CSC chose virtualized Dell blade servers and Dell EqualLogic virtualized iSCSI SANs. The IT team uses simplified management tools, with Dell ProSupport for IT Mission Critical option, to help maintain maximum uptime.
Dell consultants helped Ai Claims Solutions to virtualize the infrastructure using Hyper-V™ from Microsoft, Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell EqualLogic storage
AirClic, Inc., a provider of mobile information services, needed a high-performance storage environment for growing a highly transactional Oracle database requiring continuous uptime. The company implemented a tiered PS Series SAN, with tier one dedicated to the database while tier two stores data for email, files, and other databases.
Aisin Thai Automotive Casting reduces number of physical servers with virtualization
Host product using a cloud solution from Dell business partner Expedient Communications featuring virtual servers hosted on Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell EqualLogic™ iSCSI SANs
Dell helped ALFOTEC deploy a cost effective, scalable server, storage and backup solution with industry leading support
AmTran deployed Dell™ PowerEdge™ blade servers running VMware® virtualization software and Dell EqualLogic storage.
Aramex decided to virtualize its Dell PowerEdge blade servers with VMware, and deploy Dell EqualLogic storage. It chose Dell ProSupport to help maximise performance.
The organisation replaced its storage with Dell EqualLogic iSCSI arrays and completed the SAP migration as well as building the BI infrastructure.
Information has become a key component of human services programs. Bay Cove Human Services, a non-profit organization that delivers a range of services related to mental illness, drug dependency, and developmental disabilities, uses electronic data stored on an EqualLogic PS Series SAN to ensure that their programs are successful, cost effective, and, most important, delivering the right services to the right people.
Bomgar Corporation efficiently deploys virtual machines 60% faster with Dell EqualLogic virtualized iSCSI SANs and VMware vSphere 4.1.
German hosting company delivers cloud services with scalable Dell PowerEdge servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V and Dell EqualLogic storage.
Boulevard Brewing Company eliminates email downtime, achieves 100% ROI on Dell Email Management Services
Bowling Green Independent School District improves performance, saves 200+ IT staff hours a year with solutions from Dell and Microsoft
Boys Town moved away from a traditional frame-based SAN and paired Dell EqualLogic virtualized storage arrays with Intel-based Dell PowerEdge servers running VMware vSphere to virtualize more than 70% of its servers. The organization also deployed Dell PowerVault direct-attached storage arrays (DAS) and CommVault data protection software to achieve faster recovery times with disk-to-disk-to-tape backups.
Bribus Keukens, one of the Netherlands’ top three kitchen manufacturers, dramatically eliminated performance bottlenecks and enabled scalability without downtime with an EqualLogic PS Series SAN.
Brivo launches combined online video and access control security solution with server virtualization, saving 67% on power Benefits
Broadcaster in Switzerland consolidates servers by around 52% and boosts operations with virtualization
The college virtualized 75% of its IT services using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V running on Dell PowerEdge servers, doubling the number of services offered without increasing IT budgets or staff.
  CAOZ
CAOZ worked with Dell to implement Dell EqualLogic storage and Dell PowerEdge servers to store, protect and process the production data for the film. It also deployed Precision workstations.
CART projects 100% payback in 36 months with high-performance, low-TCO IT infrastructure of Dell servers, desktops, laptops and storage.
Caterham F1 racing team worked with Dell consultants to design an enterprise environment, including high density power protection and highly efficient in row cooling provided by APC, network, and trackside environments with Dell servers, storage, laptops and support.
Once Chicago Record Management leveraged its EqualLogic iSCSI SAN to launch new digital imaging and electronic backup services, IT decided to move all critical application data to it. Now they feel confident that growth and success won’t result in service disruption.
The team deployed Dell servers, storage, laptops, workstations and switches to help it run advanced simulations to improve performance. Using the end-to-end solution, drivers and crew can access vital information to help them win.
One of Oregon’s largest, Clackamas County government is responsible for all state services – including transportation, public health, public safety, social services, and more – for almost 350,000 citizens. IT staff replaced a fibre channel SAN supporting mission critical SQL Server, Exchange, and PeopleSoft applications with an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN, resulting in a more scalable, cost-effective, manageable infrastructure that provides storage consolidation and vastly improved data protection...
CMPC Celulose Riograndense is optimizing resources on a scalable Dell enterprise solution with Intel processors
An internationally recognized scientific research university housing eight colleges, 55 academic departments, 25,000 students, and 3,000 faculty and staff, CSU consolidated and standardized its email/calendaring system on Exchange 2007 with an 8-TB EqualLogic PS Series SAN. IT has maintained its “no complaints” policy while delivering 100% uptime, faster performance, and non-disruptive scalability.
Asset-management firm in Germany implements EqualLogic-based business continuity solution and ensures compliance with data regulations
With 300 employees and annual revenues of about $5 million, CHP of Wisconsin provides long-term and medical care management for the elderly and others in need. Replacing DAS with an EqualLogic SAN, CHP built an efficient, cost-effective storage infrastructure that includes snapshots, replication to another EqualLogic SAN at a disaster recovery site, simple management, and easy growth – all without high costs and complexity.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology pairs Dell servers with Intel processor technology, and Dell EqualLogic storage to save six figures
Current Technologies leverages partnership with Dell to help the nation’s fastest-growing county bring backups up to speed
Cypress Corporation provides content management and document delivery to some of the largest healthcare, insurance, and auto manufacturing companies across the globe. Needing a better infrastructure for growth and data recovery, Cypress installed PS Series arrays at its primary and remote data centers for disaster recovery, and now replicates without network or application disruption – providing better backup and recovery, eliminating a myriad of tape and DAS devices, and simplifying management.
Deeley Harley-Davidson® Canada finds business agility in IT virtualization, reducing deployment time for new services and eliminating 40 percent of its physical servers.
Dell conducted a proof of concept using Advanced Infrastructure Manager on Dell PowerEdge blade servers to decouple workloads from the servers supporting them, providing the ability to move quickly and seamlessly between virtual and physical worlds.
With 150,000 mailboxes and 400 servers dedicated to supporting Microsoft Exchange, Dell wanted to streamline its email storage environment, improve server utilization, ensure high availability and improve the end user experience.
The college virtualized 75% of its IT services using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V running on Dell PowerEdge servers, doubling the number of services offered without increasing IT budgets or staff.
For this Oregon county government, critical applications such as MS SQL, Exchange, and Oracle support services that include assessment and taxation, public safely, events, and imaging for the County Clerk, Community Development, and geographic information systems. To reduce downtime, simplify management of a distributed environment, and enable growth, the county replaced DAS with a PS Series SAN and has reduced management time and effort while improving performance.
Digital Solutions Provider used Dell PowerEdge blade servers and Dell EqualLogic storage to deploy a scalable, enterprise-class datacentre.
Grupo Dutriz processes newspaper pages in 25% less time with Dell servers and storage
Encare provides human resource services to 22,000+ companies and 650,000+ employees in Belgium and the Netherlands. The company needed scalability and more efficient, cost-effective backup, so they replaced DAS with a PS Series SAN. Snapshots have eliminated backup windows, growth is non-disruptive, performance has improved dramatically, and the system is easy to use.
A virtualized infrastructure built on Dell servers and storage enables Enterasys to migrate to a new data center in just six weeks and saves an estimated US$300,000 a year.
The college worked with Dell Enterprise Architecture Certified Partner Jcom, deploying virtualized servers and storage, supported by Dell ProSupport. It also replaced desktops with greener, faster Dell™ OptiPlex™ desktops
  ETOS
A large health and beauty products retailer in the Netherlands and Sweden, ETOS needed to replace EMC and IBM storage with a system that was simple and economical to implement and maintain. ETOS’s EqualLogic SAN was set up quickly, delivers more throughput, and includes greater functionality that the fibre channel solutions at a much lower cost.
  Five
Five is a national broadcaster in the UK, providing television programming across three channels plus an on-demand download service. The company installed multiple PS Series arrays to achieve a scalable, cost-effective, centrally managed storage infrastructure with DR for data and media files. Virtual storage and VMware together have improved availability and enabled business continuity.
This Florida equipment sales, service, and leasing company wanted to eliminate outsourcing and bring IT in-house. EqualLogic enabled Flagler to build an infrastructure from scratch that includes advanced functionality and yet is simple to use, affordable, and fast to implement.
Becoming a Dell™ Certified Partner specializing in servers, storage, networking and security, and the Dell KACE™ Family of Systems Management Appliances allows Fluid Consulting to increase revenues and respond to clients faster.
The small IT team of this global beverage distributor’s European division uses an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN and VMware VI3 to provide remote access for mobile workers as well as ERP, productivity applications, and email to employees across the region.
This leading-edge engineering college uses a fully converged IP network that connects most campus equipment. DAS couldn’t support the advanced services, rapid growth, and flexibility required; Olin installed a PS Series SAN to supply these features as well as snapshots and remote replication.
Fresenius Kabi Brazil needed a hardware refresh in its secondary data center to improve the safety of data, strengthen the company’s business continuity strategy and encourage trust in the IT function as a principal support for the business.
GasAtacama reduces operating costs by 30% with Dell, Intel and VMware virtualization solution
This Dutch municipal government needed a disaster recovery solution that would guarantee business continuity for three municipalities and enable cost-effective replication over distance for its Windows/Oracle/blade server environment.
GHS Data Management (GHS) is a healthcare management company that provides data capture and processing solutions to government agencies, medical associations, HMOs, and hospitals. GHS’ business was growing across the country and required another 12 terabytes of storage to support database growth from new customers and services and needed a more fault-tolerant storage platform than their DAS system.
GMO Media supports growing membership base of 11 million with increased stability and 400% faster processing speeds
Godawari Power & Ispat Limited sought to replace its aging data replication solution with a more scalable solution.
Grontmij is a European engineering consulting firm whose 7,000 employees in 130 offices are engaged in construction, infrastructure, environment, water, energy and industry projects. The company needed a storage solution to support its Microsoft DPM implementation for automatic backup of branch locations to a central data center.
Leading pump manufacturer cuts energy costs by DKK 1.3 million with global standards-based IT infrastructure
Logistics company in Spain reduces energy consumption by around 75% through virtualization
School builds IT environment with Dell, eliminating unplanned downtime and cutting technical helpdesk calls by around 90 per cent.
Henrico County realizes improved test scores and saves $1 million using Dell systems with Intel processor technology
The third largest city school system in Alabama, Hoover City Schools enrolls more than 12,000 students. For its Microsoft-focused environment (including Exchange, SQL Server, IIS, SharePoint, and DPM), Hoover City needed to consolidate from DAS, protect data in a prime tornado area, and comply with state archiving requirements.
The company deployed Dell PowerEdge servers running Microsoft Hyper-V and Dell EqualLogic storage area networks.
HotSchedules works with Dell IT Consulting to consolidate its IT infrastructure by 90%, while bolstering data protection
Dell deployed Advanced Infrastructure Manager (Dell AIM) on 12 Dell PowerEdge servers to decouple workloads from the servers supporting them. Servers can now be reset in minutes, and workloads can be saved for later use, increasing agility and reducing hardware requirements.
Following strategic acquisitions, Dell consolidates 2,000 rack-mount servers onto Dell blade servers and Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs
To enhance enterprise efficiency, Dell IT needed new ways to support continued business growth and improve business agility while reducing costs.
Dell enhances IT efficiency, virtualizing more than 8,000 servers and saving more than US$57 million
Hypnion is a drug discovery company developing new therapeutics for central nervous system disorders. The company needed to replace its complicated fibre channel SAN to support Exchange, Oracle, and file services with an affordable, easy to use, reliable storage solution offering features such as Boot from SAN, high availability, and multi-pathing.
The firm worked with Dell to deploy a virtualized data centre based on Dell servers, storage and switches. Dell also helped roll out Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010.
I-Business Network (I-BN) is an application service provider (ASP) specializing in the provisioning of financial, e-commerce and business process systems to small and medium-sized companies. To improve scalability, optimize server hardware and simplify operations, I-BN turned to a virtualization infrastructure based upon the integration of the Citrix® XenServer™, Enterprise Edition server virtualization solution and the Dell EqualLogic PS5000E iSCSI storage area network (SAN) solution.
Hosting provider reduces server footprint by around 60% and increases revenue by approximately 40% with virtualized environment
iLand.com is a cloud infrastructure provider that has built their business using Dell EqualLogic storage, VMware vSphere 4 and VMware View (VDI) software. Among their various offerings, they provide customers with cloud-based backup, recovery solutions and Virtual Desktop hosting solutions.
Rather than undertake an expensive server room remodel, Infinite Energy rolled out a VMware®-based virtual environment running on a cluster of Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell EqualLogic™ iSCSI SANs.
EqualLogic PS300E SAN array provides centralised storage that is easy to manage and responsive to business needs.
This managed service provider offers hosting, collocation, and bandwidth to customers around the world. The company needed to replace DAS to improve service delivery, increase customer uptime, and ease backup/recovery.
INTI Education Group decreases server footprint by 66% with virtualized solution
Janela Digital worked with Dell Consulting Services to deploy iSCSI-based Dell EqualLogic storage, supported by Dell Support Services.
This Connecticut regional healthcare provider includes a hospital and outpatient surgery, occupational medicine, physical therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, and cancer centers. Johnson Health wanted to replace its fibre channel SAN to simplify storage management and bring it in-house to support growth, flexibility, and online data recovery.
Kane County is the fourth-largest county in Illinois and one of the fastest growing in the United States. This county seat with more than 2,000 employees and $460 million in revenue provides critical services—including transportation, health, public safety, tax collection and law enforcement—to 480,000 residents.
Virtualization helps Kyocera Communication Systems save on total cost of ownership and open up new business opportunities
This non-profit organization dedicated to organ donation includes multiple laboratory, medical, surgical, and organ procurement divisions in the southeast US, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Dependable disaster recovery for transplant-related data is literally a life-and-death requirement with data stored in hurricane zones.
Liverpool FC virtualized its datacentre with Dell servers and Dell EqualLogic storage. Dell provided Liverpool FC Academy with powerful desktops, laptops and projectors to help students on and off the pitch.
Lo Coloco Films brings Mexico’s first animated 3D film to life with Dell technology
The college virtualized almost all of its servers on a VMware platform running on Dell PowerEdge servers supported by Dell/EMC and Dell EqualLogic SANs. Not only are business-critical applications more available, but they also run faster. Plus, the flexibility that virtualization offers for building test environments is enabling the college to improve students’ learning opportunities through expanded distance learning offerings.
By combining Dell’s advanced virtualized iSCSI SANs with VMware, LuLu has created an intelligent, fully virtual IT infrastructure that is easy to manage, auto-load balancing and seamless to scale.
Dell helps Mahoning County reduce power and cooling by 35%, allocate storage in 1 hour and meet 2-week window for implementing ERP system
Major university finds flexible computing solution from Dell and VMware saves 40% in total cost of ownership compared to previous public lab solution.
The Marino Institute of Education upgraded and virtualized its Dell PowerEdge servers and optimised the benefits of the platform by introducing highly scalable Dell EqualLogic storage.
MediSync provides healthcare practice management services to physician groups. The company implemented a PS Series SAN to upgrade and consolidate its infrastructure to provide flexibility, disk-based backup, remote replication, and business continuance.
With twelve years of record growth plus new acquisitions, this diversified Chicago financial services provider needed to migrate from DAS to a scalable, networked storage environment supporting heterogeneous operating systems.
This 99-year-old college of liberal and applied arts and sciences wanted to replace its fibre channel SAN to simplify storage management and allocation across campus, reduce costs, and provide complete data protection and disaster recovery.
German manufacturer cuts server footprint by around 47 per cent with new datacentre
Millard worked with Dell Services to refresh and standardize desktop hardware companywide and rolled out a virtual server environment based on Microsoft Hyper-V technology on Dell PowerEdge™ servers, supported by Dell PowerVault and Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs.
The company brought its IT infrastructure in-house and consolidated and virtualized physical machines on Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage with Dell PowerConnect Ethernet switches for SAN and server traffic. The virtualized environment provided the flexibility to quickly deploy virtual machines for developers without investing in additional hardware.
Missouri Employers Mutual is the largest worker’s compensation insurer in the state. The company implemented a PS Series SAN to improve performance and reduce costs for Exchange and Oracle across Windows and Linux environments.
This eCommerce solution provider delivers “point, click, and sell” Internet, storage, and hosted eCommerce application services to companies of all sizes. When the company’s NAS solution couldn’t keep up with growth, MyCart turned to EqualLogic to deliver critical web performance, partner compliance requirements, and automated backup.
Swedish hosted services provider consolidates cloud computing environment by almost 87 per cent and halves power consumption
  NASA
NASA’s Langley Research Center focuses on exploring the frontiers of space, aeronautics, and atmospheric sciences. A PS Series SAN was implemented to build a fault-tolerant, collaborative knowledge base supporting numerous document and image formats and provide information protection.
This flood insurance policy servicing and processing company needed to create a zero-downtime environment with simple management and growth. When the NAS system experienced both performance and replication problems, the company installed a PS Series SAN.
This 200-year-old Danish construction company wanted faster data recovery than tape could deliver; EqualLogic snapshots, remote replication, and consolidated backup now provide a flexible environment that’s easy to grow. Two EqualLogic PS200E arrays delivering storage consolidation, SAN boot, snapshot-based data restoration, and replication.
IT solutions provider boosts scalability with virtualized iSCSI storage
Netherlands-based healthcare provider reduces management time for storage by approximately 66% with Dell virtualized solution.
Dell storage solutions let NDTV India manage data growth with minimal IT staff and broadcast without unexpected technical difficulties.
The largest regional news network in the country, NECN serves more than 3.6 million homes throughout New England. An EqualLogic SAN provides consolidate storage, centralized backup, lower complexity and costs, and disaster recovery.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council's storage virtualisation platform, based on EqualLogic’s PS Series arrays, will play a crucial role in helping the Council’s 650 employees deliver faster, more efficient services to more than 122,000 residents living in the Borough.
NCCU is a liberal arts institution with an increasing focus on science and technology. Faced with an inflexible DAS architecture and multiple platforms, NCCU needed a storage solution that would help eliminate server proliferation and supply high performance for an SCT Banner ERP upgrade as well as an Oracle database, a SAS data warehouse, and other key applications.
The school deployed a consolidated, virtualized server and storage solution based on high-performing Dell PowerEdge servers, a Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage area network (SAN), and VMware virtualization software.
Optimal Blue anticipates 50% improvement in engine response time, giving mortgage sellers an edge with a high-performance pricing solution powered by Dell.
Pacific Sunwear created a virtualized data center by deploying VMware vSphere virtualization software on Dell PowerEdge blade servers and a Dell EqualLogic storage area network (SAN).
Patagonia, a leading manufacturer of outdoor clothing and technical apparel, migrated to an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN to consolidate a disparate set of direct attached storage (DAS) and simplify management and backup of the storage supporting its critical business services including supply chain and product lifecycle management. Since implementing the EqualLogic SAN, Patagonia has transitioned from tape backup to a disk-based backup method, cutting administration times.
PRP deployed virtualized Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell EqualLogic storage, and chose a hosted disaster recovery solution. The company also selected Dell ProSupport to protect its IT investment.
Pembina Trails School Division increases network performance by 20 times to consolidate IT and expand educational services
PXP is an independent oil and gas company with facilities in California, Louisiana, and Texas. An EqualLogic iSCSI SAN helped them to smooth growth, eliminate downtime at offshore oil platforms, instantly recover from server faults, and support large capacity geophysical analysis applications.
The organisation deployed virtualized Dell™ blade servers with Intel® Xeon® processors and Dell EqualLogic storage. It also rolled out with Dell OptiPlex™ and Dell Latitude™ clients to deliver more efficient, mobile patient care.
Working with Dell partner Nviron, it deployed Dell EqualLogic storage and virtualized Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers. It ensured maximum performance with Dell ProSupport.
PT Areva T&D reduced its server footprint and decreased energy consumption with Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic storage
The law firm has virtualized 75 percent of its servers using VMware and Dell PowerEdge servers with Intel Xeon processors along with 46 Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs and Riverbed Steelhead WAN optimization appliances. Taking advantage of a full range of technological capabilities that Dell EqualLogic includes with its products, Quarles & Brady has greatly accelerated processing while simplifying storage and disaster recovery.
Turkish hosting company reduces energy consumption by approximately 70 per cent with virtualized solution from Dell
The IT team worked with Dell consultants to deliver a virtualized environment from the datacentre to the desktop with Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and EqualLogic storage.
This Dutch housing company is charged with renovating buildings, infrastructure, and the environment in various districts of the country. Rentree wanted to standardize information processes, prevent data duplication and loss, and deploy information management and business intelligence systems in a robust storage environment.
The company achieved its goal by creating a virtualized server and storage environment based on a Dell™ EqualLogic storage solution.
A Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage area network (SAN) enabled Safeway to eliminate the bottleneck, add new capabilities to the online application, and reduce storage administration time.
Nearly 20% of the Dutch population has registered with Schoolbank.nl, a social networking website and software provider. Exponential growth and performance needs drove the company to implement an iSCSI SAN to replace DAS.
SDC Udvikling’s 150+ terabyte EqualLogic SAN is one of the largest iSCSI SANs in the world. Providing banking application services to banks across Denmark and Norway, SDC Udvikling need to deploy a secure, flexible, scalable SAN, with boot from SAN, storage tiers, and built-in intelligence.
Video surveillance specialist frees up around 30% of staff time for innovation with efficient Dell OEM solution
Sequestered Solutions Alaska, LLC selects the dense, scalable, and easy-to-manage Dell EqualLogic storage array to support more than 160,000 potential new storage users.
ShengLi Oilfield reduces IT infrastructure by 90% and operating costs by 60% with virtualized solution
Shiloh manufactures engineered steel products for automobile and heavy trucking manufacturers and suppliers. To solve the challenges of a distributed architecture with multiple operating systems and many critical applications, Shiloh implemented an EqualLogic SAN and VMware.
Siemens Industry, Inc. worked with Dell OEM to integrate Dell PowerEdge servers into its security solutions, facilitate global product distribution, and provide worldwide support for hardware issues.
Snohomish School District extends refresh cycle for client hardware by a projected 160-200% using technologies from Dell, Intel and VMware
SoftLayer improves IT staff efficiency by 15% while introducing more flexible services for customers with Dell storage.
Piano maker cuts physical servers by around 85% and forecasts energy savings of €8,000 a year with Dell EqualLogic.
Working with Dell Partner Deverill, the college deployed virtualized Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers with high-performance Intel® Xeon® processors, and EqualLogic storage. The solution is protected by Dell ProSupport.
Dell™ Consulting Services designed a storage consolidation solution based on a high-performance Dell EqualLogic storage area network and VMware® Infrastructure™ that simplifies management while expanding storage capacity and improving performance.
SMP doubles annual sales revenue from Dell business and turns a low six-figure deal into a $1 million+ opportunity with Dell PartnerDirect.
Taipei Municipal San Min Elementary School reduces its carbon footprint by consolidating the IT infrastructure by 62%
Providing care for the disabled in the Netherlands, Talant turned to EqualLogic and VMware for a more flexible environment, easier growth, better utilization, and faster backup.
A not-for-profit hospital serving central West Virginia, Thomas Memorial wanted to work smarter, not harder. With EqualLogic snapshots the hospital eliminated the 72-hour backup window, provides gold standard uptime, and scales easily.
This $10B heating and air conditioning company needed a storage solution that provided business continuance, lower costs, better storage provisioning, and SOX compliance.
Turner Padget effectively eliminates unplanned downtime and cuts server footprint by 50% with Dell solutions and VMware
This electronic gaming leader supports the professional Electronic Sports League, the largest computer gamer league in Europe with more than 630,000 members. Turtle implemented an EqualLogic SAN to handle monumental growth that overwhelmed its direct-attached storage (DAS) infrastructure.
Universidad Francisco Marroquín reduces desktop administration time by 80% with Dell On-Demand Desktop Streaming solution
Universidad Francisco Marroquín has needed several solutions since 1998, including centralized backup for its campus-wide video surveillance network, improved access to numerous applications for its computer lab and improved network performance.
UM’s Department of Public Safety is a state-licensed law enforcement agency, protecting more than 39,000 students and thousands of faculty and staff across hundreds of building. Implementing a PS Series SAN was part of an effort to disaster-proof IT while reducing administrative effort and creating a foundation for advanced video surveillance.
University of the Incarnate Word brings messaging availability near 100% while saving money and reclaiming 400 to 600 staff hours each year
Located near Stuttgart Germany, this prestigious university founded in the 15th century boasts an excellent local and international academic record. Known for technology innovation, the University’s Data Centre Institute ZDV was among the first to implement an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN to achieve snapshot-based backup, remote replication, fast performance, scalability, and high availability.
VC3 reduces total cost of ownership for client computing by 50% or more with Dell-powered virtual desktop infrastructure
The Flemish Water Board (VMW) is responsible for providing high quality drinking water and managing waste water across Flemish Belgium. To improve utilization rates and provide a flexible storage environment that would support continued growth, VMW deployed an EqualLogic SAN.
As this Virginia university depends increasingly on technology, data needs and availability have become critical. Business continuance for its NetWare/Windows/Linux environment was impossible with DAS, and IT needed to increase storage capacity without disruption.
An integrated geophysical service company with locations in Houston and Dallas, Weinman’s seismic processing and analysis applications consume large amounts of storage. To eliminate the regular failures large files were causing in the NAS/SCSI environment, Weinman installed a multiple-array PS Series SAN.
The company upgraded to a virtualized platform with Dell EqualLogic storage and servers running VMware.
Xtium upgraded to Dell EqualLogic Firmware 5.0 to enable the use of thin clones—thin-provisioned, writeable copies of data volumes—and leverage direct integration with their VMware vSphere 4.1 environment with vStorage APIs. The company is now able to make copies of golden images for SAP customers as well as for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) project with unprecedented speed and efficiency, using optimized disk space.
Charter school district YES Prep Public Schools faced growing pains when it tried to replicate successful strategies between campuses. Teachers needed communication tools, as well as a system for managing and sharing student data.
Zenon is a leading provider of water purification system for municipalities and commercial markets around the world. Needing a long term storage solution providing scalability, advanced features with simple management, and lower costs, Zenon replaced fibre channel with an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN.
Founded by the creators of Staples Office Superstore, this award-winning dry cleaner is the largest on the US east coast, with more than 300,000 customers. Rapid and consistent growth prompted a move from fibre channel to an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN.
Since any opportunity to improve performance is a plus for IT administrators, the dawning of 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GigE) is good news. Questions regarding costs, benefits, cabling, and timing are top of mind as administrators try to plan technology upgrades and new network deployments. Rest assured that if you have not already implemented 10-GigE you’re not late—while some organizations have begun to use it, cabling upgrades will be required to drive broader deployment.
In contrast to file server solutions, scale-out NAS solutions remove file-serving responsibilities from networked servers instead, using dedicated resources to provide file-based access. The potential benefits of NAS-based file management over file server farms include faster data access, simpler configuration and easier administration.
Advanced storage monitoring tools enable administrators to keep track of storage health and performance, and send alerts in case of problems. These tools can help keep business operating by minimizing downtime, and can keep costs down by improving utilization of storage resources.
Tiering applications can help you better manage service levels and storage costs, while retaining the benefits of storage consolidation.
Load balancing across your SAN helps to optimize performance, but in most environments is a manual, iterative process that significantly disrupts operations.
System reliability is a vital component in Storage Area Network (SAN) design that keeps your production environment operating and avoids data loss and downtime. But since SANs are built using both mechanical and electronic parts, component failures due to usage, environmental factors, or manufacturing defects are not uncommon. Even in completely redundant systems, controllers can fail, fans can stop operating, power supplies can burn out, and disk drives can degrade or fail.
There are three basic types of iSCSI initiators: Software-based iSCSI driver with a standard network card. Software-based iSCSI driver with a network card that incorporates a TOE to reduce the TCP processing load on the host’s CPU. Host bus adapter that offloads both TCP and iSCSI processing.
Continuous Data Protection increases backup frequency and fidelity without interrupting production operations.
10 Gb Ethernet delivers a larger “pipe” for communications—ten times larger than standard Ethernet. It’s availability has prompted the development of new standards for the data center, as organizations begin to deploy unified networking—that is, a single fabric for all networking traffic.
Data Center Bridging defines a set of Ethernet specifications intended to address data centers that have transitioned from Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to 10GbE, or are exploring the potential of 40GbE and 100GbE data center networks. This document discusses those specifications, as well as how Dell can help IT organizations consolidate all data center traffic onto a single, high-capacity Ethernet fabric.
Snapshots enhance backups by improving data integrity, reducing application disruption, offloading application servers from backup processing, and enabling quick restore.
Blade servers offer enterprises and organizations the potential to converge compute, switching and storage within a single chassis. This convergence can vastly improve solution manageability and productivity.
Converged IT architectures are emerging to address many of these requirements by integrating key IT elements – compute, storage, networking, management and virtualization – into a unified IT asset which can accelerate application and IT service delivery.
Supporting the same NAS protocol doesn’t make file serving storage solutions the same. Because file serving is end-user focused, the best solution is the one that provides the right user functionality.
Storage system evaluations often focus on hardware or protocol choices—do you want SAS systems? A Fibre Channel SAN? iSCSI? Equally important yet often neglected is a discussion of fundamental storage designs and how they define your options for initial deployment, capacity expansion, technology additions, and life cycle value.
Disaster recovery (DR) has become an imperative for protecting business operations. Cost effective replication solutions make DR possible for both traditional and virtualized data centers by reducing costs and complexity. Affordable, scalable storage arrays like the PS Series that interoperate securely and include replication functionality have re-defined the service provider model, bringing it closer to home while making it safer and easy to implement.
Because IT infrastructure is the foundation of most business operations, reliable and predictable service is critical. IT administrators constantly make decisions about service levels and the most economical methods to achieve them. Consolidation efforts (which involve providing greater IT services on fewer physical resources) raise reliability and recovery needs because of the impact of losing a valuable physical resource on overall service levels.
A solution that can scale storage completely – online, without downtime or disruption – makes growth painless and eliminates the need for over-provisioning.
Storage area networks (SANs) deliver consolidated storage and advanced storage management features. One advanced SAN configuration involves booting servers directly from the SAN, eliminating all locally attached storage and improving server operations. Several server boot options are available: traditional boot from internal storage; boot from a server on the network; and boot from the iSCSI SAN.
iSCSI lets businesses leverage existing skills and network infrastructure to create IP-based SANs that deliver the performance of Fibre Channel, but at a fraction of the cost.
Using snapshots with backup has been a difficult challenge for IT organizations, as administrators have had to manually integrate the various components in order to create snapshot data in the format required for backups. But there is good news. An industry trend is shifting this integration burden back to the vendors — with snapshot-aware operating systems. Good examples are Windows Server 2003 and 2008, in which Microsoft included a technology called Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
When circumstances require downtime for updates that are usually non-disruptive, leverage advanced features such as redundancy, server virtualization, snapshots, and MPIO to maintain operations.
Why MPIO? Because most storage devices support multiple SAN connections for performance and reliability. MPIO provides multiple paths from servers to storage, delivering fault tolerance, high availability, and better performance.
Standard remote desktop technologies offer numerous benefits based on server consolidation, but may also restrict operating systems and deliver reduced functionality.
Dell™ provides a comprehensive portfolio of data protection solutions to enhance your IT environment. With world class storage platforms, a rich suite of software offerings and partnerships Dell can help you plan and deploy backup and recovery solutions customized to meet your needs and budget. Supporting the portfolio is a comprehensive set of services designed to optimize the storage environment.
With the Host Integration Tools for Microsoft Windows CD, you can configure and install Windows servers on the SAN in minutes and without reboots.
SAN-aware file systems work with intelligent storage arrays to improve tasks such as data movement, copying, provisioning, and maintenance, reducing the burden on servers, networks, and storage.
With "Virtual disk" technologies you’ll be able to increase a mailbox size from within your messaging application, or increase a table size from within the database application.
An iSCSI SAN provides a number of built-in features that together deliver the most comprehensive security available in SAN technology today—whether you are transferring data within a LAN or across the Internet. By physically limiting access to iSCSI SAN devices and isolating SANs from public networks, data can be protected across all network paths. The added security of iSCSI login authentication between initiator and target helps assure that data is accessible only to authorized individuals.
A well-implemented storage solution can efficiently create, manage, and maintain snapshots without causing significant additional overhead in management or performance, helping to make it a cost-effective copy process.
The solid-state disk market is growing as automated storage tiering takes hold, but it remains difficult for IT to determine which applications can benefit from SSD tiers.
Once storage is consolidated, the job is only half done. You still need a centralized, flexible method of management that masks the complexity of the storage environment and reduces administrative overhead. That’s where virtualization fits in.
Snapshots make backup more efficient: they reduce downtime and work loss, while dramatically speeding up restore.
The primary goal of SAN implementations is to make storage management easier – which can only be done with the right management tools.
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a method of having multiple disks work together to deliver more reliable storage than individual disks. Combining physical disks can give administrators more flexibility in storage capacity, performance, and reliability as they strive to meet service level objectives. By providing a simple form of storage virtualization, RAID lets you optimize the storage environment and obtain the maximum benefits for your applications.
In certain rapid, high-growth environments thin provisioning can create a storage capacity growth path that delivers on both management goals and capital objectives.
The Dell EqualLogic FS7500 is a unified, scale-out NAS solution that works with EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI arrays to combine both NAS and SAN storage in a single, flexible architecture designed to optimize both performance and capacity.
SANs provide transparent movement of applications across your enterprise without the hassles of reinstallation, copying, or reconfiguration, resulting in flexibility, improved resource utilization, and lower costs.
Streamlining protection of virtualized environments is enabled with automated, end to end integrated recovery tools enabled by EqualLogic PS Series SANs with Auto Snapshot Manager tools, and PowerVault Backup to Disk Appliance, powered by Symantec Backup Exec 2010. Dell and Symantec have partnered to tightly integrate a comprehensive solution for simplified, automated recovery and backup operations within your virtual environment.
Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN arrays and Blue Coat Systems ProxySG systems provide an end-to-end solution designed to enhance performance, minimize bandwidth usage and accelerate SAN-based replication operations between remote data centers.
With flat budgets and heavy cost scrutiny, CAPEX and OPEX must be minimized. Organizations must reduce the complexity and cost of Oracle database implementations. As Oracle’s largest reseller and a Specialized Platinum Partner, Dell has addressed this challenge through the delivery of scalable database solutions built on affordable, standards-based Dell PowerEdge server platforms and the Dell EqualLogic PS Series virtualized iSCSI SAN.
Automated Storage Tiering features provided standard on Dell EqualLogic unified, virtualized IP-based storage are designed to help organizations improve performance through the assignment of SSD and SAS resources to high-IOPS data and reduce costs through the alignment of low-IOPS data with capacity-optimized disk resources.
Auto-Snapshot Manager Microsoft Edition for SharePoint Server enables simple, integrated, and automated end-to-end data protection for SharePoint Servers deployed with an EqualLogic SAN. These tools help streamline SharePoint data management, reduce administration overhead and improve space and time savings making Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN an efficient, reliable choice for Microsoft SharePoint Server storage.
Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft® Edition for Hyper-V™ (ASM/ME) is a unique and innovative bundled data protection feature of the Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN that enables fast online backups and quick restores of Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). Through an easy-to-use graphical interface, ASM/ME coordinates the creation, recovery and scheduling of VSS-compliant Dell EqualLogic SAN based snapshots of Hyper-V virtual machines helping enhance protection, storage utilization, and performance.
Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME) is a comprehensive software toolkit that ships with all Dell EqualLogic PS Series arrays to facilitate the deployment, ongoing management, and protection of Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs in your Microsoft Windows environments. ASM/ME can provide significant improvements to the storage efficiency of Exchange by reducing the amount of storage actually used in a SAN deployment.
Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware Edition (ASM/VE) is an innovative data management tool that enhances the speed, quality, and scalability of data protection in a VMware environment. ASM/VE coordinates and manages array-based snapshots, clones and replicas of virtual machines residing in VMware VMFS file systems, offloading the ESX Server of data protection processing. As with all of the EqualLogic advanced data protection and disaster recovery features.
Bloombase Spitfire StoreSafe is a versatile software platform that provides agentless, non-disruptive, application transparent, at-rest data encryption on Dell EqualLogic storage.
Hitting the speed of light might be impossible, but don’t tell that to The Community Bank in Massachuseets. The local lending institution improved its EqualLogic replication times by 2,400 percent, dropping from a week-and-a-half to a matter of hours, all without purchasing additional bandwidth.
CommVault Simpana Backup & Recovery is an "iSCSI aware" data and storage management solution that has been engineered for adaptive deployment, superior performance, and painless automation. Through Storage Policies, CommVault helps make it simple to implement even the most intricate data and storage management strategies and enforce them across your enterprise. Its innovative architecture allows the CommVault storage management intelligence to integrate with iSCSI SANs.
As organizations of all sizes consolidate their IT infrastructures through server and storage virtualization, the importance of data center reliability and recoverability becomes increasingly important. Because physical servers running multiple virtual machines (VMs) support more applications than physical single-application servers, uptime requirements for virtual server infrastructure is typically much higher In fact, consolidated environments are often expected to support 24x7 operations.
Auto-Snapshot Manager extends the intelligence of Dell EqualLogic SAN and enables Administrators to create and manage Smart Copy snapshots, clones, or replicas for point-in-time copies of Exchange Storage Groups that can be instantly restored.
The integration by Dell and F5 of the EqualLogic iSCSI SAN and F5 BIG-IP WOM creates an advanced data storage system with the ability to improve security and efficiency for data replication over WANs. F5 combines WAN optimization and application delivery technologies traditionally available only on separate devices – together on the same platform. These consolidated services can help enterprises save on hardware costs, rack space, and energy consumption, as well as on management resources.
The Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 blade array combines the ease-of-use advantages of all EqualLogic PS Series virtualized storage arrays with the form-factor advantages of a Dell PowerEdge M1000e system blade.
With the introduction of the FS7500 NAS appliance for the EqualLogic PS Series, Dell customers now have a unified storage option to further reduce management overhead and improve efficiency.
Built on a patented peer storage architecture, the Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN provides a high performance, reliable, scalable, storage platform particularly effective in Microsoft WS 2008 Hyper-V environments. The PS Series storage arrays function as peers, working together to share resources, evenly distribute workloads, and collaborate to help optimize application performance and provide comprehensive data protection for the virtual machines operating in a WS 2008 Hyper-V environment.
Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V™ introduces new capabilities designed to deliver high availability for virtualized environments. Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series storage area network (SAN) arrays offer a solid shared storage foundation for a virtualized data center that can enable organizations to take full advantage of the high-availability features included with Windows® Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V™.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is a VMware vSphere 4.0 based solution that is tightly integrated with Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage to offer centralized disaster recovery management, automation, and testing for a virtualized datacenter.
Dell EqualLogic SANs, in combination with Silver Peak’s data-center class WAN optimization, offer a proven solution for offsite data protection and centralized backup. With the combined Dell and Silver Peak solution, enterprises can protect more data across longer distances, while leveraging cost-effective shared WAN technologies (such as MPLS, Internet VPNs) to help lower ongoing IT costs.
When deployed as a solution, Certeon aCelera Sync and PS Series SANs work together in a virtual infrastructure, providing enterprises with a scalable solution that can significantly improve backup and replication performance across even the most challenging WAN conditions. Enterprises seeking to replicate data across high-traffic links can apply this WAN optimization solution to accelerate ROI, as well as deliver better backup and replication performance that scales along with storage capacity.
Dell EqualLogic virtualized iSCSI SANs combines industry-leading Fluid Data architecture capabilities with tight hypervisor integration, simplified SAN and NAS management and familiar Ethernet technology to provide an enterprise storage solution that enables IT to deliver successful pilot and production-level Citrix XenDesktop VDI solutions.
Through advanced integration with VMware and Microsoft platforms, Dell EqualLogic PS Series SANs enable the availability, protection, performance, ease of management and seamless scalability required to support virtualized Tier-1 applications.
Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 blade arrays enable remote-site IT solutions with simplified disaster recovery, reduced life-cycle costs, streamlined operation and modular scalability.
Dell EqualLogic unified, virtualized IP storage offers an efficient and agile solution for managing the growing torrent of data.
Highly modular by design, Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series SANs offer broad flexibility to suit specific video operations. EqualLogic SANs intended to provide storage for video editing, animation and special-effects renderings, for example, can incorporate high-performance arrays that run low-latency 15,000 RPM SAS disks – or even lower-latency SSDs – along with high-throughput 10GB Ethernet.
Emulex and Dell recently announced complete iSCSI over Data Center Bridging solutions targeting virtualized environments in enterprise accounts. While prior efforts to drive adoption of iSCSI have met with success, improvements driven by 10Gb Ethernet, Data Center Bridging, and hardware-based iSCSI offload engines should help accelerate penetration in enterprise accounts.
Dell EqualLogic storage solutions are tightly integrated with VMware vSphere and VMware View. They offer compelling benefits for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments by providing simple, cost-efficient, high-performance storage solutions that enable rapid VDI provisioning. Dell EqualLogic and VMware help accelerate the success of VDI projects.
Dell EqualLogic is defining the next generation of intelligent storage solutions with a wide range of unique, high-value capabilities that enable IT organizations to optimize the availability, performance and agility of essential services while reducing costs.
Dell Fluid File System (FluidFS) is designed with a flexible architecture that enables organizations to scale linearly, without diminishing returns on performance. The FluidFS technology is enterprise-class and standards-based. FluidFS supports multiple protocols including CIFS and NFS, and incorporates innovative features for high availability, performance, efficient data management, and data protection.
Dell and VMware are partnering together to deliver integrated virtual server and virtual storage solutions through VMware vStorage API’s. With vStorage API’s, SAN resources can be utilized for greater virtual server performance and more efficient management of the entire virtualized data center. Interagrated solutions available today from Dell include Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware Edition, an automated data protection tool for virtual machines, and Auto-Replication integration with VMware’s SRM.
Dell PS Series SANs are designed to make the best use of available storage, feature high levels of automation, have strong data protection features and are the foundation for a shared resource architecture, making them a good choice for Microsoft Exchange Mailbox storage.
Together, EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays and Microsoft Exchange provide the reliable messaging environment you need.
To help optimize storage for multi-tiered workloads, the Dell EqualLogic 1Gb Ethernet-based PS6100XS and PS6500ES arrays, as well as the 10Gb Ethernet-based PS6110XS and PS6510ES arrays, incorporate several hardware and software design innovations that expand the capabilities of EqualLogic Automatic Tiering.
The integration of Dell EqualLogic with VMware can help organizations increase operational flexibility and productivity, realize transformative cost savings, enable effective business continuity strategies, achieve optimal performance and build highly resilient virtual infrastructure.
The Dell EqualLogic PS Series XVS arrays present a better option for meeting service level agreements while helping reduce costs. The PS6000XVS and PS6010XVS are high performance SAN arrays that combine low-latency SSD and 15K RPM SAS drives within a single enclosure. The XVS continuously analyzes I/O to the data stored on it at a sub-volume level. The sub-volume elements are categorized as high I/O, medium I/O, or low I/O, and then dynamically placed on either SSD or SAS tiers as appropriate.
The EqualLogic Virtual Desktop Deployment Tool helps enable rapid deployment of desktop VMs from templates in a space efficient way. This tool is integrated with VMware View, and employs EqualLogic Template Volumes and Thin Clones to achieve space-efficient VDI deployments. It enhances productivity by automating VM pool creation, VM registration, and patch and update management.
With ever increasing security and compliance requirements and proliferation of many client devices that vary in form factor, desktop virtualization may be the most relevant technology to streamline client device management and provide a consistent user experience. By separating operating systems (OS) and applications from physical client devices, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) can help streamline management, lower operational expenses and facilitate security and compliance adherence.
Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series SAN arrays can help ensure VMware® View-based VDI implementation project success by reducing operating costs, simplifying architectures and adding flexibility.
PS Series arrays advanced data protection with quick recovery, online scalability and remote replication can make it the ideal storage platform for SQL Server environments that require maximum availability. The automatic load balancing and data availability features included in EqualLogic SAN solutions combined with their ease of management are allowing organization to free up resources, improve asset utilization, and maximize their return on investment.
Both disaster recovery and centralized backup require that critical data be stored redundantly across geographical boundaries. A WAN-based backup solution based on Riverbed Steelhead appliances and Dell EqualLogic PS Series virtualized iSCSI arrays can enable fast, economical, and centrally managed backup across multiple sites, often without the need to upgrade bandwidth on existing WAN links.
To reach their full potential, virtualized IT environments require data center networking solutions that can meet or exceed both the capacity and the performance demands of all of the virtualized applications. In short, virtualization raises the bar for network security, latency, speed and capacity requirements of each application/storage pair in the data center network.
Combining the MezeoCloud platform and MezeoFile sync and share clients with the scalable, unified Dell EqualLogic FS series NAS appliance storage solution can help you: Stop corporate data that is leaking onto public clouds through consumer-based file sync and share solutions
Organizations rely on their computing infrastructure to provide a broad array of services. To meet demand to deploy, maintain, and grow these services, IT organizations must continue to add computing capacity.
Dell’s innovative Ethernet fabric solutions coupled with Dell’s enterprise-class storage solutions built on the Fluid Data architecture, can help IT organizations balance near-term optimization with future flexibility, no matter their direction or pace of change.
EqualLogic Thin Clone technology is designed to enable storage admins to easily provision environments for developers. Environments that use Microsoft SQL Server and VMware vSphere can leverage Auto-Snapshot Manager to further help reduce complexity.
Dell’s unified, virtualized storage infrastructure leverages the advanced capabilities of the Dell EqualLogic PS Series virtualized iSCSI SAN technology with the new Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS gateway appliance. Together, they provide support for standard file-and block-access protocols via a single, centrally-managed, multi-tiered storage pool.
Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 blade storage arrays help optimize VMware VDI deployments
Managing IT infrastructures is a full-time job requiring 24/7 support. Keeping pace with changing technology and data protection policies and regulations is a huge ask of “part-time” IT staff. Dell can help your network sites implement emerging best practices to reduce costs and complexity, to optimize data protection, and to give back nights and weekends to your “part-time” IT staff.
The PS4000 Series TCP/IP connection, its SAN HeadQuarters management suite integrated with the Dell Management Console, and Dell Professional Services deliver a cost-effective and scalable solution that’s easy to manage by either remote or central IT staff. Integrating remote PS4000S with existing storage at central or regional datacenters is simple utilizing PS6000 Series arrays, multi-generational iSCSI SANs offering both high-performance SSD or SAS drives and capacity-oriented SATA drives.
Just as Linux helps lower the cost of ownership associated with server infrastructure, Dell EqualLogic helps lower the cost of ownership associated with storage infrastructure. As a high performance, scalable storage solution that is easy to deploy, manage, and grow, and by virtue of enhanced Linux integration using the Host Integration Tools for Linux, Dell EqualLogic is an ideal storage solution for Linux-based infrastructure.
Symantec Backup Exec and PS Series arrays are an ideal combination for data protection, regardless of the type of Windows server environment being backed up. Together they provide a proven, innovative solution that fully incorporates Microsoft design standards, helping to ensure 100% compatibility with Microsoft Windows Server operating systems. The PS Series array supports Symantec Backup Exec including versions 9.1 and 10.0.
Implementing plans to ensure business continuity for key IT services and business critical applications is an essential requirement for organizations today. Downtime of important applications is a costly proposition and extended downtime can even be fatal—industry research finds that a significant number of companies that experience extended interruption to IT services soon go out of business.
With a Multi-Layer data protection and disaster recovery approach for the entire IT infrastructure, administrators are able to support their organizations' service level agreements and achieve faster, more reliable data recovery. Dell EqualLogic is integrated with VMware to provide comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery tools without costly add-on licenses.
VMware, in conjunction with Dell, has created a scalable server and storage architecture for VMware View environments. The configuration uses a building block approach for sizing VMwrare View environments built on VMware Infrastructure 3, Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers and Dell EqualLogic PS5000XV iSCSI storage arrays.
Together, EqualLogic PS Series arrays and Microsoft Windows servers provide the strategic consolidation environment that you need. PS Series arrays have intelligence designed in and enterprise data services already included. With PS Series arrays, you can consolidate your Windows storage for better organization with improved provisioning and control.
As you make your journey to the cloud with VMware, you must carefully consider the underlying storage. Dell storage solutions can help you gain more value from your virtualized infrastructure, accelerating your journey.
These days, more and more businesses are virtualizing their data centers. And given the tremendous cost and flexibility benefits, it’s easy to see why. But as virtualization evolves and expands beyond the server, deploying virtual infrastructure has grown more complex. Myriad technology choices and rapid advancements in functionality are making it increasingly difficult to rapidly and effectively move forward with virtualization initiatives.
CommVault Simpana SnapProtect provides the first step to modernizing data protection and archiving operations in the datacenter. CommVault’s SnapProtect is a simple checkbox option within the Simpana software that effectively takes the backup process and supercharges it with the ability to integrate EqualLogic array snapshots.
Dell Services ProSupport - choose the storage support solution that is right for you.
By reducing cost and complexity in your data center, you can devote more resources to making innovation a daily business practice. Central to IT simplification is streamlining maintenance and maximizing availability—and by running Microsoft® Exchange® Server 2010 on Dell, you can do both.
The Dell EqualLogic FS7500 is a high performance solution that works with new and existing EqualLogic storage arrays so you can easily configure and manage iSCSI, CIFS, and NFS access to a single flexible storage pool using EqualLogic Group Manager.
The Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS7600 (1Gb Ethernet) and FS7610 (10Gb Ethernet) NAS appliances provide a highly scalable, unified storage platform that enables storage administrators to easily configure and manage iSCSI, CIFS, and NFS access to a single flexible storage pool using EqualLogic Group Manager.
The Dell EqualLogic PS Series is fundamentally changing the way IT organizations think about purchasing and managing storage. Built on a breakthrough storage virtualization architecture, the EqualLogic PS Series combines an intelligent, automated framework with a fault-tolerant hardware architecture to offer rapid deployment, enterprise quality performance and reliability, simplified storage management, and transparent SAN expansion.
Dell EqualLogic PS4110 and PS4100 storage arrays offer multiple configurations in drive capacities with up to 36TB of storage in a 2U/3.5” options. The PS4110 Series offers you increased throughput with 10GbE and the flexibility of using SFP+/10GBASE-T.
The Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series storage arrays offer enterprise power with everyday simplicity. The PS6100 Series offers you exceptional performance with 1GbE networking—so you can leverage your existing infrastructure.
The Dell EqualLogic PS6110 Series storage arrays offer exceptional performance and increased throughput with 10GbE and the flexibility of using SFP+ or 10GBASE-T —so you can leverage your existing infrastructure or build out lower-cost 10GBASE-T.
Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS6510 and PS6500 virtualized iSCSI SANs maximize enterprise performance, reliability and capacity while minimizing total cost of ownership (TCO) and administrative overhead. The PS65x0 series arrays provide cost-effective capacity and performance designed to scale up to 2.3PB without downtime.
The introduction of the PS-M4110 Blade Array enables a fully virtualized solution integrating Dell™ PowerEdge™ M-Series servers, Force10™ MXL switches and EqualLogic™ Blade Arrays in a single blade chassis. With the physical convergence of high-performing Dell servers, networking and storage, you receive a fully virtualized end-to-end 10GbE data-center-in-a-box solution, which helps to reduce your physical footprint as well as your hardware, licenses, configuration and power/cooling costs.
EqualLogic's all-inclusive software, built on the Dell Fluid Data architecture, gives you the power to do more with both your new and existing EqualLogic PS Series arrays and FS Series NAS appliances. From advanced functionality in the EqualLogic Array Software to the SAN HQ monitoring and analysis tools to the Host Integration Tools for VMware, Microsoft, and Linux platforms.</p>
Storage consulting from Dell offers a comprehensive suite of workshop, assessment, design and implementation services, with optimization if required and ProSupport, designed to help you to get the most out of your EqualLogic™ PS Series. We focus on data management, application performance, data protection and cost of ownership.
Evolve from managing storage devices to actively, and intelligently managing information as a strategic asset. Dell Fluid Data solutions' rich and innovative portfolio of products, expertise and services can enable your IT organization to more easily and cost-effectively manage data throughout its lifecycle putting the right data at the right place at the right time - for the right cost.
The Dell PowerEdge M-series blade solution is a breakthrough in enterprise server architecture. Built from the ground up using Dell’s Energy Smart and FlexIO technologies, the M-series is designed to combat data center sprawl and IT complexity. The M-series delivers one of the most energy efficient, flexible, and manageable blade server products on the market.
With its broad product and services portfolio, Dell offers unparalleled strengths as an IT solution partner. Let Dell collaborate with you to architect a storage solution that can scale seamlessly, adapt gracefully to new – even over-the-horizon – hardware and software capabilities, all while helping to reduce capital and operating costs.
The Dell PowerVault DL2100 powered by CommVault is the Industry's first & only integrated solution for faster backups and recoveries that gets you up & running in just 27 minutes
Five reasons to consolidate your Microsoft Application storage on Dell EqualLogic PS Series 1. Storage consolidation with low total cost of ownership (TCO) 2. Online capacity and performance scalability with no downtime 3. Built-in enterprise availability and data protection 4. Host integration tools with enhanced Microsoft iSCSI Initiator support 5. Broad Microsoft application support.
1. Centralized backup with storage consolidation 2. Enhanced backup with snapshots 3. Instantaneous recovery from snapshots 4. Application integration for consistent backups 5. Disk-to-disk backup for higher performance and easier management.
1. Automatic online scalability to match your data growth needs 2. PS series architecture offers maximum database uptime 3. Superior performance for database applications 4. Improve database protection for business continuity and disaster recovery 5. Advanced features help speed database development and QA for greater productivity.
1. Built-in replication offers complete protection and consistent data 2. Auto replication reduces complexity 3. Minimize recovery time 4. Higher data availability with rapid failover and failback 5. Application aware, smart copy replication.
1. Automatic online scalability to match your data growth needs 2. PS series architecture offers maximum uptime for e-mail 3. Superior performance for messaging applications 4. Improve e-mail protection for disaster recovery and regulatory compliance 5. Advanced features help you increase productivity.
1. Centralize storage and reduce administrative overhead 2. Simplify it operations and reduce total it expenditures 3. Online scalability without downtime 4. Increase availability and protect critical data sets 5. Consolidate storage assets across multiple OS environments
1. Affordable enterprise-class networked storage 2. Simple deployment, provisioning, and ongoing management 3. Virtualized storage that automatically optimizes resource utilization 4. Cost-effective data protection and disaster recovery for virtualized data sets 5. Flexible, scalable virtual infrastructure.
Expert guidance and a proven process for consolidating data center storage
Expert guidance and a proven process for utilizing deduplication in your storage environment
Proven expertise to help you accelerate the integration and benefits of EqualLogic storage.
Dell works with you to provide expert guidance and proven techniques to help identify the right level of investment to mitigate risks and ensure people, processes, and systems can quickly recover from a disaster.
Expert guidance and a proven process to help align the value of data with the appropriate storage
Gain agility, simplify, consolidate, and aggressively accelerate virtualization
Built on patented peer storage architecture, the Dell EqualLogic PS Series Virtualized iSCSI SANs offer high performance, reliability, intelligent automation, and seamless virtualization of storage to enable simplified enterprise storage deployment and management, and comprehensive data protection.
The PS4000 Series of virtualized iSCSI SAN arrays addresses branch office and small-to-medium business storage needs with simplified administration, rapid deployment and an affordable price, while providing a full set of enterprise-class data protection and management features, solid performance, scalability and fault-tolerance. With up to 16 SATA disk drives per modular array, the PS4000E delivers outstanding capacity value for an entry into midrange enterprise storage.
The Dell EqualLogic PS4000 Series of virtualized iSCSI SAN arrays are designed to bring enterprise-class features, intelligence, automation and reliability to remote or branch office, departmental and small-to-medium business (SMB) storage deployments.
The Dell EqualLogic™ PS4000 Series of virtualized iSCSI SAN arrays are designed to bring enterprise-class features, intelligence, automation and reliability to remote or branch office, departmental and small-to-medium business (SMB) storage deployments.
The PS6010E Virtualized iSCSI SANs are intelligent storage arrays that are designed to provide rapid installation, simple management, and seamless expansion. All PS Series storage arrays include SAN configuration features and capabilities that sense network connections, automatically build RAID sets, and conduct system health checks to help ensure that all components are fully functional. A PS6010E is designed to be installed, configured, and serving storage in less than one hour.
The PS6010S virtualized iSCSI SAN are intelligent storage arrays that are designed to provide rapid installation, simple management, and seamless expansion. All PS Series storage arrays include SAN configuration features and capabilities that sense network connections, automatically build RAID sets, and conduct system health checks to help ensure that all components are fully functional. A PS6000S/6010S is designed to be installed, configured, and serving storage in less than one hour.
The PS6010X virtualized iSCSI SAN are intelligent storage arrays that are designed to provide rapid installation, simple management, and seamless expansion. All PS Series storage arrays include SAN configuration features and capabilities that sense network connections, automatically build RAID sets, and conduct system health checks to help ensure that all components are fully functional.
The PS6010XV virtualized iSCSI SAN are intelligent storage arrays that are designed to provide rapid installation, simple management, and seamless expansion. All PS Series storage arrays include SAN configuration features and capabilities that sense network connections, automatically build RAID sets, and conduct system health checks to help ensure that all components are fully functional. A PS6010XV is designed to be installed, configured, and serving storage in less than one hour.
The PS6010XVS virtualized iSCSI arrays are ideal for optimizing responsiveness of applications through intelligent tiering of data, within the array, across low-latency SSD and performance sensitive 15K RPM SAS hard disk.
The PS6500E/6510E virtualized iSCSI SAN are intelligent storage arrays that are designed to provide rapid installation, simple management, and seamless expansion. All PS Series storage arrays include SAN configuration features and capabilities that sense network connections, automatically build RAID sets, and conduct system health checks to help ensure that all components are fully functional. A PS6500E/6510E is designed to be installed, configured, and serving storage in less than one hour.
The PS6500X/6510X virtualized iSCSI SAN are intelligent storage arrays that are designed to provide rapid installation, simple management, and seamless expansion. All PS Series storage arrays include SAN configuration features and capabilities that sense network connections, automatically build RAID sets, and conduct system health checks to help ensure that all components are fully functional. A PS6500X/6510X is designed to be installed, configured, and serving storage in less than one hour.
Help determine where your existing storage and backup environment can be improved and/or simplified.
This document provides a list of the validated components that Dell has tested for use with EqualLogic. It is important to understand what the contents of this document represent and what it does not represent. Dell’s goal is not to provide an exclusive list of Ethernet components that Dell has run tests on and that have been proven to work as expected when used in conjunction with an EqualLogic SAN and have shown an ability to scale as the SAN grows.
VMware vSphere™ abstracts applications and information from the complexity of underlying infrastructure, creating internal cloud infrastructure so IT can focus on the support and enablement of business value.
Organizations can benefit from the benefits of 10GbE, consolidation on Dell PowerEdge blade servers, and virtualization with VMware. Dell has all the components, along with the expertise and services, to help organizations create solutions that improve performance in their data centers.
Dell’s EqualLogic PS Series arrays include application integration for advanced data management and protection. Auto-Snapshot Manager with Smart Copy is an all-inclusive enhanced feature of the PS Series that provides application awareness and integration with Microsoft Windows-based applications such as Exchange and SQL Server.
With high data growth rates and 24x7 uptime requirements of database applications, backup and recovery of large Oracle® databases has become a challenging task. This paper describes an Oracle data protection solution that utilizes the Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series iSCSI storage snapshot technology to provide quick backup and recovery with very little performance impact on production application. This paper also provides best practices and detailed instructions on how to implement this solution.
Mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) with a cache memory-based front-end in the disk array controller have been the dominant I/O architecture for high-end application data storage until now. However, with increasing capacities and falling prices of memory chips, and the growing number of performance-hungry applications, many storage vendors have introduced SSDs in their disk arrays to improve application performance.
This paper is intended to present network design recommendations and best practices for integration of 1GbE and 10GbE iSCSI SANs running Dell EqualLogic storage arrays. Our test environment included: Dell PowerConnect 8024F 10Gb and 6248 1Gb Ethernet switches and Dell EqualLogic 10Gb and 1Gb SANs.
This paper outlines the different options available to expand the storage capacity in Oracle databases environments that are deployed on PS EqualLogic storage and Oracle ASM.
This paper presents frequently used approaches for performing backup and recovery of Oracle databases using the Oracle provided utilities RMAN and Flashback Database. We illustrate how IT administrators can use Dell EqualLogic snapshots to complement Oracle RMAN and Flashback Database features to achieve better RTO and RPO. Key results and important observations based on different approaches for database backup/recovery. Basic guidelines and best practices based on the tests results.
In our view, the EqualLogic PS Series XVS hybrid array is a significant turning point for VDI adoption. It‟s nearly impossible to accurately predict exactly when and how boot storms might occur, or how quickly user data will grow in a virtualized desktop environment, and these planning and sizing concerns have made VDI seem more trouble than it‟s worth for many—or at least made it more difficult for IT management to justify VDI as a strategy with confidence.
In this paper, we describe the joint benefits of the EqualLogic/Arista solution and common configurations for storage solutions of various sizes. The combination of the PS Series virtualized iSCSI SAN now available with a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) controller and Arista’s 7100 family of 10 GbE switches provides a scalable, cost-effective cloud storage solution that meet the requirements of a wide range of applications including database, analytics, search, high performance computing, and media.
Microsoft SQL Server provides the foundation for many critical business applications. To ensure that these applications can continue to run with minimal interruption, it is important to design and implement a business continuity plan that provides protection against many different types of potential failure scenarios.
Business continuity is a comprehensive business solution that outlines the strategies, plans and actions a business must implement to ensure persistent operations. A complete business continuity solution includes strategies for physical location, equipment, and personnel, as well as business and IT systems. Dell provides comprehensive solutions to help organizations protect their IT systems and the valuable data that resides on them.
Organizations today are faced with an ever-increasing array of business requirements that are mandating unprecedented changes to the IT environment. These drivers can include acquisitions, globalization, economic adjustments as well as the continued explosion of Web-based computing growth in remote and mobile workers with legislation that increases data retention requirements.
This document describes how to leverage the Read-Only vDisk Storage feature introduced in release 5.1 to further simplify Provisioning Services deployment and improve scalability and boot time performance when combined with SAN storage such as the Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN.
This analysis, conducted by independent consultancy Taneja Group, finds that Dell’s integrated PowerEdge server and EqualLogic storage solutions provide proven benefits for operational efficiency across the virtualization spectrum, from server hardware to storage platforms, services, and integrated management.
This paper looks at some of the assumptions made about SAN storage that hinder the development of solutions for data growth and examines some of the technologies that have been used to manage it. The second section of the paper examines the various virtualization approaches that exist and compares their relative strengths and weaknesses...
Rapid changes in the business environment equal mounting stresses to IT infrastructures. Tough global competition demands new levels of operational performance and a tight lid on costs. Faster processors, new applications and technologies like virtualization and cloud computing can provide tremendous benefits. But adding new components — hardware, software, storage and the like — can also contribute to complexity.
Every organization needs a holistic business continuity solution for data protection. Auto-Replication protects you from all disasters, as well as improving backup. You cannot afford to skimp on this critical business insurance—but you don't have to buy and manage add-on software that only solves niche problems, either. With PS Series arrays from Dell, you have a complete replication solution that is efficient, affordable, easy to manage, and delivers total protection.
This Dell™ Virtualization Reference Architecture (RA) white paper describes validated architectures for Dell | Citrix XenServer™ Dell Edition virtual infrastructures. The Virtualization RA is intended to provide customers with an example basis to consider, evaluate, and select the Dell virtualization solution components that best fit their requirements.
This Dell™ Virtualization Reference Architecture (RA) white paper describes Dell validated architectures for Windows Server 2008® Hyper‐V™. The Virtualization RA is intended to provide customers with example virtualization solution configurations that can be used to consider, evaluate, and select the Dell virtualization solution components that best fit their requirements.
This Dell™ | VMware® ESX/ESXi 3.5 Virtualization Reference Architecture white paper describes validated architectures for Dell | VMware™ virtual infrastructures. The Virtualization RA is intended to provide customers with an example basis to consider, evaluate, and select the Dell virtualization solution components that best fit their requirements.
This paper describes Dell’s EqualLogic Auto-Replication feature and presents lab validated best practices that will help IT and SAN administrators understand and fully utilize the powerful set of volume data replication features delivered with every EqualLogic PS Series storage array.
This white paper examines the common storage challenges faced by IT for virtualized application workloads and describes why the Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS7500 unified block and file storage is an ideal solution for hosting a VMware® environment with virtual workloads.
This report provides an overview of the Dell Equallogic FS7500 storage system’s integration in a Linux environment. The flexibility of Equallogic FS7500 NAS File Systems, along with its data protection and management features, enable you to consolidate your organization’s data islands and reduce management overhead.
This technical report provided an overview of the Dell Equallogic FS7500 storage system’s integration in the Microsoft Windows environment. The flexibility of Equallogic FS7500 NAS File Systems, along with its data protection and management features, enable you to consolidate your organization’s data islands and reduce management overhead.
The Dell EqualLogic SAN solution makes use of the SAN infrastructure to support inter-array communication and data load balancing on top of supporting data transfers between the hosts and the SAN. By combining these powerful storage systems with Dell’s PowerConnect Ethernet switches with iSCSI Optimization, IT departments are able to reduce deployment time and management complexity using Dell’s unique iSCSI Optimization features covered in this document.
This technology brief examines the high-value capabilities built into Dell EqualLogic storage solutions and explores the benefits they deliver. The Dell EqualLogic storage platform uniquely and effectively addresses the challenges of virtualization, enabling IT organizations to reap its full benefits — and thereby more nimbly and cost-effectively respond to constantly changing business needs.
This paper examines the current state of virtualization, challenges facing IT teams in expanding its use, and how Dell EqualLogic storage architecture can address these issues. Server virtualization is the ideal catalyst for technologies like iSCSI, provided IT understands how its short term and long term IT strategies align with future storage investments.
The following report outlines the hardware and software environment for a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 solution intended for small to medium sized organizations that support up to 10,000 users in a mailbox resiliency configuration utilizing the Database Availability Group (DAG) feature.
This report outlines the hardware and software environment for a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 solution intended for medium and large organizations that support up to 20,000 users in a mailbox resiliency configuration utilizing the Database Availability Group (DAG) feature.
The report outlines the hardware and software environment for a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 solution intended for small to medium sized organizations that support up to 5,000 users in a mailbox resiliency configuration utilizing the Database Availability Group (DAG) feature.
The following sections outline the hardware and software environment for a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 solution intended for medium and large organizations that support up to 75,000 users in a mailbox resiliency configuration utilizing the Database Availability Group (DAG) feature.
Dell EqualLogic PS4000XV performance with varying user counts running a combined database, email and file server workload.
With a focus on scalability, automated management using rich software tools, all-inclusive pricing, and an architecture that leverages the economic advantages of Ethernet and industry standard technologies, Dell‟s EqualLogic storage family is an excellent example of a solution that was purpose-built to address these issues.
This white paper examines the general value of scale-out storage and the benefit that the Dell EqualLogic unified virtualized IP storage platform can deliver from both a general TCO perspective, and also specifically in virtualized server environments.
The Dell EqualLogic PS Series of storage arrays Dell provides a storage solution that delivers the benefits of consolidated networked storage in a self-managing, iSCSI storage area network (SAN) that is affordable and easy to use, regardless of scale. By eliminating complex tasks and enabling fast and flexible storage provisioning, these solutions dramatically reduce the costs of storage acquisition and ongoing operations.
The Dell Fluid File System architecture is open-standards based, supports industry standard protocols, and provides innovative features relating to high availability, performance, efficient data management, data integrity, and data protection. It's a NAS file system accessed using CIFS and NFS protocols, but it has features and enhancements that make it unique, as discussed in this document.
This white paper discusses the Fluid File System and its data protection capabilities are implemented as a core component in the Dell NAS storage solutions that serve the needs of different customer scenarios and data workloads. Dell Compellent, EqualLogic, and PowerVault NAS solutions aggregate multiple NAS controllers in a cluster and present them to UNIX, Linux, and Microsoft Windows clients as one virtual file server.
The Dell Intelligent Data Management (IDM) strategy is being delivered through Dell Fluid Data solutions to help businesses automate, optimize, scale, and protect storage to create an increasingly agile, increasingly Efficient IT environment.
This report will explore the benefits that a good mix of server and storage virtualization can confer upon operations and will specifically explain how Microsoft® Hyper-V™ and Dell iSCSI storage can help users seamlessly begin their virtualization deployments and avoid some of the common pitfalls and misconceptions that surround both current and planned server virtualization adoption endeavors.
Dell Inc. (Dell) commissioned Principled Technologies (PT) to determine the relative performance of various remote replication and backup technologies for remote office/branch office (ROBO) data protection to a central office across a wide area network (WAN).
File server performance comparison of three Dell PowerVault NX3000 configurations using Microsoft FSCT with Dell EqualLogic Multipath Device Specific Module to connect to PS Series Storage Arrays.
This white paper provides a reference design, architectural overview, and configuration guidelines for deploying Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 Standard Edition with SP2 with Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 R2 with SP2.
The Dell™ portfolio of Enterprise products uses various storage interfaces and technologies. This storage product line can serve the needs of customers ranging from small-to- medium businesses to large enterprises. These storage products include: SAN storage based on either Fibre Channel (FC) technology known as FC SANs or iSCSI technology known as IP SANs, Direct-attached storage using SAS or SATA interfaces, Network-attached storage running in IP networks using file-level data access.
By focusing on implementing an Intelligent Data Management (IDM) strategy with maximizing customer ROI in mind, Dell makes it possible for any organization to fully leverage the value of their data and its potential as a strategic and competitive asset
This Dell VRD Reference Architecture describes three validated configurations of a virtual infrastructure hosting desktop workloads. The Reference Architecture enables customers to consider, evaluate, and select the most suitable Dell virtualization solution configuration according to their requirements by providing selection criteria and discussing relevant performance issues.
High Availability (HA) solutions are not new to Windows® environments. Microsoft® has offered native support for HA through its Cluster Services in Windows 2000 and Windows Server® 2003, and with the Windows Failover Clustering feature in Windows Server 2008. Failover clustering reduces the possibility that any single point of failure in your virtualization environment will cause your workloads to become unavailable.
With the introduction of Hyper-V™ in Windows® 2008, Microsoft® has changed the way virtual machines interact with the host operating system and other network resources. Unlike the Microsoft virtualization capabilities offered by Virtual Server and Virtual PC, Hyper-V's virtualization technology is integrated into the Windows Server 2008 x64 operating system. This change greatly improves performance and increases integration of the virtualization layer (hypervisor) with other Windows components.
Hyper-V is the hypervisor-based virtualization technology from Microsoft that is integrated into all Dell supported Windows Server 2008 x64 Editions operating system. As a virtualization solution, Hyper-V allows a user to take maximum advantage of server hardware by providing the capability to run multiple operating systems (on virtual machines) on a single physical server.
To provide virtual machines with access to those devices, Hyper-V supports a high-speed interconnect referred to as the VMBus. Virtual devices, such as network and storage adapters, for each VM communicate with the parent partition through the VMBus.
The goal of this paper is to describe best practices for deploying Decision Support System (DSS) or Data Warehousing (DW) solutions based on Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 using Dell™ EqualLogic™ storage.
Learn how to configure and deploy an Oracle 11g R2 Real Application Clusters database on network attached storage using the Dell EqualLogic FS7500 line of storage products.
This white paper provides an architectural overview and configuration guidelines for deploying a two-node Oracle® 10g R2 Enterprise Edition Real Application Clusters (RAC) database with Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 R2 Enterprise or Standard Edition with SP2 on Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers with Dell EqualLogic™ PS5000XV iSCSI storage.
This Enterprise Management Associates® (EMA™) white paper provides analysis and advice on how this server-hosted desktop virtualization can deliver substantial benefits, simplifying lifecycle management, and driving ongoing cost and productivity benefits.
The compelling cost and management benefits of virtualization have inspired virtual machine (VM) sprawl inside corporate data centers. At the same time, organizations are experiencing explosive data growth. Storage is a critical component of any data center, including growing virtual environments, since VMs actually reside on the underlying storage infrastructure. Sub-optimal storage infrastructure can severely restrict the benefits of virtualization and create performance, reliability and agility challenges. This paper considers current data center storage challenges and outlines features of Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN arrays that meet the demands of increasingly virtualized IT environments while optimizing investments.
This white paper describes a virtualized infrastructure that applies storage and server virtualization technologies to cost-effectively achieve a flexible, high-performance, dynamic IT infrastructure that is simple to deploy, manage and scale.
Endpoint virtualization – including server-hosted or local desktop virtualization, application virtualization, and streaming technologies – solves many of these problems by separating the user environment from the physical hardware. The virtual desktop or application environment is maintained or even hosted centrally, and delivered to the end user across the network, eliminating many of the problems of maintaining distributed desktop systems.
The goal of this paper is to present capabilities of the EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft® Edition (ASM/ME) that in conjunction with SQL backup can help to improve RPO and RTO goals without any disruption to the database applications.
In this head-to-head comparison,the Taneja Group determines, array and controller architectural differences clearly put the EqualLogic solution on top in terms of virtual workload density and blended I/O performance. Add to this EqualLogic’s fundamental elasticity, ease of use, and integrated management, and it surpasses not only a leading iSCSI competition, but a well-established Fibre Channel solution as well.
This document provides information on the EqualLogic PS Series storage solution for Microsoft® Exchange Server, based on the Microsoft Exchange Solution Reviewed Program (ESRP) – Storage program.
This document provides information on the EqualLogic PS Series storage solution for Microsoft® Exchange Server, based on the Microsoft Exchange Solution Reviewed Program (ESRP) – Storage program.
This document provides information on EqualLogic’s storage solution for Microsoft Exchange Server, based on the Microsoft Exchange Solution Reviewed Program (ESRP) – Storage program.
This document provides information on Dell’s storage solution for Microsoft Exchange Server, based on the Microsoft Exchange Solution Reviewed Program (ESRP) – Storage program.
In summary, EqualLogic’s PS Series delivers a self-managing storage array that provides enterpriseclass features using industry-standard Ethernet SAN connectivity and the iSCSI standard protocol. The result is an ideal consolidated storage solution for mid-tier storage in the data center.
The goal of this paper is to help those that are considering the move to a Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage solution, or have already made that decision, and to enable a smooth adoption of EqualLogic iSCSI.
Dell’s approach to Exchange 2010 offers many potential benefits for organizations running enterprise class messaging systems. Microsoft introduced new features in Exchange 2010 that can enhance productivity, but that can also take advantage of Dell’s innovative hardware portfolio to provide a more cost-effective infrastructure for enterprise messaging.
Download our complimentary business case article now to learn Dell EqualLogic how next-generation intelligent storage can help your organization achieve the kind of financial and operational benefits that will making you significantly more competitive in today’s technology-centric business environment.
This paper is intended to explore the hypothesis that the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) protocol can help manage this growing body of data more easily and more cost-effectively. iSCSI uses standard Ethernet infrastructure to connect servers to back-end storage and is generally seen as simpler to manage and less costly to deploy than the Fibre Channel (FC) SAN protocol that is more entrenched within enterprise deployments.
This report has been written independently by Quocirca Ltd to address certain issues found in today’s organisations. The report draws on Quocirca’s extensive knowledge of the technology and business arenas, and provides advice on the approach that organisations should take to create a more effective and efficient environment for future growth.
This white paper discusses how to select the right RAID policy for your Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage area network (SAN) arrays. First, each of the RAID types available with EqualLogic arrays is reviewed, in terms of performance, protection and efficiency. Next, we will discuss choosing a RAID policy within the EqualLogic SAN architecture to meet your performance and protection requirements.
This document describes high‐performance solution architecture in a data intensive HPC environment with Windows HPC Server® 2008, Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers, Quantum StorNext® file system, and Dell EqualLogic™ iSCSI storage.
Dell EqualLogic PS Series virtualized iSCSI SANs have been a popular storage choice in VMware-based environments. Customers have been quick to recognize how the PS Series virtualized SAN architecture complements the VMware infrastructure, providing a simple, easy-to-use, cost-effective enterprise storage platform that optimizes storage resource utilization, lowers TCO, and adapts to changing business needs.
There has been a shift in the enterprise data center towards blade server solutions as part of an overall emphasis on consolidation, virtualization, and green initiatives, because of some of their advantages over typical rack-mounted servers. The flexible scale-out architecture of the Dell EqualLogic PS Series provides a compelling match for blade server deployments. This paper explores Ethernet switch architecture options for connecting a blade enclosure with an EqualLogic SAN.
With the introduction of 10Gb Ethernet-based EqualLogic PS6x10 series of iSCSI arrays, administrators need to determine what is the best way to take advantage of this high performing storage solution. This paper describes strategies and best practices for integrating and managing the 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) PS Series arrays into existing EqualLogic SANs consisting of one gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) PS Series arrays.
The goal of this paper is to understand the performance impact of adding file I/O to an existing block-based SAN with additional hosts attached, whether it's OK to mix block file I/O in the same pool, determining the benefit adding additional arrays to an existing shared pool can have on overall SAN performance, the amount of free space required for the FS7500 and the number of additional network ports needed to integrate the FS7500 into an existing SAN.
If your enterprise data center is using FC to-day, and you are comfortable with the administra-tive complexity and cost, FCoE provides your en-terprise with a viable solution for unified com-munication. However, this familiarity adds noth-ing to your data center environment except cost. If your data center does not have FC deployed, or the costs of FC are overrunning your budget, iSCSI over 10GbE may be the solution for you.
Every Organization Should Take a Proactive Stance Toward E-discovery, Addressing The Issue Long Before a Legal Action Begins, With a Particular Emphasis on Long-Term Retention of Content. This white paper sponsored by Osterman Research focuses on the critical factors that every organization should consider with regard to e-discovery. It includes numerous examples of legal cases highlighting the importance of good e-discovery practices.
The Taneja Group, a leading industry analyst firm, has recently published a report that shows effectiveness of EqualLogic PS6010XVS and PS6000XVS hybrid arrays for multi-tiered OLTP workloads. The report includes benchmark testing at Dell Labs showing that EqualLogic PS6010XVS storage arrays can support nearly three times the number of concurrent end users in a typical OLTP application environment as a traditional HDD-based array—with no performance degradation!
Building on deep integration with VMware’s vSphere 4.1 platform via the vStorage APIs, Dell has set its sights squarely on VDI and aims to break down both the cost of acquisition and TCO (CapEx and OpEx) barriers that have plagued VDI ROI in the past. Moving quickly to capitalize on VMware’s in-novation, Dell has added intelligent workload tiering and new hybrid SSD/SAS arrays to its Equal-Logic PS Series family (the PS6000XVS and PS6010XVS).
This white paper describes the benefits and performance of the latest Dell PowerEdge R810 running Microsoft SQL Server in VMware vSphere 4.0 Update 1 (U1) and EqualLogic PS6000XV iSCSI storage arrays. The Dell PowerEdge R810 offers an ideal platform to consolidate demanding virtual database workloads in space conscious datacenters. The R810 also offers energy efficiency features in a dense 2U, form factor rack server with up to a four-socket capacity and up to 512GB of RAM.
With explosive data growth and the intense changes brought about by virtualization, no IT organization can afford to remain complacent when it comes to storage. Dell EqualLogic is the ideal next-generation intelligent storage platform for virtual infrastructure. The Dell EqualLogic storage platform uniquely and effectively addresses the challenges of virtualization, enabling IT organizations to reap its full benefits —and thereby more nimbly and cost-effectively respond to constantly changing business needs.
CommVault SnapProtect is designed to work in conjunction with the snaphsot engine huilt into the Dell EqualLogic PS Series of arrays. The EqualLogic iSCSI SANs allow you to create local point-in-time snapshots for testing, backup and recovery operations. You can use the SnapProtect feature to perform any level of backups. This paper provides a step-by-step configuration guide for the EqualLogic iSCSI array, as well as the SnapProtect backup software solution.
Together, Citrix, Intel and Dell are making it easier for IT professionals to provision, manage and secure their entire IT infrastructure while providing hardened, scalable and optimized solutions that span from the datacenter to the desktop.
This white paper explores the unique challenges of data storage in an Oracle environment and offers suggestions on how iSCSI-based storage-area networks from Dell can help organizations more efficiently and effectively address those challenges.
Server virtualization and consolidation technologies can help organizations struggling with cost containment and continuing information growth. Many have already implemented server virtualization, while others are planning to either start or accelerate virtualization deployments. The reduction in hardware costs is certainly attractive as increased resource utilization and physical serve consolidation keep total cost of ownership (TCO) down.
In this Product-in-Depth, we review Dell’s SAN HeadQuarters (SAN-HQ), a no-cost storage monitoring solution designed for and included with the Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN family. SAN-HQ delivers consolidated and centralized storage performance, capacity, and network monitoring and can dramatically reduce the time required to identify performance bottlenecks, correlate them to events in the virtual server infrastructure, and develop remediation strategies.
This paper provides a summary of results for tests executed using EqualLogic PS6110XV arrays. These tests were set up the same as and run in addition to the set of test scenarios described in the Dell white paper titled, Sizing and Best Practices for Deploying Oracle 11g Release 2 Based Decision Support Systems with Dell EqualLogic 10GbE iSCSI SAN.
Principled Technologies looked at two such server-network-storage solutions, one based on Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 Blade Arrays and the other based on HP StorageWorks D2200sb storage blades, to see how they compared.
This test report from Principled Technologies compares transactional application performance of EqualLogic PS Series, HP LeftHand and a well-established Fibre Channel storage arrays in a virtual environment requiring enterprise class data protection and uptime. The April 2010 test leveraged the performance sizing test tool for Exchange 2010, running on virtual machines.
To solve the business problems associated with storage configuration, scaling, and management, the EqualLogic PS Series was architected to provide a cost-effective, self-managing alternative to expensive and complex offerings – bringing the benefits of consolidated storage to a broad range of markets.
Forrester Consulting was commissioned to evaluate thought processes and pain points related to storage management, both within the storage team and from external storage stakeholders. Forrester tested the hypothesis that confusing and inefficient storage management processes prevent timely responses to organizational needs. The study found that a majority of storage admins spend too much time on daily operations maintenance and mundane tasks, and companies are seeking simpler storage technologies with more automation to drive lower costs and better results.
This document describes the results of work done by VMware in conjunction with Dell to create a scalable server and storage architecture for VMware View environments. The configuration presented here uses a building block approach for sizing VMware View environments built on VMware Infrastructure 3, Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers and Dell EqualLogic PS5000XV iSCSI storage arrays.
The Dell™ EqualLogic™ FS75001 adds Network Attached Storage (NAS) capabilities to the EqualLogic PS Series2 product line. Working with PS Series arrays, the FS7500 provides a high performance, scale-out, unified file and block storage solution for small to mid-size environments. It enables easy configuration and management of iSCSI, CIFS, and NFS storage from a single interface – solving the challenges and time consuming inefficiencies IT administrators face when managing NAS and SAN systems through separate management interfaces. The solution is based on the Dell Fluid File system (FluidFS). It enables organizations to scale both capacity and performance incrementally as their unified storage needs grow over time.
This whitepaper demonstrates that departmental clusters can achieve scalable I/O performance equal to that of proprietary I/O solutions by combining standards‐based iSCSI storage with the Global File System (GFS), an open‐source cluster file system.
A business-as-usual approach to storage won’t hold up in the face of pervasive virtualization, volatile business demand and the explosion of data. By adopting next-generation intelligent storage technologies, IT can get ahead of the storage curve — instead of constantly struggling to catch up.
Download this technology brief now to learn how the high-value capabilities built into Dell EqualLogic storage solutions can help your organization address the needs of today's highly dynamic and highly virtualized data centers.
This flexible, highly scalable building-block configuration was jointly developed, tested, and validated by Dell and VMware engineers as a baseline for sizing virtual desktop deployments to meet specific organizational goals—helping to reduce cost and complexity through centralized control and delivery of computing assets.
Dell and Microsoft Hyper-V ensure efficient, cost-effective virtualization projects.
The goal of this paper is to present the results of a series of storage I/O performance tests conducted by Dell™ Labs and provide storage sizing guidance and best practices based on those results for a Citrix XenDesktop based VDI solution.
This paper is intended to present the results of a series of Exchange 2010 storage I/O performance tests, and provide storage sizing guidance and best practices based on those results for designing and running Exchange 2010 hosted by VMware vSphere 4.1 running on Dell PowerEdge blade servers and Dell EqualLogic SAN. This paper also provides generalized storage sizing formulas for planning storage requirements, and an example reference configuration for supporting a 5000 user Exchange environment
This paper is intended for Linux system administrators, database administrators and storage architects interested in deploying Oracle OLTP database solutions on Red Hat Enterprise Linux using Dell EqualLogic PS Series SANs. It is assumed that the readers of this document have familiarity with Red Hat Enterprise Linux system administration and Oracle 11g R2 database installation and administration tasks.
This white paper provides best practices for using DPM 2010 for SQL Server 2008 R2 protection combined with Dell EqualLogic storage. The best practices outlined in this paper help customers to ensure a rapid and reliable recovery of a database and eliminate problems faced with traditional backup windows.
Business critical applications depend on Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) to store and manage data that they collect, process, and report on. Since RDMBS must maintain data integrity as well as ensuring data availability and performance, it is critical that data be well protected and stored on high-performance, highly available storage resources. Microsoft® SQL Server is the fastest growing RDBMS solution and supports a vast range of business critical applications...
Architecture makes for enormous differences between storage solutions, and SSD calls attention to this like never before. Our recommendation is clear - do not buy an array thinking that you can address performance needs with the addition of some expensive SSD. Look holistically at the whole system architecture, and make sure that the solution has the flexibility to fully integrate SSD with your storage practices, while scaling well beyond your current near term requirements.
The Data Center of the Future is envisioned as a computing utility that will use all of the server, storage and networking elements of the data center as a dynamic set of computing resources that can be flexibly allocated to customer applications.
This white paper documents the implementation of Windows Server 2003 R2 at Mesirow Financial in Chicago, Illinois. The white paper will provide a summarized history of the firms involved in this project (specifically Mesirow Financial and EqualLogic®), and an overview of the key features in Windows Server 2003 R2 that will be utilized by Mesirow to address their current storage management challenges...
Electronic communication services are considered a critical business application that dramatically impacts the daily operations of any organization. As e-mail applications are heavily dependent on storage resources, it is useful to explore the tight integration between Microsoft Exchange environments and storage platforms. This paper provides an overview of various storage options available for Microsoft Exchange environments, and describes the challenges, advantages, and disadvantages of each.
By implementing a cost-efficient VDI strategy using Dell EqualLogic storage and VMware View, organizations can achieve optimal performance, lower costs and simplify storage management in virtual desktop environments. Dell EqualLogic is an ideal storage platform for ensuring VDI project success.
This June 2010 validation report from Taneja Group shows that in a virtualized, transactional processing environment (MS Exchange 2010 on VMware), EqualLogic outperformed a brand-name iSCSI competitor and a well-established Fibre Channel solution while providing a higher yield of useable capacity. EqualLogic was also easier to use; both competing solutions had surprising complexity, especially when it came to following best practices.
In this white paper, Taneja Group analyses the requirements for intelligent storage in today's virtualized era and examines how Dell EqualLogic product line delivers this intelligence.
Analysts estimate that business data is increasing at a 68% compound growth rate with storage pools nearly doubling every two years. Even in the face of such growth, IT organizations are expected to raise the bar on standards of availability, reliability and overall functionality without additional cost or complexity.
iSCSI storage solutions can deliver enterprise-class features and performance gains. This E-Guide, featuring articles from Storage magazine, outlines iSCSI from the basics to best practices in the industry.
This document focuses on operations and design considerations for EqualLogic iSCSI SAN network/storage administrators who expect to begin planning a transition to a DCB environment in their data centers.
iSCSI is a flexible and powerful storage area networking (SAN) protocol that delivers superior capabilities and benefits across all market segments. In addition to providing enterprise-class data availability and performance, the iSCSI protocol enables breakthrough virtual storage designs that parallel the advanced designs of server virtualization technologies such as VMware® Infrastructure 3...
We tested server virtualization gear from five top vendors to see how they handle strenuous workloads on a mix of old and new equipment, typical of what’s found in the wild. The results? Management’s still a challenge, but any of these products could make your organization nimbler and more energy-efficient. And with virtualization upstarts challenging market stalwarts, you might want to look beyond the familiar names.
This Technical Report describes various methods and configurations for performing backup and recovery operations using a PS Series group.
In this technical report, we provide a proof point for performance improvements in OLTP applications when using EqualLogic PS6010XVS arrays based on testing performed at Dell Labs.
This Technical Report describes how to configure the QLogic QLA4010 iSCSI host bus adapter to support booting Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 from PS Series storage.
This Technical Report describes how to configure QLogic QLA405x iSCSI Host Bus Adapters to support booting Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 from PS Series storage.
The reference architectures defined in this document are targeted at large enterprise virtualization needs. They include Dell PowerEdge blade servers, Dell EqualLogic PS6010X storage and Microsoft Hyper-V technology. They are built on a 10GbE network architecture using Dell PowerConnect M8024 blade-chassis switch modules.
This configuration based on Dell’s EqualLogic FS7500 Clustered NAS provides a unified and fully redundant storage solution for Windows and Linux Servers. It provides File (CIFS/NFS) and Block (iSCSI) storage that can grow together with your needs using one or more of our EqualLogic arrays (All families supported).
This Technical Report describes the supported RAID policies for Dell EqualLogic arrays. This report also provides information on the performance characteristics of the RAID policies under normal and failure conditions and will help administrators choose the RAID policy that is right for their applications and environment.
6 common issues when using VMware ESX SW iSCSI initiator.
This Technical Report describes how to backup and restore local and remote NTFS volumes and SQL databases using CommVault® Galaxy™ 5.0 with PS Series group storage and the Dell EqualLogic™ Auto-Snapshot Manager for Windows® VSS provider.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy and configure Multipath I/O using the Dell™ EqualLogic™ HIT for Linux v1.0 with Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy and configure the Dell EqualLogic MPIO DSM for Windows Server 2008 to enable multi-path I/O for high availability access to a Dell EqualLogic PS Series Storage Array. Best practices are included for 10 Gb networks and Windows Server disk alignment.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy and configure the Dell EqualLogic multi-path I/O (MPIO) DSM for Windows Server 2008 to enable MPIO for high availability access to a Dell EqualLogic PS Series Storage Array. Best practices are included for 10GB networks and Windows Server disk aignment.
This Technical Report explains the benefits of the EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module (MEM) for VMware vSphere 5.1, 5.0 and 4.1, as well the installation and configuration process to provide multipath I/O for highly available access to the Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN. Also covered are a number of overall virtual environment iSCSI design considerations and best practices.
This document illustrates how to configure Dell™ Force10™ S4810 switches for use with EqualLogic™ PS Series storage using Dell best practices.
This Technical Report will explain how to configure and connect a Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series SAN to a VMware® vSphere™ 5 Environment using the software iSCSI initiator.
Taking advantage of all of these new features requires some new steps to be taken by ESX administrators. Most of the configuration is done via CLI inside the ESX server. At the release of this document there are plans to implement many of these steps into vCenter but currently a majority of the work is done via console commands. The rest of this Technical Report will be focusing on installation and configuration of an iSCSI software initiator connection to a PS Series SAN.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide test-based results showing the benefits of DCB in both dedicated iSCSI environments as well as converged networks (where multiple networks are migrated into one DCB network); and to provide best practice information to help network and storage administrators deploy DCB in new implementations in conjunction with their Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series SAN deployment.
This tech report demonstrates how using Dell EqualLogic™ SAN Snapshots can improve data protection in a VMware® Virtual Infrastructure environment.
This document provides instructions for configuring DellPowerEdge 12th Generation (12G) family of servers to boot Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 6.2 from iSCSI SAN-based boot images residing on Dell EqualLogic PS Series Series virtualized iSCSI SANs.
This Techhnical Report describes using Host Integration Tools for Microsoft and Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager Microsoft Edition with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Dell EqualLogic PS Series Arrays.
This paper will focus on the Dell EqualLogic iSCSI connection maximum for a single pool. It will provide an overview of the factors involved in iSCSI connection creation, define the parameters of the iSCSI connection maximum, and examine whether the SAN performance and availability are affected as the maximum is approached.
The Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series architecture is a virtualized, self-tuning system that uses intelligent load balancers to maintain system performance at optimum levels. This technical report describes those load balancers and how they work.
This Technical Report will introduce the advanced vSphere storage topics of: VMware APIs for Array Integration, EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module, and VMware Storage I/O Control.
The Arista 7148sx Datacenter Ethernet switch features a high density 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching solution and an extensible, modular network operating system. The Arista 7148sx is the top end of the Arista 7100 Series switch family and is optimized for non-blocking applications with up to 960Gbps throughput while providing 48x 1Gbs SFP+ ports.
The Arista 7148sx Datacenter Ethernet switch features a high density 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching solution and an extensible, modular network operating system. The Arista 7148sx is the top end of the Arista 7100 Series switch family and is optimized for non-blocking applications with up to 960Gbps throughput while providing 48x 1Gbs SFP+ ports. This reference architecture paper illustrates how to build a medium to large scale SAN consisting of 2 Arista 7148sx switches.
The Brocade TurboIron 24x switch is a compact, high-performance, high-availability and high-density 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution that meets mission critical data center and high-performance computing requirements. With an ultra-low-latency, cut-through, non-blocking architecture, the Brocade TurboIron 24x provides a cost-effective solution for server or compute-node connectivity. This reference architecture paper illustrates how to build a small SAN consisting of 4 TurboIron 24x switches.
The Brocade TurboIron 24x switch is a compact, high-performance, high-availability and high-density 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution that meets mission critical data center and high-performance computing requirements. With an ultra-low-latency, cut-through, non-blocking architecture, the Brocade TurboIron 24x provides a cost-effective solution for server or compute-node connectivity. This reference architecture paper illustrates how to build a small SAN consisting of 2 TurboIron 24x switches.
Dell Labs conducted testing that proves the value of the Brocade VDX 6720-60 switches, with VCS disabled, when used to build a SAN with the Dell EqualLogic series of virtual storage arrays. Based on this testing, we determined that the Brocade VDX 6720-60 switch is excellent for use when building SANs that consist of one or more 10 Gbps EqualLogic PS Series arrays.
Dell Labs conducted testing that proves the value of the Brocade VDX 6720-60 switches when used to build a SAN with the Dell EqualLogic series of virtual storage arrays. Based on this testing, we determined that the Brocade VDX 6720-60 switch is excellent for use when building SANs that consist of one or more 10 Gbps EqualLogic PS Series arrays.
We conducted testing that proves the value of the S55 when used to build a SAN with the Dell EqualLogic series of virtual storage arrays. Based on this testing, we determined that the S55 is an excellent switch for use when building SANs that consist of one or more 1 Gbps EqualLogic PS Series arrays. Because each S55 switch has four SFP 1G ports, we used four NIC ports from the hosts to connect through SFP modules. SFP 1G ports have similar performance to the RJ-45 ports.
We conducted testing that proves the value of the S55 when used to build a SAN with the Dell EqualLogic series of virtual storage arrays. Based on this testing, we determined that the S55 is an excellent switch for use when building SANs that consist of one or more 1 Gbps EqualLogic PS Series arrays. Because each S55 switch has four SFP 1G ports, we used four NIC ports from the hosts to connect through SFP modules. SFP 1G ports have similar performance to the RJ-45 ports.
This document provides details for configuring the Dell Force10 S-Series S60 four switch configuration for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.
This document provides details for configuring the Dell Force10 S-Series S60 two switch configuration for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.
This document illustrates how to build a SAN consisting of two Force10 S4810 switches using industry standard LAGs for inter-switch connections for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage. It also provides data to support our position that the S4810 can support a SAN using a two-switch solution, and that it can support 16 or more 10 Gb/s arrays with 16 or more 10 Gb/s hosts in a fully redundant configuration while offering excellent overall SAN performance for a variety of workloads.
The Juniper Networks EX4500 line of Ethernet Switches delivers a scalable, compact, high-performance platform for supporting high-density 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) data center, campus, and service provider deployments. This document illustrates how to build a SAN consisting of 4 Juniper EX4500 switches using industry standard link aggregation groups (LAGs) for inter-switch connections for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage.
The Juniper Networks EX4500 line of Ethernet Switches delivers a scalable, compact, high-performance platform for supporting high-density 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) data center, campus, and service provider deployments. This document illustrates how to build a SAN consisting of 2 Juniper EX4500 switches using industry standard link aggregation groups (LAGs) for inter-switch connections for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage.
This document provides details on configuring the Dell PowerConnect 7048 for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays. The goal of this exercise is not to provide a comprehensive set of possible configurations, but to illustrate one possible solution that provides excellent performance and scalability as validated by testing in our labs.
This document provides details on configuring the PowerConnect 7048 for use with EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays. The goal of this exercise is not to provide a comprehensive set of possible configurations, but to illustrate one possible solution that provides excellent performance and scalability as validated by testing in our labs.
This paper illustrates how to build a medium scale SAN network consisting of Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays and four PowerConnect 8024F 10Gb switches
This reference design paper illustrates how to build a small SAN consisting Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays and two PowerConnect 8024F 10Gb Ethernet switches.
This document illustrates how to build a storage area network (SAN) using the Brocade BigIron RX Series switch or Dell PowerConnect B-Series RX Series switch family. Because both of these products are essentially the same switch, this document refers to both versions as the RX switch.
The PowerConnect J-Series EX4200-48T & the Juniper EX4200-48T switches provide datacenter Ethernet switch features in a high density 1-Gigabit Ethernet solution using an extensible, modular operating system. The EX4200 is optimized for non-blocking applications while providing 48x 1Gbs 10Base-T ports. This reference architecture paper illustrates how to build a medium to large scale SAN consisting of four EX4200 switches.
The PowerConnect J-Series EX4200-48T & the Juniper EX4200-48T switches provide datacenter Ethernet switch features in a high density 1-Gigabit Ethernet solution using an extensible, modular operating system. The EX4200 is optimized for non-blocking applications while providing 48x 1Gbs 10Base-T ports. This reference architecture paper illustrates how to build a medium to large scale SAN consisting of two 2 EX4200 switches.
This technical report shows how to configure Dell EqualLogic PS Series Template Volumes and Thin Clones and discusses possible use case scenarios including SQL Server, Hyper-V and VMware.
In this technical report, we provide a proof point for the performance characteristics of a PS6000XVS array in a VDI environment based on testing performed at Dell Labs. We present the overall architecture, test configuration, as well as a summary of the PS6000XVS array performance results.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Virtual Desktop Deployment Utility leverages the Thin Clone feature introduced in the EqualLogic PS Series Firmware version 5.0 to efficiently provision and deploy virtual desktops in a VMware View Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment.
With the Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series storage arrays, Dell provides a storage solution that delivers the benefits of consolidated networked storage in a self-managing iSCSI storage area network (SAN) that is affordable and easy to use, regardless of scale.
This Technical Report describes how to configure the ProxyHost iDataAgent to support Transportable hardware-based VSS snapshots while backing up NTFS volumes using CommVault® Galaxy™ 6.1.0 with PS Series group storage and the Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager V2.0 for Windows® VSS hardware provider.
This Technical Report describes how to back up and restore NTFS volumes, Microsoft® Exchange e-mail and SQL databases using CommVault® Galaxy™ 6.1.0, the Dell EqualLogic™ Auto-Snapshot Manager V2.0 for Windows® VSS provider and PS Series storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 in an iSCSI SAN using PS Series storage arrays. It provides configuration and management recommendations and best practices for Exchange and the PS Series SAN.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 in an iSCSI SAN using PS Series storage arrays. It provides configuration and management recommendations and best practices for Exchange 2007 and the PS Series SAN.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy Exchange Server 2010 in an iSCSI SAN using PS Series storage arrays. It provides configuration and management recommendations and best practices for Exchange 2010 and the PS Series SAN.
This technical report details information and best practices for deploying Microsoft® Hyper-V™ with Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series iSCSI storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes how to deploy Microsoft® SQL Server® in an iSCSI SAN with PS Series storage arrays. It provides configuration and management recommendations for SQL Server and the PS Series storage.
This Technical Report describes scenarios for deploying Microsoft® System Center Data Protection Manager 2006 (DPM) with PS Series storage, providing a high performance, highly-available, and scalable DPM storage pool.
This Technical Report describes scenarios for deploying Microsoft® System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 (DPM) with PS Series storage, providing a high performance, highly available, and scalable DPM storage pool.
This Technical Report describes how to use PS Series storage arrays with a Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 cluster. With PS Series storage arrays, you can set up a scalable, fault-tolerant, and easy-to-manage iSCSI SAN that increases data and application availability.
This Technical Report describes how to use Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series storage in a Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 environment. With PS Series storage arrays, you can set up a scalable, fault-tolerant iSCSI SAN that increases data and application availability and is easy to set up and manage.
This Technical Report describes how to use PS Series storage in a Microsoft® Windows® Storage Server environment. With PS Series storage arrays, you can deploy file serving with a scalable, fault-tolerant iSCSI SAN increasing data availability and flexibility.
This technical report documents the procedure for configuring the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system to operate with Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.
This technical report documents the procedure for configuring the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS and Oracle Linux Server operating systems to operate with Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes how to back up and restore NTFS volumes, Microsoft Exchange e-mail, and SQL databases using Symantec™ Backup Exec™ 10d for Windows Servers, the Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools kit, and PS Series storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes how to back up and restore NTFS volumes, Microsoft Exchange, and SQL using Symantec Backup Exec 2010 Offhost Function with Advanced Disk-based Backup Option (ADBO), the Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools kit, and PS Series storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes the implementation and deployment of thin-provisioned volumes in a PS Series SAN.
This Technical Report describes how to use Veritas Backup Exec 10 for Windows Servers with PS Series storage arrays from Dell EqualLogic to back up and restore local and remote NTFS volumes, Exchange e-mail, and SQL databases.
This Technical Report describes how to backup and restore local and remote NTFS volumes, Exchange e-mail, and SQL databases using Veritas Backup Exec 9.1 for Windows with PS Series storage arrays.
This Technical Report describes some best practices when using Dell EqualLogic PS Series arrays in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 environments.
The virtual datacenter introduces new challenges and techniques for disaster recovery. This technical report details the installation and configuration of Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series storage with VMware® vCenter Site Recovery Manager to help make disaster recovery an automated and manageable part of your virtual environment.
This Technical Report describes using Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Linux 1.1 and 1.2 Auto-Snapshot Manager functionality to perform online Smart Copy protection and recovery with PS Series arrays.
The Dell EqualLogic PS Series architecture is a virtualized, self-tuning system that uses intelligent load balancers to maintain system performance at optimum levels. This technical report describes the hybrid array load balancer and how it works.
EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME) with PS Series arrays to protect Microsoft Exchange Server with online Smart Copies and recovery operations for Exchange 2010.
This Technical Report describes using Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition v4.0 with PS Series arrays to protect Microsoft Exchange Server with online Smart Copies and recovery operations for Exchange 2003 and 2007.
This Technical Report describes how to install and configure the Dell™ EqualLogic™ Host Integration Tools for Linux 1.1 and 1.2 with Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.
This paper presents a “pay-as-you-grow” methodology to build an Oracle SE RAC configuration that can scale up to 4 single-socket servers. It showcases the performance characteristics and scalability of incrementally adding RAC nodes.
This Technical Report describes using EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition to perform online Smart Copy protection and recovery for Hyper-V Virtual Machines using PS Series arrays.
This Technical Report describes the deployment and testing results of SQL Server® 2005 using the Microsoft® iSCSI Initiator with a Dell EqualLogic™ iSCSI SAN. It helps you understand best practices and the benefits of using an iSCSI SAN with SQL Server 2005.
This paper describes the best practices and reference architecture for performing traditional data backup operations of virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Databases running on Dell EqualLogic SAN using SQL Server Management Studio.
This Technical Report describes how to use the DiskPar or DiskPart utilities to configure Microsoft® Windows® disk partitions to match the default RAID stripe segment size used in a PS Series storage array.
This Technical Report describes how to expand Microsoft Windows basic disk volumes after increasing the size of the corresponding PS Series group volume.
This Technical Report describes using EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition to perform online Smart Copy protection and recovery for SQL Server databases using PS Series arrays.
This technical report details information and best practices for monitoring a Dell™EqualLogic™ PS Series storage environment using the SANHQ software
This Technical Report describes creating a Novell® NetWare® disk volume and then expanding the volume when you have increased the underlying PS Series volume size – all without disrupting ongoing applications.
This Technical Report describes how to use a PS Series group to provide NFS server storage space to servers running Oracle9i™ Database. It includes group and server requirements, describes configuration choices, and provides ecommendations for high availability.
This paper outlines how Oracle ASM complements the PS EqualLogic load balancing capability.
The virtual datacenter introduces new challenges and techniques for disaster recovery. This technical report details the installation and configuration of Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to help make disaster recovery an automated and manageable part of your virtual environment.
This Technical Report focuses on the installation, configuration and usage of Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware™ Edition to obtain hypervisor aware snapshots and provide an additional layer of data protection for the Virtual Environment.
This Technical Report describes using a PS Series group as scalable and reliable shared storage in a Red Hat® Linux cluster. A PS Series group is a fault-tolerant iSCSI SAN that is easy to set up, manage, and scale and increases data and application availability.
This document covers installing and configuring the Redhat Enterprise Linux v5.x software iSCSI initiator. It also covers configuring MPIO with RHEL v5.2 or greater.
This white paper describes the results of performance tests for a virtualized SharePoint 2010 document management solution on an EqualLogic PS6100E storage array. The primary audience for this paper is IT managers and technical decision makers interested in sizing and performance results for a cost effective SharePoint 2010 document management storage solution.
This Reference Architecture Implementation guide is intended to be used as a guide and or used as a point of reference for Dell Enterprise Implementation Engineers when deploying a virtualized Exchange 2007 environment based on Dell EqualLogic iSCSI Storage.
This paper describes the Dell Reference Architecture, a blue print or a starting configuration, for designing Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 storage in a virtualized server environment using Dell™ EqualLogic™ arrays.
This paper describes the Dell Reference Architecture, a blueprint or a starting configuration, for Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 in a virtualized server environment and provides guidelines for designing and sizing the storage for the same using Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage systems. It also offers the latest best practice recommendations and other considerations along the way.
Many organizations are turning to consolidation and virtualization to maximize existing resources, provide flexibility in deployment and operations, and build the dynamic data center of the future. This Agile Consolidated model is designed to enable Microsoft® Exchange 2010 to be deployed into this paradigm of centralized storage and virtualization readiness.
Many organizations are turning to consolidation and virtualization to maximize existing resources, provide flexibility in deployment and operations, and build the dynamic data center of the future. This Agile Consolidated model is designed to enable Microsoft® Exchange 2010 to be deployed into this paradigm of centralized storage and virtualization readiness.
Many organizations are turning to consolidation and virtualization to maximize existing resources, provide flexibility in deployment and operations, and build the dynamic data center of the future. This Agile Consolidated model is designed to enable Microsoft® Exchange 2010 to be deployed into this paradigm of centralized storage and virtualization readiness.
Many organizations are turning to consolidation and virtualization to maximize existing resources, provide flexibility in deployment and operations, and build the dynamic data center of the future. This Agile Consolidated model is designed to enable Microsoft® Exchange 2010 to be deployed into this paradigm of centralized storage and virtualization readiness.
Many organizations are turning to consolidation and virtualization to maximize existing resources, provide flexibility in deployment and operations, and build the dynamic data center of the future. This Agile Consolidated model is designed to enable Microsoft® Exchange 2010 to be deployed into this paradigm of centralized storage and virtualization readiness.
The Small and Branch Office model provides full functionality and 100 percent redundancy in two tower or rack form factor servers. Using two servers with internal storage only and two DAG copies of the databases, Microsoft® Exchange 2010 can be deployed reliably and cost effectively for up to a thousand or more mailboxes.
Many organizations are turning to consolidation and virtualization to maximize existing resources, provide flexibility in deployment and operations, and build the dynamic data center of the future. This Agile Consolidated model is designed to enable Microsoft® Exchange 2010 to be deployed into this paradigm of centralized storage and virtualization readiness.
To leverage the advanced features provided by an EqualLogic array, a robust, standards-compliant iSCSI storage area network (SAN) infrastructure must be created. After testing and evaluating a variety of different SAN design options, this technical white paper quantifies the ease of administration, the performance, the high availability, and the scalability of each design. From the results, recommended SAN designs and practices are presented.
This report covers the test methodology, resources utilized, and the performance and scalability achieved with Dell EqualLogic PS6010XV storage arrays with RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 update 4 running Oracle 11g R2 RAC in a Data Warehouse environment.
This paper provides best practices and performance optimization recommendations for the Dell EqualLogic FS7500 Unified NAS storage solution in virtualized environments based on VMware vSphere. It also shows how EqualLogic FS7500 scales with the addition of storage resources for a specific virtual workload use-case scenario.
The guide is intended for systems engineers and administrators that are interested in more details about our test system configuration, including step-by-step examples showing how we setup portions of our test infrastructure. We expect this information will demonstrate how to configure VMware VSphere and EqualLogic iSCSI SANs for Microsoft Exchange 2010 deployments.
This paper describes sizing and best practices for deploying Decision Support Systems (DSS) based on Oracle 11g Release 2 database using Dell EqualLogic storage.
This Guide is for systems engineers & administrators that are interested in more details about our test system configuration, including step-by-step examples showing how we setup portions of our test infrastructure. We expect this information will demonstrate how to configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux based systems to support Oracle Database deployments in an Oracle RAC configuration, using Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage systems.
This paper describes best practices to design, size and deploy Dell EqualLogic storage used by the VMware hypervisor platform vSphere running VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution VMware View.
This Technical Report will discuss advanced operations and techniques on how to use Auto-Snapshot Manager / Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME) to protect SQL Server databases as well as enhance SQL Server operations in the datacenter.
This Technical Report describes how to implement highly-available network access from Sun™ Solaris™ 8 and Solaris 9 servers to a PS Series group.
This technical report describes PS Series replication and provides planning and recovery considerations and examples.
This Technical Report describes how to configure Internet Authentication Service to leverage accounts in Active Directory to control login authentication to a PS Series Group.
This document describes how to use Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) initiator authentication and access control records to control which hosts (iSCSI initiators) can access a volume or snapshot (iSCSI target).
This Technical Report describes how to use the Microsoft® VShadow VSS requester and the Auto-Snapshot Manager VSS provider to back up and restore NTFS volumes, Exchange e-mail, and SQL databases residing in a PS Series SAN.
This Technical Report describes how to use Multi-Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) to monitor the I/O between Windows systems and PS Series group members running PS Series Firmware Version 3.2.
This Technical Report describes how to backup and restore Windows Server® 2003 NTFS volumes in a PS Series SAN using the Microsoft® Backup utility (NTBackup) and the Dell EqualLogic™ Auto-Snapshot Manger for Windows® VSS provider.
This Technical Report describes the concepts and benefits of tiered storage, and describes how to take advantage of storage pools and other features of EqualLogic PS Series Firmware to implement tiered storage in a PS Series SAN.
This document details how administrators can control login authentication to a Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series Group using Windows domain user accounts and RADIUS clients.
This Technical Report describes how VMware® Virtual Infrastructure 3 can work together with Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series iSCSI SANs to provide dynamic, scalable and highly available virtual environments.